"Memory Hive: By devouring the bodies of living beings, one can obtain their memories and store them within a network for viewing at any time.
If the devoured subject is alive, complete memories will be obtained.
If the devoured subject is dead, only residual fragments remain; the longer the death time, the fewer memories can be recovered.
Mimicry: After a living being or object is assimilated, its information is recorded in the hive. This allows perfect replication of its appearance and characteristics.
Assimilation Infection: When the Blacklight Virus invades a living being, it rapidly rewrites the target's cells, activating dormant regions of DNA and forcing large-scale replication and assimilation.
Even inorganic objects can be broken down and transformed into a virus stock solution."
There were a total of five innate abilities.
Malrick's eyes gleamed as he read the information. Judging from these powers alone, the Blacklight Virus was truly deserving of its reputation as the embodiment of biological evolution in the Prototype world.
It devoured everything, absorbed everything, and assimilated everything. Whether organic or inorganic, everything could be turned into nourishment. Against living creatures, its power was even more terrifying. Devouring and assimilation weren't just abilities—they were a direct ladder toward ultimate strength with virtually no ceiling.
Even its infection properties were absurd. What kind of virus could infect inorganic matter?
Ordinary viruses have to go through a process: attach to a cell, break through protective layers, then inject genetic material before replication begins. But the Blacklight Virus skipped all of that. It directly assimilated cells, turning them into part of itself.
"This isn't just a virus," Malrick muttered. "It's practically a living nanotech nightmare."
Luckily, he didn't have to unleash the virus recklessly. All he needed was to nurture a Blacklight Clone. Once born, the clone would be an extension of him, bound to his will. That way, he could decide which abilities to activate and when.
Otherwise, he would never risk introducing something so dangerous into the Marvel universe.
Sure, the Blacklight Virus's main body was fragile enough that fire or liquid nitrogen could kill it—but once it devoured even a scrap of living matter, its vitality would skyrocket like fire in dry grass.
Alex Mercer, the original Prototype protagonist, had gone from a man riddled with bullets to someone who could walk away from a nuclear blast in just twenty-one days. The rate of evolution was horrifying.
"If this virus were unleashed in a world with higher potential than Prototype, it could probably grow stronger than a Kryptonian," Malrick thought with both awe and unease.
His body, in its current fluid form, bounced slightly with excitement. "Why do I feel like a slime right now?" he muttered under his breath.
Suppressing his amusement, he focused again on the Blacklight Clone's data.
"Genetic level… only 1x? That means I need to keep devouring to evolve. And… wait, I can reproduce now? By splitting off part of the consciousness inside the virus, letting it develop its own mind… that's basically asexual reproduction."
He frowned. "But that's way too risky. One wrong move, and I could create something worse than Knull, the God of Symbiotes."
And if Tony ever got his hands on this virus, disaster would follow sooner or later.
"For now, I'll just focus on devouring and evolving," Malrick decided.
Outside his inner world, his real body paused in its work, enchanting materials. He pricked his palm, letting a drop of blood fall, then sent it into the inner dimension. Normally, his genetic self-locking ability would prevent tampering, but under his control, the blood stayed intact as it drifted toward the Blacklight Clone.
Sensing its arrival, the clone lunged forward.
"Devour! Begin devouring!"
The clone's body boiled with excitement as the virus surged into the blood, attempting to assimilate it. But almost immediately, Malrick felt something was wrong.
"Too strong, too strong—I can't handle it!"
In seconds, his clone's form ballooned from a small black sphere into a towering ten-meter mass.
"It's over… I overate… I can't digest this…"
Then, with a sickening pop, the clone exploded. Every particle of the virus had absorbed genetic material too dense to contain, and every piece detonated at once.
Back in his main body, Malrick sighed and shook his head. "Great. My first blood sacrifice in Marvel, and I end up blowing myself up with my own DNA."
Thankfully, the Blacklight Clone's greatest strength was its persistence. As long as either the main body or the clone survived, the other could be rebuilt. Energy and matter surged together, and within seconds, the clone reformed as if nothing had happened.
"That settles it. My own genes are too much, and the same goes for the Blood Sea Clone. I'll have to start with weaker organisms."
He summoned several creatures he had collected from another world into the inner dimension. Mutated two-headed wolves and mammoths stomped across the ground. Octopus-like beasts and massive lobsters squirmed in the seas.
Hundreds of monsters lined up, waiting.
"They're all at a 1x genetic level, so they probably won't make the clone evolve much," Malrick noted. "But it's better than nothing."
The clone's body rippled, and a blood-red tendril lashed out, piercing the nearest wolf. In an instant, the creature dissolved into a slurry of flesh and was absorbed.
"Not much change in the genes," Malrick murmured. "But I've gained its memory in the Hive, and I can use Mimicry."
Activating the ability, his black liquid body warped and solidified, reshaping itself into the exact form of the two-headed wolf.
"Finally, I can see properly again," he muttered, turning his heads to scan his surroundings. His vision was no longer darkness.
He looked back at the long line of beasts.
"Continue."
Countless tentacles burst from his body, spearing into the monsters in front of him. One after another, they were devoured, their forms breaking down as the virus claimed everything they were.
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