ACC Chapter 44 Evolved Symbiote

A crack, audible within our ears appeared on the surface of the emerald green cocoon. It was minute, barely an inch long at first, but it spread from that point in both directions, splitting into others that eventually ran across the entire surface of the cocoon in short order.

I signalled Lily with my gaze, with both of us retreating a few meters back from whatever was going to burst out. I was at alert. Why? Because I had had no ironclad contract, oath, or method in place to chain the symbiote to me.

It had only been because of one simple truth. I had been the best host it could find. There had been no cultivator, or plant that could up me.

With the last crack, a silence enveloped the place for a few seconds before the cocoon exploded. I had prepared a ward against the explosion for both of us, but before the pieces could even make it a meter away from the center, tendrils ensnared them faster than their velocity and dropped them back, upon which they were absorbed into the skin of the figure now standing before us.

It was humanoid in nature, with a bulky body akin to that of a body cultivator. It was green, dark, but glowing emerald lights lit it up as they traveled within the fibres exposed to us. The fibres made up its entire body, as if it had been woven, with only two dark pools with green dots at the center for eyes, set within its bald head.

There was no curiosity as it gazed upon us, only recognition.

"I would have never thought we would get to chat this earlier." It started, with a deep voice that rumbled like an earthquake. The part which was supposed to possess a mouth on a human, had been covered by threads of wood. But when it had spoken, they had unravelled to create a mouth-sized hole.

"..." I didn't say anything back, still gauging its attitude.

"There is no need to panic. I was with you when you were watching those movies of rogue AIs and artifacts that sought to possess their wielder."

"Oh!" An exclamation escaped Lily's lips, one of amusement. I didn't dare look at her, and made sure to mask any embarrassment upon my physical features, though running a hand through my hair had already given me away...probably.

"And how can I be certain of that?" I asked, trying to divert Lily's attention away from me, back towards the symbiote.

"Mmmmmmm... Nothing comes to mind on how to put your suspicions to rest."

"You are cute."

"Hah!?!?" I was taken aback when that comment spilled out of Lily's mouth. Though the way it had tilted its head after its words had been somewhat...endearing, where was the cuteness coming from? Were we looking at the same creature?

"Is she the dumb main heroine? I would have preferred someone more clever. Maybe Livia?"

The moment those words left that symbiote, the atmosphere shifted, becoming colder.

"What did you say? Say it again! You prefer Livia? That over-endowed bimbo? And what did you mean by dumb?"

"Wait! Wait! Wait! There is no need to resort to violence!"

And with that, Lily charged, holding a club of steel that she slammed down onto the symbiote until it was buried deep into the ground.

With a huff, she returned by my side, though directing a critical and dangerous gaze my way.

'This isn't my fault!' I tried to signal with my eyes, but she ignored me.

But that playful interaction had at least assuaged some of my worries about the symbiote.

"Do you want to jump into my body?" I was still somewhat worried, but I had to ask. Besides, though the man hadn't asked anything me, I should at least try and find whatever I can do for the city.

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"Nah. I want to see the world with my own eyes. And I finally have limbs of my own to take me wherever I want to go. Do you have any idea about the agony I have had to go through when you were fixated on those uninteresting romantic comedies?"

"Now I understand where you get your values."

"Shut up, Lily!"

-----

The city was bleak, with most of the streets in the outer edges deserted except for one or two fellows that were hurrying along towards the centre.

A hologram was floating around, one which was advertising the fact that the city was providing storage for people's property within spatially expanded vaults.

"There are no signs of chaos. Its as if all the citizens are law abiding citizens." Lily mumbled out.

"How could they have the energy to cause trouble when even simple mundane walking saps both their physical energy and spiritual energy reserves?"

"Most of this is going to be abandoned. What a waste!" Commented Paul. That was the name the symbiote had chosen. It had now shrunk down to normal human size, with only the bizarre green colored skin giving it away as a non-human.

My ears twitched as the sound of cracking entered them. With Nascent Soul speed, I carried along Lily, arriving at the location, where I could see a horizontal crack snaking through a tall skyscraper as it grew and widened.

Before I could do anything though, Paul acted. In a flash, he reached the bottom of the building, and within moments vines dug out of the ground, growing at a far faster speed than even my own, snaking up the building. And within seconds, they had grown into a cage around it, with tiny roots digging within the building itself like some parasitic plant.

"Thank you very much, sir!"

A Federation soldier, dressed in the signature black military uniform, with a laser rifle strapped to his back ran from his cohort to me. He had many medals, which I hadn't taken the time to really peruse, but I was certain that he was of a rank higher than all those present.

"What happened here?" I inquired.

"The increase in gravity is the problem. Many enchantments and arrays that were inscribed with the previous gravity in mind have now become volatile. We are doing everything we can to prevent casualties, but we lack manpower. Even with some citizens helping, there have still been casualties."

"What can we do to help?" I asked, deferring to the man. He knew this city more intimately than us.

"H-How can I order about your venerable self?" The man was taken aback, with his face scrunching up and breaking out into a sweat.

"That's no issue. We are here to help. You are clearly more familiar with the city than us, so what can we do to help? Remember man, you are in the Federation, not the Sects."

I really didn't want to say all that, but it had to be me. If I asked Lily to interact with the man, he will take it as if I am higher than them, thereby giving out tasks that wouldn't offend us. But I had to save people!

-----

Minutes later, I was running across streets, through roads and buildings alike as I made my way towards where I had been assigned, the places with the most risk of disasters.

Arrays were delicate things that required runic keys to connect seamlessly with each other to achieve the desired task. Some were general purpose, therefore didn't require delicacy when inscribed. But there were those that were needed for precision tasks, like temperature control, gravity, pressure, molecule creation, and many other things that required their runic inscriptions to have some delicate tweaks that only worked under certain conditions. And most of those conditions were predicated upon gravity remaining a constant.

An explosion went off right as I was passing by a building, with me being inundated by the flames, having already conjured my green ward for protection.

I had already scanned the place. There were no people nearby who could get caught up. This was one of the few places that had already had its population evacuated.

Good thing that shuttles, because of their tendency to travel between planets, thereby having to experience different gravities or zero gravity at all, had stabilisers in place that made it certain to reduce the chances of a malfunction. If there had been none, then the Federation would have effectively crumbled.

I leaped over a two seater vehicle, one clearly having been damaged from a crash. It had probably been the result of certain idiots disregarding the orders.

And with a last burst of speed, which made everything within my eyes look like they were travelling in slow motion, I reached my destination. It was a white domed building, large enough to sit upon the kilometer of land that it occupied.

There were many collapsed bots around, which had probably had their own arrays malfunction. I leaped over the fence, and within moments, my steps brought me to the huge open doors, where many people were milling about, clearly with purpose.

Though, through their expressions and the perspiration , not to mention their pale faces, I could tell that whatever they were doing wasn't going very well.

For a moment I hesitated to contact anyone. I had just arrived, less than a second, where my body was still pulsing with energy and reaction speed still in the Nascent Soul realm. But since I was still just standing there doing nothing, eventually, someone was going to finally notice me.

I counted to ten, then steeled myself, letting my speed drop down to Foundation Establishment, because that was the speed of every single person I could see. No Spirit Gathering cultivators were in the employ of this facility.