Holding the Crystal Stone, a faint wave of Spiritual Power radiated from the surface of the dimly glowing crystal.

Tiny, pale white particles slowly revolved around its polygonal edges.

Han Ning also discovered that with his current level of Spiritual Power, he was unable to absorb Energy directly from the bodies of Soul Beasts that had grown Crystal Stones. He had to dig out the Crystal Stones by hand, just as before.

’I wonder if it’s because my Spiritual Power is too low.’

"What kind of Attribute does this Crystal Stone have?"

For the sake of his experiment, he didn’t waste the largest Crystal Stone in his hand. Instead, he found the smallest one nearby, a tiny crystal about the size of a soybean, and used his panel to absorb the Energy within it.

[Energy +0.6] [Spiritual Energy +0.05]

Two lines of information appeared before his eyes.

The Energy inside the small crystal was completely absorbed, and the shimmering luster on its surface quickly dimmed, but it didn’t immediately shatter.

"Oh? It can actually increase Spiritual Energy?"

He recalled the giant Brain-Eating Spider’s bizarre hallucinatory abilities and speculated that this type of Crystal Stone likely possessed an attribute for weaving Illusion Realms, similar to those found in novels.

It was clear that a single small Brain-Eating Spider contained less Spiritual Energy than the black worms.

That didn’t even account for the Brain-Eating Spiders that hadn’t yet grown Crystal Stones. ’It’s a good thing we didn’t run into these more powerful creatures back at Canteen No. 9,’ he thought. ’With the Spiritual Power we had then, our whole group probably would’ve been wiped out.’

He took a deep breath.

The creatures of this world were too strange. Even though Yin Yi was stronger than the giant Brain-Eating Spider, the spider’s peculiar spiritual attack was incredibly difficult to defend against.

Han Ning’s heart tightened. He looked at the large and small Crystal Stones in his hand and muttered to himself,

"I’ll call you an Illusion Attribute Crystal Stone for now."

If his guess was correct, these Crystal Stones could be fed to Soul Beasts to enhance their Elemental Affinity for the Illusion Attribute.

From what he had seen so far, the Silver Lotus Woods could consume Crystal Stones of various Attributes without any harm to their bodies.

However, Yin Yi already had two Attributes. Absorbing another would drastically reduce the effect, so he decided not to feed it to the creature. It was better to save them for a rainy day.

"Han Ning, what kind of Attribute do these stones have?"

While Han Ning was studying the Crystal Stone, the other three gathered the scattered Brain-Eating Spider corpses into a pile.

"I’m calling it the Illusion Attribute. It contains a certain amount of Spiritual Energy. It’s a newly discovered Attribute," Han Ning explained, standing up and tossing the largest Crystal Stone up and down in his hand.

Luo Chen’s eyes lit up at the news, and he stared intently at the Crystal Stone. "It can increase Spiritual Power? Can we eat them?"

"Us?" Han Ning was taken aback and shook his head. "I have no idea. If you eat it directly... your body probably wouldn’t be able to absorb it... Besides, it contains too much Energy. What if your body is too weak to handle it? I’d advise you not to take the risk."

"Spiritual Power... When we first encountered that big Brain-Eating Spider, my consciousness seemed to slip into a dream. Was that a Spiritual Power attack? So bizarre." Lü Xiuning recalled the encounter, his expression turning serious.

"Han Ning, did you save us while we were out of it?"

Han Ning recalled the feeling of being inside the Illusion Realm, wielding his Spiritual Power and becoming the Illusion Realm Master. "Yes," he answered. "Countering this kind of Spiritual Shock isn’t actually that hard. You just need to have higher Spiritual Power than the Brain-Eating Spider."

Lü Xiuning nodded. "We owe you one. If we want to increase our Spiritual Power... the easiest way is to have our Silver Lotus Woods evolve. Let’s not waste any more time. Let’s get them to absorb the Energy quickly."

"You three, before you feed the Crystal Stones to your Soul Beasts, there’s something I need to tell you."

