The Brood.
Swarm-type monster. Threat level depends on the Brood's size, a mature Brood is a galaxy extermination level threat. Capable of interstellar travel. Extremely efficient in propagating.
The number of Broods are few and any newly discovered juvenile Brood is a priority one extermination target. Currently, there are only six recorded mature broods. Every Brood is different from the other, their tendril and black sludge is the only two traits they all share. The color of their tendril is the mark of their respective broods. A matriarchal tribe with a Queen as the ruler and life of the Brood.
We do not know where they come from or how they came to be. All we know is that they are insatiable locusts and a threat to all living beings in the universe, even to the same race. We have observed two rare incidents where two juvenile Broods fought and consumed each other.
In our first encounter with one of the mature Brood, the Red Brood, they devoured a planet clean. Animals, monsters, people, nothing with flesh and blood was spared. They devour anything that can be turned into biomass. Even the planet was consumed by their organic spaceship.
The encounters with other recorded juvenile or mature Broods all end in destruction and extinction.
They are a destructive pest and the cancer of the universe.
We thought they came into being at the Emergence just like all the other monsters. But our research proves that they already exist far before the Emergence. Along with a few other ancient monsters.
As for why we never know them before the Emergence or why they only become active after the Emergence, it is still in research.
-Excerpt from "Report on the Brood", Azuberius Ludus, Monster Research Association.
Black…
All I see is darkness…
I can't open my eyes. I try moving my body but I seem to be inside a tightly closed place.
This place…
I am inside...
Information abruptly flooded my mind.
This is inside my egg.
Yes, I am a worker.
I am born to serve the brood.
I move my body once more. I need to get out and do my duty. I stretch my arm toward the exit and pull myself out. The egg opened and I came out.
Propping myself up with my trembling limbs, my heavy eyelids slowly opened and I laid my eyes on the world for the first time.
The nest is dark, the only lighting is the yellow light from the energy vein. I look around and see my siblings, some already out and some still coming out from their eggs.
They had the same shape as I do. Black skin that shines. A strong jaw and sharp teeth. Our body looks tough with muscular limbs and a whip-like tail. White-colored tendril. And also, I look at my Bone Blade. The blade is long and razor-sharp.
I swing it around, it's fast and flexible.
I opened my status to check myself.
Species: Brood Worker
Core LV: 1
Strength: 13
Vitality: 11
Intelligence: 34
Agility: 12
HP: 25/25
EN: 30/30
Strain: Eyes LV1, Tendril LV1, Arm LV1, Bone Blade LV1, Legs LV1, Body LV1, Tails LV1, Black Sludge Gland LV1
BioMass: 0
While I'm admiring myself, someone calls me in my mind.
"Children."
A warm voice, I turn toward the voice and I see a silhouette which slowly becomes clear.
It is her.
Mother.
Adoration fills my heart, my mind and soul screams telling me that it is my duty to serve and protect her with my life.
"Come, children."
I answered her call and got closer to Mother, and so did all my siblings. Mother drops the carcass in her hand as she kneels and rubs our head one by one with a smile.
Her hand is warm and I like it when she rubs my head. But I wonder why Mother looks surprised when she rubs my head? Is something wrong with me? But I look the same as my siblings and my status doesn't have any problems either.
I checked myself once again but then I heard Mother chuckles.
"It's okay. You are fine, child."
My mother rubs my head again, then her hair moves and touches our head. I feel gentle energy flow into my head.
This is… a mind link.
Mother is linking my mind with her and also with the other siblings. My tendril that was originally white turns yellow just like Mother's, it is a mark. The mark of our brood.
"Mother, can you hear me?"
I tried talking to Mother using the mind link.
"I can, child."
Mother answers me with a smile.
She then stands up and takes a core from the carcass and swallows it. She looks at us.
"Now, feed children and grow strong."
With Mother's orders, my siblings and I devour the carcass mother brought. It's a blue-skinned creature. Information suddenly appears in my head when I take the first bite but I ignore it.
The sensation of tearing the flesh and gulping it down…
Ah… the sweet taste of biomass. I like it. I want more.
I eat faster and faster. Flesh, blood, bones, I eat them all. I can't stop. I even fight my sibling for the last piece of bone, which I won in the end. When the carcass is gone, I don't feel full yet. Mother chuckles.
"Go, children. Go and fight. There are many prey outside, devour them all. Then you will grow strong. And bring prey back for the brood. But all of you need to come back alive."
My siblings and I are excited. Prey! Food! Biomass! We also feel fuzzy from Mother's word.
"Kill!"
"Eat!"
We ran outside and saw the world spread in front of us. Blue sky, white mountain, we ignore everything else and go straight to searching for prey.
We move together and find our first prey. It is a group of red balls of fur but we aren't afraid. Maybe we are too fast for them, their reaction is slow. At the front of the group, I thrust my blade and stab the red ball nearest to me. My blade stabbed deep but didn't kill it at once.
