Biocores: The Legendary Weapon Designer-Chapter 68: The second Sin.

The tundra, once an unbroken stretch of white and silver, had been reduced to a scorched wasteland. Blackened husks of trees stood like skeletal remains, their limbs twisted and broken. The ground, once frozen solid, now steamed in places where embers still smoldered, the heat having melted through layers of permafrost. Ash rained gently, carried by the shifting winds, settling over the charred landscape like the remnants of a forgotten battle. The air was thick with the acrid scent of burnt chitin and seared vegetation, a stark contrast to the once-crisp, frigid purity of the tundra. The silence that followed was heavier than any sound—a void left in the absence of skittering legs and whispered death.

Nioh stood amidst it all, catching his breath. His body trembled slightly from the strain, the aftereffects of borrowing intent from the Sin of Envy gnawing at his bones. His muscles ached, his biocore pulsed erratically, and worse still, he could feel Ekoh’s own fatigue echoing through their link. The cost of wielding such power was becoming steeper each time.

"I figured it out," he murmured, his voice barely above a breath.

"I know," Ekoh replied, his tone steady, reassuring. The enlightenment had shifted something in both of them, a change neither fully understood yet.

Nioh watched as the last embers flickered out, the once-monstrous inferno reduced to a dull, dying glow. The battle had ended, and with it, an entire colony had perished. And yet, in the midst of destruction, there was still something left behind—potential. freewebnσvel.cѳm

Without hesitation, he moved toward the corpse of the Silent Spider Queen. Her massive frame was a grotesque monument to the fight, her once-pulsing abdomen now ruptured and still, her obsidian legs twisted in unnatural angles.

No wasted resources. Nioh worked quickly, using a reinforced blade to carve into the Queen’s body, extracting the most valuable parts. He gathered thick strands of high-grade silk, rolling them into a compact, reinforced bundle.

Next, he carefully bottled the lethal venom sacs, the toxin inside still vibrant and dangerously potent.

As he stroked one of the spider’s armored legs, he spoke again. "We still need to find a compatible S-tier biocore to rank up."

"I know where to find one," Ekoh blurted.

Nioh froze for a second before narrowing his eyes. "You’ve been getting visions, haven’t you?"

"Worse than that," Ekoh admitted. "Since I fused with the Sin of Envy, I’ve been slowly altered. It’s to the point where I can almost sense the other sins."

Nioh tensed. "Is it bad?"

"Not to the point that I’ll lose myself, but... it’s been a very disorienting experience."

"Why did you lie about it before?"

"Because I don’t yet have an answer as to why this is happening," Ekoh confessed. "And I didn’t want to talk about it."

Nioh nodded. He wouldn’t push him. Not now. "Do you know which sin it is?"

"No idea," Ekoh admitted. "But I can detect it—not far from here."

Nioh stretched his limbs, rolling his shoulders. "Well, let’s take a look."

Ekoh hesitated. "What about these?" He mentioned about the few remaining Silent Spider eggs, tucked away in a scorched nest.

Nioh regarded them for a long moment before picking them up. "My goal was never to exterminate them," he said as he carefully hung the eggs in a new nest, securing them in the remaining webbing. "Every organism has a role in maintaining the balance of the ecosystem."

Ekoh was silent as he watched.

"If they survive, good for them. The intent of their Queen will be transferred to the next generation," Nioh added. There was no sentimentality in his voice—just a simple, objective truth.

"Tell me about the sin you sensed," he said as he adjusted his bag.

"There’s not much to tell," Ekoh replied. "It’s the only one that isn’t parasitic—it’s not latching onto another biocore. In my vision, it’s peacefully gathering essence, in a marchland"

Nioh’s expression darkened. "Do you believe it?"

Ekoh scoffed. "I don’t trust any of these filthy, lowly things."

Nioh smirked, securing his bag. "Then let’s see for ourselves."

Without another word, he turned and walked away from the scorched battlefield.

A soon as he left a shadow appeared on the battlefied and fiddled with the scorched earth with a smirk before disappearing again.

-

The march Ekoh described was, a few days away from the the silent spider territory. At the edge of the Tundra Trove, bordering the latter with another unique ecosystem of the expense.

"I have been in the expense for more than a month now, my room will probably be emptied. Fortunately I moved my things into the labs." Nioh remarked.

In front of him the decaying marchland was shrouded in an eerie mist. Dark, murky water reflected the overcast, grey sky, creating an unsettling mirror effect.

Skeletal trees, their branches gnarled and twisted like skeletal fingers, clawed at the clouded sky, casting long, skeletal shadows across the swamp.

Glowing, phosphorescent fungi clung to the decaying trees and vegetation, casting an unsettling, otherworldly light upon the scene.

The air hung heavy with the scent of decay and damp earth, wrapping the marshland in an oppressive stillness. The soil was dark and wet, sinking slightly beneath Nioh’s steps, swallowing the echoes of his movements.

At the heart of this forsaken land, exactly where Ekoh had foreseen, lay the ancient biocore.

It pulsed faintly, suspended in the air just above the blackened mud. The core was unlike anything Nioh had encountered before—an iridescent sphere, swirling with hues that defied definition. The closer he looked, the more the colors seemed to shift, reflecting light in ways that made the very air around it tremble. Too easy.

Nioh crouched low, sharpening his focus. He had been watching the core for a while now, unmoving, patient. A treasure of this magnitude, left completely unguarded? A lie. A trap. His instincts screamed it, the very air around the core felt wrong. And yet, there were no signs of a lurking predator, no ambush waiting in the shadows. Just... the core, bare for the taking.

And then—

It began.

A pulse.

Not of sound, but of sensation.

The world around him tilted, stretched, twisted. He tried to move but found himself locked in place, his breath hitching as his senses blurred. His vision went white for a moment, then realigned—not to the marsh, but to something else entirely.

A city.

Towering structures of gleaming crystal soared into the sky, their surfaces engraved with intricate patterns that pulsed with light. Streets paved with obsidian stone stretched endlessly, lined with banners bearing a name—his name.

He stood at the center of it all, a legend made flesh.

People filled the streets, thousands upon thousands of them, cheering. They called out to him, their voices a symphony of awe. Nioh the Architect. The Master of Harmonics. The Man Who Reshaped the World.