Lord: Starting with Biological Modification

The sky was still dark, and a gray morning mist shrouded the lakeshore.

The expedition team assembled before dawn.

Velin, Ola, Barrett, and Kael, who practically melted into the shadows.

A troop of non-humans stood quietly behind them.

Twenty giant dung beetles, each one sturdier than an ox—they were Sarah’s newest creation, the Level 3 Magical Beasts known as the Soldier Ants.

Their carapaces bristled with barbs that glinted coldly, and their six jointed legs were steady and strong.

Ola swallowed hard as he gazed at the silent, menacing creatures.

The smaller ’battering ram’ on each of their heads looked like it could pierce a thick ironwood shield.

One by one, they drank their Underwater Breathing Potions and dove into the cave at the heart of the lake.

The frigid lake water enveloped them, a crushing pressure seeping through the gaps in their leather armor.

Boosted by Glow Potions, they could see through the darkness of the lakebed.

Sarah was at the very front, wearing a leather jerkin. She wasn’t used to swimming yet, frequently looking back as she tried to copy Velin’s breaststroke. Her legs, however, just kicked clumsily through the water.

The Soldier Ants, however, were much better adapted. Driven by instinct, they sank quickly and fanned out in perfect sync. Their jointed legs made soft scraping sounds against the rock walls as they formed a moving defensive perimeter around Velin and his team.

As the true command center, Velin was busy adjusting to and calibrating the information flowing up and down the ’Hive Matrix’.

He sorted and filtered the massive torrent of sensory data.

The visual signals from the Soldier Ants’ compound eyes were automatically filtered, removing 99% of all redundant imagery. Only dynamic threats and topographical changes were kept. This data was then overlaid with a real-time, top-down feed from the highest Soldier Ant, creating a primary viewpoint. Sarah had integrated this system to project a dynamically updating, three-dimensional tactical map directly into Velin’s consciousness.

Secondary information such as sound, touch, and vibrations were set to passive triggers. They would only generate a ’highlighted’ alert if they surpassed a safe threshold.

He also established two communication channels for this ad-hoc tactical network.

One was a ’public channel’ for issuing group commands and reporting emergencies to the entire team.

The other was an ’encrypted private channel’ connecting him to each individual, allowing for precise micromanagement.

A faint pulse emanated from the ’Hive Terminal’ on the back of Barrett’s neck, connecting him to the invisible psionic network and his surroundings.

A voice spoke directly in his mind.

’Barrett, prepare to intercept. Kael, crevice in the rock, thirty meters to the left. Soldier Ants three and four, coordinated pincer.’

Barrett hadn’t even raised his hand-crossbow when a dark, phantom-like figure shot past him.

It was Kael.

Simultaneously, two Soldier Ants silently detached from the formation, circling around from another angle to flank the position Velin had indicated.

A few seconds later, a faint commotion came from that direction, then silence returned.

When Barrett swam over, he found the corpses of several bizarre, sharp-toothed fish.

’This efficiency, this perfect coordination... it made him wonder what it would be like on a real battlefield.’

He glanced at Velin, who was at the center of their formation.

The young lord’s eyes were slightly closed, as if he were merely taking a stroll through the water.

But Barrett knew he was simultaneously processing sensory input from dozens of different units, directing each piece like a grandmaster at chess.

This was Ola’s first time using the device, and he felt completely awkward.

Combat was no longer about roaring and charging, the way he was used to.

He felt like he’d been demoted from a protagonist to a mere chess piece.

The feeling that his individual prowess had been diminished left him deeply unsettled, though he couldn’t put his finger on why.

It wouldn’t be until much later that Velin would give him a name for this unease: skill obsolescence.

After a long swim through the underwater tunnel, they finally reached a massive subterranean cavern.

As they broke the surface and took their first breaths of fresh air, they were all mesmerized by the sight before them.

This was a world a hundred times more magnificent than Ryo had described.

Massive clusters of blue-green, fluorescent crystals jutted from the ground, forming a luminous forest that cast a breathtaking, shifting kaleidoscope of colors onto the cavern ceiling.

"Holy..." Ola’s heavy breathing echoed in the vast space. "This place... it’s a goddamn Underground City!"

Velin remained silent. His consciousness was already manipulating the Hive Matrix. The twenty Soldier Ants’ jointed legs scraped lightly against the ground, and a tide of sensory signals flooded in, which Sarah’s system then filtered and reconstructed.

A real-time topographical map of a fifty-meter radius, with him at the center, began to form in his mind.

They were at the edge of the subterranean cavern. The only way to explore was forward.

"Move out," Velin commanded.

The team advanced along the edge of the subterranean river.

The ground beneath their feet was soft and springy, a mixture of eons of humus and mineral dust.

The Soldier Ants formed a protective perimeter, their six legs moving without a sound. Only the occasional, soft CLICK of a carapace against rock broke the silence.

After about half a day’s travel, Kael’s figure materialized from the shadows ahead.

’Thirty meters ahead. Cave on the left. Three Crystal-backed Lizards, Level 2 Magical Beasts.’ Kael’s psionic message was transmitted to everyone via the ’public channel.’

’Ola, Barrett, get ready,’ Velin issued the command.

Ola licked his lips, his knuckles cracking as he tightened his grip on the handle of his battle-ax.

Barrett, for his part, had already raised his hand-crossbow, a bolt nocked and ready.

’Kael, flush them out.’

Kael’s form vanished into the darkness once more.

A moment later, a commotion erupted from within the cave, and three lizards, each over two meters long with backs covered in crystals, charged out.

Startled by Kael’s presence, they seemed to be fleeing in a blind panic.

Ola let out a low roar and charged head-on. His battle-ax swung in an arc, cleaving into the neck of the lead Crystal-backed Lizard.

Its Scale Armor shattered, and foul-smelling blood gushed out. The lizard tumbled to the ground, twitched a few times, and then lay still.

Enraged by their companion’s death, the other two lizards shrieked and lunged at Ola.

Just then, two muffled THWACKS from a crossbow mechanism rang out.

Barrett’s bolts struck both lizards in the eye sockets.

With whimpers of pain, their bodies went rigid before crashing heavily to the ground.

The battle was over.

Ola walked over to the lizard corpses and used the tip of his ax to pry off a few of the crystals from their backs, weighing them in his palm.

"Not bad quality. We can use these for a few alchemy item casings." He grinned, stuffing the Crystal Stones into a leather pouch at his waist. "This place is a real gold mine."

Barrett said nothing. He walked over to one of the lizard corpses, crouched down, and slit open its belly with a dagger to carefully inspect the contents.

"What is it?" Velin asked, walking over.

"Something’s not right," Barrett said, looking up, his single eye filled with grim seriousness. "There’s nothing in their stomachs but some glowing moss and fungi. For Level 2 Magical Beasts, even if they’re herbivores, they should be eating something more nutritious than this. They’re too weak... abnormally so."

Velin stared at the undigested plant matter in the lizard’s stomach, a thoughtful expression on his face.