Dark Silkworm

Han Sen watched the scorpion for a while as it continued to dig. It kept on digging until it vanished from sight, and all Han Sen could see was the remaining presence of a hole.

Han Sen summoned his wings and flew up high to get an aerial view of the hole. Upon inspection, he noted that the hole was a dozen meters deep and it eventually opened up into a cave or cavern of sorts.

"There has to be something special down there." Han Sen was surprised, and so he summoned his super armor and ventured inside with his silver fox in hand.

Once he had dropped down into the cave, he noticed the presence of an opening in one of the walls. He ventured closer to have a look and what he saw surprised him.

There was a further cavern inside, one that was massive. He couldn't even begin to predict how large it was. It was decorated in bamboo-like fauna and flora, many of which reached up to the cavern's ceiling. It was an incredible sight.

The twin-tailed scorpion was inside, snapping the bamboo-like plants. The shoots were hollow inside, but many of them contained big white bugs, not too dissimilar to silk worms. They were only about ten centimeters long, but they looked juicy and fat.

The scorpion ate the white bugs and bamboo together, which produced an echoing munching sound.

"Are those white bugs creatures, by any chance? If the scorpion is eating, that most likely means it is pregnant." Han Sen reviewed the situation and asked himself a number of questions.

The bamboo and the white bugs in the cave were eaten in droves by the hungry scorpion. Eventually, it looked to be full and wanted to leave, and so it started to return in Han Sen's direction.

Han Sen quickly made his exit and evaded the scorpion's sight. It wasn't long before the scorpion itself re-emerged, and when it did, it went up the mountain.

Han Sen did not give the scorpion chase. If it really was pregnant, he knew it'd be a waste to kill it now. He much preferred the idea of waiting until it had given birth before slaying it and the baby.

But Han Sen still had a strong interest in the bamboo he had observed down below, and the white bugs they seemed to contain. He waited until the scorpion was long gone and then, with a command for the silver fox to stand guard, ventured back inside. He didn't want to risk having the scorpion return and corner him.

There were many bamboo-looking plants in the cavern, and they were about thirty centimeters in diameter. Many of them had already been snapped in two by the scorpion, followings its visit, so there was a lot strewn across the ground. This included many of the white bugs the scorpion had missed.

The white bugs were pale and semi-translucent, and you could see the blood vessels inside them.

The bugs that were on the ground were wriggling around. They tried slithering back into the broken bamboo shoots, but they had some difficulty.

They couldn't enter the perfect bamboo.

Han Sen picked up a broken shoot of bamboo and tried to crush it in his hands but could not. He had to amp up his strength and exhaust all the power he could to eventually do so.

"That's some tough bamboo." Han Sen threw the bamboo on the floor and then summoned his peacock crossbow. He loaded it with a z-steel bolt and fired it at one of the bugs that was trying to crawl its way into one of the broken bamboo ends.

The z-steel bolt pierced through the white bug's body, which made it squeal and release a white fog. The temperature began to drop, and the little area around the bug got all frosty. The bug then froze, as if it had just been taken out of the freezer.

"Mutant Creature Hunted: Dark Silkworm. The beast soul has not been acquired. Consume its flesh to obtain a random numeric amount of mutant geno points, ranging from zero to ten."

The voice rang in Han Sen's head, which surprised Han Sen. "It's a mutant creature, but how can a mutant creature release frosty air? This is strange. I thought only super creatures could wield elemental attacks."

Han Sen was curious, and so he summoned his Flaming Rex Spike to kill more of the silkworms on the ground. Over and over, the announcement continued to pop.

When the Dark Silkworms were killed, they each let out a frosty air. The creatures were weak and unable to fight, so Han Sen was able to hack them up casually and without worry.

"Mutant Creature Hunted: Dark Silkworm. The beast soul has been acquired. Consume its flesh to obtain a random numeric amount of mutant geno points, ranging from zero to ten." After Han Sen hunted thirty silkworms, he finally heard the announcement that indicated ownership of a Dark Silkworm.

Han Sen then quickly looked up the beast soul's info, keen to learn what type it was.

Mutant Dark Silkworm: One-Time Use Hidden Weapon

Han Sen was pleasantly surprised, as it had been a long time since he had last seen a one-time use beast soul. It was rare to find hidden weapon beast souls, and he wondered which one that might have been.

Han Sen summoned the mutant Dark Silkworm, which sprouted a big, white, and fat bug on the palm of Han Sen's hand. It was rather heavy.

He looked at it for a while, unsure of what it did. After some thought, he threw it at the cavern wall.

Pang!

The fat bug hit the wall and exploded. It unleashed a heavy, white mist. The fog's radius was about a meter, and the stone wall it had been thrown upon was caked in a layer of ice.

"This is interesting." Han Sen was rather shocked while looking at it. It was just a mutant class beast soul, yet it could unleash a certain frosty power. This was not normal at all.

"I wonder if there are any sacred-blood class Dark Silkworms here? If I can get a sacred-blood class Dark Silkworm, it might come in handy."

Han Sen killed all the silkworms he could see but was mildly disappointed to learn that each one was a mutant class variant. No matter how many he killed, it didn't seem as if sacred-blood types existed.

There were sixty dead silkworms on the floor by now, and after a moment of thinking, he used the Flaming Rex Spike to strike the bamboo. He watched how many of the silkworms came flying out of the bamboo.

After killing a hundred more of the wriggly silkworms, he managed to obtain another two mutant beast souls. But still, no sacred-blood types.

"Never mind. Let me pack up the ones I've already killed and vacate the area. If I dry them up and grind them into powder, people who eat them will be able to increase their mutant geno points with ease. That's not too bad." Han Sen used a bag to collect the hundred frozen silkworm bodies and turned around to go outside and dry them.

There were many silkworms in that subterranean forest, and there seemed to be at least ten of them in every single shoot of bamboo. If he wanted to harvest them all, he couldn't imagine how long that might have taken.

Han Sen planned to temporarily give up killing the silkworms, wanting to wait until the scorpion came back, ate its fill, and gave birth. Once the scorpions had been dealt with, Han Sen had the idea of returning here to harvest and collect the rest of the silkworms, free from possible intrusion.

After Han Sen picked up all the silkworms he had killed, Han Sen suddenly heard a noise come from deeper within the bamboo forest. It seemed that something was emerging from further within.