I Became an Evolving Space Monster

Episode 287 – Fable (4)

A space monster type opened upon entering the second stage of transcendence.

This type has the unique feature of providing additional rewards each time the level increases, unlike other types that are completed once acquired.

The same goes for the Space Monster level 1 perk. ‘Essence rearrangement’, which nullifies the type penalty, is a reward that cannot be found in the game.

Aimorph’s identity is to prey on as many living creatures as possible and store their genetic essence in his body.

The systematic implementation of this aspect can be called a type penalty. It forces you to collect as many genetic essences as possible, regardless of whether they are good or bad.

However, integer rearrangement can escape this limitation. Because you can select and acquire only the characteristics you need.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I can or will stop collecting characteristics. No matter what, the more cards you have, the easier it is to outwit a strong enemy.

Anyway, after getting the first stage reward, I wondered how great the second stage would be, but I got something much more unique than expected.

‘It’s a trait that strengthens friendly creatures.’

Like the parasitic Tooth Fairy and the Human Insect, Eimorph is not without the ability to handle minions.

However, most of them are limited to assisting Amorph players. The ‘symbiotic spore’ that I like to use was actually a trait used when recovering the Insomnia and Tooth Fairies.

‘I thought the essence rearrangement was unconventional, but this…’

I can’t believe I can transfer the characteristics I possess to other living things.

It was a privilege only seen in the Metallic Gremlin, which could determine the path of its compatriots belonging to the Outspacer group, which modifies and strengthens the genes of individuals belonging to the corps.

‘In some ways, it might be better than that.’

Outspacers, like Amorphs, are a race that utilizes genetic essence, but it has limitations. There are limits to the characteristics that can be applied to each object, and the effect changes randomly each time it is applied.

For example, let’s say I want to transfer my claw characteristics to a worker beetle.

Outspacer worker beetles have two front legs that look like pincers, so they can adopt pincer characteristics. However, when it succeeds, the result is a mixed bag. You can just get stronger claws, or you can get claws with strong psychic resistance like me.

However, there seems to be no such limitation in the ‘double helix monolith’. Just looking at the description, it seems like the characteristics can be completely given to another creature.

‘Let me take a quick look.’

There are things you need to find out first before transplanting.

In the case of ‘starlight coordinates’, only ‘friendly creatures’, i.e. targets with symbiotic spores, could be moved. This time too, they said only friendly creatures were allowed, so like before, they brought the auxiliary organ to No. 26.

｢It is a target whose characteristics can be transplanted.｣

‘Good.’

Next, the same message appeared on both Aadhai PS-111. All that remains is the Heavenly Mother.

‘Is it even possible for players?’

To be honest, I thought there was a high possibility that it wouldn’t work, so I brought her an assistive device.

I couldn’t help but be surprised when I saw the text box that popped up in front of me.

“What’s wrong?”

She was feeling burdened by the sight of my face getting closer, but when I saw her in reverse, she blinked her amber eyes.

‘Is this possible?’

Of course, there is no ability to transfer characteristics to the player. Among its unique characteristics, not even the boss creatures Vortex One or Red Gallagon have such power.

Can we say that Megacorp’s unique system, genetic manipulation, is similar? This also involves transplanting genes into one’s own body and that of an NPC, and cannot arbitrarily change another player’s body. Trait transplantation is also, of course, impossible.

I explained to Heavenly Mother about the double helix monolith.

“…You can give me characteristics? To me too?」

[Zuzuzuz Zuzu Zuzuzu Zuzuzu Zuzuzuzu (You can give up to 2 of the characteristics you own)]

｢You can transfer characteristics without limit. It seems like Outspacer and Megacorp are upwardly compatible.”

She seemed to feel the same way as me. As she crossed her arms and pondered, she sent her thoughts again.

“It’s such a strong force, there’s no way there’s no limit to it. Isn’t there some weakness?」

[zuzuzuzu zuzu zuzuzu zuzuzu zuzuzuzu zuzuzu zuzu (There is no separate explanation for the tulle tip. Of course, it would be difficult to completely believe it)]

｢What I’m saying.｣

Judging from the explanation in the text box, it is a disadvantage. There are two things worth doing.

Unique characteristics cannot be transplanted, and the transplanted characteristics are permanently applied.

‘It’s the latter that you need to be careful about.’

If a trait is implanted in children and it is not useful or, on the contrary, has a negative effect, it becomes a big problem. Most of the traits I have are useful traits, but there is no guarantee that they will be the same for children.

