Chapter 40
In the world of Space Survival, there are over a thousand non-yable species, based on what’s known.
While there are over a few hundreds that yers can explore, it may seem rtively smallpared to other online games, but it can be considered rtivelyrge.
The in-game species have unique behaviors that correspond to their respective habitats. They are designed to reflect the traits of wild animals living in simr ecosystems, giving them a lifelike feel.
For intelligent NPC species, yers who enjoy the game can experience a high level of realism based on specific cultural motifs.
However, Space Survival is still a game, so not everything is entirely realistic, and exceptions exist.
For instance, the Gagon.
Inspired by the dragons of mythology, Gagon exhibits quite different behaviors in many aspectspared to regr creatures.
Actions like collecting various treasures and artifacts in their nests or using powerful psychic powers to destroy cities near their nests are far from the instincts of ordinary animals.
One of these Gagon’s unique characteristics is their intense affection for their offspring and their kind.
Gagon prefers to live in groups, much like lions.
A Gagon group typically includes one male and seven to eight females, with the weakest presence, the Blue Gagon, receiving protection from the entire group.
In the game, this setting is implemented as the Blue Gagon’s unique ability: summoning its kin.
In the lore, Gagons are connected through their unique psychic powers, allowing them to call each other even if they are far apart. In the game, this connection is represented as a summoning technique, allowing the Blue Gagon to summon its group members at will.
As a result, the Blue Gagon itself is quite weak, but due to its association with other Gagons, it bes a challenging prey.
High-level yers might find it easy to capture a Blue Gagon that is hard to find, but the kin summoned by the Blue Gagon are not considered real creatures but rather summons, so yers cannot obtain items or attributes from them.
‘To be honest, it’s because of that, I tend to catch more of the Green Gagons or White Gagons than the Blue Gagons.’
In Amorph’s terms, the summoning trait disappears from the Green Gagon and above, corresponding to the metamorph category. Of course, that doesn’t make them easy opponents by any means, butpared to fighting other Gagon groups, it’s much better.
Anyway, ording to the in-game settings, I am currently in a very serious danger. The creature in front of me definitely looks like a Blue Gagon.
‘But it’s quite small, isn’t it?’
Even though Blue Gagons are not small, they are more than 2 meters, but this one is barely over 50 cm, a size that could be mistaken for a Fairy Wing if you don’t know the Gagon species.
‘I wonder how it got caught?’
If I were ordered to capture a Blue Gagon and bring it back alive, it would be an impossible task for me.
‘…There’s something I don’t know.’
A Blue Gagon is not a creature you can easily smuggle, even for amon criminal.
Unless it’s a higher cartel of Space Thieves or a power beyond MegaCorp’s Prime Capital that helps.
‘Someone is trying to destroy the Special Trade Hub.’
For a Gagon group, it’s not difficult to destroy this ce, the T&C Special Trade Hub.
If it were a fortress-like space station with multiple fleets stationed, it could be defended, but this ce doesn’t have particrly strong military power. There is a defense fleet, but it’s not capable of stopping the enraged Gagons.
I called Sanders to understand what’s going on.
“…Yes, did you call, sir?”
“Do you know what this creature is?”
“Isn’t it a Fairy Wing?”
When I asked in the neighbor’s voice, Sanders seemed clueless about what’s wrong.
‘Gagons are rare creatures, so he might not know.’
In the game, yers who directly encounter each other are a small minority, and lower-tier users oftene across screenshots and videos posted in themunity.
Most people here probably have no idea about the existence of Gagons.
“Who’s the one who smuggled this creature?”
“Oh, as far as I remember, it was Jade? A person named Jade Russell.”
“Russell?”
“Yes, he was imprisoned in the juvenile detention center and escaped not long ago.”
Russell.
Thest name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite ce it.
‘Oh, Arnold Russell.’
He was the steward of Si-hyun Yujin and served as the Crisis Management officer on Samuel’s research ship.
Si-hyun Yujin, who fought me, possessed the w trait of White Gagon due to a gene transnt.
Since she couldn’t have raised Gagons herself, her faction must know the locations of Gagon habitats and nests.
If that’s the case, it wouldn’t be too difficult for her subordinates to sneak Gagons in.
That means a noble capital, the Yujin family, nned to attack the city of the T&C family, which belongs to the same social ss.
“I’ve seen a simr scene somewhere before.”
I’ve encountered simr situations in the game many times. It’s the event that MegaCorp yers look forward to the most.
‘Civil War.’
By the game’s design, MegaCorp is governed by seven dominant families. The five families under Noble Capital and the two families under Prime Capitalpete to be the sole rulers, sometimes leading to violent conflicts.
“Is there a festival in this city?”
“Yes? Are you talking about the Council…?”
“The Council?”
“Yes, it’s scheduled for the Prime Capital directors to gather to decide the next MegaCorp CEO. There are 23 days left until the Council is held, starting from today.”
As I listened to Sander, I started to understand. The highest leader of MegaCorp is determined through an election. If the five families under Noble Capital nominate candidates, the directors of the two families under Prime Capital vote for the CEO. In the game, MegaCorp yers strive to gain power in their factions to secure the CEO position when their family is nominated.
‘Or perhaps they might want to manipte things to prevent the other candidate from bing CEO.’
It’s one thing to do that in the game, but in reality, it’s a different story.
Si-hyun Yujin probably ordered her subordinates to smuggle the Gagons ahead of the council announcement. Afterward, they nned to kill the Gagons in line with the council’s schedule.
