Chapter 335
When the managatherer finished developing and the Hive Nexus released the creature, it immediately took flight and began to move toward the exit of his lair with surprisingly good speed.
Jake didn’t stop it to examine it, as there was no need. The managatherer looked exactly like he had designed in creation mode. It was somewhat larger than a domestic cat, with a body composed of three parts: the head, thorax, and abdomen.
The head featured two large eyes similar to Jake’s, granting the creature an almost 360-degree view. Six legs and two pairs of transparent wings were attached to the thorax. The abdomen appeared hollow and currently resembled a deflated balloon, but it would expand as the creature filled it with mana.
The managatherer didn’t have overly thick armor, as it needed to be fast, quick, and maneuverable. Excessive armor plating would have weighed it down. However, it wasn’t easily killable. Its tough exoskeleton was resistant enough that small arms wouldn’t be able to damage it quickly.
As the newly created creature left his lair in search of mana, Jake glanced around his surroundings. The day before, he had created numerous ten-legged acid-spitting crawlers. Some had fallen in the battle against Skullface’s team, so he needed to replenish his ranks.
Before getting to that, he wanted to finalize his work on the managatherer. If it performed as well as he hoped, he planned to create a dozen more of these creatures to ensure his lair was self-sufficient and that the Mana Core’s energy reserves were constantly replenished.
Later, he planned to search for another mana orb to see if it could be attached to the existing one, increasing the Mana Core’s capacity by an additional 100,000. It might also be wise to begin developing more lairs. Although there were still several spots in his current lair for additional structures, it was becoming quite cramped.
So it would be a good decision to establish a couple more lairs, each dedicated to a specific purpose: one for mass production of various creatures, another for accumulating and storing biomass, and so on. Each lair would require its own mana orb. Since these magical items were extremely rare, after ensuring his current lair was self-sufficient, he would need to invest time in gathering as many mana orbs as he could.
Jake established a visual link with the managatherer and saw the world through the creature’s eyes. He noticed that it was currently flying along a street at a two-story height. It had left the lair just a minute ago, but Jake could already see that the managatherer was far away, having covered significant ground. Its movement speed was truly impressive.
The creature reached a four-way intersection and came to a motionless hover, picking a direction. Rather than proceeding straight, it turned left and continued its flight. For several minutes, it flew through the city, searching for mana.
Finally, it detected a mana cloud up ahead. Jake could only detect mana clouds when he closed his eyes and used the Mana Vision perk. However, since he was currently observing through the creature’s eyes, he could see the mana cloud as easily as the managatherer. The cloud floated at about three stories high, slowly drifting down the street.
The managatherer reached the cloud and flew inside it. The creature then stopped right in the middle of the cloud, hovering motionlessly like an enormous dragonfly. In the next second, the mana cloud began to shrink as the creature absorbed the magical energy. Jake attempted to gauge the amount of mana in the cloud, and it indeed worked: 347,876. It was quite a large mana cloud, for sure.
For about half a minute, the creature absorbed the magical energy. Once it was done, it executed a tight U-turn to head back to the lair. Jake noticed that the mana cloud was still quite large. He wondered how much mana it still had, but since his minion was already flying away, he could no longer gauge it.
He then tried to check the amount of mana the winged creature had, and it worked: 30,000 MP. Apparently, this was the current capacity of how much mana the managatherer could contain. However, during the next evolution cycle, he could increase the size of the creature, thereby increasing its mana capacity.
Jake then instructed the managatherer to take a quick glance at its abdomen. When the creature did so, he noticed that it had expanded dramatically, now more than twice the size of its body. Moreover, the walls of the abdomen had become transparent, allowing the glow of the mana stored within to shine through.
Jake didn’t like it. Any survivor walking down this street would easily notice the enlarged, glowing creature flying above and might even be tempted to take a shot at the oversized, glowing fly-like being.
While Jake was sure the rest of the managatherer’s body could withstand several shots from small arms without sustaining much damage, he wasn’t certain what would happen if a bullet hit the swollen abdomen, as its walls appeared stretched thin, pushed to their limits by the mana contained within.
Despite having its adornment expanded, the managatherer continued to move with impressive speed. Apparently, mana hardly weighed anything at all.
Suddenly, the street below erupted with gunfire. The managatherer immediately came to a motionless hover, activating Cloak at the same time.
A moment later, a group of survivors burst from an alley below, sprinting across the street and firing at a pack of mutants chasing them. Seconds later, they vanished into an alley on the other side. Once the danger passed, the managatherer resumed its course toward the lair.
Minutes later, the creature arrived at the diner. It slipped through the hole in the roof, and at that moment, Jake cut the visual link with the managatherer, seeing the world through his own eyes once more.
A moment later, he saw the creature enter the lair through the hatch door he had left open. It then flew to the Mana Core, coming to a halt before it. Immediately, the creature’s abdomen began to deflate as the shimmering magical energy streamed from it toward the central structure of the lair.
The process lasted just a few seconds. The Mana Core now had 30,000 MP more but wasn’t yet completely filled. Sensing this, the managatherer left the lair to resume its search for mana.
The creature he had developed performed its functions exceptionally well. It was great.
Now, he just needed to create several more managatherers, and his lair would be self-sufficient, allowing him to focus on other matters.