"KIIEE!"
The red ball shrieks and struggles to release itself from me but I won't let it. My other blade thrust forward and stabbed at the red ball in the face. The resistance stops and the red ball goes limp.
[You have slain Pringos, you gain EXP!]
I grab the Pringos and take a bite.
….Ah, I like it! I love the taste of biomass! I want more! Different from the chewy meat from before, this one is softer.
[You have devoured…
[Pringos...
I quickly devour the Pringos and look if there are any Pringos left. My other siblings are still fighting, there's one fighting two. I run at them with my blade ready to attack. My sibling is cornered by the Pringos combine attack, then there comes me.
I stab one the Pringos, this time the Pringos dodge. Irritated, the Pringos changed its target to me. Now that it becomes a one-on-one, the previously cornered sibling of mine, gains the advantage. I pull the Pringos away to create some distance with the others before fighting it. The Pringos only have to attack, body ram or bite, but coupled with their decent speed it is kind of hard to deal with one, not to mention two.
I found a chance while dodging and thrust my blade, it hit the Pringos in its head. The Pringos stop moving in an instant. I look at the Pringos and poke it, it doesn't react. It died so easily? Is it because I hit its head? I devour the Pringos while thinking about it.
My siblings each got a Pringos to eat plus the meat from before, we feel a bit stuffy. Not to mention me, who ate two. So, we take a short rest. While resting, I opened my status, I got six biomass after all the eating. I wonder how I should spend it?
I look at my Bone Blade extending from my back. Hmm, yes, let's upgrade. I want to be able to kill more efficiently. Then I would be able to eat more!
[Use 5 biomass to upgrade Bone Blade to LV3?]
Yes.
My Bone Blade feels warm. I look at it and find no change in appearance but I feel it is sharper and more powerful. I can't wait to test it.
We resume our hunt, we walk around the forest, searching for prey with our sight and hearing. It is hard to navigate inside the forest, the trees all look the same. Thankfully, we are connected to Mother, we can feel where she is as long as we are not too far from her. With this, we will know where the nest is.
I lead the pack and finally encounter another group of Pringos. The group is bigger than the last one, there are about 15 Pringos in the group. This is too much. I want to change prey but my siblings are already impatient and charge forward. Alerting the Pringos.
Can't help it. I move to the front and leap to the nearest Pringos. My blade rises and falls for a stab. My blade pierced the Pringos head and it died instantly. I feel that my Bone Blade has a bit more power after the upgrade. My siblings rush past me and fight the other Pringos. I hold the carcass with one hand and see if any of my siblings need help.
There is a bit of improvement in the way they fight, it seems they also upgrade their strain. I see one sibling is having a bit of a hard time fighting two Pringos, so I help him.
Hidden behind my sibling figure, I manage to get close without being noticed as the Pringos are focused solely on my sibling. When my sibling dodged to the side, avoiding the rushing Pringos, I thrust my blade.
The Pringos can't stop and my Blade easily dug deep into its head. So, hitting the head will kill them in one hit. I wonder if it applies to another monster? I'll check it out later.
Holding one is fine, but two are too heavy and make it hard to move. I bring the carcass with me and drop it somewhere near a tree. I look around again for siblings that might need help.
I see something curious. One of my siblings is fighting two Pringos and while he had some wounds, it doesn't look like he is losing.
He doesn't use his blade and bashes the Pringos with his arm. The Pringos bite him but he guards with his Bone Blade and it seems they can only cause minor injuries. Did he upgrade his body? And that arm power, did he also upgrade his arm?
Since he can handle it, I look elsewhere but it seems there is none, but as soon as I thought that, a Pringos leap for a bite at me. Caught off guard, I stab at it in panic and miss my aim. I crossed my arm and he Pringos bite my arm...
It hurts!
I bite it and pry the Pringos off of me, slamming it to the ground. It took a bit of my flesh as I pry it off by force. In a rage, I hold it down and stab it over and over until the Pringos become a messy pile of flesh.
The fight soon comes to an end. I devour the three Pringos and feel bloated. I want to eat more but my stomach is too full.
"Prey, search."
"Go, eat prey."
The pack began to move again but I didn't follow them and rest my body. I licked my wound, it still stings but the blood stops already.
I gain another six biomass plus one leftover biomass, I now have seven. I short just two more to upgrade my Bone Blade to LV5. After I didn't feel bloated anymore, I began searching for prey again.
As I walk, I hear the sound of a shriek and rapid footsteps. I look at the source with my blade wind up, ready to attack. A creature rushed at me. It leaps and tries to kick me but I quickly dodge to the side. The creature's feet fall heavily on the ground.
It's big, bigger than me. The creature is covered in scales, it stands on its hind legs and has two small arms. Its tail is thicker than mine. The red creature shrieks at me after I dodge it. Inside the beak are a row of sharp teeth.
