Ch.267Harvest (1)

“Yes. She hasn’t arrived yet. Yes. Yes. I’ll be ready. Goodbye.”

The diamond-shaped Monolith floating in the air went dark and slowly fell to the floor. After confirming it had stopped working, Cynthia disconnected the wires attached to it.

“Phew.”

After a brief sigh, she picked up an apple sitting on the luxurious table.

Apple. This fruit originating from Earth is currently only cultivated in Mars’ biodomes. Once an extremely common fruit in the distant past, it has now become something that cannot be easily tasted unless one is wealthy.

Cynthia casually took a bite of this precious fruit. The sweetness filling her mouth, the slight tartness and freshness that tingled her tongue. Someone who had never tasted an apple before might have been quite moved.

But her emotions were different.

Cynthia came from a world where this red fruit could be commonly seen. Back in that world, her unreturnable homeland, she used to enjoy eating this fruit.

The sweetness she was tasting now was the flavor of nostalgia.

‘…It’s not far off.’

In this world, there are others who share her experience. Once numbering dozens, they say, but now only a few outsiders remain. Accordingly, most of the various factions that once existed have disappeared, and currently only three factions remain.

Among them, she belongs to the “Dominators,” a faction of outsiders who wish to remain here and rule over inferior beings. It’s a faction primarily composed of intelligent beings with advanced civilizations such as Megacorp, Star Union, and Cult.

But Cynthia harbors a secret that even her faction colleagues don’t know.

‘When the person he arranged arrives here, this role will end.’

Since coming to this world, she has never once thought about wanting to remain. If she could return to her homeland, she would do anything.

Even if that meant killing other outsiders, that is, “human” players, or deceiving them.

Holding the apple, she walked out onto the elaborately decorated terrace. The panorama of the space fortress spread out beneath her feet.

One side was dazzlingly bright with artificial light created by countless shops, while the other side was covered in darkness without a single point of light. Above her head, a collapsed mining planet reflected light as it looked down upon the fortress.

Cynthia couldn’t feel any emotion looking at the scenery of Kesha Arma, which might be better described as awe-inspiring rather than beautiful.

‘Just bits of data…’

The real name of the faction Cynthia belongs to is the “Returners.” A group whose goal is to clear the game and return to their homeland.

After briefly gazing at the city, she clicked her tongue and went back inside.

If she had stayed there even a little longer, she would surely have noticed.

That black smoke was rising from the dark area where there was no light.

–

‘It’s over.’

I picked up someone’s severed ankle and tossed it into my mouth.

‘Who would have thought they’d have a communication system operating on a closed circuit.’

Due to the psychic power No. 26 had laid down, all wireless communication in this underground storage facility was completely blocked. I had been feeling secure about that, but I didn’t expect the pirates to have installed an EMP-proof wired communication network.

‘If it had connected to the outside, things would have gotten annoying.’

Fortunately, it was only set up for communication between the five zones within the underground storage. It seems they didn’t extend communications to the outside, probably due to cost.

‘They probably didn’t think this place would get hit either.’

This is a space guarded by over a hundred mercenaries, hundreds of androids, and double-shielded doors over 1m thick. No pirate would think this place could be breached unless a war broke out.

‘Unless it’s a monster easily exceeding 20m in size.’

Who would have imagined a giant monster would come to raid the storage facility, breaking through 1m thick doors one by one?

In fact, before coming here, I personally broke through the shielded doors at the storage entrance and Zone A. Currently, I have a trait that allows me to easily penetrate even very thick doors.

‘Enhanced Acidic Fungal Gland.’

The infection-type fusion trait “Acidic Fungal Gland” I currently possess is the third trait to receive enhancement effects from the “Great Infector,” following “Gremlin Moss” and “Parasitic Swarm.”

As can be seen from Gremlin Moss, which is sprayed in fog form, and Parasitic Swarm, which increased the number of parasites to 20, the enhancement effects of the Great Infector are relatively intuitive.

Similarly, the Acidic Fungal Gland has been transformed into a simply stronger trait.

‘It’s changed to be released in breath form.’

Originally, it was in the form of projecting fungal masses from the body, but now it has changed to liquefying acidic fungi and shooting them like a water cannon. Needless to say, its firepower has increased incomparably from before.

‘It was a very helpful trait when fighting the Gorgon Swarm, but I didn’t expect to use it again here.’

However, it’s not all improvements; there are also unexpected new drawbacks.

Since the fungal gland located inside the throat expels the produced fungal liquid, I can only shoot the acidic breath for a few seconds at most. When the fungal liquid runs out, I need to rest for a few minutes to recharge.

‘I could use it again now, but…’

Having completely taken over the storage facility, there’s no need to do so.

I leaned into the security room where the ceiling had been blown off. Then I used my small arms on my chest to operate the computer in front of the blood-soaked monitor.

‘Open sesame.’

From a distance came a sound similar to a beast’s growl. It was the sound of the shielded doors between zones and passages opening.

