As time passed, Xu Luo's divine realm continued to shrink, but his power steadily grew. Despite not acquiring new genes or species, he had significantly increased his faith power and enhanced his existing Zerg.
With enough faith power, the strength of his creatures could be rapidly increased.
Zerg don't train; they only grow stronger by integrating new genes, consuming other creatures' flesh, or directly using faith power.
With a time ratio of ten to one between the divine realm and the real world, one day in reality equated to ten days in the divine realm, offering Xu Luo substantial advantages over time.
After accumulating resources, Xu Luo spent thirty thousand faith power on a small resource card—an iron mine. This allowed his Zerg to consume the minerals, increasing their defense slightly and providing mayflies with a source of evolution points. He also spent fifty thousand faith power to advance the Zerg Queen to the Silver tier.
- Zerg Queen : Leader of the Zerg, capable of laying eggs and mentally linking with the entire swarm for control.
- Rank : Bronze tier-nine (Lord level)
- Skill : Egg Laying (100/day)
That was the original attribute. Upon advancement, Xu Luo chose to increase the number of eggs rather than their quality. The Zerg's individual strength was inherently weaker than other species of the same tier, so focusing on numbers was more cost-effective.
- Zerg Queen : Leader of the Zerg, capable of laying eggs and mentally linking with the entire swarm for control.
- Rank : Silver tier-one (Lord level)
- Skills : Egg Laying (500/day), Iron Body, Protect!
- Faith : 500/day
The egg production increased fivefold, enabling Xu Luo to accumulate more eggs.
Currently, Xu Luo had five thousand Jumping Bugs, five thousand Armored Bugs, and two thousand Acid Bugs.
He remembered obtaining two gene types from Xiang Yang's divine realm but had forgotten about them until the Overlord System reminded him.
Jumping Bugs could evolve into Mantis Bugs by integrating Sawtooth Grass, and Armored Bugs could become Beetles with snail genes.
The evolution required ten faith points per bug. Lacking sufficient faith power, Xu Luo evolved only a portion initially.
Though daily evolution points consumption increased, so did the faith power income.
Two thousand Acid Bugs generated twelve thousand faith points daily, while one thousand Mantis Bugs (Bronze tier-five) provided five points each, totaling five thousand. Armored Bugs (Bronze tier-four) would provide four points each, but for now, there were none. The remaining nine thousand bugs contributed nine hundred points, plus the Queen's five hundred points, giving Xu Luo over eighteen thousand faith points daily.
In reality, this translated to one hundred eighty thousand faith points.
With this boost, Xu Luo felt it was time to take further action.
The Zerg needed vast resources and diverse genes, which couldn't always be bought. Sometimes, they had to be taken by force.
As an ordinary person, Xu Luo had to rely on himself to gain everything.
He decided to become an invader, targeting other novices who had recently established their divine realms.
Newbie divine realms served as "starter villages" for novice deities. After ten years, one could leave or choose to stay for protection. However, most wouldn't leave early.
Xu Luo preferred not to raid fellow humans, so he filtered out human targets when selecting opponents.
After accumulating enough, with his strengthened Zerg and the Queen's enhanced abilities, Xu Luo used a search card costing ten thousand faith power to find a suitable target.
The search card could locate another divine realm. Most avoided using it, as it was wasted if the target refused to battle. Early on, the differences weren't vast, making forced invasions rare.
Xu Luo, however, was confident.
With ten thousand Beetles, ten thousand Mantis Bugs, and ten thousand Acid Bugs, all advanced to tier-nine, his Zerg generated twenty-seven thousand faith points daily. Despite his realm shrinking by a third, he deemed the accumulation worthwhile.
The search card dissolved into light, expanding Xu Luo's consciousness beyond his realm, scanning the void until drawn to a distant point.
[Divine realm detected. Initiate invasion?]
Found it! Xu Luo was thrilled and confirmed.
Both being novices, their realms had only been open for about a week, equating to two months in the World of Gods. They couldn't be very powerful.
[Target is distant. Constructing a portal will cost 12,000 faith points.]
Xu Luo hesitated but agreed. Necessary investments couldn't be avoided.
Desiring stronger Zerg, despite reaching Bronze tier-nine, they lacked skills. Proper resources were needed to enhance their abilities.
Waiting three days to become a god was pointless. Without power, he'd be the weakest deity, ridiculed by even average demigods.
He needed more than just Bronze creatures; even having Gold ones was essential.
With just Bronze creatures in limited numbers, he couldn't justify becoming a god. Success in igniting the divine fire wouldn't guarantee a powerful divine kingdom or recognition in the star realms.
Xu Luo aimed to be a formidable novice deity, not the weakest. He couldn't settle for less.
A contract has been sent. You can safely invest now.