The Hatchery is Built

Not long after.

With the sound of the sac bursting, tens of thousands of tons of nutrient fluid spilled in all directions and was absorbed by the creep.

A conical structure over fifty meters tall rose from where the pool had once been, covered in savage spikes, heavy carapace, and tough flesh.

The Hatchery was finally complete.

The Swarm had many standard units, and the Hatchery was among the most crucial.

At the dawn of the Hive Mind, the Swarm's first Overmind had been a Hatchery, establishing the Swarm's ancient and efficient command structure.

Although later developments saw freely mobile, individual leaders such as Kerrigan and Zagara emerge, the Hatchery still played an irreplaceably important role in the Swarm beyond its reproductive function.

Only after the Hatchery had been established did every segment of the Zerg's genes truly enter a fully active state.

Only the Hatchery could command the creep and its many building-type units at the hormonal, endocrine, and neural levels. The creep system, now thoroughly linked as one, was then integrated within the Hive Mind into a massive Zerg unit.

This was the Hive Mind's original, most primitive body.

Thus, when the Hatchery connected to the creep's neural network and replaced the Venom Devourer as the creep's core, the Overmind, which had always been linked to the Hatchery, "descended" upon this Swarm unit—with the Hatchery as its brain, the creep as its body, and the Venom Devourers and Creep Tumors as its internal organs.

In that instant, the Overmind's will blanketed the entire creep-covered region.

It was as though a wandering ghost had returned to its own body. Powerful psionic energy erupted from the Overmind. As crimson radiance spread outward, it not only struck at the minds of nearby living beings, but even formed a tangible gale.

Even the creep near the Overmind rippled beneath the wind.

His psionic level leaped from Level 6, skipping a level to reach Level 8!

By the standards of humanity in the Koprulu Sector, Level 8 was a dividing line for psionic users, signifying the ability to intrude upon reality from the realm of the mind.

Telekinesis also emerged at this stage.

However, the Overmind's psionic power had only just crossed the threshold, and its effect on reality remained quite limited.

The mental shockwave, on the other hand, exploded in the minds of every living creature nearby like a thunderclap.

Yet there were only Zerg units around the Overmind at the moment. From the Hive Mind's perspective, they were all part of the Overmind. Not only were they unaffected by the psionic shock he released, their nerves were instead activated, and they threw back their heads and howled as though pumped full of stimulants.

However, before they could even finish their howls, everything came to an abrupt halt—the Overmind had regained his senses.

At that moment, he felt unusually light throughout his body. After all, telekinesis was still a manifestation of psionic power. Before it could be projected outside the body, it first acted upon the user through the neural network running through the entire body.

Among the Protoss, Zealots could briefly enhance the strength of their legs through an eruption of psionic power, increasing their charging speed.

Even so, there was still no sign that the Overmind's body had "awakened"...

The Overmind tapped the armrest. Two rows of tiny eyes suddenly lit up near the foot of the throne, and then the entire throne rose smoothly and turned slightly, allowing the Overmind to face the Hatchery and inspect the magnificent structure.

Ah~ such delightful sounds of writhing organs and scraping carapace... Say, were my tastes getting more and more perverse?

Although it had previously been said that the Hatchery's aboveground portion was a gigantic sphincter muscle.

It did not have only the crater-like opening at its top. In fact, to allow units of different sizes to crawl out more easily, the Hatchery had spawning openings of various sizes at different heights.

At a command, two Larvae wriggled out from the lowest opening, the one closest to the Overmind.

This was the initial stage of Zerg units: segmented creatures clad in thick armor, with several feelers growing from their tails. They looked somewhat like the offspring of a caterpillar and a cuttlefish. Of course, a Larva was much larger than a caterpillar—slightly larger than the Overmind's forearm.

The Overmind first had one Larva crawl into his throne.

Then he casually picked up the other. He would modify and alter this Larva, weakening its dependence on the creep and the Hatchery, allowing it to grow long legs and gain the ability to move swiftly.

From now on, wherever he went, a Larva would follow at his side.

Even if he ended up stranded somewhere alone, he could at least use genetic modification to develop the Larva into a Hatchery.

Moreover, every segment of a Larva contained a complete set of organs needed to sustain life. He could even cut a Larva apart, then have one Larva differentiate into several units.

Of course, that would require exceptionally precise genetic manipulation. The current Overmind did not yet possess that ability.

Genetic tuning could not be completed in a short while, so the Overmind first ordered the creep to lick the mucus clean from the Larva's body. He then placed it on his shoulder and looked toward the Hatchery once more.

By this point, the creep had already devoured more than ten thousand square kilometers of dense forest. Combined with the organic matter it constantly synthesized from inorganic substances, the Overmind had accumulated quite a stockpile of biomass.

The bird nest, which could only produce a few tons of birds even at full capacity, and the several Venom Devourers that had scarcely been used, could not consume much nutrition.

The nutrients he had accumulated finally had a purpose!

The Spawning Pool was not yet complete, and a sea of Zerglings was still out of reach for now. Then he would first hatch a batch of Drones and Overlords...

What the Overmind did not know was that, at the exact moment the Hatchery was completed—

Thousands of kilometers away, atop a towering ancient tree, a humanoid creature with green hair and pointed ears stood on one leg at the highest tip of the tree. A short bow was slung across his back, and a hooded cloak covered his body.

The tip of the branch bent into a C-shape under his weight, yet he stood as steadily as if he had grown from it. With every breath, his body even moved in rhythm with the branch.

"Hmm?" A soft nasal sound shattered the stillness.

He slightly turned his head and opened his eyes toward the distance. The forest was afraid?

The peculiar intuition vanished in an instant, but he had already firmly locked onto its source.

It came from an extraordinarily distant direction. Yet he remembered that two hundred years ago, he had driven the offspring of a wyvern and a forest lion to that very place from within the range covered by the Mother Tree...

It was extremely far from the Mother Tree, far beyond the limits of his usual patrols.

Perhaps... this was a revelation bestowed by nature. He needed to begin a new, long-ranging journey of cultivation.

Rustle—amid a flash of green light, the treetop instantly snapped straight, and his figure became a streak of green light shooting toward the distance.

Only after leaping more than a hundred meters through the air did he drop into the canopy, beginning to weave and dart between the treetops...