Combat Energy is a form of life energy, and spiritual power is a form of soul energy; both are merely superficial aspects of their respective realms.
At that moment, Toyennes abandoned his original body and transformed into another form, exposing his soul extensively. Even under the protection of a special aura and runes sorcery array, he had to take a great risk.
Moreover, Ivan had disrupted the runes sorcery array.
Facing Toyennes’s roar, Ivan couldn’t help but accelerate the destruction. With one hand he disrupted the runes sorcery array, and with the other, he slashed with his Combat Energy. Cracks began to form on the array dais beneath his feet, on the verge of crumbling apart.
The runes sorcery array had become so disordered that it was unable to take shape.
At this moment, Pearney felt like a fish caught in a storm, oppressed from all directions, forcing her to defend desperately with her mental power, unable to see clearly what was happening around her.
In just a dozen seconds, Toyennes’s consciousness grew increasingly blurred. Under his accelerated sprint, he finally reached another rune node, following the linked auras and curse marks to his long-desired destination.
A rapid wood silkworm was waiting for his arrival.
Behind the rapid wood silkworm was Ivan, who had layered three Flower Tree Shields in front of him, witnessing Toyennes’s transformation into red and black energy being infused into the small body of the rapid wood silkworm.
Matters of the soul ought to be handled with utmost caution. From person to person it already harbors immense danger, Toyennes didn’t know how many things he had planned for this. Now, transitioning from human to insect, crossing a species boundary, he faced unknown dangers that were exceptionally terrifying.
Toyennes differed from others in another aspect; he had just experienced a transformation into a magic pet, his soul having already suffered a major blow; this time, he was undoubtedly doomed to die.
“Not right—Ivan, your sorcery—I curse—”
In the last half second before his death, Toyennes suddenly regained clarity, realizing that he had been schemed against, but it was already too late. He refused to die and tried to struggle, not knowing that this very action accelerated his death.
In the end, he left only a few disjointed words as his remaining life force disappeared into smoke.
“One digs one’s grave with one’s deeds.”
Ivan shook his head slightly, thinking about the last part of Sorcerer Toyennes’s life, not knowing how many apprentices he had wronged. Being betrayed by his own students twice was merely his own doing.
Toyennes perished.
Pearney fainted under the pressure.
The formation was damaged, and with no one in charge of the two control nodes, it soon stopped operating amidst the disorder, already riddled with holes.
The rapid wood silkworm in front of Ivan also fell into a coma, and he quickly stepped forward to check it but found no major issues.
“Stuffed with energy, who knows what changes it could cause, with this being the life and power essence of a sorcerer. Silkworm Queen, what do you think?”
“Mm-mm.”
The Silkworm Queen struggled to raise her head, expressing her somewhat displeased mood.
Jealous, unhappy.
“Jealous? You really aren’t afraid of dying,” Ivan responded, baffled. Insect thinking differed from human’s; they are simple and stubborn, always fearlessly rushing at the chance to evolve.
If they needed to sacrifice over ninety percent of their population for a chance to transform, they would undoubtedly rush forward without hesitation.
“Right, a calamity is also an opportunity; if it manages to survive this ordeal, it could potentially evolve into an intelligent creature, then you’ll surpass it.”
“Mm-mm-mm—”
The Silkworm Queen argued, no matter the change, it remains a subordinate.
After teasing the Silkworm Queen a few times, Ivan casually put the unconscious rapid wood silkworm in his pocket, to avoid any incidents in the insect nest that he couldn’t prevent in time.
Inside the cave, it had now become a complete mess.
“It’s a pity, all that vast knowledge of Toyennes has also dissipated with him.” He remarked, squatting next to Pearney to check on her. She was just suffering from some shock to her spiritual power and would recover after sleeping and meditating a few times.
The curse mark on Pearney’s arm was gone, but he could still sense a trace of curse power lingering there, he tried to eradicate it but, as expected, he could not.
It presumably wouldn’t take long for the mark to re-emerge on her arm like an incurable disease.
Ivan turned his head towards the depths of the cave, where the singing had become clearer, making his spiritual power more lively and bringing him a comfortable feeling as if something was being slowly soothed.
“There’s a period of stagnation in spiritual power growth when one first becomes a sorcerer, and the singing here actually relieves that; could it be that the curse power transferred earlier activated something?”
He quickly figured out what the singing soothed, something unheard of before.
Not only that, as he calmed down to listen to the singing, something faintly beckoned him, his intuition telling him that whatever it was would bring him great benefits.
“Since that’s the case, let’s have a look.”
He didn’t perceive anything harmful to himself; not daring to even take a glance would be ridiculous, considering that the profession of a sorcerer is destined to deal with all kinds of strange things, otherwise, how to stimulate the growth of spiritual power.
After a thought, Ivan called another rapid wood silkworm and cast a spell on it.
‘Insect Shadow Eyes’
This shadow eye spell of insects is a modified version, currently a Level 0 magic, unique in its exploratory aspects. Discover more stories at empire
The rapid wood silkworm obeyed the command and flew towards the deeper passageway.
Ivan took out his crystal ball, lightly tapped on it, and an image emerged, clearly showing what was seen through the rapid wood silkworm’s perspective, yet due to the suppression of special aura, it wasn’t as clear as expected.
The rapid wood silkworm went along the deep passage and arrived at a larger cave.
The spell was more heavily suppressed here, the image became unstable, only showing clearly the part near the rapid wood silkworm; a smaller rune sorcery array appeared, with a humanoid statue next to the array.
