Slaughter Hunter (Part Two)

At the flea market, mountains of radioactive animal carcasses were piled up.

The senior engineer walked among them and chose the final modification.

Radiation beast corpses are very difficult to decompose because when they are alive, they are exposed to high temperatures, fission, and energy, which is enough to give them a body made of steel.

As the senior engineer pondered the final direction of the modifications, he opened the game interface and clicked on the personal system section.

Personal System: 25% max (mechanical modification) 22% (biological modification)

The musculoskeletal system comprises 9% (mechanical modification) and 4% (biological modification).

Nervous system: 6% (mechanical modification), 7% (biological modification)

Endocrine system: 1% (mechanical modification) 1% (biological modification)

Circulatory system: 5% (mechanized modification), 4% (biological modification)

Respiratory system: 1% (mechanical modification) 1% (biological modification)

Digestive system: 1% (mechanized modification), 3% (biological modification)

Urinary system: 1% (mechanical modification) 1% (biological modification)

Reproductive system: 1% (mechanical modification) 1% (biological modification)

The modification cap is 25% for level 10 and 50% for level 20. The higher the level, the higher the modification cap. When you reach level 3 civilization, you reach level 90. Theoretically, at level 90, the modification rate of all human systems can reach 100%.

Of course, the physical structures of intelligent races on different planets are different. Some silicon-based life forms do not have a respiratory system, some insectoid life forms have an overdeveloped endocrine system with an upper limit of up to 200%, some sulfur-based life forms live in the ultra-high temperature environment of red giants and have no reproductive system at all, and some gaseous life forms have only one circulatory system.

However, in general, most carbon-based life forms are quite normal, and those that go to extremes are ultimately a minority.

This also means that balancing system modifications is more important than pursuing extreme numerical values.

This is why, within level 10, the maximum modification rate of a certain body system cannot exceed double digits.

The answer is that if the number exceeds two digits, other systems will not be able to handle it.

The scope of bioengineering at the senior engineer level is only 3%, which is neither a lot nor a little.

He replaced the stomach of a Reaper and absorbed its digestive system along the way, which only increased the modification rate by 3%.

This is a value representing a localized modification within a specific system.

The transformation rate for the endocrine, respiratory, urinary, and reproductive systems is a paltry 1%.

And coincidentally, these are all internal modifications, not adding a bio-prosthetic body or replacing a plugin.

Given the current biological state of the senior engineer, having one more or one less offensive weapon doesn't really make much difference.

On the contrary, it affects normal activities.

After all, at least the bladed limbs can be retracted into the body, but it's hard to say about other things.

He first ruled out the reproductive system.

Countless players' painful experiences have shown that practicing the Sunflower Manual does not significantly increase one's strength.

On the contrary, it will greatly affect subsequent human body modification.

Without a penis, any modification will fail.

This was a popular saying in the previous life, while a more scientific view is that the essence of life activities is the transmission of genetic information.

Modifying the reproductive system at a low level may disrupt genetic information to some extent.

"I'll practice the Sunflower Manual later."

The senior engineer changed his perspective on the problem.

Given the current situation, what kind of improvement do I need, or what shortcomings do I need to address?

I thought about it seriously.

It seems there really aren't any weaknesses.

These five characters possess attributes far exceeding those of their peers. They have no shortage of burst damage, weapons, physical defense armor, and basic energy immunity. They also have numerous mental skills, including massive life drain and partial transformation abilities. They even have boss templates.

In this situation, if I had to say something, it seems that I'm not good at long-range attacks.

The senior engineer categorically rejected the proposal. Modifications below level 10 would only allow for a small pistol for ranged attacks, which wouldn't be as powerful as his own "Dragon Gate Flying Armor."

Moreover, the gun-and-cannon approach involves mechanical modifications.

If it's about bio-modification, then you should equip yourself with energy weapons.

This is clearly not at the level of a level 10 upgrade.

As for cellular-level modifications, that's something for levels 20 and up. The requirement for equipping the Bio-Armor seems to be level 20.

Unless you get a kidney transplant or something.

But that's unnecessary.

The senior engineer strolled slowly through the parts market.

[Zoology] Upgraded to lv5, the note is as follows.

Conduct basic research on organized organisms, radiation organisms, and variants.

And this is the case with botany.

Plant variation, ecosystems, and preliminary explorations of primitive plant civilizations.

With the addition of these two pieces of knowledge, senior engineers can determine the effects of most biological implants.

Standing before a section of mutated tree root, watching the metallic digestive rhizome slithering like a snake, the senior engineer finally realized what he was missing.

What he lacks is the ability to protect the microvascular network of the "activated nerve bundles" and the ability to "shed".

His most powerful technique is the super-transformation of the fusion route, a devastating weapon capable of killing enemies of higher levels.

But while transforming is fun for a while, it reduces your attributes afterward.

The biggest reason for this is that the 'nerve bundle' is completely fused with the limbs of other organisms, and separation causes a severe tearing of the nervous system.

Furthermore, these temporarily implanted bio-prosthetics can invade the body in reverse, causing a surge in rejection.

Solving these two problems will solve the problem of deformation.

"Super Transformation" is an inevitable path in my future plans.

It is also the only path to fight against the super monster.

