Chapter 38: Couldn't Help but Laugh Out Loud
Jila's abilities weren't that numerous, at least compared to other fifth-rank bosses of the same tier, her abilities were few.
But that didn't mean Jila was weak. She had no offensive abilities whatsoever, or rather, she simply didn't need that kind of capability.
Not to mention anything else, her 149 points of True Intelligence attribute alone made her an anomaly among fifth-rank boss-level creatures. To think, when he first entered the Jila Insect Star, Su Xiao's Intelligence attribute was 109 points.
What Su Xiao hadn't expected was that Jila had already evolved to the fifth stage, which was the limit on the Jila Insect Star. That fifth-rank world had restricted Jila, but after entering the Primordial World, her restrictions were shattered, allowing her to evolve up to the seventh stage.
For her insect race category, she was only the second to evolve to the fifth stage. As for the sixth stage, none had reached it yet.
"First, establish the insect nest."
"Mm."
Jila reached her hand into the black biological tissue behind her, fumbled around for a while, and pulled out an egg the size of a chicken egg. The scene that followed left Bubu Wang and Baha dumbfounded.
They watched as Jila's small hand stretched straight, her nails becoming sharp. She first tore off a large chunk of black biological tissue and began digging a hole in the ground.
After digging the hole, she placed the torn biological tissue and the egg inside, covered it with soil, and even stomped on it a few times.
"Are insects these days... all planted? Has the times changed so fast?"
Baha glanced at Jila, then looked at the small mound of earth.
"Bulu is a special individual. It only needs a quiet environment to hatch."
No sooner had Jila spoken than a brownish-red claw emerged from the soil. Before long, a low-rank insect, a Mantis Armor, crawled out of the dirt, shaking the soil off its head.
Mantis Armors were universally recognized as the lowest rank of insects, but this one was somewhat different. Its carapace was covered in scars and bite marks, clearly not a newly born insect. More importantly, it actually had a name: Bulu.
The origin of Mantis Armor Bulu was quite interesting. Back on the Jila Insect Star, when the Demon Beasts had formed a sizable group, the lowest-ranking dozen or so Mantis Armors were sent out to explore the surrounding terrain, advancing continuously in one direction.
Of the dozen Mantis Armors, only one quickly survived, and that was Bulu. Its sole mission was to keep exploring forward for the entire swarm until it died. That was the most terrifying aspect of the insect race.
Bulu had encountered many dangers, nearly dying hundreds of times, but it survived until the entire Jila Insect Star was under Jila's control.
With its life force nearly exhausted, Bulu returned to the insect nest, collapsed onto the fungal carpet beside it, and waited to die, to be decomposed by the fungal carpet and turned into bio-energy. That was its mission.
Jila didn't let Bulu die. Instead, she had it enter the evolution chamber within the nest to hatch, and she gave it a name: Bulu. Today, Bulu opened its eyes again in a seventh-rank world.
Bulu prostrated itself on the ground, waiting for Jila's command. It seemed to sense several familiar auras nearby.
"Is this... a miracle?"
Su Xiao looked at the prostrate Bulu. Of course, he remembered this Mantis Armor. The other Mantis Armors had died, but this one had survived, helping him explore vast unknown areas.
What truly surprised Su Xiao wasn't Bulu's luck, but that it had developed some self-awareness. For a high-rank insect, that would be a disaster, but Bulu was a basic insect with almost no combat power. If a crisis threatened to destroy the swarm, Bulu would be the hope for revival.
'Establish the insect nest.'
Jila's mental command transmitted into Bulu's mind. It immediately started running, its slightly bow-legged hind legs making it look somewhat comical.
Bulu ran to the top of a mountain peak and began surveying the surroundings. Before long, it charged to the mid-slope of a mountain and started digging with its sharp front claws.
"This Mantis Armor can build the nest inside the mountain?"
Baha watched in amazement. Insect nests were relatively fragile in their early stages, and Jila's previous fifth-stage nest was still on the Jila Insect Star. Summoning Jila herself required a considerable cost, but summoning a fifth-stage nest, that behemoth, would cost an unbearable amount.
Summoning Jila alone was enough. As long as there was sufficient bio-energy, the nest and combat insects would all be produced. She herself was an insect legion.
"Amu, Baha, hunt nearby transcendent creatures. We'll be busy soon."
"Got it."
"Moo."
"Wouldn't it be faster to have the Demon Beasts hunt? I brought Life Stones."
Jila, curled up within the biological tissue, poked her head out and spoke. As she finished, 50 Life Stones were squeezed out of the tissue. This was a unique output of the insect race, each Life Stone convertible to 10,000 points of bio-energy.
Jila hadn't come alone; she had also brought 50 Life Stones, clearly much more reliable than before.
Mantis Armor Bulu's efficiency was astonishing. Before long, it had hollowed out a section of the mountain, carried away a Life Stone, and used a small piece of biological tissue brought by Jila to build the nest.
In less than 5 minutes, a first-stage nest was established inside the mountain. The hatching tissue within the nest began working, producing 100 Mantis Armor eggs, which then rolled into incubation sacs.
A minute later, Mantis Armors crawled out of the incubation sacs one by one and began excavating the mountain.
As soon as the nest was built, Jila entered it. The nest was still small at first, but before long, it evolved to the second stage.
With a foundation established, the nest's evolution was only a matter of time. After 1 hour and 26 minutes, the entire mountain was hollowed out, and the nest inside had evolved to the fourth stage, standing 90 meters tall.
