That evening, while sitting in her carriage, Xia Jin suddenly heard a notification.
【Resources collected. Would you like to upgrade the Zerg Hive to LV4?】
“Yes!”
There was no need to think; she chose to upgrade immediately.
【The Zerg Hive has been upgraded to LV4.】
Xia Jin immediately opened the panel to check the current status.
【Zerg Hive LV4】
【Units Available: Tier 3 drones, Tier 3 zerglings, Tier 3 banelings, Tier 4 hydralisks, Tier 5 queens.】
【Production Cost: drone 20 units each, zergling 40 units each, baneling 80 units each, hydralisk 200 units each, queen 1000 units each】
【Upgrade Cost: 1,000,000 units of ordinary energy, 20,000 units of high energy crystals, 20,000 units of gold, 30 units of mithril.】
【Description: The primary hive of the Zerg. Although it has undergone evolution, it remains quite primitive. It serves as the reproductive center of the swarm, replacing the Queen.】
“This...”
She had originally thought zerglings would be upgraded to Tier 4, but only the hydralisks had moved up. Additionally, a Tier 3 unit called the baneling and a Tier 5 unit called the queen had been added.
However, it wasn't as if the zerglings hadn't been optimized. In fact, the production cost for a single unit had decreased from 50 units to 40 units. Calculating it this way, they were even cheaper now, truly living up to their reputation as the most affordable unit type.
“I think I understand. Zerglings are really being developed as cannon fodder. Each evolution doesn't even focus on making them stronger; instead, the primary goal is to lower costs and improve cost effectiveness.”
In terms of cost, it took two zerglings to equal one baneling.
The baneling, also known as a poison burst, was a suicide attack unit. It could charge into the enemy and explode, creating corrosive liquid and mist with high impact and acidity, dealing area of effect damage.
In a war, this unit was somewhat like a mage in a fantasy world, adding a bit of “magic damage” capability to the otherwise purely physical zergling forces.
As for the queen.
It was a Tier 5 noncombat unit, and its utility was actually quite high.
Some players called it the Queen, though there was a distinction between its title and Xia Jin’s own status.
After all, Xia Jin held a position essentially equivalent to the Overlord, the absolute controller of the entire swarm, while the queen was merely a standard unit type.
Regarding its abilities.
First, the queen could perform healing tasks, much like a priest in a game, providing rapid treatment to wounded units.
Furthermore, the queen possessed the ability to spawn eggs. At the current base level, it could hatch three eggs on the hive every hour, which would then transform into three larvae, effectively increasing the swarm's production rate.
The final ability, and the one Xia Jin valued most, was the creep tumor.
It could plant a biological organism on normal soil that would generate a massive amount of creep in a short time, covering a radius of one kilometer.
To be honest, from Xia Jin’s perspective, the creep was a bit disgusting.
But its effects were powerful.
On one hand, it provided the necessary energy consumption for the bugs standing on it and even accelerated the healing of their wounds.
On the other hand, the creep could absorb a portion of solar energy, accumulating ordinary energy at an extremely slow rate.
Finally, for other creatures standing on it, the creep was actually harmful, as it could interfere with their movement.
“Fine then. I’ll produce one queen to spread more creep and then have it produce larvae.”
The swarm was still in its early accumulation phase, and the resources collected couldn't yet support a large number of high tier units.
Now that the hydralisks had been upgraded, their combined strength with the zerglings would far exceed what they were capable of when the hive was only Tier 3.
Xia Jin recalled that in StarCraft 1, there was a unit called the scourge, which was incredibly fast and could launch devastating suicide attacks. She wondered if she would be able to summon them in the future.
At that moment, she checked her resource interface.
Since the upgrade finished, she only had a few thousand units left.
“I’ll hatch one queen and two banelings first.”
Of course, the most important task was to recall the hydralisks from the front lines to undergo their tier advancement.
Xia Jin walked to the edge of the hive and saw several eggs appearing within the fleshy sacs. Soon, two larvae crawled out and began evolving toward their targets.
The banelings were born in about two minutes.
Their appearance looked quite venomous.
Resembling a crawling insect, they were similar in size to a zergling, but their backs were covered in translucent round bubbles filled with a bright green liquid that appeared to be pure venom.
The actual combat ability of a baneling wasn't very high; its primary function was to launch suicide attacks.
Considering the need for economy, Xia Jin decided to limit their use until critical moments.
After waiting a few more minutes, the queen was also born.
It was massive, standing four or five meters tall. Its lower body resembled a multi legged beetle, while its head looked like a fusion of human and insect, complete with a face. It stood upright, and its overall appearance was far more unsettling than any spider creature. Most people would likely have nightmares just looking at it.
Rate on N.U.
