Ep. 80
Space Survival is a game whose strengths lie in its vast worldview, diverse races, and high degree of freedom.
It is a game that has all the qualities to be loved by those who like science fiction, but like most online games, there were problems that Space Survival could not avoid.
It’s an operational issue.
Space Survival’s management team was more notorious for lack of communication than any other game.
Due to the characteristics of the game, Space Survival had numerous unbalanced parts.
For example, this is the case when comparing Cult, which rarely shows weakness from the beginning to the end, and Aimorph, which is not easy from the beginning to the end.
Nevertheless, there were only a handful of cases where developers and management adjusted balance.
In my case, I also had affection for Amorph, so I was able to become a ranker and see the ending, otherwise I would have quit right away.
‘But this changes right away?’
This is the first time I have seen someone react immediately while talking about balance.
‘Chitra.’
A similar thing happened in an old game.
Megacorp operates several colony planets to extract employees.
Some colony planets have environments similar to the Earth in the real world, while others are fantasy places we commonly know.
They are all subject to tangible or intangible restrictions that prevent them from resisting Megacorp’s rule.
The employees living on the planet are very poorly armed, or the level of civilization development is low, etc.
‘In other words, it means that it is a very easy place to farm genetic essence.’
So, I once traveled around colony planets and collected genetic essence.
The day I robbed about 3 planets at once, an emergency notice appeared in the game for the first time.
This means that an emergency fix is being made because a situation occurred that the game company did not intend.
At the time, the community was very upset about this, but I didn’t know what had actually been fixed.
‘It has to be that way.’
Because they don’t play Amorph.
Unlike them, I knew right away.
The next day, they attacked the colony planet and harvested numerous genetic essences, but only a few of them had a predation effect.
What this means is that the management has adjusted the probability of the predation effect on employees to be very low.
‘Here, too, they preyed on more than a dozen employees, but the only trait that came out was dexterity.’
Anyway, I had experienced something similar, so this situation didn’t feel unfamiliar.
However, since I am also human, I cannot help feeling very bad.
‘They say it’s their development intention and all, but they don’t fix other things, but they fix this right away.’
If this happens, you will have to change your plan again.
Even if you eat the sample, if all the characteristics are half-baked, it’s worse than not eating it at all.
‘…Let’s take this first.’
I accepted to acquire the spaceflight trait.
As indicated by 0.5, no significant changes occurred in my body.
I felt empty and annoyed by that fact and thought about what I had to do next.
‘The sample must be eaten after the hunting ceremony is over. That way there’s at least a chance… huh?’
At that time, the semi-transparent text window appeared again.
「*A new unread message has arrived. Would you like to view it?”
There was no word of an emergency message or anything like that.
‘Last time, I received a message about the transcendental system like this.’
After reading it, my expectations were correct.
「’Transcendence’ Material List: Mimicry Organ Pheromone Enhanced Clairvoyance Hallucination (Not Obtained)
‘Transcendence’ Material List (New!): Wings Endurance Space-Flying Giant Creature (Not Obtained) Hijacking (Not Obtained)”
Sure enough. It was a notice saying that new unique characteristics could be created using the transcendence system.
‘Who’s taking drugs now?’
I suppressed the growing frustration and tried to remove the text box.
‘for a moment?’
At that moment, an idea flashed.
I checked the text box again.
‘Why spaceflight?’
In the transcendence material list, characteristics that you do not possess are marked as ‘not acquired.’
Hijacking giant creatures are both abilities I don’t have, so they are listed separately at the back.
On the other hand, there are no other precautions for spaceflight.
When I realized that fact, I thought of one possibility.
‘Could it be that transcendence materials can be used for characteristics that I haven’t fully acquired?’
I re-checked the message I had previously received regarding the transcendental system.
「’Transcendence’ system: Combines three or more of the characteristics you have and changes them into a new ‘unique’ characteristic. “The newly acquired characteristics are completely new characteristics that did not exist before.”
This is the message I received when I evolved a subadult in the residential district.
If you look at the tooltip, it says that it is merging ‘owned characteristics’, but it does not say that it is a ‘usable characteristic’.
‘The wings can’t be used either, but looking at the ingredients, there’s a possibility.’
If it contains characteristics that cannot be used due to prohibition, wouldn’t space flight be able to be used as a transcendence material?
‘It’s an interesting family.’
In this case, there are two paths I can choose.
A way to gather transcendence materials by using the predation effect as a symbol of the first hunt.
