Chapter 31: Lair Management (1)

Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Lair Management (1) Blaze took a severed frog limb and bit into it. The poisonous frogs weren’t a threat to the undead. Instead, their poison acted as seasoning for them. As such, it didn’t take long before his horde began feasting on the mutated frogs. However, Blaze put a strict order not to kill them indiscriminately. As time went by, the humans would get stronger. Some might even flee the city or the state. When that happened, these frogs and other animals would be their only food source. That’s why, no matter how tasty they were, the undead had to control themselves. I’ll make a breeding ground for the animals. That way, we won’t have to worry about feeding ourselves. However, there was one issue. The frog meat didn’t increase their evolution rate. On top of that, they hadn’t found a single nucleus inside the frogs. At first, Blaze thought these beasts didn’t have a nucleus. However, Fester’s evolution contradicted that theory. The beasts carried evolutionary materials, just not in their brains. That’s why Blaze and others were eating the frog corpses from the inside out. But to no avail. It was more likely that these frogs were too small to develop a nucleus, unlike the frog king. Blaze turned around to see Saturn, the former frog king, sitting beside the artificial pond. The frogs that had been fighting for their lives moments ago, now stayed by their king’s side. I can’t believe its tenacity. After its conversion, Saturn temporarily went berserk from hunger. Once its hunger subsided, it went back to caring for the frogs. Blaze found the situation quite bizarre, but then again, there had been countless such scenarios in nature. Lions, polar bears, and snakes often exhibit such behavior. Saturn was one of them. Blaze was more intrigued by its traits, rather than its feeding habits. +++ Subject: Saturn (Subject Code: FK#009) Race: Undead Amphibian Status: Tamed Class: Devourer Classification: Elite (I) [Attributes:] — Strength: Moderate — Agility: Moderate — Durability: High — Intelligence: Semi-sentient (Can make independent decisions, but prioritizes Horde Master’s orders.) [Evolution Potential: Detected (9%)] [Hunger Level: 0%] [Regeneration Rate:] Low [Decay Rate:] Halted [Special Traits:] — Tongue Whip: Shoots out its sticky tongue towards the enemies. The tongue has a reach of up to 15 feet. It can snatch prey or pull them into its mouth for feeding. — Toxic aura: The creature secretes a paralytic gas from its skin and poison sacks. Upon contact, the poison causes mild hallucinations, numbness, and nausea in living targets within 3 meters. More severe reactions can be observed with prolonged exposure. Doesn’t affect creatures recognized as kin. — Leap: The subject released the tension in its hind legs to charge and launches into the air. The AOE attack flattens and stuns everything in a 2–3 meter radius of impact. — Amphibian Kin: Despite being undead, the subject retains a psychic bond with lesser frogs and toads. The creatures cannot be commanded by the Horde Master and aren’t recognized as horde members. [Other Information:] Despite its bulky size, the subject retains its former mobility. When idle, it builds its poison reserves by digesting the devoured prey. Its thick and rubber-like hide is resistant to piercing damage. +++ Saturn was an undead who could control the living. Perhaps the first in the world. The living would be the perfect scouts for him, eliminating the use of sprinters. However, there was one thing bothering him. Another elite undead that isn’t hostile towards me. Fester and Saturn had become Blaze’s strongest soldiers. Still, he didn’t want to risk losing his horde, hence it became urgent for him to evolve. He gestured for the bloaters to come close. They did so without hesitation, only for Blaze to rip their heads off. He had no use for them anymore. They were better off as nourishment for him. He left their corpses for his horde while keeping their nuclei for himself. As soon as the nuclei touched his lips, a notification appeared before him. [The subject has reached the extent of evolution for this patch. Please wait for the tutorial to be over before proceeding again.] [Time remaining: 29 days, 12 hours, 19 minutes, and 11 seconds.] ...patch? Tutorial? Are you kidding me? The horde was on the verge of evolving. Blaze had to be on top of them to control them efficiently, and now the system was feeding him so bullshit excuse to control his evolution? Blaze almost cursed the so-called Collective for their strange rules, but held back. Their last meeting hadn’t been pleasant, to say the least. Besides, he wasn’t anywhere close to their level of strength. For them, he was merely a subject. An entertaining one, but a subject nonetheless. He could only bid his time in hopes of someday confronting these beings face-to-face. [We understand the subject’s feelings on the matter.] [A solution will be offered to you.] [A special quest has been unlocked.] As long as I have things to do. It wasn’t the solution Blaze had hoped for, but it was better than nothing. Soon, a quest appeared before him. [Quest: Lair Forging (I).] [Type: Chain quest.] [Task: 1. Establish a lair [1/1] 2. Build three lair defenses [0/3] 3. Infect a hundred beings [2/100]] [Reward: Early access to updates.] A hundred beings? Are you kidding me!? [Special permission granted.] [Lair Management function (level 1) unlocked.]