Chapter 548

After he previously evolved the mana core from Rank VIII to Rank IX, two more structures had become available: Vein Rift and Infestation Pit. But after he evolved the mana core to the final Rank X, only one additional structure had become available, called the Alien Egg. He decided to check out the new structures in the order they had been unlocked, starting with the Vein Rift.

After reading its description, he learned that the purpose of this structure was to allow him to design and develop a special type of massive flying creature capable of carrying his smaller ones. In other words, thanks to this structure, he could now create something resembling a living dropship with relative ease.

The idea immediately reminded him that he had once planned to develop a similar creature to transport his combat units and deploy them wherever they were needed.

It had been a rather interesting concept, and back then, he had considered investing time into creating such a creature. However, he never got around to implementing it because he later developed the Wyrmcaller. The creature had the ability to teleport smaller combat units, such as crawlers and wingclaws, through the specialized organ he had developed for it, called the riftmaw.

With the Wyrmcaller capable of transporting his forces instantly across vast distances, the necessity of creating his own living dropship had simply disappeared.

Seeing a structure specifically designed to assist in the creation of such creatures made him realize that developing one on his own would not have been nearly as simple as he had originally imagined. Developing such a massive and complex creature would have pushed the limits of the structures available to him at the time. None of them had been specifically designed for creating something of that scale, so without the assistance of Vein Rift, he would definitely have needed to spend a considerable amount of time experimenting, overcoming various limitations and obstacles during the development process.

Developing a creature capable of carrying multiple smaller organisms inside its body while also maintaining its own functions, mobility, and mana-based abilities would have required countless experiments and adjustments. It would have been far more complicated than simply designing another combat unit or specialized creature. He likely would have needed to spend a significant amount of time figuring out how to properly balance its size, internal structure, and mana consumption.

With a structure like Vein Rift, all those difficulties were essentially removed. The structure had already been designed specifically for the purpose of developing creatures like this, making the entire process much simpler and more straightforward. Instead of having to solve every problem from scratch, he could focus on the creature’s design itself. The fact that the structure could simplify such a complicated process was rather impressive, even if he currently had little practical use for the resulting creature.

But even though he currently didn’t really need a dropship, he still spent some time experimenting with the structure to learn its capabilities and understand how much freedom it offered. The structure itself was quite large, which made sense, as a dropship creature naturally had to be massive enough to carry smaller creatures inside its body.

So Jake spent several hours developing a simple living dropship. Since he only wanted to learn the basics of the structure, he didn’t go overboard with its design, instead creating a rather small and simple creature. The living dropship he created was only large enough to accommodate two crawlers inside its belly, making it more of a test subject than a fully developed transport creature.

The creature itself was shaped like a large balloon, with a smooth and featureless body that lacked any noticeable organs or external structures. It didn’t have wings or any visible method of propulsion, yet it possessed the natural ability to levitate by using mana as fuel.

The bottom of its massive belly could spread open, revealing a natural compartment inside its body where smaller creatures could be stored. Once opened, the two crawlers inside could easily be released and deployed. Although this simple version was far from a practical combat transport, it successfully demonstrated the basic concept behind a living dropship and gave Jake a better understanding of what was possible with this new structure.

After learning the basics of creating a living dropship, he examined the other structure that had become available after evolving the mana core to Rank IX: the Infestation Pit. As it turned out, the purpose of this structure was to allow him to create a patch of Corruption outside his lair, in any area that was completely free of Corruption.

The structure developed a specialized plant-like organism that resembled a strange eye perched atop a three-foot-tall flexible stem. Its single eye-like organ constantly observed its surroundings. This plant-like creature was called the Hypnotizer. He could store it inside his inventory and then deploy it whenever needed, attaching it to any suitable location free of Corruption.

He decided to choose a spot in Dead City to test the Hypnotizer and observe how it functioned in practice. After placing the creature on the ground, he retreated a safe distance away and watched the events unfold. For a while, nothing happened. The Hypnotizer simply remained motionless, its strange eye silently scanning the surroundings as it waited for something to approach.

Eventually, a mutant entered its range. The Hypnotizer didn’t immediately react, instead waiting until the creature made eye contact with it. The moment that happened, the target was captured. It couldn’t look away and couldn’t tear its gaze from the Hypnotizer’s eye no matter how much it struggled. The strange ability completely immobilized the victim, forcing it to remain focused on the plant-like creature.

Once its target was trapped, the Hypnotizer began compelling it to move toward itself. The creature could do nothing but obey, slowly walking closer and closer as if being pulled by an invisible force. Jake continued to watch the process. He already knew that the Hypnotizer was designed not for combat but rather for creating a new foothold for his Corruption in areas where it didn’t yet exist.