The number of Mantis Armors skyrocketed, reaching 12,750. After completing their mission, they would be re-converted into bio-energy by the fungal carpet, except for Bulu.
When the nest evolved to the fourth stage, over ten thousand Mantis Armors began destroying the mountain's exterior, leveling the entire mountain. The nest came into Su Xiao's view.
The Mantis Armors' work didn't end there. They started digging in the surrounding mountain ranges, soon creating a man-made valley 2,000 meters in diameter.
Due to the well-chosen location, if one looked from the surrounding heights, the nest inside the valley was completely invisible unless viewed directly from above.
When over ten thousand Mantis Armors lay down on the fungal carpet around the nest and were rapidly absorbed, the nest at the center of the fungal carpet had already reached 120 meters in height, becoming a true behemoth.
From establishing the nest to the formation of a fifth-stage nest, the entire process took 1 hour and 53 minutes, consuming 420,000 points of bio-energy. From nothing to something, it was that fast.
Su Xiao looked at the nest ahead. Cultivating an insect race faction carried considerable risk in the early stages, but the rewards were also great. He wouldn't be seeking out the Survivor Alliance in the next three days.
[Insect Nest: Fifth Stage (Total of Seven Stages. This rank is determined based on the power system of this world).]
[Bio-Energy Reserve: 81600/270000 Points.]
[Nest Organs: Energy Storage Tissue (Fifth Stage), Hatching Tissue (Fifth Stage), Incubation Sac (Fifth Stage), Energy Conversion Tissue (Fifth Stage), Evolution Chamber (Fifth Stage), Fungal Carpet (Fifth Stage), Sensing Tower (Fifth Stage), Killing Watchtower (Fifth Stage)...]
[Basic Insect Gene Pool: Mantis Armor, Hunting Fang, Spore Tank, Titan, Self-Destruct Spore...]
[Demon Insect Gene Pool: Demon Beast (Gene Evolved Three Times), Leviathan (Gene Evolved Once, Ultra-Giant Insect).]
[Evolution Condition: 2,700,000 Points of Bio-Energy + High-Activity Cells + Demon Force.]
Clearly, Jila hadn't given up on the Demon Beasts. She had evolved them three times. Among the same rank, Demon Beasts' comprehensive combat power crushed other insects. The rank of Demon Force was very high, being the power of a major Void race.
Su Xiao's next plan was simple: first, hatch over ten thousand Demon Beasts to increase the rate of bio-energy acquisition, then have Jila evolve to the sixth stage, and the nest would also evolve to the sixth stage.
At that point, the nest would likely gestate new Demon Insect genes. What followed was obvious: mass produce troops and then provoke war. The target would be the Wasp Bee Faction. Or rather, even without provoking war, the Wasp Bee Faction would attack on their own. They were somewhat similar to the insect race and would never tolerate the existence of another insect race threatening them.
By acquiring large amounts of bio-energy through war, the nest would evolve to the seventh stage, then accumulate. After accumulation was complete, it would enter the final stage.
If the Survivor Alliance's backing, the 'Dia Tribe,' was too strong, it didn't matter. Su Xiao not only had an insect army but also the Five-Star Title [War Lord]. Demon-type insect attacks came with True Damage, and [War Lord]'s Soul Burning Force effect also dealt True Damage. Stacked together, they would at least break through 100 points of True Damage. Moreover, there was the Bloody Battle effect.
Bloody Battle: Each time you attack an enemy, there is a certain chance to absorb the enemy's life force, restoring your own lost Health Points.
Once insects had the Bloody Battle effect, they were a completely different concept from soldier-type units. Even if an insect could only move one more time, it would bite at the enemy's throat.
Morale Boost +60, All True Attributes +10 (excluding Luck Attribute), Bloody Battle (Passive), Soul Burning Force (Passive) — these were the four buff effects of War Lord. The Morale Boost was useless; insects had no morale. But after being enhanced by the other three effects, Demon Insects would have terrifying combat power.
Western side of the continent, the peripheral area of the Dia Tribe, within the Glowing Forest.
Several contractors were moving at a moderate pace. One of them had a furrowed brow, as if deep in thought.
"Plague Insect, still no news from Wasp Bee Lord Tamisha? Your current status should be second only to the Bee Queen."
Naji Jia spoke in a flat tone. Throughout his journey here, he had been waiting for Su Xiao to ambush him. Now, almost at the Dia Tribe's largest gathering point, Su Xiao still hadn't shown up.
"No news. What I can confirm is that Kukulin Bai Ye didn't go to the Wasp Bee Lord. Instead, he's become hostile to the Wasp Bee Faction."
Plague Insect couldn't help but laugh out loud. He had been very worried that Su Xiao would join the Wasp Bee Faction to develop, but now the other party had become hostile to them.
"Hostile?"
Naji Jia suddenly stopped. The few people beside him looked puzzled.
"Don't worry. Both the Wasp Bee Faction and the Dia Tribe have our people. The two largest forces in this world won't accept him. Besides hiding in some remote area, he has nothing else to do."
Plague Insect tossed a beetle into his mouth and chewed vigorously. Thinking that his plan was over 60% complete, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up. The opportunity to soar to the sky was right before him.
"I hope so. Bai Ye, don't call me despicable. The human wave tactic is the 'weakest' and also the most unsolvable tactic."
Naji Jia stepped forward. The vague worry in his heart was diluted by something about to be completed.
In Naji Jia's view, things had developed to this point and were already very interesting. His enemy had used the human wave tactic to kill the seventh-rank strongest violator, Fei Shi. And soon, he would use the same method to surround and kill the other party. How wonderfully ironic the world was.