Chapter 137: Silver (4) (Illustrated)
Translator: bjgoofy
Taking the words my grandfather had shared as a hint, the thought had surfaced in my mind: could it be that the Heavenly Silkworm evolved into a Silver Silkworm by devouring the queen of the Pagoda Termites?
While I was still reeling from that realization on my own, grandfather noticed my expression and tilted his head, asking me about it.
After all, I had gone completely blank-faced in the middle of our conversation.
"What's wrong, Soryong? You look as though something startled you."
"It's just that.... something suddenly came to me...."
"Something came to you? What?"
"Let us head to the Family Head's Hall first. In Father-in-law's presence, no, in the presence of all the direct family members. I will explain everything there."
"Everyone? Is it really that important?"
When I asked him to gather all the direct family members, Grandfather questioned whether it was truly important enough to warrant assembling every last one of them.
"Of course it is. This is a very important matter."
"I-is that so?"
Grandfather flinched at the gravity of my answer.
But then he simply dismissed me as an eccentric and laughed it off.
"You rascal, sometimes I wonder what goes on in that head of yours. Very well then, let's go."
And as I had asked, he ordered the guards stationed nearby to summon Hwaeun and Mother-in-law to the Family Head's Hall.
"You men, go inform Hwaeun and her mother that they are to come to the Family Head's Hall."
"Yes, Grand Family Head!"
"There, will that do?"
"Yes!"
The smile still lingering on his face suggested he thought I was making a fuss over nothing, but this was truly a monumental discovery, not the kind of thing to be discussed just anywhere.
I needed all the important people gathered together.
This was an academic achievement belonging to none other than Maewoon Fabre.
'This is insane. After being reborn into the Central Plains, where the mainstream academic discipline is martial arts, all about fighting and getting hit, I'm about to make my mark in the field of Venomous Creatures, a niche within Poison Technique, which is already a niche!'
The reason I was making such a fuss was that what I had just uncovered was the evolutionary mechanism of Venomous Creatures.
The secretly hidden evolutionary mechanism of creatures that were both Venomous and Spiritual.
Discovering things like their diet or innate abilities was a decent academic achievement in its own right, but the evolutionary mechanism, the process by which they transcended their inherent limitations to become entirely different beings, was a discovery on another level entirely.
Of course, at this point it was still a hypothesis.
But that was precisely what made it even more valuable.
Now that a hypothesis had been formed, an opportunity had arisen to present it before the distinguished individuals who shared our knowledge of Poison Technique.
'That's exactly why I asked them to gather all the direct family elders.'
Who else in the world could stumble upon a groundbreaking discovery during a hobby and even get to present their hypothesis?
Only someone of the caliber of Maewoon Fabre.
Suppressing the excitement on my face, I followed behind Grandfather and organized in my head what I would explain to the family.
The idea that "the Heavenly Silkworm ate the Queen Termite and became a Silver Silkworm" was a hypothesis, and since hypothesis presentations typically invited a barrage of questions, I wanted to prepare.
'The evolution part has clear evidence, so that should be fine, but this question will definitely come up, won't it? Is this what professors in my past life felt like when presenting their research findings?'
With that fluttering heart, I arrived at the Family Head's Hall.
As I stepped inside, Father-in-law looked at me with a surprised expression and asked.
"Back already?"
"Yes, it wasn't very far, so I returned quickly."
It seemed Father-in-law found it odd that I had come back so soon after saying I was going to find the place where Bin had been hiding.
But upon hearing my answer, he nodded with an unconcerned expression.
"Good that it was close by. And Father, you've come along as well?"
"Indeed, I ran into Soryong on my way here because of this mushroom."
"Well then, Soryong, tell us about your trip."
Father-in-law, who had not yet heard the story, asked me to share what I had found.
The Man of Ten Thousand Poisons spoke up on my behalf.
"Wait a moment. He says he has something to discuss with all the direct family members gathered, so I've also called for Hwaeun and her mother."
"Pardon? Hwaeun and my wife as well?"
Father-in-law blinked at the news that the entire family had been summoned.
But he seemed to sense something soon enough, and nodded slowly as he spoke.
"Did you find what you were looking for?"
"Yes, Father-in-law."
"Then, let us wait."
After a short wait, Hwaeun and Mother-in-law arrived.
