I Am The Swarm

Edres and his team ended up waiting for twenty years. Perhaps it was because the masterminds behind the scenes believed the Swarm still needed time, or perhaps there were other reasons. Regardless, the result was that the Ji Council of Elders made some compromises.

Thus, Edres’ construction team remained stationed at the outer edge of the Genesis System for two decades. Fortunately, the Ji warships were massive and had been fully stocked before departure. Midway through, another supply shipment was sent from the Riken. Additionally, most of the crew chose to enter cryogenic sleep to avoid wasting their lives unnecessarily. As a result, those twenty years passed relatively quickly.

In truth, Edres’ team could have returned to the Riken Star System for rest and resupply. Although a neighboring star system separated the two, the direct distance was only about nine light-years—a journey that would take the Ji just three years for a round trip.

However, the Ji leadership insisted that Edres remain on site to have a legitimate excuse to closely monitor the Swarm’s activities. As it turned out, during this time, Edres did manage to gather some intelligence.

For example, he observed that most of the Swarm forces in the Genesis System had been redeployed to the Neighboring Star System.

When this information was analyzed by Ji strategists, they concluded that the Neighboring Star System must be where the Swarm’s royal court was located. To the north of this system was the Riken Star System, to the west lay the Sandstorm Star System, a hub for trade, and to the south was the Genesis System, which was in the process of being vacated. These three directions were open and could not be fully secured.

It made sense that the Swarm would strengthen the defenses of their royal court.

Another piece of intelligence Edres gathered was that the Swarm had been systematically destroying six megastructures located in the stellar orbit of the Genesis System. Although the process involved self-detonation followed by ejection into the star, making it seem repetitive and overly complex, it did not attract much attention due to the precedent set in the Riken Star System.

If the Ji had combined this with earlier intelligence, they might have uncovered something significant. Initially, the Swarm had only two megastructures in the stellar orbit of the Genesis System. The other four had been constructed just a few decades earlier.

To be precise, the Swarm began constructing these additional megastructures shortly after the destruction of the ones in the Riken Star System.

Back when the Koya Alliance conspired with the Riken to hatch their schemes, Luo Wen had already anticipated the current situation. However, at that time, he had no intention of adding more megastructures in the Genesis System.

It was only when the “seed” was warped over vast distances and fell into the Swarm current territory on Planet Botian that the sheer unpredictability of the situation made Luo Wen realize he needed to create more “escape routes.”

Thus, the construction of four additional megastructures was expedited. Fortunately, the Genesis System was the Swarm’s true home base, rich with accumulated resources over the years. This allowed them to mature the four megastructures within a mere twenty to thirty years.

Together with the original two, Luo Wen now had six opportunities for long-range warps, enough to send six “seeds” to safety. He refused to believe that, with six chances, he wouldn’t find a pristine, lifeless galaxy.

The results were promising. As the megastructures were systematically detonated, Luo Wen’s control over long-range warping improved significantly thanks to his prior “successful” experience.

The “seeds” were dispatched one by one.

In the vast emptiness of space, between two unknown star systems, a rift suddenly tore open. From it emerged a flesh pod, two meters in diameter.

The pod drifted in the void for a while. First, a tentacle stretched out, followed by an eye. The cold and lifeless vacuum outside reassured Luo Wen, who had been observing closely.

At last, this one seemed normal. He surveyed the surroundings, but optical observation alone was insufficient to accurately calculate distances. In the end, he selected the largest celestial body nearby and used a rudimentary propulsion system to move in its direction.

Whether this seed was a success remained to be seen. For now, it was impossible to determine if there was life in the surrounding star systems. However, the seed—or rather its carrier—still had significant flaws.

Initially, due to Luo Wen’s lack of proficiency with long-distance warping, he had minimized the carrier’s size, reducing it to only basic functionalities.

The original plan was for the pod to adapt to its new environment by absorbing energy and undergoing genetic mutations to grow additional functional components. Unfortunately, the energy present in the void was extremely sparse. Using such meager resources, the pod would take an unthinkable amount of time to mutate a plasma propulsion system. And even if it managed to develop the propulsion, there wouldn’t be enough energy to operate it.

Luo Wen had anticipated this scenario, but the situation had been urgent at the time, leaving him no better options. His sole objective was to send the seeds out, ensuring a fallback plan. Even if it took an extended period, the seed would eventually reach a nearby star system.

Time was critical for Luo Wen while he still held territory to defend. But if he were to lose everything, with no lands to worry about, time would no longer hold much significance for him.

With the experience of two long-distance warps through the Riken Star System and the subsequent years of refinement, Luo Wen’s skills had improved considerably. By the most recent deployment, he felt more confident and capable of achieving more.

For the second flesh pod, Luo Wen incorporated an enhanced atomic furnace, increasing the pod’s diameter from two meters to five. This was the smallest atomic furnace available, yet it represented Luo Wen’s pinnacle of current technology. In addition to the furnace, he added a shielding field to mask its reaction fluctuations.

If this seed succeeded, even if it landed in the void, the continuous energy supply from the atomic furnace would allow it to rapidly mutate advanced tissues and infiltrate nearby star systems, establishing new Swarm territories.

Another megastructure was detonated. In an unknown region of space, a rift opened, and a five-meter-diameter pod was ejected. Following standard procedures, after confirming the environment was normal, the shielding field deployed, and the atomic furnace activated.

Instead of mutating a propulsion system first, the pod created a simple radar device. This radar captured various particle data in its vicinity, analyzing the distances to nearby star systems.

After some calculations, a star system 1.7 light-years away was selected as the target. This star system’s central star was very small and somewhat dim. Using only optical observation, it appeared to be the third-largest celestial body in the vicinity. The largest body visible turned out to be six light-years away from the pod.

Soon, the pod’s propulsion organs had fully mutated, followed by various cloaking and stealth systems. Powered by the atomic furnace, the pod transformed into a 20-meter-long Swarm warship and silently set course for the target star system.

“Hah…” Luo Wen exhaled softly after completing the process. The increased size of the pod had made the long-distance warp noticeably more taxing, but it was still within his capabilities.

Closing his eyes, he reviewed everything that had just occurred, meticulously searching for flaws and shortcomings.

Before long, preparations for deploying the third seed were underway.

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