80: Chapter 80 Analyzing the Light Element Gene and the Prism Mantis
Su Chen's mind was still racing, planning a grand blueprint for the upcoming mechanized Zerg Swarm.
The value of the Black Iron Dwarves went far beyond simply forging a few weapons.
What they possessed was a complete, systematic industrial foundation, a fulcrum to pry open an entirely new technology tree.
Just then, within the Divine Realm, in the area responsible for receiving the dwarf tribe, a burst of divine energy, completely out of place with the surrounding environment, suddenly exploded.
The fluctuation was not powerful; it even carried a hint of decay and weakness, yet it stubbornly asserted its existence.
Su Chen's consciousness instantly projected over there.
The migration process went smoothly. Under the escort of the Bone Dragon Theodore, the Black Iron Dwarves were looking around this brand-new world with a mix of confusion and awe.
At the very front of the tribe, a tall figure, radiating a faint golden light, was blocking the path of all the dwarves.
It was a deity wearing gorgeous artisan robes, his beard also braided, but his face was filled with panic and fear.
He was the demigod once worshipped by the Black Iron Dwarves—the God of Craftsmen, Pierce.
Clearly, this unexpected episode had occurred during the integration of the tribe.
Pierce's divine body was trembling slightly. His gaze was fixed intently on the Bone Dragon Theodore, and... on the remnants of energy belonging to another deity that had not yet fully dissipated from Theodore's bones.
That was the aura of Hercules.
As a deity in the neighboring region, Pierce knew all too well the ferocity and power of Hercules.
But now, that demigod known for his strength had long since had his Divine Kingdom trampled by the Zerg Swarm, and even his divine soul had become a snack for this Bone Dragon.
Fear, like the coldest seawater, drowned out Pierce's last shred of resistance.
He was very sensible.
The moment Su Chen's cold will descended, this God of Craftsmen felt his knees go weak and knelt down very decisively.
He slid to his knees to surrender.
Great Overlord!
Pierce's voice carried a sycophantic tremor as he raised his hands high, cradling a treasure he had kept at the bottom of his chest in his palms.
I... I am willing to submit! I only beg you to spare my humble life!
To stay alive, he tremblingly offered up his greatest secret.
It was a crystal core the size of a fist.
It hovered above Pierce's palm, radiating a blinding and pure white light. The light did not disperse, illuminating the surrounding space in a scorching white.
[Light Element Core].
This... this is a divine object I accidentally discovered deep within an ancient ruin... Pierce's voice became increasingly humble. It is useless to me, so today I offer it to you, Great One, hoping it can buy back my life.
Su Chen's will descended, and the core ignored spatial distance, instantly appearing before his overlords throne.
Upon obtaining the core, a feeling of pure, majestic, and scorching energy washed over him.
The energy level contained within was extremely high, even exceeding the divine power of most deities Su Chen had encountered before.
If any normal deity obtained this treasure, their first thought would certainly be to use it to establish a light-type Reincarnation Pool.
To cultivate powerful light-element creatures and assemble a holy and formidable army of light.
This was the most logical and high-yield choice.
But Su Chen's way of thinking was clearly not among them.
His way of thinking was rooted in the most primal instinct of the Zerg Swarm: devour, analyze, evolve.
Light element?
High energy?
Focus?
In Su Chen's consciousness, there were no concepts of worship or utilization, only analysis and fusion.
Broodmother!
His command turned into a torrent of mental energy, instantly pouring into the core will of the Broodmother.
Eat it for me!
Analyze all of its genetic sequences!
Hum...
Deep in the Divine Realm, a crack opened on the surface of the massive Broodmother. Countless biological tentacles reached out, precisely coiling around the [Light Element Core] and dragging it violently inside.
The next second, the entire Broodmother began to vibrate violently.
Blinding white light burst from the crevices of the Broodmother's carapace, as if a sun were being forcibly dismantled inside.
