Chapter 3: A Simple and Unadorned Beginning
The giant trees reached toward the sky. Though the trees here were not densely packed, the spaces between them were filled with all kinds of lush plants in various colors. Plump fruits hung among withered vines. Nearby, a few bag monkeys crouched on tree branches. Due to the climate, they had no fur, and their skin appeared oily with a dark blue sheen.
This place was the southernmost part of the continent, as far as possible from the northern region where the Empire's Third Fleet was stationed.
Su Xiao chose this location as his initial development site, both to avoid being wiped out by the Empire's forces during the budding stage, and because the southern and western parts of the continent were the territory of the insect race. Developing here would not attract too much attention.
On Pandora Star, the land area completely dominated the ocean. This was a planet where the ocean covered less than 17% of the surface, yet freshwater resources were incredibly abundant. This was precisely why the planet had such vast vegetation coverage and biodiversity.
Amu led the way at the front, wielding a large machete to clear a path. Su Xiao followed behind him, with Bubu Wang and Beini, who was perched on Bubu Wang's head, coming next. Baha brought up the rear.
This time, Beini hadn't gone traveling because she could also do a lot of work during the early stages of development. Once things developed to a certain level, Beini would start her travels again.
Don't think Beini's travels were easy. She was both searching for treasure and mapping the area. The recording device she wore would periodically transmit data to Su Xiao through the team channel.
This way, even if Su Xiao did nothing, the map of the surrounding area would gradually be constructed in his terminal, and the range would grow larger and larger.
Now that he was about to develop the insect race, it was crucial to understand who his neighbors were, how many insect clans and native tribes existed in the south and west, and also to have some understanding of the northern and eastern regions occupied by the Empire.
Buzz~
A wasp the size of a sparrow flew past Su Xiao. Bubu Wang's expression grew serious. As they continued forward, a slightly wine-like, intoxicating floral fragrance drifted over.
"Baha."
Hearing this, Baha flew up high to scout. After traveling at full speed all the way, although they had arrived in the south, the specific location for the initial development site still required careful consideration.
From the several previous experimental facilities, besides obtaining the "Insect Race Mother Embryo," Su Xiao had also learned quite a bit about the insect race in this world.
In this world, the insect race also built their nests around a mother as the core. They then used the organs on the nest to cultivate various types of insect units. Finally, with the mother as the center, they began their development. The individual consciousness of the insect units was very low; they were more subservient to the collective consciousness, much like an ant colony.
The insect units in this world still had a bit of individual consciousness. In contrast, the insect units of Jira's group, except for hero-level individuals, had no individual consciousness at all. The only external signal they accepted was to obey the commands of the highest consciousness, whether to work or to kill, and finally to sleep eternally on the fungal carpet, reverting to biological energy and returning to the mother nest.
This had both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was that this was a pure war weapon. The disadvantage was that once there was no command from the highest consciousness, they would fall into chaos and indiscriminate attack mode.
In other aspects, the data left by the various experimental facilities was not extensive, but the information about the hierarchy of insect race mothers was very detailed. In this world, insect race mothers could be roughly divided into four levels: Infant Stage, Queen Level, Empress Level, and Overlord Level.
The Infant Stage needed no further explanation. The standard for Queen Level was: having established a nest higher than 40 meters, with a life mineral vein beneath the nest, over 5,000 worker-type insect individuals, and over 2,000 combat-type insect individuals.
Empress Level meant the nest and life mineral vein were on a large scale, with defensive and offensive insect buildings, over 100,000 worker-type insect individuals, and over 40,000 combat-type insect individuals.
As for the Overlord Level, at this stage, there were no Overlord-level insect race mothers in this world.
To put it simply, an Infant Stage mother could maintain a nest of rank 1 to 3. A Queen Level mother could establish a nest of rank 3 to 7. An Empress Level mother could establish a rank 8 nest. The nest rank corresponded to the world rank.
In this world's insect race groups, the number of worker-type units would always exceed combat-type units. The reason was that the insect race in this world developed by mining life ore. They absorbed the life energy from the life ore through the nest, thereby expanding the population.
