Chapter 1071 Clawed Animals

In the battle outside Oaknell, in order to fight against the drow summoner "Faceless" Pyrrhus, Joan had already consumed all the eggs of all kinds of magic insects stored in the blue ice box.

Without the devil eggs, the power of Joan's "Insect Sea Tactic" would be greatly reduced. The blood moss eggs came at just the right time, just to supplement the shortage of devil eggs.

Joan opened the magic backpack rented from Mr. Locke, took out a blood moss egg from it, and observed it with the "perspective hand mirror".

Through this magic hand mirror, Joan can observe the unhatched larva wrapped in a hard shell.

The shape of the larval embryo was so strange that it was impossible to describe it. After watching it for a while, Qiao An faintly felt that his spirit had been polluted, so he gave up his plan to continue observing.

His eyes moved from the eggs to the adults curled up in a circle, dozing off, and suddenly had an idea.

Worms that are more common in nature are mostly insect larvae. For example, caterpillars are the larvae of butterflies, and maggots are the larvae of flies.

As for those organisms that maintain the form of "worms" throughout their lives, they are usually annelids such as "earthworms" or parasites such as "roundworms", and others are relatively rare.

Blood moss is obviously not a parasite, and it doesn't look like an "annelid", so is it an "arthropod", such as a larva of a giant insect, or a rarer large "clawed animal" ?

The so-called "clawed animals" usually refer to worms whose morphology is between "annelids" and "arthropods", and which have the characteristics of both animals, such as "velvet worms".

Judging from the appearance only, Joan was unable to determine the species of the blood moss, and the "advanced internal vision" only described it as a "worm-shaped creature" in general, and could not give a precise biological classification.

In order to answer the doubts in his heart, Qiao An used his brain and designed a set of experiments.

After clarifying his thoughts, he took out the "Giant Worm Wand", activated a magic power, and cast a 4-ring "Giant Worm Art" on the blood moss worm under his control.

After casting the spell, a halo of golden magic power appeared on the giant worm's body, like the sparkling light in the sun, which was fleeting and failed to have any observable impact on the blood moss worm.

If the blood moss is the larva of some supernatural insect, such as a giant butterfly or moth, then when he is blessed with the "giant insect technique", he will grow faster and transform into an adult form.

If this phenomenon was not observed in the experimental results, it is unlikely that the blood moss is the larvae of other insects, and when it is fully mature, it will be the image of this huge caterpillar.

In order to further verify this guess, Joan applied the "giant insect technique" to the previously collected eggs.

A golden magic halo surrounds the eggs, prompting the embryos to accelerate their development, and soon a pink larva emerges from the cocoon.

The appearance of the larva caught the blood moss moth's attention. It shook its tentacles and looked towards the larva, as if smelling a familiar scent.

Joan issued a mental command to prevent the adults from approaching the larvae so as not to interfere with the experiment.

Under the stimulation of magic power, the larvae grew rapidly at a speed visible to the human eye, and matured within a minute, becoming almost as thick as the blood moss captured by Joan.

Qiao An silently observed the whole process of egg hatching and larvae growth. During this period, no pupae and emergence were observed. The larvae just kept getting bigger during the development process, just like a chick that broke out of its shell and grew into a big one. Birds, compared with adults, do not see any obvious differences, which obviously does not meet the characteristics of "metamorphosis".

Insects, whether in nature or in the supernatural, are almost all "metamorphosis", including two types of "complete metamorphosis" and "incomplete metamorphosis".

The former is like a silkworm baby (larvae) cocooning and turning into a moth (adult), while the latter is like a small grasshopper (nymph) molting layer by layer, and finally develops into a large grasshopper (adult).

In the process of maturation of blood moss eggs catalyzed by magic, from larva to adult, Joann did not observe any signs of metamorphosis.

Based on this, Joan can draw a guess:

The blood moss is not an insect, but a huge clawed animal!

In the natural world, clawed animals are very rare in themselves, and it is even rarer if the blood moss is bigger than the giant python.

As we all know, rare things are expensive. The rarer the species, the higher the research value.

Realizing the academic value of his discovery, Joan couldn't help pumping his fists and cheering excitedly.

Audrey, Hyrule, Holden, and Belling, who were drinking tea by the campfire, heard his cheers, and all surrounded him curiously, asking him what he was happy about.

"I just discovered a rare 'clawed animal', and it is probably the largest order of all known species under the 'clawed animal phylum'!"

Joan is eager to share his new discoveries with his companions, but unfortunately, not everyone can empathize with him.

Hailaer and Audrey looked at each other with a dazed face, unable to understand what Joan was saying.

Even if you say "Congratulations", you can't tell where the joy comes from, and it seems hypocritical to reluctantly agree.

"You mean blood moss?"

But Bellin, who is also a mage, showed great interest in Joan's new discovery.

"That's right! Blood moss worms are not annelids, nor are they larvae of insects. They are actually close relatives of 'velvet worms', but they are tens of thousands of times bigger than 'velvet worms'!"

"Wow! What a discovery!"

Belling clapped happily.

"What do Joan and Belling mean by 'animals with claws'?" Hyrule asked Audrey in a low voice. "Most animals have claws. What's so strange about that?"

"Don't ask me, I don't understand, let alone why Joan is so happy, just because of a worm?"

Audrey smiled wryly and shrugged.

"Perhaps only a mage can understand this kind of happiness."

Holden sighed with emotion.

...

After the lunch break, the expedition team consisting of five people and one insect continued to move forward.

As usual, the blood moss worm led the way, and Joan turned into a beeman to scout in the air, and the rest of his companions followed behind, walking along the road flattened by the giant worm.

After walking about four or five miles in this way, the terrain ahead narrowed, and the raised hillsides on both sides of the road were covered with tall fungi, like dense bushes.

The blood moss worm walking in the front stopped suddenly, turned its head to look at the gentle slope on the left, shook its antennae frequently, as if smelling some kind of dangerous breath, and let out a whistle-like whistle from its mouth.

Joan, who was flying in the air, sensed through the mental link that his giant insect servant was developing a strong hatred for a certain creature lurking on the hillside. He seemed to regard the other party as a natural enemy, and quickly turned his head to make a warning gesture to his companion.