novelraw Chapter 323: Full-Adaptation Parasite, Kim’s Past
Chapter 323: Full-Adaptation Parasite, Kim’s Past
Lin Xun pondered for a long time, then finally agreed to join the oath.
[You walked forward step by step, and Flanda opened her arms and drew you into her embrace.]
[Faithful Apostle, you had joined the oath of Primordial Firefly.]
[In this volume, only one oath could be signed. If you betrayed the oath, you would be unable to rejoin this oath, and you would incur the permanent hatred of this oath’s faction and any allied oath factions.]
[Current hostile oath faction: Desire Wet Nurse. Current allied oath factions: none.]
[In Flanda’s full and soft embrace, you once again saw that vast web of consciousness that encompassed all things in the world.]
[At the very top of the grid, the black and white consciousnesses connected to countless living beings, assimilating the color of various lives’ consciousness, devouring and encroaching upon one another.]
[You understood that the white part of the grid belonged to the Ascended faction of the Desire Wet Nurse, while the black part belonged to the oath of the Aberrated faction of Primordial Firefly.]
[Flanda’s vast consciousness, like yours, drifted between black and white. It actively circled around you, and in an instant you felt the structure of the entire web of consciousness.]
[The white consciousness occupied most of the grid, continually eroding the black consciousness belonging to the Primordial Firefly faction, leaving the black with a tiny foothold in the grid, almost on the verge of collapse.][When you had seen the full picture of the web of consciousness, Flanda let out a deep sigh and pulled you back into reality.]
[It released its hands, looked apologetic, lowered its eyelids, and said, I am sorry, child from afar. As you saw, Firefly is at a disadvantage in this war.]
[Precisely because of this, Firefly granted it and you the ability to linger at the edge of the web of consciousness. This had been a helpless kind of protection.]
[You and it were both consciousnesses that the Wet Nurse watched. If you had been assimilated by Firefly when joining the oath, the Wet Nurse would have immediately sensed it and would have cast down Heavenly Punishment within the territory of the Divine Kingdom.]
[No one could withstand the Wet Nurse’s wrath, especially since both you and it stood within the realm of the Divine Kingdom.]
[When Oathbreaker Flanda said this, the huge insect abdomen beneath it squirmed slightly. You could see that within the translucent conduit connected to its abdomen, something seemed to be transported toward the second level of the nest.]
[Flanda continued, The mission Firefly granted you had been far too arduous, and as you were now, you were so weak. Sorry, it did not look down on you. Any consciousness that could receive the attention of the true deity had something extraordinary.]
[To walk the Divine Kingdom with such a frail body had been truly dangerous. It could only do what it could to give you some help.]
[It had already sent the ‘help’ meant for you into a hidden sac on the second level of the nest.]
[It hoped that with this help, your journey afterward would go more smoothly.]
[If you felt confused or depressed during your travels, you might return here to confide in it. Well, in truth, it that was trapped here felt very lonely. If you did not mind how it looked, remember to come back to see it often.]
[You took your leave of Oathbreaker Flanda, rode the lift again, and headed to the second level of the Ancient Nest.]
[Within the ring corridor of the second level of the nest, an exceptionally large incubation sac burst through the wall.]
[There was no flesh membrane covering the exterior of the sac. Inside floated a large page that shimmered with a faint light.]
[You discovered a Remnant Page of The Book of Salvation, the Resting Page.]
[You entered the sac, stepped forward, and touched the page. The powerful wandering soul resonated with the page.]
Lin Xun was overjoyed. He had finally found a save point.
He decisively set the Ancient Nest as the respawn point.
[Inside the sac there was not only the Resting Page, but also two items that Flanda had gifted you: a fist-sized mass of flesh that still writhed slightly, and a stone that glowed with phosphorescence.]
[You obtained Perfect Parasitic Factor (Legendary item).]
[You obtained Flanda’s Firefly Stone (Special Item).]
Lin Xun hurriedly opened the Inventory to check.
[Perfect Parasitic Factor (Legendary item): a mass of flesh containing parasitic factors, manufactured through experiments on numerous samples. Only a Shell that matched this factor could use it.]
[After use, it would change the nature of the Shell and grant the special skills Perfect Parasite and Perfect Molting.]
Only the previous Ascended Maggot-Person and the newly obtained Ascended First-Generation Parasite in the Shell Slots matched the usage conditions for this item.
However, when he tried to use it on the Parasite, the Hellish game popped up a prompt.
[This Shell had a certain defect and could not bring out the full effect of the Perfect Parasitic Factor. Please confirm whether to use it.]
