The Rubarthans made a good choice to let Lord Richard Brownstone receive Ves. The two had not kept in touch with each other after the start of the Carmine Revolution, but both of them had worked long enough together to develop a good working relationship. That sense of familiarity did not disappear once they completed a project. Both Ves and Lord Richard therefore eased back into familiar ground. Although their priorities were much different from the past, they at least did not have to worry about getting hindered by trust issues. The first day proceeded without incident. While Ves and Lord Richard got to know each other, the Bluejay Fleet partially contributed to the defense and security of the Philaster Crestia System. Numerous warships veered away in order to go on patrol or voribug extermination duty. Numerous mechs and warships strengthened the defensive perimeter around Philaster Crestia III. The remaining assets including most of the Ascended Giants stayed in reserve. Their primary responsibility was to shadow and protect Ves. This was a serious concern as he had made many enemies over the years. He already suffered several assassination attempts in the past. There was no reason to believe the threat had ceased by this time. Ves was not too concerned about this anymore. Ever since he had won the leadership challenge, he knew that nothing less than a well-equipped ace mech or phase leader would be able to threaten him at this stage. The Dark Apostle could easily fend off or run away from most other threats even if his other self was still lacking in terms of personal equipment. He felt more concerned about his wife and children. Their vulnerability made the Bluejay Fleet useful. He would rather have all of his guard forces escort him immediately to safety rather than come to his aid. In any case, Ves personally did not expect the mutated voribugs to engage in an activity that imposed heavy demands on intelligence and forethought. He instead paid attention to his original goal for this excursion, which was figuring out a way to help red humanity defeat the mutated voribugs. "I have heard so much about them, and I have watched hours of combat footage between your forces and the massive swarms." Ves told Lord Richard the next morning after his arrival. "However, I haven't actually seen or touched a mutated voribug in person. I want to see them under controlled circumstances." "That is not a problem. As our guest, we can easily arrange a visit to a local biological research institution." In order to counter the mutated voribugs, Ves first needed to understand them. This was why he was enthusiastic to get in touch with them. Only when he was able to examine both dead and live specimens would he be able to gain greater insight into their species. Philaster Crestia III was originally meant to serve as a major industrial planet for the Brownstone Principality. As such, it hosted plenty of factories as well as research institutions and other related support facilities. Now, much of the facilities had fallen idle. The Rubarthans had already evacuated much of the personnel in advance as the chance that the star system would fall was too high. The only factories that continued to run were those that fabricated ammunition and other essential supplies that kept all of the mechs, warships and defensive platforms armed. Fortunately, numerous research teams still kept a biotech research lab online in order to research specimens taken straight from orbit. Although the Rubarthans transferred most of their samples to more secure locations, they only dared to do so with tissue samples and frozen voribugs. "When it comes to conducting research on live voribugs, we do not dare to do so in the heart of the Rubarthan Pact." Lord Richard explained to Ves as they passed through the highly secure gates of the research facility. "In order to understand our new enemies better, we have to study them when they are alive, but the damage that they can do if they ever manage to escape is too high. This is why we are conducting essential experiments on a planet that is already on the verge of getting conquered." That was certainly a prudent and pragmatic decision. The amount of security checkpoints and automated defenses was frankly ridiculous. It took a lot of minutes for Ves to undergo repeated inspections. He understood the necessity of these measures. It only took a single moment of carelessness for the voribugs to smuggle a few tiny offspring outside. Once those bugs began to proliferate quietly, they could easily devour all of the alloys and materials put into the abandoned structures and form into a huge swarm on the surface of Philaster Crestia III! "What sort of research are you conducting?" "I am not sure, to be honest. This is not my field of specialization." Lord Richard shrugged. "Much of it is classified and cannot easily be shared to third parties. Please understand that we do not permit you to enter many of the research labs as safety and confidentiality are important in this day and age. However, I can still bring you over to the wing where the live specimens are kept." The research facility possessed a clean white aesthetic that made it easier to keep track of anomalies and unwelcome guests. It would also make it a little more obvious if the mutated voribugs attempted to make an escape. After entering one of the largest and most well-secured lab, Lord Richard greeted the leading scientists before inquiring about the live specimens. What Ves noticed right away were the sounds. The live voribugs were not listless creatures that sat around in a daze. They actively fought to free themselves while they were still in captivity. The insects stuck in restraints hissed and clicked and made all kinds of furious insectile noises. Their exoskeletons clacked against metal while their mouths made senseless clicking sounds. Due to their varied sizes, the different voribug subspecies made noises in many different pitches. From high trills to low rumbling, it seemed that the