abcnovels
Chapter 168: Bone Scarab Queen, Swarm Spittle Fly
Chapter 168: Bone Scarab Queen, Swarm Spittle Fly
Ram opened the door as Sid knocked, with two small cages in his hands. Inside one cage were small, winged insects with glowing wings—Spittle Flys—and in the other, a beetle-like creature—Bone Scarab Queen.
"Hey brother, I got what you asked for," Sid said, holding out the cages as he stepped inside. "It took me three days to find them, but honestly, I don't see why you need them. They're pretty much useless at our level now."
Ram smiled and took the cages from Sid. "Haha, thanks for the help, Sid," he replied, then gently nudged Sid toward the door. "I appreciate it."
Sid gave a shrug and left, but Ram's attention was already back on the creatures in the cages.
He stared at the Spittle Flys—their delicate wings glowing faintly—and the Bone Scarab Queen, which had a dark, menacing aura surrounding it.
"Finally, it's time to upgrade the Mind Shadow parasite," Ram mused, tapping his fingers on the cages while activating his Spiritual Eye to examine the two insects.
He studied the Bone Scarab Queen first, which was slightly larger than his fist, currently in a deep sleep:
[ Name:
Bone Scarab Queen
]
[ Race:
Insect
] Powered by m|v|l|e|mpyr
[ Level:
Tier 1
]
[ Quality:
Elite
]
[ Physique:
7.7
]
[ Spirit:
3.4
]
[ Description:
A bony, beetle-like creature with exoskeletal plates grown from consuming pieces of bones. Produces "Bone bits," tiny scarabs that scavenge from remnants to construct small bone structures for the queen.
]
[ Skills:
Necrotic Bite
]
[ Necrotic Bite:
Bites with a bone-chilling venom that saps the enemy's strength over time.
]
Next, he shifted his attention to the Swarm Spittle Fly:
[ Name:
Swarm Spittle Fly
]
[ Race:
Insect
]
[ Level:
Tier 1
]
[ Quality:
Elite
]
[ Physique:
4.6
]
[ Spirit:
6.1
]
[ Description:
A slightly larger-than-average insectoid creature with a golden carapace that shimmers with inner fire and transparent wings. The Spittle Fly can absorb Sunfire from sunlight and create Spitlings, small flies that act as drones.
]
[ Spawn Drones:
Lays hundreds of ordinary Spittle Fly drones daily, each possessing basic combat instincts and hive communication.
]
After carefully considering the abilities of both creatures, Ram nodded to himself. His plan was simple, he intended to graft the abilities of these two creatures onto the Mind Shadow parasite.
He had been waiting for this moment ever since discovering that Spiritual Eye allowed him to copy skills from creatures he evolved, and then apply them to other creatures.
With the Mind Shadow Parasite completely under his control, he plans on making it stronger and more useful.
Ram carefully considered the potential these two insects held for his Mind Shadow parasite. Though small, both creatures had incredibly useful abilities that could be combined to make the parasite significantly stronger.
The Bone Scarab Queen, with her Necrotic Bite, was already useful for sapping the strength of enemies over time. But what truly piqued Ram's interest was her Reconstruction ability, which would awaken once the queen reached Tier 2.
This ability would allow the parasite to grow a strong bone exoskeleton, while also allowing it to rapidly regenerate itself, even from severe damage through consuming bone bites.
On the other hand, the Swarm Spittle Fly would awaken a different kind of special skill called Consume & Evolve once it reached Tier 2.
Adding these skills might disrupt its original evolutionary direction, but he didn't plan on using the Mind Shadow Parasite to improve his strength and let it consume his own mind.
The Bone Scarab Queen's ability to Reconstruction would allow the Mind Shadow parasite to grow a stronger bone exterior.
This was particularly important, as the parasite's weakness had always been its inability to survive outside its host body for extended periods.
With the Reconstruction skill, it would be able to reinforce its body, allowing it to stay alive longer even when detached from its host.
This would make it much more versatile and dangerous, as the parasite would no longer be confined to relying solely on its host for survival.
The Swarm Spittle Fly, on the other hand, would awaken the skill called Consume & Evolve.
This ability allowed the Spittle Fly to consume lower-quality versions of its own species and evolve by absorbing their genetic memory and physical traits, progressively enhancing its size, and intelligence, making it stronger over time.
