BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

1158  Mastering New Abilities (1)

Three months passed. They had been three busy months, and Erik didn't like all that time passing a bit. Though it wasn't like he had a choice about it.

The main reason Erik had to wait was because he needed to reform his army. As usual, in these three months, he had been able to create around 45,000 new Chimaeric Demons. Some of these came with the new technique the biological supercomputer created, the one that would allow them to make new neural links faster. All of them, instead, had Monica's brain crystal power, so they were bound to be strong. Using 70 million DNA points came with its perk, and despite everything, the biological supercomputer came up with something that allowed them to increase their training speed a lot.

During this period, his old technique had also been shared with Becker and the others. While they didn't have multiple brain crystal powers, those from Frant, whom Becker and the others deemed trustworthy enough to get it, focused on making neural links, and many reached the 54 Neural links mark during this period. That eased the pressure on Frant, who suddenly turned stronger than their enemies. The blackguards weren't on Mannard anymore, so only their proxies remained, such as Etrium's mercenaries.

At that point, Hin and the blackguards had completely abandoned their campaign there.

Hin abandoned the campaign due to events in the country, while the blackguards were migrating to Mur.

Erik tried to prevent that as best as he could. Many were the ships he destroyed, but the planes. He could not do much about them since Hin's remaining planes were protected at the Law Gate, and without planes, Erik could not reach those bringing the blackguards to Mur.

The Chimaeric Demons, like every creature, still needed oxygen to get up there and also needed protection from those extremely low temperatures, something Erik didn't have.

As for the Law Gate, the place was too fortified for Erik to attack with the few troops he had available over the past months.

So, Erik prepared during this period. To attack the law gate, to steal the planes needed for reaching Mur, and to kill the division commander stationed there.

However, many questions swirled in Erik's mind. For example, why did the division commander at the Law Gate didn't leave Hin? <I guess I will only know this once I get there.>

The preparations to attack the Law Gate stopped not only in making new clones. Erik also sent clones there, and during these months they prepared the terrain. Erik would be at a disadvantage again there because the blackguards were going to be the defenders, and he was the attacker. However, contrary to the attack on Maynard Island, here Erik could shape the surroundings to his advantage, and this was what he did. He made the clones create tunnels and prepare the terrain so that he could use it to his advantage. He did everything that came to mind, tactically speaking, to make that place fall, but kept in mind the chance he might be forced to retreat.

Erik was heading to his home, his tent, or whatever the clones called it, while observing the surroundings. Maynard Island transformed completely. Since Erik planned on making the place the Chimaeric Demons' base of operation on Mannard, he created a lot of buildings. He used his Verdant Architect brain crystal power, and after having shaped the flora as he wanted, he turned the plants into steel, concrete, and bricks. It was just that Erik decided to give a touch of him to everything. Basically, every building was a rather tall tree, even reaching the 100-meter height. It maybe was overkill, but he didn't care. Finally, he arrived at his own home. Erik expanded it, making two more floors and bringing stuff from Frant. Computers, TV, everything that came to mind. Erik also made a gym room, got a massive kitchen with all appliances, and many more. It felt good having all of that, despite not being as luxurious as what he had in Etrium. "Hey!" Emily saw Erik entering.

"Hey, where are the others?"

"They are upstairs training. I just finished and took a shower. Amber is teaching me dagger wielding."

"You decided to settle on that as your main melee skill?"

"Yes, with the Time Freeze you gave me, I think it would be the best."

Erik gave the three women their new powers, too. In the end, Emily decided to get the time freeze power. She had a lot of mana, so having that would not be a waste. With that power, she could both fight in close quarters and from a distance. Using her sniper rifle, she could take shots more easily, making her lethal, but if she got somehow forced to fight melee, she would see everything move in slow motion, and she would both be safer and deadlier. She would also have more time to use her birth brain crystal power, meaning she would be basically undefeatable. Of course, that was considering normal fighters. He doubted she would be able to fight on equal ground against Vindicators. If not for their powers, at least for their experience.

Vindicators were strong, trained, and experienced, but they also had particularly powerful brain crystal powers and massive amounts of mana. As for Amber, surprisingly, she didn't choose a healing power; rather, she asked Erik to give him his warp brain crystal power. That way, she could take on three roles. One of support and utility, as she could teleport stuff here and there, even the entire group, cutting traveling time; second, she would be deadlier in a melee fight; and she could also teleport in the middle of the enemy clusters, unleash her birth brain crystal power, and flee. Third, and most importantly, she would be able to help her comrades in case the situation needed it, bring them to the clones, and let them heal them. Last there was Mira. She received the most unexpected power of all—one Erik didn't actually have himself but had to create by combining multiple brain crystal powers.

She wanted the replication brain crystal power the clones had. That was because Mira saw how effective that power was. It would allow her to fly, to take other people's identities for stealth missions, and change her body totally or partially, taking advantage of the body parts of the thaids she got to fight.

Getting wings, powerful hind legs that would multiply her running speed. Get the armor of an Erendu and even turn into a wyvern.

While Emily didn't actually need to learn how to use her power, the other two women did. Mira knew how to wield a sword, but she needed to get more confidence about fighting melee, learning when to shapeshift, and what would be the most comfortable transformation she could use during a fight. That was why she was focusing on hand-to-hand combat. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Amber had a similar problem. Aside from warping to use her birth brain crystal power, she wanted to learn how to incorporate the warps into her melee fighting style. So, they spent a lot of time training.

"I'll go check on them."

"Uhm." Emily nodded.