[The ‘parasite’ in the corruption sac had its eyes closed and its chest did not rise or fall, as if life had long since left it.]
[The sac itself was well preserved. The ‘amniotic fluid’ within still retained activity, which kept the corpse intact and unrotted…]
[Shell of the Ascended First-Generation Parasite: The parasite is a product of the initial batch after tuning. On the surface it appears completely identical to a human, but its internal structure is vastly different. Compatibility: 137% ( 55%)]
[Do you want to possess this shell?]
[You possessed the shell of the Ascended First-Generation Parasite!]
Lin Xun waited for a while, but no mories revived, so he opened the panel to check attributes.
The first-generation parasite’s attributes were extrely terrible, a brother-in-misery alongside an ordinary maggot-person. The shell’s skill slots were completely blank, pitifully weak.
He gave it a glance, then switched to the Star Lord shell and continued exploring.
[You continued along the circular passage…]
[Most sacs on both sides were empty, leaving only viscous, foul-slling fluids everywhere. Along the way you found only three or four sacs that still contained Ascended ones.]
[These sacs were the sa as before. Inside were useless ‘parasites’ that had long been dead.]
[…]
[You traveled for a long ti until you reached the other end of the circular passage and finally found sothing out of the ordinary…]
[On one side of the passage there was a massive flesh prison. The bars were damaged and broken open into a large gap. From the broken parts of the flesh bars protruded gray-white snapped bones from within.]
[Upon close inspection you found the bars had been violently broken from the inside out. Based on the cage’s size and the size of the breach, you judged that the creature imprisoned here was enormous in body and possessed great strength.]
[You looked around, trying to find traces of the gigantic creature…]
[Suddenly, you heard faint sounds from far down the passage.]
[The creaking, crunching noise seed to be the sound of chewing flesh and bone.]
[Will you follow the sound onward, or return the way you ca to the elevator?]
Lin Xun’s eyes lit up.
It looked like he had finally encountered a powerful monster.
[You proceeded along the passage and soon found the source of the chewing…]
[It was a gigantic monster that nearly filled the entire passage. Its form resembled a bloated humanoid beetle, with thick horns on its head and a hard carapace that was gray-white in color.]
[The beetle monster squatted silently and ate. Its food was a human corpse. Looking closely, you found it was eating a ‘parasite’ that had long since died, though the body had not yet rotted.]
[You discovered the Ascended Mighty Hunter!]
[As you slowly approached the beetle monster, the Mighty Hunter suddenly stopped eating. It seed to sense sothing and slowly turned its powerful body.]
[Its pair of huge compound eyes fixed on you, radiating a gaze of savage man-eating frenzy.]
[The Mighty Hunter, shaped like an enormous beetle, lowered its body and charged at you. The sharp horns on its head ramd forward…]
[As the monster charged, the entire passage trembled, as if an earthquake had struck!]
[True essence surged through your body. Forming a sword seal with your hands, the Star-Shifting Celestial Sword beca a razor-edged sword light…]
[In an instant the sword light cut off most of the monster’s horn, but instead of stopping its montum, it made the monster roar and charge even more fiercely.]
[Its mad posture seed as if it would not stop until you were crushed into paste.]
[With sword-fingers, your sword light flashed again and in a heartbeat pierced its sturdy carapace and ran through its massive body…]
[The beetle monster charged right up to you, the violent wind it kicked up surging into your face. True essence churned within you as your toe tapped the ground and you retreated swiftly…]
[The sword light crisscrossed, riddling the Mighty Hunter’s body with holes…]
[The monster’s charging speed slowed and slowed until it finally collapsed.]
[Its massive bulk plowed deep furrows in the ground with inertia, sliding to within an arm’s length before you and finally coming to a halt.]
[The Mighty Hunter’s thick limbs struggled and twitched for a while, then gradually went still…]
Lin Xun waited for a mont, but the Hellish ga’s death text did not appear.
He thought perhaps the monster’s bodily structure was special, causing the death ssage to transmit slowly. He was about to finish it off when the text displayed.
[A piece of carapace atop the monster’s head suddenly fell away, exposing gray-white ganglionic tissue. From within squeezed a fat maggot as large as an ordinary human shell.]
[Half of the maggot’s body was connected to the ganglion. It writhed violently, attempting to tear free…]
[The adhered flesh tore into shreds under the frenzied writhing, blood gushing everywhere…]
[The maggot finally tore free of the ganglion and fell to the ground, but the lower half of its body had beco a mangled ss of flesh.]
[The maggot continued to writhe violently. Its fat body began to reshape. Before long it grew four limbs and a human head, becoming the ‘parasite’ form you knew well.]
[Its gaze toward you was identical to that of the Mighty Hunter, filled with near man-eating madness, and it rushed at you with fists swinging…]
[But before it reached you, it fell to the ground and could not get up no matter how it struggled…]
[You could feel the vitality within it draining rapidly. In a short while it would die, yet even so, in its final monts its eyes still glared at you with vicious malice…]
[…]
[You defeated the Ascended First-Generation Parasite. Experience increased slightly.]
