Chapter 230 | Transmigrated with a Sanity Gauge

Lu Yuan's heart leaped into his throat.

A Knowledge Worm.

It had actually come.

His first instinct was to seize control.

His Forbidden Lore perception retracted instantly, preparing to overwhelm the creature before it could react...

But in the next second, Lu Yuan froze.

Because that grain-sized worm was "looking" at him.

It had no eyes.

Yet Lu Yuan could feel that the tiny thing's perception was fixed directly on him.

It wasn't hostility.

It was more like... curiosity.

It simply hovered there in the air, quietly observing the human who had released the knowledge aura.

Lu Yuan stared back at it for several seconds.

Neither of them moved.

It was waiting.

Lu Yuan was also waiting.

But Lu Yuan knew very well that the pinhole wouldn't stay open forever, and this worm could retreat at any moment.

The next move would decide everything.

Lu Yuan did not move.

He suppressed the urge to control it and instead carefully observed the little thing before him.

His Forbidden Lore perception told him one thing.

This worm wasn't afraid of him.

It wasn't that it "didn't want to run," but that it "didn't think it needed to run."

Lu Yuan recalled the residual images he had seen in Laurina's laboratory. Knowledge Worms were predators within the Sea of Knowledge, devouring any systematic knowledge they encountered.

But this one showed no reaction to his own knowledge aura.

It had smelled it, swam over, and squeezed through.

And then... it stopped.

'It's observing me.'

Lu Yuan suddenly realized something.

He possessed the key to the Sea of Knowledge.

The abilities of a Knowledge Seeker were "given" by the Sea of Knowledge.

Was that a... mark?

Or rather, to a Knowledge Worm, a person bearing the mark of the Sea of Knowledge...

'Is not prey.'

At that moment, his Forbidden Lore perception provided feedback.

【Detected Target: Knowledge Worm (Larva/Primary State)】

【Status: Observing... Subject determined to be a valid associate of the Sea of Knowledge...】

Lu Yuan stared at that line of text, his heart stirring.

Did it consider him a part of the Sea of Knowledge?

No, not exactly.

It was more like... he had a certain amount of "credit" with the Sea of Knowledge.

When he first fell into the Sea of Knowledge, the greyish-white text had said: "You have provided brand-new knowledge, filling the Sea of Knowledge with a drop of solid text."

That single drop of text was his stake.

As a native species of the Sea of Knowledge, the Knowledge Worm naturally recognized this mark.

In its eyes, he wasn't an outsider, let alone prey.

He was an existence of a higher tier.

Lu Yuan slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

There was no need for a fight.

This was much better than expected.

He tried withdrawing the aggressive edge of his Forbidden Lore perception, replacing it with a peaceful, tentative contact.

The Knowledge Worm did not retreat.

It remained suspended in the air, its translucent body glowing faintly, quiet and still.

Lu Yuan was just about to further test methods for taming it, listing several plans in his head...

Suddenly, the Knowledge Worm moved.

It wasn't coming for Lu Yuan.

Its body shuddered violently, the colors within it swirling faster as it zipped away like a shot.

Lu Yuan was taken aback.

He followed it with his gaze.

The Knowledge Worm flew toward the toolbox in the corner.

It circled the toolbox incessantly, but lacking hands or feet, it could only buzz around in a frantic state.

Lu Yuan already guessed what it was looking for.

He flipped open the toolbox and found the sampling bottle at the very bottom.

Inside that sampling bottle was a thumb-sized crystal. Faint flickers of greyish-green and dark gold light pulsed within it.

A consciousness crystal.

A fragment of the consciousness from the main core of the pipe network vault's hyphae.

The Knowledge Worm hovered outside the sampling bottle, pressing its body against the glass, its colors swirling madly.

It was excited.

Extremely excited.

Lu Yuan could capture that emotional fluctuation through his Forbidden Lore perception. It was like a long-starved cat smelling the scent of fish.

It wanted to go in.

It wanted to take a bite.

The Knowledge Worm circled the sampling bottle, dark gold and deep blue flashing alternately. One lap, two laps, three laps...

Then it stopped and turned to "look" at Lu Yuan.

'Is it asking me?'

Lu Yuan walked over, picked up the sampling bottle, and examined the crystal inside.

The crystal was still dormant, the frequency of its light pulses very low, but the mental resonance and inscription traces sealed within were clearly visible.

To Lu Yuan, this was an important research material.

It contained a massive amount of compressed knowledge and information. If he could decode it, his Forbidden Lore experience would likely see a significant jump.

He couldn't let the worm eat it.

At least, not now.

And more importantly... this thing came from the consciousness of the hyphae main core. If a grain-sized larval Knowledge Worm actually ate it, he didn't know if it would burst.

"No."

Lu Yuan spoke to it.

The Knowledge Worm's body visibly stiffened.

Then it began to wriggle.

It wasn't a violent struggle, but a kind of... petulant, wheedling wriggle.

Its tiny, translucent body twisted left and right, its colors brightening and dimming to express its intense dissatisfaction.

But it didn't try to force its way in.

Once Lu Yuan said no, it didn't move.

This made Lu Yuan even more certain of his judgment.

