Wizard: I devour the stars with swarms of insects.

"The total cost is 572 magic stones. Let me round it down to 570 magic stones."

"So expensive?"

Although Wayne knew that these officially banned drugs were probably not cheap, he was still surprised to hear the price.

"As you know, due to the White Wizard Association's constant crackdowns and purges, the number of black wizard organizations has dwindled to almost nothing, and black wizards specializing in necromancy are becoming increasingly rare and hard to find."

"It's normal for the prices of these experimental materials to rise due to market fluctuations."

The potions wizard apprentice opposite him shrugged and said, "Add in the overt expenses for bribing officials at all levels, so..."

"All right."

Although the price felt a bit painful, it was for the sake of my fruit fly breeding and modification plan.

I gritted my teeth and shed that little bit of blood...

So, next, he tossed a storage crystal that could be exchanged for 500 magic stones to the other party.

Then he took the remaining seventy magic stones from his wizard's pouch and placed them on the table.

"Let's take inventory."

Wayne said.

The potions-wielding wizard apprentice opposite him carefully counted the number of magic stones, then nodded and said.

"No problem, it's a pleasure to work with you!"

As they were talking, they carefully and gently carried a heavy black wooden box out of the tent and handed it to Wayne.

"Happy to cooperate... yeah right!" Wayne said the first half of the sentence, but the second half was what he thought to himself.

Who knows how much of these potions this guy actually pocketed?

If it weren't for the need to improve and upgrade fruit flies, I wouldn't have taken this huge loss!

Next, as Wayne was about to turn and leave, the potions wizard apprentice behind him suddenly lowered his voice and said...

"Please wait a moment, sir!"

"What's wrong?" Wayne stopped in his tracks, only to see the other person come closer and stand very close to him.

Then, Wayne felt something being stuffed into his pocket.

"Hey, what's wrong with you...?"

"If you need anything else in the future, you can contact me directly at the academy. You won't need to go through the black market's cut anymore... But shh! Remember to keep it a secret, otherwise if they find out I'm bypassing the black market to do private deals, I'll be severely punished!"

After saying that, the other person blinked.

"I look forward to working with you again. I've always enjoyed making friends with wealthy and well-off people!"

Next, he waved goodbye to Wayne and went back into the tent as if nothing had happened.

......

A few minutes later, Wayne left the black market and rode in a carriage back to the academy in the city.

Inside the carriage, Wayne took out the item that the other person had just slipped into his pocket and saw that it was a yellow metal identity badge.

The name of an elegant nobleman was marked on it in mithril: Kalay Wilke.

Furthermore, a line of smaller print followed: [Proficient in Potions, also skilled in Spirit Puppetry]

"..."

Looking at the name "Kalay Wilke" on the identity plaque in his hand, Wayne had a wry smile on his face.

It seems the other party probably felt that buying so many experimental medicinal materials at once was a generous gesture.

I think I might be a tycoon.

So, risking being caught and fined by the black market, he proactively handed over his business card to make friends with this customer.

But isn't he afraid of being exposed?

Or rather... the black market had already been tacitly approved to a certain extent by the academy.

However, after thinking about it, I realized that these things had nothing to do with me anyway.

Unless there is a specific need, I will not be a sucker to buy these experimental materials at high prices here again, and I probably will not have any more dealings with him.

"I hope this is the last time I'll come here..."

Wayne shook his head.

Looking out the carriage window at the wizarding black market receding into the distance, I thought to myself.

......

Next, Wayne returned to the Natural Symbiosis Wizard Tower, carrying the wooden box, and went back to the laboratory.

Then open the wooden box, take out various medicines, and arrange them on the lab table.

In the past two days, the two fruit flies that he had ordered to breed and mate have laid more than a hundred eggs, and more than thirty fruit flies have successfully hatched.

"Hmm... the survival rate is not bad, at least much higher than when I first started hatching fruit flies. It seems that I am becoming more and more proficient in preparing nutrient solutions."

Wayne's eyes showed a look of relief.

When I first started breeding fruit flies, it took more than a hundred fruit fly eggs to hatch into just two fruit flies.

And now... the number has increased more than tenfold!

Next, Wayne did the same thing, extracting the cysts that produced black spikes and some of the ejector tube tissue from the pink worms.

The bred fruit flies were modified, and several "armed fruit flies" were eventually successfully created.

Next, Wayne cast the sorcery spell "Spirit Binding Silk," causing strands of transparent silk to emerge from between his eyebrows.

It is attached to the bodies of these armed fruit flies.

At the same time, enable the [Honeycomb] network and connect them to the Honeycomb network.

Then, information about more than ten [Armed Fruit Flies] appeared in front of him.

Pale blue data flashed before my eyes like a waterfall, constantly recording the physiological state of the armed fruit flies.

Next, Wayne began to attempt a complete fusion of the biological structures of fruit flies and pink flesh worms, solidifying the modified organs into the genetic material.

Wayne first used "symbiotic royal jelly," injecting it into the fruit flies with a syringe.

Two minutes later, the modified fruit flies in the petri dish suddenly began to tremble and foam at the mouth.

Then, after a moment, the armed fruit fly stopped moving; it was dead.

"It seems the effect isn't good. Is the drug too strong, or is the dosage not controlled properly...?" Wayne pondered to himself.

"Record the reasons for the experiment's failure, as well as the symptoms exhibited by the fruit flies, and establish a file, codenamed: Genetic Solidification—001: Royal Jelly!"

Wayne gave the command to the Hive AI in his mind.

[Recording clinical response characteristics in fruit flies... Recorded, dose 0.01 royal jelly unit, fruit fly death time: 120 seconds after injection]

[Clinical features: Acute death, with the appearance of frothy alkaline secretions, presumably due to the irreversible binding of royal jelly acid to the Drosophila ganglia]

"All right......"

So, Wayne then switched to new experimental materials.

Take some milky white liquid from a medicine bottle and drip it into the petri dish containing the [Armed Fruit Fly] using a dropper.

The milky white liquid, resembling filaments, dripped onto the Armed Fruit Fly and began to entwine and wrap around it.

The armed fruit fly is encased inside, forming a structure similar to a cocoon.

Furthermore, a strange, hollow smiling face appeared on the surface of the cocoon, as if it were gently smiling at itself.