【Resources collected. Upgrade Zerg Hive to LV7?】
“Yes!”
The Hive's volume expanded once again. This time, its length reached 40 meters, and its width suddenly stretched to 20 meters, making it look like a massive ellipsoid.
It appeared as an indescribable monster of flesh and blood, with countless fleshy limbs flailing and emitting low, eerie sounds.
Xia Jin found that standing next to the Hive now created a truly peculiar sense of contrast.
Especially when she sat beside a fleshy mound on the side of the Hive; at a glance, one could see a pure young girl alongside a terrifying monster. Although there was something eerie about it, there was also a sense of beauty that even she couldn't quite describe.
After half a day, the notification that the upgrade was complete finally arrived.
【Zerg Hive has been upgraded to LV7.】
“Finally finished.”
In truth, the time spent on each upgrade wasn't particularly long.
Xia Jin couldn't wait to check the current status of the Hive.
【Zerg Hive LV7】
【Recruitable (Land/Air): Tier 3 drone, Tier 4 scourge, Tier 5 zergling, Tier 6 roach, Tier 6 baneling, Tier 6 hydralisk, Tier 6 swarm host, Tier 7 lurker, Tier 7 infestor, Tier 7 mutalisk, Tier 7 queen, Tier 8 primal brain bug.】
【Recruitable (Water): Tier 3 Swimmer】
【Recruitment Cost: drone 20 units/each, Swimmer 30 units/each, scourge 40 units/each, zergling 80 units/each, baneling 400 units/each, hydralisk 600 units/each, Floating Hive Bug 800 units/each, roach 1,000 units/each, lurker 1,800 units/each, infestor 1,500 units/each, swarm host (Type I) 2,400 units/each, mutalisk 2,800 units/each, queen 3,000 units/each, primal brain bug 30,000 units/each】
【drone Evolution: drones can absorb standard energy from the soil.】
【zergling Evolution: Gain Frenzy state. Can be activated once per day for 1 hour, granting much greater power during combat.】
【creep Evolution: The speed at which creep absorbs nutrients from soil and rock has increased.】
【roach Evolution: The defensive capabilities of roaches have seen a slight improvement.】
【Psionic Blast: The Queen masters the Psionic Blast ability, linking with the Swarm's mind to launch psionic attacks and manifest anomalies.】
【Hand of Zergification: The Queen's arm can instantly alter its genes and internal structure, transforming into flesh with super-destructive power for long-range kills. The energy for this skill must be replenished from nutrient solution, or slowly accumulated by drawing from the Swarm network.】
【Crystal Synthesis: drones can synthesize 100 units of standard energy into 1 unit of high-energy crystals.】
【Queen's Projection Upgrade: The projection's maintained level is changed to zergling level + 3.】
【Upgrade Cost: 120,000,000 units of standard energy, 600,000 units of high-energy crystals, 200,000 units of gold, 800 units of mithril.】
【Description: A nascent Zerg Hive. Although it has undergone evolution, it remains very primitive. It serves as the reproductive center of the Swarm, replacing the Queen.】
...
The description hadn't changed.
At first glance, the unit types didn't seem to have changed much, but upon closer analysis, this wave of improvement was massive.
First, the tiers of several creatures—zerglings, banelings, lurkers, and infestors—had all increased by one.
What satisfied Xia Jin the most was the zergling reaching Tier 5.
This was equivalent to giving her units the ability to directly contend with the kingdom's official main legions.
Although the baneling was one tier higher and its price had risen from 240 to 400, its actual cost-effectiveness had improved significantly.
She immediately upgraded one to test its power; as it turned out, the explosive force of this baneling was three times that of its pre-upgrade version, and its range had doubled.
“It really is much stronger.”
Conversely, although the tiers of the hydralisk, roach, and swarm host hadn't increased, their prices had become cheaper.
The cost of a hydralisk dropped from 800 to 600.
The roach went from 1,500 to 1,000 each.
The swarm host dropped from 2,800 to 2,400.
This reduction in cost was actually proof of the Zerg's improved energy utilization efficiency.
It meant that the same amount of standard energy could produce more units.
However, considering the upgrades for units like the zerglings, the extra resources would likely be allocated to those upgraded insects anyway.
“The upgrade for the next level of the Hive seems to just double the resources, and the gold hasn't even changed.”
Calculating it this way, the difficulty wasn't that high anymore.
On the contrary, the gold—currently the hardest resource to obtain—could be settled just by scouring the humans for their currency once more.
The number of gold coins obtained from the city states was also quite large, reaching over 100,000 units, which essentially solved more than half of the requirement in one go.
“This is great. Does this mean my Hive could upgrade again in a week or two?”
Xia Jin nodded in satisfaction and immediately ordered the existing swarm to line up for upgrades.
Of course, most of the insects still had to continue hunting magic beasts and plundering resources; otherwise, there wouldn't be enough points for the upgrades.
Once they improved, combined with the other unit types, the exchange ratio in battles against the kingdom would certainly decrease significantly.
Currently, besides the changes to the previous units, two new aerial units had also appeared.
Rate on N.U.
