Elias Vance, the veteran investigative journalist, watched the chaotic footage of his discovery—the Beast Pods and the Beast Crystals—uploading on his reinforced satellite uplink. Around him, the towering bio-steel flora pulsed with the alien, regenerative life that the tiger-striped girl had seeded. His intern and two videographers were still meticulously cataloging the hanging pods. The worldwide gold rush had begun, but they were the first to harvest the secret.
Suddenly, the ambient energy of the zone shifted, the gentle rustling of the bio-steel branches abruptly ceased. Everything went unnaturally quiet. The silence was more alarming than any roar. Elias, whose survival instincts were honed by two decades of covering global conflicts, knew what that meant.
An apex predator was present.
He smoothly drew his personal sidearm, a heavy, nickel-plated Desert Eagle handgun, the massive barrel reflecting the sickly green light of the zone. His finger settled cautiously on the trigger. He signaled to his team with hand signs to take cover.
The rustling sound came again, closer this time, originating from a dense cluster of low-lying, fibrous bio-shrubbery directly behind them. It wasn't the sound of something large, but something fast and purposeful.
It wasn't a Lunar Locust or a conventional mutant. It was a creature of profound biological efficiency, one of the ancient Genome Beasts prematurely awakened by the zone's powerful Orgone surge.
Elias Vance, the veteran journalist, stood rooted, the heavy Desert Eagle steady in his hands.
The profound silence of the Beast Zone was pressing, more suffocating than the clamor of any warzone he had ever covered. The life-giving Orgone surge that permeated the zone had awakened something ancient, something predatory.
The foliage erupted not with a roar, but with a sudden, precise charge. It was one of the newly gestating Genome Beasts, awakened and armed by the primal Will of Beast Vein.
It was an Antlion
The creature that burst forth was an evolutionary nightmare, a massive insect engineered for war.
The golden antlion resembled an antlion but scaled up to the size of a station wagon, it was plated like a miniature tank, and colored the deep, burnt orange of ancient clay. Its entire body was encased in thick, incredibly dense Chitin, which was dull, non-reflective, and possessed the hardness of ceramic and steel combined. It was built for brute-force collisions.
The Mandibles clicked and hissed, they were huge, and wickedly hooked, capable of shearing through metal or bone with minimal effort. Elias looked at the incredibly articulated details, the individual hairs, they honey-comb pattern of it's lenses. In a way he desired its strength, to be it. He admired it.
This creature exuded a constant, heavy field of Orgone Resonance. The field acted like a powerful counter-buff, subtly dampening the speed and reaction time of anything that entered its immediate area, creating a pocket of heavy, sluggish movement around itself.
The antlion charged Elias!
Head low, using its antennae to search and the Orgone Resonance field to slam through the air, creating a palpable wave of pressure. Elias instinctively opened fire. The heavy Desert Eagle boomed, spitting its high-caliber rounds.
The bullets struck the Chitin of the ant lions head with sharp, concussive pings. The impact didn't penetrate; it merely caused the creature to briefly stagger and hiss, its mandibles snapping furiously.
The raw, terrifying adrenaline of facing down an armored monster, coupled with the primal life force of the zone, triggered something within Elias's survival instinct.
The encounter was far more immediate and visceral than a mere charge. The massive, car-sized Terracotta Drone—the genome ant-lion-didn't hesitate after shrugging off the first few shots. It moved with the terrifying speed of a dedicated hunter, its powerful Orgone Resonance field momentarily slowing the air around Elias and his team.
Before Elias could adjust his aim, the ant-like creature was upon him.
CRUNCH!
The antlion ignored the Desert Eagle entirely and seized Elias in its massive, hooked mandibles. The pressure was immediate and agonizing, focusing on Elias's chest and lower ribs, the Chitinous hooks already beginning to search for a weak point in his flesh and bone. Elias screamed. The sound was muffled and raw, echoing off the towering bio-steel fauna. He could feel the chitinous pressure building, every breath a shallow, painful gasp. The ant-lion's massive, multifaceted bug eye, dull and orange like its armor, was inches from his face, reflecting the terrifying scene in a thousand tiny facets.
Survival demanded a brutal, desperate action.
