“What??! It’s normal to have parasites on silkworms??!” I couldn’t hold back my surprise when I heard this from Xiao Qing, while I tied my knife around my waist like before.

XQ: “Zombification amongst bugs are actually quite natural, even in our normal world, you know? Silkworms are prone to be infected by the Cordyceps, a parasitic fungus. Cordyceps germinate through airborne spores. They enter from any hole on the worm and grow there… The silkworm only needed to inhale their spores, then they’re lodged in and the ‘infection’ is done. After a few days, they are attacked internally by the growing fungi. Once it reaches the head, they’re actions are then directed by the cordyceps. After a few weeks, they’re mush… They become food for the Cordyceps. The one that made you trip over, that’s the end of the bug’s life and the start of the growth of the Cordyceps plant to form the stalk that you called ‘horn’… However, it’s not fully developed yet so no spores would be spread for the time being. Only when it’s fully developed, then it will start to spread spores. So, it’s unlikely that your buddy will be infected, despite being on the ground a few times and being near those infected ones.”

XQ sighed involuntarily, seeming that she was recalling all the memories before she continued, “By the way, those silkworms that are controlled by the Cordyceps mainly acts according to the favor of the Cordycep, the parasite. This particular species of cordyceps we’re dealing with will grow faster when it finds external sources with good mana supply and feeds on it. When they control the silkworms, they just go after whatever animals they can find, but they prefer attacking humans with a great mana supply. You just need to watch out for those silkworms that are already controlled by them. They have the ability to release a type of toxin that causes mana disruption, making its attacks to fall under a category which we commonly used to call ‘Silence’, making them arch-enemies of magic users. This allows them to be able to feed without having to deal with spells that may cause them trouble or danger them during feeding. Think of a leech or mosquito and you’ll understand the behavior of this certain species. Depending on how many times the victim had attacked and the time it was in contact, the time of effect will differ. For you, it should be gone within half an hour from the time of the attack. There are no side effects so there's no need to worry.”

XQ’s sullen face lit up suddenly, then she said, “There are some good news despite all this. I told you that Cordyceps are very specific in finding their host right? So humans and other animals don’t have to worry about being infected unless it’s animals of similar species. Moreover, we know their weakness! They are afraid of Fire attacks because they’re kind of behave like plants, so they’ll run from any heat source. On the other hand, both species are known to go into a hibernation state at cold climates so they can tricked to be immobilized by cold attacks.”

XQ also explained to me in detail of the behavior of normal silkworms flicking those that had fallen onto the ground back down. “The silkworms in trees had learned from past experience the best way to stay clear of the Cordyceps spores is to remain in the trees. Although there are times when the spores are carried by the wind upwards, it is still considered rare and the transmission had been greatly controlled by the natural currents in this cave. You know that cold air descends right? This cave is located in the middle of a mountain and the air in this cave is usually the cold air blown from the top of the hill carried downhill. Also there are the times of rain and snow so the number of Cordyceps and infected silkworms are greatly controlled. The activity here is much slower. Due to that and in time the silkworms adapted to be much long lived. You may ask how does the trees here feed this much silkworms in here despite so little sunlight... That's the amazing part of this dungeon... The trees here had been living and producing leaves and fruits just fine from the underground water that carries some energy from the magical stones found underground... ”

She went on and on about all the fascinating parts of the trees... From what I observed, she seemed easily carried away by plantlife huh... She must love plants, A LOT!!

“…… Boy, I wish I paid more attention during Biology class in high school… Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

XQ: “…… Does that make any difference that I tell you now? You’d probably feel more frustrated then…”

“…… It won’t change much, but it may change a bit from the way I acted!! If you told me earlier, I wouldn’t have thought that it’s like those Zombie movies! Or in history! The parasite may be a disease can be spread like plague, perhaps carried by ticks that can hop from infected silkworms to normal ones!”

XQ: “…… If I told you that, you’ll still run to help your buddy from falling right? So you still need to face those infected ones… What difference does that make?”

Hate to admit that, but I realized that she’s right… No way my mind can work right under all that fear and pressure just now. I wanted to retort but I held back because saying anything else would be useless now...

After a few moments of silence…

XQ: “So… When are you going to let that silkworm climb back into the tree?”

“Do I have to?? But she was bullied by the others before… She fell at least three times from the tree…”

[7 times…] My buddy stated matter of factly, ever so calmly.

“7 TIMES??! Please, don’t let her go back into the tree… I’ll take good care of her…”

XQ: “How are you going to feed her? I’m not good at math, but silkworms eat mulberry leaves… a lot~~~ ”

I must say I haven’t thought about this at all…

“I…… I’ll collect them everyday! I’ll make sure she’s always fed and never starve.”

“Okay, do it now!” Brenton who was playing with Scamp pricked up his ears… “This will be interesting to watch…”

…… Damn you Brenton......!!

“Face it… I won’t say it’s impossible, but it’s too difficult for you now!” Brenton seemed to not realise that he is being a pain in ass... Should I say he is scooping and blowing burning cinders onto my head??

