Chapter 135 A Weird Situation (1)
Erik had to improve. There wasn't anything else he had to do, and to reach his goal, he needed to learn how to fight properly and improve his strength. However, being under the government's control was a problem.
He couldn't increase his Energy because he would be tested again once he enrolled in military school. As for strength and speed, he had to fake it being lower since it would arouse suspicions. Erik had no idea how things would be once he left the country, but he wouldn't have to hide.
As Erik walked past the breach, he ended up in the forest's heart. The young man moved toward the location where the Lomalins were most likely to be found, the clearing a couple of kilometers from the breach.
Once he arrived, however, he saw an uncountable number of Lomalins. They were much more than the other day, but most were very tiny. Erik inspected them all and found that most of the thaids were just born.
"What the hell is happening?"
It looked like the Lomalins were reproducing at high speeds. In fact, they seemed to be doing so as quickly as possible.
Erik was confident that something would happen to the city soon, and he was sure it was related to the thaids outside their natural habitat that roamed here.
However, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary in recent days, like when he found the Leylarhad and the Criculs.
<Maybe that is because they are scared of the Lomalins,> Erik thought.
He wasn't wholly right, but he wasn't that off the mark, either.
<I mean, I would be scared too of their ugly faces...>
After all, aside from their ugly faces, they were basically long-legged worms. No, the sheer number of creatures was what really scared other thaids.
Erik grew restless just by looking at their sheer numbers. The last time he saw them, the Lomalins were around a thousand, but now there were at least 5-7 times that amount.
Everywhere Erik laid his eyes, he found a Lomalin. That meant the population growth rate must have been incredibly fast, far faster than any species Erik knew, but that wasn't normal.
However, thanks to the thaid compendium he downloaded some time ago, Erik knew that Lomalins did try to increase their numbers on certain occasions, and one of them was when they felt threatened. By what, Erik didn't know, yet, it was clear that something was scaring the beasts.
With such numbers, this place was bound to become infested by Lomalins, who would quickly destroy the surroundings and prey on weaker creatures. That was a problem Erik couldn't solve, and he had no intention of telling the military about this.
However, something told Erik to go deeper inside the forest and find out what was happening.
In the distance, Erik saw the usual ancient tree covered in moss and the gigantic boulder in the middle of the enormous clearing and around them all that Lomalins.
Erik decided the best thing to do was to kill enough Lomalins to level up and then head deeper into the forest to look around.
However, Erik wanted to try a different tactic this time. His thoughts trailed when he killed his first thaid, the Densoph, and how he did it.
He used his power to grow huge trees which he used to squish the creature, and that was exactly what the young man decided to do now.
Since he didn't have a power that allowed him to kill in an area, Erik thought that the best thing to do to kill as many Lomalins as possible was to throw countless trees at them.
It was the closest thing he had to an AoE attack. So, Erik, before coming to the breach, stopped at a grocery store and bought fifty apples.
Each of them had around 3-5 seeds meaning 3-5 trees on average from each apple, and he had fifty. However, that tactic worked only because the Lomalins were weak. A Cricul would have been able to evade or even destroy the tree with its mighty strength.
Erik took cover amidst the bushes and started channeling mana. Soon, in a radius of three meters, everything started growing in a matter of seconds, further decreasing Erik's chances of being found out.
At that moment, the seeds inside the apples started growing, so Erik threw the bag containing the fifty apples. Immediately, the seeds grew into trees, gaining speed as their weight increased.
From teeny tiny, the seeds became giant trees around 11-12 meters and quickly obscured the sky over the Lomalins. After a couple of seconds, a thunderous sound appeared in the forest.
As the trees touched the ground, the Lomalins started being squished. Their body parts got scattered through the clearance, staining the ground and even the lucky Lomalins who were not directly under the trees. Erik didn't know how many died, but they were much more than usual.
[MULTIPLE HOSTILE LOMALINS KILLED: MANA ABSORBING PROCESS STARTING.]
[0%...1%....5%...30%...70%...100%]
[MANA SUCCESSFULLY ABSORBED, STARTING CONVERTING PROCEDURE.]
