READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Units at last!
In the simplest terms, Verminae were the obligatory Zerg race in Ancients of Ascension. Fast, numerous, but relatively weak and very frail if you don't have the numbers, which was obnoxious, to say the least.
Despite the harsh conditions, Alchemy stuck with the Verminae through thick and thin solely because she thought it was funny to overrun people with giant bugs.
Tapping on the three units, Alchemy opened up their stat screens.
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"Hmm. Maybe I should have got an apprenticeship at a butcher…" Alchemy sighed.
Ultimately, she used the two vouchers on a squadron of Thornskirmishers and Sylvan Carvers. It wasn't the best value Alchemy could get, but she needed at least one harvesting unit to get the food from the wolf corpses.
Queuing them up, a 1:30 timer appeared above the production facility: 30 seconds for the Harvesters and an extra minute for the Thornskirmishers.
Cracking her knuckles as the timer ticked down, Alchemy couldn't wait. She's been doing nothing but walking around for the past several hours. It was novel at first, but now she could really begin playing the game.
Plus, she was just excited to see her cute units up close. She couldn't wait to see how absolutely adorable they were when they weren't locked behind a screen.
"It'd be nice if I could just get a bunch of Thorns and go raid that wolf den, wherever it might be," Alchemy said before shaking off the thought.
"No, no. There's an order to these things. Slow and steady wins the race or whatever."
As the timer for the Sylvan Carvers ended, a trio of massive, dog-sized hybridized insects emerged from the hole. They were like a chimeric mixture of spiders and termites.
Unable to contain her massive smile, Alchemy leaped at one of the Sylvan Carvers and hugged it.
"OH MY GOD, YOU'RE SO CUTE AND FUZZY. I'M SO HAPPY YOU'RE HERE!" She squealed like a little girl.
It was a weird feeling, their fuzzy hairs on top of their hard, chitin-like exoskeletons, but by no means one that Alchemy disliked—quite the opposite.
{Mother, we are happy to see you too}
The voice of the unit she hugged resonated in her head, using Telepathy to communicate with her.
Her eyes somehow grew even wider as she took a few steps back.
"AND I FINALLY HAVE SOMEONE TO TALK TO! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MY SYLVIES!"
In response to the sudden affection from their creator, the Sylvan Carvers let out several small chirps.
Alchemy wasn't sure about communication. She expected some basic level of intelligence, at least enough to follow commands. Not for a moment did she consider that they'd be able to converse with her, though.
Just about as she finished gushing over her first units, the bunch of Thornskirmishers came out and got much the same reaction, albeit much less touchy due to their large stinger.
Unlike their harvester counterparts, these guys had wings and were another weird mix of two tiny creatures, this time a wasp and a scorpion. Their stinger was large, and while Alchemy knew that the poison wasn't potent, she didn't want to risk accidentally getting stung.
{Mother, we await your orders.}
"Mother…" She mumbled under her breath. She'd need to get used to that one, but the rest was great!
"Ahem…" Alchemy cleared her throat as she calmed herself down, "Right, Sylvies. First things first, there are some wolf corpses a little over that way. Bring them here and dismantle them.
{Right away, Mother!} The Sylvan Carvers let out a happy chirp.
"Thorns, stick with the Sylvan Carvers. Make sure they don't get harmed while gathering resources."
{We will protect our sisters! Even if it costs our lives!}
Alchemy froze at the mention of her units dying.
'Right… Verminae are cheap to produce and a pain to upkeep. Them dying in droves is natural…'
The thought of living creatures dying for her was haunting. Whenever she killed something, she could at least say it was in self-defense, but this was completely different.
"No, don't get yourselves killed. If something happens, just stall with your poison and escape. I don't have the leeway to lose you guys yet." She played it off as a simple strategic move.
Loyalty was something she had yet to confirm. While filial piety could go far; who knew when that'd change?
'I can't falter in front of them for no reason.' She sighed inwardly.
With them gone, even if not for long, Alchemy finally sat back down to collect her thoughts properly. With some rudimentary forms of automation and defense, she could relax a little.
Her legs felt immensely heavy, despite all that talk about her being so light earlier. The throne made any pain reside quicker than normal, but it seemed that fatigue remained.
'What's next, then? Am I truly not going to wake up from this dream?' She wondered as she looked into the sky.
It felt a little odd. She was in this place that made virtually no sense to her, yet the sky seemed exactly the same. A solitary sun looming in the sky. It had already begun to set, and all Alchemy could hope for was that the familiarity remained.
Then it hit her. Was she going to have to sleep out in the open?
"Oh shoot!" She jumped up, opening her kingdom menu once again.
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Pressing the [Upgrade] option, a secondary interface appeared with her current buildings, consisting of the Brood and her throne, of which she chose to look at the latter.
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Narrowing her eyes at the requirement, Alchemy frowned.
"The other buildings aside, how long will it take to get 1000 units of each? Not to mention, there isn't a cave near me, so I have no good way to gather stone until I build a mine." She groaned as her units returned.
{Is something the matter, Mother?} One of the Sylvan Carver's asked.
Changing her attention, Alchemy shook her head.
"No, nothing. Did you bring the materials?"
{Yes, Mother. We have them here.}
One of the Sylvan Carvers, the left-most of the 3, opened its mouth far broader than what its build would suggest it could and presented the materials to Alchemy.
Immediately, she nearly threw up her lunch, still unsure if she could or not.
She was so excited about seeing her units that she forgot the connotations of having non-human companions.
Surprisingly, the materials were neatly organized and not even wet with saliva! That was a blessing!
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"3 Units of meat for 3 whole wolves? Stingy system." Alchemy scoffed.
Sure, they weren't fully grown, but Alchemy was sure she'd get more than 3 slabs of meat if she knew how to butcher them herself.
"No, whatever. This is fine. Good work."
{Your praise is wasted on us.}
"Okay, uhm… I'll do it like this for now." She said, queueing up another squadron of Thornskirmishers and one of the Granitects.
"Sylvies start collecting Wood and Stone from the surrounding area. Try to stay as close to our base for now."
{Yes!}
Alchemy wasn't particularly happy about it, but she basically ran out of time today. She wanted to try and secure more food, but that seemed unrealistic at night.
"As for the rest of you, rest tonight. We'll be going to secure food for the rest of you tomorrow morning.
{Okay!}