By IMERPUS RELUR
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On the third dawn, the world itself began to change.
The skies darkened without clouds. The wind that passed across the Lord Plane felt sharp—carrying with it a scent that wasn't natural. It was thick with bloodlust and movement, the primal scent of millions of beasts breathing as one.
A distant rumble echoed across all ten regions.
> [Global Warning – 48 Hours Until First Beast Tide]
Current Threat Tier: Adaptive
Estimated Strength Per Region: 3–7 Tier Variance
Swarm Types: Mutated, Undead, Primal, Arcane
Beast Queen Signature: Faint – Not Yet Stabilized
---
In Region 7, the Lords were no longer boasting.
The chat was now filled with tension, logistics, and hurried theories.
[Lord ViciousBlade]: Two days… No one's ready for this.
[Lord AshThorn]: I scouted a beast den. They're already moving.
[Lord WhisperWind]: Some of my birds won't even fly north. They sense something.
[Lord FangBreaker]: If the first wave's this strong… what's waiting at Day 10?
[Lord Lin Shen]: If you fear the wild, become wilder than it.
Silence followed.
And then—curiosity.
[Lord ShadeFeather]: Ant Lord, are you… preparing alone?
[Lord Lin Shen]: The Hive does not prepare.
[Lord Lin Shen]: It remembers. It adapts. It multiplies.
---
Deep below the surface, the Hive was now processing multiple concurrent fusions.
In hidden breeding chambers, the Spore Garden glowed like a cradle of future terror. Genetic material pulsed along crystal roots—feeding, changing.
> [Genetic Resequencing Complete – Mutation Bias Applied]
Trait Pool Expanded:
– Digestion Override (Enhanced resource conversion)
– Reinforced Hive Carapace (Structure armor)
– Burst Spawner (Emergency troop release upon unit death)
– Neural Web (Troop micro-echo feedback layer)
---
Lin Shen meditated near the Spire. His consciousness floated above the Hive like a phantom node. He no longer saw through eyes. He felt through tunnels. Through pheromones. Through code woven into instinct.
> [Lord Class Shift Detected – Unique Path Forming]
Fusion Lord → ???
Title Pending: Swarm King | Void Broodfather | Hiveborn Architect
Pending System Approval…
A crack formed in the Spire.
From it, something stirred.
A thin limb.
A malformed ant, cloaked in crystalline armor, with six shadow wings and no visible eyes. It hissed at Lin Shen—but not in defiance.
In recognition.
> [New Unit Spawned: Pale Echo Ant – Tier 6 – Class: Memory Herald]
Trait: Instinct Archive – Grants ability to 'record' entire battlefields for future adaptations
Trait: Echo Mourn – Upon death, releases emotional wave that strengthens all nearby Hive units
---
> [System Message – Local Lord Broadcast]
Lord Lin Shen has awakened a Tier 6 Unit before the First Beast Tide.
Regional Probability Models Recalculating…
---
Lin Shen opened his eyes.
He whispered a single word.
"Good."
Let the system watch. Let the world tremble.
When the beasts came, they would not find a defenseless Lord.
They would find the Swarm's Answer to Heaven.