At that moment, a familiar voice flowed from the speaker dangling on the broken security room wall.

“Seeing that the doors have opened, it seems you’ve dealt with everyone.”

“Yeah. I’ll go to Zone B.”

“Yes. I’ve broken through the storage facility’s firewall, so you can check the inventory list as soon as you arrive.”

I brought PS-111 thinking it would be helpful for this kind of work, and it was definitely the right decision. After telling it I understood, I moved toward Zone B.

After passing through several large storage areas and passages so narrow that my head would touch the ceiling if I stretched my legs, I arrived at Zone B and saw them.

No. 26 and PS-111 were in front of a management computer by some container.

“Big one, hello.”

“You’ve arrived?”

No. 26, who was dismantling an android using its tentacles, waved its tentacles at me in greeting. Beside it, PS-111 was lying prone with the cable under its chin connected to the computer’s port.

[Zzzzz zzzzz zzzzz zzzzz (Was it difficult to break through the firewall?)]

“For someone who has hacked Pyrrha Eleven’s ship, it was a very easy task.”

“That’s right! Friend amazing!”

When No. 26 praised it, PS-111 raised its leg with hook claws to make a V sign. Its hands were covered in the blood of a butchered human.

I stuck out my tongue and licked its hand before asking.

[Zzzzz zzzzz (Show me the list)]

“Yes. I’ll display the screen.”

With an unfazed expression, it lowered its arm and began operating the computer. When the cable under its chin twitched, a list of numerous names appeared on the computer monitor.

With its help, I quickly scanned through the listed items.

‘Hmm.’

The smuggled creatures are stored in two zones, B and C. The other zones store luxury goods, drugs, confidential documents, and such things that are irrelevant to me.

‘It’s not as much as I thought, but enough to gather materials for a unique trait.’

From what I can see, if I clean this place out, I should be able to get enough material traits to create at least one unique trait.

With luck, I might even get two unique traits and fulfill all the evolution conditions.

I pulled up the unique trait synthesis formula I had opened before coming to the fortress.

“‘Transcendence’ Material List: Reinforced Skull, Gallergorn’s Horn, Spine-hair Shooting Tail, Protein Anabolism, Cluster Skin Tissue (Not Acquired)”

“‘Transcendence’ Material List: Inorganic Digestion, Harvester’s Maw, Bone Beast, Hell’s Phantom (Not Acquired), Ultra Control (Not Acquired)”

‘I think I can get the first fusion formula from here.’

The first fusion formula wouldn’t be a problem to make into a unique trait, but the issue is the second fusion formula. Given that it requires hard-to-obtain traits as materials, it seems difficult to casually use in the transcendence system.

‘Especially that Harvester’s Maw is a problem.’

Thanks to ‘Harvester’s Maw,’ I can acquire genetic essence just by eating heads. If that trait disappears, it would become quite difficult to acquire genetic essence.

One might say I could just get it again, but that’s not easy. The material for Harvester’s Maw, ‘Essence Harvester’s Jaw,’ can only be obtained by eating a subadult AMorph or a special Outspacer.

Besides that, ‘Inorganic Digestion’ and ‘Bone Beast’ are also difficult materials to obtain. Just looking at this, it seems like it would become an incredibly powerful unique trait when combined, but given the materials, I can’t combine them carelessly.

‘Well, it’s not something to think about right now.’

I can just collect the materials and synthesize the unique trait later, so there’s no need to worry about it now. I’ve had similar experiences before.

Besides, right now countless containers filled with genetic essence are waiting for me. Who knows if a new fusion formula might pop up while eating them?

‘Come to think of it, I need to take care of No. 26’s food too.’

I’ve already confirmed what I’ll eat, so now I need to find food for No. 26. Actually, although there were quite a number of creatures stored here, there weren’t many that could strengthen the Seed Demon.

Still, fortunately, there were a few that seemed to have the potential to bring about meaningful changes.

‘There are marine creatures too?’

I don’t know how they brought them, but there were several aquatic creatures as well. Of course, there were no large monsters like the Pale Mask, but I could see small creatures less than 5m in size.

Until now, I haven’t fed No. 26 any deep-sea animals except for the Pale Mask. It wouldn’t be bad to try it this time.

‘I should feed it this, this, and this too.’

After checking the list thoroughly more than 10 times, I decided what to devour and what to give to No. 26.

‘Then I’ll start with Zone B…’

“I trust you haven’t forgotten mine as well.”

“That’s right. Friend hungry too!”

‘Ah.’

I was about to get up, but hearing those words, I lay back down.

Ten minutes later, I had selected all the creatures to give to the two of them.

[Zzz zzzzzz zzz (Then let’s go eat)]

“Good!”

“I’ll save the selected list in my data.”

[Zzzzz zzzzzzzz (We’ll start with Zone B)]

With those words, I began the ritual I always perform before harvesting tasty prey.

A trait that now feels as natural as if I had it from the beginning.

The trait that made me grow impossibly fast in the game.

‘Hunter’s Emblem,’ that is.