Chapter 286
Chapter 286
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 286
Chapter Title: Metamorphosis (3)
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Mega Corp, the human collective that prospered with the Solar System at its center, is ruled by seven great families.
Five Noble Capital families based on Earth.
Two Prime Capital families based on the Mars colonies.
Once a massive corporate conglomerate, they have persisted to this day in the form of family clans.
And now, the attention of all seven families is focused not on the Solar System, but on another star system.
A-11 Star System.
Among the star systems Mega Corp conquered after the Solar System, this one houses a highly important facility.
That facility is the headquarters of the Mega Corp Dispute Resolution Team.
Located on a terraformed planet, it's a direct organization under the CEO of the Dispute Resolution Team, existing to mediate conflicts between the families within Mega Corp.
In Mega Corp, the role of 'law' is to efficiently protect the interests of the seven great families. Thus, all Mega Corp laws are decided in closed-door meetings by the patriarchs and top executives of the seven families.
Of course, no matter how much time is spent crafting them, the 'laws' can't be perfect. Contradictions can arise within the laws themselves, or interpretations can differ based on individual positions. That's where the Dispute Resolution Team comes in.
A grand auditorium capable of seating thousands.
At its center stood the head of the mediation team.
"With this, we conclude the 17th meeting on drafting the 'Interim Ceasefire Mediation Proposal Regarding the T&C-Ezerton Armed Conflict.'"
His voice echoed through the entire auditorium via the microphone.
The hall was usually empty, but not today. Lawyers dispatched from the seven great families and reporters from major media outlets filled the seats.
The reason they had gathered was exactly as the mediation team head stated.
The collapse of the T&C Special Trade Hub had sparked an armed conflict between the Noble Capital's T&C and the Prime Capital's Ezerton, and they were here to resolve it.
Once a mediation request is filed with the Dispute Resolution Team, the involved families must reach an agreement. Refusing means losing their Capital status.
Of course, losing Capital status is far more damaging than losing the dispute itself, so no family had ever refused mediation before.
However, the disadvantages from the resulting agreements are never minor. They can shake the very foundation of a family.
Thus, the lawyers from the participating families must win at any cost. Bribing the opposing counsel for even the slightest advantage is child's play; threats, abductions, and torture are all fair game if necessary. That's Mega Corp-style mediation.
"Objections will be accepted again in 24 hours."
As soon as the mediation team head finished speaking, the people in the auditorium emptied out like the receding tide.
Watching from a secret room at the back, Akira Yujin turned off the monitor. An elderly butler stood waiting behind him.
The prolonged civil war had finally reached its end.
In the early stages of the conflict, the T&C family had lost an entire space city, along with one of their heirs in the process. The losses were astronomical, leading many to predict the war would end in Ezerton's victory.
On top of that, the Ezerton family had recently succeeded in mass-producing a new model warship. Naturally, the initial battles favored them.
Had Ezerton not lost their patriarch, the civil war would have ended in T&C's defeat long ago.
"This incident turned out to be a blessing in disguise for T&C."
"Losing their patriarch was fatal for Ezerton."
"Indeed. Ezerton still hasn't stabilized."
Denver Ezerton, the Black Lion of Mars, had gone missing when the T&C Special Trade Hub collapsed. Ezerton's vassals and elders, preoccupied with their own interests, couldn't focus on the war with T&C.
As the civil war dragged on, the scales tipped toward T&C.
Chaos in the command structure and production issues—these two factors led Ezerton to defeat.
The mediation proposal wasn't finalized yet, but the tide couldn't be turned. T&C would use it to extract all sorts of concessions from Ezerton.
"Thanks to this, the Yujin family's influence has reached Ezerton as well, but we won't see much profit from it."
"......"
Akira's support for Ezerton during the civil war was no secret to the butler. Sensing his master's displeasure, he hurriedly bowed his head.
Akira hadn't backed Ezerton out of fondness. It was to check T&C's rising power, which threatened the Yujin family.
He had secretly sent shadows to sabotage T&C while covertly supplying Hulk mutants to Ezerton. Thanks to his aid, things hadn't ended worse for them—otherwise, Ezerton's losses would have been far greater.
This had increased the number of Akira supporters within Ezerton, but he wasn't satisfied.
The butler thought his master's anger stemmed from failing to weaken T&C as intended, but that was only half right.
That was one reason, but something else truly grated on Akira's nerves.
It was the spark of the civil war.
Investigating the cause of the T&C space city's collapse, Akira Yujin had identified who instigated the conflict.
'Aimorph!'
That damned Morph bastard had contaminated the city using the same method from the game. Having lost a space fortress to it before, Akira knew it better than anyone.
What enraged him more was that he and the creature had briefly been in the same city. When he visited the space city, the thing was lurking somewhere within.
Back then, he thought it was the work of the traitorous shadow, Sihyun Yujin. What a grave mistake.
Had he noticed even a little sooner, the civil war never would have happened.
The thought of that thing mocking him while roaming the cosmos somewhere drove him mad.
When it stole his pet Galleron's ring and turned it into a grave marker as mockery, his blood boiled.
'Aimorph, Beomho! You filthy pests dare...!'
Beomho's puppet, Sihyun Yujin. The Morph bastard who'd screwed him over twice already. The ones tormenting him in reality were doing the same in this other world.
And lately, unsettling movements were appearing even among his allies.
Jubaka hadn't contacted him in over half a year, and Clio was holed up in the Mercury research base, refusing to emerge.
All this started after Jason's death.
'The civil war's over anyway. Time to clean house.'
As Akira pondered his next moves, someone knocked on the door from outside.