To use an intuitive analogy, the insect race in this world tended to be "herbivorous," while Jira was purely carnivorous.
Did the insect race in this world choose to be herbivorous? Not exactly. According to research by the Empire, this world seemed to have a vast consciousness. If large-scale species extinction occurred, or if someone tried to destroy the planet, that consciousness would be angered. At that point, all life on the planet would be driven by that consciousness to eliminate the invaders.
This was also why the Empire had never used radiation weapons. It wasn't that they didn't want to, but that they didn't dare. If they truly angered that vast consciousness, and it drove supernatural beings to besiege them, that wouldn't be a big deal. The Empire wasn't afraid of such sieges. What the Empire's forces worried about was that the consciousness could also command microorganisms.
Microorganisms included bacteria, viruses, and fungi, all of which were formidable. Especially when these three had supernatural characteristics, they became terrifying. Steel warships capable of space navigation sometimes really couldn't withstand the decomposition caused by some supernatural fungi.
After learning this, Su Xiao decided to find a way for Jira to also master the mining ability of this world's insect race. The method of capturing large numbers of supernatural beings to accumulate life energy for development, as they had done on Jira Star, was clearly not feasible here.
Soon, Baha swooped down from above and landed on Amu's shoulder. "Boss, there's a U-shaped valley over there. I think it looks pretty good."
"..."
Su Xiao made a few leaps and landed on a high tree branch. Looking in the direction Baha had indicated, he saw a stretch of gray-white, continuous mountains. There was indeed a U-shaped valley over there. The valley spanned about a hundred meters wide. Behind it was a natural barrier, a dead end. In front was the entrance and exit, making it a semi-enclosed terrain.
This was indeed a good place to establish a nest. Once the nest was large enough and no longer needed concealment, they could level this mountain range to free up enough space for various insect buildings.
As for whether the underground life ore was sufficient, which the native insect race considered, Su Xiao didn't care about that in the early stages. He had start-up capital.
Previously on Sear Star, Su Xiao had used the Solar Fortress to mine a large amount of Living Ore. That stuff had characteristics very similar to this world's life ore. Su Xiao even suspected that life ore was one of the high-level outputs of an eighth-rank primordial world, not unique to Sear Star or Pandora Star.
Su Xiao hadn't brought the Living Ore mined on Sear Star out with him, but he had brought out 785 [Living Crystals]. This stuff was high-purity Living Ore.
With this kind of start-up capital, early development was not a problem. Once they had developed enough, they could seize a life mineral vein and then migrate there.
Having made up his mind, Su Xiao leaped between the trees. As the vegetation gradually thinned, broken rocks became the main color. Entering the U-shaped valley, the wind calmed down, and the feeling of heat receded.
Stopping at the center of the valley, Su Xiao took out a refrigeration device, opened it, and fished out the "Insect Race Mother Embryo" that was soaking in a glass column. He also took out a [Living Crystal].
Sensing the rich life force within the [Living Crystal], the "Insect Race Mother Embryo" became restless. Several tentacles extended from the translucent liquid layer on its surface and began to absorb the life energy from the [Living Crystal].
The embryo grew at a visible rate. Before long, it grew into something resembling a cross between a beetle and a scorpion. This was the insect race mother of this world. Its body length was about half a meter. Its six insect legs were short and stubby. The body part had a carapace, but the rear half revealed a plump abdominal sac.
[Prompt: You have successfully cultivated an Insect Race Mother (Infant Stage). You have successfully established an independent faction...]
Just as the prompt appeared, a crystal layer wrapped around Su Xiao's hand. He thrust his hand into the mother's head. The Azure Steel Shadow energy erupted, causing secondary internal damage.
[You need to name your insect race...]
[Prompt: It has been detected that the Insect Race Mother you cultivated has died.]
[The faction you established has been destroyed.]
[Announcement (Void Tree): The faction "Unnamed" has been destroyed.]
...
Su Xiao hadn't expected that when a contractor or hunter's insect race faction was destroyed, there would even be an announcement.
