Devouring Stars: Master of Evolution

Chapter 14-Awakening

The instant the embryo successfully hatched in the mother nest, Qin Mu felt a strong warm current flowing through his body, which seemed to stimulate something as it passed through his brain.

A sharp headache suddenly appeared without warning, causing Qin Mu to let out a painful cry.

"What's going on?"

Qin Mu's spear slipped from his hand, and he clutched his head tightly, screaming wildly.

"It hurts! It hurts so much!"

The excruciating pain made Qin Mu want to bang his head against the surrounding trees.

"ah!--"

Qin Mu's eyes rolled back suddenly, and he fainted from the pain. In his last moments before his consciousness faded, Qin Mu issued a command to the mother nest through the soul connection, ordering it to hatch worker insects at all costs to protect himself and the mother nest!

Qin Mu, who had fainted, experienced a sudden throbbing in his heart, his blood rushed through his body, his skin turned bright red, and fresh blood gushed from his skin.

A strong warm current was flowing through his body, a sign that the mother nest had successfully hatched!

Under the continuous operation of this force, Qin Mu's entire body, from his skin to his internal organs, blood, bones, and even every cell, is undergoing drastic changes, and his body is rapidly evolving!

This is a leap in the essence of life!

Just as Qin Mu lay on the fungal carpet, his whole body convulsing.

Beside the mother nest, five newly hatched larvae received the command Qin Mu gave before he fainted and quickly began to mutate.

Like a breath, they transform into pupae, which then beat like hearts.

Five minutes later, five new larvae hatched, then quickly mutated into pupae.

Repeatedly.

Fifteen minutes later, five menacing-looking worker insects hatched from their eggs and spontaneously began patrolling around the mother nest to protect the nest and Qin Mu's safety.

Twenty minutes later, five more worker insects hatched successfully.

New larvae are constantly being hatched and then mutate into worker larvae.

After all the energy accumulated in the mother nest was used up, a total of fifty worker insects had hatched around the mother nest.

These worker insects began to spontaneously collect resources from the surrounding area. The first one was the tiger-dog that Qin Mu had killed. One worker insect waved its large claws, grabbed the tiger-dog, lifted it up, and transported it to the mother nest.

The worker insect found a hole in the mother nest and threw the corpse of the tiger hound directly into it. Its corpse was instantly devoured and digested, and converted into energy needed by the swarm.

Then there are the various flowers, trees, and plants around, and everything else that contains abundant energy.

As the most basic, and arguably the most important, unit of the Zerg, the worker can find all the resources that the brood mound can digest and convert into energy.

The mother nest has a very strong digestive capacity, capable of consuming almost all resources.

If left unchecked, flesh and blood, plants, and all organic and even inorganic matter, a planet could be devoured in a very short time!

This is what makes the Zerg swarm so terrifying; it's one of the reasons why they've been called a natural disaster in countless universes.

Time passed second by second. Qin Mu, who was lying on the ground, twitched his fingers slightly. In a daze, Qin Mu sat up.

It was pitch black all around, the sky was full of stars, and a bright moon shone down, allowing Qin Mu to see that he was in a dense forest.

In the jungle, one can vaguely see dark shadows that look like giant ants patrolling and guarding the mother nest.

"What's wrong with me?"

Qin Mu finally regained consciousness, and everything he looked at was clearly visible. Even in the darkness, Qin Mu could see the appearance of the worker insects in the distance.

In the jungle, the rustling of leaves in the wind, the chirping of insects and the calls of birds were all crystal clear, as if the whole world had been wiped clean of gloom, or as if a severely nearsighted person had suddenly put on glasses and become exceptionally clear.

Qin Mu got up and instinctively grabbed a tree for support.

"Click—"

Qin Mu actually grabbed the tree and put it inside, leaving a deep palm print on the trunk.

"My strength has increased a lot!"

Qin Mu clearly felt that his vision, hearing, smell, and even his overall physical fitness had undergone an astonishing improvement.

Qin Mu stared at the tree whose mark he had unintentionally made. A thought struck him, and an invisible force erupted, spreading from his mind. All the flowers, grass, and fallen leaves around him floated up.

The spear that had fallen to the ground automatically flew up and returned to Qin Mu's palm.

"Have I awakened the power of a spiritualist?"

