Death Wizard Diary.

Chapter 972 Reproduction and Cultivation

"Just passing by." Thor glanced at the red worm on Jeffrey's neck, which was almost burrowing into his body, and gave a satisfied smile. "And you?"

"I passed the Stargate Council's selection process, didn't I?" Jeffrey touched his nose, trying to suppress his pride. "Now I've been sent out to learn. They said that once I finish my studies, they'll let me work at the Stargazing Tower."

"Really?" Thor's gaze locked onto the red worm's short, chubby tail that was still wriggling outside. "Then congratulations."

He suddenly raised his left hand, the skin on the tip of his index finger receding rapidly to reveal a section of white finger bone, and before Jeffrey could react, he lightly touched the red worm's tail.

Jeffrey only had time to roll his eyes once before he shuddered violently as if electrocuted, and then fell straight down.

Thor and Jeffrey were standing on the street, but the moment Thor showed his finger bones, the two were transported to a high place.

Therefore, when Jeffrey fell, he was falling towards the ground.

However, a gray, semi-transparent tentacle wrapped around his body, causing him to float in mid-air.

Even as Jeffrey fell, Saul's left hand remained on the red worm around Jeffrey's neck.

At this moment, the red worm, which no one could touch before, was trembling incessantly, as if it had been electrocuted.

Douglas's hint was clear: the only places that could quickly and massively contaminate the red worms were either the abyss or the starry sky.

But Douglas probably never imagined that Thor possessed the most corrupting anchor point in the abyss.

Thor had already guessed that the source of contamination used by the Stargate Council to create the inactivated red worms was also the Anchor Point.

Because they and the Tribunal have jointly controlled the No Man's Land for a long time, the anchor points created by each eye of the storm are taken away by these two organizations.

It is because of this accumulation over so many years that the Stargate Council was able to produce so many inactivated red worms in such a short time after discovering the red worms.

Slowly, the violently trembling red worm finally stopped moving.

Just in case, Thor didn't immediately remove his hand, but waited a while before letting his skin re-cover the anchor point.

At this moment, Thor switched to his right hand to grab the motionless red worm, and a star-shaped eye appeared in his right palm the instant it touched the worm.

Thor's fingers didn't feel anything, but his spirit knew he had grasped something light and airy.

Then, Thor pulled hard, and the red worm, which was now just a tiny red tip, was pulled out.

Jeffrey, who had lost consciousness, convulsed, and dark red blood began to flow from his seven orifices. A putrid odor also emanated from the flowing dark red blood.

Thor tightened his tentacles, lifting Jeffrey up.

He is dead.

Or rather, he was already dead when Thor left the Stargazing Tower and saw Jeffrey excitedly telling him that he had been chosen by the Stargate Council.

What remains alive is merely the ingrained thought process of a wizard's apprentice. The red worm can provide a continuation for this remaining thought, but this continuation will eventually be exhausted. At that point, the red worm may leave its original host and seek its next target.

A second-level wizarding apprentice like Jeffrey would probably only last a few months. But a third-level wizard could last for many years.

"But did the Stargate Council send him out just to wait for him to die?" Thor put away Jeffrey's body, which was now devoid of even his soul.

"Or are you planning to wait until Jeffrey dies so the red worms can continue to infest others?"

The Stargate Council cultivates red worms of varying sizes, but clearly, the larger the red worm, the more useful it is. Red worms that have only grown on Jeffrey for a few months are insufficient to meet the Stargate Council's requirements.

Saul's sudden abduction of Jeffrey had already alerted those who were secretly observing him. However, when they rushed into the street, they couldn't see where Saul and Jeffrey had gone and could only wander aimlessly through the streets. Some were clearly on their way back to report the incident.

From high above, Thor could clearly see the panic of the people in the city below.

Without saying anything, he teleported again, returning to Byron's side.

Byron was in the laboratory measuring the changes in the size of the red worms on his body when he noticed Thor in the room. He only glanced at him casually before continuing his experiment.

He had gotten used to Thor, who could teleport, suddenly appearing beside him from time to time.

Thor stepped forward and waited until Byron finished taking the measurements before taking out Jeffrey's body and the newly acquired red worm.

"I have confirmed that the method provided by Douglas is correct."

Byron glanced at Jeffrey; he had seen far too many corpses like this during his time at the Stargate Council.

"This red worm is only a larva."

Saul nodded; Kismet had also told him this knowledge.

"The red worm grows by completely devouring a wizard, undergoing a molting-like process. And this time I've also figured out that the wizard being parasitized actually dies the moment the red worm infests him."

These special red worms, which exist only with consciousness, can mimic the consciousness of the person they are parasitizing, making it impossible for those who cannot see the red worms to realize that the people around them have been replaced by the worms.

"But what I'm seeing now are mostly adult or larval stages of the worm. Have you ever seen the initial form of the red worm?" Thor asked Byron, after all, Byron had been working at the observatory for a long time.

Byron shook his head. "It's said to be in egg form, but none of us have ever seen it. It's probably a secret known only to Speaker Alec's most trusted confidants."

"This is a bit of a dilemma." Thor sat in a chair to the side, looking at Jeffrey's corpse. "This number of worms isn't enough to consume the Black Tide pollution. But we can't use wizards' lives to cultivate red worms like the Stargate Council does."

Thor, who possesses the inertization formula and the soul-fixing magic circle, has always believed that wizards are the main force in fighting against the Black Tide pollution. Only Alec, who is only thinking about escaping, could do something like exchanging a wizard's life for the insects.

However, if one can command and control a large number of red worms, it can also help the wizard fight against the most dangerous source of pollution.

"First, find the larvae of the red worms. We need to figure out how they reproduce so we can find a way to get enough of them," Thor said to Byron. "Senior, you should continue researching how to make the red worms continue to grow."

Byron took a few notebooks from beside the lab bench and gave them to Thor. "Those who can see the red worms won't be parasitized by them, but the red worms will crawl on us. The half-elf taught me to feed the red worms with chaotic consciousness, which will make them grow bigger and bigger."

"A chaotic consciousness?" Thor quickly flipped through his notes and immediately understood Byron's meaning. "The thing the half-elf fed you with the insects on your body is the chaotic elven consciousness within the world wall?"

Byron sighed softly. "Yes, utter chaos, a complete mess, impossible to separate. But although it's poisonous and dangerous, it's incredibly nutritious for insects."

(End of this chapter)