Silver, Part 3

I took the Compendium of All Under Heaven's Poisonous Creatures that Eun had brought and flipped through it more carefully.

Silver Silkworm Moth.

Silver for the character eun, silkworm for jam, and moth for a.

In plain Korean it was literally "silver silkworm moth," which was why my instincts were screaming. High chance this is the exact same creature!

Half a lifetime—no, half of my previous life and then going all-in this time around—meant I had spent half an entire existence loving poisonous creatures. A man's gut feeling honed that hard was going absolutely wild.

The description alone confirmed it: a moth whose entire body was sheathed in silver. I looked up from the book toward the silver pupa shell and silver cocoon I had just finished restoring.

The vivid silver cocoon and silver pupa leaped into my eyes. If even the pupa and cocoon were silver, the odds that the moth emerging from them would also be silver skyrocketed, and my heart started hammering.

If this is the cocoon and pupa the Compendium means when it speaks of the Silver Silkworm Moth, then these have to be it.

C-calm down. Nothing's confirmed yet.

Of course there was still a real chance I was wrong. This era had no taxonomy; the "silkworm" in the name might just be a casual label rather than proof they belonged to the same lineage or species.

Moths were complete metamorphosis insects. Complete metamorphosis meant the larva melted completely into soup inside the pupa and then rebuilt an entirely new body from scratch. So even if the pupa and cocoon were silver, the creature that crawled out could be something completely different.

Butterflies were the perfect example—worm-like grubs went into cocoons and came out as every dazzling butterfly under the sun.

But no matter how hard I tried to rein myself in, my instincts had already locked onto the conclusion that they were the same. When my gut moved this hard, the Silver Silkworm Moth named in the Compendium was almost certainly the owner of the pupa I had restored.

And that gut belonged to none other than the expert, Spicy Fabre himself.

A moth among the Ten Great Poisons. Just thinking about it made a smile bloom across my face unbidden. Imagining a moth's cuteness set my lips curving even wider.

Good heavens! A moth of insane cuteness! A moth that is one of the Ten Great Poisons!

The reason I was this ecstatic was simple. Right now I was raising the three centipede sisters, Yo-hwa, Seol-i, Bing-i, the Golden-Haired Bee King, and even Yeondu—but if I had to name the single cutest insect in the world without a second of hesitation, it would be the moth.

Objectively speaking, the cutest insect on earth was, hands down, the moth.

People wrapped butterflies in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠packaging like "heralds of spring" or "flower fairies" and praised them as beautiful insects, yet moths always got the short end of the stick. Creepy, useless, and the moment women spotted one they screamed like it was nothing like a butterfly.

Honestly, though, that was just people who had never discovered a moth's cuteness. The real fairy-like cuteness belonged to moths.

Seriously, why do people hate moths so much? Butterflies get way too much hype and moths get way too much hate.

It had been the same in my previous life. Whenever I introduced moths on my stream the chat window filled with nothing but hate.

Scale powder flying everywhere, people living in countryside houses finding them stuck to windows and calling them disgusting—that was the majority reaction.

But even those previous-life viewers who refused to understand at first flipped the moment I posted a single photo.

I called moths the cutest insects in the world because of the mind-melting cuteness they possessed on their own. That was why previous-life viewers had atoned for their sins the second they saw one photo.

Looked down on from above, moths might—depending on the person—stir a tiny bit of fear or disgust in a very small minority. But the moment you met their faces head-on, you simply could not feel disgust toward them.

Antennae like rabbit ears, fluffy fur covering body and legs, and those huge eyes on top of it all. Bumblebees were the poster children of cuteness, but that was only because people didn't know better; next to a moth even that cuteness faded.

Which was why my personal doctrine was that anyone who could look a moth straight in its two eyes and still swat it with a flyswatter was a person of evil heart.

Obviously.

"So-ryong, do you think it's a match?"