Of course, Su Xiao wouldn't cultivate this world's insect race. Their war capabilities weren't strong enough. This time, he had entered this world by exchanging for [The Beginning of Nightmare]. The main quest difficulty would be very high. If the main quest was just to obtain this world's World Core or something similar, Su Xiao would secretly breathe a sigh of relief. He could be certain that in the middle and late stages of the main quest, conflict with the Company or the Empire's forces would inevitably arise.
Moreover, given the Empire's domineering nature, once Su Xiao's side grew strong enough, the Empire would take the initiative to attack. They were here for interstellar colonization, and their warlike nature was easy to imagine.
Su Xiao pulled his hand out of the mother's skull. He removed the crystal layer from his hand, took out a piece of black carapace, and used it to cut his own palm.
Blood dripped down. Su Xiao closed his eyes and began to construct. The blood flowing from his palm formed a blood-colored array pattern on the mother's corpse, like a tattoo. The next second, the flesh and blood on the insect race mother grew wildly, turning into a pile of black-red flesh and blood.
Su Xiao pressed down with one hand. The spreading black-red flesh and blood suddenly stopped still.
Thump~
A dull sound spread. Wisps of black energy floated upward. On the black-red flesh and blood that Su Xiao was pressing down on, a dark red flesh-and-blood gate appeared.
Unbeknownst to them, dark clouds had gathered in the sky. The tips of the sword grass in the valley seemed to point towards Su Xiao, as if they were about to pierce into his pupils.
'Leave... Get out...'
It was as if a soundless voice appeared all around. A world rejection reaction occurred. With a crack, a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky.
Inside the dark red flesh-and-blood gate, a spatial rift split open at the center. A large amount of biological tissue surged out from the rift. This was the guarantee for ultra-long-distance teleportation. The main body being teleported was protected within this biological tissue.
Crack, crack, crack~
The spatial rift at the center of the flesh-and-blood gate quickly closed. This was the world rejection reaction intensifying. This world was trying to repel the incoming entity.
"Roar!"
Countless roars came from within the rift. Black claws encased in carapace reached out, grabbing the edges of the spatial rift. These were the claws of many Demon Beasts.
With a tearing sound, a small hand emerged from the black-red biological tissue. The summoning was successful.
A petite figure crawled out from the biological tissue. There were several light purple carapace plates on the sides of her neck, smooth and close to the skin. Apart from that, at first glance, the creature Su Xiao had summoned looked no different from a human. It was Jira.
Jira tilted her head back, her body leaning backward. The lower half of her body was still inside the biological tissue. Having been summoned from such an ultra-long distance, she was completely exhausted.
"Boss, Jira seems to have gotten weaker?"
"Mm."
Su Xiao was not surprised by this. Jira had previously grown to the peak of the seventh rank. Her current aura fluctuation was at most just above the seventh rank.
This was normal. Every world had a different system. Jira was different from Bubu, Amu, and Baha. She didn't have a strong adaptability. When she entered a different world, she would be affected by that world's system.
Although Jira had weakened a bit now, this was a world at the top tier of the eighth rank. This also meant that the upper limit of Jira's growth had increased significantly. The increase in the upper limit was more important at this point.
Su Xiao looked at Jira and patted her face. Not only did Jira not wake up, but she even tried to shrink back into the biological tissue beneath her, wanting to continue sleeping. This was a habit she had developed from being lazy in the Primordial Continent.
After two light slaps, Jira's eyebrows twitched, and she slowly woke up. Just waking up, she looked around in a daze before gradually remembering what was happening.
Su Xiao lifted Jira out of the biological tissue. Jira's expression was calm. She was used to being carried around by Su Xiao. She even yawned, indicating she was still a bit sleepy. But after Su Xiao glanced at her, she shuddered and became alert. When she didn't obey before, being hung up and whipped really hurt. She cried her eyes out, but it was useless.
Su Xiao placed Jira in front of him, looked her up and down, and then checked her attributes.
