Chapter 78 - 74: The Way to Command the Dung Beetles
Chapter 78: Chapter 74: The Way to Command the Dung Beetles
"Tell me!" Valerius’s clouded old eyes were completely bloodshot. He gripped Velin’s arm tightly, like a drowning man grasping at his last straw.
"Those bugs! They’re mindless! How did you get them to execute that... that kind of coordination? Was it mind control? No! Not even a Legendary Mage could control five hundred units at once!"
Velin didn’t struggle. "Master, please calm down." Velin’s voice was as steady as ever. "The answer to that question is difficult to describe with words."
"Follow me."
He led Valerius, who was practically being dragged along, into the deepest part of Bureau 749.
Sarah was resting quietly in her own little territory. Ever since Velin had established a good relationship with her, none of the dung beetles needed cages anymore.
She wasn’t restless like the others of her kind. The moment Velin appeared, his clear reflection was mirrored in her enormous black compound eyes, which revealed an attachment and admiration almost like that of a pet.
Velin didn’t start explaining right away. Instead, he asked Valerius a seemingly unrelated question.
"Master, in your research career, have you ever... looked into the communication methods of deep-sea mammals?"
Valerius was stunned.
His mind was still racing from the battlefield scenes. Velin’s question, coming completely out of left field, almost made him short-circuit.
"Deep-sea... mammals?" he repeated subconsciously. "You mean, dolphins? Or great whales? Their calls are indeed a form of communication, but it’s too primitive, merely conveying simple information like mating calls, warnings, or the discovery of food..."
"No, Master. You’re only half right."
Velin shook his head, correcting him.
"The information they convey may be simple, but the method of transmission is far more complex than you imagine. In certain regions of the Endless Sea, different pods of dolphins use entirely different sonic frequencies to communicate."
"A pod of dolphins will only react to information within its own frequency band, ignoring the calls of other pods."
As expected of a Level 5 Alchemist, Valerius’s mind immediately seized upon the keywords.
"Frequencies... dialects... reacting only to specific information..."
He snapped his head up, looking at Sarah, then back at Velin. The confusion in his eyes was gradually replaced by a horrified understanding.
"You mean..."
"Exactly." Velin snapped his fingers.
"The Bader Dung Beetles. They aren’t sensitive to sound, but they have an innate talent for sensing vibrations, especially high- and low-frequency vibrations through the ground."
Velin didn’t explain further. Instead, he had Sarah summon ten Bader Dung Beetles.
Once separated from the group, the ten Level 2 Magical Beasts immediately became chaotic and clumsy, scrambling about aimlessly.
"Now, Master, please give an order," Velin said.
"What kind of order?"
"Anything. For example, have five of them charge the stone pillar on the left. The other five, defend their position."
Valerius looked at Velin as if he were a madman. "That’s impossible! They can’t understand! Not unless you use a mental link to command each one individually, but that would take time. On the battlefield..."
Before he could finish, Velin had already closed his eyes, seemingly communicating with Sarah.
The next second, one of Sarah’s articulated legs vibrated at a high frequency against the stone floor for a brief moment.
TAP-TAP—TAP—TAP-TAP-TAP.
It wasn’t a sound, but a language only the earth and the insects could understand.
In an instant, Valerius’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
Among the ten chaotic beetles, five of them, as if yanked by invisible strings, turned in perfect unison, lowered their heads, and charged the stone pillar on the left!
Meanwhile, the other five instantly closed ranks, forming a back-to-back circle with their horns pointed outward!
Their tasks were distinct, executed without a shred of hesitation!
"This... this..." Valerius pointed at the insects, his finger trembling. "Frequency bands... you applied the principles of dolphin communication to beetles?!"
He was no fool; he understood the key in an instant.
But the more he understood, the deeper the chill that ran down his spine.
"You... you... grouped them? Using different vibrational frequencies as their ’channels’?"
"Very clever, Master." Velin nodded in approval. "I divided them into ten squads. Each squad has an independent ’encrypted command set’ and a ’non-encrypted command set.’ And Sarah is my command console and signal tower."
"I break down complex tactics, like ’pincer movements’ or ’alternating cover,’ into basic commands. Then, for each command, I write a unique vibrational code."
"By further subdividing each of those ten squads, I effectively have fifty tactical squads capable of executing complex commands."
Velin spread his hands, his tone as casual as if he were discussing what to have for lunch.
"Theoretically, as long as my ’command library’ is robust enough, I can make them play any symphony I desire on the battlefield."
Valerius said nothing, merely gasping for breath. His mind was no longer on the battlefield, but in his own Alchemy laboratory.
’What if... what if I used different vibrational frequencies to control the fusion of potions... wouldn’t that allow for the perfect stratification of multiple medicinal properties?’
’If this were applied to constructs, couldn’t I create a puppet army that offers absolute obedience and seamless coordination?’
This young man hadn’t just created a new tactic; he had created an entirely new system of Alchemy!
The old Alchemist’s gaze shifted from horror, to fanaticism, and finally to a reverence that bordered on worship.
He looked at Velin and, in a hoarse voice, asked his final, most pressing question.
"Velin... building this... this mind-boggling command system... how long did it take you? Ten years? Twenty? Is this the culmination of generations of your family’s work?"
Velin glanced at him, a strange look in his eyes, as if pondering how to answer in a way the other man could comprehend.
In the end, he chose the simplest, most direct answer.
"Last night."
"...What?"
"I said, it took me last night. The initial conceptualization took a bit of time, but grouping them and inputting the command sets afterward was pretty quick."
BOOM!
Valerius felt like the top of his head had just been blown off.
He looked at Velin’s unfazed expression, then at the mother insect, Sarah, beside him.
Just then, a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life appeared.
The smaller mother insect slowly raised one of its forelimbs and made a light, phantom adjusting motion next to its compound eye.
That motion, that position, that arc...
It was identical to the subconscious gesture Velin made to adjust his glasses when he was thinking.
It was as if it were silently telling the shocked old man:
’My father, it took him but one night to create all this.’
’And I, it took me but one night to learn it all.’