After waiting for half a day, the Zerg Hive finally completed its evolution.
At this moment, the Zerg Hive was larger than ever before. It was 60 meters long, while the width remained at 20 meters, and its height reached 12 meters. Numerous pitch black giant spines had also grown upon it.
Following this upgrade, the Zerg Hive gained a degree of defensive capability, enabling it to fire giant spines with power equivalent to Tier 9.
These spines were effectively an enhanced version of those used by hydralisks. Upon birth, they could already be fired at targets 10 kilometers away. Perhaps after future upgrades, they could become even more formidable.
Xia Jin examined the status of the Zerg Hive at this level.
【Zerg Hive LV8】
【Producible (Land/Air): Tier 4 drones, Tier 4 scourges, Tier 6 zerglings, Tier 6 elf bugs, Tier 7 banelings, Tier 7 roaches, Tier 7 ravagers, Tier 7 hydralisks, Tier 7 swarm hosts, Tier 7 lurkers, Tier 7 infestors, Tier 8 mutalisks, Tier 8 nydus worms, Tier 8 queens, Tier 8 ultralisks, Tier 9 primal brain bugs.】
【Producible (Water): Tier 4 Swimmers, Tier 5 Floating Hive Bugs】
【Recruitment Cost: 40 units per drone, 40 units per Swimmer, 30 units per scourge, 150 units per zergling, 600 units per elf bug, 800 units per baneling, 1,200 units per hydralisk, 800 units per Floating Hive Bug, 1,600 units per roach, 2,400 units per ravager, 1,800 units per lurker, 1,500 units per infestor, 4,200 units per swarm host (Type I), 4,500 units per mutalisk, 5,000 units per nydus worm, 6,000 units per queen, 10,000 units per ultralisk, 120,000 units per primal brain bug】
【Drone Evolution: Body structure strengthened; carrying capacity significantly increased.】
【Zergling Evolution: Frenzy state duration extended; can be used once per day for 2 hours; possesses greater strength during combat.】
【Hive Evolution: The Zerg Hive can move slowly at a speed of 1 kilometer per hour.】
【Downgrade Production: High level Hives can produce lower tier insects (must be low tier insects that have previously appeared).】
【Upgrade Cost: 600 million units of standard energy, 1 million units of high energy crystals, 50,000 units of gold, 1,800 units of mithril, 2 billion tons of minerals.】
【Description: The Zerg's fledgling Zerg Hive. Although it has undergone evolution, it remains very primitive. It is the breeding center of the Swarm that replaces the Queen.】
...
Compared to the previous level, this upgrade unlocked more genes, and the overall improvement to the Zerg was even greater.
Furthermore, compared to the past, the resources required for the next level had grown exponentially, though the demand for gold had actually decreased.
However, the requirement for 2 billion tons of minerals came as a bit of a surprise to Xia Jin.
“If I am collecting minerals, I will definitely have to rely on drones.”
2 billion tons—good grief, that number was terrifying no matter how she looked at it.
Even if 10 tons were collected every second, only 865,000 tons would be produced in a day. At that rate, it would take over 2,300 days to collect enough.
Since there was no restriction on the type of mineral, she could just gather whatever was available.
Considering the Zerg's current rate of development, the efficiency would increase significantly if she had other insects help as well.
“Drones are now 10 units of standard energy more expensive, but their rank has reached Tier 4. Looking at it this way, they seem more cost effective than before.”
It was important to note that a one tier increase in combat power generally represented a massive leap over the previous tier.
Coupled with downgrade production, there was no doubt that even if their tier was lower and they could not carry as much weight as a Tier 4, the same amount of resources could produce four Tier 1 drones. Their combined carrying capacity would certainly exceed that of a single Tier 4 drone.
However, Tier 1 drones were too weak in combat. Therefore, when they were transporting goods back and forth, the safety of the routes had to be guaranteed.
As for combat insects, she generally would not use downgrade production.
This upgrade clearly did not focus particularly on reducing costs. Instead, it raised most insects by one tier. Only units like scourges, lurkers, and infestors, as well as aquatic insects, had not been upgraded.
In terms of resource consumption, higher tiers definitely cost more, but looking at the rate of increase, the Zerg had indeed adhered to their consistent practice of extreme resource conservation.
Meanwhile, elf bugs had been completely integrated into the Swarm system, and their rank had increased to Tier 6.
Notably, there was a change in the swarm hosts.
The locusts they produced had changed from Tier 1 to Tier 2, and the resource consumption had doubled.
Well, locusts were practically free anyway, so this doubled resource consumption could be entirely ignored.
Yet, a small increase of a single tier was a qualitative leap for this kind of cannon fodder unit.
Imagine it: originally, hundreds of thousands of Tier 1 locusts would harass everywhere every day. Though they were strong, one could still try to kill them while ensuring their own safety if they were careful. Now, they had suddenly been upgraded to Tier 2 as a whole.
Xia Jin was already starting to mourn for her enemies.
Tier 2 locusts could even wear down and kill certain magic beast kings on the edge of the forest through sheer numbers.
With zerglings reaching Tier 6 on top of that, good grief—she would just wait and see how the Kingdom falls this time.
Rate on N.U.
