Wizard: Starting with Symbiosis with Algae

Chapter 20 Sulfur Algae Enhancement and Hail

Ruby put the worm back into the pool, wiped her hands on her pants, and

"Now I understand."

"This is the result of the adaptive evolution of electric worms. While the flying rod's movement is restricted at low temperatures, the electric worms develop insulated cilia in cold conditions, and their eggs begin to hatch rapidly. They deliberately avoid the flying rod's movement time, so the worms are not completely devoured."

Lynn continued Ruby's conjecture.

Worms are like chicken feed compared to a farmer when faced with a flying stick. If the flying stick were humanoid, a snap of its fingers from a great distance would obliterate the worms.

Worms must have something special that flying sticks don't possess.

A sow-like reproductive capacity is one aspect, but certainly not the whole story.

"Therefore, by this reasoning, there must be a periodic cold wave, or a rapid drop in temperature, that allows the worms to reproduce."

Ruby turned around and looked at Lynn with satisfaction.

The flame of the hydrogen lamp danced in her eyes.

It's so comfortable talking to smart people. She used to find the previous apprentices on board incredibly annoying, constantly bombarding her with questions. Lynn was much better; she was useful, intelligent, and quite pleasing to the eye.

"Yes, they have evolved over a very long period of time, and their perception of this planet must be much more acute than ours. There must be something happening that they can perceive but we haven't yet."

"Of course you don't have to believe me; this is just my current guess."

Lynn placed the plate on the corner of the table, pinched her eyebrows, and thought for a while.

"I believe you, but we need to go out. Where to?"

"When I go to the beach, I need to observe the burrows of worms and flying rods more closely."

Investigating the traces of the cold wave Ruby mentioned is one thing.

While we're at it, let's see if there are any new organisms that can coexist.

That was also Lynn's goal.

If a cold wave arrives, the speed of the flying stick will definitely decrease, thus giving him the upper hand in skirmishes.

At that time, the probability of catching the flying stick will increase dramatically.

If I could enhance my venom or significantly increase my magic power, then the Symbiotic Flying Rod would be a certainty.

Lynn stroked his chin.

"We'll set off after lunch break."

Ruby Road

"no problem."

...

Along the wide coastline, Lynn pushed Ruby in her wheelchair forward.

They weren't attacked with flying sticks in the sunlight, and Ruby wasn't left unharmed after falling flat on her face.

Ruby sat in the wheelchair simply because she felt slightly oxygen-deprived. As a second-level wizard apprentice, she was still human and naturally felt uncomfortable due to lack of oxygen.

If one is a formal wizard, perhaps they would hardly need oxygen?

As Rupert realized that movement in a wheelchair was inconvenient, his eyes naturally fell on Lynn's thighs and hands, on the blue algae that were providing Lynn with oxygen.

Students majoring in herbology at the School of Atmospheric Sciences transplanted some algae, which is considered a cross-disciplinary project, and that's a bit amazing.

But it's not surprising that nothing happened.

Every wizard has some secrets, more or less; for example, she hid quite a few things besides survival.

Lynn's transplant also brought her a lot of convenience.

She's not that stupid to bring that up.

Lynn took the oxygen tank and gave Ruby a breath.

Lynn nodded gently as he looked at Ruby, who was sitting in a wheelchair and struggling to breathe.

Having symbiotic cyanobacteria, it has an extraordinary survival advantage.

In the symbiotic relationship with blue-green algae, the biggest threat to me is flying rods, while the biggest threat to Ruby is lack of oxygen.

Of course, he doesn't need to thank the blue algae.

Symbiosis is about a win-win situation.

And he is the best partner of blue light algae.

How can partners talk at length about gratitude?

Lynn touched the blue algae on his hand, a complex anxiety rising in his heart.

The problem of oxygen deficiency in the environment has not been solved by time. Hopefully, the wizards who came to the rescue will give this issue serious consideration.

As they approached the cave entrance, Ruby waved to Lynn, signaling him to stop. Lynn handed her the oxygen tank.

"Tell me if you need anything, don't get swept away by the waves."

"No, I'll use the Wizard's Hand to throw myself next to you if necessary. If I'm not dead, remember to save me."

"Okay, let's split up."

On the distant coast, gas was rising into the sky, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

In just a few days, several more islands have appeared along the coast.

Black rocks emerged from the shallow sea, two or three more than the last time I saw them, the largest of which was almost the size of the entrance to the cave at the experimental station.

Ruby's destination was the cave where Lynn had discovered the flying rod eggs a few days earlier, so she put on oxygen and headed straight for the island of black rocks.

Lynn knew nothing about worms; Ruby called him in mainly to speed up the operation.

And he also wants to do something useful.

For example, new life forms may coexist on new islands.

Lynn stepped into the island, which was slightly lighter in color and had lightning patterns, for exploration.

He put his hand into a hot spring; the water was slightly cooler than the hot spring in the cave at the experimental station, but the sulfur smell was stronger.

The pale yellow filaments of sulfur algae emerge from the inside of the wrist, swaying gently in the water as they begin to absorb sulfides from the hot spring.

A string of red algae climbed up his arm along the filaments of the sulfur algae.

The red algae are half again as thin as the blue-light algae, and their color is a deep red with an ochre tinge, almost exactly the same as the red sand of the Dune Planet.

It was so fragile that it was completely invisible in the water, so much so that Lynn's eyes couldn't detect it at all.

It wasn't until it climbed up Lynn's wrist along the filaments of the sulfur algae that its outline appeared against the blue-green background of the blue-green algae.

Lynn paused, then shook his hand. The red algae didn't fall off; instead, it clung even tighter.

It's also sticky? Couldn't this be used to stabilize soil?

Lynn looked up and a message appeared on the panel.

[Red-flowered algae observed]

[Thermophilic symbiosis: In sulfur-rich hydrothermal vent environments, it can cooperate with sulfur algae to fix geothermal energy and transfer some of the energy to the symbiotic host.]

[Enhanced Sulfide Toxins: Collaborates with sulfur algae to produce even more potent toxins...]

[Increased resistance to sulfide toxins...]

[Red-winged algae are symbiotic organisms derived from sulfur algae, and their maximum efficacy is only achieved through symbiosis with sulfur algae.]

[Do they coexist?]

Lynn stared at the words on the panel,

He clicked his tongue in slight disappointment.

It can only be effective by relying on sulfur algae, so it seems that it cannot be planted directly in the soil to stabilize the soil.

However, it still has some value.

Lynn silently recited

"Symbiosis".

Red-winged algae worms spread across the entire area covered by sulfur algae.

The blue algae were fixated on it, forming a horn-like shape within Lynn's body.

He put his hand in the water, and his physical fitness slowly improved.

[Endurance +0.01]

Lynn gazed at the unobstructed sky. The crimson sky seemed to reflect the lazy seawater.