Star Forge Titan

"What's the situation in the engine room? I remember that it was completely occupied by the expanding insect nest. It should be very difficult to clean it out?" While thinking in his heart, Ivan talked as if he didn't notice anything.

"In fact, it's not that the hive itself hasn't been relocated. On the contrary, based on the design theory of focused protection, this ship placed the hive that produces combat swarms together with the main engine room at the beginning of its construction." The activation adjutant spoke in an orderly manner, and his words made some sense upon closer thought.

"Under normal circumstances, the two groups don't interfere with each other's operations. The worker bees in the mother hive even assist the other members with routine cleaning and maintenance of the internal equipment in the engine room. Even in this situation, as long as the overgrown and hypertrophic hive is properly trimmed, the former and the main engine room can resume normal operation."

"Oh, the newly logged-in auxiliary units have started pruning work." As he said that, the activation adjutant started the fast movement function, and the seemingly flat and seamless metal plank road under his feet began to move forward automatically, just like the cabin elevator that Alvin had entered in his previous life.

Do civilizations converge towards similarity after reaching a certain level of development? Is this also a form of convergent evolution?

Watching the moving metal under his feet with interest, Alvin found that the area where he was standing remained stable. Instead, the metal objects on both sides turned into fluid metal similar to the material used to build the first bridge. Then the fluid metal pushed the stable standing area forward like surging waves pushing a ship.

Although it was a factory ship, the technology it employed inhabited a particular interest. While still concerned about the hybrid's plot, the crucial pure-colored residual poison hadn't been successfully removed, suggesting the situation wasn't completely dire.

In short, the various ultra-ancient civilization technologies used in the living factory ship Hellagur made him look forward to the wonderful journey that was about to begin.

However, he had to find a way to find out the background of this animated adjutant beside him. After seeing the horror of pure color power with his own eyes, Alvin secretly speculated that what was about to happen might become a world-saving event, and there was no room for any deviation.

After experiencing so many people and events, Palladia had long since changed from a familiar yet strange foreign land to a place that was no different from his second home for a traveler from another world like himself.

His fingers flicked slightly, and a brighter golden light flashed in his eyes. For Alvin now, it was not impossible to completely destroy an entire living warship along with all the biological combat weapons on it.

Considering the fact that this ship is probably unique and rare in the current era, he would not make such a radical judgment unless it is absolutely necessary.

Although, the red-painted kobold who was somewhere far away in the Chaos Outlands but had given himself a 'special attention' probably wanted to see that scene.

They each had their own ulterior motives. Okay, this adjective may not be the right one. Anyway, a Titan descendant and a hovering flying head were having a seemingly ordinary chat until they arrived at their destination - the main engine room where the core engine was housed.

"Meow!!!" Accompanied by the unique roar of the cat-cat worm, a fiercely burning high-temperature flame poured out from the red-painted trumpet-shaped nozzle. The insect nest slime mold that was directly hit by the flame immediately turned into ashes like a burning spider web.

Alvin stared at the scene in front of him with wide eyes, and saw that the Cat and Bug Tribe, which originally only had simple homemade tools and a few ancestral inheritances, had now completely upgraded.

Magic-powered cat exoskeleton mechas, large mechanical vehicles imitating the shapes of multi-legged arthropods such as spiders and crabs, and even single-unit rocket flight backpacks, the cats and insects equipped with these tools happily began to "prune" the overly enlarged insect nest after their rampant proliferation.

Flamethrowers are their favorite, but buzzing chainsaws can also cut through the hardened hive tissue that has grown into tall towers very efficiently, just like sawing wood.

"Where did these things come from?" Ivan asked in surprise:

"Answer: This is the authority of the reactivated Central Integration and Thinking Module, which is to issue the necessary tools for work to the auxiliary units that have rejoined the command chain." The answer of the activation adjutant was as flat as usual, emphasizing understatement and indifference.

"Building...the ancient giant kingdom is really simple and straightforward." Ivan couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth.

Then, he saw Ghost in the Shell's Hercules, a member of the insect swarm, also active near the insect nest.

"My Lord." The tall General Ghost in the Shell took the initiative to bow and salute.

"No need to be polite. Are you looking for something?" Recalling the other party's previous actions, Ivan asked curiously:

"My lord, I am looking for backup individuals that the Zerg Queen might create in case of an emergency. Although the probability is slim, if that Zerg Queen really exists, she might be able to continue to serve you and the kingdom." Hercules' voice carried the metallic vibrato unique to combat Zerg creatures, but the complex emotions contained in it were not concealed at all.

