Chapter 108: The Fatal Flaw of Immortality
With the defense provided by the Extreme Protection Rings, Sunan could focus on offense. Facing the highly threatening Blood Soul Bugs, he didn't hold back and immediately activated the Disaster Rings on his left hand.
All four rings glowed simultaneously.
Instantly, four massive gray claws appeared in the void, sweeping through the swarm like a gale.
In a flash, countless bugs fell to the ground like dumplings in boiling water.
The dense swarm noticeably thinned.
Immediately afterward, a large amount of silvery metal liquid oozed from Sunan's body, transforming into sharp spikes. They radiated outwards from him, instantly killing hundreds of Blood Soul Bugs.
Under Sunan's relentless assault, the swarm diminished rapidly.
In just over half a minute, Sunan had cleared the bugs around him and turned to check on Rose.
Her situation was much more precarious.
Despite using all her trump cards, Rose had only managed to kill fewer than a hundred bugs, with over a hundred still surrounding her.
Her bizarre plants had been devoured, leaving her relying on magical items to fend off the swarm.
Fortunately, most of the bugs were drawn to Sunan, allowing her to hold on until now.
With Sunan's support, they quickly cleared the remaining bugs.
A few surviving bugs were captured and placed in an iron cage Sunan had fashioned from refined iron.
Such rare creatures needed to be studied thoroughly.
With the danger passed, Rose breathed a sigh of relief, glancing at the thick layer of bug corpses where Sunan had been fighting. She couldn't help but marvel.
No matter how many times she witnessed it, Sunan's power continued to amaze her.
After the battle, two of Sunan's Extreme Protection Rings were completely depleted and would need recharging. Another was halfway drained.
All four Disaster Rings also needed recharging.
Two of the steel golems were damaged, but not severely. They could be repaired by absorbing energy at the base's geomantic node.
He had about half his mental energy left, enough to use the magic rune core for roughly a minute.
Overall, he still retained most of his combat strength.
With a clear understanding of his status, Sunan gripped a high-level rune gem and cautiously advanced into the passage from which the bugs had emerged.
The passage led to a room transformed into a bug nest, with walls riddled with honeycomb-like holes, containing many shed bug shells.
After a thorough check revealed no remaining bugs, Sunan relaxed slightly.
If another swarm had appeared, he might have had to consider retreating temporarily.
Rose was equally relieved; she had no desire to face those fearsome bugs again.
Exiting the left passage, they turned into the right one.
This passage also led to a room converted into a bug nest, with walls lined with small holes containing bugs.
Initially, upon seeing this, Sunan and Rose tensed, ready for battle. But they soon realized these weren't Blood Soul Bugs but rather large beetle-like bugs with crystal-covered backs.
They lay motionless in the holes, seemingly in a deep sleep.
Sunan carefully extracted one bug, examined it, and shook his head at Rose.
"It's dead."
This bug had no life signs.
After checking them all, they found most were dead, with only six showing faint signs of life, as fragile as a candle in the wind.
Sunan decided to take these bugs for study as well.
Leaving the nest, they began searching the other rooms.
The first was a storeroom with shelves holding various materials.
As expected, most had degraded over time and were unusable.
Only a few rare metals were still intact.
Next were a meditation room, an indoor garden, and a potion room, but they yielded no discoveries.
Finally, entering what seemed like a spell practice room, they made a find.
Dust covered the room, and the walls, floor, and ceiling were cracked and pitted, as if a fierce battle had taken place.
In one corner sat a skeletal corpse, still clad in a robe.
Sunan immediately identified it as a magic robe, though it had long since lost its power.
"Is this the owner?" Rose asked, pointing to the rings on the skeleton's hand, their runes blurred.
"Perhaps," Sunan replied, scanning the battle scars in the room. "It doesn't rule out the presence of a second person here."
After examining the remains and finding nothing valuable, they left the practice room for the final chamber.
Seeing the large workbench inside, both felt a surge of excitement.
Clearly, this was a laboratory.
As a place for wizards (apprentices) to conduct experiments, it likely held experimental notes.
With no library found, the laboratory's notes might be the most valuable items in the cave.
After a search, they found several notebooks.
The pages were made of a special material, resisting decay even after so many years.
Opening the first notebook, they saw a bold title: "The Extraction and Fusion of Blood Soul Bug Bloodlines."
Sunan and Rose exchanged astonished glances.
They had experienced the Blood Soul Bugs' eerie and terrifying nature firsthand, and now someone had attempted to extract and fuse their bloodlines.
Reading further, the author was revealed to be 'Avigney Lucas.'
The notes detailed a series of experimental processes, progress, and psychological reflections by this wizard apprentice, Avigney.
According to the notes, Avigney discovered the Blood Soul Bugs by chance.
These strange creatures instinctively devoured the flesh and souls of living beings, using them as sustenance.
With enough souls, they could theoretically live forever.
Avigney's experiments showed that a single human soul could sustain a Blood Soul Bug for a month without food.
