Lu Yuan's heart suddenly leaped into his throat.
Worm of Knowledge.
It had really come.
His first instinct was to control it.
The perception of Forbidden Studies instantly converged, ready to press down on it before it could react...
But the next second, Lu Yuan froze.
Because the rice-grain-sized worm was "looking" at him.
It had no eyes.
Yet Lu Yuan could feel that the little thing's perception was fixed on him.
There was no hostility.
It was more like... curiosity.
It simply hovered in the air, quietly studying the human before it, the one emanating the aura of knowledge.
Lu Yuan stared at it for several seconds.
Neither of them moved.
It was waiting.
Lu Yuan was waiting too.
But Lu Yuan knew very well that the pinhole would not stay open forever, and this worm could retreat at any moment.
The next move would decide everything.
Lu Yuan did not move.
He suppressed his urge to control it and instead carefully observed the little thing before him.
The perception of Forbidden Studies told him one thing.
This worm was not afraid of him.
It was not that it "didn't want to run," but that it "didn't think it needed to run."
Lu Yuan recalled the remnants of scenes he had seen in Laurina's Laboratory. Worms of Knowledge were predators in the Sea of Knowledge. Whenever they encountered structured knowledge, they devoured it.
But this one showed no reaction at all to the aura of knowledge around him.
It had smelled it, swum over, squeezed its way out.
Then... stopped.
"It's observing me."
Lu Yuan suddenly realized something.
He carried the Key to the Sea of Knowledge.
The Seeker's ability had been "given" by the Sea of Knowledge.
Was that some kind of... mark?
Or rather, to a Worm