50: Chapter 50 Plundering the Bone Altar and Developing Exoskeleton Armor
The battlefield, under the will of the Overmind, swiftly fell into silence.
The deafening sounds of battle and energy detonations were replaced by a deeper, more primitive sound of chewing.
The Shadow-Ratmen army, those once arrogant avengers, had their value thoroughly extracted, transformed into the most basic nourishment for the Zerg Swarm's gene pool.
Su Chen's gaze shifted from the Bio-Bone Dragon Theodore prostrate on the ground, sweeping over the black, writhing, feeding ocean formed by the Zerg Swarm below.
He had not the slightest interest in these trivial post-battle procedures.
That was a gluttonous feast belonging to the Drones and Zerglings.
And he, as the Overmind, had eyes only for higher-level prey.
His vision finally locked onto the point where the God of Shadows had dissipated.
There, the space still held ripples from the collapse of divine power, the energy fluctuations not yet fully settled.
Su Chen raised his hand, fingers splayed, and directly probed into that distorted void.
His fingertips met the resistance of touching some dimensional barrier; a collapsing, energy-leaking miniature space was forcibly seized by him.
Divine Domain space.
Even if a deity falls, this accompanying storage space persists for a short time.
Su Chen's divine sense violently washed into it, his spiritual power transforming into a gale that swept everything within the space clean.
A river of light composed purely of Power Of Faith was directly extracted, merging into the Hive's reserves. The amount was not large, a mere few million, which for the current Su Chen was nothing more than pocket change.
The other conventional resources—divine metals, magic gems—were casually categorized by him and tossed into the Hive's matter conversion pool.
His divine sense swept through every corner of the space, not letting a single speck of dust escape.
At that moment, his spiritual tendril paused in one corner.
There, quietly resting, was a palm-sized altar.
An aura of coldness and decay, even through his divine sense, transmitted clearly, carrying the lifeless silence and malice unique to the realm of the dead.
With a thought from Su Chen, that miniature altar appeared in his palm out of thin air.
It felt cold to the touch and had a heavy texture.
The altar's base and main body were entirely constructed from countless tiny, unknown creature skulls. In the eye sockets of the skulls, clusters of pea-sized, ghostly green flames flickered silently.
A stream of information flowed directly into his mind through his spiritual power.
[Item]: Bone Conversion Altar (Special Structure)
[Origin]: Bestowed by the Lich King
[Tier]: Fifth Tier
[Effect]: Input biological corpses to mass-produce first-tier skeleton soldiers, or enhance the bone strength of undead creatures.
'Another 'gift' from the Lich King, huh.'
Su Chen's fingertips gently stroked the miniature skulls on the altar, sensing the death law and conversion rules contained within.
The corner of his mouth lifted in an amused arc.
'Mass-produce first-tier skeleton soldiers?'
Images of those slow-moving, brittle-boned low-tier undead instantly surfaced in his mind.
'Too low-level.'
Such cannon fodder couldn't even face the Zerg Swarm head-on; even as snacks, the Zerglings would probably find them too hard to chew.
The value was too low.
The efficiency was too poor.
This was the playstyle of the undead scourge, not the Zerg Swarm's.
Su Chen's mode of thinking was never simply to use a tool, but to analyze it, to transform anything of value into a part of the Zerg's evolution.
His attention shifted from the altar's surface function of 'producing cannon fodder' to the deeper level of its inherent laws.
'But... the rules of 'bone hardening' and 'structural reorganization' contained within...'
His gaze sharpened slightly.
This was the real treasure.
His gaze inadvertently fell upon a Zergling not far away, using its sickle-like forelimbs to carve up a Shadow-Ratman carcass.
As the Zerg Swarm's most basic combat unit, the Zergling's advantages were extreme speed and terrifying numbers.
Its weaknesses were equally obvious.
Fragility.
Its chitinous carapace proved utterly inadequate against high-intensity energy impacts or large-scale physical saturation.
Once caught in heavy fire, dying in swathes was the norm.