Stronger creatures' souls lasted even longer.
Realizing this, Avigney conceived the idea of fusing the bugs' soul-devouring bloodline to achieve immortality.
He quickly began experiments.
Spanning over two decades and involving countless failures, Avigney eventually succeeded in fusing the bugs' bloodline, gaining the ability to extend his life by devouring souls.
Seeing this, Sunan and Rose exchanged looks of wonder.
Immortality!
It was a dream cherished by many wizard apprentices.
Only with a long enough life could they hope to become full-fledged wizards.
Achieving immortality was incredibly difficult.
Most apprentices could only aim to extend their lives as much as possible.
But Avigney had seemingly achieved this, attaining immortality.
In comparison, the need to devour souls seemed trivial.
Like humans needing food or vampires needing blood, it wasn't a flaw given his extended lifespan.
"But if Avigney achieved immortality, then whose skeleton is in the practice room?" Rose wondered.
Sunan shook his head, unable to answer.
With lingering questions, they continued reading.
After his success, Avigney's notes conveyed his euphoria and pride.
He cultivated more Blood Soul Bugs as research samples, hoping to further enhance his bloodline abilities, reducing dependency on soul energy for perfect immortality.
But this research failed.
After fusing the bloodline, Avigney soon noticed something wrong.
His soul was polluted!
Through experiments and investigation, Avigney identified the cause.
The Blood Soul Bugs' bloodline had a fatal flaw.
Continual soul consumption polluted the soul, causing it to distort, become violent, and eventually lose sanity, descending into madness.
This explained the bugs' relentless attacks on creatures with flesh and souls.
They had lost self-awareness, driven only by instincts for survival and slaughter.
Avigney was experiencing this process.
The good news was that stopping soul consumption halted the pollution, preserving sanity.
The bad news was the pollution made it nearly impossible for him to become a full-fledged wizard.
Realizing this, Avigney despaired.
He frantically sought a way to eliminate the bloodline flaw but failed.
After over a decade, Avigney felt his life nearing its end.
Unwilling to die, he resumed soul consumption, hoping to find a solution before losing his mind.
Subsequent notes grew increasingly twisted, reflecting his escalating madness. The last pages were filled with unintelligible scribbles, unsettling to behold.
After finishing the notes, Sunan couldn't help but sigh.
Avigney's fate was clear.
He never found a solution and ultimately succumbed to madness.
The scars in the practice room weren't from battle but Avigney's own rampage.
The skeleton in the corner was indeed Avigney.
"What a pity, he was so close," Rose murmured regretfully.
Sunan glanced at her, shaking his head silently.
This wasn't a matter of being close.
Avigney's failure was inevitable.
A thousand years ago, in the wizarding golden age, Blood Soul Bugs weren't uncommon.
If fusing their bloodline granted immortality, more powerful wizards would have achieved it long ago.
Yet no such method has been heard of, even in later wizard eras.
This indicated no one had succeeded; the bloodline flaw was insurmountable.
From the moment he fused it, Avigney's fate was sealed.
"Don't sympathize with him. He wasn't a good person," Sunan said.
"Remember those Blood Soul Bugs?"
Rose paused, then quickly realized, her expression darkening.
Avigney died over a century ago. The bugs, trapped in the cave without food, survived due to consuming countless souls while he lived.
The soul energy needed for nearly a thousand bugs to survive a century without food was staggering.
The thought was chilling!
Avigney's hands were stained with immense blood.
Setting aside the Blood Soul Bug notes, Sunan picked up the second notebook.
Its first page read, "Genetic Modification and Cultivation of Gem Bugs."
Gem Bugs?
The name piqued Sunan's interest.
Reading on, the notes began with Avigney discovering a bug in the Underground World that fed on minerals.
Their physiology was unique, capable of digesting minerals and expelling waste, while concentrating the essence on their backs, forming crystalline armor that enhanced survival.
Avigney found them fascinating and, to test a theory, captured many, using radiation fields to induce mutations, then magically altered their internal structures to convert the mineral essence into pure gemstones.
After hundreds of generations, Gem Bugs were born.
The gemstones they produced were as naturally imbued as natural ones, fully substitutable.
Sunan and Rose were both astonished and delighted.
Gems were invaluable to wizards (apprentices), used in many ways.
Yet they were rare and precious; even with Sunan's resources, he had to use them sparingly.
A creature that produced gems would be incredibly significant!
Additionally, the notes mentioned Gem Bugs entering dormancy when food was scarce, reducing energy needs to an extremely low level, allowing them to survive a century without dying.
Sunan and Rose immediately thought of the motionless bugs they'd seen earlier.
Their appearance and crystalline backs matched the notes' description of Gem Bugs.
"Didn't expect these little things to produce gems," Rose said, her gaze on the cage of bugs turning fervent, though tinged with regret.
The bugs had been dormant too long, over a century, leaving only six survivors from hundreds.
Fortunately, according to the notes, Gem Bugs could reproduce by splitting.
Even one could eventually multiply into a large colony.
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