40 The Swarm

After taking a break for the day Alyx returned to paradise the next day, although the experiment was done in a virtual environment it was still very taxing for Alyx as he has no experience with handling so many equipment and doing complex manipulation of organic material. Even with the help of Ax he spent a long time doing the experiment, most of it was to create the virus and he was mentally exhausted. He felt completely refreshed after taking a break and was pumped up to continue the experiment or do even more experiments. All the equipment needed was already bought by him and the organic material needed like test subjects are very cheap so he could do the experiments without any fear of CP for a long time.

When he returned to paradise he could see the loony still floating in the solution. When Alyx was not in the lab the time accelerations was not applied so there are no drastic changes from the day before. Alyx ejected the specimen from the container and brought it back to consciousness. The loony looked around the room similar to earlier but this time its eyes were that of an animal which was hungry for a long time and it was also very irritable. Since it was in a virtual environment it did not go on a rampage but stayed in the same place following Alyx's order. This is also one of the benefit of Paradise as it is very common for newbie researchers to get attacked by their creation in real world as they are beginner in the field.

"Sigh, there is still a long way ahead of me before I could use this to earn money." Alyx thought to himself.

The common after effects of a modification include irritability, craving for new source of food which led them to attack indiscriminately to satiate their hunger and if these effects persist for a long time they become blood thirsty monsters who only live to kill. To control or prevent these characteristics it needs a much more fine control and manipulation during the experiment. But sometimes these characteristics are needed and are also amplified to create creatures based on the requirement like for training, war...etc.

Alyx was a beginner and based on the procedure he followed these characteristics should not occur but he did not expect to get these characteristic to be under control the first time, still he was still disappointed as he thought himself to be some kind of prodigy in this field since he modified the loony correctly at his first try. Alyx was seriously overestimating his capabilities based on his experience as a human but with the specs of an Aon achieving this was taken for granted by all. He can be said to be a bit talented as he does not utilize the full potential of his new body but still succeeded with Ax's help.

Alyx continued his days studying and doing experiments in Paradise, with each experiment he learnt many new things and also gained a better understanding on the concepts. Practical experience is always better than just learning theory as it helps one know the nuances involved in the field. He slowly got the hang of modifying a loony and improved his speed at doing the experiments. He created various modifications based on the procedure in the books.

He was confident in his skills and wanted to do the experiments on MBN but he did not have enough funds to buy the equipment in real life. He can only request Neo to provide for a lab and pray that he would accept it. Alyx thought that there is a possibility as Neo had shown interest in him and also encouraged him to take up this field.

"Wait before that I can try to create some animals from earth here in Paradise." Suddenly Alyx thought of this. It somehow slipped through his mind with all the studying and experiments he did recently.

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Meanwhile in Leo's fleet the research team have extracted everything they need from the creature and got a clear understanding of the huge planet and the type of creatures or civilizations living on it. But they faced some difficulties in the middle and this led to the death of the creature. The research team has disregarded the incident as such occurrences were common in the procedure and they already got all the information they needed like the language, information on their capabilities, their distribution...etc.

After receiving the report Leo ordered his subordinates to send it to all the relevant Aons.

The information was immediately transmitted to the Aon council and other high level Aons. It was received by all its members and other important figures in the field like Neo.

Neo was taking a break at that moment and was attracted to these new creatures after looking at the findings received by him. The raw source was in the point of view of the creature and another report which contained the inferences by the researchers on the fleet of Leo was also attached. Neo ignored the inference report and went through the raw data.

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The Swarm is a terrifying and ruthless amalgamation of biologically advanced species. Dedicated to the pursuit of genetic perfection, the Swarm relentlessly hunt down and assimilate advanced species across the universe, incorporating useful genetic code into their own. They are named "Swarm" per their ability to rapidly reproduce and the relentless assaults they employ to overwhelm their foes.

Having assimilated multiple species and evolved during their journey they are a very powerful force to tackle. The Swarm fight by infiltrating a planet and imitating the native creatures. They slowly over the course of time expand in numbers on the planet and assimilate all living beings on the planet. Once they have achieved this they destroy the planet and strip it of all its resources but they have met their natural enemy as Aons are not limited to an organic body so they can't be infiltrated and they have to fight using other means.

The disparity between them is very huge as Aons have many weapons to attack the swarm and even destroying them is very easy if they use powerful energy weapons.

The Swarm has gained a unique ability from one of its conquest and they can share all the information between each other so they know about Aons after their scout got captured and the goal of Aons.