Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 284

Chapter 284

He focused on the first line, mentally requesting more information. A moment later, a new piece of text appeared in his mind.

Name: Mana Core

Description: The Mana Core is the central structure of your lair. It enables the creation of new buildings. It also allows you to summon the initial larva, capable of processing Biomass and spreading Corruption.

The Mana Core has 10 Evolution Ranks, causing Corruption to gradually spread from its base after each evolution. Corruption is a unique substance that coats all surfaces in your lair. New structures can only be built on Corruption.

Biomass can additionally facilitate the further spread of Corruption. If there isn’t enough Corruption in your lair to construct a new structure, you can supply Biomass for your larvae to process and expand Corruption. 

Every structure in your lair functions as a living organism, relying on magical energy—mana—for survival. Once you build a new structure, a vein automatically grows from the Mana Core to nourish it and make it function. 

The Mana Core gradually absorbs mana from the Mana Orb, which was used to form the Mana Core, to nourish all structures. Therefore, the Mana Core needs to be refilled with mana every now and then. If not refilled, the structures in your lair will eventually stop functioning.

The Mana Core can emit a limited amount of Corruption and allows only a certain number of structures at any given time. To increase the maximum amount of Corruption and Structures, the Mana Core must be upgraded to the next Evolution Rank.

To upgrade the Mana Core to the next Evolution Rank, specific requirements must be met. Each Evolution Rank unlocks new structure types and increases the maximum number of structures in your lair.

There are 10 Evolution Ranks for your lair, and you can create an unlimited number of lairs. After upgrading any of your lairs to the highest Evolution Rank, you can evolve to the next stage.

Each structure in your lair has a tier that cannot exceed the Evolution Rank of the Mana Core. To create new structures or upgrade existing ones to the next tier, the Mana Core must be evolved to the corresponding Evolution Rank.

It was a lot of new information. One detail stood out to Jake: upgrading his lair to Evolution Rank X—the highest one—would allow him to evolve into the next form. It came as a bit of a surprise to him because until now, he believed his current form—Evolution Stage III: “Apex Manifestation: Corruptor”—was the ultimate stage.

As it turned out, it wasn’t. He had just received confirmation that there was at least one more evolution stage to reach. He couldn’t help but wonder whether the next stage would be the final one, and if not, how many more might be ahead.

The prospect of evolving at least one more time filled him with excitement. He couldn’t help but wonder what his next evolutionary form might look like and whether it would be a logical continuation of his current form—the Corruptor—or something entirely new.

Setting these thoughts aside, he shifted his gaze to the next line in the Mana Core’s stats.

MP: 100,000

Well, it was the amount of MP the Mana Core held. Currently, none of it had been consumed. No additional information appeared upon his request. 

He then checked the next line of text. 

Evolution Rank: I

He tried to request more information, but no additional details were provided. There was probably nothing else to add to what he had already learned.

He shifted his gaze to the next line of text and requested additional information. This time, he received some. 

GP: 10/100

Description: This is Growth Points. They are given when your lair expands either by spreading Corruption or building new structures. Some other actions, such as developing new creatures, also increase your total GP count. Once a specific GP limit is reached, the Mana Core qualifies for an upgrade to the next Evolution Rank. 

Jake read the information and shifted his gaze to the next two lines of text.

Available structures: None

Available creatures: Larva

No additional information was provided. None was needed. Clearly, at its current Evolution Rank, the Mana Core didn’t allow him to create any structures. As for creatures, only one type was available for now—larvae. 

Larvae: 0/1

Structures: 0/0

The meaning behind these two lines was also quite obvious: they indicated he could have only one larva at a time and no structures. Before giving a mental command to create a larva, however, he wanted to check the rest of the text.

Evolve to Rank II: Not Enough GP

He had only 10 GP, far below the required 100 to upgrade the Mana Core to the next Evolution Rank. As he had just learned, he could earn GP by creating new structures or spreading Corruption.

Currently, he was unable to create any structures. It appeared that larvae were responsible for spreading Corruption. Before proceeding to create one, he took a moment to examine the final piece of text.

After the Mana Core is evolved to Rank II, the following structures will be available for creation:

Hive Nexus;

Larvae Chamber;

Biomass Processor.

Well, it appeared that each time he upgraded the Mana Core, he would receive information about the new structures he could create after evolving the Mana Core to the next stage.

Right now, at Evolution Rank I, the Mana Core couldn’t create any structures, but after evolving to Evolution Rank II, three distinct structures would become available for construction. He attempted to summon the descriptions of these structures, but none were given to him.

He returned his gaze to one of the previous lines of text.

Larvae: 0/1

He gave a mental command to create a larva, and a new piece of info emerged in his mind.

Name: Larva

Description: The larvae are crucial to your lair. They act as drones, performing various functions like processing Biomass, spreading Corruption, and maintaining structures. To create a new building or develop a new creature, you also need a larva. Although larvae can manage the lair on their own, you can issue specific commands to them telepathically when necessary.

Cost: 10 Biomass, 1,000 MP

Create a larva: Y/N

Since he didn’t have any Biomass, it was clear that some of his own flesh would be taken again to create a larva. Jake thought, “Yes,” and held one hand toward the Mana Core.

Just like the previous time, he felt a lump of flesh move along his outstretched arm. It reached his hand and dropped onto the black substance—Corruption—that was spread across the floor.

–1,000 MP

–10% HP

Jake watched as the black lump gradually grew, taking on a distinct shape. He attempted to summon its description, and a new piece of information emerged in his mind.

Larva (Creation in Progress)

Current Status: 1% Complete

Estimated Time Remaining: 9 minutes, 57 seconds

For the next several minutes, Jake watched as the larva developed. The lump of what had once been his flesh grew in size and transformed from a shapeless mass into a more defined form. Finally, the process was complete. 

Name: Larva

Rank: I

The creature measured about a foot in length and three inches in width. It resembled, well, a huge larva, but its skin was pitch-black and textured just like Jake’s. It had multiple small and plump legs and two mouths, one at each end of its chubby body.

For about a minute, Jake simply observed the larva wander. It slowly and aimlessly crept from one spot to another, never leaving the black splotch surrounding the base of the Mana Core.

Jake then gave the larva a mental command to move to a specific spot on the Corruption, and sure enough, it complied. Out of curiosity, he then shifted his gaze to a location outside of Corruption and directed the larva there.

However, it refused to go beyond the edge of Corruption. Upon reaching the boundary of the black substance, the creature paused for a moment. When no further commands came from Jake, it slowly turned and began to crawl to a random spot within the Corruption. 

Jake shifted his gaze to the Mana Core to check something. 

GP: 20/100

Creating a larva increased GP from 10 to 20. However, he still needed 80 more points to upgrade the Mana Core to Evolution Rank II. He couldn’t create any structures, and the current limit of larvae he could have at a time—one—had already been reached. Therefore, the only way to earn GP was by spreading Corruption.

To do that, he needed to process Biomass. However, he still didn’t know exactly what it was or how to obtain it. Perhaps he just needed to fetch the body of a human or mutant for his larva to process? Since he lacked other ideas, he decided to give it a try. Shouldn’t take too long. 

He then checked his health points.

HP: 86%

The Mana stored within him was being utilized to restore the body mass lost in forming the Mana Core and creating the initial larva. So he also needed to find a source of mana to replenish his reserves and speed up the healing process. 

With that plan in mind, Jake turned to leave his newfound lair for the time being.