Chapter 39: Life Nourishment Technique

The bloody brilliance consisted of five streaks that did not pause in the air but instead immediately pounced on the four earth-eating earthworms wrapped up into large cocoons.

They rested atop spider silk, gently fluttering their wings, sprinkling specks of luminescence as though they were flowers of fresh blood blossoming upon the vast snowy wilderness.

Vivid and beautiful!

Yet beneath this resplendent light, the true form of these servant beasts, known as Blood-worms, was not quite so pleasant.

They were small, only the size of a thumb, with wings akin to moths, yet also bearing dragon-like features, a pair of horns winding upwards on their heads, and four pairs of crystal-like appendages on their abdomens, their bodies showing a bright red hue.

Blood-worms lacked organs like eyes; they possessed only a mouth, which, when closed, was quiet and resembled a special type of crystal art piece, exquisitely beautiful.

However, once they opened their mouths, they could shatter all beautiful dreams. Inside one could see mouthparts similar to those of a lamprey, filled with ring-shaped sharp teeth designed to drain the vitality of all living things.

They blended the ultimate beauty with terror perfectly!

A large part of their appearance was inherited from the world where the Nun of the Heavens originated—the native ancient god who had ignited a demonic tide and harvested the vitality of countless creatures.

The rest was slightly refined by the Void Mother Hive, overall appearing much more aesthetically pleasing.

Lu Yu did not care about their looks; he cared about their functionality, as these insects were designated as servant beasts.

They were the engineer corps within the insect nest, expendable commodities primarily employed for harvesting flesh and vitality to replenish themselves and could also serve as a means to weaken the opponent. And even if they were lost, they could be recreated with a sufficient supply of flesh.

But this was Little Spider’s hobby; she was just like an ordinary young girl, fond of pretty things.

She even secretly made a miniature doll of Lu Yu with spider silk and occasionally brought it out to play and cuddle. Whenever he looked, the Little Spider hurriedly retracted it back into the abyssal treasure chest.

She always thought she hid it very well,

When in reality, he was just pretending not to see.

“Hiss hiss!”

After the Blood-worms settled down, these earth-eating earthworms seemed to sense some great terror arriving and twisted their bodies frantically, trying to break free.

However, the Blood-worms would not let go of their first meal after birth, tearing apart the spider silk and entering the bodies of the earthworms to devour their vitality, one by one, turning the earth-eating earthworms to ash.

In the end, the satiated Blood-worms emerged unsteadily, with green bubbles added below them, encased by four pairs of crystal appendages, and came to the top of Lu Yu’s and Little Spider’s heads, lightly poked.

Bang!

The bubbles suddenly burst, turning into copious amounts of green luminescence that entered the bodies of both, instantly replenishing the physical strength and vitality they had expended during their missions, filling them with power.

According to Little Spider, these were life bubbles collected by the Blood-worms from demonic creatures.

Popping them replenished one’s own vitality and stamina, and they could be stored within the Void Mother Hive. With sufficient proficiency, they could be condensed to create life honey.

They belonged to a low-tier life-based treasure from the “Life Nourishment Technique.”

Consuming them replenishes stamina, and long-term usage can even strengthen one’s physique, prolong life, and when the time comes, whether for personal use or trading for money, they would be a fine choice.

And Lu Yu was confident that grinding seventeen missions a day would allow him to use these Blood-worms to feed back on vitality.

Moreover, through such high-intensity battles, Little Spider’s skill proficiency and strength were swiftly advancing, now only a step away from advancing to a higher-tier servant.

This rapid sensation of gaining power was starting to plant nefarious thoughts in Lu Yu’s mind, tempting him to become an emperor of slaughter and massacre an entire city of creatures.

Only this notion was quickly extinguished by him.

Not only because wanton slaughter would catch the attention of special forces, and he would have to face pursuit by an entire national machine, which was not worthwhile,

But also against his principles.

In an instant, a human mind can give birth to countless evil thoughts, but reason restrains them all.

He was a sophisticated egoist, not minding using enemies’ carcasses to nourish his own growth—a natural law of the survival of the fittest—yet disdainful of wielding the blade against innocent weaklings.

