CHAPTER 389: CHAPTER 321: RESURRECTION, FUNGUS PERSON COLONY_2

Unless Underworld magma erupted, exterminating all life in the entire Crystal Cave and not sparing even a single fungal spore, it might be possible.

"Digory, Ward, Julian, Emily... Are all of you here? Where is Teacher Swarm?"

Byron descended lightly next to the mushroom forest and unexpectedly discovered that over a dozen apprentices under the Grand Wizard [Swarm] had all gathered here. Each wore a gray robe, wrapping themselves up tightly; the limbs that occasionally showed bore various insect-like characteristics. Clearly, these fellow apprentices were practitioners of the forbidden knowledge, the ’Book of Giant Insects’.

Byron greeted each of them in turn but was very cautious not to add "senior brother," "senior sister," or any gendered suffix to their names.

Every time he thought about the reason for this, Byron couldn’t help but shake his head inwardly:

The oddity of the Book of Giant Insects Faction is systematic, top-down, and beyond redemption. Even among all the Black Sorcery cults that are no longer human, it’s certainly the most bizarre one. When interacting with them, many things have already gone beyond the cognitive range of normal humans. For example, you can’t just casually define someone’s gender based on subjective guessing and call them senior brother or senior sister...

Yes, the gender of members of the Book of Giant Insects Faction is not determined by physiological conditions but is self-defined. With the ’Book of Giant Insects,’ they can freely replace their own organs, change gender, and even species through symbiosis with various types of insects. And within the vast insect family, many are hermaphroditic. This includes slugs and a great variety of parasitic worms like roundworms, hookworms, filarial worms, and whipworms. Consequently, the Book of Giant Insects Faction has long since abandoned the old concept of physiological gender recognition. They have formed dozens of gender and self-identification categories. Beyond the normal female, male, hermaphrodite, and agender, there are also unconventional genders, pangender, transgender, transspecies...

If you carelessly assign someone a "senior brother" or "senior sister" designation without understanding their background, it is certainly a very offensive act. Even though Byron was not unfamiliar with these apprentices who followed [Swarm] and had temporarily settled in his own territory, he still found it difficult to address them precisely. It was the same even with the information retrieval function of the [Nautical Logbook], as guessing wasn’t as fast as their transformations.

Digory, the most familiar [Centipede], who had fused with a centipede to become a "Centipede Person," turned around upon hearing the noise and greeted Byron enthusiastically, "Byron, you’ve arrived? Oh, that’s not right. I should address you as Torrent Castle Baron. I heard of your great achievements even in the Divine Beast Mine; congratulations on getting all the prerequisites for the [Ritual·Blood Banquet Grail] so quickly. It’s just that, your promotion came at an unfortunate time."

Upon hearing this, Byron’s heart skipped a beat.

An unfortunate time? What happened, can’t I be promoted normally? The teacher didn’t mention this to me.

Seeing his misunderstanding, Digory immediately waved his segment-filled, centipede-like hands, "No, no, no, that’s not what I mean. You can still initiate the Blood Banquet Grail through the normal process, it’s just..." After sizing up Byron’s appearance, which completely contradicted his own aesthetic, Digory shook his head with a sigh, as if out of breath, and said regretfully, "I just feel a bit regretful. You accidentally took the path of the Bloody Mary Faction, and moreover, you progressed so quickly, soon to begin the second ritual. Once you take that step, you will have completely missed out on the most powerful [Ritual·Heart of the Swarm] from our Book of Giant Insects Faction. You will not only miss out on the beautiful carapace, antennae, and segments like us, but also miss a great, milestone Reform for our Book of Giant Insects Faction."

"Heart of the Swarm? A great Reform?"

Byron, who also possessed the corresponding knowledge of the ’Book of Giant Insects,’ naturally knew that the [Ritual·Heart of the Swarm], the symbiotic path with insects, was the second bloodline sublimation ritual corresponding to the [Ritual·Blood Banquet Grail]. The focuses were completely different, yet they would converge in the third ritual [Crimson Holy Grail]. The former offers more direct improvements and stronger combat abilities in the early and mid-stages. The insect-formed Heart of the Swarm doesn’t need to painstakingly practice swordsmanship or master "Flow State" to become directly immune to most physical attacks in the world. They obtain a series of insect witchcraft, capable of fighting, fleeing, and enduring, even proving difficult for organized armies to match.

Of course, the side effects were something Byron found hard to accept. His cognition would be forcibly distorted, and he would become real kindred spirits with these fellow apprentices who adored disgusting things like cockroaches and maggots and had dozens of genders.

Therefore, Byron felt no regret about Digory’s words and was furiously shaking his head inwardly:

Compared to Maggot Mother, Cockroach Mother, Flea Mother, Fly Mother... I find Squid Mother or Octopus Lady somewhat cuter. No, the latter is simply angelic! I have no interest in your heretical preferences for insects. But, what is this Reform?

Driven by curiosity, he directly asked, "What do you mean by a milestone Reform?"

Before the pleased-faced "Centipede Person" Digory could explain to Byron, there was suddenly a change in the mushroom forest in front of them.

SQUEAK, SQUEAK, SQUEAK...

The dense mass of insects in the mushroom forest suddenly started to chirp in unison, gradually forming a massive entity in the center of the forest. They assembled into a roughly five-meter-tall humanoid entity with vaguely female features, touching the ceiling of the cave.