Massive amounts of biological energy were frantically injected to suppress and analyze this violent light-element energy.
Several hours of deduction.
Su Chen's consciousness was tightly connected to the Broodmother, and a massive stream of genetic data surged through his mind.
Finally, after consuming a massive amount of biological energy, the Broodmother successfully extracted two extremely rare, one could even say unprecedented, genetic fragments from the core.
[Light Refraction].
[Focus].
Begin fusion.
Su Chen did not hesitate at all and immediately issued a new command.
Fusion target: Giant Mantis!
Fusion plan: Perform light-adaptability modification on all body tissues to achieve transparency. Replace the cuticle of the forelimb bone scythes with a biological crystal structure and implant the [Focus] gene. Implant the [Light Refraction] gene into the exoskeleton carapace!
As the command was issued, in an isolated biological cultivation laboratory, the viscous evolution fluid began to churn violently.
The genetic blueprint of a Giant Mantis was brought up, then forcibly cut into and rewritten by the new genetic fragments.
Hum...
Accompanied by a slight energy resonance, a brand-new unit slowly took shape in the eerie green evolution fluid.
It was born.
It was completely transparent; its body was no longer chitin, but a crystal-like biological structure, perfectly concealing its form within the air.
Only the moment it moved, as light passed through its body, would it refract a barely perceptible distorted shadow.
Its two iconic forelimbs were no longer menacing bone scythes.
In their place were two long, sharp, and internally complex prism crystals.
A new unit entry appeared on Su Chen's retina.
[New Unit: Prism Mantis (Tier 6)]
[Attack Method: Passively absorbs ambient light, amplifies and focuses it through the biological prisms on its forelimbs, and fires a high-energy laser cutting beam!]
Heavy Armor Bane!
Undead Killer!
A flash of scorching light passed through Su Chen's eyes.
This attack method ignored the vast majority of physical defenses. The high-temperature and high-energy properties were an absolute bane to biological units like the undead and flesh-and-blood creatures.
Perfect.
According to the area map previously transmitted back by Theodore, near these ruins of the Divine Realm, there was still a guy named the god of archers putting up a desperate resistance.
That deity's Divine Kingdom was famous for its fortresses of Firmness and precise long-range strike capabilities.
I'll use you to test my blade.
A cold arc curled at the corner of Su Chen's mouth.
...
Battlefield.
Above a scarred ruin, a fortress constructed of giant stones and divine power stood towering.
Countless believers held longbows, hiding behind walls of Firmness and battlements, frantically pouring a rain of arrows onto the Zerg Swarm surging up from below.
They were the most devout believers of the god of archers, each of them an expert marksman.
In their view, as long as they relied on this impregnable fortress, no ground troops would be able to get close.
Suddenly.
In the air, countless blinding rays of light lit up without warning.
Those rays of light were as thin as hair, silent and soundless, as if they were cracks in space itself.
Zzz!
Zzz! Zzz!
A believer was just preparing to pull his bowstring again when a white light flashed across the battlement in front of him.
The expression on his face froze instantly, and from his waist up, his body slowly slid off.
The cut was as smooth as a mirror; the blood didn't even have time to spurt out before it was instantly scorched and carbonized by the high temperature.
He died without ever knowing where the attack came from.
This scene was playing out simultaneously everywhere in the fortress.
Those walls of Firmness, capable of withstanding the impact of siege rams, were as fragile as paper in front of these silent white beams.
Walls were sliced open, arrow towers were severed, and the believers hiding behind them couldn't even manage a scream before they were instantly cut in half or sliced into pieces by intersecting beams.
The Prism Mantis legion had won its first battle!
Su Chen's consciousness coldly watched all of this, watching that god of archers roar in despair at the heart of the fortress, only to be completely pierced through the divine body by dozens of intersecting lasers, vanishing into smoke and dust along with his divine soul in the blinding light.
He knew that the Zerg Swarm's unit library had gained another invincible trump card.