As the Ice Witch had described it in her report, it looked like a hairless spider or an ant with a big belly; its upper body was slender and clearly segmented, and its lower body was swollen and about the size of a grown man's torso.
Obviously, this was not the insect's limit. Its abdomen had to expand to at least two or three times its normal size in order to envelop the entire Mad Demon. According to the "photos" sent back from the scene, when the Mad Demon was contained, its head would be buried in the ground, leaving only its bloated belly exposed. At first glance, it looked like a large, mature insect egg.
"Did you kill it?" Phyllis asked.
"It's convenient. Although it's not aggressive, it can run away quickly." Agatha condensed the ice into a slender blade and cut into the insect's abdomen.
Immediately, a milky white liquid with a slightly fishy smell flowed out.
"This kind of mucus has a certain antiseptic effect. Under normal circumstances, it can flow freely, but after a long time, it will slowly solidify and turn into a substance like egg white," she explained.
"And then... eat it?" Fahrti could not help but frown.
"Although I've never eaten it before, I don't think it tastes too good." Agatha shook her head. "The key lies in another kind of body fluid."
This time, she busied herself for half an hour before she completely removed the skin on the back of the insect and pulled out a sticky green organ.
"It looks a little like a gallbladder," Phyllis said excitedly.
"But it's not bile." Agatha carefully cut a small hole in it and squeezed two drops of dark green juice out of the slime that had accumulated on the ground. She then summoned two icicles again and quickly stirred the slime. "The next step is the key."
Roland held his breath and carefully watched the "preservative" change.
Soon, the liquid began to thicken, and the Ice Witch's stirring became slower and slower. About two or three minutes later, the icicles that had been inserted into the mucus could not be separated anymore, as if they were tightly bound together by something.
He stretched out his finger and pressed the surface of the mucus. It had turned into a soft gelatinous substance, but after a few millimeters, he could not move any further.
"This is …" Phyllis exclaimed.
"Bio-rubber," Roland said with a hint of excitement. "This is the thing that immobilized Fran."
From the first report sent by Agatha, he had noticed the strange properties of the relic crawlers. At first, he thought it was similar to the ability of spiders to spin silk, but as the follow-up reports arrived, he found that the solidified mucus had excellent elasticity and toughness, comparable to rubber. Not only could it be cemented on the surface of objects, but it could also be shaped into any shape before solidifying. These two points alone made it practical.
Roland had been sending people to look for gelatinous plants. He believed that as long as he found a sample, Leaf could transform it into a high-yield crop that could be grown on a large scale. However, there was no definite information about rubber trees or rubber grass. Even in the Kingdom of Dawn, which was rich in species, no one had heard of such plants. Therefore, whenever there was a need for elastic materials, they could only ask Soroya to solve it.
This undoubtedly limited the production capacity of Neverwinter.
With the new batch of machine tools being put into use and the production efficiency and processing level of the factory significantly improved, rubber became the most obvious shortcoming. Although he knew that rubber was just a general name for elastic materials, which could be produced naturally or artificially, he did not know how to operate it.
Just when Roland suspected that there were no gelatinous plants in this remote area, the exploration report of the snow mountain ruins gave him an unexpected surprise.
Because of this, he decided to take the risk and try to breed this alien creature brought by the deep-sea monsters.
Now that he had seen the real thing, he was finally sure of his judgment.
Regardless of the durability of the solidified mucus, as long as it could act as a seal for moving parts, it could be categorized as a rubber.
"According to Summer's scene, we found that it was these reptiles that bound Fran," Agatha said slowly. "They sprayed mucus from their tails and tied her up tightly like a net. However, the mucus in the stomach alone was useless. It had to be mixed with the juice in the organs on the back to achieve the rapid solidification effect. If not for Sylvie's Eye of Magic, we would have to explore for another 10 days to half a month. "
"I see," Pasha nodded. "This is a good material to make fishing nets and ropes." "
"The former is okay, but the latter is too soft," Alethea commented bluntly. "No one likes to use a rope that gets longer and longer. Besides, I don't think this knowledgeable mortal king would bring these unknown insects back to Neverwinter just to eat some salted fish. " She paused and turned to Roland. "No matter how crazy your experiment is, don't forget that you're not just representing Graycastle." "
Her words stunned Roland for a moment. He did not expect that Alethea, who had been brooding over the fact that he was the only leader of the united front, could understand his intention. He also did not expect that she would say something that, in a sense, acknowledged his leadership nature.
"Of course." Thinking of this, he could not help but smile. "If everything goes well, you'll soon see its wide range of uses."
"But without the monster that controls them, how can we make the reptiles spew the mucus?" Pasha asked. "You can't just kill them every time and then take them, right? "
"This is the direction of future research." Agatha put the organs into a leather bag and wiped her hands. "If it doesn't work, we can only rely on mass cultivation."
In addition to the "rubber worms", Roland then looked at other fresh species brought back from the ruins, such as the fruit plants that emitted cold light and the transparent boneless fish that lived in the underground river. However, these new discoveries were overshadowed by the exotic reptiles.
The former was just a symbiotic phenomenon — a large group of glowing beetles gathered in the fruit, and after eating the flesh, they would scatter and spread the seeds, so they could not be used as street lamps at all. The latter could hardly see the light and could only live in the underground water vein. Although its meat was delicious, it was destined that it could not be raised on a large scale and could only be served as a rare game on the dining table of a few people.
Of course, Roland did not expect every new species to surprise him like the "rubber worms". He was already satisfied with the results of the exploration of the snow mountain.
Before leaving the Third Border City, Pasha brought two God's Punishment Witches that he had never seen before to him.
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