He continued to watch the Hypnotizer for some time as it hypnotized more and more targets. Sure enough, since there were no humans left in Dead City, the Hypnotizer only attracted mutants that happened to wander within its effective range. One by one, the creatures that came too close fell under its influence, unable to resist the hypnotizing ability of the plant-like organism. Once a mutant got close enough to the Hypnotizer, it was processed into biomass, which accumulated beneath the creature before gradually spreading outward in every direction.

The more mutants that were processed into biomass, the larger the patch of Corruption became. The process was slow, but there didn’t seem to be a limit to how large the corrupted area could grow. So this was the true purpose of the structure. It wasn’t meant to fight enemies but rather to allow him to spread his influence beyond the confines of his lair.

The Hypnotizer possessed its own ability to absorb mana from the surrounding air, allowing it to sustain both itself and the patch of Corruption it created without requiring any additional support from him. As long as it remained active, the corrupted area would continue to exist and function normally.

He could mentally link to the Hypnotizer from any location, no matter how far away he was, and remotely initiate the construction of any structures he wanted on the patch of Corruption surrounding it. This meant that he could establish a small outpost almost anywhere as long as the Hypnotizer had enough space on the patch of Corruptor around itself. He could, for example, create a Transfer Maw there, allowing him to connect the location to his main lair, or construct various traps if he needed to defend that particular spot from any threats that approached.

It was definitely a useful structure, and while he didn’t immediately have a specific use for it at that moment, Jake was certain that he would find plenty of applications for the Hypnotizer in the future. Its ability to slowly spread his territory beyond his lair opened up many possibilities that had previously been impossible.

He then checked out the final structure that had become available after the mana core of the Apex Hollow had evolved from Rank IX to Rank X. Upgrading it to the highest possible rank unlocked only a single structure, so he really hoped this final one would be something truly remarkable.

Upon returning to the Apex Hollow, he attempted to build it. However, as it turned out, before he could actually develop the Alien Egg, he first needed to construct another structure called the Incubator. Compared to the other structures in his lair, the Incubator was relatively small, standing only about five feet tall. It was oval-shaped, and its front section was transparent, revealing a fleshy compartment. 

Inside the Incubator, the Alien Egg could then be created. Once formed, the egg required some time to fully develop before it was ready to hatch. Jake patiently waited, occasionally checking on its progress as he tried to figure out what kind of creature would emerge from it. When the egg was finally close to hatching, the Incubator notified him.

After the Alien Egg was extracted from the Incubator, its surface began to move. The top of the fleshy egg slowly split open into four thick flaps, spreading apart like the petals of a strange organic blossom. From within the opened egg, a small and chubby creature slowly crawled out.

The creature was only about three feet in length and had no noticeable features that could reveal its purpose. Its entire body was pitch-black and resembled a large larva. It had no eyes, no mouth, no limbs, and no other visible organs. For a moment, Jake simply observed the creature. It moved around with slow, aimless motions, making him wonder what kind of creature he had just created and what its purpose was.

When he attempted to summon the creature’s stats, the only piece of information that appeared in his vision was a single line reading Development Progress. Beneath it was a progress bar displaying a value of 1%. No other information about the strange creature was provided. There were no details about its abilities or purpose. It was as if the system itself didn’t recognize the creature yet.

No explanatory information appeared when he checked the Incubator’s stats either. The structure only displayed basic information about its function, leaving Jake with no clues about what he was supposed to do next. He watched the larva-like creature for a while, carefully observing its behavior and trying to figure out its purpose, but all it did was aimlessly crawl around the lair without showing any signs of intelligence or possessing any noticeable abilities.

In the end, he figured that the only thing he could do was fill the creature’s Development Progress to one hundred percent and see what happened afterward.

As it turned out, increasing the progress bar required him to “feed” the creature biomass and mana whenever it demanded them. The creature didn’t actually physically consume either of them, of course. Instead, the biomass simply attached itself to its body, becoming part of it and gradually enlarging its size. And the mana was simply absorbed into its body.

The entire process was incredibly slow and stretched over many hours. Watching a creature slowly grow wasn’t exactly the most exciting way to spend his time, but Jake had nothing else to do at the moment. Therefore, he simply remained in the Apex Hollow, occasionally providing the creature with more biomass and mana whenever it required them.

At first, he had no idea what he was looking at or what the creature would eventually become. However, as the creature continued to develop and its shape slowly began to change, certain possibilities started forming in his mind. Then, at some point, he finally realized what kind of creature it was and what purpose it was going to serve when it finished developing.

The moment that realization struck him, a powerful wave of excitement washed over him. Countless possibilities immediately flooded his mind as he began imagining all the ways this new creation could change his future plans. The final structure unlocked by the Rank X mana core had turned out to be far more impressive than he had expected.