insects could probably produce music if they were better coordinated. Ves grew fascinated right away. "Are these voribugs behaving like individuals, or are they directly controlled by a commander, princess or queen?" Ves immediately asked. "We do not know yet." Lord Richard admitted as both of them approached the nearest transparent isolation cage. "Our current model suggests that most mutated voribugs behave autonomously, but still fall under loose direction from a leading voribug unit. Through signals that we cannot detect or intercept, these bugs are told to attack, defend, retreat or perform a set of maneuvers in realtime, but these instructions do not go into any further detail. It is rather excessive for a commander to completely puppet millions if not billions of voribugs down to how they swing their claws. Not even ace commanders can bear this burden, so we do not expect the voribugs to be any different." That was most likely the case. Ves did not get the sense that all of these captive voribugs were being actively controlled. Perhaps they received commands from their superiors, but they were otherwise free to take action on their own, hence why they mindlessly expended their energy to free themselves from their unbreakable restraints. "Are any of these bugs sapient?" Ves asked. "Most likely not. It is not worth it to bestow them with the gift of sapience. These voribugs are disposable and only need to be smart enough to understand their instructions. Generally speaking, the larger they become, the smarter they tend to be. There is a noticeable difference in sophistication between a palm-sized voribug and a cow-sized voribug." They examined different captive voribug subspecies in order to observe this difference. The smallest voribugs mindlessly fought to wrench themselves free from their restraints, while the larger specimens merely tested their bonds once every few minutes. The latter clearly had a better understanding of the futility of resistance and preferred to conserve their energy. Ves also had the sense that they were carefully studying their surroundings. It was a good thing their cages did not grant them vision of the other side. When he got close enough to the different specimens, he was not that interested in studying their material traits. He could read a report in order to learn about this stuff. What he truly wanted to know was how their spiritualities were put together. In this regard, Ves became disappointed when he did not see anything special. He suspected that the voribugs managed to mutate because they became 'activated' somehow with the introduction of exotic radiation. Maybe exposure to E energy radiation caused them to become smarter and activate hidden gene expressions that caused them to mutate wildly. Read on lig‌ht‌no‌‌vel‌world‌.o‌rg If this was the case, he wasn't able to spot any clues that could validate this fringe theory. "Our own cultivation scientists have studied this angle as well, Ves. So far, they have found that the vast majority of voribugs are not sapient or spiritually sensitive in any significant fashion. Even the bugs that have ingested more hyper materials than normal are generally insensitive. However, they have found notable exceptions, though none of them are present in this lab." Ves made an immediate guess. "The Goliaths?" Lord Richard nodded. "Yes. We have yet to be able to capture a Goliath alive, so we cannot show one to you, but we can confirm that they are most definitely sentient. They are smart enough to recognize their own existence. We are not entirely clear whether they can command the voribugs around them, but they are natural fighters who understand their own distinctive capabilities quite well. They are bestowed with the capacity to feel emotions and may even be able to communicate with each other as well as us on occasion. Each Goliath has a sense of ego and pride that is becoming more and more pronounced with every passing day." These were remarkable observations. It truly sounded as if the Goliath Hive was trying to imitate human and alien champions down to their selfishness! "Do you think that there is a greater purpose behind this development, Richard?" "Yes. We have many theories, but it is too soon for us to believe in any of them. We are still stuck in the observation stage. The Goliath Hive is also still in a state of rapid change. We dare not make any assumptions that will end up outdated in the next week." "I see." Ves grew reassured that none of the cannon fodder bugs possessed any noticeable sentience. The biggest ones were probably as smart as cattle at most. This meant that they were unable to consciously interact with E energy radiation. They most definitely absorbed a certain degree of E energy radiation, but this was an entirely passive phenomenon that merely strengthened them without causing them to mutate wildly like exobeasts. He wished he could examine the Goliaths. Learning that their hive valued them to the point of giving them their own individual identities made him eager to see how they interacted with E energy. We're they similar to mutated beasts who converted E energy into material strength at a much higher degree of efficiency? Ves was not quite sure of this. So far, none of the Goliath strains betrayed any unique deviations from their template, but they had only just appeared, so maybe there was not enough time for them to evolve in different directions. At least the ordnance fodder bugs lacked this capability. They may have been mutated into different subspecies with different strengths, but the Goliath Hive clearly did not bother to elevate them any further. Their positioning was fixed from their birth. "Do not underestimate any of the weaker voribugs." Lord Richard warned. "Their roles may have been determined by their births, but as long as you give them an opportunity to absorb resources and reproduce, their children and grandchildren can easily become much more formidable than you can handle. That is the true reason why we fear this race."