When used on the Ascended Maggot-Person, no such prompt appeared.
[You had used Perfect Parasitic Factor. The current Shell Ascended Maggot-Person (Moth Mimic) transformed into Ascended Full-Adaptation Parasite.]
[You had comprehended the Shell skill Perfect Parasite.]
Lin Xun opened the panel and found that the Maggot-Person’s attributes had undergone an earth-shaking change.
[Shell – Ascended Full-Adaptation Parasite]
[True Name: Bone-Shatter]
[Compatibility: 137% (+55%). Compatibility exceeded the critical point. Shell Quality had improved.]
[Shell Quality: Epic]
[Shell Level: 67 (+12)]
[Shell Equipment: Perfect Parasite (Special Skill): Upon using this skill, you could parasitize all small, medium, and large insect-people that still possess vitality, and perfectly control the vessel. Due to the limitations of ganglia, you can not parasitize extra-large or super-giant insect-people vessels.]
[Shell Skill: Perfect Molting (Special Skill): Upon using this skill, you can shed the currently parasitized insect-person vessel with no loss and return to a Parasite state. The shed vessel would retain a brief three-minute vitality. During this time, you can parasitize the shed vessel again.]
“Hiss… shame I was uneducated. One ‘damn’ carried me through the world.”
The defective Parasite’s skill had been limited only to carapaced insect-people, so things like the giant moth Moth Mimic on the first level of the nest could not be parasitized.
Now, Perfect Parasite allowed parasitism of any insect-person, regardless of type, whether carapaced or soft, winged or wingless.
The only restriction remained body size. Shells that were too large could not be parasitized. A small ox could not pull a great cart.
The molting skill also advanced to Perfect Molting. After abandoning a parasitized Shell, a certain period of vitality could still be retained.
This skill could not be underestimated. With three minutes of vitality, Lin Xun could, after defeating an enemy, first shed the previous vessel, then parasitize the enemy, compare panels, and decide which vessel to keep.
There was one more piece of help that Flanda had given.
[Flanda’s Firefly Stone (Special Item): a strange stone that glowed with a gentle light, somewhat similar in material to the gem at the tail of the small divine statuette of Primordial Firefly.]
[Because Flanda was imprisoned, you could not use this Firefly Stone to summon Oathbreaker Flanda. However, with this item, you could prove your identity as a Favored Servant of Firefly and gain the goodwill of creatures from the Primordial Firefly oath faction.]
“Damn, so the correct route had been to save the Maggot-Person first, then look for Kim.”
In order to eat from both sides, Lin Xun had taken a huge detour.
Only now did he discover that after taking the Firefly Stone from Flanda, he could complete the achievement of eating from both sides.
However, he did not know that if he had chosen to save the Maggot-Person on the spot, Kim would have turned hostile and launched an attack. Either the Apostle died, or Kim died.
After he finished exploring the Ancient Nest, there were still two maps he had not explored: the Border Prison and the Crawler Tribe.
Before exploring, Lin Xun decided to go and confront Kim first. In front of a legitimate Favored Servant of Firefly, Kim would surely reveal much information.
As for whether it would become socially embarrassed, what did that have to do with Lin Xun?
[…]
[The Courier Mole Cricket traveled for a long time, then finally returned to the Firefly Spirit Temple.]
[You jumped down from the abdominal cavity, strode forward, and pushed open the temple door.]
[You saw Missionary Kim sitting on the ground in a daze. Mumbled words came from beneath its mask. ‘How had it disappeared, how had it disappeared.’]
[When it saw you arrive, its eyes lit up suddenly, and it hurriedly asked, ‘Had you ever heard of an ability to vanish into thin air?’]
[That Maggot-Person it had rescued had desecrated the Lord’s divine image. It had meant to teach it a lesson, but the Maggot-Person’s bodily structure was too fragile. At a touch its vitality was entirely lost, and then it vanished.]
Lin Xun’s mouth twitched. He had no strength to complain.
“You had sliced open my abdomen. How could I not die?”
He opened the Inventory and clicked on the Firefly Stone that Flanda had given.
[You shook your head, indicating that you did not know what Kim was talking about, then took out Flanda’s Firefly Stone and waved it in front of it.]
[Missionary Kim had been about to continue asking when it suddenly saw the token in your hand. Its words jammed in its throat like a chicken with its neck pinched.]
[Its expression looked as if it had seen a ghost. Pointing at you in disbelief, it said, ‘You, you, you are…’]
[You nodded, indicating that what it saw was not wrong. You were the Lord’s envoy, a genuine Favored Servant of Firefly, not some imposter.]