[You obtained Large Chunk Spirit Essence of Insight ×1]
[Your special attribute Hive Consciousness has been enhanced. Current state: Hive Consciousness 1!]
[In the unseen, within the vast web of consciousness that encompasses all things, you quietly climbed one step higher.]
[This was not rely an elevation of consciousness, but a leap in the level of life…]
[In a daze, you seed to sense a vast consciousness situated at a high tier of the web, yet like you it drifted between black and white.]
[That consciousness was hundreds and thousands of tis stronger than you. Though at a high tier of the web, you could feel that the vast consciousness was not far from your location, even close at hand…]
[Once the enhancent of Hive Consciousness finished, you could no longer actively sense the consciousness web. All perception returned to the flesh that bound you.]
[…]
[You looked at the two corpses, one large and one small, before you…]
[Shell of the Ascended Mighty Hunter: This insect-person not only possesses exuberant vitality, but also unmatched brute strength. It originally did not bear the ‘Ascended’ prefix, and the color of its carapace was not gray-white, but parasitism changes the inherent form of the vessel… Compatibility: 74% ( 55%)]
[Shell of the Ascended First-Generation Parasite: Compared to other parasites, it cannot be called a total failure. It is more like a defective product. At least the parasite possessed part of the functions predicted by tuning. Compatibility: 136% ( 55%)]
[Do you want to possess this shell?]
Lin Xun narrowed his eyes.
This parasite was not simple. Killing it yielded not only a boost to a special attribute.
Combining the scene of the parasite detaching from its vessel just now with the shell description, he could judge roughly what ‘the function predicted by tuning’ was.
But where was that vast consciousness that was close at hand?
“Perhaps it is deeper within the Ancient Nest…”
[You possessed the shell of the Ascended First-Generation Parasite!]
He opened the panel to see what differences the defective parasite had.
Its panel attributes were similar to those of other parasites, but unlike them, it had shell skills.
[Shell Skill: Ascension Parasitism (special skill): While in a maggot-person state, using this skill you can, after defeating a carapaced ‘Ascended’ or ‘Aberrant,’ hollow out part of its internal flesh within the carapace and connect to its ganglion, thereby parasitizing and taking control of its shell.]
[Because the ganglion connections available to this skill are limited, you cannot parasitize enemies that are too large. It only works on small and dium carapaced ‘Ascended’ and ‘Aberrants.’]
[Due to unknown reasons, after parasitizing you cannot control the vessel’s actions. You can act only by instinct such as killing, feeding, and reproducing.]
[Shell Skill: Ascension Molting (special skill): While in parasitic state, using this skill you can shed the current parasitized carapace vessel and return to maggot-person state.]
[Due to unknown reasons, after molting you will enter an irreversible death state. After death the shell will be erased from the Shell Slots.]
“Hiss… is this piloting a ch?”
“But the pilot cannot operate the machine, and stepping out ans death. No wonder it is called a defective product.”
The Ascension Parasitism skill was sowhat like possession, and a possession without compatibility limits.
Parasitism lacked compatibility constraints, but it had species constraints, limited to insect-people.
“Judging from the skill description, a successful mutation of the maggot-person and the favor it receives could very well be the full version of Ascension Parasitism.”
Lin Xun’s spirit stirred.
If his judgnt was correct, then the problem of insufficient compatibility preventing him from possessing shells would be greatly alleviated. At least most shells in this chapter could be acquired through parasitism.
Right before him was a shell of the Ascended Mighty Hunter. Because compatibility was insufficient he could not possess it.
Although the Hunter shell was not strong, if he later encountered a truly powerful shell and could only stare helplessly due to lack of compatibility, then parasitism would be extrely useful.
The current defective parasite could also parasitize shells, but since it could not control the vessel after parasitism, it had little value.
After dealing with the parasite, he continued to explore.
[You walked along the circular passage without encountering anything else worth exploring. Unconsciously you circled the passage and returned to the elevator facility at the starting point.]
[Will you take the elevator?]
[You boarded the elevator. The car vibrated slightly and slowly descended…]
[Before long you returned to the first level of the nest.]
“Hm? This hidden map only has two levels?”
Lin Xun frowned. It felt very unreasonable.
The hidden map’s favor reward had not been obtained, and that vast consciousness had not appeared.
Yet both levels of the nest had been fully explored, and he had not discovered any hidden chanisms or secret passages.
After a brief thought, he considered a possibility.
[You possessed the shell of the Ascended Maggot-person!]
[You boarded the elevator again. The flesh tissues within the car wriggled slightly, as if discerning sothing…]
[With a faint tremor, the elevator started to rise again…]
[After the elevator reached the second level’s ‘Parasite Hall,’ it did not stop, but continued rising until it reached the nest’s topmost level, the ‘Tuning Hall.’]
