Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 305

Chapter 305

Jake spent the rest of the day and most of the night collecting Biomass. By the time he finished, it was morning. The redecoration was finally complete. He stood at the front side of the basement—he referred to the side where the hatch door was located as the front—admiring his work.

The basement was now unrecognizable. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all enveloped in a thick layer of Corruption—every inch of surface was coated. At the center of the lair stood the Mana Core, still positioned where it had always been. As for the other three structures, Jake had relocated them to various new spots.

The Larvae Chamber was now attached to the center of the back wall, while the Hive Nexus occupied the center of the opposite side of the lair, right behind Jake. The Biomass Processor was affixed to the left-hand wall, and the Biomass Storage, which Jake had grown a little while ago, was attached to the right-hand wall. Both the Biomass Processor and the Biomass Storage were located at the back of his lair, directly opposite each other.

After creating the Biomass Storage, Jake had immediately set it to evolve to Rank II. Initially, it could hold 150 Biomass, but after the evolution process was finished, the capacity increased to 300.

The structure itself resembled a fleshy box with rounded corners. It was taller and wider than any of the other structures, and it also didn’t have any viewport to allow seeing inside. So he had to issue a mental command to determine the amount of Biomass stored inside.

Currently, the Biomass Storage was filled to capacity. Not long ago, Jake had witnessed how, after the Biomass Processor completed its work, a tube extended across the Corruption, linking the Biomass Processor to the Storage. This allowed the processed Biomass to be transferred from one structure to the other.

After experimenting with relocating his structures, Jake discovered he could position them anywhere within the Corruption, even on the ceiling, where many Biomass Storages could fit. However, Jake decided to keep the one he had built facing the Biomass Processor for now. He wasn’t ready to create any additional storages, because mana was still an issue.

Jake continued to stand in the same spot, observing his lair. Flanking the Larvae Chamber at the back, two new structures were taking shape: a Creation Chamber on the left and an Extractor on the right. Both new structures were nearing completion.

The former was supposedly used to create new types of creatures, though Jake didn’t know exactly how it worked yet. As for the latter, he could only guess its purpose. From the name alone, it was clear it was meant to extract something from something else. He needed to wait until the structures finished growing before he could access their full descriptions.

All the existing structures were still Rank II. Since the Mana Core was now Rank III, he could evolve all of them to the same rank. However, Jake chose to do that a little later.

All of his creatures roamed freely throughout the lair. Larvae, spiders, and roaches crawled about, scaling the walls and traversing the ceiling. While they couldn’t cling to ordinary surfaces, they had no trouble adhering to the Corruption. His two flies flitted through the air, moving from one spot to another, occasionally landing on the Corruption only to take flight again a moment later.

Just as one of the flies landed on the ceiling, Jake thought once again that cramming as many Biomass Storages on the ceiling as possible might be a good idea. In one corner of the lair sat several cardboard boxes filled with mana crystals, which he kept for a rainy day. It might also be wise to always have a supply of Biomass available for use at a moment’s notice. Since he could control his structures from any distance while inside the lair, it didn’t matter how far away he was from them. As long as he remained in his lair, he could manage them from anywhere. 

Once the Creation Chamber and the Extractor finished growing, he could create four additional structures. He envisioned placing four Biomass Chambers on the ceiling, ultimately cramming the entire surface with Biomass Storages.

There was a notable issue, though. His lair consumed approximately 1,000 MP per structure, plus extra mana for Corruption, every hour. If he constructed too many structures, the mana drain would accelerate, forcing him to dedicate most of his time to gathering mana and transferring it to the Mana Core.

He needed to find a way to make his lair self-sufficient so it could somehow collect mana by itself. Perhaps after the Creation Chamber finished growing, he could create drones or train his existing creatures to venture outside, search for mana consumables, and bring them to the lair to nourish the Mana Core when needed.

It would be really great if he could create a special type of creature dedicated solely to fetching mana consumables. Instead of engaging in combat, this creature should excel at hiding and be capable of moving quickly to escape if detected. Developing such a creature would be extremely beneficial to his lair.

If he had a bunch of such creatures, his lair would become self-sufficient, eliminating the need to constantly dedicate his time to replenishing the Mana Core with magical energy. Perhaps there would even be enough mana left for his own use.

So before creating any additional structures, he needed to address the issue of insufficient mana. It was funny. He recalled that during his early days as a mutant, he always struggled with a lack of mana. Mana was not only sustenance for him but also served as currency for acquiring new skills.

A lot of time had passed since then, and now that he could acquire mana from various sources, his previous issue with insufficient mana for his own needs had been resolved. However, with his lair now to care for, that same issue was reemerging. 

Given that he now had six structures—two of which were still evolving—his lair drained over 6,000 MP per hour. This was really a lot, especially since the Mana Core had a maximum capacity of only 100,000 MP. Thus, before adding more structures, he needed to figure out how to boost the Mana Core’s capacity.

He considered the possibility of attaching another mana orb to the first one. The issue was that these orbs were extremely rare. It might be worth visiting Catalina’s base again to check if she had upgraded the Mana Constructor to the next rank. If she had, he could see if it could now combine several mana crystals into a single mana orb. Alternatively, he could work on making his lair self-sufficient.

The Creation Chamber and the Extractor finished construction almost at the same time, drawing Jake back from his thoughts. It was time to check out the two newly created structures and see what they could do.