It was so sudden.
[ Hatchlings has been successfully incubated ]
Daniel was surprised. It was too quick. They were only inside them for merely a day yet they were already incubated?
'Open'
He opened Thrisix and reviewed himself.
[ Identity: Adam]
Status: Healthy
Talents: [ Colony Emperor: Adam ]
[ Silent Wrath: Stephen Hanson ] ( locked )
[ Unforeseen Cruelty: Jeremy Wade ] (locked)
Abilities:
[ Colony Emperor: Unique Talent ]
- [ Egg Production ]
- [ Impregnation ]
- [ Parasitic Fluids ]
- [ Path of Evolution ] ( 4 Incubated Eggs )
- [ Seeker's Eyes ]
- [ Monster Body ]
[ Silent Wrath ] ( Locked )
[ Unforeseen Cruelty ] ( Locked )
Skill: [ True Form: Adam ]
Target: [ Herold Juniper] ]
The black translucent screen appeared in front of Daniel. His eyes were focused on [ Path of Evolution ].
'Hatch'
[ Mutation Acquired: (Nameless), It has a sturdy carapace and bipedal stance in walking and running.
(Nameless), More efficient in agility, strength, defense, and magical resistance. ]
The first option was a basic hatchling even with the bipedal walking.
The second option however was a better mutation.
"The first mutation, name it [ Worker ]. The second mutation, name it [ Soldier ]."
[ Path of Evolution: ( Hatchlings: 4 )
- [ Worker: 0 ]
- [ Soldier: 0 ]
With the category set, it was not time for job distribution.
" 2 [ Worker ] and 2 [ Soldier ]."
[ Successfully hatched ]
From their abdomen, small creatures broke out like they were in an egg. The first one to escape began eating the corpse, the same could be said to the others.
The workers locked like a human ant, it stood on two feet and used its arms. Although it was currently smaller than an infant, it was still capable of ripping flesh off. It had two antennae on its head and sharp mandibles on its face.
Soldiers had a more terrifying look, it had no eyes and had a long neck. Its body was like a beast while it had the same head as Daniel. Soldiers walked on all four having their back and front limbs similar to an animal, their paws were covered with chitin and had sharp claws. Their antennae were on his back and long meat-like tendrils flowed out the center of its back.
Crunch
Crunch
Crunch
They were still small but they had a terrifying appetite. The mandibles of the worker hatchling sliced through muscle, tissue, and bones while the soldiers completely ripped through the muscle fibers with force and shredded anything else with their claws.
Although she had a gaping hole in her chest, she was still alive. Turning her head to the left, the female adventure saw the merchant's head being invaded by the worker hatchling. His eyes were being ripped out and on his eat was a waterfall of blood as on the other side of the merchant's head was a large whole to which the second worker hatchling was enjoying the man's brain.
It was gruesome and heartbreaking for the young adventurer. Turning her gaze down, she saw the soldier hatchlings rip through her organs, the only reason she was alive was because of her skill [ Iron Will ] which allowed her to survive any wound as long as her head was intact.
Rip
Crunch
Shedding her last droplets of tears, the young adventurer closed her eyes and remembered her moments when the young merchant asked her to marry him. This entire trip was supposed to be a long journey towards the capital to obtain a marriage certificate.
"I-am... s-so-rrry..."
She whimpered as the soldier hatchling bite her throughout and the second hatchling rips her spinal core in two. Succumbing to death was the only option she had, which she could not accept and only suffered throughout the process.
Daniel was sitting near on top of a crate on the broken wagon. He simply stared at the sight, he found it empty staring at the two people dying. His heart simply no longer had any once of pity for them no matter how much he looked.
On the other, Stephen's soul was shaking. He was the kindest in their group, though he wasn't a morally right man but he would always help not for the "right" reason but for his guilty conscience. And right now, his conscience was very guilty.
[ Estimated time till [ Worker ] and [ Soldier ] hatchlings grow is 8 hours ]
Thrisix's black screen appeared once again.
'Yo Thrisix, Mind if you change from text to speech? it's kinda annoying how you slap that screen in front of our faces.'
[ Host has activated [ Speech ] option ]
A robotic voice, deep and a bit static, echoed in their ears.
'His voice is sexier than mine! What the hell!'
Throughout Jeremy's life, he has never been given kindness other than from Stephen, Daniel, and his family so he never really cared for those who he didn't know. If he could help someone then he will but if he couldn't then he won't. It's this mindset that made him unapproachable to others as they viewed him as cold-blooded.