"Grandfather, I was told you summoned us."
"Father, why have you called for me as well?"
When the two entered and asked why they had been called, Father-in-law and grandfather looked toward me with smiles.
"It was not I who called you, but Soryong."
"Our son-in-law called for you, so please take a seat."
Tilting their heads at the news that I had summoned them, the two sat down.
Once I confirmed they were seated, I steadied my pounding heart and rose from my seat with the most serious expression I could manage.
After all, this was a hypothesis presentation.
"The reason I have gathered all four direct family members here today is none other than this: I have discovered something of great importance."
"Something important?"
Hwaeun asked a question before the presentation had even begun.
The timing was poor, so I answered with an awkward smile.
"Questions afterward, please."
"?"
Hwaeun blinked in bewildered confusion.
I felt a bit sorry, but was this not a formal occasion?
"First, allow me to report on today's visit to confirm the place where Bin had been hiding. The reason I sought out Bin's hiding place was to determine how she had become a Dark Phantom Monstrous Centipede.
If I could learn why Bin became a Dark Phantom Monstrous Centipede, I thought I might find common ground with how Cho became a Flying Celestial Serpent, and from there, glean insight into how a Heavenly Silkworm transforms into a Silver Silkworm."
"Oho...."
"Ah...."
The family nodded along to my logically structured explanation.
Smiling, I continued.
"So I took Bin with me and found the place where she had been hiding. It turned out Bin had hidden inside the Death Cave, the very one I had thrown myself into when the Blood Cult appeared. The place that was swarming with Tiger Keelbacks."
"You said it was close, but that close?"
"The child was in such a nearby place? They say what you seek is right under your nose, and here we were searching far and wide with no hope of finding her.... We put those warriors through all that trouble for nothing."
"Bin.... ah...."
The two elders were shocked that Bin had been so close by, while Hwaeun, who had already been called out once, started to say something but covered her own mouth.
Their surprised exclamations interrupted my presentation, but it was not exactly a question, so I let it pass.
On top of that, as a father, the soldiers' wasted effort felt like it was somehow my fault, so rather than pointing anything out, I continued with a slightly sheepish expression.
"Yes, according to Bin, she consumed the Yin Energy saturated with Death Energy there and became a Dark Phantom Monstrous Centipede.
Cho ate the Inner Core of a Flying Celestial Serpent, and Bin absorbed the Yin Energy pooled in the Death Cave."
"A fascinating fact. To think she could absorb the Yin Energy accumulated in the Death Cave."
"Indeed. That is truly remarkable."
The two interrupted the story again, but at this point I decided to just roll with it.
Come to think of it, these people had never been to a presentation like this before.
I did feel a bit bad for singling out Hwaeun, though.
'Now I feel guilty for no reason.'
Carrying that pang of guilt toward Hwaeun, I explained the core content of my hypothesis to the family.
A conclusion logically deduced from the evidence already revealed.
"And so, here is what I have come to think. Cho ate the Inner Core of a Flying Celestial Serpent and became a Flying Celestial Centipede, and Bin drank up the Death Energy, the Yin Energy pooled in the Death Cave, and became a Dark Phantom Monstrous Centipede.
So while I cannot say this applies to all Venomous Creatures, it occurred to me that perhaps Spiritual Creatures classified as Venomous Creatures evolve when they absorb a massive quantity of energy."
When I finished explaining the core of my hypothesis, Father-in-law and grandfather nodded thoughtfully.
"Ooh, I see. Since they are Spiritual Creatures, if we think of it as them consuming a great amount of energy and undergoing a Complete Rebirth into a different form, then that makes perfect sense."
"Indeed, when the body is filled to the brim with energy, a Complete Rebirth naturally follows. If Spiritual Creatures work the same way, then our son-in-law's theory holds water."
Two distinguished authorities were supporting my view from a martial arts perspective.
With a confident voice, I delivered my conclusion.
"Yes, and so the conclusion I have reached is this: could the Heavenly Silkworm have also eaten something and become a Silver Silkworm? And the moment I saw the mushroom that grandfather showed me, this thought struck me.
It may be useless to humans, but what if an Queen Termite, which lives for over fifty years, ate that mushroom containing Natural Earth Energy every single day? And what if the Heavenly Silkworm then devoured that Queen Termite?
