When the sandworm reached the net, as expected, it was entangled by the net and unable to move.
Everyone waited for a while to see if the sandworm would change or if the Infant Spirit would come.
Time ticked by, and after a few minutes, everyone looked at each other with doubt in their eyes.
The Infant Spirit didn't come, and the sandworm didn't seem to be affected by the web at all. It was still alive and didn't show any signs of dying.
So, the web was just like a spider's web, which was used to catch prey? But in the world of energy, what was the crimson light emitted by the web? It couldn't be just a decoration, could it?
Everyone looked at Dorcas, wanting to get an explanation from him.
Dorcas had a strange look on his face. He narrowed his eyes as if he was thinking or sensing something. After a while, Dorcas said, "The effect of weaving a net … might be to absorb energy."
As for why Dorcas said so …
"The tiny bit of energy I left in the little bug's body was sucked away," Angor said.
"If that's the case, why is it still alive?"
Life energy was also a kind of energy. Wizards in the southern wizarding region and other areas had already discovered that many monsters fed on life energy.
For example, Gomito, or the Heart Eater in folklore, also fed on life energy. However, its absorption and conversion efficiency were not high enough, which was why it would eat flesh and skin.
Magical creatures that were even more powerful than Gomito, such as the Goatmen of the Abyss and the Chupacabras of the Void, didn't need to consume the flesh they hunted. They could absorb the life energy in a single breath.
Meanwhile, the prey whose life energy was sucked away would wither and die in agony due to the lack of energy in their organs.
Life energy was the most basic energy of all living creatures. Even mortals had it. It was just a matter of how much.
But the sandworm was still alive. Even its chubby body didn't change at all. It was impossible to say that its life energy was sucked away.
Even Greya's body, which was made of flesh, would turn into a bag of bones if her life energy was sucked away. So, how could the sandworm still be so chubby after its life energy was sucked away?
Dorcas was also a little hesitant. After a long time, he finally said, "Perhaps the web won't absorb life energy?"
Dorcas didn't quite believe it himself.
This was because he had left his mana and mental power in the sandworm's body, and the sandworm had also absorbed those. If the net was only meant to absorb mana, then why didn't the net absorb any of the primal mana in the surrounding space?
Or could it be that the web only absorbs pure magic power that has been refined?
What about spirit energy?
The baby sandworm was weak, but it still had a certain amount of spirit energy. Yet the web didn't absorb its spirit energy. This could be seen with the naked eye. Once a sandworm lost its spirit energy, it would become weak and fall unconscious, which was no different from death.
But now, the sandworm was still struggling, and its vitality was still there. It was just that it couldn't move, and it didn't look like its mental power had been absorbed.
The Black Earl said, "Then let's tentatively decide that one of the effects of the web is to absorb energy that isn't the main body."
Dorcas thought for a moment and felt that this was barely right. But he still didn't believe that the web was only used to expel foreign energy.
If what Dark Earl said was true, then the web wasn't a trap at all. Instead, it was a special buff. It could expel foreign energy from one's body.
For many Magi, this was a very good outcome. For example, if a wizard was cursed or invaded by foreign energy and couldn't get rid of it, wouldn't the web solve the problem perfectly?
That made the web look good.
But did the web really have no other negative effects apart from confinement? Dorcas didn't believe it, and neither did the others. But this was the conclusion they came to. They had to put their doubts aside for now.
"You have other sandworms, right? Why don't you try the red wax on the ground?" Dark Earl looked at Dorcas.
Although the red wax could be bypassed by climbing the wall, the Black Earl had a hunch that the appearance of the red wax could not be so simple. If it could really be bypassed, then what was the point of the Baby Spirit making these red wax?
Even if the red wax could be avoided, Dark Earl still hoped to find out the general effect of the red wax.
"I have some guesses about the red wax's effect," Dorcas said.
Black Earl: "Oh?"
Dorcas gave a simple explanation of the fluctuating control he had over the sandworm. "Even though the little bug didn't touch the red wax, it was still able to control the sandworm in great detail. But as soon as it entered the range of the red wax, it began to lose control. I think it's because of the red wax. "
"You're saying the red wax can affect your control over the sandworm? In other words, it can affect your spirit power? "
Dorcas nodded, then shook his head. "It can affect my control over the little bug. But I don't just rely on my spirit power to control it. I also rely on my bloodline power.
