Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty Two – Base
Lin finished creating the basic structures of the base . At the top of the enormous stone, it took over 90% of the flat space available .
Enormous flat and long tentacles called the giant shield tentacles encircled the perimeter . Each one was covered completely in armor, they could curve inwards to connect and protect the entire base .
The next layer had tentacles covered in stinger cells and was responsible for intercepting the single cells that passed through the first layer and defending the base .
Near the center were the food sacs for absorbing food, the “dissolving factor” for dissolving the chitin substances, and the storage rooms for the cachers . Each of them were round in shape and about half the size of the mothership .
The center position was the “reproduction” chamber responsible for producing cells of each type . Two times the size of the mothership, and covered in hard armor and enormous tentacles, it was the heart of the base and shaped like an enormous ball .
While it was the core, this structure was the simplest . Its responsibility was to continuously produce basic cells . Lin’s primary method for producing its troops was creating basic cells, and then combining and transforming them, or having them mutate . After a combination was made once, the cells could automatically go through the process .
What remained was to make a structure to rear the green cells . Lin called this the rearing umbrella . These well circular and round stages supported by a round cylinder made out of chitin . Green cells covered the stage . This structure was suitable for absorbing sunlight . Lin made three rearing umbrellas that almost covered half of the base .
Each rearing umbrella had an enormous lantern at the center because Lin found that the green cells could absorb Lin’s light, and not just the light of day . While the efficiency was low, the green cells could still produce nutrients in the lightless night .
The small blood vessels covered the entire flat surface in connecting each tentacle and organ . Lin cancelled its ideas of making a big heart in the middle . It put many small hearts on the blood vessels so it both saved space and was useful .
Other than these fixed structures, many roaming squads, made out of air storers and devourers, were responsible for cleaning the base of parasites or going out to hunt .
When Lin created the armor, it found that many unicellular or small multicellular organisms liked to attach themselves to the shell . This method seemed to be called “parasitism . ” However, Lin just had “food delivered” to it because Lin didn’t have just one body like all other organisms . Lin could create all kind of combinations, as small as viruses, as big as multicellular organisms . Nothing could truly parasitize off Lin .
Lin wanted to laugh .
The mothership floated above the base . Lin usually had it hover above . The mothership produced troops, and Lin occasionally had it go out and hunt other large prey, but usually, the protector was responsible for that .
Creating the base used up large numbers of fat cells . While the mothership had stored a great number of fat cells, so many to the point it could create many motherships, they were almost all used it . Lin felt though that it could quickly replenish the numbers .
Also, Lin had to make a new combination, one that could travel far .
It had to have powerful abilities, nimble movement, an enormous body to store all kinds of organs and a small army .
Its function would be similar to the mothership, but Lin wanted to make a new shape … … what should it make?
It should be a streamlined shape to quickly swim through the water . Yes, no matter how much Lin wanted a new shape, the priority was the functions .
If it used an oval streamlined shape and used a sprout to swim, it would be extremely fast, but that kind of shape wasn’t suitable for growing tentacles .
Maybe a round disk shape wasn’t bad … … like the jellyfish with tentacles growing below it . It would be convenient to hunt and grab food, but its speed would be slower .
But that was better than no tentacles … … it was decided .
Lin didn’t have enough nutrients but it had thought of the basic shape . The main body would be a wide disk shape half the thickness of the mothership . The disk would be two times as wide as the mothership was long . Its entire body would be covered in a layer of shells . This was the initial size, and it would grow in the future .
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There would be thirty movable water sprouts around the edge of the disk . It could swim in every direction . An enormous suction mouth existed at the center of the round disk that could rapidly suck in water and then produce jets of water through the inner muscles in order to increase speed .
There were many open passageways on the top layer used for releasing the troops inside .
After this, Lin added six enormous tentacles under the disk . Lin didn’t want to make thin and feeble tentacles like the jellyfish . These tentacles had mouths covered in hooked teeth made out of the hardest material Lin could create right now and were constructed from large numbers of muscle cells . They could tear apart prey and also pull organisms like the cutter shell from the sand .
Then there were the basic heart and blood vessel structures, the dissolving factory, the air sacs, the eyes, the lanterns, those were simple .
As to its name … …
Lin decided to call it “Leviathan . ”
What was the meaning of this term? Lin didn’t know . It seemed to represent an enormous thing that moved through the sea .
If nothing happened to Lin’s base, the position wouldn’t change . It was immobile . The “Leviathan” would continue to travel . Lin would rely on this to learn about this endless world of water .
If Leviathan was killed, Lin would create a new one at the base . If the base was destroyed, Leviathan was responsible for creating a new base .
Of course, Lin didn’t want any of those things to happen .
Leviathan didn’t take along the mothership’s regular troops except for the air storers . Lin decided to create a new unit for Leviathan even though Leviathan itself was powerful .
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The troops Leviathan would carry had to include the ones it did not have the abilities for . They were also responsible for transporting food for Leviathan . Lin would not have the main body directly eat food .
Since it didn’t have enough nutrients to create “Leviathan,” Lin would first get nutrients .
From the base high up on the enormous stone, Lin could easily look at the situation the surrounding waters . Many organisms it knew were here such as flat worms, leaf worms, cutter shells, jellyfish, sea stars and tubeworms . Many single cells floated in the water as well .
With one day and night, Lin would be almost able to make Leviathan .
Let the hunt … … begin!
Nothing in this region of water could match Lin . Lin easily turned the organisms into nutrients, the entire process easily done .
Lin was puzzled about one thing . Ever since coming out of the ice, it hadn’t seen the oval worm again . Was this organism rare? Or were there other reasons?
Lin didn’t continue to think, it put its attention back on hunting .
Even when night arrived, Lin didn’t stop . This time, Lin clearly saw the changes in organisms between day and night . The great majority of organisms would hide in the sand during night, and some darkness worms as well as small segmented limbed organisms appeared at this time .
Lin had a harder time hunting at night than during day, but Lin relied on the lantern at the center of the “rearing umbrella” to maintain light for the green cells and obtain nutrients .
Leviathan continued to be built . Because it was so big, it was not being built inside the base’s reproduction chamber but directly in the water . In order to stop it from sinking during the building process, Lin made many air sacs to support its weight .
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When daylight arrived again … … Leviathan was almost complete . At this time, an unique organism appeared at the border of Lin’s base .
It should have climbed up the stone walls to get here . Lin found the organism seemed similar to the oval worm upon first look but it was half the size . It had the hemispherical head like the oval worm but the rest of its body did not end in a spiraling tail like the oval worm . Its body was almost as thick as its head, and it had armor that protruded up in stripes . It had many segmented limbs with either sharp stingers or claws at the ends .
“Trilobite . ”
This term appeared in Lin’s head the first time Lin saw this organism .
This seemed to be an interesting organism . Lin found the name strange as it seemed to have nothing to do with the body .
Then Lin would turn it into nutrients to celebrate Leviathan’s birth .
The Leviathan was complete . It adjusted the water sprouts around it . The enormous body slowly floated up and swam towards the trilobite wandering around the giant shield tentacles at the perimeter of Lin’s base .
Leviathan suddenly sped up when it neared to charge at the trilobite . It used two of its tentacles that had mouths to bite onto the trilobite’s head and tail and dragged it higher .
Then Leviathan’s tentacles pulled suddenly in opposite directions and tore the trilobite apart . Great amounts of cells and blue fluid sprayed out and floated in the water .
The power was pretty good, but the trilobite’s shell seemed fragile .
The Leviathan’s abilities satisfied Lin . Then it would depart now and advance into the endless sea!