The next morning, the zergling count was tallied once again; it had reached 550.
Combined with the 50 drones, the total scale of the swarm surpassed six hundred.
Essentially everything within a ten kilometer radius had become a hunting ground for the swarm. However, the bugs moving north had now halted their advance and shifted their exploration toward the west.
As for the east, to avoid attracting the attention of the City of Darkness for the time being, the bugs stopped their progress in that direction and instead began carefully clearing out the stray magic beasts in the area.
Strictly speaking, 550 zerglings were more than enough to attack a small city.
But considering the numerous powerful individuals within the City of Darkness and its sizable private army, the bugs—with an average rank of only Tier 2—would certainly not be enough to charge in.
“I still need to develop more.”
By slaughtering wild magic beasts, 20,000 units of normal energy and 500 high-energy crystals could soon be gathered.
The trouble was the gold.
Gold mines were naturally difficult to find in the wild, so the only option was to look toward humans.
“Right, that goblin tribe might have some.”
Thinking of the predatory habits of creatures like goblins, they were bound to have plundered a significant amount of gold.
Xia Jin immediately sent 20 zerglings over to search.
Soon, among the ruins the goblins had abandoned, the bugs found nearly 2000 units of gold coins.
“That really is quite a lot.”
One had to know that gold coins were the largest currency unit in the kingdom, with the purchasing power of each coin being roughly equivalent to ten thousand yuan in her previous life.
And this goblin tribe had plundered this much alone.
“I didn't expect the gold problem to be solved so quickly.”
Next, Xia Jin did nothing, simply needing to wait for the building upgrade to complete.
Of course, expanding the numbers was also necessary. Once the swarm reached about 2000 bugs, she could stop breeding and focus on upgrading.
No matter how much cannon fodder there was, it was still just cannon fodder; it only became meaningful once the quality was improved.
At this moment, the knight commander and the others had become completely numb.
In just three or four short days, the princess had performed a miracle. From the release of the first larva to now, she had created a terrifying army.
Originally, in their minds, she was a beautiful and kind princess. Even if she possessed a face that nearly reached the pinnacle of human beauty, she was essentially just a young girl.
A long life of nobility might have made her pampered, but her cute smile and the things she did daily allowed everyone to view her as just a girl.
But now...
She was like a queen.
Or rather, a queen who had not yet shed her youthful air.
She possessed the greenness and elegance of a young girl, but also the supreme dignity of a high-ranking ruler.
“Is she now a calamity or salvation?” the knight commander murmured to himself.
However, he did not know that at this moment, a line of subtitles was flashing before Xia Jin's eyes.
【Cumulative kills have reached 1500. Energy allocation support complete. Queen rank increased to Tier 2.】
“Oh? I ranked up again so soon?”
It was indeed unexpectedly fast.
Feeling the power surging through her body, Xia Jin felt as though she could punch a bull to death right now.
Cough, strictly speaking, she could indeed send a bull flying with one punch, but that referred to the bulls from her previous life. The bulls encountered in this world were quite ridiculous, each one either having thick hides and flesh or mastering terrifying magic.
“For the next few days, I will rest and wait for the bugs to accumulate enough to break through to Tier 3.”
As expected, the later the base level, the slower the upgrade. Moving from Level 2 to Level 3 already required ten times the resources of Level 1 to Level 2.
However, as the expansion accelerated, the speed of resource collection also increased.
Over the following days, the bugs took the dense forest to the west as their primary direction for expansion, advancing another 10 kilometers.
The resources brought in from this hunting spree finally met the requirements for the upgrade.
【Resources collected. Do you wish to upgrade the Zerg Hive to LV3?】
“Yes!”
This time, the hive's size doubled from its original state.
Naturally, the time required also extended to one hour.
Once everything was settled, a new prompt arrived.
【The Zerg Hive has been upgraded to LV3.】
Xia Jin immediately opened its status panel.
【Zerg Hive LV3】
【Producible: Tier 2 drones, Tier 3 zerglings, Tier 3 hydralisks.】
【Production Cost: 20 units/drone, 50 units/zergling, 80 units/hydralisk】
【Upgrade Cost: 200,000 units of normal energy, 2000 units of high-energy crystals, 5000 units of gold, 10 units of mithril.】
【Description: A nascent Zerg Hive. Although it has undergone evolution, it remains very primitive. It is the reproductive center of the swarm that replaces the Queen.】
This time, the hive could not only hatch Tier 3 zerglings but also added a new ranged unit—the hydralisk.
“Isn't this a unit from StarCraft?”
Xia Jin smiled when she saw the name.
As expected, it was very similar to the game. Was this a coincidence?
Regardless, adding a ranged unit was a good thing. During the recent expansion, they had encountered many flying magic beasts, which had truly caused significant losses to the zerglings.
Hydralisks could attack aerial units from a distance, which could be considered a solution to this drawback.
Of course, their price was also more expensive than the zerglings, which had grown to 50.
But these were Tier 3 creatures after all; the cost-performance ratio was not low.
“From now on, produce 20 hydralisks first. I need to see their combat effectiveness.”
The order was given, and several larvae began to hatch.
Meanwhile, the current 500-plus Tier 2 zerglings also began queuing up for upgrades.
The drones also needed to queue up.
After all, many hard substances were not something Tier 1 creatures could digest. Reaching Tier 2 was very necessary.
Rate on N.U.
