Ch 11
Zerg Mana – 713,530/1,000,000
Mana required for Evolution: ACQUIRED.
Evolve to Level 2?
Well it seems to be the day! I wonder how long it'll take to evolve? Hopefully not too long. Stretching, I sat up and looked at each of my Queens. They're all arrayed before me looking visibly excited. I smiled and asked, "Shall we level up now?" A chorus of affirmatives met this. They really are excited. Nodding, I turned to Asura and asked, "Is everything finalized for what we want changed?" She nodded, visibly trying to restrain herself. It's really amazing just how much their personalities have blossomed in just the few short days since I'd given them free will. Before, I would have a group of devoted, doting slaves, willing to sacrifice everything for the Overmind without a second thought. Now, I have a group of diverse, happy, devoted girls willing to give there all to survive and make me and the swarm happy. After all, I don't want or need sacrifices. I do, however, want and need six lively Queens ready and willing to stand at my side.
I nodded, then as an after thought I asked, "Just how long will the evolution take place anyways?"
Asura answered, "24 hours unless there's trouble involved with any of the alterations. Then we'll have to figure out between ourselves how to incorporate the change, alter it, or let it go for now."
I nodded and said almost to myself, "An entire day eh? Better eat, drink, and use the bathroom now."
After doing just that, I nodded to my Queens. I'd already called in all of my Overlords to the central hive. By the time this is finished, it'll be this time tommorrow. I hope I don't lose any Overlords to creepers during the night. Then again, maybe I won't have to worry about that at all. I remember the Mutalisks in game, when the evolved into Guardians, the egg sac would just float in the air. It is interesting though that leveling up literally evolves the entire swarm at once. It is a rather dangerous weakness though. For an entire 24 hours, my Swarm is going to be completely vulnerable. I'm not sure how to feel about that at all.
Well, it's too late to back out now. Too much at stake. We need this evolution. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, I refocused on the blinking words in my vision.
Evolve to level 2?
Yes.
As soon as the choice was made, an egg sac bubbled up from the ground beneath me and enveloped my body. It then fills with liquid, and I close my eyes to it. I wasn't really sure what to expect but drowning in the sac was not one of them. Before I can think of fighting my way out, a jolt goes through my body, forcing the liquid into my lungs. I nearly freak, until I realize that I can still breath. It just feels weird.
Relaxing my body, I let the egg sac do its work. To my immense gratitude, I can still see everything through my Overlords, despite them being in sacs themselves. Also to my relief is that they're all still up in the air. With all my units out of reach of any of the monsters of this world, I felt great relief and finally relaxed.
Evolution Level 2
New Buildings:
Lair (Hatchery obsolete)
Evolution Chamber
Baneling Nest
Roach Warren
Hydralisk Den
Spine Crawler
Spore Crawler
New Units:
Zergling - Baneling
Roach
Hydralisk - Lurker
Overlord - Overseer
New Evolutions:
Zergling Metabolic Boost – Upgrades Zerglings to Speedlings
Zergling Adrenal Glands – Increased attack speed
Overlord/Overseer Pneumatized Caraspace – Increased Speed
Overmind Lv 2
Health – 200/200
Mana – 500/500
Abilities:
Spawn Lair (100 Mana) – Grows a Zerg Lair at your current location (12 hours)
PSI Assault (1 Mana) – Casts a focused PSI attack at one enemy
PSI Storm (50 Mana) – Casts a localized storm of PSI energy
PSI Guantlet Lvl 1 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Strength increased by factor of 10
PSI Armor Lvl 1 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; All attacks do 25% less damage
PSI Sensor (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Able to detect cloaked, burrowed, and hallucinated units
Mandatory Evolutions Complete
Access the Zerg Genetic Archive?
Huh. Is this where I can change the Zerg evolutions myself? Let's find out.
Yes.
Zerg Genetic Archive:
Input Command
:Ummm… edit Zerg Lair?
Zerg Lair Accessed. What changes would you like to make?
:Huh, this is almost like using the Command Prompt in Windows. Weird.
Unknown Command.
:Oh right, Zerg Lair… Give Zerg Lair the Queen's… no, the Hydralisk's Needle Spines. Four of them on each of the Lair's… tusks.
Command accepted.
:Well that's weird as hell. Along with the words, I can see the Zerg Lair itself. I can even shape the appearance in my mind, and the picture changes along with it. It's almost like using the Spore Editor.
Unknown command.
:Oh right… Give Zerg Lair a roof entrance and the Overseers sensors. Also, have the Zerg Lair store the larvae in its interior, only expelling them when they're commanded to create new units if they're too big to fit in the Lair itself.
Command Accepted.
Oh, also give each Lair the ability to provide supply like the Overlords.
Command accepted.
:Great! Can you also double the amount of supply a Lair provides?
Unable to comply. Cerebrate required.
:Crap! Ah well… Change the overall color scheme of my zerg to pitch black... with very dark red as a secondary color.
Command accepted.
:Sweet… Change Zerg Armor to incorporate Adamantium.
Unable to comply. Evolution Chamber required.
:Dang it... Change Zerg Queen's to have the appearance of a perfect human. Use subject Sarah Kerrigan as a base. Refer to the Queens themselves for customized appearance.
