Directed Evolution

Chapter 94 Directed Evolution

Night. Silence reigns outside the private fermentation pools on the edge of the Alchemy Academy.

The wide stone path, stained with water, glittered under the moonlight.

The few students walked by hurriedly with their heads down.

The night is quiet, no one enjoys it, no one lingers.

Of course, no one noticed Lynn sneaking along the shadows of the wall, moving slowly.

The darkness impairs human vision, and humans fear the night, but the environment doesn't always bring frustration.

"To avoid being discovered, I'll just tan."

After he finished speaking, the vanguard black blanket covered Lynn's body at an extremely fast speed.

The black covering barely reflected the moonlight. He leaned closer to the shadows at the base of the wall, completely merging into the darkness.

"Walk"

He gently tossed aside his clothes, exposing his naked body to the night wind. Then he thought that reproduction was so fast that it didn't matter whether he had clothes or not.

I simply pulled up my pants and headed towards the fermentation chamber.

The ceramic exterior of the fermentation chamber appeared a dull grayish-white under the moonlight, with the dark green logo of the Corruption School and the gold emblem of the Alchemy School printed side by side on its surface.

"My plants and spittle get nutrients from the fertilizer, which indirectly supplements my diet. It's not impossible that pike are feasting in it."

The overwhelming sense of oppression that the scaled pike brought him was still vivid in his mind, but now he had to survive by eating scraps.

Meanwhile, Lynn ate the best ingredients every day, lived in an apartment, and used professional alchemy equipment. If it weren't for satisfying the changing needs of the symbiotic pike, the balance of power would truly be reversed.

Lynn placed his hand on the hatch.

In the past, he might have directly mobilized the power of the pike to forcefully break open such a hatch.

Then he might alert the enemy, or cause an accident that he himself cannot control.

But now he has a better option.

He stretched out his hand. Black, corrosive vines sprouted from under the skin of his forearm.

"Cut open this door for me, you vine-eating grass."

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He took a piece of high-energy soil out of his pocket and fed it to the foremost vine.

The black stems swell and elongate at a visible rate, becoming denser on the surface.

The effects of the magical erosion began to appear.

Where the vines met the metal door, the black filaments dissolved and corroded the bronze-colored metal quickly and quietly.

The door opened, "tick-tock, tick-tock."

Upon entering, one is greeted by a vast, open space.

The roof was very high, and the arched metal dome gleamed a dull bronze color in the firelight.

The good news is that the flickering flames inside haven't gone out, and the gas here is non-flammable, so Lynn doesn't have to be hesitant or restrictive.

The bad news is that it still smells terrible here.

Lynn is the one who can't stand the smell the most.

Lynn looked around and spotted the fermentation device containing the plants.

It is a metal cylinder with a huge radius, with graduations and corresponding markings at heights of 25 meters, 55 meters and 75 meters.

The tank wall suddenly becomes transparent in certain areas to facilitate observation and liquid extraction.

A steel staircase stood beside the metal cylinder, and it took Lynn quite a while to climb up the stairs to the top of the fermentation tank.

It actually has an opening.

Lynn wrapped the vine around the edge of the jar and peered down.

The top layer inside the fermentation tank was covered with a thick layer of white substance, which was densely interwoven into a fluffy white blanket.

A layer of light brown liquid floated on the surface, gleaming oily in the firelight. The mycelium breathed quietly.

Lynn gently scooped up a small clump of white mycelium with the vine and brought it back to her hand.

【Omnivorous Fermented Microbial Community】

[Observed Characteristics (Only key performance characteristics are shown)]

Meat: Meat is quickly digested and provides nutrients.

Saprophytic: thriving in a decaying environment

[Food fermentation: Through complex processes, a small amount of magical liquid is produced...]

[Whether they coexist]

He couldn't possibly let such a good opportunity pass him by, especially since the owner of the production equipment hadn't suffered any losses.

Symbiosis!

A complex peristalsis came from my stomach and intestines.

Lynn rubbed his stomach and continued crawling forward. The rapidly churning water in the jar made him realize that things were not so simple.

「狗鱼呢？」

Lynn only saw Falvi lying at the door.

He didn't see a single pike.

But before he could ponder this for long, something unexpected happened.

Sensing the presence of magic, the previously still liquid in the fermentation tank began to churn.

