Ch.296Rest (3)

The day after hunting the Giganterium, I set out from the nest alone.

Ham Oort said I wasn’t particularly needed for other hunts.

Adhigh Orr went hunting with the pack, and No. 26 was busy playing with the young ones.

I didn’t know this from the game since it wasn’t specifically described, but Blue Gallergorn are quite curious creatures. Except when consuming energy or sleeping, they constantly roamed around looking for new interests. It would be fine if they just wandered around the cave, but they kept trying to go outside, which was problematic.

An acidic river flows between the ravines. While White or Green Gallergorn might be fine, Blue Gallergorn have weaker scales and could be seriously injured if they fell into the water.

Because of this, the Gallergorn responsible for childcare had a hard time looking after the playful youngsters. They say they were relieved when No. 26 arrived.

He used his newly acquired mutation tentacles to satisfy the Blue Gallergorn’s curiosity. The young Gallergorn loved how the tentacles constantly transformed into new types of toys.

‘Plus, they provide psychic power as a bonus.’

Anyway, both Adhigh Orr and No. 26 are busy. Today, I plan to visit PS-111 alone.

After leaving the ravine, I flew in the opposite direction from where I went yesterday. Below, I could see plant-like structures resembling oyster mushrooms dozens of meters in size.

I lowered my altitude and tore off the end of one of these strange-looking plants with my combat arm. Then I stuffed the crushed mass into my central mouth.

‘Hmm.’

Though it resembles a mushroom in appearance, the taste is completely different.

To be specific, it tastes like fruit mixed with almond milk and soy milk. The taste itself isn’t bad, but it’s excessively watery, which detracts from the texture.

‘Still, it’s nutritionally rich.’

I saw Gallergorn feeding these plants to their young along with psychic power, and now I understand why.

With so much nutritious food around, it seems unlikely that any younglings would struggle with growth.

‘I hope Gallergorn enjoy this taste.’

Besides the oyster mushroom-like plants that taste like almond milk, I tore off handfuls of other plant varieties as well. I offered tastes to both heads on either side of me while moving leisurely.

As I continued moving slowly, frost began forming on my wing membranes and carapace. Living plants gradually decreased, and massive icicles hanging from the ice ceiling came into view.

The ice layer is thin around here. The reason relates to the artificial structure visible in the distance.

A broken tower rises from the frozen ground.

The identity of that leaning structure, reminiscent of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, is the Screamer support ship I acquired after eliminating Pyrrha Eleven. It ended up like this after crash-landing on this planet following a battle with the Gorgon Swarm. The rear section is completely destroyed, and there are holes in the outer walls too large to repair.

I entered through the gaping rear section. Once inside, the few remaining lights flickered, as if welcoming my arrival.

‘He probably already knows I’m here.’

PS-111 had converted the crash-landed support ship into a kind of communication relay. This would allow us to effectively manage any new ships or mechanical structures we might acquire in the future.

His judgment was correct. The Gigacracker, unable to land on the planet, remains in orbit under remote control.

I folded my wing arms, lowered my body, and crawled through the tilted structure’s interior. I kept going down, assuming he’d be in the command room, but the lights cut off midway.

‘Not the command room?’

The passage below was completely dark. I checked the directory sign.

‘The production section?’

Come to think of it, I’m near the storage area that contained genetic samples and freezer containers. I’m guessing that area is where Screamers are made using materials stored in the repository.

‘Is he modifying his body again?’

Anyway, I’ll find out when I get there. I grabbed a nearby iron door with my wing arm and opened it. Ignoring the ice fragments that fell, I entered to find flickering lights greeting me.

The atmosphere inside the production section was extremely eerie.

The ceiling and walls had been completely stripped of panels, exposing the steel frames and pipes, while frozen electrical wires were tangled chaotically across the floor.

Above this bizarre space, production equipment that had been somewhat clumsily repaired was in operation. The noise of steel parts colliding, sparks flying from pipe joints—all these elements made the place even more unsettling.

In the middle of this space resembling a mad scientist’s laboratory, there he was.

A spider-scorpion-like form, about 7 meters in size excluding the tail, covered in solid metal carapace—it exuded considerable intimidation.

Moreover, eight legs extended from the body. Various weapons were attached to their ends.

Some hands looked like human hands with fingers replaced by hooks, while some arms had machete-like blades instead of hands. All arms had dozens of centimeter-long spikes protruding randomly.

Though the body appeared specialized solely for cutting, tearing, and crushing organisms, ironically, only the face was completely different.

