Chapter 247
Chapter 247
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 247
Chapter Title: Form Dominator
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Aimorphs might be one of the quintessential fringe species in Space Survival, but that doesn't mean they're a pain in the ass from start to finish.
The rewards from hunting down powerful NPCs or players.
The thrill of stumbling upon a trait fusion formula I didn't know about.
The sense of accomplishment when incorporating a new trait into my hunting strategy.
There's nothing quite like the joy of watching those things snowball, one by one, until you're approaching perfection.
In truth, after ascension, these moments of joy became relatively rarer. Most players started avoiding me.
The higher your position in the game, the less often you get to savor discovering new creatures or traits. Naturally, the sense of accomplishment diminishes too.
That had been the case, but today, I got to relive that old thrill once more.
I gazed at the faintly glowing translucent text box.
‘One unique trait synthesis formula completed, one unlocked, multiple new fusion traits acquired, a new mark of a powerful foe obtained, and...’
A bunch of regular traits too.
After the Hunt's Manifestation ended, I was so busy deciding which of the pouring trait text boxes to check first that I even forgot my hunger.
Chewing on one of the stored corpses, I carefully examined the text boxes.
‘Let’s start with the new mark of a powerful foe.’
The newly acquired mark of a powerful foe, ‘Form Dominator,’ was the result of turning one of the perks I got from Jason into a trait.
When I took down Jason before, I got three player perks in total.
One was something he had from the start, and two were perks he stole from other players he killed.
At the time, I only converted one into a trait. The perk from the cold-blooded ranker he had, the ability to summon a golden form, I turned into ‘Abyssal Hues.’
The reason I couldn’t convert all three into marks of powerful foes was that I lacked the trait materials needed for the conversion.
Until now, to steal another player’s perk and use it, I absolutely needed a compatible trait for that perk.
‘A perk and a trait. You need both to get a mark of a powerful foe.’
The other two, excluding Abyssal Hues, had been stored in my body in an incomplete state.
Then, while raiding the Screamer support line this time, the opportunity arose. I acquired a massive number of traits at once, and among them were ones that matched the perks, allowing me to obtain a new mark of a powerful foe.
‘And I got quite a few regular traits too.’
Beyond the traits listed in the translucent text boxes I had up now, there were a considerable number of regular traits I’d obtained.
Most were ones I already had or traits with drawbacks like ‘Energy Absorption’ or ‘Dwarfism,’ but it didn’t matter. Useless traits could be used as materials for trait enhancement.
‘Without this system, it would’ve been impossible.’
If this were a game, I wouldn’t receive traits that were a net loss to hold onto. Once acquired, traits can’t be removed until used as fusion materials.
But thanks to the Trait Enhancement system unlocked alongside the ‘Space Monster’ type as the second-stage perk of the Transcendence system, I now had a limited way to make use of unnecessary traits.
‘Not that I can use it on just any trait.’
The downside of Trait Enhancement is that it can only be used in limited ways, tied to the Transcendence system.
As noted in the tooltip, you can expend traits you have when synthesizing unique traits or fusing marks of powerful foes. So, it’s not ideal to pick up negative traits willy-nilly.
‘Still better than nothing.’
I looked at the tooltip for the new mark of a powerful foe.
‘Form Dominator, huh.’
The two new fusion traits I got earlier were ones I remembered using multiple times even in the game. On the other hand, ‘Form Dominator’ was something I’d never seen before.
‘An enhancement to the Mimic Organ effect. I’ve never seen a trait with this kind of effect.’
In the game, no one else knew the Mimic Organ fusion formula besides me, so it was practically my unique trait. And no other player used Parasite Swarm as effectively as I did.
‘It’s like a trait made just for me.’
All the other marks of powerful foes so far had shown utterly ridiculous performance. The tooltip description was extremely simple compared to other traits, but maybe that’s why—it made me even more excited.
‘I’ll experiment with this slowly.’
I checked my changed body.
Most of the regular traits from raiding the storage had been used as Trait Enhancement materials. So, my body hadn’t transformed into a completely new form like other times.
The most notable change was to my maw area, at least.
The Hellside Hornet trait had fused with my existing ‘Essence Harvester’s Jaw,’ evolving into ‘Harvester’s Maw.’ Accordingly, my oral structure had changed.
Previously, my lower jaw split into two prongs, but now it no longer does. Think of it as reverting to the pre-subadult face shape—like an alligator or boa constrictor’s snout.
The jaw structure was simpler as before, but in exchange, two large fangs protruded from the lower jaw. They were as sharp and sturdy as the bone blades that formed during Hunt’s Manifestation.
‘In terms of toughness, they’re beyond even my head carapace.’
The fine serrations on the fangs’ surfaces boasted near-monomolecular cutter sharpness. They could slice through just about anything—unless it had special properties like the Red Galleron’s ‘Red Armor.’
Thanks to these fangs for biting and cutting, the way I harvest enemy heads had changed. Before, I’d open my lower jaw wide and swallow them whole; now, I just slice off the head with the fangs.
‘And this helps with that.’
I parted my mouth slightly and stuck out my tongue. A pale black tongue, resembling a snail’s eyestalk, wriggled into view.
For something modeled after a famous SF creature, Aimorphs don’t normally have tongues. You need special traits like this to get one.
‘Though it’s more like a tentacle in the mouth than a tongue?’
By lore, Aimorphs have taste buds distributed widely inside their mouths, so they don’t need tongues. Thus, an Aimorph’s tongue serves other purposes than tasting.