With his gun hand, Elias desperately brought the heavy, nickel-plated Desert Eagle up. He couldn't aim. He didn't need to. With a final surge of adrenaline and defiance, he slammed the dense metal muzzle of the handgun directly into the ant-lion's enormous bug eye!
SHATTER!
The thick, natural lens cracked and exploded in a shower of thick, viscous black fluid and crystalline shards. The ant-lion shrieked—a high-pitched, metallic rasp of pain and surprise—its mandibles momentarily slackening in shock.
This was the only chance.
Elias shoved the wounded beast back and immediately brought the Desert Eagle to bear, aiming directly for the exposed, shattered socket where the eye had been. The Desert Eagle roared—once, twice, three times—emptying the entire magazine into the soft, vulnerable nerve cluster of the injured eye socket. The Terracotta Drone convulsed violently. The final bullet, traveling through the destroyed eye, pierced the core of the creature's being. With a final, agonizing spasm, the ant-lion fell backward, its thick legs thrashing against the spongy yellow moss.
As the massive insect thrashed, its life force—the primal Will of Beast Vein was violently released. The brilliant, fiery Beast Crystal tore itself from the dead creature's thorax. The crystal, the color of burnt orange fire, streaked through the air and embedded itself agonizingly into Elias Vance's already bleeding right forearm. His muscle density seemed to increase, and he was filled with the unshakable, immovable resolve of a siege tank. Elias felt an agonizing surge of raw Stamina and Defense flood his system. The pain in his ribs dulled to a dull ache, and his body was infused with the massive, immovable strength of the armored ant-lion. He was no longer just a journalist; he was a newly bonded warrior, standing over his first kill in the burgeoning Harvest War.
Elias's bond was at Tier 0, meaning he had just acquired it and had not yet acquired any action points to raise its level. Therefore, these where only the initial tier 0 evolution benefits of his bond with the antlion. And the anatomical benefits focused primarily on the aesthetic and defensive aspects of his Genome Ant bond.
Two slender, segmented ant antennae sprouted painfully from his forehead, just above the eyebrows. They were the same deep, burnt orange color as the fallen Terracotta Drone's chitin. These antennae were not yet functional as sensory organs but twitched nervously with every surge of adrenaline, marking him instantly as a bonded human.
Patches of thick, rough burnt orange chitin armor began to spread across his body. This armor wasn't full coverage but was localized to the most critical points of impact and defense:
On his forearms were thick plates where the crystal was embedded, on his shoulders and upper back were small dense shoulder pads, giving him a hunched, robust look. His ribcage was now lined with thin, flexible chitinous strips, that formed around his torso, bolstering the area where the ant-lion's mandibles had nearly crushed him, providing a subtle but significant layer of natural protection.
Elias Vance was no longer just a rugged journalist with a Desert Eagle; he was now a figure of raw, terrestrial power, bearing the unmistakable, unsettling marks of the Terracotta Drone. The orange chitin contrasted sharply with his clothes, making him look like a man wearing battle armor forged from ancient clay.
Elias Vance now possessed the physical insignia of his bond and the internal knowledge of his Chitinous Resolve trait—a brutal badge of honor in the newly started Harvest War.
The secret was out.
The televised vanishing act of the 'Tiger-Striped Girl' had offered hope; Elias Vance's viral footage of the Beast Pods and Beast Crystals offered the means. The Arizona Quarantine Zone transformed overnight from a military containment area into the epicenter of the Harvest War—the global term for this new, brutal era of personalized power acquisition. Gaining a Beast Crystal became the world's new, deadly rite of passage. Humans from every walk of life risked the military lockdown, drawn by the desperate need to survive and the primal hunger for the power of the Will of Beast Vein.
Across the collapsed perimeter of the quarantine, individuals, pairs, and small, nervous militias slipped into the pulsating, alien jungle of the Phoenix Beast Zone.
The Ex-Soldier Sergeant Major Rick "Bulwark" Hanson, a decorated veteran recently discharged after being wounded in the Lunar Worm attacks, entered the zone. He wasn't seeking fame, only the ability to protect his family. Armed with military precision and a grim focus, he hunted for a beast that promised unyielding defense. He eventually bonded with blaze sting scorponok! Gaining the trait Carapace Shield.
