Chapter 143-1: Seventy Thousand Newbies, Noobs Pecking Each Other (1) |
The Ecstasy hive mind, a replica of the Swarm hive mind, left Qi Sheng completely dumbfounded.
At this moment the purple mountain was slowly squirming. His consciousness pierced through the barrier of flesh and could see within, where Ecstasy warriors were wrapped inside and connected by countless tendrils.
Just like the Evil Eye Tower, this was another replicated imitation.
It looked like a Swarm hive mind, but in reality it was a flesh-and-blood mech, with an Ecstasy warrior lying inside to operate the hive mind.
The only difference from the Evil Eye Tower was that the Ecstasy hive mind was not formed entirely of energy. It had a large amount of flesh material blended into it.
As the flesh writhed, the ability fluctuations released by the power of ecstasy rippled through the body of flesh, like an prelude to the nurture of life. Tiny cells divided, assembled, and mutated at astonishing speed, following the built-in troop blueprints to gradually construct complex living beings.
What surprised Qi Sheng was that the Lord of Ecstasy had clearly conducted an in-depth study of the life structure of the Swarm’s hive mind.
During the gestation process, a peculiar biological resonance was generated within the hive-mind body, automatically imprinting obedience into the minds of the lives being created.
Just then, the abdomen of the Ecstasy hive mind opened, and a flood of purple energy spores spewed out.
Just when Qi Sheng thought the Lord of Ecstasy had finally produced a halfway decent replication result, an absurd scene unfolded.
A great many Ecstasy swarm creatures shrieked and collapsed the instant they were born, their bodies exploding into drifting purple mist.
The propagation continued for ten minutes.
According to Guide’s calculations, the survival rate of the Ecstasy swarm was under 10 percent. Large numbers of them died the moment they were born.
The cause lay in the incomplete life structure.
The Ecstasy hive mind’s swarm warriors simply could not withstand the forcible infusion of energy. Their growth was like pulling up seedlings to make them taller, and the swarm warriors had their bodies blown apart by energy before they even reached the mature stage.
“Does this… have any meaning?” Watching this, Qi Sheng was speechless.
[Boss, from a long-term perspective, it is very meaningful. In theory, progress does not only come from innovation. Imitation and learning can also bring progress. Starting from copying and imitation, then gradually walking out one’s own distinctive path, is a very smart choice and a shortcut to growth.]
[But at the current stage, the Lord of Ecstasy is still at the starting point of imitation. He has not even learned the fur of the Black Tide and the Swarm. He copied the form but lacks the core inner essence. The massive resources invested in the early phase are not producing effective returns at all.]
“You mean the Lord of Ecstasy really might succeed in the future?”
In response to the question, Guide nodded:
[Whether it is the Black Tide or the Swarm, the current legion frameworks were established by gradually absorbing experience from wars, and only then did they form the present calamity level architecture. So this path is undoubtedly correct, but actually walking it through is not easy. There are too many factors that affect success.]
[Resource shortages, unexpected crises, research bottlenecks… all are potential factors. More importantly, there are many nodes on this path that are hard to break through, and those nodes must be filled in by Rule power.]
[For example, the pheromone collection and evolution capability of the Swarm is granted by Rule power. If the Lord of Ecstasy wants to succeed, he has to create a similar Rule power. Mere imitation with the power of ecstasy is far from enough. The process is like how Ascetic created Touch of Pain. One must forge Rules strong enough to carry the functional effects, only then can there be follow-up progress.]
[So this road of imitation and replication is feasible, but very hard to traverse. There are too many problems to overcome.]
“Are there any other replicated legion frameworks around here?” Qi Sheng asked at this point.
[Yes.]
As Guide’s voice fell, Qi Sheng’s consciousness shifted to a purple lighthouse to the east of the snowy plain.
After activating his analytic ability, the relevant information surfaced in Qi Sheng’s mind.
[Ecstasy Divine Lamp]
Analytic introduction: An Ecstasy Divine Lamp made by the Lord of Ecstasy in imitation of the Blue Lantern race. It can temporarily modify part of the world rules within its shrouded area.
—
Blue Lantern race?
This was a racial power Qi Sheng had not learned about before.
But what was certain was that this race’s comprehensive strength had to be very strong.
The previous two replicated units both belonged to calamity level forces that spanned multiple worlds. Since the Lord of Ecstasy valued this race’s framework enough to copy it, it must have its powerful aspects.
After all, the Lord of Ecstasy does not imitate the weak.
The modification of world rules shown in the analytic information made Qi Sheng extremely curious.
[Boss, what the Blue Lantern race grasps should be a special Rule power similar to a world rule modifier. It can also be understood as generating a customized world of their own.]
[For example, if the Blue Lantern race wishes for this world to have no fire element, then within the area covered by the Lamp’s Rules, fire elemental energy would be excluded. Or if the world rules are modified so that cultivation causes one’s strength to regress, then that stipulation becomes the core logic by which the world operates. But such rule modification is limited to the Lamp’s coverage area and is not permanent. Once the coverage is removed, the world rules automatically revert to their original state.]
Hearing Guide’s explanation, Qi Sheng became even more curious:
“If the rules within the Lamp’s coverage were modified so that Blue Lantern race members were immortal and indestructible, then during wars between the Blue Lantern race and other races they would never die, right?”
[Correct, but such modification clearly has a price. The stronger the setting, the more enormous the resources consumed during its duration. If there were no restrictions and modification were arbitrary, then in theory the Blue Lantern race would be absolutely invincible within the Lamp’s coverage. No power could contend with them.]
“This is a real cheat, and it is even like the Wind Spirit Moonshadow.” Hearing Guide’s explanation, Qi Sheng thought of a modifier he had used for game cheating before he crossed over.
The Blue Lantern race was very much like a cheating power that possessed a ‘rule modifier.’
A deep analysis of the Ecstasy Divine Lamp’s structure showed that this too was a shoddy imitation.
The energy it released could only warp space briefly, and could not clearly modify the settings of space within the coverage area. It was purely a toy.
Analysis complete, Qi Sheng’s consciousness followed Guide and shuttled across the snowy plain.
Besides the experimental base the Ecstasy race had built here, a large number of low level Monsters also lived on the snowy plain.
Rimewinter Rage Bears, Rimewinter Giant Wolves, Ice Crystal Butterflies, Glacier Beasts, and so on.
After roughly understanding the situation in this area, Qi Sheng decided to open up a starter village space right here.
To raise the difficulty level of the Lord of Ecstasy’s experimental base.
After leaving a mark, Qi Sheng’s consciousness returned to the Emperor’s Mound Village space and contacted Yan Ming to begin construction of the new space.
This time, building the new space also required cutting off an area from the Emperor’s Mound Village space. When constructing the main city he had left one third of the area undeveloped, reserved for this space partition.
As for the consumption of sacrificial power for constructing the space, according to Guide’s calculations, it would consume 9,737,200 sacrificial power.
The settings of the new space were similar to those of the Colorful Mist Coast space, providing only a blank-space scene with no additional services.
The only functional building was the Teleportation Plaza that docked with the Emperor’s Mound Village space.
With ample sacrificial power available, the rest was handed over to Yan Ming. He did not need to worry.
Once the space construction was completed, he would launch the next round of recruitment.
This time, 70,000 player slots would be issued externally.
As for player selection, he already had clear alien targets.
At the current stage the player legion already possessed sea and land combat capabilities, but there was an obvious shortcoming in anti-air combat capability.
For the alien players recruited this time, his primary consideration was air combat capability.
Second, he would still take Human players as the core recruitment target.
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