Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Capítulo 1475: Chapter 53: Hill Startled

Count Stelter finally gathered his thoughts, furrowing his brows as he asked, “Can we only stand here? How long can the Pure Water keep me alert?”

“Didn’t you initially hesitate to let your people do the work because you were worried about monsters hiding underground?” Finch replied calmly, “Ha~ once I discovered, I had to stay here, only then did you let your subordinates out… Of course, if you trust me with their safety, I don’t mind.

In any case, I can’t go any further… instant spells won’t reach that far.”

Count Stelter looked at the increasingly deep pit with some confusion and said, “But, this soil, there’s clearly no trace of any creature passing through!

Is there really…”

“Didn’t your wife mention?” Finch glanced at the castle, “Spiders that grew up eating Crystal Fruit, who knows how small they could become!”

“I feel that such precious things, they wouldn’t be willing to leave for me.” Count Stelter sneered.

“But you’re not certain about the life and death of each spider you raised, are you?” Finch’s eyes couldn’t help but carry a hint of amusement, “If you had given each spider a number back then, we wouldn’t need to worry about an exceptional one showing up now!”

Count Stelter replied nonchalantly, “I’ll remember in the future.”

“You still dare to raise them?” Finch turned his head to look at him in surprise.

“Cows, sheep, pigs, and dogs always need to be raised.” Count Stelter said blandly.

Finch gave the Earl a noncommittal look… he always felt there was something off about this guy’s words.

But with nobles, it’s normal for them to secretly raise something.

It has nothing to do with him.

“You’ve already sent the Golden Cloud Orchid to the Great Sage Belfran, right?” Finch probed Count Stelter… now more cautious after regaining sobriety, a bit of a hassle.

But he couldn’t take advantage of others’ difficulties… if the Earl doesn’t return to normal, then these issues wouldn’t need consideration.

But since it’s just a temporary influence, Finch has to play by the rules for a while.

No choice, Count Stelter wouldn’t protect the secrets of the Silk Spider for the Alchemist Association, Finch must cooperate a bit during this time… at least until the Silk Spider issue is resolved.

Life is always full of compromises.

Otherwise, why would Finch sell two drops of Pure Water to the Earl for 1000 Gold Coins?

Which Alchemist Master would lack Gold Coins!

“Mr. Belfran wants a clean Silk Spider Poison Sac, I’ve already sent someone to the Alchemist Association to buy and deliver one.” Count Stelter’s words flatly caught Finch off guard, “He also wants a Silk Spider Poison Sac fed with Orchid Juice, that depends on when you can finish!”

“Indeed, the power of the Golden Cloud Orchid, no matter how strong, is just an emotional amplifier!” Finch’s lips formed a sharp line, “It only helps people speak their minds, without altering their character.”

Such an attack, with his intellect restored, Count Stelter was indifferent, he merely smiled, “You wouldn’t expect the opportunity to contact the Great Sage Belfran through me, right?

I’m not stopping you because I’m kind, nor because I’m yielding to you.”

Finch laughed, “Ah… perhaps these intimate conversations over the past two days have given me the illusion of friendship…”

And then he couldn’t continue.

Count Stelter, probably due to his long service in the army and extensive knowledge, although grossed out by Finch’s words, still opened his mouth with firmness, “If you truly wish to liberate yourself, better learn the art of conversation from Lucimar.”

While Count Stelter and President Finch were engaging in verbal sparring while keeping watch on the scene, Hill received quite a shock… last time he felt this goosebump-inducing experience was when discovering Rose playing a disgusting trick with spider silk and excrement.

In the middle of Purwell’s frantic alarm, he rushed into the lab, quickly flipped over in retreat, and fled out the door.

Standing outside the lab, shaken and unsettled for a long time, Hill finally entered the door with a pale face once he calmed down.

Had he been cursed by Rose by name for a hundred years to be forced to confront such scenes?

At the center of the lab, atop the Golden Cloud Orchid, securely covered by tough glass steel, appeared a multitude of tiny spiders… transparent and colorless, even their eyes were just tiny white dots.

The power of these little spiders was not weak, they had caused many small white points to appear on the left glass steel.

Hill turned to look in that direction… there lied the freshly delivered Silk Spider Poison Sac and a large bowl of crystal fruit juice he had soaked it in… made with twelve crystal fruits, incredibly rich in flavor.

He glanced at the experiment table several times, still unable to go over and do anything… he didn’t feel like directly killing creatures that weren’t Abyssal creatures.

