Inherited Memories

The Overmind continued browsing the Monster Lion's memories.

The Monster Lion had lived a long life, but it hadn't traveled to many places. Nor had it ever wanted to roam the world.

Before long, it reached its childhood.

The memories began to grow fragmented.

Its mother had merely been an ordinary Cave Lion. She had no scales or extraordinary power, and her lifespan had been too short to mention. She had even died of old age before the Monster Lion reached adulthood.

The memory reached the moment when the Dragon Lion slowly opened its eyes beneath a gentle lick... then everything sank into darkness.

Hm?

Just as the Overmind was about to withdraw his consciousness, he was surprised to discover memories hidden deep within its mind.

This guy had memories from the womb?

With that thought, the Overmind increased his Psionic Energy output.

The prone Monster Lion twitched, and faint red light seeped through the slits of its tightly shut eyes.

"Roar—"

The first scene in the memory began with a familiar lion's roar.

A sleek-furred, gracefully built female Cave Lion was pinned beneath the memory's owner. Ignoring her struggles, it extended its tongue to lick the fur on her neck...

What the fuck, isn't that your mother? What the hell are you doing, you beast!

Wait...

The Overmind suddenly noticed something was wrong.

The memory owner's tongue was forked, and it lacked the exaggerated barbs of a feline's tongue. The forelimbs pinning down the Cave Lion weren't beast claws either, but folded, bat-like wings covered in the same scales found along the Monster Lion's neck and back.

After reviewing several more scenes, the Overmind understood. These were probably not the Monster Lion's memories.

They belonged to the Monster Lion's father—a large Wyvern.

Did this species naturally possess the ability to inherit memories? Or was the Monster Lion's extraordinary power itself a form of inheritance?

Compared to the Monster Lion's own memories, these inherited ones were far more fragmented. They also didn't contain the wealth of knowledge and skills described in legends. To be precise, there was very little valuable information in them.

Most showed the memory's owner playing with giant pythons, tigers, crocodiles, terrestrial birds, turtles, grizzly bears, catfish...

Judging from the sheer variety of species, this Wyvern had been far more loving than its son.

The Wyvern's memories ended as it swooped through treetops chasing beetles.

Just when the Overmind thought there was nothing valuable left in the Monster Lion's mind, he suddenly discovered something hidden at the very bottom of its memories.

No, they were no longer mere memories.

They resembled the Zerg's Hive Mind: special information concealed within the bloodline through extraordinary power.

It was unknown whether even the Monster Lion itself had realized this.

Beneath the Monster Tree, the glow in the Overmind's eyes brightened once more. The neural cords behind the sofa's backrest began to shimmer with specks of red light under an inexplicable force.

Beside the pool, the Monster Lion's body suddenly shuddered, and its eyes flew open.

A field of green entered the eyes of both the Monster Lion and the Overmind.

It was an unimaginably lush colossal tree. The surrounding trees looked as tiny beside it as ornamental shrubs in a flowerbed.

At the same time, roots and vines thicker than the colossal tree rose around it, twisting and coiling together like an eggshell to protect it. Roots and vines this enormous that could still move freely had to be nearly as strong as a starship's armor!

Roooar—

A resounding roar burst from the throat of the memory's owner. The wings growing behind its ribs beat as it dived downward. A stream of heat surged up from the depths of its throat, and blazing flames poured toward the colossal tree.

The memory ended abruptly there.

The Overmind had never expected the Monster Lion's grandfather... no, one of its ancestors, to have been a Dragon.

Yes. Unlike that Wyvern, the owner of this memory clearly had four limbs and two wings. Combined with its ability to breathe fire, it perfectly matched the Dragons of legend.

As the Overmind considered this, he was horrified to discover that the Monster Lion—no, the Dragon Lion—was undergoing a drastic transformation.

The scales on its chest and back began spreading outward. Its highly differentiated incisors, canines, and molars rapidly became small, uniform pointed teeth. The flesh tendrils produced by the infection of Creep and the Hyper-Evolutionary Virus quickly decomposed and vanished. Only the two sickle-shaped appendages protruding from its back not only remained, but stretched farther, grew larger, and even sprouted fleshy wings.