‘Hijacking with giant creatures is a possibility if you’re lucky.’
The Giant Creature trait can be obtained from Skywhale, and Hijacking is a fusion trait, and Metallic Gremlin has the ingredients.
‘We need to combine the dexterity trait and the radio interference trait.’
Of course, fusion characteristics can only combine the complete characteristics that can be used, so the trick I planned does not work.
‘To use it as a material, you must acquire the radio interference characteristic a total of two times.’
This is the first option.
Another option is to simply take the sample after the hunting symbol is released.
In this case, you can acquire fully usable characteristics as long as the predation effect appears, but the disadvantage is that the probability is very low.
If you are unlucky, you may not be able to obtain any characteristics even if you eat all the samples here.
I looked down at the samples.
‘how will we do it.’
After thinking for a while, I made a decision.
‘Let’s eat now.’
In a situation where both must rely on luck, it is less risky to take the trait as a symbol of hunting.
At least in this case, no matter how unlucky you are, half of the characteristics remain.
I picked up a sample and popped it into my mouth.
A text box announcing the effect of predation appeared with a clicking sound.
‘Energy absorption.’
Skywhale is a creature that appears with a very low probability on many planets, including jungle-type planets and ocean planets.
It looks like a humpback whale with multi-colored wings like eight-eyed opals, and is so huge that it is at least 50 meters long.
Skywhale always stays in the sky except for these three cases: when it is born, when it gives birth, and when it dies.
As for how it obtains food, Sky Whale does not obtain energy through meals like other animals.
They do not have a digestive system, but instead use the property of energy absorption to absorb energy that exists in nature.
Simply put, just as plants get the power they need to survive from sunlight, Sky Whale extracts survival energy from various elements such as light, air, and moisture in clouds.
Looking at it up to this point, it looks like a very good ability, but not for Aimorph.
‘If you gain energy absorption, your mouth and digestive system will degenerate.’
Aimorphs acquire their characteristics and nutrients by eating food and digesting the genetic essence within it.
As a side effect of applying the energy absorption properties, my mouth and digestive system are damaged.
If that happens, the way I can obtain genetic essence disappears.
In the past, there was a time when Amorph had to be re-raised because it absorbed energy without knowing this and its evolution was blocked.
‘hmm.’
Originally, it was a trait that should not have been received, but now the situation is slightly different.
‘There is a transcendence system.’
Even if it is a trait that is not immediately useful to me, it has the potential to be used as a material for transcendence.
‘I know all the combination formulas for fusion characteristics, but…’
The newly updated transcendence system is still unknown territory to me.
‘If it’s 0.5, the effect won’t be applied, so there won’t be a big problem if you take it.’
The fact that half-characteristics are not effective has already been proven with the space flight characteristic.
After thinking about it, I accepted the energy absorption feature.
As expected, my mouth did not deteriorate rapidly or any strange changes occurred inside.
After receiving the energy absorption, I continued to swallow the samples.
The predation effect was triggered when the sample capsule was eaten for the fifth time.
The trait I had previously acquired from cockroaches was ‘strong vitality.’
‘It’s not necessary because it has regenerative power…’
If there are two traits with similar effects, only the effect of the trait with the better effect is applied.
Since you already have enough body-related traits, there is no need to acquire traits that are lower in performance than regeneration.
As far as I know, strong vitality is not used in any combination of fusion characteristics other than as a material for regenerative power.
‘But you never know.’
Wings, which are considered not useful in games, are also used as transcendence materials, so even strong vitality can be used for purposes that I am not aware of.
After receiving such strong vitality, there was only one Skywhale sample left.
To be honest, it was a slightly disappointing result.
‘no. Gathering ingredients isn’t a bad idea. ‘Let’s put significance there.’
The moment I ate the last sample without much expectation.
A new characteristic has appeared.
“Predation effect activated! Successfully acquired the ‘Giant Creature (0.5)’ genetic essence.」
「Takeover ‘Giant Creature (0.5)’ among the creature characteristics of ‘Skywale’.」
「Would you like to apply ‘Giant Creature (0.5)’?」
Spaceflight has taken off. Otherwise, I would have acquired the perfect trait, but unfortunately, it was a different trait.
‘It’s a huge creature.’
The giant creature characteristic is a common characteristic possessed by very large creatures that are over 50m in size.
Skywhale, the owner of the sample I just ate, and Black Gallagon, which is a semi-adult version of the Gallagon, are creatures with gigantic characteristics.
‘If you have this trait, you can use the giantization technique, but it’s a shame.’