Unlike the Swarm Spittle Fly, which could only evolve within the limits of its own species, the Mind Shadow parasite had a unique advantage.
Every Mind Shadow parasite was inherently capable of controlling human minds. It has the ability to slowly take over its host, absorbing their abilities, combat experiences, and even their memories.
This made it unlike any other parasite or creature.
By grafting the Consume & Evolve skill onto it, Ram realized that the Mind Shadow parasite could go beyond simply improving itself by consuming others of its kind.
Instead, it could absorb not just physical traits, but the abilities and experiences of a wide variety of creatures or humans it took over, accelerating its growth and evolution at an exponential rate.
Ram could already imagine how these combined skills would work together. He focused intently as he fed his Life energy into the Swarm Spittle Flys, the energy flowing seamlessly from him to the creatures in the cages.
The process was surprisingly smooth, unlike the Bone Scarab Queen known for their aggressiveness, the Swarm Spittle Flies were more docile, and Ram was glad to see the positive signs.
Each one absorbed between twenty to thirty points of Life energy, much faster than he expected for their small size.
The energy surged through their bodies increasing their strength, as time passed by the slight increase in size was immediately apparent.
Transparent wings began to sprout from their bodies, shimmering with a soft, golden glow.
"Come on, at least one of you should awaken the skill I wanted right?" The real reason behind gathering so many instead of just one was the rarity of their special skill.
Not every Swarm Spittle Fly had the potential to awaken the Consume & Evolve ability, so Ram needed to take his chances with the ones he had.
If none of them awakened the skill, he would have to wait until he found more.
As the last of the Life energy was absorbed by the Swarm Spittle Flys, their transformation began to stabilize as they began to hover around him, their wings buzzing softly.
Ram's eyes flicked from one Swarm Spittle Fly Seraph to the next, scanning each with his Spiritual Eye.
As expected, the process of Life energy absorption had caused them to grow in size, their bodies now twice the size they were before.
However, there was little change in their general appearance beyond that. The most important factor for him now was whether any of them had awakened the special skill he had been hoping for.
He focused on the first four, one after the other, but disappointment filled him as he saw the skill they had unlocked: Spitfire. It was a decent ability, but not the one he needed.
"Not what I wanted," Ram muttered under his breath.
The Spitfire skill could create small flame bursts but was far less useful than the skill he had been hoping for. He moved on to the last one, his hopes still high.
When his Spiritual Eye settled on the fifth Swarm Spittle Fly, a grin spread across his face, and he couldn't help but let out a small cheer. "Finally! This one awakened it!"
[ Name:
Swarm Spittle Fly
]
[ Race:
Insect
]
[ Level:
Tier 2
]
[ Quality:
Elite
]
[ Physique:
9.1
]
[ Spirit:
13
]
[ Description:
A slightly larger-than-average insectoid creature with a golden carapace that shimmers with inner fire and transparent wings. The Spittle Fly can absorb Sunfire from sunlight and create Spitlings, small flies that act as drones.
]
[ Spawn Drones:
Lays hundreds of ordinary Spittle Fly drones daily, each possessing basic combat instincts and hive communication.
]
[ Consume & Evolve:
After a drone reaches maturity, the Swarm Spittle Fly can consume lower-quality versions of its own species and evolve by absorbing their genetic memory and physical traits, progressively enhancing its size and intelligence. Gains enhanced mental clarity and foresight through the collective experiences of consumed drones.
]
While he was looking at it, he finally saw the prompt he was waiting for.
[
Do you wish to retain the 'Spitfire' skill (4 instances), classified as a 'D' Grade skill, at the cost of 40 points of Spiritual Power?
]
[Yes/No]
[
Do you wish to retain the 'Consume & Evolve' skill, classified as an 'A' Grade skill, at the cost of 10,000 points of Spiritual Power?
]
[Yes/No]
"Hmm, definitely not keeping Spitfire. But the Consume & Evolve skill... that's exactly what I wanted!" he muttered to himself, pressing No for Spitfire without hesitation.
For him, the 40-point cost wasn't much, but he didn't have any use or plans for Spitfire.
When it came to Consume & Evolve, however, he didn't hesitate. "Ten thousand points is a lot, but this is going to be worth every bit," he thought, confirming Yes on the prompt.
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