Qin Mu was overjoyed. As a transmigrator, how could he not know about mentalists?

This is a rare and powerful force that can only be awakened through one's own talent.

On Earth, once a spiritualist awakens, they can easily defeat martial artists of the same level and are sought after by various powerful forces.

"It's feedback from the hatching of the mother hive. Yes, the Zerg's talent in the soul is among the most outstanding in the universe. Every Zerg queen is a master of the soul. I have a Zerg avatar, so I can be said to be the master of the swarm, and naturally I also possess such talent."

I sensed an exceptionally thick point of soul light and dozens of weaker points of soul light that appeared in my mind.

Qin Mu discovered that he could easily manipulate them to perform precise movements at the same time without feeling any discomfort. This was more than just multitasking; it was multitasking!

Not only did his strength increase, but Qin Mu also felt that his comprehension and even his talent had improved significantly.

The brain operates many times faster than before, like a regular computer replaced by a supercomputer.

"This feeling is so powerful!"

Qin Mu easily manipulated more than a dozen worker insects to walk in front of him, making them perform various actions in unison, which made Qin Mu smile.

"go!"

The spear beside him floated up and then shot out suddenly, piercing through several trees in succession.

"This power, this destructive force, is far superior to that of a high-level warrior!"

"My physical abilities are at least three or four times stronger than before, and I should have barely reached the level of an advanced warrior. My mental strength has also reached the limit of my body."

After awakening as a spiritual master, past memories become clearer, and many things that were previously forgotten can be recalled.

"I remember that after Luo Feng awakened, his strength reached the level of an intermediate warrior, and his mental power was two levels higher than that of a martial artist, which is the level of a beginner warrior."

My martial arts strength should have reached the level of a high-level warrior, which means my mental cultivation level is at the level of a mid-level general!

A glint of light flashed in Qin Mu's eyes. Was this kind of improvement terrifying?

Of course it's terrifying!

But it's also quite normal, because this is a mother nest that has been hatched by consuming a full 500 points of energy, and it also received feedback from dozens of worker insects!

It would be abnormal for the ruler of the swarm to be too weak!

After testing his own strength for a while, Qin Mu turned his attention to the insect swarm.

When Qin Mu's consciousness transferred to the mother nest, something horrifying happened to him.

Qin Mu originally thought that his computing ability was powerful enough after his body transformed, but compared with the Mother Nest, it was still insignificant and not worth mentioning!

Countless data and information flashed by, and dozens of worker insects were constantly providing feedback on various information, either collecting resources or patrolling the surroundings.

The fungal carpet, centered on the mother nest, spreads, devouring all insects and plants it encounters along the way, while collecting their genetic information and preserving it in the gene pool.

Every moment, massive amounts of data flow through the system, yet the Nest Consciousness can handle it with ease.

Beyond information processing, Qin Mu also discovered more capabilities and information about the Mother Nest.

First, the worker insects that metamorphose into a mother nest are first-level mother nests that can hatch larvae. Five larvae can hatch every five minutes, and the larvae can mutate into other insect units.

Of course, right now there is only one option: worker insects.

Secondly, the power that the first-level mother nest can feed back to Qin Mu is not infinitely cumulative, but has an upper limit.

The maximum level of a level 1 Mother Nest is Advanced Warrior level.

To increase the upper limit, you must upgrade the mother nest level.

Upgrading the mother nest level is simple, requiring only two conditions: first, it requires consuming 5000 energy points; second, it requires analyzing a sufficient number of monster genes to a certain level.

Although the mother nest itself has no intelligence, it has a strong computing ability, similar to an intelligent optical brain in mechanical life.

It not only possesses a certain gene analysis capability, but can also help Qin Mu handle the daily problems of the insect swarm.

There is another way to analyze genes more quickly, which is to hatch another type of Zerg building.

This is also the only Zerg structure in the gene pool besides the Mother Nest—the Evolution Chamber!

The Evolution Chamber is the Zerg military research center. It can collect the genes of other powerful organisms, research, analyze, create or mutate new Zerg units, and also strengthen existing Zerg units.

It is the testing ground for the swarm's continuous evolution, and also the core of the swarm's power.

Happy New Year! Please add this to your favorites. Please vote for this post!

(End of this chapter)