Name: Jira
Category: Second Level · Insect Queen (In this world, insect race mothers have five levels: Infant Level, Queen Level, Empress Level, Overlord Level, ???.)
Health: 100%
Bio-Energy: 320/24000 points
Strength: 36
Agility: 37
Stamina: 190 (True Attribute)
Intelligence: 210 (True Attribute)
Charm: 206 (True Attribute)
Skill 1, Insect Will (Passive, X): Absolute control over subordinate insect units.
Skill 2, Evolution · Initial (Passive, X): Can spawn a first-stage insect unit · Mantis Armor. Mantis Armor can establish a nest.
Prompt: This Mantis Armor is a special individual.
Skill 3, Higher Life Form (Evolution Stage · Second Level): When the nest accumulates 'Life Energy' to the upper limit, the mother can evolve to the third level. The mother and nest will awaken new abilities, increasing the types of lower insect units that can be cultivated, etc.
Skill 4, Mental Power Transformation (Lv.63, Passive): Slightly increases the range and control of mental power waves.
Skill 5, Perception Annihilation (Lv.70, Passive): Ignores all perception and detection of the seventh rank or below.
Skill 6, Summoned Subordinate Contract (X, Passive): Before killing the leader of the 'Summoned Subordinate Contract,' it is impossible to sign a subordinate or summoning contract with this creature through any means.
Summoned Subordinate Contract Origin: Reincarnation Paradise.
Summoned Subordinate Contract Holder: Kukulin Bai Ye.
Prompt: This effect has absolute priority and is certified by Reincarnation Paradise.
Skill 7, Mental Power Second Transformation (Lv.68, Passive): Greatly increases the range and control of mental power waves.
Skill 8, Demon Insect Race (X, Passive): Due to the influence of demonic power, the insect units of this group will possess auxiliary/combat abilities granted by demonic power.
...
Even though she had been weakened upon entering this world, Jira's overall data still completely crushed the insect race mothers of the same stage in this world.
Earlier, when competing for the "Insect Race Mother Embryo" in the various experimental facilities in the north, Su Xiao knew one thing: in this world, the key was development. At this point, compared to other contractors developing insect races, Su Xiao's development was definitely ranked first.
It was like everyone started from the starting line, but Su Xiao's starting line was special, located at the halfway point.
Su Xiao took out an item, the [Abyssal Stone], which he had obtained from trading with the Lord of the Old Days.
[Abyssal Stone]
Origin: Abyss/Void.
Quality: White ~ ??? (The effect varies depending on the user.)
Type: Rare Resource
Effect: Greatly enhances the evolutionary ability and potential upper limit of organisms (has a huge bonus for insect races, Star Crabs, Disaster Ants, etc.).
Rating: 10 ~ ???
Introduction: Crystallized abyssal power, having lost the normal characteristics of abyssal power. Its greatest use is to be destroyed. Could it be that someone would actually use it to enhance insect races, Star Crabs, Disaster Ants, etc.?
...
Jira took the Abyssal Stone and looked at Su Xiao with a questioning gaze.
"Eat it."
"Eat it directly?"
"Yes."
Hearing Su Xiao say this, Jira took a bite of the [Abyssal Stone]. She paused as her teeth were jarred by it. She looked at Su Xiao with a somewhat aggrieved expression, not understanding why he wanted her to eat this stone.
Faced with Jira's pitiful expression, Su Xiao was unmoved. "Swallow it."
"?"
A look of great confusion appeared in Jira's eyes. She looked at the Abyssal Stone in her hand, which was a fist bigger than her own little fist. She opened her mouth to measure it, but couldn't fit it in. Her expression gradually turned fearful.
A moment later, with tears in her eyes, Jira slowly moved her jaw and swallowed the Abyssal Stone. Besides being choked and dazed, she didn't feel anything for the time being.
After recovering, Jira took out a black egg she carried with her. Her small hand stretched out straight, and her nails became sharp. She grabbed a piece of the black-red biological tissue beside her and started digging a hole in the ground. She then threw the black egg and the biological tissue into the hole, covered it with dirt, and stomped on it a few times.
