Chapter 634: The Ancestor's Gift (23)

"Wait." Someone suddenly shouted at this moment.

It was Zhou Ruisi again. Luo Qi looked at him with sympathy; he was like a player in a starter village who had accidentally wandered into the wrong map, just like Luo Qi himself had been back then.

"What is it?" someone asked him impatiently.

Zhou Ruisi's face flushed red again. Under the gaze of everyone, sweat broke out from his temples. "Sorry, I mean, what happened? Mage Liu, Du Mage, has something gone wrong with the Magic?"

He reached out and pointed his finger at one of the several Magic projections that Liu Ziyi was operating. Everyone else had just shifted their attention away from these Magic displays, but only he was still observing these Magic readout charts.

Liu Ziyi was startled and instinctively looked at the energy readout chart first; there was no significant change in the energy chart. Luo Qi had not kept up with the progress and his gaze moved back and forth between the charts, but Du Zhengyi stepped forward and stood in front of the life readout chart.

Liu Ziyi turned her head and froze, "What's going on?"

Luo Qi subconsciously thought the light points in the life readout chart had increased, but he wasn't very good at picking beans, so for a moment, he was at a loss facing the complex light chart. "Where is it?"

"It's, it's right here." As Zhou Ruisi spoke, he tremblingly pointed a finger at a spot in the chart. "Mage Liu, why don't you try displaying this chart in 2D, and if, if needed, flip it into a 3D chart later?"

"What?" Luo Qi asked, confused.

Liu Ziyi let out an annoyed puff of air, as if impatient, but she did take Zhou Ruisi's effective suggestion. The display chart compressed into a 2D image in front of them. This time, the display was much clearer and easier to understand; besides the place where they were standing, there was one other place where a light point was flickering. However, there was only one red light point flickering.

Luo Qi finally understood what the problem was. Originally, there were life signals for nine Seal Beasts, but now eight had disappeared, leaving only one.

Zhou Ruisi said nervously, "That's it, so what's going on? Wasn't there nine just a moment ago? Why is there only one left?"

"There is only one possibility," Du Zhengyi said in a low voice.

"What is it?" Zhou Ruisi asked.

Luo Qi said bluntly, "One ate the other eight."

Zhou Ruisi looked at Luo Qi in surprise, his eyes wide with fear and shock. "No, that shouldn't..."

"Huh?" Luo Qi looked back at him, puzzled. He would tease Zhou Ruisi, but he had also realized that Zhou Ruisi wasn't given that name by his family for nothing. He might not be a genius, but he was more studious than the average Mage.

Just then, Du Zhengyi said thoughtfully, "Why would there be such strong aggression?"

The flickering light from the Magic display illuminated Liu Ziyi's serious face, "The danger level is extremely high; I suggest dealing with it immediately."

No one paid them any mind. Under the tension, Zhou Ruisi chattered on to Luo Qi, "This is an abnormal situation. After Seal Beasts are born, they mostly only have instincts—they can move, they can eat, but only these minimal biological instincts. Those bugs from earlier attacking the Mages might be because they are bugs. And there are humanoid bugs, Aliens; they are very special. Those Aliens might kill people, but I think that's because part of their body is a bug, different from normal Seal Beasts. Normally, Seal Beasts should be weapons, and weapons should wait for their masters. Of course, it's also a problem if too many Seal Beasts are produced at once. Too many Seal Beasts cannot be equipped, that would cause chaos, but chaos isn't... to take a step back, Seal Beasts might eat out of instinct, or instinctively counterattack other creatures if they feel threatened, but theoretically, conventional Seal Beasts shouldn't be like this, shouldn't, shouldn't..." He couldn't find a reasonable way to describe it and gestured wildly in his anxiety.

Du Zhengyi finished his sentence, "They shouldn't kill excessively."

"Right!" Zhou Ruisi swallowed a mouthful of saliva, caught his breath, and added, "At least that's what the books I've read say, theoretically. I haven't operated a Seal Beast, I haven't completed a psychic connection with a Seal Beast, so I can't be sure, if you have other insights..."

"I've already understood." Luo Qi sealed off his uneasy explanation; his nervousness was almost contagious.

But Luo Qi knew that what Zhou Ruisi said was correct; theoretically, or at least under normal circumstances, it should be like that. A Seal Beast is like a shell, born without a complete sense of self. This is done so that a Mage can control their brains with their own Yajian. If their sense of self were maintained, it would inevitably lead to resistance, making them equipment that is not easy to put on or take off. Lower-level creatures are not suitable as Psychic Beasts, such as bugs. Aliens are another special case; they are physiologically like bugs, but their Yajian is a collection of group consciousness, which is both complex and powerful. Even a Great Mage, when using an Alien, does not take full control of the Alien's Yajian. They use complex Spells to set boundaries for the Alien's behavior, often simple command systems. For example: identify the killing target; specify targets that cannot be attacked.

Therefore, the Mage World is also very cautious about the use of Aliens and does not use them unless absolutely necessary. Early Mages had powerful Magic Energy and perhaps did not need to use Alien Seal Beasts. Perhaps, in the entire history of Mages, they have only used Aliens two or three times.

"But, but, but maybe we can try another approach, can we just ignore them?" Zhou Ruisi sparked a new hope, "Will they kill each other off? In the end, we just need to do the cleanup work and finish off the remaining one."

Luo Qi opened his mouth to speak, but Zhou Ruisi snatched the words back, "I know, I know, it's a bit like raising a Gu, the one that wins in the end must be the most difficult one. But after all, they are just Seal Beasts, a limited number of Seal Beasts; it shouldn't be difficult for Mages to handle."

Liu Ziyi acted as if she had completely blocked out his speech, "Senior Brother, should we go over and clear them out manually, or can you remotely control the Magic here?"

Du Zhengyi silently watched the life readout chart. In this 2D chart, the only flickering light point was slowly moving within a small range.

Zhao Jiaozhu said knowingly, "Looking at the time now, basically, besides the possibility that the other eight Seal Beasts were bitten to death by bugs, it should be that they engaged in mutual slaughter."

No one here picked up his words. A Lotus Burner behind him hurriedly nodded, "I also think that is the case."

Du Zhengyi thought for a moment and said to Liu Ziyi, "Let's walk over and take a look. I don't want to risk using the power here easily."

"Okay," Liu Ziyi said. She immediately planned a route to the incident location on the map and began to trigger Motion Capture Magic along the way to detect bugs.

Only then did Luo Qi say to Zhou Ruisi, who was anxious but afraid to interrupt, "To continue answering you—waiting for them to finish killing is fine, but if we eliminate them while the Seal Beasts haven't woken up, wouldn't that be simpler?"

"Oh." Zhou Ruisi finally caught his breath, "That's right."

"Don't be nervous, you just lack practice," Luo Qi said, "I was like that when I first started."

Zhou Ruisi looked at Luo Qi with admiration; this short guy was indeed as steady as if he were in his own home. "Have you experienced many such occasions?"

"Of course," Luo Qi said, "Later, we'll leave the remaining Gu King for you to take on one-on-one. You'll be fine after doing it a few times."

"Thanks, no need." Zhou Ruisi swallowed back his other words and didn't dare to talk to Luo Qi again.

(End of chapter)