Generally speaking, the upper limit of a planetary civilization is level 30, but this is a cyber testing ground where level 60 planetary monsters, level 90 space monsters, and even "star-devouring" level beings could be born due to a high-level experiment.

In the not-too-distant future, the Cyber Tide was able to be launched, causing the collapse of the main brains of three planets supported by advanced mechanical civilizations, because someone released a 'memory worm' in its infancy.

These extremely special interstellar information beings transform into memory matrices upon reaching adulthood. This terrifying existence is comparable to a Level 5 civilization disaster.

In other words, once the 'Memory Worm' has grown up, even just its main body will be a super-specific life form of level 150.

It devours the data, information, and memories of planet after planet, nourishing and strengthening itself.

The Cyber Tide is the pheromone that it spreads throughout the entire planet.

All living beings will transform into the ant colony it controls, and its true form is the 'information queen ant' composed of countless pieces of information.

In the previous life, players had a big misconception: that the Cyber Test Site was a beginner's village, and most of the monsters were just small bosses, and that no big monsters would appear.

But that's not the case. Many of the disaster-level monsters spawned in cyber testing grounds are beyond the resistance of even level three and four civilizations.

The reason is simple: the threshold for advanced civilizations is at least level six. How could the things they experiment with, fear, or even deliberately evolve be low-level?

We're all adults, who plays in the mud for no reason?

Many players in the "starter village" just stop playing after a while.

The account has been wiped out; there's no future for it.

Including the Star of Machine Rift where Gao Gong was located, apart from the few hundred friends who managed to snag tickets for the "Noah's Ark," weren't all the other players eventually "deleted"?

Of course, the reason why this "account deletion" is in quotes is because the senior engineer strongly suspects that, apart from those "biological batteries" who reach the later stages of the game, these early-stage players may have already died.

Moreover, those who are banned are mostly not just accounts in the game.

Fortunately, the 'memory worm' has a long infancy period, giving it enough time to disrupt, interrupt, or even accelerate this process.

Getting back to the main point, it refers to organisms with a powerful microvascular network and the ability to 'shed'.

Two familiar faces immediately popped into Gao Gong's mind.

Geckos, earthworms

Zooming in further, geckos and other invertebrates...

In addition, there's the biological knowledge in my mind.

Mimicry Reptilia—Bionic Gecko, Radiation Deformity Species—Mutant Earthworm, Mutant Reptilia—Split-Body Snake, Mechanical Reptilia—Gear Snake.

Considering the existing conditions and known directions.

Suddenly, a familiar face popped into Gao Gong's mind.

"No way."

Are you sure?

In the makeshift biological laboratory, Professor Han stared with twitching eyes at the large earthworm that the senior engineer had dragged in.

Name: Desert Worm

Species: Mechaboloids - Oligochaeta - Metallic Larvae

Radiation level: e-

Skills: Metal Devouring Lv5, Metal Secretion Lv6

Note: Mechanical beasts that feed on metal are not uncommon, but blood vessels and sweat glands that can secrete metal are extremely rare.

I searched for it a thousand times in the crowd, and suddenly, turning around, I found it—no, that insect—where the lights were dim.

It turns out that this big earthworm was my true love!

"Are you sure you want to implant its cells?" Professor Han asked again.

"Of course, its ability to secrete metals indicates that it does not have strong mechanical rejection. As an oligochaete organism with a very low level of evolution, its biological rejection could not be very high either."

"I have had a skin medication implanted from its sweat glands, so it already has a part of me in my body, and the probability of the surgery failing is extremely low."

"It possesses all the characteristics of an earthworm: strong survival ability, regenerative organs, the ability to regenerate severed limbs, a thick and dense body wall muscle layer that wraps the neural network very well, and a chain-like neural structure that allows it to be independent of the brain. It has countless neural healing nodes that can regenerate as soon as they are severed."

"Its body wall is richly covered with nerve endings, making it very sensitive, which is also important."

Professor Han listened in silence.

In his view, it was strange that Gao Gong, as a successful bio-engineered being, would absorb the cells of such lower organisms.

But recalling his performance in the battle at the Demon Mountain, he seemed to have a sudden realization.

Nerve bundles are very fragile, and even activating nerve bundles doesn't make things any better.

This is why the Brain in a Vat can only be a virtual overlord, but in the real world, even a D-class mechanical beast can beat it up.

Unless it gets lucky and happens to bump into a powerful A-grade corpse.

In fact, most wild brains in a vat follow a similar path, being conceived from a single, or rather a group of, high-level corpses, and are born with countless henchmen.

However, if the 'nerve bundles' could be protected through modification, the situation might be quite different.

Professor Han has figured it out.

The same method can be used by senior engineers, but not by brains in jars. The reason is simple: information organisms are extreme life forms, like dominoes, capable of self-replacing but not self-modifying.

"However, the desert worms are too low-level. They would probably be cleaned up by your higher cells as soon as they enter your body."

"That's simple," the senior engineer waved his hand, "We'll overwhelm quality with quantity."

Professor Han was speechless. What was speechless was that it was actually possible. Before, those old hunters had gone crazy searching for desert worms to prove they weren't useless.

It seems there are still over a hundred of these large insects left.

But what's the difference between this kind of 'cell transplantation' and taking a bath?