Mutated Ones
Linsey treated Sand Dune's injuries.
After strengthening their Constitution, a sumptuous dinner was arranged.
After the other party had rested the next day, Linsey inquired about the information the hunter had gathered.
The Sand Dune dunes were then arranged to return to the Banyan Forest.
Aside from the need to re-establish the Hunter Leader's position and bring Sand Dune back to the core of the faction.
The Zerg Mother Nest, while fully functional in terms of living conditions, is ultimately still a Zerg environment.
Ultimately, Forest City more suitable for human habitation.
Even the human subordinates who must be stationed at the Insect Nest are currently rotated every two weeks to prevent them from developing mental health problems.
After sending the Sand Dune away, Linsey turned and went back underground.
He arrived at the location of the Insect Queen Nest and opened the building panel on the Insect Nest side.
Just like the "universities" that humans once had, now called "Forest Academy"—a technology research and development building.
There are also such buildings here in the Insect Nest, called the Cerebrate Analysis Chamber.
These two months.
Linsey not only upgraded the Insect Nest to level two, but also completed all the building and technology research.
The current goal is to upgrade this place to level three.
"A level three Insect Nest."
Linsey shook her head with a sigh, a hint of helplessness in her eyes:
"I have enough rare resources, but the number of people... that's going to take a while."
After the Zerg Mother Nest is upgraded.
A unique new building called the "Cloning Pool" has been added.
Its function is very simple: for every unit produced by the [Breeding Pool], the [Cloning Pool] consumes the corresponding amount of food to clone one unit at the same time.
Furthermore, after the building upgrade, the maximum number of [Breeding Pool] that can be built has increased from three to five.
The daily population increase has now reached 10.
The problem is that to upgrade the Insect Nest to level 3, in addition to rare materials such as Mercury and Sulfur, the population requirement is a whopping 3,000, which is three times that of the human base upgrading to level 3!
Linsey did a quick calculation.
Even if you consume all the food every day and keep the [Cloning Pool] running at full speed.
The number 3,000 represents a population that would take almost a year to produce.
In particular, the insectoid race is a very rare Demi-human species.
Unlike humans, which can instantly increase their population through immigration around the world.
Ignore the pitifully small number produced through natural reproduction.
The nest's reproductive system is almost its only reliable means of growth.
"The current membership number is 821. After deducting these existing members, it will take more than 200 days to reach 3,000 people, which is almost 8 months!"
Linsey covered her head with her hand while simultaneously opening the Strategic Map.
His offensive plan against the Invaders is also progressing smoothly, or rather, even more smoothly than he had anticipated!
The construction of Underground City is completely unnecessary.
Because after the Zerg reaches level 2, they gain an additional modification option: the Tunnel Bug. These worms are like miniature tunnel boring machines, digging tunnels underground at an incredibly fast speed.
Linsey is currently digging tunnels underground, starting from the Insect Nest, to connect directly with the Underground World hidden deep within.
Add to that the ruthless Zerg army and the Zerg's information transmission network technology.
Linsey doesn't even need to leave her house.
By combining the reconnaissance capabilities of the Strategic Map with issuing commands from within the mother hive, he can achieve command effects far exceeding expectations!
"Upgrades between bases require relatively independent requirements."
"Using up the last of the sub -Base Construction rights now is not even icing on the cake; it can only be said to increase resource output slightly."
"Hmm... let's keep this spot."
Linsey has temporarily reserved the target for the third base.
With the Zerg Mother Nest and Forest City as two examples, we have a better understanding of the situation.
This last option should be as unique as possible to maximize the potential of this module.
"Real-Time Strategy".
"It's all about development and large-scale warfare."
While pondering his future territorial plans, Linsey also assigned attack routes to the Zerg army.
The Zerg have another advantage.
They freed Linsey from moral constraints.
Units produced by the [Breeding Pool] and [Cloning Pool] are like soldiers in the game; they have no individual will and are simply units that obey orders.
Whether it's killing or working, it guarantees the qualities of indifference, ruthlessness, and efficiency!
Today, the world's center is in the East.
The Underground World, spanning hundreds of kilometers, was completely cleared out, leaving the empty structures resembling deserted cities, with only occasional patrolling Zerg soldiers passing through the tunnels.
"Invaders below the Fourth Stage pose no threat to the Zerg army. But above that, only swarm tactics can solve the problem."
Linsey lowered her head in thought.
Through these two months of encounters, he became intimately familiar with the abilities of the Mutated Ones.
Apart from some special skills developed by individuals, their abilities are clearly defined.
The First Stage.
These are the Mutated Ones have just successfully transformed and have not yet developed consciousness. They act solely on biological instincts, and their most limited means of attack is utilizing the Corruption Poison within their bodies.
In the Second Stage, a faint wisdom begins to awaken.
During this stage, the Mutated Ones begin to actively devour flesh and blood to strengthen their Constitution and cultivate or restore their former consciousness.
In the Third Stage, the situation is quite different.
At this stage, the Mutated Ones possess the intelligence of a three- to five-year-old child and can manipulate their own flesh and blood to create dangerous weapons. Even the terrifying Flesh Bomb are a later development of this ability.
Danger arises in Fourth Stage.
At this point, the Mutated Ones fully awaken their intelligence, gaining the ability to fuse with the flesh and blood of other Mutated Ones to significantly enhance their combat capabilities. This is why ordinary Zerg can only rely on swarm tactics.
The final, Fifth Stage was also the part that gave Linsey the biggest headache.
Mutated Ones ascend to the status of Ascender possess an extremely high degree of immortality in their flesh and blood. They have the characteristic of slowly resurrecting over time unless they are completely destroyed!
The better way to handle this now is...
That is, they were transported back to the Insect Nest and thrown into the garden as fertilizer.
"With the skill of the Fifth Stage, immortality can be achieved in this distorted way."
"In the eyes of those who pursue eternal life, even if they become mindless corpses in the early stages and their values and stances are forcibly distorted in the later stages, they would probably still be willing to try it."
Linsey shook her head and sighed.
This is also what makes the Abyss School so terrifying.
Absolute force capable of Slaughter all things in the world, and methods of resurrection to achieve immortality—each path is exceptionally terrifying.
Based on the skills and characteristics of these Mutated Ones, Linsey also had a bad feeling:
"A skill that is entirely related to flesh and blood."
"Sending out Zerg forces now to ensure victory in every battle isn't a problem. But what if we encounter Sixth Stage one day and end up being completely wiped out..."
Linsey frowned.
The insect army is indeed powerful, but what if these insect corpses are taken away by the enemy and then infected with flesh and blood using the techniques of the Mutated Ones?
What kind of monsters will be created then?