"The little bug's bloodline is closely related to mine. You can even say that it's being nourished by my bloodline to survive.
"That's why I can control all of the little bug's actions through my bloodline power. I can even replace it when it loses its sense of self.
"Personally, I don't think the red wax's effect is to weaken or deprive my control over the sandworm. Instead, it affects the sandworm's spirit power. But it doesn't mean that the sandworm's spirit power will disappear. Instead, it will become chaotic or unbalanced.
"It's like …"
"Mental illness," Angor finished the sentence.
Dorcas nodded. "Yes. It's like a crazy person suffering from mental illness. But it didn't destroy its spirit power. "
"But that's just your guess," Black Earl said.
"It's a guess, but …" Dorcas was going to say that his inspiration was the same. But on second thought, he didn't want to use his inspiration as evidence. Even if his inspiration was rarely wrong, it still couldn't be used as evidence.
"Fine, I'll try again. This time, I'll touch the red wax on the ground directly."
This time, Dorcas didn't spit out the sandworm from his mouth. Instead, he stomped on the ground, and a small bump appeared on the ground.
The bump on the ground broke open, and a small, white sandworm crawled out.
Seeing the sandworm, Vaey spoke up in anger, "I didn't wrong you, did I? I said you did it on purpose, so you did it on purpose."
Dorcas pretended that he didn't hear anything.
Unwilling to be left out, Vaey shouted at the sandworm, "Let's go, little bug!"
Hearing Vaey's shout, Dorcas turned around and said, "I don't want it to be contaminated by the gutter's smell, so it's not called 'little bug'. It's called —"
Dorcas considered. "Kurinand Zilolo Bardev, how about that?"
Angor was expecting to hear more creative names from Dorcas. But when he heard the long list of names, his head was filled with question marks. He couldn't keep up with Dorcas's thought process. How did Dorcas's mind jump from 'little bug' to such a long list of names, including a middle name? He's seriously trying to come up with a name!
Compared to Angor's surprise, Vaey didn't feel anything at all. He had already gotten used to Dorcas's ridiculous behavior. If Dorcas chose something like 'little bug', 'little bug', or 'little bug', Vaey would be more surprised.
"That's not a good name," Vaey rejected. He didn't bother to find an excuse. What was the point of not being a good name?
"Let's call it 'little bug'. As for the reason, when you stomp your foot, it comes out. Think about it, where it comes from. It's fine to call it 'little bug', "Dorcas said.
"Do you know the punishment for slandering a wizard?" Dorcas asked.
"I'm slandering you? If you swallow this little bug back into your mouth, I'll apologize to you. "
"So you only need to apologize for slandering me?" Dorcas grumbled.
Angor sighed in his mind as he watched the two bickering addicts. "Alright, let's stop here. We have more important things to do. Don't let trivial matters get in the way. "
"Or do you really think the Infant Spirits are easy to bully?"
Since Angor already spoke, Vaey didn't dare to continue. Dorcas wasn't afraid of Angor, but he still felt that he was being too casual.
Putting away his relaxed expression, Dorcas spoke in a serious tone, "Bardev, let's go!"
Angor didn't know what to say. Still, they couldn't avoid the name.
The white, chubby little bug wriggled forward. This time, it didn't climb the wall. Instead, it touched the red wax directly. It didn't take long for it to reach the red wax.
Without any hesitation, it climbed onto the red wax.
However, not long after the sandworm crawled onto the red wax, an unforeseen event occurred.
The wax was supposed to be solid, but when the sandworm touched it, the wax began to melt. However, the melting was only limited to the sandworm's lower body.
In the blink of an eye, the red wax dragged the little sandworm into its "body" and trapped it.
The red wax wasn't transparent, so Dorcas could only see the shadow of the little sandworm.
Dorcas frowned. "I can't control Bardev anymore. I can't sense it at all. It's like it was wiped out from my bloodline connection. "
Before, the little bug still had some life energy, so he didn't completely lose contact with it. But now, Dorcas couldn't sense Bardev's existence at all.
Besides, Bardev fell into the red wax so fast that Dorcas didn't even have time to see what happened.
After hearing Dorcas's words, everyone's brows furrowed.
They already guessed that the red wax might have some kind of special effect, and now it seemed that it was true. But judging from its appearance and energy, the red wax was just an ordinary red wax.
They didn't even know what went wrong, let alone how to solve it.