Just as you can use psychic breath through the monster’s tentacle characteristic, you can transform into a special state called gigantism by acquiring the giant creature characteristic.
‘When it becomes gigantic, it grows to about 20 meters and becomes very strong.’
There is a limit of once a week, but once it grows large, it becomes very powerful.
Not only do I get bigger, but my physical abilities also get stronger to match my size.
The gigantic Aimorph gains so much power that it cannot be defeated even if it goes to war with a warship or an entire city.
In addition, the symbol of hunting doubles the characteristics and type effectiveness.
If it had the characteristics of a giant creature in this state, it wouldn’t have grown to over 50m.
If that happens, the expression “space monster” will be worthy of its magnificence.
‘Tsk. It’s a shame, but I can’t help it.’
I just finished eating the Sky Whale sample.
The results obtained from the eight Skywhale samples are four characteristics: space flight, gigantic creatures, energy absorption for use as materials, and strong vitality.
‘If it weren’t for the sanctions, it would have been a great harvest.’
Because I acquired 4 characteristics from a single creature.
‘…It’s already happened. There’s no use getting annoyed.’
I shook my head to shake off my frustration and reached out to finish the other samples.
At that moment, the auxiliary organ under the chin trembled.
At the same time, certain scenes quickly flashed before my head.
“The female cult speaks. “It’s suspicious,”
says the male cultist. What?”
“The female cult member looks at the camera and shakes her head. The head of the dissection team, who said he fainted, stopped by the gene storage room and is now stuck in the freezer and is not coming out.”
“The male cult member says. huh? “What did you go in for?”
“The female cult member continues. I don’t know. Moreover, the other researchers went in earlier and still haven’t come out.”
“The male cult stands up. I’ll go and check it out. If you find anything strange, report it to the top.”
The video ended with a male cult member with goat horns leaving the dark room.
‘this.’
I thought I got through it safely, but it wasn’t.
‘I like that female cult feeling.’
When the fire first broke out, it was ignored, but suspicions arose after seeing the dissection team leader’s strange behavior.
‘The 3rd Central Management Office is close to here.’
5 minutes at most? Inside, the male cult will arrive here.
Catching a male cult itself is not particularly difficult. Because now I have become stronger as a symbol of hunting.
‘The problem is after dealing with the male cult.’
If you can’t contact the cultist, there’s no way that female cultist with good sense will stay still.
It is clear that you will immediately contact the first central management office or the Monument security team, which are higher-level organizations.
‘We have to disable the camera.’
To do this, you need the characteristics of the metallic gremlin.
I popped samples of Metallic Gremlin into my mouth one after another.
While passing through the throat, the capsule was crushed and the genetic essence inside seeped into the intestines.
Every time the essence melted, a text box appeared in front of me.
Dwarfing, dwarfing, absorbing metal…
It wasn’t good from the start. The dwarfing feature appeared one after another, and the third feature was the absorption of metals already in hand.
I only acquired dwarfing once for materials and canceled all the rest.
Next, when I swallowed the fourth capsule, the expected radio interference characteristics appeared.
‘good. Now I just have to open it one more time.’
If the radio interference occurs one more time, you can obtain one complete characteristic.
However, after absorbing two more samples, there was no predation effect at all.
There are now 2 chances left.
At this point, I started to get nervous too.
‘Should I just go with the strategy I first thought of?’
Suddenly, I thought that it might be better to plant parasites in the cult and control them.
‘But I have a better sense of that female cult than I expected.’
As can be seen from William’s example, parasites are not omnipotent.
A male cult member may not be able to resist me, but a sensitive female cult member will quickly realize that her colleague is strange.
‘If that happens, we’ll be back to square one.’
When I look back on how I came here, I took various measures to avoid being discovered by parasites, and it ended up like this.
If you catch a parasite here, all your hard work will be useless.
‘Plus, the suspended state characteristics will also be discovered, so the situation will get worse.’
I swallowed my seventh sample, trying to figure out what to do with the female cult.
And the text box that popped up.
「Predation effect activated! Successfully acquired the ‘Radio Interference (0.5)’ gene essence.」 「
Take over ‘Radio Interference (0.5)’ among the biological characteristics of ‘Metallic Gremlin’.」
「Do you want to apply ‘Radio Interference (0.5)’? 」
「Radio Interference: Emits waves that cause temporary errors in devices that run on electricity. 」
The characteristic that was perfected through acquisition twice speaks to me.
There is no need to worry any more.