"His Psionic Energy level is rising!" Agatha warned. "He's about to break through the limit of Level Eight fluctuations!"

"Roar—" A world-shaking roar erupted from the Dragon Lion's throat. The surging sound waves actually formed visible shockwaves in midair.

The surrounding Bait Birds fell in waves.

Yet the Overmind realized it didn't seem to be the sound waves themselves, but an attack on the spiritual level.

Bolstered by the Hive Mind, the Bait Birds didn't die from it. Most had merely fainted.

Dragon's Dread from the legends? The Overmind sighed. I overdid it. I never expected that merely awakening its memories would trigger the evolution of its entire body.

The Dragon Lion turned its head and stared toward the Overmind's location from afar. It arched its back and bared its teeth, its faintly glowing red eyes filled with astonishing fury.

The connection of wills went both ways. While the Overmind browsed its memories, he had inevitably exposed his own location.

Next time, I need to set up a relay at the very least! With that thought, the Overmind tapped a finger lightly.

Countless birds began converging on the Dragon Lion's position.

After its bloodline had been awakened, the Dragon Lion was clearly no longer what it had been. Several faster Arrow Gulls pecked at its body, but aside from snapping their own necks, they failed to provoke any reaction.

The Creep scattered by the Bait Birds was even less worth mentioning. To the Dragon Lion, it was no different from raindrops.

Provoked by the Overmind, the Dragon Lion simply ignored those attacks and charged toward him.

Fortunately, the Dragon Lion's newly formed wings were apparently still fragile, or perhaps it hadn't realized it could fly yet. It did not take to the air.

Yet with only its four fleshy legs, it thundered through the dense forest like a high-speed train.

That gave the Arrow Gulls an opportunity instead.

Flying against the Dragon Lion's charge, they slammed into its face. The Arrow Gulls' flight speed combined with the Dragon Lion's running speed was more than even its newly evolved hide could withstand.

Sharp fangs pierced the Dragon Lion's cheeks, the corners of its mouth, its forelimbs, and other areas not covered by scales, sinking nearly a centimeter deep. The pain sent the Dragon Lion into a frenzy, and it unleashed deafening howls.

At that moment, the Overmind's consciousness was attached to the largest Arrow Gull, intending to have it peck out the Dragon Lion's eyes.

He manipulated Psionic Energy to form simple protection around the Arrow Gull, preventing the Dragon Lion's roar from stunning it. The Arrow Gull wasn't a Psionic Energy unit, and this would burn out its nervous system, but it was a suicide unit to begin with, so there was no need to care.

Then, amid the Dragon Lion's roar, a trace of noise suddenly mixed in, as though a new chamber had connected to its throat. Crimson flames abruptly sprayed from its mouth.

They merely grazed the Arrow Gull, yet reduced it to charred remains.

But the Overmind, whose consciousness resided within the Arrow Gull, grew thoughtful. This fire seemed... less powerful than the flames in the memory.

"It now has the ability to harm you," Agatha said proactively. "Overmind, you should avoid its edge for now."

"I'll leave when it's time to leave." The Overmind replied casually. Level Seven Psionic Energy fluctuations were equivalent to a Zealot among the Protoss. Level Eight Psionic Energy fluctuations... were equivalent to a powerful Zealot.

The latter might easily defeat ten of the former alone, but attempting a decapitation strike into a Creep-covered region that had long been infected and had even produced Venom Devourers, all by itself, was still nothing but a fool's dream.

On the other hand, the Dragon Lion ran too fast, and it might gain the ability to fly in the future. If it truly wanted to hide, the Overmind would have no way to deal with it for a while. If he didn't eliminate it while its fury toward him still burned hot, it would become troublesome later.

Slap! Slap! Slap!

The Mutated Combat Forms encased in sacs around the Venom Devourers burst from their eggs one after another, charging aggressively toward the edge of the Creep-covered region...