Chapter 462
His current goal was to develop a creature whose main purpose was to quickly deploy his combat units. He could already picture it in his mind. Unlike the dropship-like creature he had initially planned to develop, this new creature would be much smaller, as it wouldn’t have to carry combat units inside itself. Instead, it would ideally need to have the ability to transport combat units from his lairs to the battlefield in almost no ti.
How close he could get to perfecting such a creature, Jake couldn’t say yet, but the plan was already forming in his mind. He simply needed to equip the Summoner, the working na he had given to this creature, with sothing akin to either a Fleshport or a Transfer Maw. The forr could only be installed inside a lair, so he wasn’t sure if he could actually attach it to his creature.
A Transfer Maw, however, could be placed on any patch of Corruption, whether it was inside a lair or placed sowhere in the outside world. And since his creatures and the Corruption were basically made from the sa material, he should be able to attach a Transfer Maw to the Summoner.
But there was another problem. Unlike a Fleshport, a Transfer Maw could exist only for a limited amount of ti. If he managed to attach one to the Summoner, he would then have to find a way to make it permanent. And if it didn’t work at all, he would have to experint with his collection of unique genetic samples, searching for an ability with similar properties to a Transfer Maw or a Fleshport.
Jake wasn’t yet sure which thod would work and which would fail, but he was fairly confident that, one way or another, he would be able to achieve what he wanted. He had been developing various types of creatures for a while now and, therefore, was well aware of the boundaries of his craft. The summoning creature he planned to bioengineer was well within those limits.
With that in mind, he approached one of the Creation Chambers installed on the main floor and got to work.
For the next half an hour, he was designing the Summoner in Creation Mode. Besides having the ability to call forth his combat units, Jake also hoped to solve another problem with its help. In New Hope, he often navigated through the city by moving across rooftops. In Dead City, however, leaping from roof to roof was far more problematic, as he had recently learned.
The nests were capable of sprouting enormous whip-like tentacles, lashing out at him and knocking him off course. It forced him to consider finding another convenient thod of moving through the city without encountering any obstacles. And the creature he planned to develop could solve this problem as well. He intended to develop a flying creature that could serve as a mount. It would allow him to cross the city quickly and easily, bypassing the threats lurking below.
Finally, he completed designing the Summoner. He studied it for a mont, then, satisfied, prompted the Creation Chamber to save the progress, morizing the design he’d just created. It was now ti to move on to the next part, which was to impart the Summoner with the ability to summon other creatures from his lairs.
To his disappointnt, he quickly learned that it was impossible to place either a Fleshport or even a Transfer Maw on the creature he’d just designed, as those structures were ant to be constructed only within his lairs or on patches of Corruption. Jake didn’t let this discourage him much, though. He still believed he could achieve what he wanted.
He continued to work on the Summoner’s appearance and eventually was able to create a special organ on its body, which looked very similar to a Transfer Maw when wide open. However, the Creation Chamber imdiately inford him that, for it to function like a Transfer Maw, the Summoner would first need to learn a specific teleport ability.
So he saved his progress again and exited Creation Mode. He then focused on a nearby Bio-Fusion Chamber. Being inside his lair, he didn’t need to physically approach the structure to use it. Instead, he could interact with it from a distance, without so much as glancing at it.
He established a ntal link with the Bio-Fusion Chamber and checked its current stats.
——————————
The Bio-Fusion Chamber (Rank VIII)
Available Special Abilities:
Rank I: Adhesive Secretion (Cost: Already Learned)
Rank II: Mana-infused Jump (Cost: Already Learned)
Rank III: Acid Spit (Cost: Already Learned)
Rank IV: Tendril Cluster (Cost: Already Learned)
Rank V: Spikes (Cost: Already Learned)
Rank VI: Mood Reader (Cost: Already Learned)
Rank VII: Crushing Blow (Cost: Already Learned)
Rank VIII: Burst of Speed (Cost: Already Learned)
——————————
Unique Special Abilities:
Cloak (Uncommon)
Mana Absorption (Superior)
Snare Goo (Uncommon)
——————————
Evolution Requirent to Rank IX:
85,000 MP
20,000 Biomass
Note: Mana Core must reach Rank IX before you can evolve the Bio-Fusion Chamber to the sa rank.
