Han Ning reached out and gently scratched its chin, smiling. "Get a good feel for this. We’ll be running into this a lot from now on."

"Chiri-chiri..." Egg Pancake nodded, only half-understanding.

Having signed a Soul Beast Contract with Egg Pancake, Han Ning naturally wanted to train it well.

In an environment teeming with danger like this, it had to experience all sorts of battles to grow quickly.

’Dryly practicing Soul Techniques and Physical Ability training just can’t compare to the rapid improvement gained from constantly fighting enemies!’

After just a ten-second battle, Egg Pancake’s stats had already improved slightly.

[

Power: 0.14→0.15

Body: 0.18→0.19

Agility: 0.18→0.19

Spiritual Energy: 0.35

]

"Let’s go, keep moving. Today, I’ll try to help you guys get your Silver Lotus Woods to the level of three mutations."

’And while I’m at it, I’ll raise Egg Pancake’s stats to the point where I can add points to them.’

Han Ning added silently in his mind, then walked forward and completely absorbed the faint Energy from the Brain-Eating Spider. He then carried Egg Pancake over to the spider’s corpse and let it pick out the tastiest parts to eat.

[Energy +0.2]

Unlike the Silver Lotus Wood, Egg Pancake couldn’t use tendrils to absorb nutrients from a creature’s corpse. It could only replenish its Physical Strength by eating.

Yin Yi very thoughtfully shot out a thin vine, wrapped it around one of the Brain-Eating Spider’s legs, and began dragging the corpse forward.

Egg Pancake trotted along behind, picking out its favorite spots while extending its sharp little claws, trying to tear at the tender flesh inside the Brain-Eating Spider.

The three of them continued along the asphalt road, heading deeper into the northern part of the campus.

The further they went, the more spiderwebs appeared in the greenbelts on both sides of the road.

A dense swarm of spiders noticed their arrival and swarmed toward them like a tide, launching an attack.

Han Ning had his two roommates fight first, only letting Yin Yi join in to end the battle when their Silver Lotus Woods could no longer hold on.

Gradually, a seven-story, rectangular building with a grayish-white exterior came into view.

"Back when we were in school, I hated coming to the academic building for class the most. But you know, after not being here for over ten days, I kind of miss it," Lin Tianhe said with a sigh, gazing at the building over a hundred meters away.

"You’re just a masochist, aren’t you? It’s just like your love life. You don’t like the girls who like you, you only go for the ones who don’t." Chen Linyu couldn’t help but roast his roommate upon hearing his sentimental outburst.

"Fuck! Just because you have a girlfriend, you think you’re hot shit, huh!"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on. Look! Why is there a light on the right side of the building? Could there be survivors over there?" Lin Tianhe suddenly stopped arguing, pointing ahead in amazement.

"Shh!"

Han Ning made a hushing gesture at his two roommates, cutting them off.

With his enhanced eyesight, he could clearly see more than ten giant spiders, each over three meters tall, crouched in the flowerbeds below the computer science academic building over a hundred meters away.

But what was most terrifying was a colossal spider, at least seven meters long, clinging to the right-side wall of the seven-story academic building that stood amidst the white mist.

Its body alone was over seven meters long, which meant its height when standing on its eight legs would surely be immense.

Because they were quite far away, Han Ning couldn’t make out just how tall the giant spider was.

Its six pairs of compound eyes—twelve in total—glowed with an eerie red light in the dim surroundings.

Obscured by layers of white mist, they looked like a dozen or so red, glowing dots from a distance.

"Those aren’t lights. Those are the fucking spider’s eyes."

The moment he saw the seven-meter spider, Han Ning immediately grabbed his roommates’ clothes and started to pull them back.

Even though Yin Yi was quite strong now, trying to fight the countless Brain-Eating Spider Swarm ahead with just the three of them and their four Soul Beasts would be an absolutely insane choice.

"Eyes? Then... then how big must that Brain-Eating Spider be?"

Hearing Han Ning’s words, Lin Tianhe and Chen Linyu couldn’t help but gulp. Their voices dropped to a whisper as their minds conjured images of the monstrous spider.

"Over seven meters long, and who knows how tall when it stands up. It’s definitely no weaker than the Silver-Scaled Python. Let’s get out of here, now."

Without a moment’s hesitation, Han Ning turned and headed straight back the way they came.

"Go, go, go."

The computer science academic building was about 1.5 kilometers from the dorms, making it one of the furthest walks from the dorms to a classroom building. Normally, students would either ride a bicycle or an electric scooter. On days with a full schedule, they sometimes wouldn’t even bother going back to their dorms at all.

Further north of the academic building were the campus’s main sports field, gymnasium, auditorium, greenbelts, and faculty housing.

The three of them had been physically enhanced and were much faster than before, so they quickly left the Brain-Eating Spiders’ territory behind.

Lin Tianhe glanced back at the academic building, which was now completely swallowed by the mist and out of sight. A wave of fear washed over him.

"Whew... This just goes to show, you really need someone strong to lead when you’re out exploring. Otherwise, we would’ve just stupidly run in there and ended up as spider food."

"Without Han Ning protecting us, we probably would’ve bailed before we even got to the building," Chen Linyu retorted.

"True." Lin Tianhe let out a breath and turned to Han Ning. "It’s still early. What do you say? Should we head in a different direction and keep training?"

Han Ning nodded. "Sure. How about we head west and go cause some trouble for that pack of rats?"

So, the three of them changed direction and headed west along the asphalt road.

Just as Han Ning had walked a few hundred meters west and the biology academic building came into view...

He suddenly felt a cold, sinister aura coming from the sky.

"Ling~" "Squeak~" As Soul Beasts, Yin Yi and Egg Pancake had more sensitive skin.

The man and his two Soul Beasts instinctively looked up.

At some point, the white mist drifting in the air had actually started to move at a visible speed.

A continuous stream of mist drifted toward them from the far horizon, filling the sky as far as the eye could see.

The light in the sky began to dim.

The temperature dropped.

The ever-thickening white mist gradually began to coalesce into dark clouds.

A single, cold raindrop fell from high above, landing right on Han Ning’s face.

"It’s raining?!" His two companions had also noticed the strange sky and looked up in amazement.

This was the first time they had witnessed it rain in the wild with their own eyes.

Han Ning felt a slight tingling on his face and took a deep breath of the earthy smell that comes before a downpour. "Let’s go back. There’s no telling what might happen in the rain. It’s too dangerous out here."

The weather changed in an instant.

They had barely taken a few steps running back.

The sky, which had been relatively clear just moments ago, was now blanketed in leaden clouds. The dark, heavy canopy looked as if it was about to collapse.

The towering academic building stood silhouetted against the gloomy sky, and a sense of oppression filled the air.

WHOOSH~

The wind picked up.

RUMBLE.

The roar of thunder echoed across the sky.

They tore their gazes away and hurried back toward the dorm building.