For instance, snatching and swallowing an enemy’s severed head, or...
｢It tickles!｣
I gave Number 26, who was eating a stored corpse beside me, a light lick. My tongue surface sucked up all the bacteria and viruses clinging to its body.
On my tongue’s surface was the newly acquired infection-related trait, ‘Microorganism Storage Organ.’ It detoxifies poisonous organisms or removes beneficial microbes from foes.
｢What was that? Do it again!｣
[Zu (Sure)]
｢It tickles! So fun!｣
Number 26’s body sparkled, fascinated by the novel sensation. Adhai, eating nearby, showed curiosity too.
｢Me｣ ｢Curious｣ ｢Me too｣ ｢Do it｣
[Zu (Okay)]
I licked it as requested, and its tail twitched like it’d been shocked.
｢What?｣ ｢What?｣ ｢What was that?｣
｢Fun, right?｣
｢Interesting｣ ｢Very｣ ｢Interesting｣
Seeing them both delighted like kids lifted my spirits without me realizing.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d played around so innocently with them. Since retrieving Adhai, it’d been nonstop battles—no time to hang out.
‘From now on, I need to spend more time with them.’
They’re useful allies who help me—and my friends.
As I thought that, my eyes met Mother of the Sky’s. The griffin with its magnificent golden mane had been watching us and was dry-heaving.
[Zu zu zu zuzuzu zu zu zu (Want me to do you too?)]
｢No thanks. I’ll pass.｣
Maybe because her griffin form had higher poison resistance than her wolf one, she firmly rejected my offer.
Anyway, aside from the maw changes, no other parts had changed much. More precisely, they had changed but then got consumed in Trait Enhancements and vanished.
I’d also gotten body-altering traits like ‘Contaminated Worm Host,’ but higher traits were overriding them, so they were all deactivated.
I stopped licking Number 26 and looked back at the text boxes.
Maybe because I’d eaten so many traits, two unique trait synthesis formulas were now open.
One was the fusion formula I’d unlocked by defeating the Hellside Hornet earlier—it required infection-series and nest-series traits.
I could make this unique trait right now.
‘I thought it’d take a while originally.’
I figured it’d be a long time before I gathered the Hellside Hornet and Glacial Fiend traits it required.
But surprisingly, the Screamer support line had quite a few samples of them.
Especially the Hellside Hornets—whether they’d raided a habitat or something, there were tons of genetic samples.
And the rarer apex creature, Glacial Fiend. There was even a genetic sample from another planet stored deep in the vault.
‘If there’d been just a bit more quantity...’
If an Aimorph acquires the Glacial Fiend’s narcotic substance production trait, it becomes ‘Red Acid.’ It turns Aimorph blood into a narcotic, and fusing that with ‘Smog Tower’ makes a powerful fusion trait.
‘Extremely effective in group battles.’
If there’d been more Glacial Fiend samples, I could’ve gotten both the Red Acid-based fusion trait and the unique trait, but unfortunately, no dice.
Pira Eleven must’ve had trouble with Glacial Fiends too—or maybe couldn’t find a habitat like with the Hellside Hornets. There were only two samples. Three would’ve let me get both the fusion and unique traits. Such a shame.
‘Right now, the unique trait comes before any fusion.’
Besides fulfilling evolution conditions, there was something more important.
If I used the Transcendence system to make just one more unique trait, the Space Monster type would advance from stage 0 to stage 1. No matter how strong a Red Acid-based fusion trait was, it wouldn’t match a unique one.
‘Plus, I’m curious about the stage 1 Space Monster type effects.’
Having given up on the fusion for now, I’d perfectly met the conditions for the infection- and nest-series unique trait. I’d even balanced the trait count so the type effects wouldn’t vanish. I could make it anytime.
‘Now, what about this one.’
The newly unlocked fusion formula required multiple psionic-related traits. I had all but one.
‘No Mimic Organ here.’
There were no samples for that trait on the Screamer support line, so I’d have to move somewhere else.
‘Guess it’s about time to leave.’
Before dying, Pira Eleven said they’d requested support, so the Machine Committee’s fleet would come.
‘Since one of their own died, at least half the High Councilors will come for me.’
Hell, even the Great Leader player might tag along.
‘Ambush and surprise attack is an option, but...’
I wasn’t ready yet. Fighting the Machine Committee meant all-out war with the Star Union. I’d gotten stronger, sure, but not that much.
‘Not yet, anyway.’
To meet the type condition for evolving to adult anyway, I had to head to the next place.
Not a barren hellhole like this, but a place teeming with countless races and creatures. There, I’d grow massively once more.
‘I’ll have PS-111 pull up the ship logs.’
The one who fetched the metals from the dragon’s nest wasn’t here. It was modifying machine parts on the production line next to the storage. It said it’d take a few hours to finish.
‘Then, in the meantime...’
[Zu zu zu zu zu zu zu zu zu (I’m going to become an egg again. So protect me)]
The ones here had seen me enter the cocoon multiple times, so none were surprised or questioning.
After telling them, I left the storage and entered a nearby cargo hold.
‘It’s been a while.’
The first place I opened my eyes in this world after arriving. Of course, unlike then, this ship didn’t have much in the way of cargo now, but the feeling was similar.
Coiled up atop the cargo hold, I reactivated the translucent text box.
This was the fourth time seeing this text box prompt.
As always, my answer was set.