BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

Chapter 1055: Planting seeds and dodging monsters (1)

A week after their arrival in Hin, the first batches of Chimaeric Demon eggs started to hatch. While this was promising but not unexpected, it also posed Erik an additional problem.

The newly hatched Chimaeric Demons required care and supervision, which meant he could no longer rely on the already matured clones for other tasks.

There were currently 19 people in the outpost, aside from the Chimaeric Demons who just hatched.

The place was starting to get filled. Erik did what he could to expand and put the outpost to safety, but things like that, to be throughly made, required time.

However, now that most of the facilities and basic needs were met, it was time for Erik to go check what was beyond their outpost area and gather information about their new environment.

While much of the world had been abandoned to the thaids, and Hin hadn’t been spared from this, the past war between Frant and the island country meant there could be military outposts and fortifications in the area, and Erik had to find out.

Also, since Hin was close to the Mur continent, Erik thought there might be strong thaids coming from there in the area. Thaids that Hin’s army didn’t know about. These could have wandered in with no one noticing, and might be too close to the outpost for Erik’s comfort. “June,” Erik said. “I need you to come with me to scout the area.”

The clone was currently talking to Mira, but Emily and Amber were around, so they heard what he had just said.

June nodded. “Of course, Master. When do you want to leave?”

Before Erik could respond, he noticed a weird look on the three women, then he heard the sound of footsteps getting closer. They were Amber’s and Emily’s.

“We’re coming with you,” Mira said.

Erik shook his head. “No, not this time. It’s too dangerous, and we need to be fast. June can shapeshift, which will make the entire journey fast and comfortable, but we can’t bring more Chimaeric Demons with us, so you will slow us down.”

The three didn’t like Erik’s words. After all, they were pretty fast, even on foot, and anyway, they reached June’s level of strength from a long time.

They weren’t as useless as they had been five months ago.

The problem was that while that might have been true, Hin was not Frant, and Mur’s thaids weren’t Mannard’s and the blackguards weren’t Hin’s troop.

The situation was too different. Despite having considered the wilderness a foreign world for a long time, it was still true that Frant, Hin and every other country exerted some form of control over the surroundings, which wasn’t true here.

“But Erik, we’ve been training hard. We can help!” Emily said.

“I know you can,” Erik said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“But right now, I need you here more than with me. The Chimaeric Demons are few and busy with the new hatchlings. I need you three to protect the camp in case something goes wrong. Help where and when you can.”

Emily opened her mouth to protest, but Erik continued, “Please understand. It would give me peace of mind knowing you’re here, keeping everyone safe. Can you do that for me?”

The three women looked at each other. They seemed both sad and understanding. After a moment, Mira spoke up. “Okay, Erik. We’ll stay here and keep training. But please be careful while you’re gone.”

Erik smiled. For once, they were listening to him. “I promise. We’ll be back before you know it.”

With the matter settled, Erik turned back to June. “We need to go now. Can you do it now?” June nodded and changed shape right away. His body shifted and got bigger, turning into a large, four-legged thaid, an Erendu. It was the most suited for forest landscapes among the transformations June had available, and well, among his favourite.

Sure, it was cool to turn into the Black wyvern, but that didn’t exactly allow for stealth.

Flying would be faster, but they needed to stay out of sight, and taking the shape of a large flying thaid wasn’t the best way to stay hidden.

With the war going on, it was too dangerous to be up in the sky, because even if the war wasn’t on Hin’s shores, it was unlikely they didn’t make outposts and defenses through the jungle. It was possible now, thanks to Etrium’s technology.

Before leaving, Erik looked at their outpost one last time. It fit in well with the jungle, making everything hard to spot. Exactly what Erik wanted.

Erik got on June’s back and they went into the thick jungle.

The surrounding plants were a mix of familiar and new to Erik and June.

He already saw it back at the outpost, but now he was seeing species he didn’t find there.

Some were the same there were on Frant, but others he had only read about before.

He saw huge leaves in bright purple and blue colors above him. There were also strange vines shaped with spiral patterns wrapped around some of the tree trunks.

<Master, should we plant it?>

<Yes.>

Erik stopped there to plant the Luminara Serpentis.

He had to place it on the ground, make it sprout, grow, and then collect seeds and flowers again so that he could repeat the process.

He already did it back at the outpost, but he wanted to expand the thaid free zone as best as he could.

As Erik did the job, he started thinking of his original power.

The plant master brain crystal power was nothing like his birth one, who could only grow plants and vegetation. The Plant Master brain crystal power, instead, allowed him to control them, making them suitable for many purposes.

It hit him like a ton of bricks. He had not understood how useful the ability could be in the past, but he started to see its real value.

It wasn’t just a power to make shelters or hiding places, or even to grow the Luminara

Serpentis.

This ability could be used for fighting, getting food, and the like, and he needed to take advantage of that.

Depending on the plants, he could make medicines; he could use them for making potions and the like. He just needed a little bit of creativity.

Making potions was something he hasn’t been doing for a long time, but god knew how much The needed to make some good old potions.

Brain and body-stimulating serums might help him in making the group stronger, so that was something else he added to the list of things to do.