I wish I could debate but at the current state, but he's right... There’s no way I can scale up that tree… Then, suddenly I had an idea! Who says I have to be the one to climb the tree?

I went to Brenton and looked straight into his eyes. Brenton was shocked at that, he had on an expression that suggested he must be thinking 'What the hell does he want? A fight?'!

“Please! Lend me Scamps! I’ll repay you in time!”

Brenton immediately replied quickly, “No way! Do you know how far we have to travel to get here? And what’s more, we have to do it everyday for the rest of her life? Hell~ no!!”

Darn! I wished he would be more indirect or at least look like he was giving second thoughts...

“Please!! Do you know what kind of life my buddy had been through? Disowned by his family, just because he had fallen once? Ahhhh!!! See even once from this low hurts! Uhhhh….”

To prove how terrible it must have been, I let myself fall down onto the hard ground onto my backside…… Then I painfully got up onto my feet. I did see Brenton flinch when he saw me fall… Just the right reaction what I wanted...

“Then the second… Uhhhhh….. third….. Uhhhh…… fourth……”

Brenton finally opened his mouth.... I hoped that he would give in, but instead what came out was: “Stop it… It doesn’t work like that in real life! Don’t you see? If you help her now, you’ll cause all the 7 times she had fallen to be wasted!! There’s no such thing as divine intervention in real life! Even when you find one that has fallen like that, you’re already this upset. Then, what about the others that you’ve not seen? …… I know it’s hard but you have to accept that it’s part of life!! And life goes on whether you like it or not!! Did you even ask your buddy here what she wants?!”

After hearing all that, I’m now quite devastated… The first impression was ‘What a selfish brat! Why don’t you can help him when you have the power?! At least hear me out and surely we can compromise to something that will benefit my buddy!’... However, when I slowly cooled down and digested his word, I’ll have to admit that what he said was all the hard truth... So, I swallowed all my rage and I tried to be as calm as I can when I asked my buddy.

“Hey, buddy…… I think you’ve gone through enough… I want to help you as much as I can… If you say it, I’ll take care of you for the rest of your life… As long as you say that you need me, I’ll do whatever I can to make your life better...”

My buddy looked at me and said calmly…

[Thank you for caring me so much… But I want to go back to where I belong… I need to do this, even if it is the biggest challenge… Sure, there are a lot of uncertainties, but until I try I’ll never know when there’ll be a chance for me to convince them… I can only hope for the best…]

I can feel my tears well up in my eyes… Dammit! Even I know it’s for the best, how can I say something like that and then take it back……?

My buddy looked towards the others and lastly looked at me…

[Thank you for helping me twice. You all have given me hope that the world still has some warmth in it. I’ll do my best to live on, don’t worry about me!]

I couldn’t take it anymore… I sobbed and gave it a long hug… Call me a freak but I’m seriously emotionally attached to this little white one right here…

The guys patted my shoulders and the girls gave me a hug. It made the pain I feel inside reside... Although it's just a tiny little bit...

I want to protect this little one here, but I can’t do anything…

I even wanted to name it, but I figured it would make parting that much difficult.

“I tell you what… I’ll send her to a different tree with a different group of silkworms. I’ll get Scamps to drop her off so fast they’d never feel the difference.” Brenton offered me the next best thing he could offer in service to my pleas.

At some point, I nodded and I had to let my buddy go… I put her on top of Scamp’s back and made sure she held on tight. I gave her one last long look, but only at the silvery-white body without eye contact again, in fear that I’d change my mind again.

“I guess it’s goodbye… ...... You know... Even if I’ve just met you… I feel like we’ve been friends forever… All the best out there…”

My silkworm buddy... seemed to listen deeply in silence… And then… I heard a familiar voice. It could be just my imagination, but it was not as calm as before and she had an almost teary tone…

[Thank you for making me feel like I’m special! …… I’m but a normal silkworm, a nobody...... But everything I had experienced today made me feel like I’m the luckiest silkworm in the world. ...... I just hope that we'll meet each other again in future…… Let’s go, Scamp! ]

Then, Scamp took off with my buddy like the wind… They faded into the trees and then there was silence… The jungle still has some sounds but to me it was silent…

I stared at the distance sadly for quite a while tearily… After some time, I finally decided not to cry… That moment, I felt an inner fire within me that was kindled!

I promised myself that I’m going to change the ways things are in here! My buddy was lucky this time but some other time, she or her kind would not be so lucky… Something has to be done to give everyone a chance to live. Even if I can’t make everyone happy, I’ll do something today to make the future me proud.

Suddenly, the silence was broken when I heard something! The gentle, firm voice from my weapon spoke clearly again in my head, “There is more than one way to solve things than violence. Make love not war! Fight for the good of this world and defend the world from destruction!”

Then something incredible happened! The knife on my waist began to shine! It began to glow with an arc of magic light that makes everyone around me look with wonder!

What is going on?!!