Before entering the Barrier, they held a tournament between each other to decide who will be the leader. It was one by Nomak.
Cyrus was rather busy dealing with another fact that he didn't realize that the Larva's he sent out started to eat up each other's to lvl up, but they were caped at Stage 2. Looked at them, Cyrus was somewhat surprised.
System why are they fighting?
[They try to reach the impossible stage 3]
Wait, impossible?
[Host your Larva are stage restricted they can only go as far as stage 2 unless Host evolves to stage 5 they can't reach stage 3, stage 3 would be the most remarkable evolution so far as they could finally reproduce on their own]
Oh, while Cyrus wasn't looking, his kids have already entered the Barrier.
.....
Passing through the Barrier, a dense forest appeared before them.
"This place is just like what father has said, filled with a huge amount of Essence." Said Nomak as he sat down and began cultivating.
Soon 15 more larvas entered just behind them. As they were carrying Cyrus' blood, they were already superior to them as such. Each one followed orders.
Learning from their father's mistakes, each of them held back their bloodlust and presence that would usually represent their might.
"Khensa, take your larva's and scout our surroundings; father said that the first group that he sent in was killed. There must be a reason for that." Explained Meru.
"Alright, I'm on it." Said Khensa and disappeared with her 3 larva's.
"In the meantime, everyone else hides. We should wait a few days to make sure we are safe before starting bigger movements!"
Instead of rampaging, they hid first under trees, in holes and bushes in the surroundings to see if there were people nearby.
After a day of waiting, nobody has come, and soon even Khensa came back.
"Did you find out anything?"
"Yes, we seem to be in a kingdom's territory in name, but the people I followed said that this was a forbidden zone open for hunting. Also, they mentioned that only cultivators could enter." Said Khensa eagerly as she wanted to kill so badly.
"Alright, Necho, go fight with your sister."
"Why me? Ask Nissa!"
"I have another job for her, so go."
"Sigh... Fine, sister, be gentle I'm begging you!"
With that, the 2 of them left to a nearby cave the other could faintly hear Meru's screams.
"So what do you need from me, brother Nomak?
"Go gather some food for us; we will get hungry eventually!"
"Okay, I will try my best!" With that, Nissa also left, leaving Nomak and Meru together.
"What do you think, brother, should we build houses or live in caves?" Asked Nomak from Meru.
"Neither. If we want to avoid being seen, for now, we should start digging tunnels; it's the best solution for a suitable home." Said Meru with a concerned tone. "We should also cover the entrance with something or hide it; if we want to breach it further, we need to avoid being found!"
"Good brother, I knew you would come up with some great ideas!" Said Nomak as both of them has got to work.
Even after they were sure that nobody has come, they didn't stay in the open within a day; they managed to make a small but usable tunnel system; for now, it was excellent as only the 20 of them were staying there.
As their numbers were few, they didn't overdo it, created living places for the twenty of them with two entrances and two emergency exits, each were hid carefully.
For the next five years, this will be where they stay; if nothing goes wrong, they could increase their wisdom about formations and create a higher entry for their kin.
...
Meanwhile, Cyrus has returned to the palace at home to look at what the children are doing. As usual, the place changed once more as they had nothing but time; they further decorated the city and created additional villages, walking around Cyrus entered the lower levels where he could see entirely dug tunnels.
There were also five new villages on the smaller islands; each looked more beautiful than the previous as their skills became better and better. He also found giant storage rooms filled with different minerals, they were pretty much useless for them, but they still put it away for later use.
What the system said was correct. Most children were initially in the larva stage; the Hell Sea was quiet as everyone was evolving.
Seeing that nothing unusual has happened, he turned back his attention to his main body and decided to enter a period of sleep until Cyra finished and became a stage 2.
The other reason for sleep was because he had no interest in stalking the five little kids either. He had his life. They had theirs what he needed to know about them he already knew.
...…
After the central consciousness has left, Cyra began the refining process.
Cyra was enveloped by purple lightning. It was the signal that her evolution from stage 1 to stage 2 has begun.
The bed, together with the furniture everything was vaporized in a matter of seconds. In the meantime, The phenomenon levitated Cyra.
The phenomenon was caused by a magnetic phenomenon caused by the lightning and the steel-plated floor.
Even with her techniques became useless, the materials she gathered so far were still present.
What the actual refinement required was simple in needed an immersive amount of Essence.
The creation was relatively simple as it could be. Cyra summoned out her 1st Halo in one hand while holding the 10th Halo in the other.
