CHAPTER 197: CHAPTER 193: WHAT SETS US APART

"So that’s what you were up to," Blaze mumbled to himself.

From the memories of his presumed assailants, he learned a lot, more than he had expected. From the secret behind the thousand temples, to their strange practice and the prophecy.

A lot was laid bare before him. But the most interesting thing he learned from them was their plan to ’assassinate’ a god.

The Solia believed a god’s soul resided within their temple. As long as they destroyed that, the god would naturally leave their world. Moreover, even if they didn’t, the loss of the temple would deal a great blow to the followers of that god.

"Adjudicators... was it? They are quite an interesting bunch."

They were the ones behind the kidnapping of the tribesmen. Moreover, the purpose behind the kidnapping was to learn about the location of the temple.

Since the tribesmen refused to tell them anything useful, the adjudicators took a gamble and transformed their people into those who were kidnapped and sent them back.

However, the doppelgangers didn’t act instantly. Instead, they played their part, becoming one with the tribe. Only after two weeks did they act.

Their goal was to let Blaze return to the ’temple’, and once the location was revealed, they’d send a massive contingent to destroy it. While their theory about temples had nothing to do with Blaze, it would be troublesome if they indeed destroyed it.

"Solia has an army, and all I’ve got are a few spearmen."

There was no comparison between the two. At first, Blaze had assumed the Solia kingdom wouldn’t react or wage war on him, but it wasn’t true, and given the prophecy they adhered to, he could see why.

Blaze wanted the little ones to grow into strong superhumans before taking on the kingdom, but that plan had failed. Even if he started training the few fit individuals, it wouldn’t be sufficient.

That’s why the undead are superior to mortals.

A zombie didn’t have to learn how to fight. The moment they turned into one, such instincts flowed into them on their own. Besides, he could use the spire to teach them better strategies.

Leaving everyone behind on Earth is biting my ass now.

He looked around the fleshy tunnel, and an idea flashed in his head.

He tore chunks of flesh from the walls and used the corpse creation to create multiple zombie rats and sent them away. Creating undead Sadarlans could raise suspicion, but if there were undead animals, then that was a different thing.

Nothing should happen as long as I kill everyone who sees them.

The tribe was firmly under his control, so there was no need to kill them as they were already acquainted with his ’necromancy’ ways.

Moreover, he needed another method of infection. One that wouldn’t destroy the target’s mind or body, but enhance their strength while they were alive. His desire was to create something in the middle of zombies and mortals.

Body modifications. That should be enough.

He had performed such operations countless times on the undead through his corpse creation skill. While he knew the gist of things, he could only use the ability to enhance corpses, not living beings.

That said, something like that should be possible if he were to combine his knowledge and Collective’s construction system.

"It’s been a while since I checked the building section of the system," he said, flipping through the pages until he found something he wanted. "Enhancement pods, this seems useful."

The pods the system offered primarily required flesh chunks and a few bone fragments, both of which he had. However, there was one issue. Unlike most of the undead constructs, this pod required an actual energy source to work, not the gases from the corpse pit.

The easiest way to power it up would be biogas. It was easy to make and less energy-intensive, but it had an obvious issue.

The Deca tribesmen were primarily carnivores, which meant Blaze could only use animal carcasses, which he also needed to create undead. Moreover, it would take time to break it into gas, and time was the one thing Blaze didn’t have.

Wait... I’m on an alien world. So why the hell am I thinking of solutions that would work on Earth?

An alien world meant alien microbes and different breakdown processes. The breakdown process could be quicker or slower based on its speed.

"Blaze, think like a scientist, not a fake god."

With that, he immediately hooked himself back to the spire and began searching through the memories of the dead for anything that could help him. It didn’t take long for him to find what he was looking for.

"This... is exactly what I wanted!"

***

The memory of one of the Solians he killed flashed before him. It was a class of sorts, and an old man seemed to be teaching the young Solians the history of their civilization.

"Thousands of years ago, we were much like the tribes of the south," the old man said. "Weak, regressive, and most importantly, lazy. We had no land to cultivate on, no water reservoirs to clean ourselves. We just... lived."

The children listened to him, hanging onto every word that came out of his mouth.

"That’s how things remained until disaster struck. The first great drought hit the planet. In three years, the lakes dried up, the rivers shrank, and even the ocean receded."

The old man continued, "Millions of people died from hunger and dehydration. No one had enough strength to give them a proper sendoff. Corpses kept piling up... but all the misery gave birth to something beautiful."

The teacher reached for a jar of greasy black liquid.

"The greatest discovery of our civilization. One thing that powers our cities to this day... fuel!"

The children oohed and hawed as the teacher dipped some cloth in it and lit it on fire.

"Mere decomposition cannot yield this result," he said. "Only after a complex and tiring process can we make fuel in a usable form."

"This is the secret that sets us apart from all the tribes around the planet. This fluid is the reason they are mere tribes, while we are... the Solia Kingdom!"