In a dimly lit room.
Han Ning leaned cautiously against the window, a silvery-white compound bow in hand. He held his breath, his eyes fixed on the scene outside.
About twenty meters below, three toads with hideous skin oozing pus lay lazily on the ground, gulping down the faint, ethereal white mist around them.
After about ten minutes, the toads had filled their bellies with the white mist. As if having just had a full meal, they dragged their round stomachs and scattered, hopping off in different directions.
'Now's the time!'
With a silent cry, Han Ning raised his compound bow, aimed at the toad closest to him, nocked an arrow, and drew the string.
WHOOSH!
The jet-black arrow, bursting with kinetic energy, tore through the air and precisely pierced the toad's vulnerable eye. Half the arrow plunged through the front of its brain and out the back, embedding itself diagonally in the soil of the greenbelt.
At the same time, the sound of two more arrows slicing through the air rang out beside him. The other two toads that had been leaving also fell to the ground, one after the other.
It turned out there were two other people in the room.
"Phew... a success..."
Watching the toad that had now stopped moving completely, Han Ning took a deep breath and lowered his bow, a wave of relief washing over him.
Seven days ago, he had been just another university student on Blue Star, worried about finding a job after graduation.
Unexpectedly, during a higher mathematics class, a deafening "BOOM" of unknown origin sounded from outside, making everyone in the classroom jump in fright.
When the students poked their heads out the window to check, they discovered they were now in a strange wasteland shrouded in a faint, white mist.
The entire School of Engineering, buildings and topsoil alike, seemed to have been uprooted in one piece.
On the first day of the transmigration, due to the countless dangers students faced, the entire school's population plummeted from over three thousand to just five hundred sixty-eight.
On the second day, the survivors discovered that the omnipresent mist was actually a miasma containing a weak toxin that could paralyze the body. More people died from lung damage after inhaling it.
On the third day, a block of information called the "Beast Taming Technique" suddenly appeared in the minds of every survivor.
The Beast Taming Technique allowed humans to form contracts with the Soul Beasts of the wasteland, making them their Contracted Beasts.
That's right—according to the Beast Taming Technique, these bizarre creatures were called Soul Beasts.
That same afternoon, someone discovered a ubiquitous plant in the wasteland called "Silver Lotus Wood." These plants possessed a faint consciousness, and humans could form contracts with them.
After a contract was formed, the Silver Lotus Wood would obey its commander's orders, absorbing the surrounding miasma in large quantities and converting it into pure oxygen for humans to breathe.
That night, the teachers began to organize the students for survival. They retreated to the dormitory entrances, using the outer walls as defensive fortifications against the dangerous incursions.
On the fourth day, hundreds, even thousands, of strange and grotesque Soul Beasts seemed to sense the arrival of these unfamiliar visitors. They converged on the School of Engineering from all directions and began to devour the corpses of the dead teachers and students.
On the fifth day, the students, by pooling their strength, finally managed to kill a dozen or so of the wasteland creatures gathered outside the walls. Everyone soon discovered that the roots of the Silver Lotus Wood could burrow into the corpses of these creatures to absorb nutrients.
A Silver Lotus Wood that had absorbed nutrients would be slightly enhanced, and in turn, it would also augment the physical constitution of its commander.
Today was the seventh day. The number of survivors had dwindled to only three hundred and thirty-five.
Han Ning had caught a cold before the transmigration and was wearing a mask, which meant he had inhaled less of the miasma. This allowed him to hold on until the third day, and he was lucky enough to survive.
"Everyone, hurry up and drag the bodies of those three Demon Eye Frogs up here."
As he spoke, he bent down and picked up a potted plant. It was in a brown flowerpot, resembled a thistle, and had faint silver patterns on its surface.
At the same time, a light blue screen automatically appeared before his eyes.
Race Information:
[
Race: Silver Lotus Wood
Gender: /
Talent: F
Level: Unranked
Elemental Affinity (Wood): 0.7
Talent: None
Acquired Soul Techniques: Purification I (23/50)
Body——(Distributable Points: 0)
Power: 0.3
Body: 0.2
Agility: 0.1
Spiritual Energy——(Distributable Points: 0)
Spiritual Energy: 0.5
Remaining Energy: 0.8 (Each point of Energy can be exchanged for 1 Body Attribute Point or 0.5 Spiritual Ability Attribute Points)
]
This magical panel was something he had unexpectedly Awakened when he formed the contract with the Silver Lotus Wood.
From what he had observed, no one else seemed to have a similar panel.
Moreover, Han Ning discovered that for every Demon Eye Frog he killed, he could absorb 0.15 to 0.2 in Energy Value just by touching its body.
Through two days of effort, he had already accumulated 0.8 Energy. He was just one Demon Eye Frog away from being able to exchange it for Attribute Points.
There was an unwritten rule among the survivors: whoever killed the Soul Beast owned it.
Han Ning and the other two students hurried downstairs. Each carrying a Silver Lotus Wood that provided fresh oxygen, they ran to the perimeter wall, grabbed the A-frame ladder propped against the building, and climbed over.
It was an incredibly dangerous thing to do, but for the sake of survival, they had no other choice.
The two students stood guard by the wall while Han Ning, wearing thick gloves and dragging a large burlap sack, quickly ran toward the three fallen Demon Eye Frogs.
The duty of retrieving the corpses was rotated, and today it was simply his turn.
He first poked the Demon Eye Frogs' bodies with a wooden stick to confirm they were completely dead. Only then did he step forward, grab them by the legs, and toss them into the sack.
Throughout this process, the flowerpot containing the Silver Lotus Wood stayed in the backpack on his back, helping to create a relatively safe space around him.
Demon Eye Frogs weren't large, only about the size of a rooster, but they carried a terrifying toxin that could kill an adult instantly. If the venom from a living Demon Eye Frog so much as sprayed onto a person's skin, it would only take three seconds for their entire body to putrefy and for them to die in agony.
Han Ning had once personally witnessed a classmate get splattered with a spot of the Demon Eye Frog's venom no bigger than a mung bean. A living person lost all signs of life within three seconds.
However, the toxin of a dead Demon Eye Frog would weaken, which was why he dared to come out and retrieve their corpses.
In less than two minutes, Han Ning had efficiently placed all three Demon Eye Frogs into the sack. He returned inside the walls, shaken but unharmed.
"Phew, lucky to be alive another day." He glanced at the gloomy sky and turned to walk into the dormitory building.
After dividing the Demon Eye Frog corpses with his two classmates, Han Ning returned to his own room.
Because the number of residents had plummeted, every survivor could have their own private room. Of course, students who felt unsafe could also choose to room with others.
Han Ning preferred quiet, so he chose to live alone.
He placed the Demon Eye Frog's corpse on the floor and gently touched it.
[+0.21]
An inexplicable piece of information appeared in his mind.
The Remaining Energy on his panel rose to 1.
Looking at the Silver Lotus Wood's attribute distribution, Han Ning hesitated.
'Should I strengthen the Body attributes, or the Spiritual Energy attributes...?'