Chapter 154 - 153: New Skills, New Society

Chapter 154: Chapter 153: New Skills, New Society

[Druid Level increased to Level 10]

[New Skill unlocked: Natural Blessing]

Not only had he broken through to Level 10, but his Animal Companion, snow cake, had also grown to Level 9.

[Three-Color Gemstone Crocodile Lizard current Level 9, 6250/7000]

However, snow cake still hadn’t Awakened any other Skills. Its size had increased further, though. Its body length now approached five meters, and its limbs had grown thicker and longer. Its appearance was gradually transforming into something resembling a cross between a legendary Western Dragon Species and Godzilla.

Upon reaching Level 10, a new Skill was unlocked.

[Natural Blessing (Basic Level)]: The Druid channels the deeper Power of Nature to bless a target creature.

Slightly increases the target creature’s spirituality and wisdom.

Purification Ability increases.

Has a small probability of optimizing the target creature’s genetic factors (Level ≤ Level 10), inducing beneficial mutations.

Has a slight probability of optimizing the genetic factors of plants between Level 10 and Level 15.

When using Natural Blessing to induce positive mutations in creatures with higher life structures, the success rate will not diminish due to the complexity of the target’s structure.

"Natural Blessing... isn’t this simply an advanced version of Natural Blessing? It’s a good thing I grinded the level of Natural Blessing up recently," Han Ning murmured, carefully savoring the information about his new Skill.

It was practically a divine Skill tailor-made for the Extraordinary Plants research he and Professor Ye were conducting. Not only could it accelerate plant growth, but it could also now increase the success rate of optimizing species, and it even had an effect on higher-order creatures. This held immeasurable significance for his future development, whether for enhancing the overall strength of the team or for establishing a stable food source.

At this moment, the interface panel before him flashed. Three "Society" options representing different Druid paths emerged once again. Among them, the emblem of the Earth Society was already lit up, displaying a warm, earthy yellow luster.

The other two were still gray. One emblem was composed of countless twinkling starlight dots, profound and mysterious. The other emblem was made up of microscopic spores.

The Star Society and the Spore Association. At Level 10, he could choose another one of them to join.

Han Ning’s gaze lingered on the two newly appeared society options. Both held a powerful attraction for him, but he was in no rush to make a choice. Regardless of which society he chose, there would be corresponding rituals. It was inconvenient on the boat, making it impossible to complete the process properly. He simply withdrew his consciousness from the Spiritual World, stood up, and stretched his muscles, producing a series of soft pops.

"Congratulations." Lin Qianqian had appeared beside him at some point, as if she were acting as his guardian.

Xu Ming, Professor Ye, Yu Na, and little Xu Yinyin were all standing nearby.

"Heh, with so many Energy Crystal Stones, there had to be a breakthrough eventually." Han Ning nodded, not offering too much explanation. He looked at Chairman Wu, who was walking over, and asked, "Chairman Wu, how are the casualties?"

At the mention of this, everyone’s mood sank once more. Chairman Wu sighed heavily.

"Nearly a third of the Awakened have died.

"Our Biyun Resort originally had forty-one Awakened. After this battle ended, only twenty-nine people are left...

"Then there are the ordinary people. On the ship that sank, almost all of them died. The ordinary people on the other four boats fared better with minimal casualties. There were originally forty-eight of them, but now the number has sharply dropped to thirty."

The reason the proportion of Awakened in the group was now so high was that the ordinary people had died off so rapidly.

"Excluding your group, there are currently fifty-nine survivors," Chairman Wu added.

"More than a third died in a single battle." Everyone’s hearts were heavy. With so few people left, how many more of these ordeals could they withstand?

"Let’s not even talk about the rest of the supplies. Supplies can be salvaged. With people dead, distributing the supplies actually became a bit easier.

"The mountain range is right in front of us. We must quickly find a safe landing spot and set up a temporary camp to rest and recuperate," Chairman Wu said bitterly.

"Boss, without the boat, what are we going to do from now on?" Xu Ming asked a crucial question.

"He’s right. Relying solely on these four broken little boats, I’m afraid we won’t be able to navigate these dangerous waters," Chairman Wu and the others agreed wholeheartedly.

"Boats..." Han Ning sank into deep thought. Not having a boat was indeed very troublesome. But having just comprehended Natural Blessing, a vague plan was forming in his mind.

Professor Ye, who had been silent, seemed to guess what Han Ning was thinking and suddenly spoke up. "Boss... couldn’t we use wood to build a ship?"

"As expected of Professor Ye, guessing my thoughts immediately." Han Ning smiled faintly. "I was just thinking the same thing. I can use my abilities to cultivate some hard-textured wood. After processing, we can build wooden ships far sturdier than these boats.

"It’s just that... we lack shipbuilding experience and the talents for it," Han Ning frowned.

"That’s true," Professor Ye sighed.

Chairman Wu chimed in, "I can ask around for people with that expertise. There might be some on the other boats. After all, Bailu City has quite a few shipyards, so the proportion of related professionals is a bit higher."

"Hmm, let’s take it one step at a time. Let’s settle down first."

Chairman Wu and Lin Qianqian went back to work. Han Ning and his group, who had lost their boat, were left sitting together, waiting for the vessels to dock.

"Yinyin, come here for a second," Han Ning waved at Xu Yinyin, who was sitting in her father’s lap.

"Uncle Han, what is it?" Xu Yinyin, wearing a hooded raincoat, obediently sat next to Han Ning, blinking her eyes as she looked at him curiously.

Han Ning smiled without speaking. He reached out and rested his hand on top of Xu Yinyin’s head, as if imparting wisdom. A deep green glow surfaced in his palm. Energy rich with the aura of life enveloped Xu Yinyin. The little girl looked like a Little Elf, with green motes of light scattered around her.

"Huh? Uncle Han, it feels so nice. It’s cool, like air conditioning. What is this?" She felt her little mind clear up significantly, her fingers constantly poking at the specks of light in front of her.

"It’s something that will make you smarter, like an enlightenment." Han Ning was not only explaining it to Xu Yinyin, but also to her father and the people around them. "Besides feeling like air conditioning, do you feel anything else?" Han Ning asked.

"Hmm... nope," Xu Yinyin answered honestly.

"Alright." Han Ning channeled it for a little while longer before withdrawing his hand.

It seemed that using Natural Blessing to transform a human child wasn’t going to be that easy.

The rest of the waterway journey was relatively safe. Although there was constant harassment from Black Snakes, to the Awakened whose strength had increased significantly, these creatures were practically offering themselves up as easy prey.

After going through many twists and turns, the fleet finally anchored beside a relatively gentle hillside at the foot of the rolling mountain range. The four battered boats were tied to several jagged rocks with ropes, rising, falling, and bumping against each other with the waves. The survivors supported one another as they stepped onto the muddy earth.