Chapter 48: The Beginning of Vengeance

In the sealed basement, Charles’s gaze was calm and unruffled as he drew forth the energy from the small bead and channeled it into the corpse. The body, which had already begun to lose the last traces of vitality, gradually showed faint signs of life once more—its fingers and knees even twitched slightly. It was as if this corpse had become the most optimal breeding ground, allowing the parasitic bee eggs within to thrive in luxury, developing at an astonishing rate.

A barely perceptible cracking sound arose as one after another, finger-sized bee eggs split open. The larvae gnawed away their eggshells and hungrily set upon the flesh. Thanks to Charles’s simple evolutionary adjustments combined with their original genes, the newborn bees now fed primarily on flesh and blood, unlike their predecessors who had relied on nectar. This brought them closer to wasps from his previous life, vastly expanding their dietary range—never again would they worry about finding sustenance.

Hundreds of larvae hatched and devoured the corpse, using it as their sole source of nourishment, gnawing it full of holes. The flesh vanished rapidly, exposing bone, and within an hour, every scrap of flesh had been consumed. The newly hatched bees were only slightly stronger than ordinary giant bee larvae, but as they grew, they would rival the adults. Only upon reaching maturity could they metamorphose into venomous stinger bees—a process that would take about a week.

The queen bee was the heart of the swarm. Through the mysterious link between her and the ordinary stinger bees, Charles could command the entire hive, though this control came with a slight delay. It was reminiscent of a poor phone signal in his past life, and Charles often wondered if he could amplify this transmission to minimize the lag. Otherwise, in emergencies like before, the stinger bees would be unable to respond instantly—just moments ago, the poisoned dagger had nearly plunged into Baron Buyano’s back. If that had happened, no treatment would have sufficed…

The physicians summoned from Stormhaven by messenger bird finally arrived. Three doctors, having raced here, worked together to stabilize the baron and halt the spread of the toxin. Unfortunately, the poison was rare and insidious, burrowing deep like maggots in the bone, leaving the doctors helpless. All they could do was weaken its effects, not cure it. Whether the baron could survive would depend entirely on his own constitution—a matter shrouded in uncertainty.

Charles stood nearby in silence, his face expressionless, his thoughts inscrutable. He saw clearly the look in the doctors’ eyes—it was the same look he’d seen in those who attended his grandfather’s passing in his previous life. They might as well have said, “Prepare for the worst.”

“Young master, what should we do with those monks?”

After leaving the room, Marcus gnashed his teeth, looking as if he would devour someone alive. “If it hadn’t been for them, the assassin wouldn’t have slipped in, and the lord wouldn’t have faced such danger!” Marcus had once been a homeless orphan, taken in by House Maestrin. He became a squire, learning martial skills and fighting side by side with the baron. After the campaign against the barbarians, he had refused the city lord’s invitation without hesitation and insisted on returning to this small domain with the baron.

“Even without them, the assassin would have found another disguise. But they are not blameless. They’d better pray nothing happens to my father. Otherwise…” Charles’s tone was flat as he turned away, “We’ll find some pretext—supporting insurgents, perhaps—and raze the monastery.”

“Young master, should I send someone to follow you?” Marcus called after him.

“No need. Ordinary men are far too weak. Sending them would be pointless—one is enough,” Charles replied.

Watching Charles leave, Marcus was suddenly struck by a sense of helplessness. The young master had grown more mysterious—and more formidable—beyond his ability to protect. Yet, at least, he had finally grown up.

— — —

At sunset, a black stallion came to a halt near a secluded mountain valley. This was Mistvale, north of Stormhaven—a gorge shrouded in fog year-round, known as the Valley of Mists. Local villagers whispered of terrifying monsters that dwelled within, claiming many lives, and avoided it at all costs. The untouched land of death had now received a visitor: a striking youth with wine-red shoulder-length hair and cold, pale blue eyes, a snow-white fox draped across his shoulders.

The little white fox lay curled against his head, seemingly dozing, opening its drowsy eyes only as they came to a stop. Casually, the youth dismounted and tethered the horse to a tree.

Thud, thud.

Heavy footsteps sounded behind him. A monstrous lizard, five meters long, came lumbering over, tail swaying as it followed. Charles reached out and stroked the giant lizard’s head, which nuzzled his hand in a manner oddly at odds with its fearsome appearance.

Suddenly, Charles turned to the forest beside him, a cold smile curling on his lips. “Oh? A welcoming party, is it?”

Buzz!

A swarm of enormous stinger bees burst from his pocket, beating their wings furiously as they shot toward the source of the disturbance. A branch snapped, followed by a sharp, panicked scream—then silence. The stinger bees soon returned. At the same time, a faint white mist flowed back, merging wordlessly into Charles’s brow.

“Hm, an evolution point?” Charles was surprised to see his tally increase by one. Curious, he went to investigate and found a man in green sprawled on the ground, a gray viper beside him. Both their faces were pierced by venomous stingers—a stark reminder of the bees’ lethality. “So even having my totems kill enemies can yield evolution points. That’s an interesting discovery.”

With this in mind, Charles realized that once he had more totems, he could have them hunt freely nearby, amassing evolution points to fuel further growth, creating a self-sustaining cycle. Still, he did not forget his true purpose—he set Firefly down and let it use its extraordinary sense of smell to search for any creatures in the area.

This place was one of the organization’s three outposts in Fawn County, and there shouldn’t be a second-tier Soul Warden stationed here—hence Charles’s confidence in coming alone. Yet before infiltrating, he needed to hunt a few more irradiated monsters nearby, collecting evolution points in an effort to evolve Firefly.

Once Firefly evolved, Charles himself would ascend to the second tier. As a second-tier Soul Warden, he would wield more spirit arts, greatly enhancing the speed and strength of his totems, making them all but invincible! More importantly, the greatest advantage over the first tier would be a far more refined mastery of source energy—once advanced, he could use distant energy as a catalyst, drawing on the world’s own force and cutting his source crystal consumption by half or more!

And at present, nothing was more desperately needed than source crystals…