Could that not be enough for a Heavenly Silkworm to become a Silver Silkworm?"
"Ate the mushroom every day for fifty years? And then the Heavenly Silkworm ate the Queen Termite that had been eating it for fifty years?"
"A fascinating theory. If true, it would mean another one of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures added to our family."
The elders nodded with expressions of mild admiration at my hypothesis.
That was when it happened.
Hwaeun asked in a cautious voice.
"I-is it alright to ask a question now?"
Since I had been feeling sorry just then, I quickly nodded.
"Of course."
Hwaeun seemed to ponder something carefully before asking.
It was exactly the question I had anticipated.
"But previously, when you explained about the ants, didn't you say there is only one Queen per colony? If the Queen was eaten, then when we opened the breeding chamber, shouldn't there have been no Queen at all?"
"Ah, that's right. You did say that last time, during the Army Ant incident."
A surprise question could catch one off guard, but when the question you had predicted comes right on cue, a smile rises naturally.
I smiled at Hwaeun.
People tend to assume there is only one queen ant per colony, but that is not quite right.
Depending on the species, some types of ants have multiple queens.
And termites, which are closer to cockroaches than to ants, possess even more unique characteristics.
They have what are called secondary reproductives, individuals that are like princesses or secondary consorts rather than queens, existing within the colony.
Though called princesses, they actually laid eggs, and there were males controlling them too, so if one had to label them, they were a sort of backup consort. What made this even more peculiar was that among them existed clones genetically identical to the queen.
There was, of course, a reason for this.
Unlike true ants, termites cannot store a male's sperm for life from a single mating, so they must mate frequently, which is why termite colonies uniquely have a king. The problem arose when the queen died for some reason.
If the princess ants were to carry on the line, they would have to mate with the king, and that would mean inbreeding.
It could cause genetic problems.
That was why the queen prepared her own clones, safeguarding against potential genetic risks.
So even if the queen disappeared, another clone queen would likely succeed her in short order.
"......And so, naturally, another Queen Termite would have succeeded her."
"Termites truly are peculiar creatures."
"Indeed. To think termites have such unusual traits...."
"Ah, I see."
As I explained all of this, the family nodded in understanding.
When my explanation came to a close, Father-in-law asked with a smile.
"But that is merely your theory. Naturally, there must be a process of direct verification, yes?"
'Heh, as expected of Father-in-law.'
An intellectual of the Tang Family who had even studied medical texts, he understood what truly mattered even from a brief explanation.
Just as Father-in-law said, now that a hypothesis had been established, it needed to be proven through experiment.
Nothing beats an experiment for verifying whether a hypothesis is true or false.
And the experiment to prove my hypothesis was remarkably simple.
All I had to do was feed the Heavenly Silkworm an Queen Termite and see what happened.
"Of course."
The Divine Thief, who was staying with the family in order to obtain a Heavenly Silkworm, followed us out the next day with a grumbling face.
***
The research to verify the hypothesis involved taking the Heavenly Silkworm that had already hatched and been left in the termite mound, then catching an Queen Termite from a different mound and feeding it to the Silkworm.
We dug back into the mound where the queen and king had vanished and a new queen was trying to take over, found the Heavenly Silkworm, and then raided a different column to capture an Queen Termite, which I held out before the creature.
-Chomp.
The instant it spotted the Queen Termite's baguette-like body, the Silkworm sank its teeth right in.
The Queen Termite thrashed in alarm, but at the same time, a sweet fragrance sprayed from the yellow antennae on the Heavenly Silkworm's head.
And just like that, remarkably, the Queen Termite went docile.
It remained that way until every last drop of fluid had been drained from its body.
And when that plump body shriveled down to nothing but an empty husk, our Heavenly Silkworm molted, revealing a brilliant, radiant silver form.
A third-instar larva.
"It, it was really true!"
"Th-this is a Silver Silkworm!"
Everyone who had come along gasped in awe. On the way back to the Tang Family estate after wrapping up the research, two Silver Silkworms clung to my shoulders in gleaming splendor, having been fed an Queen Termite as baby food the moment they hatched.
"Ha, what am I going to name these two?"
Now, once I raised them to adulthood, I would have a bounty of Silver Silkworm Moths, one of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures of the Central Plains.
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