006 Left to Protect Li Aoz's Luck-He Really... I'm Crying So Hard
The incubator is shaped like an hourglass, with a large number of runes engraved on the outside. The overall structure does not show any sense of technology, but is full of the exquisite aesthetics of a handmade workshop.
Li Aoz estimated that, apart from mithril (Titanium Alloy), which he could provide as a replacement, everything else, including wood, was a product of Magic Side.
Often, there is no right or wrong when it comes to technology—because most of the time, materials and environment determine the direction of a civilization's technological development.
For example, some civilizations are born with excellent resources, such as tea, ceramics, bamboo, and mulberry leaves, with distinct seasons and rich terrain. As a result, their technological development path is different from other civilizations. In the early stages, they can rely on these resources to develop an economic and trade surplus. Don't be unconvinced.
The universe is vast, and different civilizations have different environments and use different materials. What is technology and taken for granted by others may seem like witchcraft to the Azure Planet People.
Surprisingly, every civilization developed a "destruction" class, which is quite remarkable: indeed, no civilization is built without killing and war.
For Li Aoz, the incubator itself was made of various magical materials and also had magical rune effects.
—Isn't this exactly the mystical product I need?
Once he hatches the egg, he will disassemble the incubator and install it on the Biochemical Pool.
The cultivation function, which had to be cut back due to raw material issues, is now available, isn't it? Li Aoz casually placed the blue-purple Void Creature egg into the incubator, then leisurely browsed the player forums to see if there were any new hellish jokes to laugh at, while waiting for it to hatch.
Half an hour later, a crisp 'crack' was heard. Li Aoz looked up and saw that the Void Creature's egg inside the incubator had cracked open with a deep fissure.
With a rustling sound, a sharp, inverted triangular head slowly crawled out. Its appearance was somewhere between a lizard and a mantis. Its serrated teeth easily tore open the eggshell. Its small but strong body displayed the posture of a high-level hunter in nature. Azure Void Energy flowed on its dark purple exoskeleton plates, and four prismatic eyes, like scars, flashed with a Terror golden light.
Its body structure is like a combination of a crocodile and a mantis, wearing the plate armor and long tail of a crocodile, while having the light posture and sharp scythe of a mantis, and even blooming delicate, petal-like, gorgeous wings on its back—all these external features tell its identity: the larva of a high-level void predator.
"Void Predator? Looks like I'm lucky, at least I didn't get anything like void steam."
Just as Li Aoz was about to open the incubator and use gravity to tear the larva apart, using it as material for future bio-beast cultivation, something unexpected happened.
Click!
The Void Predator convulsed violently, as if it had gone mad, repeatedly crashing against the glass of the incubator. Its body withered rapidly at a visible speed, its muscles and shell shriveling up quickly. In the blink of an eye, the once powerful and ferocious predator collapsed to the ground, its eyes dimming, its body rapidly collapsing and shattering into a pile of blue-purple crystalline powder.
What... is going on? Void Creature can't possibly be this bad at adapting. They can even be found on the surface of black holes, let alone on the Azure Planet where the environment is very suitable for life.
"Um?"
Li Aoz activated his mutated vision, quickly spotting a tiny creature slowly crawling within the blue-purple crystal: a bizarre insect no bigger than a thumbnail, its body small and translucent white. It continued to wriggle forward, absorbing the remaining Void Energy. As it absorbed the powder from the Void Crystal, its body grew covered in thorns, its form expanded, its head became pointed, and a drill-like structure emerged from its tail.
"This doesn't seem to be Void Creature."
Li Aoz used gravity to pick it up, focused his eyes, magnified it more than ten times, and immediately saw the structure of its translucent body.
After comparing it with various creatures in his memory, Li Aoz finally confirmed its true identity: "Spirit Maggot".
This situation greatly surprised him.
Although it is called ' Spirit Maggot ', it is actually just like the Holy Roman Empire—neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.
Spirit Maggot are neither Spirit World Creature nor maggots. They are an ancient cosmic species, and it could even be said that this race has existed for a longer period than some Narrative-level Civilization.
However, it is not a creature that should appear in the first layer of the Star Abyss, the 'Layer Abyss'.
"The Spirit Maggot, an ancient creature, is a completely metamorphic life form in the stars and holds a transcendent status in the various religions of the Second Floor of the Star Abyss. Especially for the twelfth narrative, the Temple of Annihilation, the Spirit Maggot is revered as a 'chosen creation' by the Pantheon."
However, Li Aoz knew that this thing had a more practical use.
The life cycle of Spirit Maggot is indeed very similar to that of insects, with four developmental stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. However, the genetic difference between mosquitoes and Spirit Maggot is as great as the genetic difference between bananas and humans.
In its larval stage, it devours high-energy substances, from nuclear radiation to Void Energy, all of which become its reserves for pupation. Once it has collected enough energy, it burrows into the core of a planet, using geothermal energy to enter a long period of slumber. Meanwhile, its ganglia and synapses will rid the entire planet with holes, and special particles secreted by its body will cover every cubic meter of air. Over long periods of time, it will continuously receive and sense the surface environment, and even remotely modify the biosphere on Earth.
When it awakens, the entire planet will be reborn.
Yes, at this point, the practical use of the Spirit Maggot has become apparent.
According to the tracking experiments conducted by the twelfth narrative, the Temple of Annihilation, on the Rainbow Cloud Star Jagda Constellation Lower Cantilever, the Spirit Maggot need 20,000 to 30,000 years to mature and become the guardians of this planet.
This also aligns with the mission of the Temple of Annihilation: to support, discover, and nurture a civilization's deity, and then invite them to join the sacred Pantheon, offering divine assistance for the immortality of the nation in the Twelfth Narrative.
"This is a good item; the Temple of Annihilation should be able to offer a good price for it."
Li Aoz put the Spirit Maggot in a vacuum container and kept them safe with him, his expression playful.
When it comes to living creatures from the Lower Star Abyss, not to mention products that the [Temple of Annihilation] values highly, in the past they could only sacrifice some powerful beings to make them rise to the surface repeatedly to bear the curse, bringing as many as possible each time.
This has led to a situation where Spirit Maggot are often in high demand but unavailable on the market. Magic Civilization are also eager to learn about them, as Spirit Maggot have great scientific research value. However, the one with the greatest demand for them and willing to pay a hefty price is the [Temple of Annihilation].
"I've noticed that my luck has suddenly improved ever since Du Zexin left me."
Li Aoz hummed a little tune. This Spirit Maggot would be his first pot of gold on his journey to the universe.
"Now that we can already get Spirit Maggot, I don't even want to think about what good things will happen next. Surely it's not like a game tester will personally approach me and ask me to film a promotional video, right?"
Li Aoz muttered to himself.
Knock knock knock! Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and the laboratory guard shouted, "Mr. Li Aoz! There are three Frostplate Guys outside. They say they have something urgent to see you."