A mad idea began to sprout and grow in Su Chen's mind.
What if... these natural-born killing machines were clad in an additional layer of armor?
Without the slightest hesitation, he turned and walked towards the Hive's core area.
That invaluable fifth-tier altar in his hand was tossed, without a shred of regret, directly into the Hive's massive, pulsating, high-temperature-emitting 'Gene Analysis Chamber'.
It was a fleshy cavity filled with highly acidic digestive fluids and countless analytical probes.
The moment the altar fell in, countless thick, fleshy tentacles swarmed over, tightly enveloping it.
Corrosive acid began to break down its physical structure, while more precise spiritual probes directly pierced into its core of laws.
'System!'
Su Chen's will thundered through the entire Hive network.
'Analyze this altar! Extract the bone-strengthening rules within!'
'Use it as a blueprint! Transform it into a universal, loadable genetic plug-in!'
*Hum—*
Over seventy percent of the entire Hive's energy supply was instantly diverted, all channeled into the central, rapidly swelling giant meat-brain.
Countless neurons emitted ghostly blue bio-electric light, flashing frantically within the transparent brain tissue, performing billions of calculations and simulations.
On the walls of the Gene Analysis Chamber, countless phantoms flickered in and out of existence.
They were virtual Zerglings, created within the spiritual world. Their genetic sequences were constantly scrambled, recombined, and loaded with fragments of bone rules parsed from the altar.
Some Zerglings collapsed into piles of mush the instant they formed.
Some suffered from excessive bone proliferation, piercing their internal organs.
Others were incompatible, their genetic chains directly snapping.
This was an internal selection process that lasted an entire night, bloody and brutal beyond measure.
After consuming a vast amount of biomass and energy, as the first rays of dawn pierced the cold air, a brand new, perfect genetic blueprint finally took shape in Su Chen's mind.
[Genetic Plug-in]: Biological Exoskeleton Armor (Bone Edition)
[Applicable Units]: All low-tier Zerg strains (Zerglings, Drones, Roaches, etc.)
[Effect]: Utilizes calcium within the biological body to generate and cover the original chitinous carapace with a layer of high-density, regenerative bone exoskeleton armor.
[Attribute Enhancement]: Physical Defense +150%, Spell Resistance +30%.
[Cost]: Extremely low (only requires consuming bones readily available on the battlefield).
'Perfect.'
Su Chen's will issued the command.
A newly hatched standard Zergling was brought before him.
The next second, accompanied by a teeth-grating *crack-crack* sound, this Zergling's body began to undergo drastic changes.
Cracks appeared on the surface of its originally smooth, dark-brown chitinous carapace.
Immediately after, ghastly white bone spikes drilled out from the cracks, rapidly extending, connecting, and fusing, ultimately forming a set of ferocious and heavy exoskeleton battle armor.
Especially its head, chest, and vulnerable joints were completely covered by thick bone plates.
The once swift and fragile Zergling now resembled a white reaper from the abyss, exuding an aura of cold, murderous intent.
Su Chen reached out and tapped the bone armor on its head with his knuckles.
*Thunk! Thunk!*
The response was a hard, heavy resonance.
This defensive capability was already completely on par with that of an ordinary third-tier magical beast.
'With this plug-in, the battlefield survivability of my cannon fodder army will increase by at least threefold.'
This meant that in battles of similar scale, his casualty rates would plummet, while sustained combat capability would multiply.
'The Lich King...'
Su Chen gently patted the head of this completely renewed 'Bone Zergling', feeling its hard, cold texture.
The amusement in his eyes grew richer, carrying an appreciation and cruelty akin to a hunter observing his prey.
'What a generous, good man.'
'Not only did he deliver the Bone Dragon from afar as a top-tier combat supplement.'
'Now, he's thoughtfully thrown in a free, army-wide technical upgrade sponsorship.'
An extremely dangerous curve slowly formed at the corner of his mouth.
'Next time we meet, I'll definitely prepare a... big surprise for you.'