‘All of this is real. This is the world in its truest sense.’
When Gaia was finally able to tune most of Terra using her root-like tentacles and antennal branches, the massive influx of information she received was vastly different from the knowledge stored in the hive mind.
There was a vast difference between simply receiving and storing existing knowledge versus personally experiencing and observing it.
This was precisely the difference between an individual with self-awareness and one without.
Moving beyond a purely intellectual level, a chosen existence like Gaia could rapidly develop self-awareness through this experience.
The growth of self-awareness would awaken new stimuli, which in turn would further promote the growth of self-awareness—a virtuous cycle.
“Exactly. This is the world,” Elise said, speaking to Gaia through the hive mind.
Gaia was different from Kerrigan.
Due to Elise's absolute dominance within the colony, Gaia did not even dare to harbor any thoughts of rebelling against her.
“It belongs to us.”
Elise gently explained to Gaia that this world belonged to the colony, so it was only natural that they should claim it as their own.
And not just Terra.
She declared that all the worlds they would encounter in the future would be prey for them to conquer.
Elise added that this was exactly what their god, Lin Miao, desired. They were born for this purpose, and they lived for this purpose.
“What about me?”
“You are a queen. You are the roots and eyes through which the colony senses and monitors the world.”
Elise personally explained to her younger sister, Gaia, the role she was meant to play, the significance of this role, and what they stood to gain through it.
The antennae extended even further into the sky, and the roots piercing the earth split even more vigorously, digging deeper and wider into the ground.
This alone was enough to cause the magic power currents of the entire Terra to fluctuate along with her consciousness.
Gaia had already become a powerful and colossal existence that the inhabitants of Terra would only speak of in myths.
“The magic power concentration in Terra's atmosphere is currently experiencing a fluctuating decline, and the subterranean flow is controllable. The extensive root network in the northwest has penetrated the magma layer and begun to fuse with the magma flow. The hive mind signal sensitivity is stable, with no signs of external forced interference. Currently, over ninety percent of Terra is under the colony's control. The current state is stable, and complete erosion is expected to be achieved on schedule.”
Gaia's mouth began to output mechanized data.
The interior of Gaia's massive body, which resembled a cluster of numerous skyscrapers, was actually utilized as a colossal computing device capable of processing and calculating massive amounts of information and data in real time.
The compiled data was immediately transmitted to the hive mind.
“Well done, my sister.”
Elise smiled and nodded in satisfaction at the growth and utility of her creation.
...
“Your Majesty, the seed has taken root at the target location.”
Celia placed Gaia's seed, which she had brought out of the Stargate facility, into a massive crater created by explosive magic.
The worker ants scurried back and forth through the Stargate, continuously spraying nutrient solution. Upon absorbing the liquid, the massive chunk of flesh sprouted tentacles that resembled roots, which began to dig deep into the ground.
The magic heart at the center of the flesh chunk unleashed all of its power, strengthening the root system.
Geothermal heat was the easiest and fastest nutrient source for Gaia to utilize.
Once a sufficient amount of geothermal heat was drawn, Gaia's avatar would raise its massive body upon this world as well, bringing the entire land under its control.
“This is impossible... How can this be!”
Watching Gaia, Kane lost all his strength and slumped to the ground.
This defied all common sense, but if Gaia truly took root and grew in this land of Cadia, she would genuinely be able to tune the entire world in an extremely short period.
If that happened, the rift support primarily used by the Goddess of Light Association would become virtually impossible.
Every attempt to calculate the rift coordinates would be disrupted, preventing them from sending reinforcements.
‘Rifts cannot be opened in a day. Will they even be able to open a rift large enough to bring in sufficient reinforcements?’
Perhaps some rifts would be opened before they could be closed, but unlike the Stargate, rifts could not be kept open permanently.
In a short period, they could only barely transport a small number of troops. To transport a large-scale force, they would have to open multiple rifts simultaneously, or dispatch personnel to open a rift and set up a Stargate.
Kane watched Gaia's body, which had rapidly grown to the size of a towering tree before he even realized it, and was left speechless with shock.
The blinking eyeball at the center of the massive, fleshy body was utterly repulsive.
‘Initiating regional tuning.’
Gaia had already brought the land surrounding her roots under her control.
This meant that even if the Goddess of Light Association opened rifts to urgently dispatch reinforcements, they would not be able to teleport anywhere near this Stargate facility.
“So, make a wise choice.”
“Hmph, what do you mean by that?”
“You no longer possess a body that needs to serve the Goddess. In other words, we have no reason to kill you.”
Kane felt irritated by Celia's words.
Although his heart wavered for a moment upon hearing that cooperation would spare his life, he still clenched his teeth.
No matter what, he was someone who had believed in the Goddess from the moment he was born.
He could not betray his faith and beliefs so easily, as they were the path of his entire life.
“You will regret this.”
However, Celia looked at Kane, seemingly pitying him for clinging to his faith. Before she could even finish her sentence, Kane screamed and collapsed to the ground, his entire body twitching and trembling.
The Gene Stealer implanted inside his body writhed violently, inflicting immense agony upon him.
“It is impossible for you to go mad, and lying is useless. Unfortunately for you, we understand the human body quite well by now.”
Celia reached out her hand, looking down at the terrified Kane.
Even if she understood human anatomy and genetics inside out, she did not possess some fantastical technology to extract information directly from brain cells.
However, she knew exactly how to make someone experience an unparalleled agony and break them completely.
The pain inflicted by the parasite did not require creating any external wounds on the body, as it had already merged with him. This agony was not merely on the level of tearing flesh or crushing bones.
It was the pain of having one's nerves directly torn and severed.
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