Power was to be controlled by man, not to become a slave to power.

In this world of cultivating spiritual power, one needs something to anchor one’s reason. If one indulges unrestrainedly, one could be twisted by some ancient existence into the eternal darkness and mutated into an undescribable monster.

Moreover, despite the native gods harvesting worlds numerous times and never transcending them, it is clear that there is a limit to the Blood-worms; the higher life forms they need as they advance.

Yet, his Key of Truth and Secret Feeding have limitless possibilities, and he should not abandon the essentials for the trivial.

Key in these frequent battles, Lu Yu’s strength was also improving. He would soon break through to the mid-rank red copper stage and was not far from the silver rank.

Earning more money now would allow him to select a second pet beast suitable for composing his spiritual puzzle.

Although he can grant it endless potentials with evolutionary secret feeding!

But what attributes should he choose,

To perfectly match the Little Spider?

“It’s a pity that the current carrying capacity of the Mother Hive is limited to only five of each type of servant beast. Flicker Spiders also require spatial fragments or need the Mother Hive to grow and directly devour spatial turbulence. More discussions will have to wait. Otherwise, when the insect tide comes, it can sweep everything.”

Lu Yu sighed, then patted Little Spider on the head and cheerfully said,

“We need to get back to work. We aim to reach the abandoned urban area by five o’clock.”

“Ying!”

Little Spider clenched her fist.

Come on!

The western part of the city, 4:50 in the afternoon.

The golden crow moved westward, and although it had not sunk yet, the light had obviously dimmed a lot.

Some bloodthirsty demonic creatures also awakened from their daytime lethargy, getting ready for the night’s hunting.

“Don’t walk so fast, wait for me!”

Accompanied by a crisp voice, a sweet-looking girl in a white dress quickened her steps. Despite wearing sneakers, her speed was limited over the terrain filled with broken stones and fragmented cement.

The two boys ahead stopped at the sound.

One of them, a tall lad with a Band-Aid on his nose, looked at the panting girl with a trace of tenderness in his eyes, but his words were laced with sarcasm:

“Who in the world hunts Bloodthirsty Hyenas while wearing a skirt? Seriously unique.”

Unconvinced, the girl raised her fist threateningly and said, “What does it matter? We’re beast tamers, not warriors. It doesn’t matter what we wear. Humph, Zhao Bin, are you picking a fight? Believe it or not, I’ll hop on your head and beat you up just like in kindergarten!”

“Don’t, it’s too bloody.”

Zhao Bin instinctively repeating an online joke, then immediately realized he’d made a mistake and took off running. The girl, initially baffled, blushed with anger and bellowed:

“I will smash you, you filthy turtle!”

As they chased and fought, Zhao Bin shouted at another bespectacled boy beside him while running:

“Chen Chi, save me! Songyue, this crazy woman is going to kill me!”

“Ah! How dare you call me a crazy woman! I’m going to thrash you!”

Chen Chi watched this scene enviously, then advised:

“Okay, Songyue, Zhao Bin, stop fooling around. We still have a mission to do. We’re set to make a name for ourselves in Dayuan City!”

These three were not natives of Dayuan City, but from a satellite town under its jurisdiction, Yuanhai Town.

It was the same old story: three friends that had known each other since kindergarten, shared countless moments, with both boys falling for the girl but never confessing, fearing the destruction of their friendship.

After all, three’s a crowd, and no one wants to be the odd one out.

They waited until graduating from local beast-taming high school, still unvoiced, to keep from separating; they proposed venturing together to Dayuan City to make their mark and join a top adventure group to become big shots.

Unfortunately, the first things they faced were not daunting missions or others’ malice but…

Exorbitant rents and…

Graduate employment difficulties!

It seems some readers are still unclear about racial potential and strength. Perhaps I haven’t explained it well, so I’ll do it again: racial potential is not the same as strength. A pet beast with elite high-ranking racial potential might only have high-ranking servant strength due to not reaching maturity or lack of proper nurturing. Racial potential is the average value it can achieve upon maturity with proper cultivation; merely having food to eat does not equate to well-nurtured. Theoretically, everyone has the potential to attend top universities; outcome varies due to individual performance.