The frequency of the bubbles suddenly increased, and countless wriggling worms emerged from the churning of the liquid surface and the gaps in the mycelium.

Lynn observed the worms feeding voraciously.

They swam happily and freely in the fermentation tank without any hindrance.

"Why are there so many different styles?"

Some of the worms are covered in green hairs, and their slender bodies meander through the liquid like clumps of water plants swimming in the dark.

Scattering tiny, glowing seeds, Lynn noticed that the color of its green hairs was almost identical to that of the mandragora worm.

Some have blue fur, and their round bodies resemble elongated marbles, bouncing in the water just like flying sticks.

Others have a metallic appearance, bloodshot eyes, and are constantly absorbing the dissolved metal elements in the waste, their bodies slowly covered with an increasingly thick metal shell. They are at least 70% similar to mechanical worms.

There were so many of them. Countless worms poured out from every corner of the fermentation liquid.

Lynn squatted on the edge of the jar, his palms slightly sweaty.

What's even more amazing is that although these worms resemble them, they are not entirely the same.

Rather than the original entity, it's more accurate to say that ordinary worm-like creatures are transforming in their direction.

The mandragora worm, covered in green hair, went from blurry to clear in a few seconds, but upon closer inspection, it became clear that its core was still the tissue structure of a normal fermenting worm, only its appearance had been "drawn" by some kind of magic.

"Perhaps the term 'catalysis' would be a more reasonable explanation."

"All worms are evolving in a specific direction, and there is more than one such direction."

The Oasis Vanguard, under the influence of the pike's magic, possesses some worm-like characteristics, which should be based on the same principle.

Lynn's gaze followed the figures churning in the liquid.

"It's no wonder that in previous studies, these worms have been identified as derivatives of pike. They are indeed related."

What caught Lynn's attention even more was that among the frolicking worms, a colorless, transparent creature was slowly rotating in mid-air.

Its body is almost completely invisible, only appearing for a fleeting moment when the firelight sweeps across it.

It wriggles in the very center of the fermentation tank. Its body is ribbon-like, slender, and looks very noble.

A notification came through.

[Affected by the magic of the Scaled Pike—the symbiotic life form "Scaled Pike" is undergoing irreversible changes—]

The irreversible change has ceased.

Lynn recognized it.

"Pike! You've really turned into this?"

Lynn turned his head and whispered to the pike on his chest, "Get your companion over here."

"Make, make, make!"

Under Lynn's command, it didn't recognize any brothers and directly used mind control.

"Hiss, hiss"

The colorless worm swayed slightly in the pipe. Its rotation began to slow, gradually losing its ability to move independently under external traction.

Its transparent body became increasingly transparent with each tremor.

And the one beside Lynn is getting stronger and stronger.

Lynn observed it closely.

Under the pike's control, it slowly and reluctantly straightened its body.

Its physical structure is similar to that of magic. Magic forms a feedback regulation, where magic that overflows from the body in turn inhibits the overflow of magic, reducing the loss to a very low level.

"This is not a living thing at all."

Lynn was slightly taken aback. No wonder, the dogfish was already dead and dismembered, yet it could still control Mary and Falvi separately.

It has no physical form and is not considered alive.

Lynn speculated that the process of a living creature transforming into an inanimate object probably endowed the pike with certain special effects, allowing it to gain a wider range of control on the verge of extinction.

However, he is not a specialized researcher and cannot explain the underlying principles.

Lynn shook his head. The gains were right in front of him; he could think about the underlying principles later.

He simply reached out and touched the core of the pike's magic.

But just as Lynn was about to touch it, its controlled state suddenly dissipated.

Lynn felt a sharp ringing in his eardrums.

Instantly, the insects below the stairs erupted in a frenzy.

Countless tiny worms emerged from every corner of the fermentation tank.

The area was very spacious. Inside the pipe, the pike-like magical structure, having regained its senses, began attacking Lynn. As it weakened, it could no longer remember what Lynn looked like.

But it remembered that Lynn also had a peculiar smell.

"Hiss!"

Lynn took a step back, her heel resting on the edge of the metal platform.

"Lignification".

The small worms that flew toward him hardened and turned brown the moment they touched that area.

The soft insect body transformed into a wooden structure in a fraction of a second, then fell stiffly from the air, hitting the ground with a crisp sound like dry firewood breaking.

