Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 1309: Section 1310: Monochrome Pliant Worm

Information brought back by Luci from Genoa quickly triggered a series of aftershocks.

Almost all the wizards of the Frostmoon Alliance were on the move, some to verify the facts as to whether the True Spirit of the Lord of the Flameless had indeed fallen, while others went straight to the Barbarian Cave.

Even Monty had returned from the Abyss and personally arrived at the Pamiji Plateau.

Greeting Monty was Rhein who had rushed back from the ruins in front. Rhein took Monty to the Cloud Tower, and what they discussed there was unknown to outsiders. The only thing known was that after Monty left the Cloud Tower, he did not linger and directly took the Frostmoon people and left the Barbarian Cave.

The “Mirror,” under the control of Wallace, was not influenced by Frostmoon and continued the compilation of its articles. Since the “Mirror” was not stopped, the printing of the “Glowing City Night Talk” of the Forest of Night Whisper was carried on methodically, just waiting for the moment the information exploded.

After leaving the Barbarian Cave, Monty’s expression was somber all the time, and when others wanted to inquire about the specifics, Monty did not disclose anything, only instructing Luci to not stop for a moment and to locate Angel’s position.

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Although Angel had confided many secrets and appeared not to have hidden anything at the larger framework, they were still sending people to verify the facts from all directions. But Monty still wanted to meet Angel personally because there were many vague details in Angel’s statements.

However, when Luci attempted to use Divination to find Angel’s location, just as before in the Abyss, the Divination technique still did not work…

At this time, Angel was in Pat Manor, seriously cultivating in quietude.

Sanders and Suise had not yet returned, and Angel’s daily actions were primarily focused on routine cultivation. The remaining time was either spent on constructing the Gate Model or observing the transformations of the Pliant Worm.

After the previous “hard-bodied worm” incident, Angel found new variables in the notes of ‘Heart of the Swarm’ Insercott and applied them to the Pliant Worm queen.

On the fourth day after the implementation of the new variables, the Pliant Worm finally gave birth to a new batch of eggs.

There were five eggs in total, one of which was dead, three were ordinary Pliant Worm eggs, and only one was very special.

From the moment it was born, it frequently drew Angel’s attention.

Compared to the other pale-yellow eggs, this was one that was nearly transparent, and before it even hatched, Angel observed that it seemed to have energy flowing within it.

This was an unprecedented event; even the previous “hard-bodied worm” showed no sign of energy leakage during its egg stage, just like ordinary eggs. Yet, this egg had been declaring its presence from the very egg stage.

This caused Angel to invest a great deal of attention in it.

As Angel observed, he found the energy surging inside this egg to have a mysterious synergy with him, as if the energies were synchronized, giving an illusion of a matching resonance. This made Angel harbor an unprecedented expectation for this egg from the bottom of his heart.

To hasten the hatching of this egg, Angel deeply studied Insercott’s notes, and selected a Magic Pattern from the “Enchantment Compendium” that could adjust temperature, humidity, and even the purity level of the air, and inscribed it onto the table surface.

He provided the egg with the most suitable environment for the most appropriate care.

After a long incubation period, this transparent egg finally began to show signs of loosening up.

That day, after Angel finished constructing the Gate Model, he devoted all his attention to the egg nest on the table.

The Dreamweaver Ant was still at the “frontlines” clashing with the Pliant Worm soldiers and was an indispensable chess piece to provoke the queen’s sense of crisis, one that could absolutely not be abandoned. Even on the special day of hatching, Angel did not recall the Dreamweaver Ant, because there were still many ordinary Pliant Worms. Using them to block the way of the Dreamweaver Ant would not affect the queen.

After a hearty feast, the Dreamweaver Ant left behind several shriveled Pliant Worm corpses and retreated to the edge of the nest to repair and digest, waiting for the next battle to commence.

Angel’s attention swept past the Dreamweaver Ant and went straight to the hatching chamber of the eggs.

The other eggs had already hatched one after another, and the flesh-colored larvae were wriggling out of the hatching chamber to the “kitchen” stocked with Axo’s essence blood, where they began to suckle and grow.

The only transparent egg had yet to make a move. But this was only seemingly so on the surface; through its transparent shell, one could clearly see that changes were actually taking place inside the egg.

Although it had not fully hatched yet, the form of the worm inside had already taken shape, its overall appearance not much different from the other Pliant Worms. The only difference was that its body was also nearly transparent, with only some internal organs showing a clear outline.

At that moment, this transparent Pliant Worm was struggling to stretch its body, seemingly trying to use this power to break through the eggshell. After several attempts, the egg began to shake slowly, and a crack appeared on its surface.

With the appearance of the crack and the rush of air from the outside, Angel could clearly see with his naked eye that this transparent Pliant Worm’s color was changing visibly.