Hwa-eun's question pulled me out of my deep dive into adorable moths. Leaving the middle of imagining just how cute the creature would be was a little disappointing, but depending on my own efforts I would soon meet the real thing anyway.

I nodded and held out the restored pupa.

"Look at this. Doesn't it feel like a Silver Silkworm Moth is going to come out of here?"

"Ah! So this is what you were so busy with? It really looks alive, So-ryong. And I think you're right—it really does feel that way."

Hwa-eun shared my opinion after all. Now it was time to figure out exactly how a Heavenly Silkworm became a Silver Silkworm.

Finding the reason a Heavenly Silkworm turned into a Silver Silkworm required the family's help, and for that my father-in-law's permission was mandatory. I decided to go report what I had learned and ask for assistance.

After all, Father-in-law had said he would support my hobbies anytime.

"It seems the Heavenly Silkworm evolves into the Silver Silkworm, one of the Ten Great Poisons."

"What!? That is an extraordinary discovery! And evolution? You mean advancing forward to become a different being?"

Thinking of Cho and Bin, if an ordinary Heavenly Silkworm was going to become a Ten Great Poison Silver Silkworm, the only word that fit was evolution. When I explained the concept and the information I had gathered, Father-in-law nodded as if it made sense.

"Yes, Father-in-law. The Azure-Spotted Centipede was a low-grade poisonous creature, yet it transformed into far superior ones like the Flying Centipede or the Ink-Black Demon Centipede, didn't it? So I have no choice but to use the word evolution."

"And therefore the Heavenly Silkworm will also evolve into a Silver Silkworm?"

"Yes, that is my current thinking."

"Considering the two children, it is a reasonable theory. Finding the method, however, will not be easy..."

"Yes, but we already have two precedents, so it should not be too difficult."

"Do you have a plan?"

"Of course. I will need to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠go beyond Mount Dang for a short while. Could you assign me some warriors?"

"Warriors?"

Father-in-law tilted his head at the request for warriors. He was clearly curious what I intended to do with them. Nothing complicated, though.

What I wanted the warriors for was to examine the two evolution cases I already had some information on and find their common points. That seemed the best way to uncover why a Heavenly Silkworm became a Silver Silkworm.

Of the two evolution cases I could investigate, one was Cho's. I already knew how that evolution had worked. The other—Bin's—was still a mystery. The reason I asked for warriors was that tracking Bin's evolution would require examining the place she had hidden after running away from home.

"I want to investigate the cause of Bin's evolution and check what it has in common with Cho's."

"Ah, so you mean to find the place where Bin was hiding?"

"Yes, Father-in-law."

"Very well. Take the Poison Blood Squad and your Poisonous Creature Squad with you."

"Understood!"

As always, Father-in-law was quick on the uptake. With his permission I left the Family Head's Hall and hurried to find Bin.

"Bin!"

She had been sunbathing with the others in the rear garden. At my call she lifted her head with a languid expression. The way she answered was overflowing with the charm of a girl who had fully grown up and knew how to melt her dad's heart.

-Tssrut?

"Bin, Dad has a favor to ask."

-Tss, tssrut? A-a favor?

"Yeah. Nothing big—just the place where our Bin became this pretty. After you ran away from home... I mean, can you tell me where you were? This dad is curious where his daughter spent that time."

Before, her heart had felt like a little child's, but after evolving it now felt like a young girl's. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠True to her tsundere nature that even evolution couldn't erase, Bin answered with a slightly grumbling feel when I asked for the location.

Her heart was clearly happy about it, though.

-Tss tss tssrr... W-well, if Dad wants it that badly...

"It's not far, right? Can we go and come back within a day?"

-Tssrut... Yeah...

With Bin's permission and the warriors Father-in-law had granted, we set out—and arrived at a place I had never expected.

No, I simply had never imagined it would be this close.

The Death Cave where I had once risked my life for the Tang Family. The place Bin led us to was the Death Vein where yin energy gathered.

The only difference was that last time it had felt full of black energy; now it was just a huge hole. A cave completely transformed from before ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠greeted us.

