Level-Two Energy

"Turns out high-level Demon Beast cores are the level-two energy stones we've been searching for..." Ye Luo felt a great weight lift from his heart. Level-two energy wasn't just essential for the Zerg Hive to advance later on; it was also necessary for evolving more powerful Zerg warriors.

Moreover, once a Zerg Hive evolved to level three, it could summon a new unit: the Overseer. Evolved from an Overlord, this unit not only had a major advantage in battlefield surveillance but also possessed a very special skill: hatching Mimics!

Mimics were created when an Overseer thoroughly observed a target creature's biological structure, social habits, personality, civilization, and technology. It then transmitted all this information into the creature's genes in the form of DNA strands, producing a life-form identical to the target!

These evolved life-forms were completely different from those Ye Luo created by infecting hosts with parasites. A parasite directly took over the body of a living target and, depending on the difference in strength between the two, acquired some of the target's memories! Leaving aside how difficult perfect possession was, even after a successful infection, it could easily be detected by certain scanning methods. After all, if someone had a giant bug growing in their brain, no scan would mistake that for normal...

A Mimic, on the other hand, was born by completely imitating the target's maturation process. For example, if Ye Luo wanted to mimic a human, the Mimic would simulate gestation and birth. If he wanted to mimic a turtle, it would simulate a turtle egg hatching. That way, once the Mimic quickly matured, it would be exactly like the target creature in every way except for Zerg gene fragments mixed into its DNA! Unless they came from an extremely advanced civilization, no one could tell them apart from the creatures they mimicked!

At Ye Luo's instruction, the Demon Cores were soon carried down and delivered to the nearest Zerg Hive. Then Ye Luo sensed the level-two energy in his mind rapidly climbing.

"Evolve into an Overseer!" Since an Overseer evolved from an Overlord, Ye Luo gave the order directly to an Overlord descending above Morton.

The Overlord was immediately enveloped in flesh. One minute later!

"Greetings, My Emperor!" Another burly man joined Ye Luo's ranks of heroes.

"Excellent. From today on, your name is Ye Yan!" Ye Luo looked at the strapping man before him with satisfaction.

Ye Yan replied excitedly, "Thank you for granting me a name, My Emperor!"

"Ye Yan, what's your special ability?"

"My Emperor, every ten days, I can disguise myself as a creature identical to a target. I'll have the same combat level as a base hero, and I can summon two Mimic guards with combat levels one rank below mine. I can also summon up to ten Mimics. They'll have normal intelligence and thought, allowing them to blend seamlessly into whatever environment they're needed in!"

"A born spy. Excellent!" Ye Luo patted him on the shoulder. At the same time, a plan immediately took shape in his mind. At his command, the nearest Zerg Hive promptly evolved a hundred Overlords, which then evolved into a hundred Overseers.

An ordinary Overseer needed 100 units of level-one energy and 20 units of level-two energy to evolve. It could have five Mimics at once, each with the intelligence of an ordinary person. A hundred Overseers, along with their Mimics, made six hundred spies, indistinguishable from the real thing. As soon as they appeared, Ye Luo ordered them to infiltrate the various territories of the Keren Kingdom.

In each territory, they were to learn the local culture and blend in as much as possible, paying particular attention to talented individuals...

By the time he had finished, Robert's speech outside had just ended.

For the people of Morton, pledging allegiance to a Demon Beast had once been unthinkable. But after experiencing the terror of a Demon Beast's massacre, many were sincerely relieved that they had been allowed to keep their lives and their civilization.

Of course, plenty of people couldn't accept it. Seizing on Robert's earlier collusion with the Demon Beasts, they loudly urged others not to trust him, claiming that their once kind and devoted lord had been corrupted by the beasts. Robert didn't even need to act. Several Zerglings leaped straight from the rooftops into the crowd and carried them all away. Not a single dissenting voice was heard after that...

When Robert arrived at Ye Luo's room, he looked utterly exhausted. In a single day, the people had been through a great deal, but their lord had been through even more.

"Ye... Lord..." Robert suddenly wasn't sure how he should address Ye Luo.

"Just call me by my name..." Ye Luo waved dismissively. As the Emperor of the Zerg, he didn't care about the Keren Kingdom, let alone the entire planet. His only purpose here was to gather energy and increase his level. Once he evolved Zerg units like an interstellar mothership, he would immediately set off for the vast universe. He was only passing through, so forms of address didn't matter.

"..." Robert took a deep breath and glanced at Ye Meng and the others beside Ye Luo. Thinking of how they addressed him, he sighed. "I'll call you Your Majesty, like they do. Your Majesty, I've calmed the people down, but from the looks in their eyes, it's clear they still can't quite accept your rule..."

Ye Luo waved dismissively. "Rule? It's just a matter of carrots and sticks. I'm sure you can handle it. Now, let's talk about the next issue..."

A Demon Core suddenly appeared in Ye Luo's hand. "How many of these are there in Morton's main city?"

Robert took the core and examined it briefly. "This is a level-six core. Do you want level-six cores and above, or only level-six?"

Ye Luo took it back. This was the core with the weakest energy signature that he'd found in the box, and it was just powerful enough to provide level-two energy. Anything weaker could only be converted into level-one energy. "Level six and above, including level six!"

"Cores of level six and above are strategic resources. My Morton territory may be poor, but I do have a box of them in my storeroom. If you need them, I'll send someone to fetch them right away!" Robert answered without hesitation.

Ye Luo rubbed his nose. "Actually, that core came from your box..."

Robert froze for a moment, then gave a wry smile. "Since Your Majesty already took that box of cores, I don't have any more here..."

Ye Luo immediately corrected him. "No, I'm not asking about what you have here. I mean all of Morton's main city..."

Robert raised his head, his brow furrowing slightly. "There are indeed just as many cores in Morton's main city as there were in my storeroom, especially in the city's two magic shops. But the people have only just settled down, and I promised them, as you instructed, that you and your Demon Beasts wouldn't violate their rights. If we start demanding cores before the words have even settled, I'm afraid..."

Just as many as the box in his storeroom? A faint smile appeared on Ye Luo's lips. The cores in that box had given him a full thirteen thousand units of level-two energy. After subtracting the two thousand needed to evolve the Overseers, he still had a whopping eleven thousand. If the city had just as many as the storeroom, wouldn't his level-two energy double in an instant?