What happened to the "useless thing"?!
Not only did Angor claim that it was a broodmother?!
Kanter felt as if the last line of defense in his heart was crumbling like a snow wall. It was peeling off bit by bit, revealing his mottled heart.
"Broodmother?! How?! The Queen Worm went extinct even earlier than the Soft Morphing Worms. It's impossible for any of them to have escaped, "Kanter said dryly.
"But if it's not a broodmother, how can it lay eggs and hatch?" Angor was confused.
Lay eggs and hatch?!
Kanter's lips twitched. "You must be mistaken. Maybe it's not a Soft Worm."
"But didn't you give the eggs to me, sir?"
Kanter didn't know what to say. He didn't want to admit that he once gave Angor a broodmother's egg, but he still couldn't help but take a closer look at the nest.
And what he saw next left him completely dumbfounded.
Even before he looked into the depths, he was already sure of one thing when he saw the layers of worm corpses outside.
He only gave Angor a few eggs, but there were at least dozens of Soft Larvae's corpses.
There was no broodmother to give birth to more eggs.
When he saw the "snot monster" in the depths of the hive, he immediately closed his eyes. At the same time, he began to curse himself for mistaking Pearl for a fish eye.
This was the broodmother of Soft Worms!
It was exactly the same as what he saw in the files he read.
"Mister Kanter, is it really not a broodmother?" Angor's question was like an arrow being released by fate, which hit Kanter's chest.
Kanter resisted the urge to vomit blood and said with difficulty, "This … this is indeed … a queen insect."
"Really?!" Angor's eyes widened.
"It's true." Kanter felt extremely uncomfortable, but he still had to maintain the demeanor of an elder. He even had to go against his conscience and praise, "You've raised them well."
Seeing Angor holding the nest with such a happy expression, Kanter felt as if someone was stomping on his heart over and over again.
He must have been blind! Kanter couldn't help but blame himself.
However, after the drama in his heart, Kanter returned to reality. Was he really blind? He carefully recalled the situation when he first obtained the eggs. In fact, he had carefully examined them.
He had even given it to other Magi to appraise, but the final result was that it was an ordinary soft worm egg, and its life force was not very strong. The only thing worth mentioning was that the nest was in good condition. He even sensed the broodmother's aura.
Could it be that the aura of the Insect Queen in the Insect Nest had encouraged the eggs to hatch, and a Insect Queen had even appeared?
Kanter didn't believe it.
He took the nest back from Angor's hand and prepared to take a closer look.
But when he did, he noticed many details that he didn't notice. "Why are there so many Soft Worms outside the nest? Why are the Soft Worms guarding that invisible boundary as if there's a natural predator on the other side? "
Angor felt a little awkward. "It's because I have a pet like a turtledove take over a magpie's nest."
Kanter got a general idea of what was going on from Angor's explanation. However, this was the first time he had heard of the Dream Weaver Ant eating Soft Worms.
"Dream Weavers aren't that valuable, but they've been extinct for years. I didn't expect you to have another one, "Kanter said as he continued looking into the hive.
With this look, he discovered another important clue.
The nest was filled with the smell of energy and essence blood. After a careful search, Kanter found Akeso's blood storage on one side of the hall.
"This is the blood essence of an adept-level magical beast?"
"Yes, the Dream Weaver Ant and the Soft Worm both like Magical Beast Blood Essence. Previously, the Dream Weaver Ant put the Blood Essence under the Soft Worm Egg, which caused the Soft Worm Egg to hatch."
Kanter was even more confused now. Not only did Dream Weavers eat Soft Worms, but they also raised eggs?
Also, Kanter knew that some monster blood contained a lot of energy and was suitable for feeding Soft Worms. Therefore, he had used the Blood Essence of Magical Beasts to nurture these eggs, but none of them had been absorbed. That was why some of his friends had appraised the eggs as having a low life force.
His monster blood did not do anything to the eggs. Why did Angor's blood work?
Was it because of the Dream Weavers, or the blood?
Kanter shamelessly asked for a drop of blood essence from Angor. He hesitated for a moment before putting it into his mouth.
In an instant, a powerful life force flowed out from the blood essence.
After this life force surged out, it immediately clashed with Kanter's own life force. Kanter managed to expel the life force in the end. However, when he tried to defend himself, the sudden burst of life force almost broke his defense. It was obvious how powerful the energy contained in the blood was.
And it was only a drop of blood.
Kanter's eyes flashed with a strange light, and then he carefully examined the information revealed by the essence blood. A moment later, Kanter realized what was going on.
