Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 291

Chapter 291

He first attempted to create one of the three new types of creatures: the roach. However, nothing happened, and a system message explained the issue.

You need to build the Hive Nexus to summon this creature.

He was quite sure the same applied to the other two types of creatures. However, to be certain, he tried to create them one by one—the fly and the spider—and, sure enough, he received the same message.

So he needed to build the Hive Nexus before he could summon the new types of creatures. With a thought, he called up its description. 

Name: Hive Nexus

Description: The main function of the Hive Nexus is spawning basic types of creatures—the roach, the fly, and the spider—that can later be evolved into more advanced ones. These three basic types serve as blanks intended for further shaping and evolution. In addition to these, the Hive Nexus can also generate any known creature you have manually created.

Cost: 300 Biomass, 10,000 MP, Larva (x1) 

Jake was a bit confused. He needed a lot of Biomass and one larva to create this structure. When he read the description of the larva some time ago, he discovered that these small creatures were essential for building. However, it remained unclear whether the larvae were intended as expendable resources or as actual builders. 

If it was the former, he would lose his only larva. If it was the latter, it likely meant that having additional larvae would speed up the building process. Either way, he needed to summon more larvae.

He checked another line.

Larvae: 1/3

Now that the Mana Core was at Rank II, he could summon two additional larvae. He recalled that when he created the first larva, some of his own flesh was used to develop the little creature. With one larva at his disposal, he faced a choice: either bring another ex-human to convert into Biomass and use some of it to create two larvae, or allocate some of his own flesh for that purpose.

He decided against going outside again to fetch another mutant. After all, he recalled that only 10 Biomass was needed to create a single larva. So he focused on the Mana Core once more and issued a mental command to bring up the larvae summoning menu.

Create a larva: Y/N

Cost: 10 Biomass, 1,000 MP

He thought “Yes”. Just like last time, a small lump formed on his body and detached.

–1,000 MP

–10% HP

The lump of flesh dropped onto the Corruption, and the larva development process began. He quickly glanced at it. 

Larva (Creation in Progress) 

Current Status: 2% Complete

Estimated Time Remaining: 9 minutes, 55 seconds

Just like last time, the process would take ten minutes. He turned his attention back to the Mana Core and issued a mental command to create another larva. A few seconds later, two lumps were gradually reshaping into larvae on the Corruption below him.

Jake took a second to check his mana points.

MP: 262,850/299,000

He had just sacrificed 2,000 MP to create two larvae and had lost 20% of his health. 2,000 MP was a small price to pay, and he knew the amount of MP necessary to restore his health would be fairly small as well. Still, he wondered whether he would lose mana and health each time he needed to create a larva or if there was another way to do it.

Upgrading the Mana Core to Rank II unlocked three structures. Since he checked one of them—the Hive Nexus—he decided to look at the descriptions of the other two while waiting for the two larvae to finish developing.

Name: Larva Chamber

Description: This is where larvae are created. By generating larvae in the Larva Chamber, the resources come from the lair—biomass from storages and mana from the Mana Core—rather than the Corruptor. If you reach the capacity for current larvae, you can still create new ones and keep them stored in the Larvae Chamber. 

Cost: 300 Biomass, 10,000 MP, Larva (x1)

So this answered his mental question. He then checked the description of the last structure available for building.

Name: Biomass Processor 

Description: This is where captured living organisms are converted into Biomass. After the transformation, the processed Biomass is automatically transferred to an available Biomass Storage. If no storages are available, the processed Biomass stays in the Biomass Processor, and therefore, it cannot be used until it is removed. 

Cost: 300 Biomass, 10,000 MP, Larva (x1)

That was interesting. So when he built this structure, he would no longer need to use his larvae to turn his prey into Biomass. Instead, the task would be managed within this container, or whatever it was. The process would likely be much easier and faster—at least, he hoped so.

He couldn’t help but notice that each of the three structures cost 300 Biomass. He remembered that half a walker accounted for about 50 Biomass, so while his larva couldn’t extract much more than 50 Biomass from a walker due to its rapid demise during processing, a whole walker should yield around 100 Biomass. Hopefully, the Biomass Processor would be able to extract the full amount a living organism offered.

A few minutes later, the two larvae fully formed, and now three little creatures crawled around the central patch of Corruption. Since each of the three structures cost 300 Biomass, Jake was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to build any at the moment. Still, he was going to try anyway.

He gave a mental command to build the Hive Nexus at a specific spot on the Corruption. Nothing happened. He attempted to issue the same command to all three larvae simultaneously, but again, nothing occurred.

He then focused his attention only on one of the larvae and issued the command to build the Hive Nexus yet again. This time it worked. Sort of. The larva continued to crawl around the Corruption, but a system message appeared in his mind. 

Insufficient Biomass. You need to collect more Biomass to build the Hive Nexus.

Jake took a moment to think. Initially, he had planned to build the Hive Nexus first. However, after a second thought, he realized that building the Biomass Processor would be wiser. Biomass could apparently be stored in special containers, and if none were available in the lair, his larvae would immediately convert it into the Corruption, expanding the existing patch.

As for the Biomass Processor, it could likely process Biomass faster than the larvae and also store it for future use. Therefore, it made sense to prioritize building the Biomass Processor over the other two structures. With this decision made, Jake exited the diner through his usual path and set off to find more walkers to bring back to his lair.