Planetary Organisms Were Overwhelmingly Powerful

"The only regret is that the enemy can identify these infected aliens. If they couldn't tell them apart, it would be perfect. We would hold an innate advantage in intelligence and be impossible to defeat."

If the Galactic Alliance lacked the ability to detect infected individuals, Lu Shang would hold an absolute, unbeatable position in the intelligence war. Every time he thought of this, he felt deeply regretful.

"I see." The Swarm individual suddenly understood.

Good news came one after another. Just as he finished instructing his own Swarm, a message from another Swarm brought Lu Shang an even greater surprise.

"Overmind, we have completed the celestial structure you ordered us to design."

"So quickly?!" Lu Shang asked in surprise.

The Swarm individual explained, "The overall design was not complicated. Many of its components were existing Swarm biological designs. We merely combined those concepts."

"How effective is it?" Lu Shang pressed.

The Swarm individual answered, "It still requires practical testing, but preliminary estimates indicate that these planetary organisms can support at least five million psionic brains."

Due to its geological structure, a planet could only be expanded to accommodate five hundred thousand psionic brains at most. Digging more caverns deeper down could cause crustal collapse on the scale of tectonic plates, and the pressure and temperature would also be unsuitable for keeping psionic brains active.

Therefore, several months earlier, Lu Shang had ordered the Swarm to specifically design a planetary structure capable of maximizing the number of psionic brains it could support.

And now, the results were in.

Hearing the figure of five million psionic brains, Lu Shang's breathing immediately quickened.

"How is its structural strength ensured? How do we make sure it won't collapse?" Lu Shang demanded.

The Swarm individual explained, "We considered using psionic power to counter the immense pressure of celestial gravity, but that would waste some psionic energy. So, we adopted a structure combining skeletal cavities and organic fluid to support the crust. The planet's gravity is no longer a problem. Instead, it will integrate with the crust and become the planetary organism's natural gravitational armor."

"Even without psionic power, as long as it does not face Colossus-class firepower, none of the Galactic Alliance's existing weapons can pose any threat to it."

Lu Shang could not wait any longer. He immediately gave the order, "Begin celestial-scale incubation at once!"

"Understood."

Within a yellow dwarf star system in the Bogu Grand Nebula, the Behemoth beast swarm that had long been waiting in orbit began deploying vast quantities of Swarm organisms onto a solid planet three times the size of Earth.

Biological sacs carrying worker drones rained down upon the surface. The workers swiftly incubated hives on the spot, after which great numbers of elongated Swarm organisms burrowed underground, drilling all the way to the planetary core.

Then, these organisms flexed their intestines and transported enormous quantities of solid hydrogen and solid oxygen from the surface into the core. The low temperatures temporarily carried away the core's heat, while the Swarm organisms continued lowering the temperature and constantly carved out space around the core.

The large quantities of solid hydrogen and oxygen absorbed heat and turned into gas, then combined into water molecules under the high-temperature, high-pressure conditions.

With water, everything became much simpler. Water carried heat upward toward the surface, while cooled water sank downward.

Using water as a medium for thermal circulation and psionic power to accelerate its flow and carry heat to the surface, the core's temperature was rapidly cooled until it finally became a lump of solid iron.

The planet's original magnetic field vanished. In its place, vast organic marshes covered the surface. The Swarm's elongated organisms ran through the entire planet like blood vessels, forming a complex network of channels. By transporting heated organic solution, they maintained a temperature suitable for Swarm organisms within the countless excavated cavities.

It followed the same template as Nestworld, but with one key difference: much of the planetary strata was replaced by a skeletal type of Swarm organism. As they devoured crustal material and replaced the crust with their own bodies, they consumed the entire planet.

When psionic brains, organic solution, skeletal organisms, tubular organisms... all the Swarm organisms gradually fused together through interconnected links like anglerfish—

A planetary organism was born!

Bosken, capital of the Dias Empire.

To ensure that the Dias Empire's administrative center would not be captured, the empire's upper ranks had deployed more than a hundred fully staffed Imperial fleets throughout this star system.

This was the empire's strongest military formation, publicly known as the "Impenetrable Fortress."

On this day, a patrolling fleet detected an incomprehensibly powerful gravitational wave. Soon after, a mud-covered Nestworld appeared abruptly only tens of thousands of kilometers away from them.

Immediately afterward, the fleet's supreme commander heard a report from his subordinate. "An extremely powerful psionic signal has been detected! It far exceeds every recorded Swarm psionic unit in the Alliance's records! It surpasses even the Void God!"

"Look! Those are eyes!"

No one knew who had spoken on the bridge, but the fleet's supreme commander looked toward the projection and saw that the mud-covered Swarm Nestworld had opened countless eyes, each of them no smaller than a continental landmass.

The bizarre sight dealt a tremendous shock to the minds of the Imperial soldiers in the fleet.

"What are you waiting for?! Attack! Attack! Destroy it immediately!"

The fleet's supreme commander was the first to react. He gave the order and immediately called for reinforcements from the other fleets within the star system. Then... there was no then.

Apart from a few fleets that clearly recognized their side's severe lack of strength and fled, more than a billion warships were crushed into metal balls and left drifting through space.

"Tch, still as useless as before."

"They're so weak that they can't even test its limits."

Lu Shang curled his lip in disdain. He had come to test the planetary organism's power, but before it could even demonstrate that power, the enemy had already been annihilated.

It was like using cheats to slaughter other players. He simply could not get excited about it.

Through the planetary organism's eyes, Lu Shang glanced toward the Dias people's home star, and an idea came to him.

"I've got it."

Lu Shang ordered, "Go. Tear that star apart for me."

"Understood."

The planetary organism acknowledged the order and appeared near the star the moment it turned around.

Its spacetime bubble was exceptionally stable, allowing it to psionically jump directly to a position extremely close to the star. With psionic power deflecting the star's high-energy particles, it could remain near the star for extended periods.

With a simple activation of psionic power, a pillar of fire rose from the star's surface. Vast quantities of stellar matter surged outward, spreading apart at the end like a towering fire tree growing from an endless sea of flames. Every leaf on that fire tree was as large as Australia.

Lu Shang tried several more times and discovered that, aside from harvesting stellar matter, the planetary organism could not do much more.

At least, one alone could not directly tear a star apart.

"Looks like this is its limit, but I'm fairly satisfied with its capabilities," Lu Shang murmured.

Then Lu Shang gave the planetary organism an order. "Extract stellar matter on the spot and incubate more of your kind."

"Understood," the planetary organism replied.