Chapter 333
Having learned that Skullface’s so-called “scalpel” was after him, Jake decided to beef up the defenses in his lair. After slaying the team on the roof of the car park, who were supposed to ambush him but ended up being ambushed themselves, he returned home and checked the available upgrades.
After evolving the Mana Core to Rank IV, three new structures became available for creation: the Bio-Fusion Chamber, the Cyst Generator, and the Resource Node. He had already constructed a Bio-Fusion Chamber and a Resource Node. The Bio-Fusion Chamber was designed to develop special abilities for his creatures, while the Resource Node stored various resources extracted from living beings.
As for the Cyst Generator, he hadn’t built it by that point yet.
He knew that Skullface had a mission to hunt him down, so the System always provided him with Jake’s precise position, no matter where he was. Since Jake spent a lot of time developing his lair, anyone Skullface sent after him would likely discover it. That’s why he needed to set up some vicious traps in his lair to protect against unwelcome intruders.
At that point, he didn’t know what the Cyst Generator was, but from the name alone, it didn’t sound like a trap at all. He checked what structures would be available for creation after the Mana Core was evolved to Rank V: the Guardian Spire, the Flesh Maw, and the Sentry Talon. These three sounded like they could be traps. The Sentry Talon certainly indicated some kind of defensive mechanism.
Initially, Jake hadn’t wanted to evolve the Mana Core to Rank V until he resolved the issue of insufficient mana for his lair first. However, now that he knew Skullface intended to send his “scalpel” after him, he needed to protect his lair. Therefore, he decided to evolve the Mana Core to Rank V.
Once it was done, he had examined the descriptions of the three new structures that were now available for creation.
The Flesh Maw was exactly what its name implied: a massive, circular mouth filled with rows upon rows of large, sharp, triangular teeth. It could be placed anywhere on the Corruption and looked like a simple mound, nothing suspicious at all.
However, if an intruder stepped on it, the mound would spring open like a giant mouth, swallowing the unfortunate victim into its teeth-filled depths to be chewed. Jake strategically positioned the Flesh Maw just beneath the trapdoor, ensuring that anyone who leaped into his lair would land directly atop the dangerous mound.
As for the Guardian Spire and the Sentry Talon, they were also two types of defensive mechanisms.
The Sentry Talon was an enormous finger-like structure ending in a huge, nasty talon. It could be grown on any wall covered in Corruption, and in its idle state, it looked like nothing more than a protruding ridge. Upon first glance, anyone who looked at it would assume it was just a strange design choice by whoever created this place.
However, as soon as an intruder entered his lair, a Sentry Talon would spring open like a finger and attack the uninvited visitor with its deadly talon. Jake placed two Sentry Talons on either side of the Flesh Maw, attaching them to the walls.
The last defensive mechanism, the Guardian Spire, was a ranged trap. It could be grown anywhere on Corruption, and in its idle state, it resembled a large but harmless lump. However, when an intruder entered his lair, the Guardian Spire would unfurl into a tubular shape, capable of launching projectiles known as cysts.
A cyst was a glob the size of a baseball, consisting of a film and acid within. Upon contact with any surface, the film would burst, and the acid would splatter. A Guardian Spire could only accommodate a limited number of cysts. That’s when Jake discovered the purpose of the Cyst Generator: to produce new cysts.
So he cultivated five Guardian Spires, positioning them all on the ceiling. After that, he created a Cyst Generator, placing it to the right of the Biomass Processor on the left-hand wall of his lair.
The Cyst Generator constantly generated cysts and fed them to the Guardian Spires. When each of them and the Cyst Generator itself had their internal storages full, the latter temporarily stopped producing acid projectiles.
When one of the Guardian Spires consumed at least one cyst, a tube formed connecting the Cyst Generator to the Guardian Spire, transferring one cyst from the former to the latter. The Cyst Generator then immediately began to develop another cyst.
So when the first operative, named Julian, jumped into his lair from the storage room above, he was immediately trapped in the Flesh Maw. The Guardian Spires and the Sentry Talons then finished him off without any difficulty, despite the power suit he wore.
His lair was now well protected, and the defensive mechanisms he had developed worked perfectly.
Jake looked at the Mana Core and summoned its stats.
Name: Mana Core
MP: 37,783
Evolution Rank: V
GP: 2527/2,800
Available structures: Hive Nexus, Larvae Chamber, Biomass Processor, Biomass Storage, Extractor, Creation Chamber, Bio-Fusion Chamber, Cyst Generator, Resource Node, Flesh Maw, Sentry Talon, Guardian Spire
Available creatures: Larva, Roach, Fly, Spider, Ten-legged Acid-spitting Crawler
Larvae: 5/10
Structures: 17/20
Evolve to Rank VI: Y/N (400 Biomass, 30,000 MP)
After the Mana Core is evolved to Rank VI, the following structures will be available for creation:
Mind Control Center;
Trap Constructor;
Tumor Builder.
Having dealt with Skullface’s team, Jake realized he needed to tackle the mana shortage. The addition of eleven new structures meant his lair was now consuming a significant amount of mana each day.
His lair now depleted over 17,000 MP per hour, meaning more than 408,000 MP was consumed in a day. Since the Mana Core had a capacity of 100,000 MP, he needed to replenish the main structure of his lair at least five times a day, which was way too often. He definitely couldn’t afford to dedicate so much of his time simply to replenishing the Mana Core.
Being aware of the issue, he had begun addressing the mana problem yesterday, after developing all those defensive mechanisms. Now that he had dealt with Skullface’s team, he could return to his work.