Chapter 519

Chapter 519: The Amazing Creatures That Can Cast Skeletons from Metal

The scaly-horned abdomen snail.

This name sounded quite ordinary and unremarkable.

However, behind this "ordinary" and "unremarkable" name lay a snail with a unique ability!

This type of snail…

It was more appropriately called a sea snail. In fact, most of the time, snails and these creatures fell under the same classification unit, but some were called snails while others were referred to as sea snails—there was no helping it.

For example, the scaly-horned abdomen snail lived in the deep sea, near hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor in the Indian Ocean.

Its specific position…

Was approximately in the waters near Mauritius Island.

This snail had already fallen into an endangered state due to habitat destruction shortly after being accurately classified, and its protection status was not optimistic.

Yet, what was most commendable was not that the scaly-horned abdomen snail was rare.

For a soft-bodied animal, especially one whose appearance wasn’t particularly striking, many times, even if it was endangered, no one paid attention; many species lacking a striking appearance, unlike pandas, had quietly disappeared.

Fortunately, this species possessed a skill that even pandas could not match—they had shells made of iron!

Analysis showed that the primary material of their shells was iron sulfides, and they even exhibited some magnetic properties!

Although there weren’t many large predators near the hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, if there had been, few would have dared to compare their teeth to an iron shell.

The scaly-horned abdomen snail’s ability came not from intent but from the fact that the hydrothermal vents ejected a large amount of metal substances, rich in various iron sulfides.

And these remarkable snails utilized local materials, evolving the ability to "cast" their shells from iron under survival pressures and natural selection!

They could be considered the only creatures in the biological world capable of autonomously casting metal exoskeletons!

"Not bad!"

Trilobite, immersed in the system, felt quite satisfied.

"Your ability is impressive."

"But the next moment, everything would belong to my spawn."

"Buy!"

Trilobite didn’t intend to give the ancient jumping spider an entire shell.

Jumping spiders, whether ancient or modern, primarily relied on their agility and nimbleness to hunt prey the size of fruit flies.

Giving them a shell abruptly…

Wouldn’t that cause them to starve?

That would have been tantamount to granting them death.

What he wanted was simply to add a little bit of metal to the two pairs of long forelimbs of the ancient jumping spider.

That way, when they performed their "courting clapping dance," there would have been a much greater chance of their forelimbs sparking with friction.

Of course, she could also serve as a "lighter" for Trilobite when necessary.

Or rather…

"It should be called a flint mechanism."

"Just like the flint mechanism in a lighter."

"As for this evolution project being useless…"

"Hehe, plenty of useless things have evolved."

"Many evolutionary structures aren’t just useless; they’re downright self-destructive."

Giving a jumping spider such a thing seemed absurd. It used up lots of energy and raised survival risks in dry times, making life harder.

But a trip to the zoo showed many traits that only hurt survival.

The clearest example—why did male peacocks need such long, heavy tail feathers?

On land, they slowed them down; in flight, they dragged them. They did nothing but burn through the peacocks’ precious energy.

Broadening the view, most hoofed animals’ courting acts wasted energy, boosting death rates with no upside.

The weird, oversized horns they grew were useless against predators and only helped show off in their own groups.

If a "perfectionist" god saw Earth’s "evolved" species, He’d be so mad He’d toss a killing blow.

Damn it, who designed this code!?

Ugly and bug-filled, with messy updates—destroy it fast.

Yet the green-skinned big mechanic might get Earth’s "biological design" thinking.

They were all ideas I’d chewed over.

"Besides, the peacock jumping spider’s flashy colors just beg for survival trouble."

"If the female spider spots it, so can the Birds!"

"Birds see colors as well as female spiders!"

"If things go wrong, both spiders could end up in a bird’s gut as doomed lovers."

"So, who cares!"

"Let’s do it!"

In the "Evolution STEAM System," moving traits between species cost different Chaos Energy based on their classification gap.

This time…

It was cross-genre grafting.

Don’t brush off grafting a tiny "metal piece"—it could tangle with the "underlying code."

The Chaos Energy needed here, well…

"Whoa!"

"Fifty thousand Chaos Energy!"

"This system… why not just rob someone?"

"But whatever."

With Trilobite raking in cash from "cooked food" and "customers paying up," he didn’t mind spending this crickets fifty thousand.

“Buzz——!”

After a flash of golden light, Trilobite received his new spawn!

“Hmm, I decided to call you…”

“Spark Jumping Spider!”

“Great!”

“Then I went to find the young lady with white hair and kept her by my side.”

“Always ready to light a fire for me!”

“Yeah, it felt a bit like having a maid dedicated to lighting cigarettes next to a big shot.”

“Not bad…”

“I planned to get her a maid outfit later.”

“And while I was at it…”

As Trilobite walked, he saw some Diplopods and his “Trilobite Mantis” working together, struggling with a “tree.”

They were trying very hard.

That “tree” was indeed swaying precariously.

“This teamwork is good, it reminded me.”

“Having Spark alone wasn’t enough; I needed firewood too!”

“Let me help them out.”

With that thought, Trilobite slowly moved closer and, using his strong body, suddenly pushed against that “tree!”

“Boom——!”

—-

“Ugh…”

“Cough cough cough…”

Loseta coughed as she woke from a deep sleep.

“Whew… whew… whew…”

She kept gasping; though she had regained consciousness, tears and saliva still flowed uncontrollably from her mouth.

Her tongue was still out, unable to pull back yet.

Everything looked a bit foggy and blurry, as if her eyes hadn’t settled.

“What had the Giant God granted me this time…”

She finally gathered her thoughts and tried to figure out what the Giant God’s blessing was and how it tied to the “Fire Domain” she saw before losing herself in pleasure.

But just then…

“Sizzle——!”

“Hiss… hiss… hiss…”

Some faint, tiny sounds came from around her.

Even though she was still dazed, the Valaharl people’s battle instincts warned her of danger!

“Was it the Chaos Demon God!?”

“Or was it a sneaky one?”

“O Giant, grant me your power!”

Asking the Giant God for more blessings after getting one might seem a bit shameless,

but this time Loseta felt it was fair.

After all, it was the Giant God who left her drooling, eye-rolling, tongue-sticking, and shaking, unable to take care of herself.

Wasn’t it only right to clean up the mess?

Maybe the Giant God understood, or maybe Valaharl’s danger nerves jolted every part of Loseta’s body, especially her mind, into action.

“Whoosh——!”

Loseta jumped up.

“Boom——!”

A big hole opened where she had been!

“Sizzle——!”

A huge, scary, and slippery thing appeared over that hole!

It was a bit bigger than an etheric worm but much smaller than an etheric serpent, so it probably wasn’t a top Chaos Demon God.

Still, this was part of the chaos plan.

And the one behind it was the First Demon God, Barbatos!

“Hehe…”

Just before Trilobite hit that “tree,” Barbatos sneered, letting out a cold laugh from his nose in the chaotic core area.

“The Giant was getting bigger and bigger.”

“He had probably forgotten what those lower deities are for.”

“But, as the First Demon God, I still remembered!”