The creature attacked again but this time it tried to peck me, I ducked and slash its stomach, carving a long wound. The creature howled in pain, it turns and swings its tail at me. I hastily put up a guard and crossed my arm, the tail hit and fling me away.
It hurt a lot more than the Pringos bite. I feel it all over my body. The creature came at me once more, it lifted its feet and tried to stomp me. I rolled to the side, the creature's tail moved. I rolled again and the tail fell beside me.
I stand up and leap the creature. I latch on its back and stab my blade deep into its body. The creature struggled furiously but I bit down on it for more hold. I hold on for dear life, my claws dug into the creature's skin.
The creature struggled more furiously, it turned its head and tried to bite me. But it can't reach me. I stab again and again. The creature's struggle slowly weakens. Until finally, it slumps to the ground. It is still breathing but powerless.
I move closer to its head and stab it. The creature jumps once before going limp. Attacking the head will kill a monster in one hit.
[You have slain LV1 Linoprey, you gain EXP!]
I am tired.
My body is still hurting from the attack. I opened status and my HP is reduced to 11. I look at the Linoprey carcass and take a bite.
[You have devoured LV1 Linoprey]
[Linoprey]
[Scaled bipedal monster with strong legs and stamina. A solitary hunter that only hunts something smaller than it.
Other than its legs that can deal significant damage, watch out for its tail.]
[You gain 1 biomass!]
[You gain 1 biomass!]
I only ate the tail and I gained two biomass. Is it because it's big or because it's stronger than me? I looked at the rest of the carcass but decided not to eat and bring it back to the nest. Mother will like it.
I drag the heavy body of the Linoprey back to the nest. It was tiring and hard but I managed to reach the nest. I drag the prey to Mother.
"Mother, I bring back Biomass."
Mother rubbed my head from the throne and smiled.
"Good child. You did great."
I feel fuzzy from Mother's praise. She stands up from her throne and reaches out for the Linoprey and takes out its core before swallowing it.
She then began devouring the rest of the Linoprey. I look at Mother as I upgrade my Bone Blade.
[Use 9 biomass to upgrade Bone Blade to LV5?]
Yes.
[You have reached the maximum level of this strain, please go back to your egg to mutate it.]
I go behind Mother's throne and find my egg. I climb into it. The information in my head tells me that I need to go back inside my egg every time I want to evolve my strain or myself. The egg is like my personal chamber.
When the egg closes, my status opens on its own with a new window in front of it.
[Please pick the mutation for the Bone Blade.]
Another window opens and it is loaded with choices. Looking at the choice, there are all kinds of bone blades. Fire Bone Blade, Poisonous Bone Blade, to name a few. Evolution also provides me with a stats bonus. I even see a choice that will transform the Bone Blade into something different entirely.
Blunt Bone Blade, which turns the Bone Blade into a rod. And Fist Bone, if I pick this, my Bone Blade will turn into a sphere. Like a bone in the shape of a ball. I think a certain sibling of mine will be interested in it.
I scroll down the list, looking at all the names makes me want all of it. But I can only pick one. If it's like that, then I want something simple but effective. I don't want the element one since according to the text its effectiveness will fall when used against the opposite element.
Poisonous is kind of tempting but has the same problem as the element one, it is weak against others with poison resistance. There's also a choice to turn my Bone Blade into Steel Blade or other metals but it seems a little waste. Such little change, the information in my head tells me that I can do that when I evolve later.
Now that I think about it, the information in my head is quite detailed, isn't it? It tells me about myself, the brood, and many more. And it feels like it etched deep in me, down to my very core. I wonder if Mother and all my siblings have it too?
Wait, can it tell me how to be strong and more useful to the brood? Let's see.
Hmm… I see…
According to the information in my head, champions are absolutely needed for a brood. Champions are the strongest members of the brood, even stronger than Mother. Their duty is to protect the brood and to seize resources for the brood.
My eyes twinkled brightly. So cool! Champion is so cool! I want to be a champion! I want to protect my mother and my siblings! I want to make my brood the strongest there is!
But, there is nothing about how to grow into a champion in the information in my head. So frustrating!
It only says that if I kill and eat a lot, I will become a champion. So vague.
Oh well, I just need to try my best. I'll definitely become one!
A champion!
Back to the list of evolution, I search again. Whip Bone Blade, no. Savage Bone Blade, hmm, tempting. Barb Bone Blade, this one looks promising but not now. Ah, this looks good!
[Conductive Bone Blade]
[Energy of all kinds flows more easily into the blade and reduces the energy loss. The blade becomes sharper and tougher when energy flows inside it.]
[Energy +10 Intelligence+2 Strength+2]
[You choose Conductive Bone Blade, confirm?]
Yes, I pick this! It's simple but powerful! It also gives me energy, strength and Intelligence, it's perfect! My egg trembles and forms the egg's wall, black sludge surges. It wraps my Bone Blade completely and foreign energy flows into my Bone Blade. I can feel my whole Bone Blade is changing.
So this is mutation.