"The Baby Spirit hasn't shown up yet. How about I try again with a sandworm? Should I use an apprentice-level sandworm this time? "Dorcas suggested.
The Dark Earl shook his head.
In the beginning, the Black Earl agreed to the probing mainly because he wanted to test Web Weaving and Red Wax.
Now that they were sure that the red wax and the web really did have special effects, it was pointless for Dorcas to keep trying.
They didn't know whether the red wax and the web were created by the Baby Spirit or Adanis, but they were sure that the apprentice-level sandworms alone couldn't get more information.
If they wanted to get more useful information, they would have to try it themselves.
And this was probably the Baby Spirit's goal.
If the Baby Spirit really wanted them to try it themselves, they were sure that the red wax and the web would definitely affect them.
It was an obvious trap.
"What should we do then?" Dorcas considered and realized that the apprentice-level sandworms wouldn't work. "How about I do it myself?"
"Are you going to give it away for free?"
Dorcas: "Then, why don't we let it try?"
Dorcas pointed at the alchemy puppet beside Vai.
The alchemy puppet was controlled by Soren, who was sent by Angor to protect Kael as well as Wai.
"No. Velin is Mister Angor's elemental creature. We can't just treat it as a consumable."
Dorcas grumbled, "You're really worried about Angor's elemental creature … I said I'll go, and now you're saying I'm giving it away for free?"
Vai humphed and looked away. "I'm saying you're giving it away for free because I don't want you to go."
"I didn't say Velin would do it. Let the alchemy puppet do it."
Dorcas looked at Angor and asked, "What do you think?"
Angor shook his head. It wasn't that he couldn't do as Dorcas said. He didn't really care about the alchemy puppet, but he had other plans.
However, before Angor could finish his words, someone interrupted him.
"Behind you!" Kael shouted.
Before he could react, he heard two loud bangs as if something had hit the ground.
When he looked back, he realized that there were two square stone cells on the ground.
He was familiar with the mana used to create these cells. It must be the work of the Dark Earl. However, he was surprised to see what was inside the cells.
Inside the two small stone cells were the two sandworms from earlier.
They didn't look any different. However, if Angor used his energy vision to observe them, he would see that their bodies were covered in a dark red light.
The crimson and unfortunate light seemed to be corrupting the two little sandworms.
Dorcas: "My little bug, and Baldev! What's going on?! "
The Black Earl said, "They've been released. Can you sense them now?"
Dorcas tried to sense the little sandworms in the stone prison, but as soon as he used his bloodline power to sense them, he felt a flood of negative emotions enter his mind through his bloodline power.
Without hesitation, Dorcas cut off his bloodline power.
He did it successfully, but he was still affected by a lot of negative emotions. At the same time, the bloodline power's backlash began to surge inside his body.
Dorcas coughed up several mouthfuls of blood and collapsed on the ground.
The bloodline power's backlash wasn't that serious. However, Dorcas, who always had a positive attitude, couldn't hold on any longer.
Dispirited, depressed, self-pitying … Dorcas was surrounded by a gloomy aura.
Just as Dorcas felt as if he had fallen into an abyss of emotions, he suddenly heard a sigh. Immediately after, a familiar illusory power entered his forehead.
Dorcas tried to resist, but he gave up. His depression made him feel that nothing mattered anymore.
Since Dorcas didn't resist, the illusion spell successfully entered his body.
Next, the tiny figure hiding in the corner of Dorcas' mind felt something warm on his back. When he looked back, he saw the golden sunlight.
The warmth of the sun dispelled all the gloominess in his mind.
All the good memories of his past appeared in front of his eyes.
In just a few seconds, the gloomy aura around Dorcas disappeared.
Dorcas stood up again with a complicated expression on his face. It took him a while to regain his composure. He nodded to Angor. "Thank you."
He knew very well that the golden sunlight and the good memories were brought by Angor's illusion.
It awakened Dorcas' forgotten memories, and at the same time, dispelled a large part of his negative emotions.
Dorcas could find a way to adjust himself, but he didn't know how long it would take for him to get rid of all the negative emotions. Angor's illusion was like a needle that instantly pulled him out of his depression.
"Don't worry about it. It's nothing."
While it was nothing to Angor, others might not be able to do the same. This included the Black Earl as well.
However, they didn't care about Angor's powerful emotional control right now. They were more concerned about what Dorcas went through.
Dorcas remained silent for a while before he spoke in a low voice.
"They … went crazy."
(End of Chapter)
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