System sensed that the energy fluctuations coming from the eyeball seemed to be very simir to his own [Mental Transmission] and [Perception] abilities.
When he tried using [Mental Transmission] to interact with the crystal eyeball, he was surprised to find blue images being projected into his mind. Like a live video feed from his previous world, the eyeball was streaming whatever it was facing directly into System's mind.
Unfortunately, the image was blurry, and the only color being transmitted was blue. Still, even in this dim rat warren, he could easily recognize the surrounding objects.
It was clear that the eyeball was a magical item, which was an unexpected gain.
On top of that, System discovered that the magical crystal eye seemed to have an unexpected effect when used with the map in the leather bag. When the eye was pointed at the map, many lines and words that hadn't been there previously suddenly appeared. One hidden section even seemed to be a treasure map.
Unfortunately, System had no use for the artificial eye. He didn't need a treasure map or the eye's ability to see things in the dark.
He could only give the eye to Shava, who liked pying with shiny things.
...
Although System hadn't caught many rats after searching through the foul-smelling burrow for nearly an hour, he did have some significant gains—a leather bag and two small gadgets with magical functions.
Compared to his search of the rat burrow, waiting for the ratman's paralysis toxin to wear off took a lot longer. System didn't know if the ratman's acting skills were too good or if Meatball's paralysis toxin was just that effective.
After five hours, the ratman finally moved its slightly stiff body and tried to escape, but it was instantly killed by System who was already impatient. The ratman was then skinned and dismembered into suitably sized pieces of meat by System and Shava.
System also tasted some of the ratman's blood and flesh just as he always did when he found new food. In general, its meat tasted a little better than an ordinary rat's, but the fvor wasn't very strong. It was a bit like sweet milk.
The ratman's meat still couldn't compare to the taste of certain insects.
...
Using the leather bag and some smooth tree branches, System once again used his human wisdom to craft a sled that could be pulled by ants. The leather bag was filled with rat meat and some of the ant pupae.
Because of the sturdy leather bag, the sled that System had constructed this time was very successful. However, after only three days, he had to stop using it. That wasn't because of any problem with the sled, though.
As System and his ant subjects had traveled further from Lilt Forest, the snow on the ground had become thinner, and the temperature had gradually risen.
Due to the volcanic ash melting the snow, after three days of walking, the ants could no longer pull System's simple sled through the mud and slush.
However, during these three days, System had seen many small animals such as rats and rabbits in the Warren Pins. Because food sources were abundant here, he'd thrown out some of the rat meat that the caravan was hauling.
There was a rat warren or rabbit burrow almost every hundred meters, and System had even seen a second ratman in these three days.
While System had been patrolling in the sky, he'd spotted the brown ratman from about two kilometers away. The ratman and a dozen rats had been dragging a bird corpse at the time.
When the ratman had noticed a group of more than a dozen gnolls in the distance, it had panicked and fled into a rat burrow along with the ordinary rats. System never saw it come out again.
It seemed like these intelligent ratmen weren't doing too well in the Warren Pins.
It was very likely that the ratmen were like the goblins in Lilt Forest had been before the Lord of Gciers had returned and were being targeted by gnolls for ensvement and hunting.
However, because the ratmen were good at digging holes, System guessed that it was unlikely for them to be captured and ensved by gnolls. They were probably only hunted occasionally as a snack.
He didn't go over to find trouble with the ratman. After he observed the direction the gnolls were heading, System adjusted his route in order to avoid them.
It wasn't that System couldn't defeat the gnolls. There was simply no need to fight them. After all, gnolls were also powerful, with the gnoll that had used a spear to pierce System's abdomen being a good example. A gnoll's strength should not be underestimated.
...
System and his ant caravan continued on their journey.
After twenty days, they finally reached their destination, and System eventually chose a location near a stream to start building the new nest.
It wasn't that the caravan's speed was slow. In fact, a few days earlier, they had already left the snowy world at the border of the Warren Pins and entered the warm climate of the grassnds.
Although some bck ash from the erupting volcanoes had fallen here, there weren't many traces left on the weed-covered nd. In the past month, the bck ash had mostly been purified by the weeds.
The environment of the grassnd was suitable for the colony, and System had even found some of his fellow grasshoppers here, along with crickets, flies, and other insects.
However, System hadn't chosen where to pce the nest until today. After all, he'd decided to live here for a long time, so he had to be cautious in choosing the underground nest's location.
Water sources, food, and safety must all be considered in detail.
In fact, the simplest method was for System to directly choose a ratman's burrow to take over. The passages in those burrows were extremely rge and connected in all directions. With a little modification, it would undoubtedly become a good nest for the colony.
However, those burrows were too dirty and disgusting, and it was obviously not a good idea to modify one. When System had hunted a ratman in the Warren Pins, he'd even discovered the ratman's disgusting practice of using its own feces to raise maggots as food.
This practice absolutely disgusted System, but what was even more disgusting was that he had, out of habit, automatically used his tentacles to inspect and then eat one of the feces-covered maggots.
And it had tasted surprisingly good...
Ever since then, System had been very resistant to the idea of entering another ratman's burrow.
While he'd once considered taking one over and remodeling it, he had now completely given up on that idea. Although his mind had mostly gotten used to an insect's ways of thinking, there were still some things that he couldn't accept.
...
Over these twenty days, System's ant knights had added two new members. It took about a month longer for the two soldier ant knights to break out of their pupae than it had taken the worker ants.
One of the soldier knights had gained the talent [Strong Body] after hearing the Voice of the World.
With a body roughly ten centimeters long and a weight less than two hundred grams, she had no problem lifting a stone that weighed one hundred kilograms.
The other soldier knight, like most of the ants that had undergone their second pupation, didn't know what kind of ability she'd gained.
Including these two soldier knights, there were only five ants that could understand and use the ability they'd gained after hearing the Voice of the World.
Among them, there was only one ant that didn't belong to the worker knights. She was just an ordinary second-pupation worker ant.
System had nicknamed this big worker Excavator.
Although she wasn't as intelligent as a worker knight, Excavator was naturally good at digging and carrying things.
After listening to the Voice of the World, she had gained an earth-controlling ability, and she could use its power to manipute dirt and rocks. Her ability was dozens of times more powerful than Hook's lightning generation.
With this ability, the big worker ant, who had already been good at digging, had become even better at building ant nests. It could be said that Excavator alone was more useful than all of System's other ant teams combined.
