The swarm

Jacob looked himself over for the fourteenth time now, still shocked and confused about what happened to his body.

After having calmed down Jacob decided to connect to his swarm to try and find his body. But try as he might, he didn't have luck finding it.

He managed to find that he could transfer his consciousness to anybody connected to his swarm. 

After learning this, he decided to experiment with it. He first ordered Edward to grab him the corpse of someone who had a similar build to him.

After waiting a while for the body, it finally arrived, and once it did Jacob decided to infect it with his parasites. 

After he attached a substantial amount of his swarm to the body, he attempted to control the body as if it were his.

This resulted in some good news and bad news.

First, he learned he could control the body as if it was alive, but sadly, since the swarm itself had to take on the roles of the muscles which led to his body losing mobility, strength, etc...

After this experiment, Jacob became more curious and ordered them to grab him a living person with a similar build to his previous body.

This time, waiting for a few hours, some of the members returned with a victim who had a bag over her head.

Jacob ordered them to remove the bag, leading to the victim screaming and begging for mercy, but none would be given. 

Once a part of his swarm entered the victim's body, Jacob realized he could also take over the victim's control, just like the corpse.

But when he tried to do this, something was stopping him; after attempting for a while, he realized it was the man himself resisting, so after ordering his swarm to triple the man mentally, he managed to control the body successfully.

This led to him controlling the body efficiently, with no real side effects like the corpse; he also noticed he could turn off his senses while in control.

While thinking about future uses for it he realized maybe it could help him battle for longer as he wouldn't feel any physical fatigue and worse comes to worse, he could escape any battle by transferring his consciousness back to the swarm.

After this, he decided to equip his entomancer gear which had somehow returned to his buggy space.

Realizing he would now need many hosts, he strongly hinted that the pet store should take priority to Edward. 

Once he was done with this, he decided to finish the quest, which he had to gain this " new ability."

This was relatively easy as all he had to do was order that another victim be brought to him, and once the victim was infected, they were taken to the pet shop

Once Jacob had completed the quest, he opened up the system.

================================================================

Host: Jacob -----

Rank4: Mammal

Blessing class: Entomancy (Parasite)

Health: 10/10

Equipment: Lowest Entomancer gear

swarm regeneration: 0/hr

swarm mass 10/10

swarm size: tiny

swarm abilities: buggy body, beetle arm, buggy eyes, blessed, Fuse of the many, buggy hearing, Buggy space

Quests: You can't limit yourself to one host; Infect three hosts of any species above trash grade(3/3)

Reward new swarm ability.

Bug terrarium: 1

Hosts: 4

-Lab-

-Store-

-Ability shop_

================================================================

Once he opened up the system, an announcement appeared in his sight.

-Congratulations, host, on completing the quest random ability will be given, and as a reward for swift completion, the system has decided that the power will help your current situation-

Reward: Parasitic Nest

Description: Insects all need a nest ranging from the hives of bees to the giant colonies of ants; you will now be granted the ability to dictate an area under your control as a nest

Not knowing how this ability works, Jacob decided to head to the basement of the petshop as it was technically his territory and, as such, under his control.

After having Edward get him a driver, he swiftly arrived at the store before ignoring the gang member acting as staff for the store and heading to the basement.

Once he arrived at the basement, he used his new ability.

Once he used it, the swarm surrounding him started to head around and crawl all over the room, and as they did, they left behind a weird substance which, if Jacob concentrated on it, he would notice seemed to be alive. 

After a few minutes, the swarm finished covering every bit of the room.

Jacob cautiously stepped into the room, his eyes widening in horror as he took in the scene before him. The entire room was covered in a thick, pulsating mucus that seemed to be alive. People were attached to the slime, their bodies suspended in the air as if kept alive by the strange substance. As he moved closer, he saw that parts of the mucus were going into their bodies, connecting them to the living substance. 

But that wasn't the worst part. As he looked closer, he saw insects crawling through the mucus, their tiny legs propelling them forward as they moved through the living substance. The sight made his skin crawl, and he stepped back, trying to keep his distance from the grotesque scene before him. 

He could hear the faint sounds of movement coming from the mucus as if the insects were communicating with each other. It was sickening, and he felt bile rise in his throat. What was this place? And how had it come from the simple room that used to be here?

Jacob, not being used to the twisting mass, decided to leave the room and explore it on a different day; as he was living, he ordered everyone that no one was allowed down there without him being present as he had a feeling that his "Hive" would attack any intruders using the insects and the hosts attached to it.

Jacob then decided to head back to his apartment to rest after having died and having learned he couldn't die as long as a large enough portion of his swarm was alive.