From transparent to semi-transparent, and then slowly changing to a creamy white

Finally, after much struggling, the Pliant Worm broke free from its constraints and crawled out of the egg. At this moment, Angel noticed something—the Pliant Worm’s color had turned completely pure white.

It looked like a white gemstone carving, exquisitely delicate and beautiful.

But, Angel’s brows furrowed.

Because according to the notes he found in Insercott, the body color of a Transforming Soft-bodied Insect was not a solid color… In other words, this Soft-bodied Insect, in which he had placed great hopes for a long time, had disappointed him once again, as it still was not a Transforming Soft-bodied Insect.

Although Angel felt regret in his heart, he recognized that this was a special insect, and its exact effects still needed to be recorded in his journal to categorize the data.

However, after observing for a while, he still could not define this particular Soft-bodied Insect.

Really, other than its body color, this creature’s habits were the same as those of an ordinary Soft-bodied Insect: leisurely consuming Axo’s spiritual blood, and after satiating itself, it ambled off to sleep near the queen.

Before hatching, Angel had detected an energy fluctuation inside it that resonated with his own, but now, that energy fluctuation had completely vanished, as if it had never existed.

Angel rubbed his temples, preparing to temporarily retract his observational gaze.

Just at that moment, the Dreamweaver Ants, which had been still for a while, advanced to the front lines, where a few ordinary Soft-bodied Insects were resisting the ants’ onslaught.

Watching the movements of the Dreamweaver Ants, Angel pondered for a moment, then decided to conduct an experiment.

He exerted spiritual pressure on those ordinary Soft-bodied Insects, while driving the Dreamweaver Ants toward the location of the special-insect body.

Just as the Dreamweaver Ants were about to reach the vicinity of the special insect body, the pure-colored Soft-bodied Insect finally woke up from its deep sleep.

Facing the Dreamweaver Ants, it seemed somewhat afraid, its body trembling as it backed away.

Witnessing this scene, Angel could not help but shake his head again, thinking to himself, It must be because it was just born and had not activated its special ability yet.

After all, it was a precious special insect body, and its abilities had not yet been explored; he couldn’t let it die just yet. With that thought, he prepared to drive the Dreamweaver Ants back first.

But at that moment, the seemingly “afraid” pure-colored Soft-bodied Insect suddenly moved.

Its actions defied Angel’s definition of the movement patterns of Soft-bodied Insects!

Because, it was not moving by wriggling or sliding, but by using a strange energy to float itself off the ground… and with incredible speed, it lunged at the Dreamweaver Ant.

In an instant, before Angel’s eyes could catch up, one of the Dreamweaver Ant’s legs had broken off!

Moreover, Angel had no idea how it had managed to break the leg of the Dreamweaver Ant.

That wasn’t enough, as the pure-colored Soft-bodied Insect touched the wall of the insect nest, a burst of energy rebounded, working like a spring, propelling it towards the Dreamweaver Ant again.

A white flash passed by, and the Dreamweaver Ant’s leg broke once more.

Watching this unfold, Angel was completely stunned. The hitherto invincible Dreamweaver Ants, this time, were actually defeated by this pure-colored Soft-bodied Insect? What special effect did it possess?

Seeing that it was about to launch a third attack, Angel hurriedly applied his spiritual pressure to suppress it, as the Dreamweaver Ants were nearly extinct, and couldn’t be allowed to die off here.

He drove the Dreamweaver Ants back to the edge of the nest and released a Trick for energy replenishment and accelerated restoration. Afterward, Angel paid no further attention to the Dreamweaver Ants. With their strong regenerative abilities, they should recover completely before long.

All of his attention was on that pure-colored Soft-bodied Insect.

Now without the threat of the Dreamweaver Ants, it had once again reverted to its harmless appearance, and the energy that had previously swirled around it had also disappeared, making it appear almost indistinguishable from a normal Soft-bodied Insect.

If Angel hadn’t witnessed its terrifying combat abilities with his own eyes, he would have likely been deceived by it as well.

Angel took the Soft-bodied Insect out of the nest, closely analyzing its physical data.

After a series of analyses, he found that the insect’s physical strength wasn’t much different from that of ordinary Soft-bodied Insects. The only difference was the special energy that had briefly emerged earlier.

What exactly was that special energy?

Angel carefully reflected on the previous battle between the Soft-bodied Insect and the Dreamweaver Ants, feeling that there was a very familiar sensation when that energy appeared.

“I always feel it’s like the power of Illusion Technique?” Angel muttered to himself.

He was well aware of the energies within his body, and of the part that resonated with the pure-colored Soft-bodied Insect; Angel always felt it resembled the power of Illusion Technique, yet there seemed to be a slight difference.

Whether his guess was correct, and what the special energy of the pure-colored Soft-bodied Insect actually was?

Angel thought about it and decided to conduct a small experiment.