The butler opened it, and a woman in black entered, bowing politely to Akira.
"Lord Akira. Patriarch Walter of the SaintK family has arrived."
"Ah, finally some good news."
Akira smiled at the arrival of the person he'd been waiting for.
-
'This sensation... it's been a while.'
This was the second time I'd reached the Adult stage in this world, not the game.
The first was when I consumed Psionium to block the Imperial Mothership's Cosmic Bolt. Even briefly, I fully experienced the Adult's might. Even with 'Beast King' active, I annihilated the Imperial Mothership and its carrier battle group.
My current state was vastly different from then.
To be honest, I'd never even taken this form in the game. The Unique trait from the Transcendence system was affecting my body.
'Transcendence' is a system that doesn't exist in the game. Naturally, the Unique traits created from it didn't either.
Having grown with new traits, my appearance diverged significantly from the standard Adult form.
The biggest changes? Three: size, build, and head.
First, length. From head to tail tip, I was now about 60 meters—over twice as long as before entering the cocoon.
And that wasn't all. My build had changed too. If Juvenile was snake-like and Near-Adult spider-like, now I'd reverted to a bipedal form suited for walking, like my Fluid and Subadult days.
The combat arms positioned before the tail had lowered to become legs, with joints reshaped for digitigrade stance.
However, with my two wing-arms and two combat arms still large and long, it was more like a gorilla or ape—knuckle-walking on all fours when needed.
Standing on two legs, my height was roughly 40 meters. Even without my elongated neck, that surpassed a White Galleron's body length. Impressive, to say the least.
'I wasn't this big in the game.'
Subtract about 20 meters for the standard Adult size. Not just bigger—strength and defense had scaled up accordingly.
｢Big baby huge!｣
Specimen 026, who'd waited by my cocoon, called everyone the moment it split. The crew from the pirate ship gathered in the crater, marveling at my transformed body.
｢Whoa, look at the size.｣
The Mother of the Sky was stunned by my far larger form than in the game. Knowing the game's Adult shape, her reaction mirrored mine.
｢Horns!｣ ｢So many｣ ｢Huge｣ ｢Perfect!｣
Adhai seemed thrilled with my changes, circling above my head with wings spread, exclamations nonstop.
As her excitement suggested, the most striking change upon becoming Adult was my head.
An Aimorph Adult grows three heads. See the two new ones at the ends of long necks branching from the central head.
The effect of the Adult perk trait, 'Three Heads.'
Sensing my consciousness, the heads turned toward me.
The side heads resembled the central one overall: elongated fangs, snake-like snout, sub-organs under the jaw, horns on the skull.
But no eyes. Horns occupied those spots. Though they shouldn't have horns originally, perhaps due to the Unique trait acquired just before growth—each side head sported four horns.
｢Grrr｣
｢Grr-rrr｣
Adding heads didn't boost my intelligence or let me hear voices from them.
From the linked senses, they had brains but functioned like limbs. Self-aware yet obedient to the main body—like autonomous bio-robots.
'In the game, these heads frustrated me plenty.'
Without precise commands, their AI acted independently, botching ambushes more than once. But they're no dud trait.
Even if the main body—the central head—is destroyed, I won't die. One of the remaining heads inherits consciousness and controls the body.
'Wonder if it works here too.'
The side heads lack eyes but have sub-organs. With all three jaws equipped, my senses sharpened beyond compare.
'...Gonna take time to get used to this.'
Sensing events kilometers away as if up close was overwhelming. In-game, it just expanded the minimap; I hadn't anticipated this.
I forcibly blocked info from the two heads.
｢Gr?｣
｢Grrr｣
｢Tickles!｣
Without my focus, the heads moved independently. They lowered their necks to 026, licking her with their tongues. Delighted, she twinkled brightly amid the barren planet.
｢Me too｣ ｢Me too｣
｢Grrr｣
｢Feels｣ ｢Weird｣ ｢Cool｣
"I'm quite curious about that sensation myself. Mind if I ask too?"
｢Gr?｣
"Thank you. Most helpful."
｢Eh, you can skip me.｣
｢Gr｣
'Like Retrievers.'
Unclear if instinct or distorted emotions, but the heads showed friendly affection toward my allies. Anyone knowing Aimorphs wouldn't believe the sight.
'Normal folks would faint seeing me.'
Except the Mother of the Sky, the others played joyfully with the heads.
'Wanted to discuss the cocoon visions, but...'
Come to think of it, even she hadn't reached this stage. Her visions lacked self-confrontation.
Meant to check with Jason the human-faced worm, but seeing them play, I'd postpone.
Instead, I checked other changes.
Six horns on the central head, wing-arms grown massive with my body, exoskeleton thick as a space fortress hull. Combat arms and legs bulked like bio-armor.
'Oh, this changed too?'
My dorsal bio-cannon had migrated to my tail due to the new Unique trait.
Thus, two tails now, splitting from the new hip area—each dozens of meters long.
Different forms: one with claws, the other the bio-cannon. The latter reflected one of two Unique traits secured pre-evolution.
'Body check done.'
Time for the two pre-evolution Unique traits and Space Monster Type 2nd stage perks.
'Perks first.'
What did stage 2 bring? Anticipating, I opened the translucent text box.
'This?'
I was startled by the contents.
Stage 2 RewardMonolith of the Double Helix: You can transplant your traits (excluding Unique traits) to friendly organisms. Transplanted traits are permanently applied, limited to 2 per organism. Available traits scale with Space Monster Type level.
*P.S.: Whether you become a guide or a destroyer is up to your choice.