Alien Evolution System-Chapter 127: Crown of Light

After analyzing the system, the Collector came to understand that it had already chosen its form and made certain modifications such as replacing the hobgoblin thrall's core with the Jotnar core.

These modifications were made sub-consciously by the Collector whilst it was engaged in the White Voice's psionic space, likely with some assistance with the additional brain it now grew within the pit of its stomach.

The Collector was certain of this, even if the engagement with the psionic space of the 'White Voice' had muddled its memory banks, for all the shifts it had conducted to its body were those that it would have made itself.

Its physical form, too, was that which the Collector would have likely ordered consciously.

The Collector had utilized the mighty Jotnar genetic specimen as a base, and because there were so many other bipedal genetic samples included in its new form, it had thus become bipedal and roughly humanoid, though aside from the bare outline of its shape, it could not be called anything remotely human.

The Collector's white hyperalloy carapace encased it in thick plating like dense armor, with some parts of the carapace around its joints lighter and comprised of a scaled weave from the Draconid genes so as to allow for greater flexibility of movement.

Crystals of ice protruded from the carapace, forming great defensive shards around the Collector's elbows, shoulders, and knees so as to maximize defensive capacity for its joints. The crystals, unlike those from the Jotnar, were a pure white in color, charged with the translucent white energy of Primal Density.

Smaller crystals emerged from all around the Collector's body, shrouding it in an aura of frosty cold.

As always, the Collector's build was thickly muscled, heavily empowered by the bulky musculature inherent in the Draconid, Jotnar, and royal Daemon genes.

Extremely thick neck and back muscles from the Draconid genes made the latissimus muscles framing the sides of its back incredibly wide, encasing its body from the back in a strong layer of ultrafiber musculature. Its trapezius muscles started from the ends of its shoulders and formed a solid, triangular layer all the way up to the top of its neck, almost as if the muscles were fused into the neck itself.

Overall, the Collector's upper body was almost too thickly muscled, causing it to ever so slightly hunch over, though this did not compromise the Collector any. It was simply the orientation of the Draconid's musculoskeletal system.

By hunching, the Collector exposed only its broad, muscle padded back while covering to greater degree its chest for at the center of its chest, the Firefly Shinchu orb glowed, radiating its golden light, and around the orb spiraled out a wave-like pattern of dark blue streaks painting over its carapace.

This spiral pattern was the Jotnar's genetic adaptation to store unstable environmental mana and convert it.

The Collector possessed four arms, and all their hands ended with the points of thick, taper pointed black claws that could slash or hook. Each of those claws glinted with the faint frosty aura of infused Everfrost.

Its arms were now the crux of its weapons systems.

As before, two of its arms could manifest purifying light blades from the forearms, and two of the others possessed monomolecular scythe blades kept in their hardened protein sheathes unless required. But beyond these, the Collector now possessed a variety more weapons systems at its disposal.

Where the blades emerged from the upper forearms, the Collector's ranged weapons systems manifested their delivery systems on the underside of its forearms.

On one arm, the Spine Spitter lay, a tubular construct of grooved Ultrafiber musculature that could eject hardened spines at speeds far surpassing sound.

Once the Collector developed its psionic-electromagnetic adaptations, it could enhance the Spine Spitter further with a psionically charged magnetic acceleration that would allow spines to easily surpass hypersonic speeds.

The Collector had held off on evolving its psionic-electromagnetic capabilities because though they led up to psionically induced plasmabolts and plasmobaric wave explosions that were useful against any enemy, they required prerequisite magnetoreception and electromagnetic pulse wave subadaptations that were useful only against United Front technology.

Yet, the Collector theorized that by experimenting with the Draconid's capacity to meld magic with electric field sensing, it could incorporate magic into its psionic-elecromagnetics, potentially even devising a means to cause its electromagnetic pulse waves to disable mana flow in hostile specimens.

On another arm, the Collector's Superacid Bilespitter lay embedded. It was a bulbous sac of glowing green liquid attached to the forearm muscle, underneath the hyperalloy carapace.