Perhaps this was why his [ Talent ] was [ Unforeseen Cruelty ]. While unlike the two, he didn't have a problem with anything. If their situation is this then he'll do what is given. Did this make him cold? Or is this a sadistic way of thinking? He concluded that it didn't matter, what mattered was how they'll be surviving and fitting in on this new world.
Moving his view up, Daniel was starring at the night sky once again. This always helped him calm down and hope that it would do the sane to Stephen.
"Isn't the night sky... better here? or is it just me."
The sight of hundreds of tiny twinkling stars and the endless space will always be extraordinary.
'...it is. It's clearer and brighter.'
People would argue if the universe was larger than what they can observe. Some might even say it's endless or even saying that it's all conspiracy made by the government. But no one would argue that the cosmos was truly beautiful.
After their faithful or unfaithful encounter, Daniel wanted to know what the vast space held. What creatures, religion, or mythology were real. Were atheists wrong? Were the Christians right? Was the Norse mythology real? Everything is unanswered until one knew everything.
Hours passed by as thinking to themselves gave more questions than answers.
**
It was barely dawn as the moon was beginning to rest on the horizon. Daniel was still staring at the sky until he was interrupted.
[ Hatchlings are now fully grown ]
Unlike the black box that always appeared in his view, a robotic voice now came and informed him.
Jumping down from the crate he was sitting down at he came at the sight of four monsters. A humanoid being with an ant-like body. It had two main arms and two sub arms, two legs, and antennae, and a thick carapace. They were slightly slouched and had their posture similar to a human.
As for the other one, they were standing on all four. Unlike the first two, these two had no insect-like mutations and looked like wild beasts. It had a body similar to a liger (Lion Tiger hybrid) standing almost 3 meters tall. It had a tail and a long flesh-like tendril on its back as well as two antennae from where the tendril started. Its paws had sharp and ragged claws, while the paw itself was surrounded by a thick carapace. Its head a still blank except for a mouth that reached to where its neck should be. There was no fur on it, only thick hide and flesh making it look disgusting.
Staring at the monsters, Daniel was surprised at how big they got. The workers were as big as a normal man and the soldier was as big as 2 meters.
[ Host has obtained ability [ Colony Nest ]
"Explain."
[ Colony Nest: An ability that grants the user a sub-dimension that can only store fully grown hatchlings. ]
"Huh. Pretty useful."
With his new ability, he can store an infinite army hypothetically. This would lessen the hassle of having an army at your side 24/7.
'Thrisix, do we have an inventory?'
[ I am only here to inform you of your power and strength. I have no ability similar to what the host has asked ]
It would have been helpful to store large amounts of items in a limitless dimension where they can take or put any object in.
He didn't know how to activate his new ability but this was an [ Ability ] and not a [ Skill ]. Raising his left hand and pointing it in a random direction, Daniel willed a portal into reality.
Space began to become distorted, a twisting vortex appeared where Daniel pointed at.
"Go in except for you., Daniel instructed that both worker and soldier would enter the [ Colony Nest ]. It wasn't hard to activate the ability as his instincts guided him on what to do. As for the [ Worker ] and [ Soldier ], they followed their ruler's command.
Daniel needed a form of transportation, and he wasn't going to use his feet for a long journey. Instead, he'll a [ Soldier ] to be his mount for now.
"Never learned horseback riding but ill give it a try."
You sure you can control it?
' 'Is that even considered horseback riding anymore?'
Before Daniel could take a step, the [ Soldier ] walked towards him and used its tendril to grab and place Daniel on its back gently. Once he was on his back the monster run straight towards Daniel's ideal direction.
It was fast and swift but thankfully the monster's tendril held Daniel tight on its back without a problem.
"Sheesh, it's fast!"
'Wooaahhhhh!!!!'
Jeremy was enjoying the ride, he couldn't control the body but he could use the five senses and the feeling of the air crashing on Daniel's face can be felt by both Jeremy and Stephen.
Enjoyable as it was, Daniel could feel the [ Soldier ] getting tired out. It merely ran for only a couple of minutes but its speed was comparable to that of a cheetah.
"Easy boy, take it slow."
Tapping the side of its neck and giving it a command the monster stop and began to walk instead of run.
Sunlight shined through the leaves and shot their view, beautiful chirping of birds in the morning echoed throughout the forest, and the remains of a couple with a broken wagon to the side were left behind.
Ch: End