[3...2...1...0]
[MANA SUCCESSFULLY CONVERTED INTO EXPERIENCE. 8000 EXPERIENCE POINTS AWARDED TO THE HOST.]
[LEVEL UP.]
[LEVEL UP.]
[NEW POWERS UNLOCKED!]
Erik looked at the notification in front of him with joy. The number of experience points awarded to him made his mouth water.
"Level 15!" the young man said. He had just leveled up twice. However, he had to kill a lot of Lomalins to do that, much more than the last time.
"A shame I don't have any more seeds..."
Then, the young man, who was still hidden inside the giant bushes he had created, observed the last notification.
"New powers unlocked? What will these be?"
"System, show me the status!" Erik said, and the usual screen appeared in front of his eyes.
------------------------------------------------------------------
[Host Information]
NAME: Erik Romano
AGE: 16
LEVEL: 15
EXPERIENCE: 2453.825/2944
DNA POINTS: 1760
HEALTH: 840/840
MANA: 770/770
[Attributes]
[Powers]
[Biological Super Computer Powers]
-Brain Crystal Manipulation
-Brain Crystal Power Extraction
(Allows the absorption of the brain crystal, allowing the host to acquire the power within. Notice: the DNA must be changed to allow the body to use the power. See DNA extraction.)
-Brain Crystal power Merging
(Allows to merge two powers birthing a new one. It requires the merging of the DNA to work)
- (LOCKED)
- (LOCKED)
- Brain Crystal Power Strengthening
(Allows the gaining of the energy attribute points)
(LOCKED)
-DNA Manipulation
-DNA Extraction
(Allows the absorption of foreign DNA, allowing the host to replicate it inside his own body. Notice: Changing the DNA is a slow process, and it is required to use new brain crystal powers.)
-DNA Merging
(Allows to merge two DNAs, birthing a new one. Required to accommodate merged powers.)
- (LOCKED)
- (LOCKED)
-DNA Strengthening
(Allows the gaining of the Strength, Intelligence, and Dexterity attribute points)
(LOCKED)
- Analysis
(Gives the host information about his surroundings, plants, creatures, and ores)
-Brain Information Injector
(It allows the injection of information directly to the brain-Based on touch)
-Device Manipulation
(Allows the Host to manipulate electronic and mana-driven devices- Based on touch)
[Host's Powers]
[Skills]
------------------------------------------------------------------
As Erik observed his status, he saw how two new voices appeared. DNA and Brain Crystal Power merging. According to what the system said, it allowed the fusion of two powers to create a new one.
"It's incredible!" Erik said while thinking already about what he could merge. However, since he was still inside the forest and countless Lomalins roamed around, the young man quickly focused his attention on the thaids.
The creatures were in a frenzy, trying to understand what the hell it did happen to their brethren. Some were running away, but most were searching around for predators.
As soon as they realized that trees had come down on them, they panicked, not understanding why such a thing happened, and started scurrying away from the clearance.
"Next time, I will bring more apples..." Erik said, eager to earn much more experience. Some of the Lomalins were nudging at their fallen brethren to see if they were dead.
There was carnage all around them, with squished bugs, limbs everywhere, and blood smeared all over the ground.
"What a mess," Erik whispered.
AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"SHIT!" Erik knew who this howl belonged to, Leylarhads, the wolf-like creatures. Erik did assume that a pack had to be nearby since a cub was around there, yet, he didn't see them previously. Since the fake awakener killed a lot of Lomalins, he assumed that the beasts smelled blood and came to see what was happening.
The young man tried to keep his composure, but it was clear that the situation wasn't good and that he would die if he didn't run away soon.
From a distance, he saw at least 30 Leylarhads observing the Lomalins. As soon as the latter saw the much bigger thaids, they started aggressively and ferociously looking at them.
Trying to intimidate them. The Lomalins were many times more than the Leylarhads and much stronger. However, the wolf-like thaids weren't smart enough to use Erik's same tactic and kill the Lomalins when outnumbered.
So, a stalemate between the two races began, with the Lomalins using their numbers as protection and the Leylarhads intimidating them with their strength and dimension.