[Kim muttered, Then it, it, it… Kim suddenly covered its mask, turned, and ran, bolting through the door.]
[You hurriedly followed. You saw Kim mount the Courier Mole Cricket that had not yet burrowed away and shouted at it, Go, go as far as possible. It would head to the Sacred Nest Center and face the Wet Nurse, which was better than staying here and continuing to lose face.]
[The Courier Mole Cricket blinked its pair of huge compound eyes and remained unmoved.]
[Kim seemed overcome with shame and anger. It kicked the Courier Mole Cricket several times in a row, cursing that all it knew was to eat.]
[It pulled out an unknown fungal plant, leaned out from the abdominal cavity, and tossed it toward the Courier Mole Cricket… but while the fungus was still in midair, you intercepted it.]
[You obtained Milk-Sap Matsutake x1 (Item).]
[Grinning, you accepted the Milk-Sap Matsutake, blocked Kim’s path, and asked why it had turned tail as soon as it saw a Favored Servant of Firefly.]
[Since both were Favored Servants of Firefly, everyone should help one another.]
[Only then did Kim come to its senses. It said repeatedly, Oh, so you were also a Favored Servant of Firefly. What a coincidence. It just so happened that it also was…]
[…]
[After you ‘acknowledged’ Kim’s identity as a Favored Servant of Firefly, it finally jumped down from the Courier Mole Cricket’s abdominal cavity and returned with you to the temple, not forgetting to kick the Courier Mole Cricket a few more times before leaving.]
[Kim sat on the long bench opposite you and explained its identity to you.]
[It had been born in a hidden nest deep underground. From the moment of birth, it had understood that it was different from others.]
[The Maggot-People sleeping in sacs around it were all failures, doomed to die gradually in their dreams. Only it possessed a wondrous parasitic ability, which allowed it to awaken and gain self-consciousness.]
[As the only semi-qualified product, it, like the other insect-people, had wallowed in the false memories fabricated by the Wet Nurse.]
[It should have offered up its body to replicate and study this parasitic ability… Fortunately, it encountered that beautiful and pure young girl.]
[The girl was the Wet Nurse’s youngest and most favored daughter. She governed the entire nest and led the research on parasitic ability.]
[It was the girl who told it the whole truth and helped it escape that demonic lair.]
[The escape had been fraught with peril and needed no lengthy elaboration.]
[The girl sent it to the nearest Tentacle City to the nest, then returned alone. It did not even have time to ask the girl’s name, nor did it remember the precise location of the nest.]
[Even so, it still remembered the girl’s face and smile.]
[It wandered in Tentacle City for countless years, using its parasitic ability to grow stronger step by step.]
[…]
[It rescued every mutated Maggot-Person and fabricated its own identity as a Favored Servant of Firefly, attempting to make the mutated Maggot-People change their faith.]
[It knew that even for mutated Maggot-People, the probability of mutating a parasitic factor was infinitesimal. Most were truly useless Maggot-People.]
[Even if some parasitic factor mutated out, it usually only resulted in a molting ability, and there was no guarantee of awakening memories about the underground nest.]
[But as long as there was a one-in-ten-million hope, it might be able to learn the underground nest’s location from the memories of a mutated Maggot-Person.]
[It hoped that one day it could find the nest. By then, it would no longer be weak. It would kill all the zealots of the Despicable Ones and rescue the girl still trapped in the demonic lair.]
[Kim seemed to have bottled this matter up for a long time. Suddenly meeting someone it could confide in, it poured everything out to you like spilling beans.]
“So that was how it was… No wonder when I disguised myself as a Maggot-Person, I heard Kim say it had the same ability as a mutated Maggot-Person.”
However, Kim likely did not know that the so-called ‘girl,’ namely Flanda, had now become something like a terrifying War Broodmother. Only the upper half of her head and torso still resembled a human, while the lower half was simply indescribable.
“Should I take Kim to see Flanda?”
If he took Kim to the Ancient Nest now, it would surely trigger a special event.
But Lin Xun suddenly realized that Kim was not a true Favored Servant of Firefly and did not have the ability granted by Firefly to linger at the edge of the web of consciousness.
As an Aberrated one who possessed a partial parasitic ability, once Kim set foot in the Ancient Nest, there was a chance it would be noticed by the Desire Wet Nurse.
When that happened, not only he and Kim would die, but even Oathbreaker Flanda would hardly be spared.
“In that case, these two would probably never meet in their lifetime.”
He could only set aside the idea of letting the two meet for now.