"withered."

The second spell unfolded at an even closer distance. Those worms that had managed to slip through the lignified boundary instantly dried up, curled, and crumbled into grayish-white powder the moment they touched the withered area, as if all moisture and vitality had been drained from their bodies. The powder landed on the metal platform and was dispersed by the evening breeze.

This is not even the full extent of Lynn's current combat strength.

Even if he barely manages to get past Lynn's first and second lines of defense, his symbiotic life will give these fools a good beating.

The most representative of these were dozens of oasis vanguards transformed into worms. They carried little black sheep and swiftly traversed the battlefield.

The green worm bodies and black mycelium merge together, like a swarm of miniature tanks charging through chaos.

The moment the little black sheep comes into contact with an ordinary worm, the [Magic Erosion] effect it carries will immediately activate. Within seconds, the touched worms will turn white, lose their vitality, and collapse to the ground. Not to mention the Corrosive Vine Grass, whose magic power and strength far exceed those of a typical second-level apprentice. Its extremely fast splitting speed intercepts and crushes worms attacking from all angles.

There's no way any fish could escape the net.

After Lynn finished testing the spell, he put his hands in his pockets.

In this battle, even with its minions, the dogfish was unable to inflict the slightest damage on Lynn.

His breathing didn't even become rapid, just a little deeper than usual.

The pike has become weaker, while he has become stronger; the outcome is already decided.

"Senior Falvi—"

'

A clear female voice came from the other side of the door.

Lynn paused, the woman's footsteps drawing near.

Why get close to here?

Is it a coincidence?

No.

Lynn shook her head.

There is no coincidence in fighting a cunning creature like a pike.

The voice belonged to Mary; clearly, she was being controlled by the dogfish to interfere with Lynn.

"Senior Falvi!"

The liquid level in the fermenter had risen considerably due to the worms' agitation.

The white mycelium was slowly climbing upwards, and liquid was seeping out from the gaps in the jar opening, forming a thin waterfall that emitted a strong stench.

Lynn realized why Mary was there.

If the fermentation liquid overflows the tank.

Mary, an ordinary person, and Falvi, a comatose second-level apprentice, had no chance of survival.

"Damn it." Lynn's brows furrowed, and he instinctively grew larger, gathering strength in his legs.

The death from drowning in fermentation liquid is accompanied by methane poisoning, mycelium invading the respiratory tract, and worms eating away at the tissues.

Any one of these issues is disgusting enough on its own, let alone several happening at the same time.

If they don't hurry, the two of them will die a horrible death.

Moreover, the fermentation tank has become fragile due to the gnaws of steel worms.

It could collapse at any time.

"We can't wait any longer!"

Lynn grabbed Falvi and hoisted him onto his shoulder.

The pioneering black carpet quickly thickened over his body, providing extra support and friction. He pulled Falvi along, moving rapidly towards the doorway on the slippery metal steps.

Falvi's weight made his shoulder blades crack slightly, but the effects of high-gravity training were evident at that moment.

He jumped down from the high ground to a height of 25 meters without much effort.

Then he jumped again and fell heavily at the doorway.

He dragged Falvi stumbled and staggered to the door, slamming open the metal door, which had been cut open by the corrosive vines, with his shoulder.

The two tumbled together onto the stone path outside. Falvi's body bounced on the stone surface and then lay quietly on the ground.

Behind me, a continuous booming sound came.

The fermentation tank tilted to its limit, and the sealing structure at the edge of the tank mouth completely broke. Large streams of fermentation liquid, carrying white mycelium and swarms of worms, gushed out and spread across the indoor floor, creating a slow, foul-smelling flood.

Lynn knelt on one knee on the stone pavement, panting heavily.

He was covered in traces of fermentation liquid, the sticky liquid dripping down his arms.

But things wouldn't be resolved just because Lynn left the fermentation chamber. He turned back and looked at the large amount of liquid gushing out.

Mary, who was being controlled, was still moving in this direction. Falvi was also lying on the ground.

If left unchecked, they might both die.

Lynn paused slightly, his mind focused.

"There is no other way."

He raised his arm toward the metal door that was being forced open by the fermenting liquid.

"Entwined by vines!"

The vines were lush and green, and Lynn was sweating profusely.

"Erosion Vine, hold on!"

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