Jumping-Off Point

The Excavator Ant do physically demanding work, so their exoskeletons need to be preserved. Fortunately, on the moon, the Creep is growing faster than the insects and has already covered a large area.

The lunar base is currently in a state of resource surplus. Therefore, raising some large insects will not pose any burden.

As time passed, various types of Excavator Ant emerged from their pupae, hardened their exoskeletons underground, and then began their busy work.

Since Insect Egg and larvae do not possess the ability to generate a magnetic field, they still need to be isolated from radiation deep underground during their early growth stages.

The purpose of producing some Excavator Ant first was precisely this: their increased size would make them more efficient at work. More than three months later, the basic structure of five simple large underground bases had been dug out. As for the subsequent finishing work, it would have to wait until enough small Excavator Ant and Worker Bee were added before it could be gradually refined.

At the same time, the number of Insect Empress was also increased to ten, with two stationed at each base, to fully replenish the workforce.

The lunar base is gradually getting on track, and with the completion of supply systems and production units, its development speed will accelerate.

Therefore, it's time to start preparing some follow-up plans.

Conquering a small moon is certainly not the Swarm's goal; if that were the case, Rowan might as well just stay on Origin Star's Tribal Chief.

The moon is just a springboard; without an atmosphere, it is perfectly suited as a launch site for the Swarm.

However, Rowan could not build a rocket launch site on the moon. There was no industrial base there, and other raw materials were lacking. The Rat-folk's rocket technology system was not applicable here.

Although the Swarm now utilizes a jet propulsion system, allowing it to fly until its energy is depleted in weightlessness, it can also glide a distance using inertia.

The universe is simply too vast. A flight distance that could circle the Origin Star several times is but a drop in the ocean. Moreover, even if the speed of jet propulsion is several times faster than the speed of the Wind God on the Origin Star, it is still less than a tortoise's crawl in terms of the distance between planets.

Rowan would naturally not choose this mode of transportation; otherwise, by the time his jet-powered bugs flew out of the star system, the Rat-folk might have already built their spaceships.

Of course, this assumption is unfounded. Because if the Rat-folk were to gain the ability to threaten the Swarm, they would face a massive purge before that could happen.

Getting back to the main point, at this moment, Rowan was thinking of the Mantis Shrimp, which was known as an alien mecha.

It is equipped with a variety of cutting-edge technologies suitable for space travel.

For example, the Hyperboloid System on its hammer has been shown to be able to support normal operation if it can be magnified dozens of times and the materials are strong enough. In the absence of air resistance, the kinetic energy it generates instantly could even send a rock flying to the moon.

Rowan's twin claws used this system, which, even after its functionality was weakened, was extremely useful, making the cumbersome claws much more agile. Moreover, when running at full power, its attack power was incredibly strong. Even though it required activation every time and came at a considerable cost, its power could not be concealed. Rowan relied on it to escape death many times.

However, due to limitations in materials, even with Rowan's so-called full-power operation, it only utilized a very small portion of its strength.

However, there is currently no air resistance on the moon, only a small amount of gravity. If designed properly, it could become the most suitable mode of transportation for the Swarm.

Its structure doesn't require improvement, or rather, Rowan currently lacks the ability to improve it. They can only focus on tweaking the materials.

In addition to retaining the hammer material from the Mantis Shrimp, Rowan Wen also incorporated a large number of plant cells into the manufacturing materials.

Plant cells have an additional cell wall compared to animal cells. This cell wall is thick, tough, and slightly elastic, which helps maintain cell shape, increases the cell's mechanical strength, maintains the normal osmotic pressure of the cytoplasm, and provides good defense.

However, even so, the new material can only support the Hyperboloid System to operate at full power once, after which it will self-destruct due to severe overload.

Therefore, Rowan did not make them into living organisms such as animals or insects, but instead chose to make them into Creep attachments, which are equivalent to disposable modules.

The initial form of the launching device resembles a large lump of flesh. It is placed in a suitable location and connected to the Creep. With the supply of nutrients from the Creep, it gradually grows into a shape similar to a single-armed catapult.

The Creep clinging to its body will hold it in place, and the launching device itself will also grow a well-developed root system that can penetrate hundreds of meters underground, which will also provide it with extremely strong stability.

When launch is needed, the Creep will supply it with enough energy in a short time to activate the hyperboloid ejection device inside, and the resulting acceleration will launch the projectile at an extremely terrifying speed.

After launch, most of the launch device's structure will be destroyed due to severe overload, and it is also very expensive to build, making it a very luxurious launch method.

However, the entire moon's resources are readily available to the Swarm, and the Swarm don't need to produce too many combat units, so they can use most of their resources to produce this launcher.

Because of its retro appearance, resembling a single-armed catapult, Rowan named it the Catapult.

The projectiles for the Catapult were also specially made.

The main body of the projectile is Spore Sac, covered by a lichen structure composed of various rocky materials. This allows the Spore Sac to resemble a meteorite when it travels through space.

These were byproducts of Rowan's radiation experiments. Although they could effectively resist various types of radiation, their material had very poor ductility, being as hard as stone, making them unsuitable as mobile armor.

However, it is quite suitable as a form of disguise.

Beneath the lichen structure lies a layer of heat-resistant nanostructures, designed to protect them from atmospheric friction when landing on planets with atmospheres.

The innermost layer contains extremely concentrated nutrients, a thick layer of which encases the Creep Seed, several Worker Bee Insect Egg, and one Insect Empress Insect Egg.

Since Spore Sac do not have an electromagnetic generation system, they enter a dormancy process to resist extreme external environments.

This combination helps them quickly establish the prototype of a Swarm base in a new environment.

Rowan spent more than a year completing all the research, development, manufacturing, and other preparatory work.

At this moment, on the far side of the moon, on a slightly raised hill, three Catapult "grew" out from the purple, undulating ground.

Around one of the Catapult, more than a dozen Rat-folk were standing, busily doing something.

After so much preparation, it's time to put it into practice.

Thank you Lai Yao for the 500 Qidian Coins reward, Abyss Order 300 Qidian Coins reward, thank you 8 Kuang Xiang Qu 8 for the 100 Qidian Coins reward, and thank you Sleeping in Bubbles for the 100 Qidian Coins reward.

Thank you all for your subscriptions, monthly tickets, and recommendations. This chapter was originally titled "Lunar Development Part 3".