While the 1st Halo started slowly spinning, the 10th was crushed and melted into the first.
Within a year, the Essence from the surrounding three levels has entirely disappeared, and the 1st Halo started to resemble a sphere.
In the 5th year, Cyra drew most of the Essence from the surroundings, and even other beings could feel the change.
Meanwhile, in Cyra's right hand, the 1st Halo has transformed into the first Sphere that was faintly flashed from time to time.
Then she guided the Sphere alongside her body until it found a suitable spot to enter.
After a flash of light, the 1st Sphere entered her body right below her neck, leaving behind a golden mark of yellow on her skin.
She could quickly summon in and out with just a thought of her mind.
The sixth-year was spent with selection as even the system has entered a periodic sleep; as such. Cyra had to look at her recourses manually.
To create the 2nd Sphere, the 9th Halo was sacrificed together with half of her black liquid.
Surprisingly it contained enough energy for two spheres.
Fifteen years after the second Sphere was also fully formed similarly to the 1st, it went inside Cyra back.
She formed the 3rd Sphere after consuming the 8th Halo and the remaining black liquid within 20 years.
The 4th Sphere was formed by crushing the 5th Halo and using up all the Essence Crystals she could find.
By doing so, it was the fastest as she only had to hold the storage rings, and her body directed the Essence from them towards the Sphere.
Within a year, it was formed entirely and joined the other 3.
The 5th Sphere was the hardest of all as she used the Essence from the surroundings and other junk-like items that she had previously not used.
Even the stored blood was used up .to create the 5th Sphere after 40 years, finally.
Meanwhile, outside, only roughly a little more than half a year has passed.
.....
During these half a year, Cyrus wasn't able to sleep as something was bugging him.
While Cyra was trying to breakthrough, Cyrus spent most of his time researching the evolution hive.
Even with his newfound wisdom regarding humans, he was still no closer to his goals, what's even more, he seemed to be shifting away from his original path.
As countermeasures, he started to throw the newly born trash larva into dangerous and deadly environments that they had to survive. Even if the place they had landed wasn't too deadly, the planet had all sorts of food shortages. As such, they had to fight for every last drop of biomass.
Cyrus learned another evolutionary trait; few have changed whenever the larvae were on the brink of death.
But this change came at a cost; this had to be paid as such whenever he looked at these newly evolved Larva's, there was one fundamental difference every single time.
They had aged, something that he and most of his children were missing. The system called this the ultimate sacrifice, the last stand for survival [Rapid Evolution].
He was able to discover this after understanding Cyra's survival instinct, and such as after understanding it, his children were able to use it.
With [Rapid Evolution], he has created yet another strain that could be much more successful for invasions. Also, this would solve the overpopulation somewhat.
They were so far the unique strain that he had managed to create; the system capped each larva stage at stage 2, they were unable to reach higher stages similarly to his other Larva's.
But they made a fair trade for survival and power. The new strain was able to gain mutations. They were thrown into any environment and be combat-ready in seconds.
[Grade: Trash]
[Stage: 0]
[Name: - ]
[Race: - ]
[Gender: Male]
[Int: 1]
[Str: 1]
[E: 1]
[H: 0]
[Ability: Rapid Evolution]
[Mutations:
-[Slim: Prevents limbs development was caused by an unknown virus that the Larva has caught]
-[Cold Vision: additional four pairs of eyes has grown +200% Int]
[Evolution Path]
-[Larva]
-[Lightning Ling] {as the name suggests they are swift and great hunters}
-[Glass Ling] {The name of this evolution comes from the fact that they are capable of breaking off their body parts to fake injuries or avoid being captured they also possess high regeneration capabilities}
As for the other, it was similarly useful for the environment inside the Barrier.
[Grade: Trash]
[Stage: 0]
[Name: - ]
[Race: - ]
[Gender: Male]
[Int: 1]
[Str: 1]
[E: 1]
[H: 0]
[Ability: Rapid Evolution]
[Mutations:
-[Feathers: After eating the remains of a bird, it grew two pairs of wins]
-[Scream: a low screaming that is mostly undetectable by most predators]
[Evolution Path]
-[Larva]
-[Feathered Ling] {Feathers grown on its body, largely resembles a common bird, a big bird}
-[Flying Ling] {No, comment}
They were necessary because even though he could look inside the Barrier, The sects hid some places from his eyes.
Thus he knew close to nothing about the state of the stage 4 Essence that was inside the Barrier; his only information was that it existed there, nothing more, nothing less.