Additionally, it is currently unknown how the feature will work after being applied.

For example, what would happen if ‘three heads’ were transplanted to No. 26? Since it has no concept of a head, it is impossible to predict how it will be applied.

‘In that respect, it could be said to be a hidden limitation.’

The outcome after transplantation is unknown. Therefore, we need to determine what characteristics are suitable for children and then give them those characteristics so that there are no side effects. I think this part needs more research and consideration.

‘Anyway, things are happening one after another that shatter my common sense.’

Moreover, there was a fight with ‘me’ when I was human. These are all things I have never experienced before.

I looked at the postscript in the text box.

‘Will you be a guide or a destroyer?’

Seeing this message in that situation felt completely different.

Given the setting, that option is meaningless to Amorph. When ascending to heaven, the purpose of Aimorph’s existence is revealed, and if you look at it, Aimov is closer to a destroyer than a guide.

‘Ascension.’

I browsed other text boxes than the special content. As they became adults, new and updated evolutionary conditions appeared before their eyes.

｢’Eucharist’- >’Ascension’

Physical Essence: Choose 1 from Megacorp CEO/Wolf Incarnate (not achieved)

Spiritual Essence: Choose 1 from Cult High Priest/Vortex One (Not achieved)

Wild Essence: Aimorph Holy Body /Choose 1 of the Outspacer Great King (not achieved)

Test of Ascension (not achieved)

Unique attribute 10/15 (not achieved) Type 6/9 (not

achieved )

It wasn’t there at all. There were even players who became adults earlier than me.

However, they all fell before reaching ascension.

The reason was the goal of collecting three ‘essences’.

In fact, it means fighting the highest leader of each force, so it is a huge challenge from the beginning. The moment you set out to kill them, the fight against the entire force begins.

Is that all there is to it? Those top leaders are usually filled with players and rankers.

Breaking through the enemy forces’ defenses and confronting the target does not mean it’s over. A crazy challenge awaits Aimov as he must fight a ranker who is supported by the entire force.

Among the requirements for achieving the Essence of Spirit, Vortex One is the only NPC creature, but they are also formidable.

The strength of each Vortex One varies greatly, and even the weakest one has the power of Red Gallagon. It can be considered as difficult as catching the high priest of the Megacorp CEO cult.

‘The easiest target is the adult Aimorph…’

Since there are not many Aimorph players, targeting the adult is literally picking stars in the sky. I also went around trying to catch Amorph, but eventually failed, so I changed my goal to Outspacer.

When all remaining conditions for the three essences are met, the ‘Test of Ascension’ opens and clearing it is the ending.

‘It’s easy.’

Getting this far is really difficult and takes a long time. The conditions for acquiring a unique characteristic type feel like nothing.

‘Because of this, I saved the Mother of Heaven.’

My original plan was to raise her to the highest level of deification, ‘Incarnation,’ and then eat her. If you do this, it is advantageous because you can begin by completing one of the ascension conditions as soon as you become an adult.

‘I don’t plan on doing that now, though.’

We have already come too far to sacrifice the Mother of Heaven.

I glanced at her and then returned my gaze to the text box.

Regardless of the difficulty level, my goal was to achieve ascension. Because I thought I wouldn’t be able to return to the real world after seeing the ending.

But that goal is now shaken. I am troubled by the vision I saw before becoming the Eucharist.

‘I don’t know what that vision means, but it’s likely to be related to ascension.’

Why did I show the illusion of a life-and-death struggle with the real ‘me’ in the middle of becoming an Eucharist? And what if I lose? If the ‘I’ of reality wins, what happens to the current me?

Or, on the contrary, what if I ate ‘me’? Then, will the real ‘me’ disappear and only the present me remain?

It feels like wandering in a fog because nothing is certain.

‘…transcendence. ‘Could this be the key?’

Transcendence that pushes Aimorph beyond his limits.

Ascension, Aimov’s ultimate goal.

Looking back, the two seemed to fit together, but there were also quite a few aspects where they did not. There were many times when I wondered whether to prioritize evolution conditions or obtain unique characteristics first through the transcendence system.

As both require characteristics, ascension and transcendence were often seen competing with each other.

‘I thought it was a coincidence, but it wasn’t.’

Looking at the rewards I get as the space monster type level increases, I am convinced that there is some kind of relationship between the two. I still don’t know what exactly it is.

‘As expected, we need more information.’

Now that illusions and ascension have become suspicious, I think we need to gather related information. I think I’ll have to put it on hold for a while until I can confirm that Ascension won’t harm me.