This was Jira's unique "planting insect race" method. Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Baha were all used to it.
Half a minute later, a black and gold interwoven claw emerged from the soil. Soon, a low-level insect unit, Mantis Armor, crawled out of the dirt, shaking the soil off its head.
This Mantis Armor was very different. Its carapace was covered in scars and bite marks, clearly not a newly born insect unit. More importantly, it had a name. It was called Blue.
Although Blue was the lowest level insect unit, like the leader-level Demon Beast · Abaddon and the Demon Flame Dragon · Barbatos, it was one of the very few individuals in Jira's group that had individual consciousness.
After shaking off the dirt, Blue ran around Su Xiao in circles. Having not seen Su Xiao for so long, Blue, with its independent consciousness, expressed the emotions of happiness and longing.
Jira pointed at Blue and, with a sleepy expression, transmitted a mental command: 'Establish the nest.'
Blue immediately got to work. The tip of its tail carapace unfolded, and then it clamped onto the [Living Crystal] that still had some energy left. By absorbing the life energy inside, it cultivated the basic tissue of the nest. A few seconds later, a dark green biological tissue began to spread and expand.
Seeing this, Jira came behind Su Xiao and crawled under the hem of his long leather coat. She was used to staying indoors, and the sunlight was uncomfortable for her now.
Inside the valley, in less than a minute, a first-rank nest was established within the mountain. The egg-laying tissue inside the nest began to work, cultivating 100 Mantis Armor eggs. These Mantis Armor eggs then rolled into the cultivation sacs.
The classification method for nests was different from that for insect race mothers. Nests were classified according to the world rank. In this world, nests were divided into ranks 1 to 8. Given Jira's current overall situation, she could at most establish a seventh-rank nest.
If she could transform from "Queen Level" to "Empress Level," it would mean the nest would also break through to the eighth rank. And if she reached "Overlord Level," although the nest would still be eighth rank, it would be the most top-tier form of the eighth rank.
When developing the insect race, the Empire would undoubtedly show an iron fist. Moreover, Su Xiao was a wanted criminal of the Empire.
To be qualified to compete with the Empire, Jira had to reach "Overlord Level," ensuring the nest's unit production capability, as well as the strength of insect buildings and insect combat units.
This time, not only did the insect combat units need to be strong, but the insect buildings also had to be sufficiently powerful. Otherwise, when the enemy's warships and fighters arrived, the situation would be bad. This time, they weren't dealing with the Tiger Wasp Clan, but with the tech-side Owa people. In the early stages, they would definitely be defending their base.
The first-rank nest was successfully established. Compared to the Primordial Continent, the current first-rank nest was much shorter, only a few meters tall. One by one, Mantis Armors crawled out of the cultivation sacs and participated in the construction of the nest.
As soon as the nest was built, Jira entered it. From now on, unless Su Xiao said otherwise, Jira would never come out.
Su Xiao came to the entrance of the nest. The familiar smell of fresh, slightly earthy air came to him. No wonder Jira liked to stay inside. Not only was the air good, but it was also safe.
Su Xiao deposited the existing 784 [Living Crystals] into the nest. The nest was still very small now, but after obtaining sufficient bio-energy, it began to evolve to the second stage.
With a foundation, the evolution of the nest was just a matter of time. After 3 hours and 26 minutes, the nest's evolution stopped. At this point, the outer texture of the nest felt rough. These were biological armor.
The entire nest was over 80 meters high, and its footprint was so large that the valley could no longer contain it. During the nest's upgrade process, a total of 16,000 Mantis Armors had been cultivated using bio-energy.
These Mantis Armors expanded the valley area to nearly a kilometer in diameter. The entire ground within the valley was covered with a layer of fungal carpet. This seemingly ordinary external organ of the nest had astonishing war endurance.
Last time in the Primordial Continent, during the war with the Tiger Wasp Clan, they relied entirely on the fungal carpet for endurance.
With the completion of the seventh-rank nest's evolution, a total of 16,000 Mantis Armors all prostrated themselves on the fungal carpet around the nest. 15,000 of them were decomposed, leaving only 1,000 Mantis Armors, which was enough.
