The Sub-dragon's Modification

As she slowly approached the hideous Zerg Hive and saw the living behemoth with her own eyes, the black sub-dragon lady felt herself trembling.

“Is that thing alive?”

Seeing the monster slowly swaying its limbs in the water and recalling how Xia Jin had previously transformed her arms into masses of flesh, she began to understand something.

However, the sub-dragon soon noticed Xia Jin’s true body.

She was sitting in the water, hugging her knees, surrounded by emerald freshwater weeds.

Seeing the silver-haired girl, the sub-dragon lady immediately realized the truth.

“This is the little darling’s original form?”

It was too beautiful, too pure.

The Tier 11 true body opened her eyes and gently raised her hand. Beside her, the Zerg Hive opened a massive orifice, and a multitude of fleshy arms flew out, instantly seizing the black sub-dragon lady.

With a terrified scream, the poor black sub-dragon lady was dragged inside.

...

A short time later, the modification was complete.

The black sub-dragon lady, whose genes were now completely Zerg-ified, had undoubtedly joined the Swarm network.

It was only then that she realized what kind of race the Zerg truly were.

She also understood that Xia Jin was the Zerg Queen in every sense of the word, and her actual control over the Swarm was far superior to the methods the Magic Beast King used to control the various mythic kings.

“I see. As expected of my favorite... sob, why is her status so high? I feel like I don't deserve her.”

After emerging, the black sub-dragon lady actually felt sad.

She liked Xia Jin far too much.

She approached the Queen’s true body, watching the long hair floating in the water. Amidst the play of light and shadow from the water plants under the sunlight, there was a profound sense of holiness.

It was truly difficult to associate her with those terrifying monsters.

But perhaps it was this fusion of purity and horror that made Xia Jin’s beauty so hauntingly bewitching.

Ellie, standing not far away, swam over gently. “It is your honor to join the Zerg. Ordinary magic beasts never get such an opportunity.”

After all, there were not many creatures who felt such loyalty and affection for Xia Jin without first being part of the mental network.

To betray the magic beasts so decisively and join the Zerg made this black sub-dragon lady a rare case indeed.

Lately, the humans like Amelo who had joined were starting to fall behind the times, but those fellows had begun to live out their days in retirement. Xia Jin had considered it for a long time and ultimately decided not to remove the lifespan limits on them.

Presumably, after they passed away, they would be reborn as a certain type of Zerg.

Achieving immortality in this way wasn't a bad thing. At least the Zerg were relatively free; the will of the entire race was unified, and what the Queen wanted them to do was exactly what the Zerg were willing to execute.

With any luck, they might be born with the appearance of a humanoid Zerg. After all, there were many similar races in the universe, and the knowledge they carried from their human lives might still prove useful.

The black sub-dragon lady gently touched the Queen’s slender finger. Facing Xia Jin’s true body for the first time, she felt very shy, but with the Swarm network, such thoughts could not be hidden at all.

Xia Jin simply smiled and signaled for her to undergo a slight further modification to be elevated to Tier 11.

Currently, Xia Jin’s true body had allocated more than enough energy—part of it came from the Swarm, and the rest came from the demons.

These subordinates who met her aesthetic preferences naturally needed to be strengthened.

The sub-dragon’s genes did indeed have merits. Once finalized and applied to the mutalisks, they could permanently reinforce the fragile defenses of those units, allowing them to go head-to-head with enemies, which was a significant improvement.

As for the Devourers and similar units, they also saw varying degrees of improvement after incorporating the sub-dragon genes.

Furthermore, the plasma rounds fired by creatures like the ravagers could now incorporate a trace of dragon breath, adding a degree of minor magic damage.

Just as the study of World Tree leaves had led to the improvement of elf bugs and the strengthening of magical protection for the entire Zerg race, the effects of the sub-dragon genes were also excellent.

“I’ve collected quite a few good genes lately. While there's no need to design entirely new Zerg species, I can certainly utilize what is available.”

According to current trends, the Swarm might see a large number of variants in the future—specialized organisms with different functions within a single species.

Zerglings could have speed-type, power-type, and defense-type variants. While their basic combat power remained the same, they would specialize in one specific area. The final result would be stronger combat capabilities and better adaptation to complex battlefields.

The Abyss power obtained from the demons was also excellent, serving as an energy source for the elite Swarm.

The Zerg currently in the Abyss had already captured some living Tier 8 and Tier 9 demons, which were being farmed in a cordoned-off area within the Mist Zone.

However, based on the results, these demons grew much slower once they left the Abyss. This was mainly because the Abyss aura was scarce here, and they had to expend a portion of their strength to synthesize it.

But...

Since it could be synthesized, it meant that reality could also be converted into that power. The feasibility of mass-producing units with Abyss power in the future now existed.