The moment Sister Lin vanished, the boy who received the mark stepped to the front and passed it on to another student.
The remaining sixteen students behind him gathered their light once more and poured it into him.
He kept moving forward. His skin began to crack, and blood-red worms surged out of his body.
The Knowledge-Derived Worms inside him seemed better suited to the aura of this corpse than Sister Lin's had been. The worms survived longer after charging into the blood mist at the edge of the vortex and were erased more slowly.
He went farther than Sister Lin.
Nearly twice as far.
The passage continued extending through the Sea of Blood.
But he had his limits too.
The moment the worms were completely erased, the boy turned back somewhat helplessly.
"If I'd known, I wouldn't have been greedy for that little bit of truth... Remember your name. Remember our mis—"
Before he could finish—
His body collapsed, his brain withered, and he vanished into the Sea of Blood.
[Forbidden Studies-Seeker: +4...53.3/100]
[Eerie Alchemy: +0.1...3.0/50]
[Pharmacology: +3...39/100]
Another string of knowledge was devoured by the Worm of Knowledge.
The Worm of Knowledge seemed to sense Lu Yuan's emotions. It chattered incomprehensibly, seeming to say it was no big deal, then continued following them.
[Sanity: -4...45/140]
The stream of Fragments kept growing denser. The pressure on the barrier was becoming greater and greater.
The mark was passed on again, the light gathered again, skin cracked again, and worms surged forth again.
Another stretch of road, another life.
Another boy scattered into the air.
[Forbidden Studies-Seeker: +2...55.3/100]
Meanwhile, as the group continued onward, Lu Yuan absorbed less and less knowledge.
The black-red vortex, which had originally rotated at an extremely slow speed, gradually began spinning faster as the students kept