These past few days, Hol had been pretty relaxed. After Rosie left for Gelu City, he didn't need to go to Star Luo Residence every afternoon to teach her dark magic. Of course, that also meant he couldn't mooch lunch and dinner there anymore.

  But this wasn't really a sad thing for him now, because he had money.

  Besides the magic tournament prize money, he also had the thank-you gift from the young master of the Boyle family. That box of jewels was enough for him to eat at Escore Dessert Shop until graduation.

  That said, money wasn't everything. Having too much wealth brought its own troubles. Because of this money, his iron triangle relationship with Theodore and Laura had fractured.

  Originally, the three of them had been the poorest members of the Death Penalty Squad. Poverty and hunger had given them common ground and brought them together.

  But after he got rich, Theodore and Laura started resenting his wealth and distanced themselves from him.

  Especially Theodore—these past few days, he'd been looking at Hol with resentment and hatred, nothing like his former friendly warmth.

  Take this afternoon, for example. Hol had been holding a one-gold-coin cup of "Sweet Temptation" in his left hand and a five-silver-coin slice of cream cake in his right. Thinking about how this delicious cream couldn't exist without his good brother Theodore's hard work, he'd specially gone to the kitchen door to express his gratitude.

  Who knew Theodore would tell him to get lost and even chase him away with the cream-stirring stick? It absolutely broke his heart.

  Possessing vast wealth but having lost his friends, Hol returned to the academy alone. Looking at the dark night sky, he raised his hand and slowly covered the lower half of his face.

  Just then, Luo Wei appeared in front of him.

  "What are you looking at? Why are you smiling so happily?"

  Seeing Hol covering his mouth but unable to suppress his cheerful grin, Luo Wei followed his gaze. That's weird—there's nothing there!

  "Ahem, I thought of something funny." Hol pulled back the corners of his mouth that had stretched to his ears, two shallow dimples appearing on his face. "Miss Luo Wei, are you looking for someone?"

  This was below the boys' dormitory. Girls didn't usually come here.

  "I'm looking for you." Luo Wei stated her purpose. "I'd like you to brew a pot of healing potion for me, as fast as possible. Name your price. Do you have time?"

  "Yes, I have plenty of time." Hol agreed without hesitation, then asked, "Miss Luo Wei, who will this potion be for?"

  Luo Wei asked curiously, "Does that matter?"

  Hol was direct. "As you know, my potions aren't exactly appreciated by most people."

  "If you're giving it to a friend, I'll try to follow the basic formula as closely as possible. The downside is collecting ingredients will take some time. If you're giving it to an enemy, I'll just use whatever materials I have on hand."

  After hearing his answer, Luo Wei said, "It's for a friend, but to save time, brew it like you would for an enemy."

  "The smell might be rather unique." Hol warned.

  Luo Wei: "That's fine. The stink—I mean, the more fragrant, the better. This friend of mine needs the smell to clear his head."

  Best to scare Count Wesley thoroughly so he'd stop scheming to poach her people.

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  Yesterday he tried to recruit her and failed. Today he set his sights on the young knight she was training. What did he think this place was, a headhunting agency?

  Hol needed time to brew the potion and promised to deliver it by noon tomorrow. Although he said he didn't want payment, Luo Wei still gave him ten gold coins.

  Actually, a pot of potion was worth far more than ten gold coins. After all, a single bottle of low-level healing potion sold for one gold coin, and a pot could fill fifty or sixty bottles.

  The main issue was that Hol's potions stank too much and had severe side effects. Left sitting around, they were basically biochemical weapons. Figuring no one would buy them anyway, he only charged Luo Wei for materials in the end.

  After ordering the potion, Luo Wei returned to Rose Castle.

  "Nicole, guard the doors and windows for me!"

  Walking into her bedroom, she released the Infernal Arachne and had it patrol along the walls while she lit the oil lamp and sat at her desk to begin dissecting the silk moths she'd brought back from the mulberry orchard.

