BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

Chapter 917: Arrival

He stood up, shouldered his bag, and looked once more at the metalfur bear's corpse.

Erik turned and began walking back the way he had come, leaving the bear's body behind. He got what he needed. He then walked back to where the others were waiting. When he reached them, Mira approached him.

"Did you kill it?" she asked, eying his bloodstained clothes.

Erik nodded. "We need to move, we can't waste more time than we already did."

Mira, Amber, and Emily climbed onto the backs of the clones. June handed Erik the brain crystal and vial of blood he had collected from the Luminaclaw bear.

Erik took them and thanked June. His clone then shapeshifted into an Erendu, crouching low so that his master could climb onto his back easily.

Once Erik was seated, June stood up, and the group began moving again, setting off at a fast pace along the forest path.

The women held onto the Erendus clones tightly as they picked up speed, jostling with each stride of the massive beasts. But they understood the urgency of reaching New Alexandria as soon as possible.

Erik leaned forward, giving June directions as they traveled. There was still a long way to go, and time was short.

...

...

...

Erik rode on June's back as they made their way through the forest. Two weeks had passed since they set out from Liberty Watch City. Much had happened during that time.

The only man in the group woke up early each day and focused on increasing the neural links for his self-healing brain crystal power.

Years of practice and experience, combined with the technique the biological supercomputer developed, allowed him to progress quickly.

He gained six neural links in the span of these two weeks. It was good-not one of the best results he got-but it was still incredible how fast the technique allowed him to make neural links if he focused on a single brain crystal power.

Erik decided not to improve the Chimaeric Demon brain crystal power because each time he merged it with some other powers, the number of neural links went to 0.

There was also another problem: since this was an X-ranked brain crystal power, the number of DNA points needed to merge it with other powers was very high. That's why Erik decided to give only three powers to the Chimaeric Demon.

The Skraylash brain crystal power that gave the new clones impressive sight during the day, the Luminaclaw bear's brain crystal power to let them have a way to attack from a distance, and the Metalfur bear's brain crystal power to give them a better defense and increase their hand-to-hand damage. It would be for the clones to choose the brain crystal they wanted to focus on.

The rest of each day, as the group went toward New Alexandria, Erik hunted thaids, decreasing the number of dangerous monsters around Liberty Watch.

He wanted to absorb as many new brain crystal powers as possible to empower his clones, but the problem was that the amount of DNA points he got was not enough to merge them all, and besides, few of those powers were useful.

Since the clones would have to focus on one or two at best, he wanted to provide them with powers that were really going to be useful.

Since they didn't have many now, he merged the three powers he gained recently. But those powers weren't really strong.

He merged them just because the clones needed at least something. What was surprising, though, was to learn that after the merging, the brain crystal power did not lose neural links.

Erik asked this to the biological supercomputer, who told him that X-ranked powers, being superior, allowed the biological supercomputer not to erase the neural links. It was simple and complicated at the same time.

That was a wonderful thing, since Erik would be able to increase its neural links. He would not lose time doing that.

All of that made Erik track down myriad thaids across the forest. Erik killed each one.

This resulted in his level rising. Within two weeks, he had reached level 171. His strength and mana pool had grown a lot.

Erik observed as Mira, Amber, and Emily focused on increasing the neural links for their respective brain crystal powers.

However, after two weeks of practice, none of them had gained a single neural link. They didn't have his technique, despite having the improved version of Liberty Watch's technique that the system made.

For this reason, Erik began teaching them the neural link technique he was using, though they struggled to comprehend the complex method in such a short time.

The technique involved several nuanced steps. The technique was different from those they had. It wasn't similar to building something, but rather weaving.

Still, the women showed dedication and improvement over the two weeks.

Though frustrated by their lack of quantifiable progress, the three refused to be disheartened.

They took hope in the minor improvements they made and the fact that they were going to learn a better technique soon.

--

"We are here."

The group arrived. New Alexandria was in front of them.

Erik looked out at the city. The thick walls and shimmering mana barriers were still there.

However, the dangers had only increased since Erik's and the others' last visit, as many additional defenses now covered the area.

Mercenaries from Etrium lined the stone battlements, soldiers from the New Alexandria barracks patrolled along the parapets, and even small groups of blackguards watched from guard towers.

A line of turrets stood ready to fire beyond the city gates, where cobbled streets normally bustled with people.

Those were different from the usual; it looked like they had been enhanced with brain crystals. Erik shuddered at the thought of how much destruction they could cause.

Erik glanced at Mira, Amber, and Emily. He could tell from their faces that they shared his unease at the sight of so many blackguards within the city and the new defenses they had to get past to enter their home.

Amber turned to look at Erik. She looked worried.

"What do we do?"

The woman had trouble seeing themselves entering the city with that much surveillance.

"Don't worry about the entering. There's a passage no one knows. We take that, if we can get there unseen, we can slip past the defenses."

Amber nodded. "Lead the way," she said.

Erik turned to Mira and Emily. "Follow close behind me and try to remain hidden," he said.