He could only wave to isolate another workbench completely, adding an extra layer of sealing with a crystal cover outside the breathable fiberglass cover… As a Nature Mage, discovering a plant was still alive, how could Hill just watch it wither away?

Human ambition is not the flower’s sin.

Therefore, Hill not only nurtured this flower in a crystal flower pot, which allowed him to see the roots and was filled with transparent, colorless nutrition beads, but also used natural nourishment on it.

Unexpectedly, he actually regretted being too kind to the plants one day!

Weakly leaning against the door frame, Hill started to frantically recall… Whether this Golden Cloud Orchid had ever come into contact with the air of his homeland.

After repeatedly searching through his memory, Hill breathed a sigh of relief… Ellie had sealed this thing in a metal box using storage equipment when she brought it over, and he always used the Hand of the Mage to transport it.

All matters after placing it in the isolation cabinet were handled with spells.

Fortunately, Hill was a standard Alchemist who excelled at using the Hand of the Mage… if allowed, he would never use his own hands.

These little spiders must have fallen into dormancy early to survive… In this world, there are basically no spatial equipment that allows creatures to live inside.

But if they enter a state of apparent death, they can hold on inside for a while.

At this moment, Hill deeply questioned his luck… Even in Toril, when he discovered that the Nyscroll had cleared away, Hill was never shaken.

Yet at this very moment, he suddenly understood what it meant for misfortune and fortune to be intertwined.

These little spiders were definitely wanted by Count Stelter and the local Alchemy Association President… Otherwise, the two would not have been guarding there all the time!

Hill had long understood from Ellie’s words… Those in power care about their subordinates’ lives, but definitely would not sacrifice their own interests to protect them, especially in potentially dangerous situations.

They must suspect that some mutated silk spiders can amplify inner emotions and make certain indoctrinated thoughts deeply believed, even possibly leading one to get lost in hallucinations. These magical insects are very attractive to those in power with their own forces and needing to interact and conflict with many people and things.

The thing is indeed good, but Hill never thought of wanting it!

Dejectedly leaning against the door frame, Hill caught sight of the little spiders, who started weaving webs in the glass cabinet once they lost the temptation of the crystal fruit scent… Amongst the folds of the Golden Cloud Orchid’s turning flowers and leaves.

Then he quickly discovered a problem… The silk threads of these mutated little spiders were extremely sharp.

Their spinning speed was fast, and their temperament was very sharp. Even among fellow companions, there was no leeway given… If two silk spiders set their sights on the same small flower, there would certainly be a fight.

Their combat mode was competing with spider silk.

The sharp and tenacious spider silk crisscrossed in the wind… The silk of the loser was snapped into two pieces outright.

Then the defeated one automatically retreated to find another position.

This group of spiders clearly lived together, yet appeared leaderless… purely relying on strength.

Moreover, these spiders seemed to have little memory; if they carelessly went the wrong direction when changing position, they might end up challenging the old acquaintance who had just defeated them again.

Yet they were sociable.

This doesn’t conform to the characteristics of social creatures; obviously, these spiders were specially created.

Then Hill slowly widened his eyes… The spider silk that fell into the flower pot turned into liquid!

It was certainly not water, as the droplets rolling on the nutrition beads had a gentle yet soul-stirring scent.

Yet the pearl-quality exterior of the nutrition beads quickly disintegrated under the erosive droplets… The nutrition beads in the flower pot were almost all contaminated by spider silk within half an hour and slowly dissolved into liquid, turning into a pool of mud.

Hill couldn’t help but blink and glanced north at Count Stelter… If his guess was right, with the way the spider silk dissolved, Count Stelter probably needed to dig a big underground chamber.

Hill looked again at the silk spiders already starting to web themselves up for sleep, quickly noticing that the Golden Cloud Orchid’s juice was heavily absorbed… These spiders, not even the size of a period, almost completed their feeding in an instant, their mouthparts so small that Hill had to squint and scrutinize closely to make them out.

Then the roots of the orchid began a very intense tremor… Like pumping water, it swiftly absorbed the liquid at the bottom of the flower pot.

Since the energy provided by the nutrition beads far exceeded the part of the juice extracted by the silk spiders from the Golden Cloud Orchid, Hill quickly noticed this orchid, which originally extended three flower stalks, sprouting a fourth arrowhead in its flower core.

Although not long yet, tiny buds had already appeared atop.

This was something even Hill’s Natural Nourishment couldn’t achieve… Clearly, the robust growth of the Golden Cloud Orchid required the poison of the silk spiders.