  Observing their appearance, these silk moths were very different from ordinary silk moths.

  Not only were they three or four times larger than normal silk moths, they also retained both chewing and siphoning mouthparts simultaneously. Their wings were also different from ordinary silk moths.

  Normal silk moth wings were tiny with no flight capability, but these silk moths had a pair of large wings and could fly quite fast.

  Perhaps due to their living environment, silk moths that hadn't been domesticated by humans needed to reproduce under natural conditions. Wild silkworm populations had low density, requiring wings to fly farther distances to find mates.

  Looking at it this way, she shouldn't call them mutant silk moths. The fact that they could fly and bite was precisely because they hadn't mutated. They should be called wild silkworms.

  Luo Wei cut open their abdomens and found digestive organs inside.

  This meant the mutant silk moths had digestive capability. They weren't eating the tender mulberry shoots not because they couldn't feed, but because they'd found an environment suitable for their offspring to hatch and grow, completing their reproductive mission.

  Without that mulberry grove, they would swarm out of the orchard in groups, frantically gnawing through any obstacles in their path. Wherever they passed, nothing would survive—not people, not livestock, not a single tile left intact—until they found suitable habitat.

  Looking at the silk moths under the lamplight, Luo Wei frowned.

  When she raised them, she'd only wanted them to produce silk and create value. She never expected they'd turn into ferocious magic insects.

  Looking on the bright side, these silkworms weren't as fragile as domestic silkworms. She wouldn't even need to hire workers to carefully pick mulberry leaves and feed them. Just put them on the mulberry trees and she could periodically harvest cocoons.

  Of course, that was just wishful thinking. If she really let them grow wild like that, her mulberry orchard would probably be eaten bare. Plus, the cocoon emergence timing would be hard to control.

  Putting the dead silk moths into her spatial ring, Luo Wei looked at the two cocoons on the table.

  She hadn't been paying attention and had placed them too close to the oil lamp. The pupae inside, sensing the temperature change, seemed ready to emerge early.

  Perfect—she wanted to see how they crawled out of their cocoon shells anyway.

  Luo Wei watched the cocoons carefully, listening closely. She heard the faint sound of silk threads snapping inside as they used their teeth to bite through the cocoons wrapping them.

  "Pop!" A newly emerged silk moth drilled out of its shell, spread its wings, and flew toward the oil lamp.

  "Whoosh—"

  A black shadow leaped onto the desk, pouncing on the silk moth with swift precision. It pinned the moth firmly under eight hairy legs, then tilted its head to look at Luo Wei, raising two pedipalps and waving them.

  "Nicole?" Luo Wei looked at the Infernal Arachne in surprise.

  She'd almost forgotten—spiders were natural predators of moths. Infernal Arachnes loved catching insects, and silk moths were within its hunting range.

  But these silk moths had sharp mouthparts. Luo Wei wasn't sure if an undead spider would feel pain from an insect bite. She said to the Infernal Arachne, "Come down quickly, Nicole. Be careful it doesn't bite you."

  Her words had the opposite effect. The moment she said this, Nicole transformed into a crazed little dog, pinning down the silk moth and tearing into it. She ripped the moth's wings to shreds, pulled off its mouthparts and antennae, even tore off its head.

  Watching the silk moth get dismembered in under three seconds beneath Nicole's claws, Luo Wei fell silent.

  She felt like her worries about the silk moths running rampant had become a joke. Clearly the Infernal Arachne was far more ferocious than the silk moths.

  "Nicole." Luo Wei looked at the Infernal Arachne still angrily mutilating the corpse and praised her sincerely. "You're amazing. You're the most amazing little spider in the whole world!"

  The Infernal Arachne finally stopped. Its big black eyes looked at her as it tilted its head. Its back legs kicked away the moth's corpse, and it bounced over to her, raising its pedipalps for a hug.

  Luo Wei placed her index finger between its two pedipalps and gently touched its fuzzy head.

  "Good girl!"

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