Ivan was silent for a moment. From the other party's perspective, what the Zerg suffered was indeed an extremely tragic disaster, just like the annihilation of all blood relatives.

"I'll help, too. Everyone, come help." He then shouted an order. The cat-worms, along with the flying animated lieutenants' heads, began to explore the ruined hive.

“…” Hercules could not help but stand there in a daze upon seeing this, and then knelt on one knee with extra force.

"Grateful!"

Seeing that everyone started to get busy, Ivan himself walked towards the remains of the insect mother that had been eaten.

The former Zerg ruler is now left with only half of his body, and the huge production organs connected to it are covered with wounds, looking like a rotting mountain of flesh.

Enduring the increasingly unpleasant smell in the air, Alvin began to sense the vitality around him after getting close enough.

Because the insect mother had died not long ago, her corpse caused great interference to his actions.

Fortunately, the perception attribute of entering the perfect realm is already excessively high. In less than ten minutes, Alvin detected that in a remote part of the huge reproductive organ, there was a vitality that was completely different from the remaining vitality of the corpse. It was slightly stirring, as inconspicuous as a drop of living water hidden in the Dead Sea.

He didn't make it known immediately because he didn't want to give people uncertain hope.

Alvin jumped lightly for dozens of meters and came to the top of the huge production organ in the shape of a trapezoidal altar. He put his five fingers together and completed the construction of the magic power in his body at the same time. A miniature storm light wheel suddenly emerged, and then easily cut through the surface tissue of the production organ.

What was revealed afterwards was a pure white egg-shaped cocoon.

found it!

Chapter 130 Whoosh

When it came time to take it out, the process was not complicated. Alvin discovered that the "posthumous child" left behind by the insect mother before her death was not actually a cocoon, but an insect egg waiting to hatch.

Frankly speaking, he didn't like bugs very much. When taking out the eggs, he simply used the force string to control the long-distance picking up of them, without any contact with the white, small, sticky thing during the whole process.

Compared to Ivan's disgust, Hercules hugged the insect egg without hesitation. Due to the huge load it had endured in the battle, it now used a reduced form that was easy to recover. It looked like an enlarged beetle, with a round head and a round brain. It didn't look at all majestic like Ghost in the Shell, and it was even a little cute.

In comparison, most of the low-level labor units in the combat swarm have an appearance that makes people want to take three steps back.

On the contrary, combat units such as Shell Knight and Ghost in the Shell have a strange beauty similar to the characters in previous special effects films, as well as the industrial aesthetics of mechanical creations, which makes people feel more acceptable.

"It seems to be absorbing external magic power." After a brief observation, Alvin came to this conclusion which sounded useful but was not very useful.

However, the animated lieutenant still shook the only body part brought out from the first bridge up and down to express his approval.

"Yes, we've detected a concentration of magical energy in the environment. We speculate this is the product of the combat insect swarm's special emergency response mechanism, a backup created by utilizing the genetic factors of the previous generation of insect mothers under the catalysis of special hormones."

"How did the previous generation of insect queen do it? Was it while being hunted by hybrid insect beasts?" Recalling the relevant information about the fighting insect swarm, Alvin couldn't help but come to this surprising conclusion.

"Ah, although it's a little unbelievable, this is the only reason that can explain why this child was born." Hercules said in a sad and excited tone with the unique metallic tremor of the insect swarm:

"But will the genetic genes retrieved from the hybrid insect beast be contaminated?" Alvin frowned slightly, realizing a not-so-good possibility.

"..." Hercules subconsciously held the insect eggs in his hand tightly, but then he held them in front of Ivan with great hesitation.

Although it was conflicted, it naturally would not act impulsively because it had great respect for the Great Lord and was well aware of the harm of the pure color legacy.

"Don't be nervous, maybe things haven't developed to the worst point yet." Although he is an AI-like existence, the activated adjutant actually took the initiative to comfort his colleague at this moment (that's right).

Although, the latter may be a completely new individual after the old colleague has been reborn into a cocoon for countless generations.

"Well, that hybrid insect beast extracted all the pure-color poisons from the living factory ship at that time. There is no reason to let go of the bit that may exist in the insect mother's body." Ivan raised his hand and pressed it lightly above the insect egg, using the original magic power in his body as a medium to slowly release his soul power outward.

