NOVEL NEXT Chapter 8: Invasion
As time passed, Xu Luo's divine realm continued to shrink, but his power grew steadily.
Despite not gaining new genes or species, he had more faith power and had significantly improved his existing Zerg. If a deity was willing to invest, their followers' strength could increase rapidly.
The Zerg didn't practice cultivation. To become stronger, they needed to merge with new genes, devour other creatures' flesh, or directly consume faith power.
With the divine realm's time running ten times faster than reality, with one real day equaling ten realm days, naturally yielding more benefits.
After accumulating for a while, Xu Luo spent 30,000 faith power on a small resource card - iron ore. When consumed by the Zerg, it would slightly increase their defense. Mayflies could also slowly collect evolution points from it; additionally, he spent 50,000 faith power to advance the queen.
She directly advanced from Bronze Tier 9 to Silver Tier 1.
Zerg Queen: Zerg leader, capable of laying eggs and mentally linking with the entire swarm for control.
Rank: Bronze Tier 9 (Lord level)
Skill: Egg Laying (100/day)
These were the queen's original attributes. After advancement, Xu Luo chose to increase quantity rather than egg quality.
Individual Zerg were inherently weaker than other species of the same level. Trying to match the strength of others would cost three to four times more, which wasn't worth it. It was better to continue focusing on quantity.
Zerg Queen: Zerg leader, capable of laying eggs and mentally linking with the entire swarm for control.
Rank: Silver Tier 1 (Lord level)
Skills: Egg Laying (500/day), Iron Body, Royal Guard! Faith: 500/day!
Production increased fivefold, allowing Xu Luo to accumulate more eggs.
Currently, Xu Luo had 5,000 each of Jumping and Armored Zerg, plus 2,000 Acid Zerg. At this point, Xu Luo remembered the two genes he had obtained from Xiang Yang's realm. He had forgotten about them until the Overlord system reminded him about evolving the Zerg. Jumping Zerg plus sawgrass could evolve into Mantis Zerg, while Armored Zerg plus snail could become Beetle Zerg!
Advancement required ten faith power each. Xu Luo didn't have enough to upgrade all, so he advanced a portion.
Although daily evolution point consumption increased, so did the faith power gained.
2,000 Acid Zerg provided 12,000 daily.
Mantis Zerg, at Bronze Tier 5, provided five points each.
He evolved 1,000, yielding 5,000 points. Beetle Zerg, at Bronze Tier 4, would provide four points each, but he hadn't evolved any yet. The remaining 9,000 provided 900 points. Adding the queen's 500 points, Xu Luo now received over 18,000 faith power daily.
In the real world, this would be 180,000.
Xu Luo felt the time was ripe to take action.
For the Zerg to develop, they needed massive resources and diverse genes. These couldn't always be bought; sometimes, they needed to be taken.
As someone from an ordinary family, to get everything, he could only rely on himself.
Xu Luo had decided to become an invader. His targets were other newcomers who had just established their divine realms.
The novice divine realm was the "starter village" for demi-gods. They could leave after ten years or earlier if they felt ready, though few did so. As demi-gods, Xu Luo and his peers couldn't encounter these veterans yet.
Xu Luo had some principles and felt uncomfortable plundering from the human camp, so he filtered out human faction targets when choosing opponents.
After accumulating for a while, all his Zerg had evolved, and the queen was strengthened. Using a breeding card, he doubled her reproductive ability, now producing 1,000 eggs daily.
This prompted Xu Luo to start invading. If he waited longer, those from wealthy backgrounds would grow stronger, potentially outpacing his advantage.
Using a realm search card that cost 10,000 faith power, he began looking for his first target.
The search card could find others' realms. Xu Luo had filtered out the human faction, so it would only find alien races.
Few people used this card. What was the point of finding a realm if the owner could refuse battle? In the early stages, with small power gaps, few could forcibly enter others' realms, wasting 10,000 faith power.
Xu Luo used it confidently, backed by his accumulated strength.
He now had 10,000 each of Beetle Zerg, Mantis Zerg, and Acid Zerg!
All were upgraded to Tier 9, providing 270,000 faith power daily. Although his realm had shrunk by a third, he felt the accumulation was worth it.
The 10,000-value search card dissolved into light in his hand. His consciousness expanded beyond his realm, passing countless light points in nearby space, drawn to one that grew larger and larger.
[Divine realm detected. Invade?]
Found one already?
Xu Luo was delighted. This was it!
[Target is distant. Constructing a teleportation channel requires 12,000 faith power.]
Xu Luo was surprised but agreed. These early investments were necessary.
He urgently needed to upgrade his Zerg. Although they were at Bronze Tier 9, they lacked abilities. Against others' proper Bronze Tier 9, his Zerg would be outmatched. He needed to plunder more resources to enhance their strength.
If he wanted to become a deity, he only needed to wait three days but that was useless. Ascending that way would make him the weakest deity, unable to beat even average demigods, and a laughingstock.
Without a large number of legendary creatures, he should at least have gold-tier ones, right?
With only bronze-tier creatures in small numbers, how could he dare to become a god? While he could ignite the divine flame with this strength, trying to raise a divine kingdom to the astral plane would be a joke.
Even if Xu Luo couldn't become the strongest novice deity, he wouldn't allow himself to be too weak.