Chapter 230: 5th Origin
Cynthia was quiet.
"We lost thirty warriors in the first week before we understood what was happening," Rock said. "By the time we stopped engaging them directly, we had turned a force of twelve into a force of over three thousand."
The Dwarf King looked at his hands briefly.
"We cannot fight them. We cannot run from them, they do not stop moving. We cannot contain them because no barrier survives contact with numbers like that, they accumulate until the count is sufficient to break through anything."
"Three thousand from twelve," Cynthia said.
"That is what we could observe," Rock said. "The actual number may be higher. They move at night primarily and our ability to accurately track their movements in the dark is limited."
Cynthia looked at both of them.
Rock was holding himself together well, but the tension around his jaw showed the edges of it.
The Dwarf King’s amber eyes were not afraid.
They were the eyes of someone who had moved through fear into something more functional, someone who had fully accepted the situation and was here entirely for the purpose of solving it.
"What do they look like?" Cynthia asked.
Rock reached into his coat, produced a small device and placed it on the table.
A projection appeared above it.
The creature shown was not large.
That was the first thing.
Roughly the size of a human child, with too many limbs bending at angles that limbs weren’t supposed to bend at.
The surface of each one was translucent, the interior visible through it, and inside something pulsed with a dark and deliberate rhythm, the same specific beat in every single one, like a clock rather than a heart.
The projection showed a kill.
A blade going cleanly through one of them.
The body split into two halves.
Both halves sealed themselves.
Both grew.
Within thirty seconds, two complete creatures stood where one had been.
The pulse inside each new one was identical to the original’s.
Not offspring.
Copies.
Cynthia looked at the projection for a long moment without speaking.
"These are new," she said.
"Yes," the Dwarf King said. "Nothing from the phantom planet has ever behaved this way. We have been fighting phantom world incursions for generations and this property has never appeared before."
"Does the multiplication have limits?" Cynthia asked. "A maximum count from a single original source? A threshold where the copies become imperfect?"
Rock looked at the Dwarf King.
"We don’t know," Rock said. "We stopped engaging before we could collect that information. The cost of continuing was too high."
Cynthia nodded slowly.
She thought about the projection and the pulse inside the creatures.
The perfectly identical copies.
Something designed this.
"I want a contained sample," she said. "Alive, not dead. Can you do that?"
Rock and the Dwarf King exchanged a look.
"It would require significant preparation," the Dwarf King said.
"Then prepare," Cynthia said. "Do not engage them in the meantime, do not kill any of them, and do not allow them into your settlements. Hold the line and get me a contained sample."
She looked at both of them.
"I will come personally when you have one."
Rock’s expression moved through something that was part relief and part apprehension, which was a reasonable combination given what she had just agreed to.
The Dwarf King gave a single short nod, the nod of someone who had been given clear instructions and was going to follow them without requiring further discussion.
"Thank you, Queen Cynthia," Rock said.
She inclined her head and the meeting concluded.
After they left, she stood at her window and looked at the view from the Snake Kingdom’s high position and thought about the creatures in that projection.
A living thing that multiplied through death was not a conventional weapon.
It wasn’t even a conventional creature.
It was something made.
She thought about Neil and the 5th Origin and the lost elven kingdom and the timeline running alongside everything else.
Everything was moving at once and it was going to keep moving faster.
She turned from the window and went back to her desk.
There was a great deal still to prepare.
...
Back in the human settlement, after days, Neil finally walked out of the core room.
He had already changed into a new set of clothes, the aura around him was undeniably heavy.
Even Randy, who was far away, could feel the presence of another powerhouse, until Neil controlled his presence.
His life force had increased even more, now he wouldn’t have to worry about Analyzer, at least not for tens of thousands of deaths.
And the jump in his strength?
Neil felt he could topple the entire settlement over with a single punch, his strength was already higher than Randy’s.
And Randy was supposed to be at the Diamond Class, the benefits of being a phantom were finally displayed.
He glanced at his status panel.
『
[Lord Title]: Dead Man Walking
[Name]: Neil Yates
[Rank]: 5th Origin
[Talent]: 5th Tier (51 percent)
[Domain Rank]: 4th Order Mythic Class
[Soul Space]: Phantom’s Imprint
』
His talent had gotten a lot better too, and the amount of Essence in his body was like a vast ocean compared to before.
He could turn this whole place into Iceland or a volcano with a single thought.
’5th Phase, I wonder what the changes are now.’ Neil thought.
"4th Phase strengthens your domain and 5th will not only increase your strength by large amounts but also strengthen your giant form." Freya spoke.
"Giant form?" Neil was puzzled, this was the first time he was hearing this, he hadn’t fought any 5th Origin lords either.
"Yes, at this Origin, one can project a gigantic image of themselves, increasing their strength by a lot though it also consumes Essence quickly so it can only be maintained for a short while." Freya explained.
Neil hummed, he would have to learn to use that too, and the time to leave was rather close.
He would also have to collect more gene points, for now he decided to check exactly what was happening in his domain.
"Welcome back, master!" Nemo’s voice sounded in his head, once their discussion was over.
As Neil got out of the room, he saw that it was already night, during evolution he completely lost track of time.
’Hey Nemo, how have you been?’ Neil asked, Ileana was not in the bedroom.
They were all probably having dinner currently, he came at the right time then, the scent of Ray and Fay’s cooked meals was astonishing.
"As good as ever! There have been several messages from your teacher." She informed him.
Neil quickly went over them, mostly she was just talking about her normal life and her desire to meet him again.
Asking him to meet as soon as his evolution was complete.
But there was one message also informing him about the matters she discussed with the dwarf and giant people.
Information about the multiplying creatures, and they sure sounded like a headache.
’While I am away, what if those creatures attack the domain?’ this thought popped into his mind and he was filled with worry.
There is Randy here and a lot of other powerful lords to fight against those creatures, but those two races should be strong too.
Neil was only worried about the people in his domain, while Cynthia would be going with him anyway.
’Sigh, I wonder if something can be done about it.’ He wondered, pausing.
"There are indeed treasures that can help you, one such thing is a spatial treasure that can help you carry your entire domain and all the subjects with you.
But it is just as rare as the medicine you consumed, it would be near impossible to find it here, but maybe that shadow woman can help you find it. But there is no way to contact her, sigh..."
Freya spends all her time with him, so she knows perfectly well about his circumstances, more than anyone.
"Yeah, I guess I will just look for her, or for some other treasure. There should still be a few days left before we need to leave." Neil finally walked out of the building, though now there was something making him feel worried.
It would be fine if he stayed here but that’s also not possible.
He does have to leave.
"Hubby! You are finally done." Ileana was the first to see him, she was just starting to eat but stopped upon seeing him.
Beside her, Jane also looked up with a beautiful smile, and felt lost as she looked at him.
He looked so dazzlingly handsome and strong, she had always known he would shine the brightest no matter what happened.
’His strength is already at the 5th Origin?’ Jane thought, it hadn’t even been that long since they awakened.
And Neil’s strength was already so high.
But thanks to him she had also managed to quickly become stronger.
With the help of her dragon master, she was able to quickly transform all her Essence and evolve to the 4th Origin.
It wasn’t easy, and she ended up using quite a few lives, that’s how dangerous the method was.
Still, with so many treasures her master had used, she had barely managed to succeed.
That is how she managed to reach the 4th Origin and now can evolve to the 5th Origin.
But she would need more cores, and was yet to receive the knowledge from her master.
Her dragon master would soon be coming to this planet, so she could still evolve before they left.
It was only thanks to Magnar that she had managed to collect all those gene points.
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Thanks for reading...
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