LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 21: New Upgrades
Konoha.
After the group disbanded for their after-mission break period, Shino decided to head to the Forest of Death to collect the harvest from his drones.
The air was crisp and refreshing as he made his way through the alleys and streets of Konoha, the conversations of nearby people and bustling noises of tools filling his ears, clearer than ever before.
It was an interesting sensation, yet one that he is still requires time to get used to.
He finally arrived at his designated location, where his drones were burrowed and awaiting his collection.
Moments after collecting the precious harvest, he watched all his drones hustled back into the forest, starting their diligent work anew. Never tired, no complaints – the dream worker of every employer.
Satisfied with the progress, Shino left for home to check on his Zerg Dominator system.
As a member of the Aburame clan, he still feels it is the safest to spawn bugs within his home. The chances of exposure were high, yet he knew he had the support of his father. This in itself marked his home as a safe zone.
Well, technically, there is no safe zone in this dangerous ninja world. His home was just relatively more secretive compared to other places.
When Shino arrived home, he couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation as he delved into his Zerg Dominator System.
He really didn't expect to find a parasitic insect that could achieve neural control in the zombie's brain! This sudden windfall brought him sudden benefits that he never imagined was possible.
Now, he finally had time to understand the evolution of his body!
"Alina, analyze the upgrades brought by the assimilation of the new gene strand."
[Affirmative. Overmind, please wait a moment...]
A soothing, mellow female voice greeted Shino in his mind. This was his newly upgraded Zerg Dominator system!
Before, it had always been able to communicate with him, but only in a fixed robotic manner. It wasn't until the recent upgrade that it had gain a semblance of artificial intelligence, even upgrading itself with a voice module based on his preferences.
On the journey back, Shino had the time to customize it, giving it the name Alina, referencing the queen of zergs from a certain universe. He also figured out its new functions.
Besides easing the usage of the Zerg Dominator system and gaining her own analytical capabilities, Alina could also help him manage his Zergs in the most efficient way, based on his preexisting command!
It was like unlocking an AI for micromanaging his minions, reacting to real-time situations popping up under his radar. This took a burden off his shoulder, letting him sleep in peace at night without worrying about his minions inadvertently causing trouble.
Of course, this meant a part of his authority was now shared.
Shino didn't know if this was good or bad, but regardless, it was bound to him. He easily came to accept it, especially since he knew that the AI won't arbitrarily interrupt his speech like everyone else...
[Analyzing complete. Overmind, the recent changes to your body are due to a genetic mutation that has given you the ability to become an infestation pit. Due to this ability, your body has become a hotbed for plagues and viruses. You can now develop antibodies and store viruses, allowing you to quickly adapt to new diseases and become immune to them as long as you do not die. As a side effect of the transformation, your senses and perception have been moderately enhanced.]
Cool. Shino nodded imperceptibly.
Although he easily noticed the changes in senses, but he would have never guessed that his body can now adapt to plagues if he didn't have the system's scan.
After all, it's rare for ninjas to get sick due to their stronger physiques, and he could go a lifetime thinking it was just his body's exemplary autoimmune system.
"But a new structure, huh?" Shino's mind raced as he tried to comprehend the magnitude of this revelation.
Infestation pit. Canonically, it was a zerg structure housed with all manners of plague and diseases.
But here, just like the hatchery, it was merged with his body, granting him a stronger autoimmune system.
Although not prominent in the story itself, he knew that the ninja world had many powerful plagues and diseases running amok.
It's just that the medical techniques of this world is a bit abnormal and can solve most conditions.
But, there are still some chronic illnesses that can even affect powerful ninjas! Even the Sage of Six Paths had a deadly disease until he resolved it with Polar Particles.
Now, Shino had gotten an ability that can help him resist these powerful diseases!
He had never imagined that he would one day gain such a powerful immune ability. This would greatly reduce the risk once he encounters some more common, dangerous diseases like Chakra virus.
Of course, the prerequisite of all of this immunity was the gradual buildup of resistance through self-administration.
"Well, seems like I'll have to first find a way to gain access to a bank of diseases..."
Perhaps Konoha had strands of viruses and diseases stored in its medical department. He will need to look into this without attracting suspicion.
It seems there is another dangerous activity of collecting and injecting viruses added to his training schedule- ahem, please, don't try this at home1This story is not meant to encourage dangerous suicidal thoughts.. Back to the topic...
Although the infestation pit granted him a powerful new ability, his infestation pit unfortunately was unlike the game structure, where it can be used for researching new units and spawn powerful units like the infestor.
Instead, this transformation only allowed him to spawn a new type of unit derived from the infestor, the neural parasite!
"Alina, show me the details of the new neural parasite unit. Oh, and call me Master or Little Shino."
[Affirmative, Overmind.]
Shino's brow twitched a bit. Although Overmind wasn't a bad name, he had been trying to correct the way that Alina addressed him the entire journey back, wanting to match a certain fantasy novel's queen.
However, he still couldn't change a thing. He wasn't sure if its intelligence wasn't high enough or if it did this purposefully to mess with him.
The interface in his mind was automatically accessed by Alina, pulling up a zoomed-in model of a small, parasitic organism with multiple tentacle-like appendages on its head.
[Neural parasites are one of the iconic abilities of the powerful Zerg infestors. Injecting the neural parasite into an organism can allow the host to control the other for a limited time, depending on the organism's strength and resistance. Neural parasite are created within the Infestation Pit in the host's body, and require a 25 biomass to produce. Once trained, they can hibernate in the host's body and await usage. Note, neural parasites are relatively fragile and can be quickly destroyed if not injected with adequate procedures.]
Listening to the explanation and reading the displayed panel, Shino couldn't help but be excited for a bit before becoming deflated.
"The cost is high, and the control is not permanent. Not only that, I don't have the infestor unit itself, so I have to manually inject the parasite into the target's brain. Unless I have a complete lab with proper equipment, the chances of me doing so is slim..."
Verdict: This unit is rather tasteless.
"Hey, why couldn't it be the hyperevolutionary virus being unlocked. If that were the case, I would have the initial ability to push the world."
Shino couldn't help but sigh inwardly. However, it was expected. There was no way one random species can unlock the full extent of his abilities. He should be thankful he even got an infestation pit upgrade.
"Still, this could be useful in some limited situations. For example, interrogation- Well, the Yamanaka clan's ability may be a better option for this job. Eh, who knows. Perhaps, I may need to secretly dig ninjutsu from the minds of others in the future?"
After some pondering, Shino simply shelved this unit. It wasn't something he needed at the moment because it was not useful in combat nor development. He could spawn one when needed in the future.
Perhaps when he unlocks the infestor, these parasites would become obsolete.
[Overmind, please note that the neural parasite gene is a requirement for unlocking the infestor unit. Every organism will remain relevant for the development of the hive.]
"As it should be. Alina, are there any other changes that should be noted?"