The head attached to the massive body was a chrome-colored, pale-glowing female face. The cable strands hanging down like hair, bright red eyes, and four cable strands below the jaw were somewhat incongruous, but the appearance was still quite attractive.

The beautiful woman’s face rotated 180 degrees to face me.

“You’ve arrived?”

PS-111, with cables connected to her neck and back, greeted me with her eyes.

[Bzz bzz bzzbzz bzzbzzbzz(I thought you were modifying yourself?)]

“No. I came here for an experiment.”

[Bzzbzz(Experiment?)]

I approached her carefully, avoiding stepping on the wires and cables on the floor. In front of her was something that looked familiar.

‘What’s this?’

“It’s a remote control model. I made it using materials from the Gigacracker and indigenous creatures living in this area as a base.”

I thought she came here to modify her body, but that wasn’t the case. She was creating a Screamer body based on the design plans stored in the ship’s computer.

‘Moreover, this…’

It looks quite different from regular Screamers. It feels more similar to the early version of PS-111. Though only the face and some body parts have been completed, when finished, it will likely look very similar to her.

[Bzzbzzbzzbzzbzzbzz(A remote control model?)]

“Yes. If I have a body that I can control remotely, I’ll be able to do more than I can now.”

After speaking, she lowered her head toward the Screamer body.

PS-111 brought her head close to the face that looked identical to hers, as if about to kiss it. The cables under her jaw moved on their own toward the cables of the Screamer body.

When her cables connected to the Screamer body’s cables, small sparks flew. The Screamer body trembled as if it had been shocked by an electric prod.

When PS-111 pulled her head away, the Screamer body opened its eyes. The red camera lenses serving as eyes blinked a few times before turning toward me.

“Co, coordi, com, plete, ho, how, is it?”

“Coordination complete. How is it?”

[Bzzbzz bzzbzzbzz bzzbzz bzzbzzbzzbzz(You made this so quickly?)]

“It’s thanks to reverse-engineering my body structure and replicating my cellular tissue. With proper equipment and time, I believe I can achieve higher completion here.”

Though she spoke modestly, from my perspective, I couldn’t help but be amazed.

Screamer development itself takes over a week even in the game as a long-term project. This being reality, it should take several months, if not years.

It was impressive that she had created such a Screamer in these poor conditions.

[Bzzbzzbzz bzzbzz bzz bzzbzzbzz bzzbzz(It doesn’t seem to have its own consciousness)]

“Correct. Since independent operational capability is unnecessary, I didn’t give it autonomous thinking ability. It operates solely on electrical signals I send.”

“In, indepen, dent, oper, ation, unnecessary, unnecessary.”

[Bzzbzz bzzbzzbzz bzzbzz bzzbzzbzzbzz(I see, because it’s a remote control model)]

From what I can tell, this Screamer is closer to a terminal that only moves under her control. Seeing it repeat the same words as the main body, it seems to function only when synchronized with her mind.

Of course, it’s still in a state that’s hard to call a proper Screamer, but this is just a prototype. With time, many Screamers with capabilities comparable to PS-111 might be created.

[Bzzbzzbzzbzz bzzbzz bzzbzzbzz bzzbzzbzzbzz(Amazing. So is this complete now?)]

“It will take more time until completion.”

“Co, completion? Ti, time, more, need, need, needed.”

[Bzzbzz bzzbzzbzz(As expected, excellent)]

“Not at all.”

“No, not, yes, yes! Pra, praise, thanks! So, so good…”

“Voice synchronization module error detected. Further calibration needed.”

She began recalibrating the suddenly malfunctioning copy. Mechanical arms throughout the production section started moving according to their owner’s will, adjusting the “remote control model’s” body.

Watching this, a thought occurred to me.

The “Double Helix Monolith”—the Space Monster Type 2 stage reward.

A perk that allows transplanting up to two non-unique traits to a friendly creature.

Since receiving this perk, I haven’t experimented with how it works. I didn’t know what side effects might occur.

But what about the Screamer she made?

Wouldn’t it make a suitable test subject?

‘That’s not a bad idea.’

Since it’s a Screamer designed and managed by PS-111, I could easily see how the traits I bestow would function. Even if side effects occurred, we could simply discard it, so the risk is minimal.

‘Though it would be a shame to waste one trait.’

Still, better than having others suffer harm.

Having organized my thoughts, I told PS-111 that I also had something I wanted to experiment with.