Chapter 125: Metamorphosis

Inside a dark, spacious chamber, several oval, pale yellow eggs lay on the ground next to each other. These eggs were almost translucent, allowing you to see the growth taking place on the inside. Each egg was currently swollen as if there were something bulging out of it.

The egg sacs slowly began to tear until several claws ripped through the rubber-like material. The creatures that emerged were humanoid allowing them to stand upright. They had a lean and tall physiques. Some of them had up to 20 distinct arms on their body. Their huge menacing arms boasted 3 fingers ending in long, sharp claws.

Their dark oily exoskeleton seemed to reflect their surroundings. They had pale slitted eyes that resembled those of a reptile.

In the dark chamber, there was only the sound of them ripping out of their egg sacs. The strange creatures looked around at each other with almost childlike wonder. They seemed curious about everything around them.

Every sight and smell felt new and fresh. Their antennas could practically taste the air around them sending a plethora of different sensations through their bodies.

The creatures had almost no memories, but one powerful emotion remained inside them. An emotion that even trumped their will to live.

It was a strong desire to protect their queen, no matter what. They had to make sure that no other creatures came near their queen.

Soon an ominous clicking noise came from the back of the chamber, drawing the monsters’ attention. What they saw emerging from the endless darkness was a colossal queen ant. She had a crimson exoskeleton and transparent wings on her back.

She loomed over the obsidian-coated monsters and spoke with them telepathically in a regal voice.

"My children."

For a monster, her tone almost sounded proud.

The monsters stared at her blackly, and for a moment it looked as if they were going to kneel before their queen, but in the next second, they turned their backs.

She was not their queen.

The ants had fragmented memories of their own. Memories of their queen. They remembered the radiant blonde hair of their queen and her smile that filled them with warmth. They remembered being broken and weak. And a terrible pain that threatened to rip them apart.

During that time, it was their queen that brought them back from the edge of despair and ushered them into this new life. No matter what, they were determined to find their true queen; hence, they turned their backs and left their fake queen behind.

"Wait, where are you going!"

They didn’t remember the name of their queen or where she was so they endeavored to find her.

The blonde haired woman, who was the light of their world.

"No! Come back!"

The ant queen was livid. She shouted at the ants she created, but they completely ignored her as they walked and flew away. This was the same thing that happened to the first ant that emerged from its egg early. She assumed it was just an anomaly caused be its early hatch and decided to seal the ant away, hoping it was an isolated incident.

But she was wrong. These new generations of ants were corrupted. Tainted by some dark force.

She was sure it had something to do with the DNA she used to fertilize her eggs. This was the first time she had fertilized her eggs with a creature that possessed high intelligence.

The monsters she used before weren’t smart enough to retain any memory.

In the end the queen had to watch them leave her side, unable to do anything to stop them. Panicked, she rushed to the back of her chamber and disappeared into the endless darkness behind her before appearing at another illuminated spot.

This area was illuminated by a tall tree that sprouted out of the ground. The tree was so huge that even the colossal queen was dwarfed by it. This tree emitted a soft golden light that bathed the entire area.

The leaves of the tree were blue and packed full of mana.

In one area of the tree, an obsidian monster could be seen wrapped up in its roots. This obsidian monster was the first egg that hatched. The monster was brought back to the queen after its battle with the Phoenix King, which left it injured.

The queen looked at the tree with eyes containing a mixture of different strong emotions. Her antennae softly touched the tree. For centuries she was tasked with protecting the tree by not letting anyone through, and for centuries she had fulfilled this role.

This was why she built her colony around the tree and spawned stronger generations of ants to protect it. These ants thought they were protecting their queen, but in truth, they were protecting this tree.

This task was forced upon her by her master, and she fulfilled it for centuries like a loyal soldier. In the beginning, she struggled and suffered torment after torment to protect the tree from other monsters who wanted to claim its powers.

But through countless struggles and sacrifices, she strived.

She fulfilled this task dutifully in hope that one day she might be thanked by her master. For the faint hope that just maybe, he would pat her on the head as a reward.

Just like time when he created her. When she first opened her eyes, as a newborn and felt the warm hands on her head.

In reality, her creator was checking the stats of his new creation but to her, a naive newborn creature, it was special. The Queen was oblivious of this and kept the memory of her creator patting her head close to her heart.

From that day, her only desire was to one day receive the same praise.

That was all the simple monster wanted. To be patted on the head and thanked for her hard work. That alone would make all the struggles she had been through worth it. For that she followed his orders to protect the tree.

Now the sanctity of her home has been defiled by invaders who kill her children and turn them against her. She felt herself being overcome by rage. Now after all these years, she can’t allow these monsters to get to the celestial tree.

If they did, then how would she be thanked by her master? How would he pat her on the head and tell her how proud he was of her?

Her mind was made up; she couldn’t allow these invaders to get close to the celestial tree even if she had to burn down the nest with them.

...

[Do you wish to undergo mass evolution?] [Y/N]

[Cost: 153,000 biomass]

[Description: All traits possessed by the host will undergo evolution until they have become 10x their original value. Some traits will evolve and change their very nature.]

Thoughtfully, I read the screen floating before my eyes. This evolution will be targeted at my skills. Every time I evolve a trait, the skills for that trait increase. For example, if I evolve my acid gland and sac, then my acid shot skill will increase in level.

So under this evolution all my skills will be ten times stronger than they were before. Some of them may even change completely and evolve into something else.

These were just for the traits I already have, but if I wanted to obtain new traits, my best bet would be purchasing another bloodline which comes with a whole bunch of different traits. It was basically a package deal.

There were a variety of different bloodlines for me to choose from. Ancient basilisk snake, temporal salamander, extinct water slug, transformation slime, fly gecko, void flower, skinner virus, and blood mushroom, just to name a few.

There was an entire list of them. It was almost as if I could gain the bloodline of almost any living organism just by purchasing it. This option only opened up to me when I gained enough biomass. The more biomass I gain, the more options are available.

This was honestly very trippy. What would I even look like after obtaining bloodlines from so many different monsters? Would I ever gain enough monster core to purify them all? If I did, I would become the culmination of every living creature in this world.

The thought alone felt as if it were giving me a headache, so I instead decided to focus on the mass evolution. I’ll settle the matter of bloodline after this.

[Do you wish to undergo mass evolution?] [Y/N]

Without hesitation, I clicked yes. Immediately a surge of mana warped around me, forming a giant oval around my body. The mana then crystallized into a blue crystal, trapping me inside like a cocoon. I felt like a caterpillar undergoing metamorphosis.

My body soon melted into a sludge inside the crystal, leaving my core. I had no clue how long this would last. I was still in the tunnel. All the entrances were covered in obsidian while Amanda was in the other chamber waiting for me to emerge.

It felt as if I were drifting aimlessly in a dark space. Even my mind felt as if it wasn’t functioning properly. I had no concept of time; it felt as if the world had frozen and I was the only consciousness remaining.

It was hard to keep a thought or hold onto any memory. It felt as if my entire being was being broken down into tiny atoms. Then each atom was being put together piece by piece. The process was slow and tedious.

It felt as if I had been trapped here for centuries, and yet every second felt new, as if no time at all had passed. Past, present and future were mangled together like threads woven together to create a stitch.

As my mind was recreated, everything seemed to fall into place, and my former self returned. I pushed hard against the crystal, trying to break free, just like the first time I came into this world through an egg.

The crystal soon shattered. I stared down at the obsidian-covered floor and took in the reflection of my new self.