As T&C is currently apetitor to the Yujin family, her actions aren’t entirely iprehensible.
‘Anyway, she’s already dead.’
There were 23 days left until the council. Jade, who is supposedly missing, is likely hiding somewhere in the city, nning to kill the Blue Gagon on the day of the council.
His owner is already dead, but the execution of the n is still uncertain.
‘What should I do?’
Releasing the Gagon now isn’t ideal, but eating it isn’t a good solution either. Gagon’s traits are highly desirable, but the timing is crucial. If it weren’t for the council, I would have eaten it and fled to another immediately.
While contemting, the frozen Blue Gagon’s tail suddenly twitched.
?Hey, Baby, it’s moving.?
[ZZZ ZZZZZZ Z (I saw it too).]
I hurriedly tried to close the freezer, but the Gagon opened its eyes.
‘Ah.’
The violet, shining eyes scanned the surroundings beforeing to a halt on my face. Then, the little creature started trembling.
‘Oh no.’
I quickly picked up Number 26 and held it in my hands.
[Fear.]
Despite its young age, the Gagon’s powerful psychic wave passed through my body. Thanks to my psychic resistance, I wasn’t harmed by the psychic wave. Number 26, under my protection, also didn’t experience any significant shock.
“Uh, uh, ugh…”
Unfortunately, Sander, who had no protector, couldn’t withstand the Gagon’s psychic attack. He trembled as if electrocuted and then fell unconscious.
[ZZZ Z(Stay calm.)]
?ck?, ?darkness?, ?fear?, ?death?.
[ZZZ ZZZZ (Not harmful.)]
The creature halted its psychic attack at my words. It wasn’t a lie. I couldn’t kill it right now. If I nned to capture and consume it, I’d need to wait for an opportunity to escape this city first.
?You?, ?adult?, ?trust?, ?calm?.
In a way unrted to my inner thoughts, it seemed like the creature had ced its trust in me. The Gagon’s psychic waves had changed from the electric guitar-like sounds they were a while ago to gentle, calm ripples.
‘An adult?’
In the game, Gagonsmunicate exclusively through psychic waves, so they convey words or concepts tomunicate. Based on the words it used, it seemed to consider me the adult of the group.
‘Is it because of this?’
I pondered the ‘monster’s tentacle’ extending from the back of my head. While the location was different, it looked just like the White Gagon’s tentacles in terms of appearance.
‘Come to think of it, is it because of the monster’s tentacle that we canmunicate?’
In the game, Gagons sometimes speak to yers, but the reverse, where yers speak and Gagons understand, isn’t possible. It seemed like the tentacle granted me the ability tomunicate with it.
‘Anyway, this little one seems to think of me as a White Gagon.’
For now, I decided to take advantage of its misconception. I questioned the creature, which now appeared more stable.
[ZZZ ZZZZZZZZ ZZZ Z (Why did youe here?)]
?I?, ?Mutant?, ?Hometown?, ?Exile?.
The creature unexpectedly responded.
‘Exiled because of being a mutant?’
As far as I know, among the Gagons, there are variations, but they are slightly different from mutations that ur among regr organisms.
Variations were Gagons that excessively consumed psychic powers and transformed into grotesque monsters, leading to their rejection by their own kind. You could think of them as fallen dragons, like thosemonly seen in myths and other media.
‘But it doesn’t seem like a variation.’
If it were a Blue Gagon, being a child, there would be no reason to excessively consume psychic powers. Given its much smaller sizepared to its kin, it seemed like it had been exiled due to a mutation, as it imed.
‘It seems like Si-hyun’s subordinate was up to some mischief. If this creature has been exiled from its homnd, their n is effectively null and void.’
‘Wait, does that mean I can eat it without a problem?’
The ability to call its kin was probably still present, but if it didn’te when called, there was no need for me to capture and consume it.
The creature sensed the change in my demeanor and quickly transmitted its psychic thoughts.
?I?, ?Survival?, ?You?, ?Promise?, ?In return?, ?Treasure?
[ZZ ZZZZZZ ZZZ ZZZZZZZ Z ZZ ZZ (If I spare you, you’ll give me a treasure as a reward?)]
To Amorph, gic essence and relic equipment are the most important treasure. When I showed disinterest, it spoke again.
?I?, ?Memory?, ?Dragon’s Nest?, ?You?, ?Guidance?, ?Possible?.
In response to that, I lowered the tail that had been poised to strike.
‘It ims to know about a dragon’s nest?’
I didn’t need a treasure, but a dragon’s nest was a different matter. Ever since I became a Pre-Saint, it was a must to capture Gagons. It was both a condition for evolving into a Quasi-Saint and to obtain rare traits. Dragon’s nests were the optimal locations for Gagon gene farming, as they were the habitats of Gagonmunities.
‘Information about a dragon’s nest is premium knowledge.’
I pondered over the two potential rewards. Now that the risk of summoning kin had dissipated, there wasn’t much harm in eating the creature. Given my current situation where Icked psychic-rted traits, consuming it wasn’t necessarily a bad idea.
‘Of course, there’s no guarantee that the predation effect will trigger.’
Conversely, if I didn’t eat it and kept it with me, I could gain information about the dragon’s nest. I wasn’t sure how it knew about the nest, but Gagons were known not to lie.
‘In other words, the creature’s words are true.’
The creature seemed to leave the choice to me and waited quietly. It showed no signs of resistance or alternative thoughts.
‘Kill it or spare it?’
My tail swayed back and forth, mirroring my conflicting feelings. After several minutes of contemtion, I made a decision.
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