[The elevator stopped. Before your eyes stretched another ring-shaped passage, but unlike before, this ring passage was open, with no walls on either side.]
[Rather than call it a ring passage, it would be better to call it a ring platform.]
[The ring platform occupied only a very small portion of this floor. In the hollow center, there hung a colossal behemoth that nearly filled the entire spherical nest.]
[It was a monster shaped like a ‘War Broodmother,’ yet its body was hundreds and thousands of tis larger than a War Broodmother’s.]
[Its main body was a bloated abdon like that of an ant queen. The enormous gray-white belly was swollen and connected to nurous delivery pipes, each leading to every corner of the nest’s first and second levels.]
[Above the belly was an upper half like that of an ordinary woman, voluptuous and naked. The difference in scale between the two halves was on the order of ten million, giving you an eerily shocking feeling.]
[The woman’s face was breathtakingly beautiful, eyes closed. Her hands were crossed upon her chest at her shoulders, her arms just covering the rosy allure…]
[You discovered the Desire Wet Nurse’s Abandoned Daughter – Oathbreaker Flanda!]
[The vast consciousness you sensed earlier in the web of consciousness was this enormous monster before you.]
[Flanda seed to sense your arrival as well. The woman’s form slowly opened her eyes, her pupils pure and unblemished.]
[She wriggled the massive insect lower body, bringing the woman’s upper torso closer to you.]
[Because the insect abdon was connected to countless pipes, moving inevitably tugged at the flesh, making the woman’s brows knit and revealing a trace of pain.]
[Enduring the pain, Flanda spoke gently to soothe you, her voice ethereal like a maiden…]
[Child from outside, do not be afraid. She bears you no malice.]
[In her current state, even if she wished to harm you, she could not…]
[Will you flee at once, or stay where you are?]
“Desire Wet Nurse’s Abandoned Daughter? Oathbreaker Flanda?”
Seeing there was no attack option and recalling the text he had just seen in the consciousness web, Lin Xun knew that the monster before him was not sothing he could handle.
For a monster vastly beyond his strength, the Hellish ga did not display ‘you feel an overwhelming pressure,’ which ant that Oathbreaker Flanda truly seed to harbor no malice.
“Should I press a skill to force an attack and try… forget it, better not court death.”
[You did not choose to flee, but stood quietly where you were.]
[Once Flanda’s human torso reached the edge of the ring platform, she could not co closer. The many pipes beneath her were stretched taut, limiting her range of motion.]
[If she forced herself forward, before she touched the platform the pipes would tear away the soft flesh of her abdon.]
[Oathbreaker Flanda knit her brows and continued speaking…]
[Child from outside, you are special… You stand in the Desire Wet Nurse’s realm, yet you have no oath of faith.]
[Unlike those pitiful children, whose tragic fate is sealed from the mont of birth. To their deaths they wallow in the false mories gifted by the Desire Wet Nurse, dreaming of returning to the Desire Wet Nurse’s embrace after death to begin another cycle of life…]
[How could those pitiful children know that all of it is false. There has never been another cycle of life, and they do not fight to defend their holand.]
[Their mother, their deity, the one they deem the supre Desire Wet Nurse is not a rciful peacemaker, but a cruel invader.]
[Child from outside, you are fortunate. You did not choose to throw yourself into the Desire Wet Nurse’s arms out of blind obedience.]
[She, Flanda, was once the Desire Wet Nurse’s youngest and most beloved daughter, yet now she is forgotten in the sunless depths of the earth, trapped in endless tornt…]
[If you still retain a shred of reason, heed her warning. Do not, by any ans, swear the Desire Wet Nurse’s oath, and do not answer the summons to the Sacred Nest Center.]
[Otherwise, you will be the next Flanda.]
[Oathbreaker Flanda strained to approach the ring platform. Ignoring how the pipes tore at the flesh of her lower body, she endured the pain and opened her arms to you…]
[The Desire Wet Nurse’s Abandoned Daughter – Oathbreaker Flanda extends an oath invitation to you…]
[Faithful Apostle, will you embrace Oathbreaker Flanda to swear the Primordial Firefly’s oath?]
Watching the text, thoughts flashed rapidly through Lin Xun’s mind.
The Desire Wet Nurse was not a rciful peacemaker, but a cruel invader.
Every Ascended one born of the hatchery was indoctrinated with frenzied mories of defending their holand and warring against demons.
The Primordial Firefly called the divine kingdom the realm of the Despicable Ones, and the Despicable Ones referred to the Desire Wet Nurse.
The Ancient Nest’s exterior was spherical, covered in scorches, which made him think of a teor…
And the parasites cultivated in the Ancient Nest were likely tools the Desire Wet Nurse created to start a war.
So the teor in those false mories that fell to the world was not the Primordial Firefly, but the Desire Wet Nurse, the one who actively ignited the flas of war.
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