Under the guidance of the Muscle Wolf leader, the locust arrived before the ruins.
It appeared to be a triacontahedron shaped device, entirely pitch black, with a diameter of about three to four hundred meters. Xia Jin speculated it was a starship.
She didn't find this strange shape problematic; after all, when sailing through the universe, shape didn't really matter. Even making a starship in the shape of a hand would be perfectly normal.
“It's right inside.”
The Muscle Wolf leader wagged his tail as he approached the cracked gate.
The locust took the initiative to step inside.
At a glance, the interior was filled with dense wiring and facilities resembling control consoles.
The environment inside felt very high-tech, fitting the imagination that biological beings of a planetary era would have regarding interstellar civilizations.
The locust's eyes flickered, and under Xia Jin's intervention, it produced a simulated voice through vibrations. “Where is the Low-Point Jump Gate?”
“Please follow me.”
They crossed through internal passages and arrived at the other end of the starship.
Stepping through the gate on that side, they discovered a much larger space ahead. Inside that space, a giant gate reaching a height of 2,000 meters came into view.
This gate was also primarily black, but its edges were adorned with many red patterns. It looked simple and unadorned, lacking the high-tech feel of the starship itself.
“It is indeed a Low-Point Jump Gate. This thing should lead to some unknown region of the starry sky,” Brain Bug No. 1 immediately provided its assessment.
“Is this thing safe?” Xia Jin's eyes lit up.
“Low-Point Jump Gates are two-way. As long as we can cross over, whatever exists on the other side can come here as well. The fact that this device hasn't naturally activated after being here for so long suggests that the other side has not actually been activated yet.”
Xia Jin stroked her chin.
“Hmm, hearing you say that, I feel it's necessary to send a fleet to the other side to investigate. How much energy does it consume to activate it once?”
“The device itself can absorb energy from the vacuum to maintain stable operation, but activation requires approximately 0.5 units of Stellar Azure Crystal. Using nuclear fuel to generate thermal energy is also possible, but the efficiency is too low, and the activation time would be quite long.”
“Then we'll use Stellar Azure Crystal.”
0.5 units was nothing to her now.
“How much more time is needed for the next level of the Hive?”
“Mining is underway in all star systems. Only 5 days remain.”
“That's fast. Then once the upgrade is complete, let's send a fleet to the other side. By the way, after this upgrade, will I be able to contend with civilizations like the Faluer Civilization?”
“I wouldn't recommend it, but the upgrade after this one will introduce the technology Your Majesty has long anticipated, and the power increase this time will be very significant.”
“Oh, really? You said the same thing last time.”
Brain Bug No. 1: “...”
“Fine, I'll believe you.” Xia Jin began to look forward to it.
She originally wanted to know the details in advance, but she felt that might ruin the surprise, so she decided to wait.
Five days passed quickly...
When the time arrived, the Zerg Hive's upgrade was completed.
At that moment, the Zerg Hive, which had previously seemed somewhat small, suddenly expanded in volume by seventy to eighty percent.
“Whoa.”
Xia Jin expectantly accepted the information regarding this upgrade.
【Zerg Hive LV17】
【Recruitable (Land/Air): Tier 10 drone, Tier 11 scourge, Tier 13 zergling, Tier 13 baneling, Tier 14 hydralisk, Tier 14 elf bug, Tier 14 roach, Tier 14 Overlord, Tier 14 ravager, Tier 14 infested lurker, Tier 15 mutalisk, Tier 15 corruptor, Tier 15 nydus worm, Tier 15 queen, Tier 15 defiler, Tier 15 swarm host, Tier 16 ultralisk, Tier 16 brood lord, Tier 17 primal brain bug.】
【Tier 15 Devourer (evolves from mutalisk for 120,000 units), Tier 14 Infested Impaler (evolves from infested lurker for 100,000 units), Tier 14 overseer (evolves from Overlord for 100,000 units)】
【Recruitable (Aquatic): Tier 4 Swimmer (three types), Tier 5 Floating Hive Bug, Tier 8 large Floating Hive Bug】
【Recruitment Cost (high-energy crystals): Swimmer 0.4 units/each, drone 5 units/each, scourge 15 units/each, Floating Hive Bug 8 units/each, zergling 35 units/each, baneling 450 units/each, large Floating Hive Bug 180 units/each, Overlord 2,600 units/each, ravager 3,000 units/each, hydralisk 3,200 units/each, elf bug 4,000 units/each, roach 3,400 units/each, infested lurker 3,800 units/each, mutalisk 12,000 units/each, queen 14,000 units/each, nydus worm 18,000 units/each, defiler 24,000 units/each, swarm host 32,000 units/each, corruptor 50,000 units/each, ultralisk 80,000 units/each, brood lord 120,000 units/each, primal brain bug 500,000 units/each.】
【Ships: Small Leviathan (50 billion units of high-energy crystals), Hive Carrier (evolves from Hive for 3 billion units of high-energy crystals), small escort ships (50 million units of high-energy crystals), small transport ships (6 million units of high-energy crystals), medium transport ships (15 million units of high-energy crystals), large transport ships (320 million units of high-energy crystals)】
【Tools: Scout Bug (less than 1 unit of standard energy), Balloon Bug (5 units of high-energy crystals)】
【Overlord Evolution: The internal psionic hyperspace of the Overlord is expanded further, capable of holding 500 bugs (ignoring volume).】
【Acquired Technologies: Antimatter production, force field constrained antimatter】
【Ship Propulsion System changed to: Antimatter force field constraint chamber】
【Hive Carrier and Small Leviathan Enhancement: Abyss magic shield strengthened; curvature flight can reach 1,000 times the normal flight speed.】
【Zerg Hive Engine changed to antimatter engine: Can accelerate to 1,200 kilometers per second in a stable state; theoretical upper limit increased to 90% the speed of light.】
【Small Leviathan Engine significantly enhanced: Can accelerate to 1,800 kilometers per second in a stable state; theoretical upper limit increased to 88% the speed of light.】
【Note: Exceeding stable status may lead to accidents and extremely high energy consumption.】
【Small Leviathan size increase: Approximately 1,000 meters in length.】
【Traction Neutron Cannon enhanced and changed to secondary weapon】
【All Hive Carrier weapons enhanced; added antimatter curvature drive missiles.】
【Laser weapons significantly enhanced; added gamma ray cannons.】
【Construction Allowed: Antimatter radiation sphere】
【All Swarm members' adaptability evolved; can survive in more dangerous space environments.】
【Floating Transport Ship and Floating Escort maximum speed increased to 250 kilometers per second.】
【Upgrade Cost: 120 trillion units of high-energy crystals, 180 trillion tons of interstellar minerals, 120,000 units of Stellar Azure Crystal, 8,000 units of Zero Point Nucleus.】
【Description: Stepping onto the threshold of a primary interstellar civilization. After the Hive transforms into a Hive Carrier, it can perform preliminary interstellar space navigation. At this stage, the characteristics of a biological civilization have basically manifested, presenting a crushing posture toward technological civilizations of the same level, with various pros and cons compared to AI civilizations of the same level. This organism is the Swarm's breeding center that replaces the Queen's role.】
“This...”
After reading through the Hive's current status, Xia Jin knew that this evolution had truly allowed the Zerg to take off.
Rate on N.U.