After the previous battle, he had confirmed that he would not be eroded by the power of pure color. It was clear that even if it had not been fully awakened, the power of the king's soul was still the power of the king's soul, the miraculous power that the legendary King of Titan used to shape the world.

The light from his palm shone on the surface of the white insect eggs. Alvin felt it carefully for a moment and found that there was no residue of pure poison. He couldn't help but show a much more relaxed expression.

Seeing this, Hercules, who had subconsciously held his breath, couldn't help but let out a sigh. The beetle's panting was quite funny.

But the changes that followed were beyond the three (?) expectations. Alvin discovered that his own magic power, which served as a medium in the process of releasing soul power, was actually absorbed by the insect eggs.

Hey, hey, hey, can you eat anything you want before you’re born?

This is the most violent primitive magic, an extreme force at the edge of the magic spectrum. If an ordinary creature absorbs even a little bit of it, it may explode directly into a ball of restricted fireworks that a certain dog-headed man loves to watch.

But that did not happen. The white eggs just trembled slightly for a moment and then returned to silence.

Hercules and Ivan fell silent, neither of them understanding what this meant. However, the Activation Adjutant calmly floated over to the calmed eggs and carefully observed them.

"Ah." It suddenly made a sound, shocking the other two.

"gave birth."

Giving birth? What's going on?

Before any reaction, a crack suddenly appeared on the surface of the white egg-shaped object.

Um! ? !

Ivan widened his eyes. If possible, Hercules, who was shaped like a big beetle next to him, would probably also widen his compound eyes that were shining like gems.

Following the broken crack, a small hand covered with a soft white shell but with obvious five fingers stretched out, touched left and right, and after grabbing the edge of the crack, it buckled. A crisp sound was heard, and the insect egg was broken off like a piece of eggshell.

The small hand, which looked more human than insectoid, pinched the shell fragment and retracted into the gap, now inside the gap. Then, a "crunching" chewing sound came from inside.

"What's going on!?!" Hercules couldn't help but shout out first.

This caused the white insect egg with a hole in it to shake immediately, and the little guy inside used the shell with an extra tooth mark to barely block the gap, and then became completely quiet, as if nothing had happened just now.

Realizing that his voice might scare the newborn insect queen, Hercules immediately covered his mouth and looked at the other two inquiringly.

Ivan spread his hands and shrugged, indicating that he didn't know much about the ship-borne battle bugs, a thousand-year-old demonic weapon of the Ghost in the Shell clan. The animated lieutenant, a mere head, cleared his throat for who knows why before explaining the scene before him.

"Since the purification process has begun, to prevent the spread of pure color legacy contamination, the previous generation of Zerg Mother will immediately lose its production rights after completing the creation of the new Zerg Mother. At that time, the incubator will close all operating permissions to it."

"Then where did this little guy come from?" Alvin pointed to the new life in the 'egg' that was obviously pretending to be dead.

"The previous insect queen must have absorbed the genetic genes of the hybrid insect beast during the rebellion, thereby gaining access to the incubator, and then urgently created this... backup." The activation adjutant was a little hesitant, because that kind of operation was essentially equivalent to stealing other people's authority, which was a very serious violation according to the laws of the kingdom.

"It's unclear how much of the Zerg's gene pool has been passed down. Judging from their previous actions, there's an 80% chance that the parts related to personality education are missing."

"No matter what, the continuation of the Zerg is definitely a million times better than its complete extinction." Ivan said softly, reaching out to slowly lay down the 'egg' containing the newborn.

He stretched out a finger, released some magic power, moved to the front of the gap that was blocked but had a gap, and began to shake it left and right.

Sure enough, a gasping sound was immediately heard from inside the 'egg'.

When the total amount of magic power released by Ivan continues to rise to a certain level...

Whoosh!

Something came out of the egg! And fast!

Chapter 131: New Wings

It happened so quickly, I was careless and didn't dodge.

In short, accompanied by a sound similar to that of a vacuum cleaner, Alvin felt an almost imperceptible sense of heaviness on his right arm.

Looking down, he saw a little creature whose body was covered in a soft white shell, but whose head was no different from that of a human cub. At this moment, it was hugging his fingers and sucking them like a koala.

Sensing the imperceptible drain of magic power, Alvin calmly observed the newly born next-generation Zerg Queen before him. Her resemblance to a human cub was clearly due to the previous generation of Zerg Queen incorporating genetic genes from a hybrid Zerg-beast.

