#404 - Birth

Although the Narkfargians are not particularly aggressive aliens, they become indiscriminate during their spawning season. Anyone who intrudes into their nest will be met with a fierce attack.

Of course, this doesn't apply to their own kind. Although one is now an Articguana and the other is an Alien X, both are ultimately clones of Ben, and essentially the same person. Articguana wouldn't instinctively attack itself.

Therefore, Ben was fortunate enough to record the entire spawning process of the Narkfargian from a third-person perspective. This will be of considerable help to his future research on alien heroes, and perhaps he can even hatch other alien hero larvae as a result.

The Articguana building the nest paid no attention to the audience beside it, single-mindedly constructing its nest. Just as birds bind found materials together with saliva, Articguana uses powerful stomach acid to melt swallowed metal into liquid.

A large portion of these liquid metals will replenish the nutrients needed by Articguana during production, and a small portion of the remainder will be spat out to build the nest.

Logically, the feeding behavior of Narkfargians during the spawning period would last for several days because they need a lot of nutrition. However, because Alien X supplemented Articguana with a large amount of celestial energy, this step was shortened.

Otherwise, the metal provided by just one blast door, dozens of guns, and half a car might only be enough for Articguana to build its nest.

Articguana only has two steps to build a nest: first, spit out the melted liquid metal; second, cool the liquid metal with cold wind, and shape the metal in the process, gradually building the nest to its liking.

The genes recorded by the Omnitrix are indeed the healthiest of their kind. Articguana is full of maternal instincts. The speed of building the nest is very fast, and the quality does not decrease due to the speed. After about ten minutes, a spiral metal nest appeared on the yellow sand.

Because the metal eaten was too mixed, the nest looked colorful, like a piece of modern art.

Articguana nodded, retracted its wings and sat contentedly in the center of the nest, in the pit about one meter in radius that it had prepared in advance. The nest has been built, and now it's time to spawn.

The Articguana, replenished with a large amount of celestial energy, is very healthy, and even the production is very smooth. Alien X can see that a pool of green viscous liquid flows out of the wings wrapped around Articguana, filling the entire pit at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Gurgle, gurgle!"

Just like releasing an inflated balloon underwater, those green, thick liquids also began to bubble rhythmically, one after another.

Based on Ben's performance during spawning, Ben speculated that these green viscous liquids should be something similar to amniotic fluid, and its function is to protect Articguana and the eggs it produces, and may even provide energy for the unborn fetus.

The bubbles that are constantly rising now are because Articguana is laying eggs into the mucus. After Alien X reacted, he counted them again, but the result surprised him.

After Alien X's rough calculation, Articguana laid about fifteen eggs this time, which greatly exceeded his expectations. Having 15 descendants at once, Ben is now considered to have a house full of children and grandchildren.

When the spawning was over, Articguana stood up from the viscous liquid. Although the green liquid was viscous, not a drop of it stuck to Articguana. Flying out of the nest, Articguana spat out liquid metal from its mouth to seal the top of the nest, and then honestly landed directly above the nest, waiting for the birth of the children.

It takes about two to three days for Narkfargians to hatch, which is relatively short among creatures, but it is an extremely long process for Ben, because he really has a feeling of being a father now.

In this way, time flew by rapidly in Alien X's agonizing wait.

By the time Ben, who had transformed into Articguana, regained control of his body, it was already three days later, which also meant that the Narkfargian babies were about to hatch.

Although it was the first time giving birth to a baby, Ben, who had a certain concept in his mind, immediately understood what had happened when he woke up and saw the nest under him.

"It seems that the whole spawning process went very smoothly," Ben muttered to himself, bent down and prepared to tear open the sealed top of the nest to release the children who were about to hatch.

But before he could tear open the sealed top, he first saw Alien X, who had also been waiting for three days, which shocked him.

"Why are you here?"

"I'll explain to you later," Alien X stood up from the ground immediately when he saw Ben regaining his senses. "The key now is to release the babies."

'It seems that a lot of things happened while I was unconscious,' Ben muttered in his heart, and did not idle in his hands, using his sharp claws to tear open the metal seal.

"Gurgle! Gurgle!"

The viscous liquid was like being boiled. At the moment when the top was opened, bubbles kept gushing out. The green bubbles floated into the air after leaving the viscous liquid, and finally gradually turned blue.

After one bubble left the nest first, the remaining bubbles also floated up one after another. Gradually, eighteen blue bubbles floated around Ben, three more than Alien X had counted before.

Ben looked at the bubbles that floated up first. Sure enough, the other party's appearance had changed. Two symmetrical big eyes appeared on the bubbles, and then more and more biological characteristics appeared on the bubbles.

Just like a pill bug opening its body, the bubble unfolded its body. A Narkfargian larva completed itself at a speed visible to the naked eye. Finally, a chubby mini Articguana appeared in front of Ben.

This was like a signal. The remaining seventeen bubbles also turned into larvae. For a while, Ben was like the Fragrant Concubine in Princess Pearl, except that the Fragrant Concubine was surrounded by butterflies, while Ben was surrounded by chubby Narkfargian larvae.

"Look at these little guys," Ben stretched out his right hand and caught a larva. The little guy who was hugged by Ben was very happy, but at the same time, a big question mark appeared on his face.

"Narkfargians, like fish, perform a similar homing behavior. The larvae born in other places will cross the universe to return to their true hometown. This long journey is also a trial for them. Being able to grow up healthy along the way is the best reward for them."

Alien X teleported to Ben's side, and he was also looking at these cute little guys.

"It's just that the DC universe doesn't have their hometown, Kylmyys, so they are confused when they are born."