When inactive, the sac was deflated and hidden under carapace, but when activated, the sac pushed out through the carapace and expanded with Collective superacid, readying to eject in guided streams or, if necessary, a close-range explosion for the Collector secreted a lipid layer around its skin that neutralized the acid.

The Collector's volcanite tipped pyrocatalytic glands were still housed inside of its stomach, which remained detachable. With more access to the Firefly Shinchu's power and more familiarity with this world, the Collector could begin to fuse its adaptations with those native to this world, though it first had to fully extract those native adaptations first.

Now, the Collector could infuse the flames from its pyrocatalytic glands with purifying light, not to mention that the bite strength of the detachable stomach was now almost a guaranteed kill, for it incorporated the immense jaw strength of the Draconid.

The Collector's three Pliomatter Tendrils emerged from its back. Two from its rear deltoids and one from the middle of its spine. These tendrils were pure musculature, the flesh normally supposed to be raw and red but now colored a blue-tinted white from the cold-resistant genes inherited from the Draconid, Jotnar, and the evolutionary adaptation of goblin blood.

These tendrils were of a pliable, flexible material, and they could shrink down to a third of their size for better maneuverability or extend to lengths more than twice as long as the Collector itself. Infused with mana and engaged with coilboosters, the tendrils could act as high speed whips that would obliterate anything in range.

When the tendrils were further evolved, they could, as they once did in the Collector's original form, possess adaptations of their own such as monomolecular claws or bilespitters.

The Draconid's aquatic features manifested on the Collector. A two finned, thickly muscled and white-carapaced tail emerged from the Collector's back. A large white fine jutted out from its back, a faint hum of electrical energy crackling around it.

The Collector's head was where its structure had deviated from what it would have intended. It would have still intended on utilizing decoy heads, even if it had grown another neural processing unit as a spare, but it form was more straightforward.

At its sternum, the adventurer's crystal skull lay embedded, almost like a glowing, rainbow colored ornamentation.

The Collector's head was crocodilian in shape, nearing the approximate structure of its original form. Yet, its head was almost completely plated and comprised of carapace, making it seem more like a helmet than any organic head.

Its armored jaw jutted out, the 'teeth' comprised of jagged, spike-like ends in the carapace. Its jaw seemed to be always slightly agape, only a void of darkness showing in between. Four pairs of glowing red ocular systems dotted the the Collector's carapace head, two of them facing to the side and two of them facing forwards.

Horns protruded from the sides of the Collector's head.

A pair of thick, curved black horns tinted with shimmering purple framed the Collector's forehead like an alien crescent moon not of silvery light, but of darkness.

Its abyssium encased thel hung low from the back of its head, stretching almost as low as its waist, now capable of functioning as a spiked weapon if needed.

Crystals of white ice dotted the Collector's carapace head, granting it a jagged, roughly spiked texture, and hovering above its forehead was a single shard of glowing white, translucent light. From the shard, a thin line of white light circled around the Collector's head, forming a floating white crown of pure energy.

The Collector could sense that the energy comprising this crown was similar in nature to the wings of the white maned Draconid and the golden winged humanoid.

Yet, different. The shard at the Collector's head must have been the shard that the entity known as the 'White Voice' spoke of. And there was ample more room for more shards to join the crown.

For now, however, the Collector would ascertain the information it had been given, analyze it more thoroughly. There was also the matter of the female daemon's genes changing in structure almost entirely with the Collector accessing more of it, ascending into what was classified as 'Royal Daemon' blood.

Information.

This was what the Collector needed. About the White Voice. About the nature of this 'World'. About the Daemons.

An attempt to simulate the goblin elder's memory could prove useful. The Collector had noted that the goblin swarm was not present, but if the Collector's evolutionary cocoon had swelled up to immense size, then it was natural for them to have taken to higher ground to prevent the displaced lake waters from bearing down on them.

The Collector attempted to channel a communicative link with its carrier unit, but found that there was none to be made.

The unit had been killed.