The fact that they can directly absorb magic power to satisfy their own physiological operations is much more advanced than ordinary insect beasts that need to lay fungal mats to obtain nutrients to maintain movement.

I just don't know whether this is a unique characteristic of the newly born insect queen, or a group characteristic that the insect swarm that evolves to the next generation will collectively possess.

By the way, this little guy... is quite cute?

Even though he has awakened the blood of the Titan, Alvin's personality has not changed drastically. At least he feels that his humanity is still intact. He has not developed any antisocial thoughts, and his values ​​and aesthetics have not deviated to any strange places.

Therefore, when he saw that the little queen looked like a young human, he couldn't help but feel pity for her and raised his hand to pick her up like a kitten.

"Oh~" The little guy who was forced to interrupt his eating made a strange cry.

But she was not afraid. Instead, she opened her round eyes wide and stared at the strong and majestic black-haired fighter in front of her. Then she showed an extremely cute and bright smile, and opened her arms as if to hug him.

"What a strange little guy." Alvin couldn't help but smile.

This closeness seems to be due to biological imprinting, but isn't that a common instinct in birds or mammals? Does insects also have it?

Perhaps because she was just born, the little queen has a layer of tissue similar to an insect exoskeleton on her body, but this layer of shell has not yet completely hardened. It is pure white and soft, and looks like she is wearing a baby jumpsuit. She does not have the strange feeling that other fighting insect beasts exude.

Moreover, the little fellow has two pairs of translucent golden wings with a crystal texture on its back. Since these wings have just "broken out of the shell" and are not yet completely dry, they cannot be used directly for flying, but their general shape can be vaguely seen.

Its appearance is similar to that of a membranous wing, which is thin and transparent, and the wing veins are clearly visible.

Furthermore, she was a magically transformed creature, a living combat weapon specially developed by the ancient Giant Kingdom. Even at birth, the little queen was much more mobile than an ordinary juvenile creature.

With Ivan's tacit consent, the little guy actually climbed up to the top of the other's head like a bear cub who had just learned to climb a tree, stumbling along the former's strong arms, and then hanging upside down with his neck stretched out to look at him.

Alvin couldn't help but smile and raised his hand to release the original magic power.

"Oh~oh~" The little queen stretched out her not-so-conspicuous neck and leaned forward to lick. The shell on her body and the wings on her back hardened and took shape at a speed visible to the naked eye. Although her body was not yet out of the cub category, it had obviously grown a lot bigger.

After all, it is not a natural creature, so this abnormal growth rate is not surprising.

"The swarm species... the aerospace species... actually completed their metamorphosis in this generation. It's a rare and low-probability event." The activation adjutant kept blinking, and like a weird uncle, he "clicked" and recorded the image data of the little queen, while expressing his own speculation.

"Is this situation good or bad?" Alvin and the little queen looked at each other at the same time.

"This is good news worth celebrating." Hercules, who had just recovered from his shock, spoke first.

Then, it circled around Alvin a few times but found that the little queen had no intention of coming down. It couldn't help but look quite embarrassed. Don't ask why a big beetle's face showed an embarrassed expression, in short, it was very embarrassing.

"Based on the theory of biological adaptability, Kingdom scholars predicted this situation when they were training the combat insect swarm. Living magical creatures are likely to break through the theoretical limits of the original production blueprint and achieve autonomous sublimation due to natural changes in their genetic factors."

"Although the probability of successfully meeting the conditions and emerging successfully is extremely low, considering the combat swarms within the living factory ship Hellagh, which have been constantly replacing their mothers over the long millennia to purify the pure-color legacy, even this low-probability event is not impossible."

The activated adjutant spoke out the relevant theory with emotion, and then it tried to approach the little queen. The latter immediately shrank back, grabbing Ivan's black hair with both hands to block it in front of her.

"Ah, as expected, the personality development wasn't completed in advance. However, the successful emergence does indicate that the insect swarm's gene pool is well preserved. It's even possible that the next generation of combat insects she creates will show a tendency towards elite clustering."

"By then, the Zerg will no longer just be a low-level combat unit filling the battlefield, but at least a secondary battle group with considerable combat power."

Hercules, who was listening nearby, had no way to get a word in and could only nod continuously. As a wild Ghost in the Shell, apart from the basic knowledge and information encoded in his genetic genes, he had not received any education that a regular combat insect swarm would receive.

In a sense, it can also be attributed to the cultural level of prenatal education.