Command Accepted
:Change Zerg Queens by giving them access to their own mana pools and all of my current abilities.
Unable to comply. Cerebrate required.
:Crap… what can I change for the Queens then?
Armor, Weapons, and Abilities given by physical means already available to the swarm can be distributed freely without any changes (Changes within a certain margin only available with Evolution Chamber). Removal of any parts removes function of that part from whole. Overall shape, color, and general appearance can be edited within a certain margin without changing the function of the part.
:Wow… that was… strangely helpful. That also explains why I can't give the Queens any of my abilities or mana pool yet. Those seem to be mental rather than physical.
Unknown Command
:Dang it. I can't even think out loud without this thing taking it as a command. How annoying. What are the functions of the Overlord's appendages?
Overlord appendages give ability to grab objects.
:Oddly specific. And the Overlords have ten of them. Since they don't have anything to do with their sensors, change… no, add two of the original Queen's Talons to the Overlord and Overseer.
Command accepted
:Ah crud. I just realized… give the new Zerg Queens the ability to hide their weaponized appendages beneath the skin on their back and allow the Queens to edit this feature as well.
Unable to comply. Evolution Chamber required.
:Sigh… anything else to edit… can I edit the Lurkers to give them the ability to use their spikes above ground?
Unable to comply. Evolution Chamber required.
:Thought so. Well, can I at least give all Zerg units the ability to move underground?
Unable to comply. Evolution Level 3 required.
:Well at least it's coming up… what else to add… can I change spore crawlers to target air and ground?
Unable to comply. Evolution chamber required.
:Dang it! Well, that's alright I guess. It just occurred to me that spine crawlers do more damage anyway. Can spine crawlers be changed to target air and ground?
Command accepted.
:The hell? I guess they always could target both then… but then why would you even need Spore Crawlers?
Spine Crawler air attack range is less than Spore Crawler range.
:Huh. I guess that makes sense. Can that be changed so that both have equal range?
Unable to comply. Evolution Chamber required.
:Noted… what else to change… Oh! What is required to be able to assimilate new creatures into the Zerg?
Zerg Spawning Pool and Evolution chamber required.
:Perfect. That means I can assimilate Endermen soon. I can still assimilate new creatures even if they're dead right?
Zerg strains must be complete to assimilate into the swarm. Dead creatures only give partial strain. Multiple subjects required until new strain is complete.
:Hm. That makes a lot of sense. Anything else… can Banelings be changed to survive their own detonation?
Unable to comply. Cerebrate required.
:Figures. What about Hydralisks? Can their weapon be changed to be full auto rather than burst fire? Wait, of course it can't. That's changing the function of a weapon. That would require an Evolution Chamber.
Correct.
:Alright. All that's left is me then. I want the ability to burrow as well as Transfusion. I also want the Hydralisk's needle spines. I also want caraspace armor, though I want it retractable when not in use, also I want to be able to retract only parts of it if I want. I want my appearance to stay the same though when the armor is retracted. I also want to be able to go without sleep, and I want the ability to switch my libido on and off.
Burrow, Transfusion, needle spines, and caraspace armor added to the Overmind. Sleep requirement removed. Unable to comply with armor retraction or libido control. Cerebrate required.
:Dang it! Ew… ok, I can't think of any way to make a glorified hole the size of my torso in my skin filled with spines look at all appropriate. I'd like to remove the Needle spines.
Command accepted.
:Much better. The armor isn't bad either, but it needs something… use Prototype 1 full armor as appearance base.
Command accepted.
:Looking good. Remove helmet and gauntlets. Streamline the armor to look form fitting… perfect. Now I can still wear clothes over it, but still look cool as heck. Can Sarah Kerrigan's invisibility be added to myself or my Queens?
Unable to comply. Zerg Strain and/or Cerebrate required.
:Dang it. Well… I can't think of anything else at the moment… umm… how do I… Exit the Zerg Genetic Archive?
Command Accepted
Overmind Lv 2
Health – 400/400
Mana – 500/500
Abilities:
Spawn Lair (100 Mana) – Grows a Zerg Lair at your current location (12 hours)
PSI Assault (1 Mana) – Casts a focused PSI attack at one enemy
PSI Storm (50+ Mana) – Casts a localized storm of PSI energy over a wide area; more mana increases size and damage
PSI Guantlet Lvl 1 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Strength increased by factor of 10
PSI Armor Lvl 1 (Passive) – Mana Above 0; All attacks do 25% less damage
PSI Sensor (Passive) – Mana Above 0; Able to detect cloaked, burrowed, and hallucinated units
Burrow – (0 Mana) – Go underground; unable to move; can only be detected by sensors
Transfusion – (50 Mana) – Instantly transfer 125 health to biological unit or structure
Well, at least the armor increased my health. That was my last thought before I blacked out.
-END CHAPTER-
Overmind mana – 500/500
Zerg Mana – 213,530/1,000,000
Zerg Supply – 18/5465
Units:
1 Overmind
1079 Overlords
0 Drones
11 Zerglings
6 Queens (Broodmother)
Structures:
551 Hatcheries
1 Spawning Pool