NOVEL NEXT Chapter 86: Capacity
Inside his secretive base's nursery room, Shino's eyes were fixed on the blank holographic screen before him, disappointment etched across his features, "Still so vigilant. That sand boy is really hard to spy on. I really can't underestimate this future Kazekage."
Waving away the blank screen, Shino's fingers caressed the larvae in front of him, their writhing forms pulsating with untold potential.
His hatchery naturally wasn't idle. With Karina in charge, larvaes were laid into this nursery room, birthing zergs full-time to supplement his army.
Shino set his sights on the hard-working Karina, who was busy with her duties in creating the next generation amidst a bunch of holographic displays that acted as a mosaic over certain parts of her captivating figure.
With parts of her hidden, it actually gave her another layer of enchantment. The gifted ladybug necklace that swayed with her movements only served to further enhance the desires for possession.
Yet, Shino's face was composed, his tone remaining steady. "Karina, update me on the progress of our biomass and gene harvest."
Hearing his command, Karina delivered her report through the system.
[Shino, the gene bank had expanded exponentially, its repository now brimming with genes, enough for us to fortify the durability of our hatchery. Additionally, we unlocked a couple new zerg units such as the zergling and many others are on the precipice of completion, previously only lacking some rare species.]
Ah, yes. That's right. After reaching out into the rest of the ninja world, the once limited gene bank is no longer a hindrance, opening the floodgates to new developments for the zerg army!
But Karina's words didn't end on a good note.
[However, there are still some restrictions that are a challenge to our development.]
"Oh? Tell me." A glimmer of intrigue danced in Shino's eyes as he welcomed the challenge, his patient demeanor concealing a hunger for the secrets that lay dormant in the depths of her forthcoming explanation.
[First, we are restricted by our computation power. As the zerg army grows, the required power to manage and command them grows correspondingly. Although Karina had tried to mitigate this issue through the creation of our new Overlord unit, this is only a temporary fix. If these new supply units are wiped out, our zergs will run amok unless we order them all to hibernate. The only way to have a true firm control over the zergs is the growth of our own spiritual prowess, which in turn enhances our computation power...]
A faint furrow marred Shino's brow. He shook his head, a wry smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
It seems some of the RTS game logic had been brought over to his new reality where stakes ran high.
Once the zerg army had expanded to a certain size, further expansion required more 'housing space' or max population capacity.
For the Zergs, that essential 'housing space' was in the form of a basic unit, the Overlord – a flying supply depot that could strengthen their control over larger numbers, essentially increasing their housing space.
However, contrasting the game from which it originated, the eight control from the Overlord unit in reality allowed him to do far more than control 8 extra units.
The performance had been drastically enhanced to a larger scale, typically encompassing all zergs in a certain range around the Overlord. Within this range, his Overlords were like signal towers that relieved his burden in managing and controlling his zergs, reducing the computation power required to keep those zergs in check.
This was a really neat altercation.
Alas, in exchange for this heightened performance and capacity, the Overlord came with an exorbitant price and extended breeding time. Breeding one can cost as much as breeding a small to medium-sized army of other zergs, such as the zerglings!
In the short term, Shino can only afford to breed limited numbers, and he'll have to take play the long game for this unit, which meant... his unit capacity will have a slow growth.
Fortunately, akin to the elusive cheats found in games, reality allowed the player to 'hack' the confines of 'housing space' by applying their own personal power. In this case, it would be Shino's spiritual energy, which has a strong correlation to the computation power of his hive mind, aka the system.
Needless to say, the growth of his spiritual energy and his system would result in a growth in the maximum zerg capacity he could control, likely on a much larger scale than spawning Overlords could grant him.
Thus, augmenting the power of his system and his spiritual power was definitely on the agenda.
Karina had already divulged the method to upgrade his system: a journey of assimilating souls into the hive mind.
On the other hand, strengthening his spiritual energy was the true challenge.
The first method was to evolve his body like he did so using the Uzumaki genes. Alas, he was still in the stabilization period after his recent upgrade.
Plus, since this process tampers with his own body and was essentially an ascension in his lifeform, it required extremely careful consideration and research for every subsequent attempt. Thus, this was temporarily a no-go.
So, Shino must seek other roads to glory.
Alas, the Naruto world wasn't an immortal cultivation world, where any random protagonist can coincidentally acquire some fortuitous inheritance or chance encounters that can grow their spiritual energy.
Within the definitive rules of the ninja world, the spiritual power capacity was a mystifying talent intricately woven into the fabric of one's very existence, predetermined from the moment of birth.
While a faint glimmer of hope lingered in the potential for incremental growth during the natural progression from childhood to adulthood, the boundaries of each individual's limits, like celestial decrees etched in stardust, remained resolute and immutable.
Some ninjas were born with heightened senses, wherein the Uzumaki and Uchiha clan stood as exemplars, many born gifted with heightened spiritual power that transcended the ordinary mortal realm.
On the other hand, many others were languished in the realm of mediocrity for life.
Yet, even those blessed with exceptional spiritual power would find their power constrained, unable to unlock the depths of their latent abilities, unless guided by the right methods.
A good example would be Naruto. It's clear he was born with formidable spiritual prowess, evident since a young age, allowing him to fearlessly use the Multiple Shadow Clone technique without succumbing to its feedback and becoming crazy.
As his journey unfolds, he was lucky enough to obtain the opportunity to learn the immortal arts – a method for ninjas to reach the pinnacle of combat prowess in this world by harmonizing nature energy with physical and spiritual energy.
Thus, sage mode was a powerful way to tap into the spiritual power reserves of an individual. Guided by the right method, the protagonist naturally put his spiritual power to good use.
On the other hand, an ill-fated example would be the original Karin, a haunting embodiment of untapped potential who hadn't learned the immortal arts.
Without immortal arts, she found herself consigned to the role of a mere supporting role, her heightened senses relegated to the confines of a sensory ninja, resulting in the vast reservoirs of her untapped spiritual capacity remaining idle and neglected.
In a profound twist of destiny, the Karin in this world had been assimilated by the unfathomable hive, allowing her unimaginable potential to be harnessed!
Now, the full extent of her spiritual power was being utilized by the system as a wellspring of computation power, even more so than Shino himself!
But even though this was the case, a disheartening truth cast its shadow upon Shino and Karina: it wasn't enough, their growth demanded more!
And if Shino wanted to grow his or Karina's spiritual power, it wasn't impossible, but it won't be worth it.
Why? Because...