Then there was Maya "Shade" Kwon, a former underground motorcycle courier, she knew only speed and evasion. She sought the agility to outrun the escalating global chaos. Agile and armed with twin katanas, she went deep into the fibrous brush, eventually challenging a shimmering Lizard. Her bond granted her Kinetic Flow, increasing her movement speed and attack speed exponentially with every successful strike.
The Corporate Analyst Dr. Alistair Finch, was a brilliant but physically frail data analyst for a defunct Ceno competitor, he knew power was useless without intelligence. He saw the Beast Crystals as a way to enhance his cognitive abilities. Driven by intellectual vanity and a fear of irrelevance, he hunted for a psychic beast. He bonded with a rare, pulsating Brain-Coral Slug, gaining the trait Predictive Matrix, which granted him short bursts of battlefield precognition and enhanced Orgone affinity.
Kira the "Orgone Queen," livestreamed her desperate, tearful foray into the Phoenix Beast Zone to achieve her parasitic wish: a bond. She stumbled upon a carrion crow, busy pecking at the remains of a carcass. Kira lit a Molotov cocktail and hurled it at the twelve foot tall carrion crow!
It explode just before impact over the oily feathered beast, the falling fuel lightening it ablaze! It squawked madly as Kira circled around and took aim with a powerful Remington 408 Cheyenne tactical assault rifle, Kira clicked the rifle over to three-round burst mode as she gently squeezed the Remington's hair trigger exhaling softly. Three rounds flied and moments later Kira was collecting her first beast crystal.
But the primal energy of the Beast Vein cared little for aesthetics or online personas. The will surged as Kira was inspecting the iridescent Beast Crystal and it sunk into her flesh with a hiss. Her transformation was instantaneous and jarring.
She gained taloned hands and feet!
Her manicured hands and feet twisted and elongated, becoming dark, leathery, and ending in sharp, obsidian-colored talons. Her grip was now unnatural, capable of shredding fabric and leaving deep gouges. Her designer shoes were instantly ruined, and her attempts to walk were clumsy, bird-like shuffles.
Instead of sprouting from her back, a grotesque, unsettling crown formed, a massive pair of dark crow's wings erupted from either side of her head, flaring outwards like an alien, feathered headdress. These wings at tier-0 were too weak for flight, but they were still good for powerful dashes.
They were a constant, awkward burden, framing her face with an almost mocking grandeur. Kira the "Orgone Queen" was no longer just an influencer; she was a macabre, living trophy of the Carrion Crow. The sharp talons and the absurd, ornamental wings atop her head gave her a terrifying, almost grotesque silhouette. She looked like a graceful harpy caught between human vanity and primal transformation.
Her bond with the half-formed Carrion Crow Genome Beast resulted in a raw, unrefined Tier 0 transformation, broadcast live to her gaping audience.
As the changes solidified, Kira gasped, staring at her taloned hands in horror, her phone still broadcasting. Her carefully curated online audience, watching the live stream of her transformation, collectively gasped—a wave of shocked emojis and terrified comments flooding the chat. This wasn't the glamorous power they'd envisioned; this was a raw, visceral mutation, a chilling reminder of the Beast Zone's brutal reality. Her Scavenger's Luck trait was active, but at what cost to her carefully crafted image?
Just then there was a noise above her, hearing the gun fire the carrion crows mate arrived in fury swooping down at Kira!
"Ah! Get off me!" she shrieked, batting at the creature with her newly transformed, taloned hands.
The fight was less of a battle and more of a clumsy, brutal entanglement. Her new talons, long, sharp, and obsidian-black, tangled with the new Crow's ragged feathers.
She tore a nasty gash across it's torso!
Her new instincts took over.
The raw, desperate power of her new Scavenger's Luck trait—though passive—heightened her perception. She suddenly, acutely, saw the flaw in the Crow! A soft, pulsing membrane just behind its left wing joint. With a final, terrified cry of rage, the "Orgone Queen" didn't use a gun or a kick; she used the tool the Beast Vein had given her. She slammed her foot down, planting a taloned foot directly onto the Crow's head, griped and twisted!
CRACK!