"They say the darkest place is under the lamp. To think Young Lady Bin was in a place like this... I am sorry. It seems we did not search carefully enough."

Commander Gu Pae of the Poisonous Creature Squad looked down into the Death Cave with an apologetic face. He seemed sorry they had searched the area several times without finding her, but it was actually better they hadn't. I answered casually.

"Anyone would miss it if she went into a place like this. Still, it has changed a lot, hasn't it?"

"The yin energy feels completely gone."

Last time something murky had seemed to pour out; now all of that was gone. I was about to climb down into the pit to check the inside when—

-Tssrut.

The feeling that came from Bin was: I ate it all.

She had eaten every last bit of the energy that had been flowing in.

"You ate it?"

-Tssrut.

I thought over Bin's answer. Cho evolved after eating the Flying Divine Snake's inner dan, and Bin evolved after eating the yin energy that had accumulated in the Death Cave?

Cho had evolved in one leap by eating the inner dan the Flying Divine Snake had gathered. Bin had evolved in one leap by sucking dry every last bit of deathly yin energy that the terrain itself had collected.

The conclusion converged on one point: both had evolved by eating something.

So both Cho and Bin ultimately evolved by consuming something. Then when the Heavenly Silkworms were about to become Silver Silkworms, they also ate something?

Inner dan and deathly energy were both forms of energy. That meant when the Heavenly Silkworms turned into Silver Silkworms they had also eaten something packed full of energy.

There must have been something filled with energy inside the ant nest that we had failed to notice. I hurried back to the family estate. It looked like I needed to visit the basin where the Pagoda Termites lived once more.

I had just returned and was heading for the Family Head's Hall when a voice called out as I passed the entrance to the Hall of Myriad Poisons.

"So-ryong, where are you rushing off to?"

"Ah, Grandfather."

The owner of the voice was Grandfather, the Divine Lord of Myriad Poisons. He was coming out of the Hall of Myriad Poisons holding something.

"I was on my way to see Father-in-law. But what is that?"

"Ah, this? You are the one who brought it."

What Grandfather showed me was a mushroom about the size of a thumb—the ones I had picked from the termite nests and asked the Tang Family to cultivate. Trial cultivation had already started, so these had to be the ones I originally gathered rather than newly grown ones.

"Why do you have them?"

"You brought back something quite interesting."

"Interesting?"

When I asked why he was carrying mushrooms, Grandfather praised me for finding something marvelous. I tilted my head, and he toyed with one of the mushrooms as he spoke.

"It is barely even lowest-grade, but this is a type of spiritual herb. A faint trace of natural earth energy is stored inside it."

"Is that true!? Then isn't it something amazing?"

The mushrooms I had casually picked were spiritual herbs. When I asked whether that made them more than merely "interesting"—whether they were outright "amazing"—the Divine Lord of Myriad Poisons shook his head.

"Natural earth energy is too rough; there is no martial art that can use it as-is. And for some reason the amount of turbid energy inside the mushrooms is far too high, so for humans the harm outweighs the benefit.

Internal energy cultivation methods can sift out the needed energy from natural earth energy while breathing and store only that in the body, but if you eat these and circulate your energy, the turbid energy will pile up together with it.

For the poisonous creatures you raise, however, it might not be bad. Poisonous creatures and beasts are far closer to natural earth energy than humans are. That is probably why the ants eat them."

In short, they could be used like pet snacks. A sudden thought flashed through my mind.

Wait a second! If ants that are friendly with natural earth energy—especially the queen—ate these for fifty years...?

I didn't know the exact amount, but the natural earth energy inside the queen ant couldn't be small.

And if the Heavenly Silkworms then eat that queen ant!? Gasp!

I had thought these Heavenly Silkworm brats were just little thieves parasitizing white ant nests. But because they had been handed down from the Divine Thief, it seemed that once in a while a grand thief who even ate the master of the house was born among them.