He planned to send in these newly created Larva's with the next wave and let them race with each other to find out who is the more superior in human environments.
.....
After exiting her cultivation, the ship hologram has directly appeared before her.
"There have been some changes, and I need your help!"
"What happened?"
"The prisoners had managed to access another stasis chamber, and their numbers have drastically risen, from the previous 10 000 years. I esteemed that they will only need 2500 years to reach the higher decks!"
"So, what do you want me to do?"
"Kill and hunt them down?"
"What's in it for me?"
"Higher rank meaning higher control over date and me."
"Okay, I will do it!"
"Excellent!"
"When do we start?"
"Now!"
Within seconds Cyra was directly sucked out of her room; she reached the ship's core in less than 2 minutes.
The core section was the most reinforced area of the ship. It was still perfectly intact and was wholly separated from the rest of the ship by a double barrier that could only be entered or left from the top 500 floors.
Upon arrival, Cyra opened three military chests; the first contained a bracelet containing a map and a teleportation mark, and useful information. It also showed her rank as a Tier 0 Adept.
The second chest had WX_Z999_DXF_Nova_Drive that could be plugged into the bracelet; once Cyra plugged it in, it's Tier by 1 Cyra gained access to most of the places inside the lower decks.
The third chest had a pistol; upon picking it up, the system has displayed it's full details as it learned a lot from the bracelet.
[Name: RF3 (Raptor Fang) ]
[History: The RF3 Raptor Fang, also known as the Shredder, is a compact military defense weapon designed and manufactured by the Eternal Union at the Dax Nebula]
[Created in response to EUE, also known as Eternal Unified Empire requests for a replacement for Elysian firearms, the RF3 was designed as a compact but powerful firearm.]
[Featuring a compact a simple pistol design with a reflex iron sight, the RF3 is an unconventional weapon with an easily customizable appearance.]
[Caliber: 10 mm]
[Capacity: 3 Round Magazine]
[Operation: Rapid fires the three bullets within a second with 0.3-second delays]
[Rate of Fire: 6 RPM because the RF3 becomes rather hot after each firing and need time to cool off]
After picking up everything, a light push came from behind, and Cyra began falling downwards.
Each floor's energy barrier separated each floor; it was a one-way ticket as she was allowed to enter but couldn't live unless she had high enough military rank.
Soon Cyra appeared on the lowest floor. She didn't do anything and instead has entered stealth and looked at her stats.
[Status]
[Name] [Cyra]
[Title] [Adept]
[Race] [Prime Human]
[Variant] [Acanoid-QDW]
[Driving force: Greed,Discord,Pride]
[Gender: Female]
[Bloodline] [Nidhogg]
[Int: 100.00] +2000% -> 2000.00
[Str: 100.00] +5000% -> 5 000.00
[E: 100.10] +1000% -> 1 000.00
[Halos] -> [Spheres]
[1st Sphere: Host can fly without limits]
[2nd Sphere Host can use the Grand Aura of reflection it can reflect 90% of the incoming Essence that originate from hostile individuals, this also means -90% Essence for incoming Essence strength, also complete invisibility]
[3rd Sphere Host Control over the body drastically increased, and Force Control is now capable of releasing Forced Presence when more than 60% of the body strength used.]
[4th Sphere, The book of earth, has drastically increased its storage capacity and can hold a smaller Villa inside]
[5th Sphere: The light wing sand sharpness has increased even further, capable of cutting up minerals and even lighter than air]
[System Side note: I think it worth mentioning that because of the QDW, the moment Host defeats an enemy Host consumes their Essence but this will increase Intelligence, Strength, and Essence]
Moving forward, it didn't take long for Cyra to encounter the first prisoner. To her surprise, her opponent seemed to be using an assault rifle.
Moving closer, she was instantly detected by a small portable sonar, and the big guy fired 60 rounds towards her position.
Cyra dodged a bullet that could have killed her and quickly retreated and observed from a distance.
"Wow, I can't believe I have missed. It looks like I'm getting older. I can't even take care of the guard's dog!"
With that said the man, disappeared into a seemingly empty room.
"Ship, didn't you said there is no teleportation in the lower decks?!"
"There isn't."
"Than where did he go?"
"Storage, as you might have guessed, the cultivators and the Eternal Union are an equally powerful faction; it's only normal that if they can create realms, we can also create livable sub-spaces."
"I don't like where this conversation is going…"