Han Ning suddenly interrupted as he saw them about to command their Soul Beasts to collect the Crystal Stones.

"What is it?" The others immediately stopped what they were doing.

"CHIRP CHIRP!"

Just then, Egg Pancake and another small Swamp Guardian ran up to Han Ning, each carrying a sparkling Crystal Stone. Egg Pancake looked at him with pleading eyes.

"You want to eat this?" Han Ning patted Egg Pancake’s head with a smile. "You can’t eat the Crystal Stones for now. Go eat some Brain-Eating Spider meat instead. Be patient."

"Chirp~" Although reluctant, Egg Pancake obediently placed the Crystal Stone in Han Ning’s palm and ran off with its little sidekick with a WHOOSH.

"Why didn’t you let Egg Pancake eat it? Is it poisonous?" Lin Tianhe asked, puzzled.

Lü Xiuning and Luo Chen also turned to look at him, their expressions just as confused.

"It’s not poisonous... Ah, how should I put this..." Han Ning thought for a moment, organizing his words before speaking.

"Based on feeding Yin Yi various Crystal Stones, I’ve come to a tentative conclusion. Soul Beasts inherently possess a Primary Attribute. As they go about their daily lives, eating the meat of other Soul Beasts and Crystal Stones with different Attributes, they will gradually go through an Awakening for a second Attribute." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"Our Silver Lotus Woods have actually eaten many foods with different Attributes: the poison from Demon Eye Frogs, Metal Crystal Stones from Iron-toothed Snakes, Ice Type Crystal Stones from the black beetles and white rats, and so on... You should observe your own Silver Lotus Woods and see which secondary Attribute characteristics they’ve started to show. If a particular trait is especially obvious, that’s likely its second Attribute."

"If you want to develop your Soul Beast’s second Attribute into the Illusion Attribute, you can keep feeding it these Crystal Stones. If you want to cultivate a different second Attribute, you should feed it more Crystal Stones of the corresponding Attribute."

"I’ve also discovered that the various Elements influence each other, so it’s best not to expose a Soul Beast to too many Elements, especially a newborn Little Guardian. This is why I stopped you."

Luo Chen was lost in thought. "My Silver Lotus Wood ate a lot of Iron-toothed Snakes. No wonder it gradually started showing Metal characteristics. The traits from other creatures it ate afterward weren’t nearly as obvious."

Lü Xiuning frowned slightly. "I have a question. Can the second Attribute be replaced? For example, if my Silver Lotus Wood is already showing signs of a second Attribute and I suddenly start feeding it Crystal Stones of a different Attribute, what would happen?"

Drawing on Yin Yi’s own situation, Han Ning replied, "It’s likely related to Elemental Affinity. If a second Attribute has appeared, it means its affinity for that Attribute is already very high. If you try to make it absorb a third Attribute, you might have to consider the Soul Beast’s physical condition, potential Attribute conflicts, and whether it can even control a third Element... I think it’s possible, but it would come at a great cost."

For example, the Gold Element Affinity Yin Yi gained from absorbing Metal Crystal Stones was only 30% of its Ice Affinity. That didn’t mean it couldn’t absorb Gold, just that it would take a massive quantity to surpass its Ice Affinity.

But the cost was simply too high.

"Mm, I understand. Thanks for telling us. A Swamp Guardian with the Illusion Attribute does seem pretty strange. I won’t let my Yellow Spirit eat the Crystal Stones either. It can just eat some meat for now."

"Earth and Illusion isn’t a bad combo, you know. Think about it: you mesmerize the enemy, then smack them in the face. Wouldn’t that be invincible?" Lin Tianhe said with a chuckle.

Before Luo Chen could speak, Han Ning’s expression turned strange.

"...Looking at how brawny Egg Pancake is, I have a hard time imagining its Spiritual Power ever getting strong enough to mesmerize other Soul Beasts."

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PS: The protagonist’s deductions are based on his current understanding and do not represent the author’s final, established settings.