Chapter 488 – Improvement Spell Experiment (Two)

The entire body structure of the Fierce-Corpse Worm was somewhat peculiar, as it fundamentally wasn’t an arthropod at all!

To be more precise, although this creature looked like a giant insect, the Fierce-Corpse Worm actually belonged to the category of cold-blooded animals… Through dissection, Punk could confirm that this giant insect-like organism actually possessed an internal skeleton. Right in the center of its body, a spine tougher than steel reinforcement and hundreds of slender yet flexible ribs together formed the “skeleton” of the Fierce-Corpse Worm. It was truly unimaginable what kind of chance coincidence in nature could evolve such a bizarre species.

Of course, the body structure of the Fierce-Corpse Worm wasn’t enough to surprise Punk. The truly astonishing part was yet to come.

After cutting off the well-developed vocal organs from the Fierce-Corpse Worm’s throat, accompanied by the hoarse whimpers of this giant fleshy worm, Punk carefully continued to extract various organs of different sizes and colors from the worm’s body.

Simultaneously, he didn’t forget to periodically cast “Formal-Level Evocation Spell – Life Bloom” on the nearly gutted Fierce-Corpse Worm to maintain the test subject’s vitality. Each Fierce-Corpse Worm, being a non-native species, wasn’t cheap, and Punk had no intention of wasting exchange points needlessly!

Perhaps due to the violent contractions of the giant worm’s internal muscles, even with the restraint of the magic circle, large amounts of dark green blood from the Fierce-Corpse Worm splattered everywhere. Within minutes, the previously clean experiment table became a complete mess.

The Magic Raven on Punk’s shoulder cast a disgusted glance at the still energetically struggling Fierce-Corpse Worm, sustained by the spell’s effects, then Vector flew to the experiment table and extended a claw to poke at an unidentified organ Punk had just extracted, saying:

“Gah! Why are you studying such a disgusting fleshy worm? What’s there to research about this trash? I thought Boss Sorsend’s dissections of demons were gross enough, but these giant fleshy worms have once again surpassed my expectations. Blegh! Fleshy worms and internal organs – my two least favorite things are now combined! Gah!”

“You only see the surface of things, Vector. These ancient worms contain far more secrets than you imagine.”

While distractedly answering Vector’s question with indifference, Punk placed a small piece of bone under the sunlight.

“Master-Level Alchemy Magic – Enhanced Microscopic Vision”!

As magical light formed a thin film over Punk’s retina, he could easily see deep into the Fierce-Corpse Worm’s bone – observing the series of tiny runes engraved upon its DNA.

“Just as I thought…”

Frowning slightly, Punk casually set down the small bone fragment and turned his attention back to the Fierce-Corpse Worm, whose nerves had been exposed, a sense of foreboding rising within him.

Through preliminary examinations, Punk had discovered that the Fierce-Corpse Worm was an exceptionally stupid creature, and its soul possessed no spellcasting abilities whatsoever!However, when facing predators, these seemingly harmless and even somewhat adorably clumsy worms actually possess a full three innate spells at their disposal. It is precisely this contradictory characteristic that makes the Ferocious-Bodied Worm so different from many magical beasts!

But now, after careful observation, the mystery behind the Ferocious-Bodied Worm’s spellcasting has finally been unraveled!

Just as Punk had speculated, the Ferocious-Bodied Worm does not use its soul to cast spells at all. Their souls are so primitive that they don’t even possess professional levels, making it impossible for them to house spell models. When Punk shifted his research focus to the worm’s DNA, he was surprised to discover—these plump worms’ so-called “innate spells” were not innate spells at all. They were clearly a form of “spell-like” ability!

Innate spells and spell-like abilities are two entirely distinct spellcasting systems. To use an analogy, innate spells are more akin to the spell models constructed by mages within their souls. In a sense, “innate spells” are spell models that have become part of the soul itself.

But “spell-like abilities” are entirely different. While they also require spell models for casting, these models are “fixed” onto the caster’s body, or even their genes, in the form of magical arrays. This method of fixation is essentially no different from the way spells are embedded in magical items.

In fact, as early as when Punk first saw the “Soul-Eating Worm” spell model, he had many questions. For instance… he couldn’t understand why the inventor of the “Soul-Eating Worm” spell would inscribe numerous magical array runes all over the summoned creature’s body. This method of forcibly presenting “innate spells” as “fixed spells” was both complex and mana-intensive. It was this bizarre spell construction that unnecessarily inflated the “Soul-Eating Worm” spell’s mana consumption and made its spell model highly unstable.

Adding a large number of magical rune constructs to a Summoning Magic spell model—while significantly compromising the stability of the spell structure—was equivalent to casting a Summoning Magic spell and then layering several Enchantment Magic spells onto the summoned creature. Under such circumstances, it would be a miracle if the mana consumption weren’t excessive and the spell model structure remained stable!

But now, after examining the Ferocious-Bodied Worm’s internal DNA, Punk quickly understood the dilemma faced by the original spell inventor.

Presumably, the “spellcasting ability” of the Ferocious-Bodied Worm’s ancestor, the “Econid Worm,” functioned in the same way—it never had any innate spells to begin with. If the spell inventor wanted to fully replicate its spellcasting abilities in a summoned creature, they only had two options:

First: Forcefully cram several spell models into the complete soul template of this worm through sheer effort.

Second: Meticulously imitate the natural evolutionary process by “fixing” the spell models onto the summoned creature’s body!

Undoubtedly, the inventor of the “Soul-Eating Worm” chose the second option, whether out of a desire for “flashy effects” or simply to “cut corners.” They directly copied the Econid Worm’s bizarre physical structure into the spell model, resulting in the “Soul-Eating Worm”—a shoddy spell with an unstable structure, a bunch of mediocre spell effects, and outrageously high mana consumption!”The inventor of the ‘Soul-Eating Worm’ certainly took shortcuts back then, but now Punk is paying the price.

Just look at this! How are you supposed to modify this piece of junk?

Remove all those messy solidification spell effects? Then the magical beasts summoned by the ‘Soul-Eating Worm’ would become blank slates with mere light and shadow effects!

Add a few more powerful solidification spells? Don’t be ridiculous! These few ‘redundant’ solidification spell runes are already making the entire spell model unstable. Adding more would likely make it explode in my hand before even casting!

Frowning, Punk silently glanced toward an inconspicuous corner of the laboratory.

There, piled in numerous magic cages delivered just yesterday, were about thirty to forty ferocious body worms. These foolish creatures paid no attention to the torture their ‘brethren’ were enduring on the experiment table. Instead, they were either greedily devouring fresh beef or curled up fast asleep. The bored Magic Raven Vector was idly poking at the worms’ breathing pores with its feathers.

‘This is troublesome. Are these fleshy worms going to go to waste?Listening to the disgusting gurgling sounds from the large group of ferocious body worms, Punk grew increasingly irritated.

Truth be told, purchasing so many gruesome worms had cost Punk a significant amount of money. And the Thought of Truth… never accepted returns!

(End of Chapter)”