The view kept rising, it turned out the sorcery array was constructed beneath the statue.
Higher up, the view became narrower.
“Come back.”
Ivan wasn’t disappointed, after all, it was just a Level 0 magic; he simply conveyed the return command to the rapid wood silkworm.
Suddenly, the image in the crystal ball flashed, revealing a face with a breathtakingly beautiful smile, the image lasting only a fleeting moment.
The Insect Shadow Eyes spell failed to hold up.
“This place is indeed unusual,” Ivan thought subconsciously and examined the crystal ball inside and out, but found no traces of curse power. “Never mind, I’ll return to explore when I’m stronger.”
Although it seemed that the other party meant to show some goodwill, the possibility of it being a trap could not be excluded. Considering he had only recently become a Level 1 Sorcerer, he gave up the idea of exploring in person.
At the entrance of the passageway, the rapid wood silkworm returned successfully.
Ivan discovered an additional energy within it.
“Mmmm—”
The Silkworm Queen also noticed it, an energy beneficial to the rapid wood silkworm.
Feeling envious, she wanted to go too.
“We’ll come next time; it’s time to head back,” Ivan said.
He returned the Silkworm Queen to the insect nest and placed the exploring rapid wood silkworm into another pocket, took Pearney, and headed back the way they came. Soon, they reached the edge of the Dark River.
This time, there was no Underwater Breathing Potion.
Ivan wasn’t worried. He and Pearney jumped directly into the river, and after they submerged, the Flower Tree Shield emerged, forming a thin protective layer that kept all the river water out.
“Luckily, Talent Sorcery consumes little energy, so persisting until we resurface won’t be a problem.”
He muttered to himself, silently pushing the water around him as he moved outward. It didn’t take long before they returned to Lake Nichols, the familiar roots catching his eyes.
With Pearney, he surfaced. The Silkworm Queen and several rapid wood silkworms were summoned by him.
“Change shape, turn into a blue dove,” he instructed.
“Mmm—”
Lazily murmuring, the Silkworm Queen first used the ‘Power of Crowd Control’ to gather the other rapid wood silkworms onto herself, then used the ‘Simulated Shape Skill’ of one of the rapid wood silkworms.
In the blink of an eye, a majestic blue-gray dove formed, its wings spanning nearly ten meters wide.
The two from the water lightly landed on the back of the blue dove.
The blue dove let out joyful chirps, following the command to fly in one direction, its speed far surpassing the blood-colored pigeon he had summoned before.
“Ivan, how did it go?” Randall, who had heard the news, rode over on a big golden beetle.
“I’m fine; you didn’t need to come here to meet me,” Ivan said, surprised that Randall had arrived so quickly.
“It was necessary. Toyennes had another accomplice, a strange, unfamiliar sorcerer,” Randall hinted, nodding towards one side to indicate the direction of the enemy, noticing a newcomer beside Ivan.
“Where did you pick this one up?”
“She’s an apprentice from the Lierre Songster Sanctuary, kidnapped by Toyennes. She was originally Toyennes’s student too; we come from the same place,” Ivan explained.
“And Toyennes?”
“He’s dead. That guy was indeed maliciously cunning.”
Upon mentioning Toyennes, Ivan did not hide the details and briefly recounted what had happened.
“Dead, eh? Good that he’s dead.” Randall sighed, a senior sorcerer ending his life in such a way, truly showed the unpredictability of life.
“Instructor, please check these two for me, make sure they don’t develop any issues,” Ivan asked as he handed the two rapid wood silkworms to Randall, who, when it came to understanding insects, was unmatched.
“Let’s go and talk as we walk. As for that guy over there—” he said.
“Let’s not complicate things further.”
The mentor and his apprentice were in agreement, preferring not to get tangled up.
Leading the way with the big golden beetle and the blue dove, the trio headed towards the Mongna Ant Land Cottage.
Not far away, Jeeson noticed the two leaving.
“They’re gone.”
“Was Toyennes’s plan a success or failure? I don’t care anymore. The agreement is settled. If he had succeeded, he would naturally contact us. If he failed, it proves he was worthless.
It might be worth courting his disciples then; defeating a sorcerer’s scheme clearly demonstrates their value. With the connection from Toyennes, everyone has some background,” Jeeson thought more deeply, feeling that either way, he wouldn’t lose. He didn’t pursue them.
…
Mongna Ant Land Cottage.
Ivan and his company had already returned.
Along the way, the apprentice and mentor had planned to discuss the rapid wood silkworms, but Randall’s ‘Golden Beetle General’ and the Silkworm Queen raced each other, speeding up, leaving no chance for conversation.
The Silkworm Queen combined the power of five silkworms but barely managed not to lose to the Golden Beetle General in flying speed.
Back at the academy, Randall revealed the results of his inspection.
“They don’t have any issues. Actually, this is a typical way for insects to enhance themselves, through brute force to trigger mutations, with a mortality rate as high as ninety-five percent or sometimes even close to one hundred percent. What was the result of your rapid wood silkworm’s last evolution?”
“Fifty percent,” Ivan replied truthfully. Out of nearly three hundred rapid wood silkworms undergoing transformation, only half survived. Among them, one fifth had developed special abilities similar to the original five, all featuring Simulated Shape Skill, Simulated Breath Skill, and photosynthesis-like functions.
“Insects are such fragile creatures. If it weren’t for your Insect Breathing Method, I could only ensure a survival rate of twenty to thirty percent,” Randall explained.
Only then did Ivan realize the high mortality rate of insects during transformation, and how his innovatively created Insect Breathing Method had played no small role.