Deployment

Edres waited for twenty years. Perhaps it was because the mastermind behind the scenes believed the Swarm needed more time, or perhaps it was for other reasons. In any case, the outcome was that the Epoch Clan Council of Elders made some compromises.

And so, Edres's engineering team remained on the outer edge of the Origin Star System for twenty years. Fortunately, the Epoch Clan warships were enormous, fully loaded with supplies before setting out, and received another batch of supplies from the Riken Race en route. In addition, most of the personnel chose to hibernate to avoid wasting their lives meaninglessly. Therefore, they felt that these twenty years passed quite quickly.

In fact, Edres's engineering team could have withdrawn to the Riken Star System for repairs. Although the two are separated by the Proxima Star System, the straight-line distance is only a little over nine light-years. For the Epoch Clan, a round trip could be completed in three years.

However, the Epoch Clan kept Edres in place, precisely so they would have a suitable excuse to closely observe the Swarm's activities. And indeed, over the years, Edres had gathered some intelligence.

For example, most of the Swarm forces from the Origin Star System went to Proxima Centauri.

This information, analyzed by the Epoch Clan's strategists, led to the conclusion that the location was the Swarm Royal Court. Currently, to its north lies the Riken Star System, to its west the Sandstorm Star System used for trade, and to its south the Origin Star System, which is about to break away; all three sides are regions that cannot be completely sealed off.

It is only natural that the Swarm would strengthen the Royal Court defenses.

Another piece of information is that the Swarm successively destroyed its six Megastructure orbiting stars in the galaxy. Although the process of self-destruction and star-pushing seemed somewhat complicated and repetitive, given the precedent in the Riken Star System, it did not attract much attention.

In fact, if they combine information from even earlier periods, they might discover something. The Swarm initially had only two Megastructure in the orbit of the star in its Origin Star System, while the other four were built just a few decades ago.

To be more specific, it happened shortly after the Swarm detonated the Swarm Megastructure in the Riken Star System.

Rowan had foreseen this situation long before the Koya Alliance discovered the Riken Race's plot. However, he did not consider adding Megastructure to the Origin Star System at that time.

But when the "Seed" traveled a long distance and fell into the Bodi Planet to reach Insect Empress, the uncertainty made Rowan realize that he had to dig several more "back paths".

Therefore, the four institutions were built urgently. Fortunately, the Origin Star System was the true stronghold of the Swarm, and its accumulated resources over the years were very rich, which was why the four Megastructure were able to mature in just two or three decades.

With this, plus the original two, Rowan could use six long-distance warps to send away six "Seed." He didn't believe that six chances wouldn't be enough to find a clean, lifeless starfield.

The results were quite good. As the Megastructure were detonated one after another, Rowan, who had a "successful" experience before, became better and better at controlling remote warp jumps.

The "Seed" were sent away one by one.

In the vast expanse of space, between two unknown star systems, a rift suddenly opened, and a Flesh Sac two meters in diameter was ejected from it.

The Flesh Sac in the void drifted for a while, first a tentacle emerged, then an eye appeared. The cold and deathly silence of the void outside made Rowan had been watching closely, regain his composure.

This time it was finally normal. I visually assessed the surrounding environment, but unfortunately, optical observation alone was insufficient to accurately calculate the distance. In the end, I could only select the largest celestial body and use a simple propulsion device to move in that direction.

Whether this Seed can be considered a success remains to be seen, as it is currently unknown whether life exists in the surrounding star systems. However, it seems that the Seed, or rather the carrier of the Seed, still has significant flaws.

Originally, due to insufficient proficiency in long-distance Warp Skill, Rowan minimized the size of the vehicle, resulting in it only possessing some basic functions.

The original plan was to acquire energy upon arriving in the new environment to undergo genetic mutation and develop additional functions. Unfortunately, the energy contained in the void was far too scarce. Relying on this meager acquisition, it was uncertain how long it would take for the Flesh Sac to mutate and develop a plasma thruster. And even if it had a propulsion device, there wasn't enough energy to operate it.

This situation was something we had considered before, but the circumstances were urgent and there wasn't much we could do. Our only thought was to send the Seed out so that we would have a backup plan, and even if it took a long time, the Seed would eventually reach a nearby star system.

As for time, it's naturally a race against time for Rowan, who wants to keep his current territory. But once he loses his territory and has nothing left to lose, time won't be so important to Rowan anymore.

Having experienced two long-distance warps in the Riken Star System and accumulated so much experience, Rowan seemed much more at ease using the Warp Skill recently, and he felt he could do even more.

The second Flesh Sac was fitted with an enhanced Atomic Furnace, increasing its size from two meters to five meters. This was the smallest Atomic Furnace available, and it represented Rowan's current pinnacle achievement. In addition to the Atomic Furnace, a shielding field was added to isolate its reaction fluctuations.

Once this Seed succeeds, even if it falls into the void, it can rapidly mutate into various advanced tissues with its continuous energy, quickly enter the surrounding star systems, and open up new Swarm territories.

Another Megastructure was detonated. In the void of the unknown region, a rift opened, and a five-meter-tall mass of flesh sprang out. As per routine, after confirming that the environment was normal, the shielding field was deployed, and the Atomic Furnace began to operate.

Instead of first mutating into a propulsion system, the Flesh Sac first mutated into a simple radar device, capturing various particle information in the surrounding area and analyzing its distance from the surrounding star systems.

After some maneuvering, a star system 1.7 light-years away was selected as the target. The star in this star system is very small and rather dim. If observed optically only, it is only the third largest star in the vicinity of the Flesh Sac. And the largest star, which looks like it, is a staggering six light-years away from the Flesh Sac.

Soon, the propulsion organs of the Flesh Sac were mutated and completed. Subsequently, various shielding and cloaking devices were also completed. Finally, with the support of the Atomic Furnace, the Flesh Sac transformed into a 20-meter-long Zerg warship and silently flew towards the target star system.

"Phew~" Rowan breathed a sigh of relief after finishing everything. The Flesh Sac had more than doubled in size. Long-distance warp jumps were indeed much more difficult, but fortunately, it was still within his capabilities.

He closed his eyes and pondered, reflecting on everything that had just happened, searching for shortcomings and deficiencies.

Soon, the process of sending out the third Seed was also put on the agenda.