‘I’ll have to talk to Heavenly Mother later.’

She has not yet reached the stage where she is struggling with her real self. I’m not sure, but there’s a possibility that she may see visions similar to mine when she ascends to her incarnation. The fantasy may have a negative impact on her, so I’ll have to postpone this until I know for sure.

‘Check with Jason too.’

He also cleared the cult’s unique system of quests to a fairly high level. Then you would have had a similar experience as me. You might know something.

‘Then, the last thing I learned was the unique characteristic…’

The moment I thought I should check, a slight abnormality was detected. The heads on both sides raised their long necks and pointed upward. The auxiliary organs below the two heads wandered in the air in a tense state.

‘This?’

What the auxiliary organ captured was a wave of energy. An explosion of energy originating from a very distant place has reached here.

‘Flat-light sailing?’

I focused my senses on the two heads and glared at the empty space filled with black. Although there was nothing visible, the auxiliary organ under the chin could still feel subtle energy waves.

From what I could sense, it was clear that a ship had flown near this desolate planet. Seeing the energy flow up to this point, it seems like a fairly large ship has attempted to travel at faster than light speeds.

‘I don’t know who it is, but it’s good.’

The two newly acquired unique characteristics, ‘Variable Biological Weapon’ and ‘Black Devourer Cannon’, coincidentally are all combat-related characteristics.

Since a new enemy has just appeared, it might be a good idea to experiment on them.

–

Megacorp has become a power that dominates the universe today.

The seven families at the center were not mega-corporations from the beginning.

The Eugene family started out as a small agricultural company in a peninsular country, and T&C was one of the common companies in the financial sector. In addition, the Garmelda company, which came from a watchmaking background, as well as Edgerton, which started from a group of gunsmiths, etc.

Today, most of the seven families have changed a lot from when they started the business.

Eugene is good at genetic manipulation, Garmelda is a leader in the development of reinforced suits and weapons, T&C is a master of colony management, including terraforming, and Edgerton has excellent ship development technology. Not many people will think of the past when they see these people commanding the universe.

However, there are some families whose main business sectors have not changed much from the past.

Noble Capital ‘Veda’ started in the semiconductor business and is in charge of ship AI development.

And it is Noble Capital ‘Saint K’, which is in charge of Megacorp’s resource procurement.

St. K was once the most influential diamond company on Earth long ago.

In the past, mining machines and miners mined expensive diamonds, but now mining is done on a planet-by-planet basis, led by very large spaceships.

Just like their ancestors, they travel around the universe and dig for minerals. That was the hallmark of St. K.

“What about that goal?”

“After analyzing it, it turns out that there are abundant hypertite reserves.” “Other than that, there are no other impressive minerals.”

“Hypertight prices have risen a lot these days because of the war, haven’t they? Considering that, wouldn’t it be profitable enough?”

“The energy consumption rate and time of the ‘gigacracker’ must also be considered.”

The conference room of the ultra-large mining ship Gigacracker.

There, several team leaders were gathering and sharing opinions.

“There are some things everyone should keep in mind. “It would be difficult if we forgot that we also have quotas.”

“I understand that the quota was already met a week ago?”

“Yes, but the other side says they have achieved more than double that. If we continue like this, we may receive a negative evaluation at the end of the month report.”

“Hmm. “You’re not wrong.”

The atmosphere in the conference room was not bad, although it did not fit the atmosphere of a megacorp society where classes were divided into various capitals. There was no yelling or rude asking each other about capital.

The reason was related to Gigacracker’s status.

Gigacracker is a type of superweapon that splits asteroids or dwarf planets into pieces with a huge ion cannon and sweeps up minerals. It boasts superior performance than any other mining ship and its price is ridiculously high. Even the world’s Saint K only has 20 Giga Crackers.

Because even if just one ship had a problem, the damage would be serious, so St. K strictly managed Giga Cracker’s crew. All of the team leaders in the conference room have received special care from Noble Capital since childhood. Since we share the same past and the same goals, of course there is no need to fight.

“What are you going to do? “Captain?”

Captain Tyrone St. Kay, a former member of Noble Capital, thought for a moment and then opened his mouth.

“As the sailing team leader said, we cannot be reassured that we have achieved the quota. “We will operate the gigacracker.”

“Understand…”

Just as the captain made his decision, a red emergency light suddenly turned on on the ceiling of the conference room.

“Unidentified energy attack detected! Everyone, please prepare for shock!” As soon as

the emergency announcement ended, the conference room shook violently.