The Knowledge Worm truly regarded him as a higher-tier existence.

"Orders" worked on it.

'But what it wants to eat isn't my Forbidden Lore; it's this crystal.'

Lu Yuan thought for a moment and decided to try something.

He actively separated a sliver of extremely weak Forbidden Lore aura and sent it toward the Knowledge Worm.

"Try this."

The Knowledge Worm's body trembled.

Then... it retreated.

Two steps back.

It huddled in mid-air, the colors across its body dimming slightly.

It didn't dare eat it.

To it, the aura of Forbidden Lore was not food.

Lu Yuan was stunned.

The faceless little thing was still staring longingly at that crystal.

'Well, this is awkward.'

It wouldn't eat Forbidden Lore, and the knowledge information contained in his other skills was likely too meager; a larval Knowledge Worm probably wouldn't find them appetizing.

Aside from this consciousness crystal, he really didn't seem to have anything else to feed it.

Just as Lu Yuan was staring awkwardly at the timid little worm, his Forbidden Lore perception captured another movement at the pinhole.

Something else was squeezing through.

Lu Yuan turned to look.

Another thread, thinner than a strand of hair, was pulled out of the pinhole. It hovered in the air, expanding into a second grain-sized Knowledge Worm.

Immediately after, a third.

The two newcomers flew to the side of the first. The three tiny, translucent worm-like objects huddled together, their colors flashing in turns.

It was as if they were talking.

Lu Yuan couldn't understand them, but his Forbidden Lore perception could capture the exchange of information between them... extremely faint knowledge fragments flowed among the three, like some kind of language.

After a bit of chittering, the three Knowledge Worms turned in unison.

They all stared at that consciousness crystal.

Six incorporeal "gazes" were all locked onto the sampling bottle in Lu Yuan's hand.

Lu Yuan looked at them and fell silent for a few seconds.

He lightly tapped the surface of the sampling bottle with his finger.

The bodies of the three Knowledge Worms shuddered simultaneously.

"Want to eat?"

The colors swirled madly.

'I didn't even need to ask.'

Lu Yuan looked down at the crystal in the sampling bottle, calculating rapidly in his mind.

He did need this crystal; the knowledge information inside could help him boost his experience.

But if the Knowledge Worms could be tamed...

Their value far exceeded a single crystal.

Devouring knowledge, purifying it, and providing feedback.

Once this cycle was up and running...

In the future, his source of experience would no longer be limited to contact and research. The Knowledge Worms could go out and eat other things, then feed the purified knowledge back to him.

Moreover, they could be used against enemies.

But there was a prerequisite.

Lu Yuan looked up at the three Knowledge Worms suspended in the air.

"A contract."

The colors of the three worms paused at the same time.

"Taming. You follow my orders."

Lu Yuan's tone was calm but very serious.

"That is the condition. Only if you agree can you eat."

The three Knowledge Worms huddled together and began chittering again.

Their colors flashed back and forth for several seconds.

Then the first one—the one that had squeezed out of the pinhole first—flew out from the group of three.

It hovered before Lu Yuan, its body glowing faintly.

Then, from its translucent body, it separated a sliver of extremely fine, faint radiance.

It was dark gold, carrying the unique swirling sensation of the Sea of Knowledge.

That sliver of light floated like an invisible thread, slowly drifting toward Lu Yuan's hand.

The moment it touched his skin, Lu Yuan felt it.

A connection.

It wasn't on the level of Forbidden Lore.

It was something deeper.

It was as if an extremely fine thread had been added to his perception, with the other end connected to the tiny thing before him.

Its emotions, its hunger, its curiosity... he could feel them all.

Faint, but clear.

【You have gained the trust of a Knowledge Worm. You have contracted a Knowledge Worm. Congratulations on achieving a new feat: Knowledge Sea Angler.】

【Knowledge Sea Angler: You have, in your own way, openly fished in the Sea of Knowledge, yet your presence does not seem to have been stopped by 'Them.' Your connection with the Sea of Knowledge has deepened: 1/?】

【Forbidden Lore: Knowledge Seeker: +5... 30.4/100】

At the same time, the connection with the Sea of Knowledge maintained through the pinhole continued to nourish his Sanity.

【Sanity: +1... 79/120】

Before Lu Yuan could even digest these prompts, the first Knowledge Worm zipped away.

It was so fast Lu Yuan almost didn't see it.

It slammed directly into the cap of the sampling bottle... which, of course, it couldn't open.

Lu Yuan helplessly unscrewed the cap.

The Knowledge Worm dove headfirst inside. The moment its body touched the surface of the consciousness crystal, the colors of its entire form exploded.

Dark gold, deep blue, greyish-green.

Its translucent body merged into the surface of the crystal, ripples spreading out before it vanished.

The frequency of the pulses in the consciousness crystal within the sampling bottle suddenly quickened.

Lu Yuan stared at the crystal for a couple of seconds.

'I hope you don't overeat.'

The remaining two Knowledge Worms hovered in the air, clearly hesitating.

They huddled together, their colors flashing back and forth for a good while.

Then, as if having made a decision...

The second one separated a sliver of radiance.

It drifted to Lu Yuan's hand.

The connection was established.

The third one followed immediately after.