The sound was sickeningly final. The Carrion Crow went utterly limp. The entire, brief struggle was captured on her livestream: the horrific transformation, the clumsy duel, and the brutal, decisive finish. She stood panting over the dead creature, her taloned feet stained with black ichor, the massive, feathered crown on her head twitching with adrenaline. She looked down at the dead Crow, then at her talons, and finally, into her camera lens. A fragile, predatory smile replaced her panic. The cost was high, but the power was real. She had survived. Her first post-bond broadcast had ended in a decisive, brutal, self-made victory. The Harvest War now had a monstrous, vain, and extremely visible new combatant.
Marco Diaz, the Family Man, moved through the outermost fringes of the Beast Zone like a ghost. He was no warrior, no veteran, just a construction worker armed with a rusty pipe and a father's desperate will. His goal wasn't glory, but protection—a safe home for his kids in a world gone mad. His heart hammered in his chest with every rustle, every alien hum of the bio-steel flora.
He spotted it first: a rare mutant version of the kinetic Scuttle Bug. It wasn't one of the common, explosively suicidal variants. This one was larger, its carapace a dull, mottled gold instead of crimson, with an unsettling internal glow. It moved with a jerky, almost mechanical precision, foraging near a cluster of pulsating fungal growths.
Marco, fueled by pure, unadulterated terror and the primal instinct to survive for his family, did something extraordinary for a rookie. He held his breath, suppressed his fear, and moved with a silent, primal stealth he didn't know he possessed. He waited, patiently, for the perfect moment.
The Scuttle Bug, engrossed in its feeding, never saw him coming.
With a desperate, guttural cry, Marco launched himself from the bio-shrubbery. He brought his heavy pipe down with all the force of his construction worker's build, aiming for the head.
THWACK!
The blow was precise, almost surgical. It cracked the Scuttle Bug's gold carapace in a critical spot, damaging its internal organs and severing key kinetic nodes. The bug convulsed, emitting a low, internal whirring sound that quickly died down. It was a fatal blow, delivered without detonating its volatile kinetic core—a truly rare feat for an unskilled fighter.
The Scuttle Bug spasmed, its life force draining into the hungry soil of the Beast Zone. But before its essence could fully disperse, Marco's desperate, pure will—the sheer, unyielding force of a father's love—acted as a powerful psychic anchor. The dying creature's Beast Crystal, a dull, gold, tore itself free from the bug's core.
It didn't embed itself violently. Instead, it gently, almost reverently, floated toward Marco and nestled into the skin over his sternum, just above his heart. The pain was dull, a deep thrumming ache that spread through his chest. Marco's transformation was subtle, almost imperceptible to the untrained eye, a reflection of his low-tier bond and the bug's quiet nature.
His skin, particularly across his chest and back, took on a slightly tougher, rougher texture, a faint, almost metallic sheen of dull gold. It wasn't full chitinous armor like Elias, but a foundational hardening, like reinforced concrete beneath plaster. The smoky gold Beast Crystal was not visible externally; it integrated beneath his skin, over his sternum. It emitted a faint, steady internal glow that could sometimes be seen beneath his shirt, a subtle, pulsing warmth that was the source of his new healing. Marco didn't become monstrous. He simply looked... tougher. More grounded. His fear was still present, etched on his face, but now there was a new, quiet resilience in his posture. He felt the subtle hum of his Foundation Build trait, a constant, low-level mending that promised survival, not dominance. He still clutched his pipe, but now, he also clutched a fragile, desperate hope.
He was a rookie, yes, but he had survived. And now, he had a foundation to build upon.
The Beast Zone was now a chaotic blend of hunter, scavenger, and prey. The silent, efficient harvest conducted by Ash's team was replaced by reckless, noisy hunts.
It became a game of survivor in Beast Zone city, with newly bonded humans immediately joining forces for protection against lunar beasts and mainstream humanity.
Some would turn on one another, seeing rival "Cultivators" as threats to their limited resource pools. Ambushes, betrayals, and brutal duels became commonplace among the towering bio-steel stalks. However, the surge of human will, and combat was further accelerating the Beast Zones growth, making the next generation of Genome Beasts faster, stronger, and more lethal, ensuring only the most ruthless survived to claim their power. The Harvest War had begun. The world had seen what the Tiger-Striped Girl had become, and they were desperate to follow her path, regardless of the cost.