——————————
When Jake evolved a Mana Core to the next rank, he always imdiately upgraded all the other structures in the sa lair to match that rank. Each ti a Bio-Fusion Chamber was elevated by one rank, it unlocked a new ability for his creatures to learn. One ability per rank wasn’t much, and each was of only Common rarity.
Tendril Cluster, unlocked at Rank IV, allowed his creatures to sprout nurous long tendrils similar to his own. He didn’t see much sense in imparting this ability to any of his creatures, so he’d never done it.
Spikes, unlocked at Rank V, worked exactly like his own Spikes ability: it allowed a creature to quickly sprout nurous spikes from its body. He hadn’t given this ability to any of his creatures either.
Mood Reader, unlocked at Rank VI, allowed his creatures to sense the general mood within a particular group of humans. It was actually a pretty useful ability, so he’d imparted it to the Lurker while the creature was still in its developnt process.
Crushing Blow allowed a creature to deliver a devastating strike capable of pulverizing concrete once every few seconds. He had given this ability to the Guardian, a creature type he had developed specifically to protect the Mana Cores in his lairs.
As for Burst of Speed, it allowed a creature to temporarily increase both movent and attack speed. So far, he hadn’t given it to any of his creatures yet.
However, a Bio-Fusion Chamber had another useful function. It not only unlocked basic abilities, one per rank when evolved, but it also allowed him to combine various unique genetic materials to unlock much more interesting abilities of higher rarities.
The catch was that every fusion was a complete gamble, as there was no telling which combination would result in a new ability and which would not. And regardless of success or failure, the genetic materials used were always consud in the process.
It was through such risky experintation that he had acquired three special abilities, Cloak, Mana Absorption, and Snare Goo. He had then imparted the first two to the Managatherer and the third one to the Arachnox back when he was still working on those creatures.
Everything changed when he upgraded his Mana Cores to Rank VII and unlocked the Geno Fusion Lab. This structure’s purpose was to analyze any genetic material he provided, identify compatible pairings, and inform him of what abilities could be gained from the combinations, along with exact success rates.
So Jake ntally linked to one of the Geno Fusion Labs in his lair. It imdiately displayed a list of all unique genetic materials stored within the lair. He began pairing them and checking if they could unlock new abilities when combined.
It took him so ti, but eventually, when he paired two genetic materials, the exact kind of ability he’d been searching for finally popped up.
New ability found: Fleshport (Uncommon)
Description: Grants the host creature the power to teleport any other creatures from your lairs directly to the host’s location. An organ similar in appearance and function to a Fleshport needs to be developed on the host’s body.
Success Probability: 47%
Proceed with Fusion: Y/N
This was exactly what he had been looking for! This ability even had the sa na as the Fleshport structure.
If he initiated the process right away, the two genetic materials would attempt to rge, and if the fusion was successful, the Fleshport ability would be unlocked. The problem was that the chance of success was only 47%. While he did have more samples of the two genetic materials currently used in the process, he really didn’t like to squander valuable resources.
So, he spent a few more minutes trying to add another type of genetic material to boost the success rate. This was how it worked: to improve the odds of a successful rge, he couldn’t add more of the sa components. Instead, he needed a completely different genetic sample that was compatible with both existing ones. An incompatible material could lower the success rate or even make the pairing vanish entirely.
After a few more minutes of searching, he finally located the perfect match, boosting the fusion chance from 47% all the way to 89%. Satisfied with the new odds, he activated the process. A mont later, a notification flashed into view.
Fusion Successful! A new ability has been unlocked: Fleshport (Uncommon).
Things were looking promising. The Summoner was finally on the path to fulfilling its true purpose. However, the job was far from complete. He couldn’t even impart the ability to the Summoner just yet. After all, he had only created the design of the creature but hadn’t actually developed it through a Hive Nexus.
Also, the ability was Uncommon, so to be able to impart it to the Summoner, he would first need to evolve the creature to the sa rarity level or higher. Furthermore, the Summoner’s starting point was Rank I, so its initial stats were going to be modest at best. He would need to evolve the creature by a few ranks before it could reach a more or less powerful level.
There was still so work to be done, so he continued working on the creature, intent on refining and strengthening it.
Reviews
All reviews (0)