All insect units had bio-energy reserves within their bodies, just varying amounts. They indeed didn't need to eat or drink, but this was achieved by consuming bio-energy.
Su Xiao looked up at the towering nest. The [Living Crystals] inside the nest had all been converted into bio-energy. Due to the different world systems, after deducting the consumption for building the nest, the bio-energy converted from the [Living Crystals] amounted to 42,150 points.
Every world had a different system. Besides that, Su Xiao also discovered that some insect units could not be cultivated in this world, such as Stingers, Titans, and other insect combat units. The good news was that Demon Beasts and Demon Flame Dragons could still be cultivated.
[Prompt: You have successfully established a nest, and the construction progress has greatly exceeded that of other nests belonging to contractors in this world.]
[Nest: Seventh Rank (Total of eight ranks. This rank is determined based on this world's power system).]
[Bio-Energy Reserve: 42150/85000 points.]
[Nest Organs: Energy Storage Tissue (Seventh Rank), Egg-Laying Tissue (Seventh Rank), Cultivation Sac (Seventh Rank), Evolution Chamber (Seventh Rank), Fungal Carpet (Seventh Rank), Detection Tower (Seventh Rank · Not Established), Killing Watchtower (Seventh Rank · Not Established)...]
[Basic Insect Race · Gene Library: Mantis Armor, Worker Scorpion, Hunting Tooth, Spore Tank, Self-Destruct Spore, Demon Beast, Leviathan...]
[Demon Insect Race · Gene Library: Demon Beast (Gene Evolution Five Times), Leviathan (Gene Evolution Two Times · Super Giant Insect Unit), Demon Flame Dragon (No Gene Evolution).]
[Evolution Condition: 85000 points of Bio-Energy (Due to the Insect Queen · Jira swallowing the Abyssal Stone, the evolution prerequisite requirements have been greatly reduced).]
...
Various insect buildings, Energy Storage Tissue, Egg-Laying Tissue, Cultivation Sacs, Evolution Chambers, etc., didn't need to be worried about. These came with the nest. As for Detection Towers, Killing Watchtowers, etc., these couldn't be built for now.
Although this was somewhat dangerous, if these insect buildings were built immediately, there would be no bio-energy left to cultivate insect combat units.
If this were the previous Primordial Continent, 42,150 points of bio-energy would be very little. But in this world, the measurement standard and quality of bio-energy had changed. The bio-energy reserve seemed small, but the cultivation cost for insect units had also decreased dozens of times.
Cultivating an elite Worker Scorpion required 0.1 points of bio-energy.
Cultivating a Demon Beast required 10 points of bio-energy.
Cultivating a Leviathan required 200 points of bio-energy.
Cultivating a Demon Flame Dragon required 4,000 points of bio-energy.
Although he wanted to cultivate the Demon Flame Dragon · Barbatos right now, he was a bit short on resources.
A considerable portion of this start-up capital was used to build the nest. However, compared to other contractors starting from a first-rank nest, Su Xiao's start with a seventh-rank nest and a complete set of insect combat units was simply a devilish start.
[Prompt: Main Quest · First Ring · Germination (Completed).]
[Completion Rate: 695%.]
[Due to the task completion rate severely exceeding the maximum limit, your task rewards have changed.]
[You have obtained Insect Gene Fragment · Outer Carapace Enhancement.]
[You have obtained Insect Gene Fragment · Outer Carapace Second Enhancement.]
[You have obtained Insect Gene Fragment · Outer Carapace Third Enhancement.]
[Checking...]
[Your Main Quest · Second Ring: Task objective to cultivate the nest to the Sixth Rank (Completed).]
[Your Main Quest · Third Ring: Obtain a combat race gene of sufficient strength (Insect Gene · Demon Beast detected, task completed).]
[Your Main Quest · Fourth Ring: Task objective to upgrade the nest to the Seventh Rank (Completed).]
[Rewards have overlapped. You have obtained the following rewards: