The Second Mother Nest
Out of a sense of responsibility to the Swarm, for Swarm future development, and of course, partly for his own safety, Rowan had been researching how to get the Insect Empress to download his original genes, or how to create more host cells or Mother Nest.
After much arduous research and experimentation, and repeated verification, the Insect Empress was able to download the original genes via cloud storage. Perhaps due to current limitations, a method has not yet been found.
As for creating multiple main bodies or Mother Nest, he did have some insights.
Through continuous experimentation and unleashing his creativity, Rowan discovered that by forcibly kicking the main body or the Mother Nest offline, he could gain the authority to produce another part.
Simply put, by disconnecting their Swarm Network and pretending they are dead, other parts can be hatched.
However, while this method sounds simple, it is extremely difficult to implement in practice. He must concentrate all his energy to shield the main body or the Mother Nest, a process that can take dozens of hours and must continue until the other part of the hatching is complete.
The body lies on top of the Spore Sac, shoves the surrounding dust over to cover the opening, and then begins to form a cocoon.
Meanwhile, underground on the Origin Star Continent, in a nest three thousand meters deep, a viscous liquid seeped from the surface of the Mother Nest, causing its body to rapidly shrivel. The viscous liquid gradually dried, enveloping the Mother Nest and forming an amber-like object.
This was Rowan's first formal attempt at Regenerated Insect Nest; his previous attempts were purely theoretical. Therefore, he didn't know if he could sustain it for dozens of hours, so he needed to take multiple precautions.
The Mother Nest is currently using a kind of insect's feigned death technique. They can squeeze out most of their body fluids, forming an amber-like substance that envelops their entire body. This amber-like substance has extremely strong defensive capabilities and is basically unbreakable, while the main body inside is in a state of feigned death, with almost all life force cut off. Without external stimulation, it can be said to be truly dead.
This skill is a prime example of courting death. Due to the powerful defense of the amber-like outer object, it can withstand almost all external stimuli. Therefore, most of those insects will feign death and then actually die.
Although this skill is incredibly stupid, it's perfect for the current situation with the Mother Nest. The Mother Nest's state of suspended animation makes it much easier for Rowan, who was locking it down, to do so.
Energy surged within the Swarm Network, forcibly severing the network cables of the Mother Nest after her apparent death. Simultaneously, on Rowan's side, the energy stored within his Tail Fat Organ flowed out.
Because Rowan has broken free from the constraints of his physical body, he will no longer fall into a deep sleep when his main body forms a cocoon. Therefore, he can autonomously mobilize the energy within his main body to perform certain operations.
Repairing the body's injuries was a very low priority, so under his control, not a single bit of the energy in the body was used to repair the injuries, but instead was used entirely to incubate the Mother Nest.
As time passed, Rowan, preoccupied with severing the connection between the Mother Nest and the Swarm Network, was unable to attend to anything else. On the Yellow Moon, a bulge gradually appeared on the tail of the main body and slowly grew.
During this time, the Creep Seed beneath the main body were not idle either. With the help of the Spore Sac outside the body, they quickly took root and sprouted, and then the root system began to expand continuously into the depths of the ground.
Sensing the situation here, Rowan also breathed a sigh of relief. Due to the rocket's payload and his size, he only brought one Creep Seed. If nothing grew, this lunar landing would be considered a failure.
Hard rocks cannot stop the roots of the Creep; its roots secrete a substance called "Lichen Fluid," which can quickly decompose rocks.
There are water resources on the Yellow Moon, but they are buried at varying depths. Furthermore, due to the extremely low temperatures, all the water resources are in the form of solid ice. If you're lucky, you might find them on the lunar surface, but otherwise, you might not find them even after digging hundreds of meters.
Rowan wasn't too unlucky; when he crashed into the ground, he created a crater more than a meter deep, and then dug another two or three meters. Based on this, the Creep spent five days pushing its roots down less than ten meters, finally discovering the solidified ice crystals.
Furthermore, it absorbed a lot of metallic substances while passing through the rock layers.
The enhanced Creep incorporates most of the space technology researched by Rowan. After finding a water source, it can finally become self-sufficient, no longer relying on Spore Sac.
A series of modules, including those for generating metal particles, constructing magnetic field generators, and self-luminous systems, were produced, and with their support, the Creep began to grow at an accelerated pace.
At the same time, a crack appeared on the Insect Cocoon Rowan, and a root of the Creep inserted itself into the crack.
The nurturing of the Mother Nest requires a tremendous amount of energy, Tail Fat Organ, which already had only half of its reserves remaining, is nearly depleted. If the Creep moves even a little slower, Rowan might have to consume his own flesh and blood to supply the Mother Nest.
After overcoming the most difficult initial stage, the Creep not only had the ability to support Rowan, but could also continue to develop itself on this basis.
By the time the Mother Nest was fully formed, the main body of the Creep had covered the entire well. The Creep was still shimmering with fluorescence and constantly changing colors.
This is Rowan's improved lighting system. The original pale yellow-green fluorescence was too monotonous, so he adjusted the types of lights in the system. There are many lighting masters underwater, so this was easy to do.
However, looking at the colorful lights in the three- or four-meter-deep well, Rowan Wen inexplicably thought of some entertainment venues on Blue Star. He wondered if he should take some time to modify the lighting system back to its original state.
After the Mother Nest completes hatching and self-inspection, it detaches from the main body, then connects with the Creep and begins producing a space-based Swarm.
Because a series of components necessary for survival in space need to be added, and these components are quite complex, they are expensive to manufacture. Even the magnetic field generation component requires metallic minerals to produce.
Therefore, these space-based insects are many times more expensive than their counterparts on the Origin Star.
However, even if they are very expensive, it also means that the Swarm has already stepped out of the planet where it was born, and the harsh environment of outer space will no longer be a constraint for the Swarm.
Because the Mother Nest no longer possess a unique attribute, Rowan named the Mother Nest on the Origin Star the Origin Mother Nest to distinguish them. The one that was just born on the Yellow Moon was called the Yellow Moon Mother Nest, a very simple and easy-to-understand name, named after their birthplace.
After the Yellow Moon Mother Nest officially went online, the Origin Mother Nest initiated its awakening process. It was awakened by the outside world, and the amber substance enveloping it began to melt. The Creep beneath it delivered the nutrients that had been prepared beforehand to it, Origin Mother Nest's shriveled body rapidly expanded like an inflating balloon.
An hour later, the Origin Mother Nest was restored and officially launched, perfectly compatible with the Yellow Moon Mother Nest without any system conflicts. Moreover, Rowan felt that the Swarm Network seemed to have become stronger as a result.
Thank you for the 100 Qidian coins reward from Abyss Order.
Lunar Development 1