The Blood Essence contained a strong life force. It was the rarest Blood Essence he had ever seen in a Magical Beast.
To a wizard-level lifeform like him, the blood was like a deadly poison. However, to mortals or other low-level lifeforms, the life force contained in the blood was enough to keep them alive forever.
In other words, this drop of blood essence was enough to provide the insect egg with a continuous and unending life force.
This way, the eggs would probably be able to hatch.
Moreover, Kanter felt a strange aura from this drop of blood essence. This aura was very obscure. It was similar to the aura Kanter had smelled in medical schools when he was still a mortal.
"What kind of monster is this?" Kanter couldn't help but ask.
"I don't know. But I heard it's a snake's blood."
Kanter saw Angor's hesitant look and knew that Angor was lying. But the snake's blood was real.
Kanter didn't ask further. Angor was an apprentice of his old friend, and Kanter valued Angor's potential.
"It's very useful for low-level lifeforms. It can even keep them alive forever," Kanter sighed.
Akeso's blood helped Dodoro to live for a thousand years, and it even kept Dodoro's body young.
He couldn't help but think about Jon.
Did Akeso's blood work on Jon? Maybe he could ask Sunders about it when he came back.
"The life force contained in the blood can help the eggs hatch. But I don't think it's enough to make the eggs hatch." Kanter looked at the corpses outside the nest and thought, "Perhaps the Dream Weaver Ant had some effect on the Soft Larva's eggs."
Dream Weaver Ant can help the eggs? Angor looked at Kanter in confusion.
"According to some records I read, the broodmother is responsible for the reproduction of the entire swarm. However, its birth rate is affected by the outside world. Usually, broodmothers don't give birth in large numbers because it consumes a lot of energy."
Kanter was deep in thought as he explained. As his mind worked faster, he was able to figure out many things that he couldn't figure out.
"However, because of the appearance of the Dream Weaver Ant, the mother insect is reproducing in large numbers. Through a war of attrition, it avoids being threatened."
Angor quickly understood what Kanter was trying to say.
It was like an ecological chain. They were enemies, but at the same time, they also helped each other.
Perhaps the broodmother was born because the Dream Weaver Ant was "feeding the eggs". The swarm knew that the Soft Worms couldn't defeat the Dream Weaver Ant. They would only serve as nourishment for the Dream Weaver Ant.
They didn't want to die before they were born.
Perhaps some kind of hormone or pheromone stimulated one of the eggs and caused it to mutate.
This mutated egg was the broodmother.
This explained everything that happened later. When the broodmother realized that it was an "egg", the Dream Weaver Ant didn't do anything to it. Instead, it nurtured it and refused to hatch. The broodmother kept absorbing Akeso's blood to accumulate energy.
Once it hatched, the broodmother and the Dream Weaver Ant began to fight each other.
Until now.
There were two important factors to establish this relationship. First, the broodmother had to have enough life force.
When Angor found a coffin full of Akeso's blood, he was able to solve the problem. This allowed the broodmother to lay a large number of eggs without any worries.
Second, the broodmother had to have enough natural enemies.
If there were too many Dream Weavers, the swarm would know that it had no chance of winning and would never give birth to a broodmother. Even if the broodmother did hatch, it wouldn't lay a large number of eggs because it had no chance of winning.
These two factors led to the hatching of the eggs and the birth of the broodmother.
Kanter didn't blame himself anymore. Even if he had the egg with him, he wouldn't have been able to hatch it into a broodmother like Angor did.
In the end, it was all Angor's luck that led to this.
"I once heard the name of a legendary Summoner wizard, 'Heart of the Swarm'. I used to scoff at it. How could a swarm have a heart? Now that I think about it, maybe it's the 'Heart of the Swarm'. As long as there's hope for survival, their hearts will never give up. "
Kanter looked at Angor with a gentler expression.
He was jealous of Angor's good luck, but this also proved that he was right about Angor not. Angor had both great potential and good luck.
"Ahem, Angor."
Angor looked at Kanter in confusion.
Kanter smiled and said, "Speaking of which, you're the only one who hasn't been to Lilith's House. Why don't you come to Lilith's House for a while after we're done here and return to the wizarding world? You can get to know Keely better. "
Angor shuddered. Why did Kanter keep bringing up Keely whenever he talked to him?
"Well, I'll see." Angor quickly changed the topic. "Mister Kanter, since this is a broodmother, can it give birth to Flexible Worms?"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
