The choice of where to build a new nest depended not only on System's subjective opinions, but also on the advice of the experienced geological expert, Excavator.

  Although Excavator wasn't very coherent when she communicated mentally, she had an innate understanding of where a nest should be located and how its passages and chambers should be id out.

  Of course, if you asked Excavator why she'd chosen that location, she definitely wouldn't be able to expin. She just thought it was good, but she didn't know why.

  ...

  The big worker ant's forelegs dug into the ground. The soil quickly seemed to come alive like System's [Corrosive Mucus], gradually wriggling to the sides until a round hole had formed. The hole had a diameter of about half a meter and was about ten centimeters deep.

  Once the dirt was gone, there were still a number of decaying pnt roots and other debris in the hole. The nearby ant teams acted quickly under System and Bck's commands and hauled off the debris.

  Either Excavator had certain limitations when using her earth-controlling ability, or her intelligence was simply too low to use the ability with precision.

  She could move dirt and small stones, but she couldn't move dead branches and leaves, even when they were encased in dirt. Her ability was far more limited than System's [Corrosive Mucus].

  Whenever Excavator moved a rge amount of dirt and gravel, there would be a lot of branches, leaves, and other pnt matter left behind. Other ants needed to clean those things up before the work could continue.

  Excavator's ability could only expand a tunnel this size by about three meters over the course of a day. After all, she still needed proper rest and food to restore her energy. Otherwise, if she continued digging without stopping, she could completely create a tunnel more than ten meters long in a single day.

  Because Excavator had the ability to control earth, she could pack the loose dirt and rocks together tightly into the tunnel's outer wall.

  Not only would this make the walls stronger and more stable, it would also mean that the ants no longer had to carry out the excess dirt and stones produced by digging the tunnel. They only needed to clean up the pnt debris that Excavator's ability couldn't move.

  The big worker ant continued using her ability. An hour ter, System stood in front of a hole nearly half a meter deep.

  Because of the increased depth, the rotting pnt roots and other debris became much scarcer, so Excavator's speed had accelerated. However, System estimated that after digging about half a meter deeper, her energy would be exhausted, and the ant would need a few hours of rest to fully recover.

  Unlike System, who occasionally absorbed the energy floating in the air, Excavator's way of replenishing her energy was simple and direct. She would sink her legs deep into the ground, bringing her body into contact with the soil as closely as possible, and would then begin absorbing energy from the ground.

  While keeping an eye on the big worker's progress, System stretched out his tentacles and used his [Pnt Growth] ability to catalyze the growth of some vines near the entrance to the newly built nest.

  In recent days, System had completely understood the [Pnt Growth] ability that he'd inherited from the druid.

  The effect of using [Pnt Growth] in the snow wasn't ideal. His ck of strength was one reason for his poor results, but it was more closely reted to the climate. Even if he had the [Pnt Growth] ability, he must first meet the growth requirements of the pnts he wanted to use it on.

  Suitable temperature, water, soil, and sunlight were indispensable for pnts. If one of them was missing, the effect of [Pnt Growth] would be greatly reduced.

  ...

  Five vines slowly grew under the power of System's [Pnt Growth], increasing in length by one centimeter every ten seconds. As the vines grew longer, the tunnel that Excavator was digging was gradually hidden from sight behind them.

  After spending so many days moving through the grassnd, System had gained a basic understanding of the food chain near the border between the Warren Pins and Lilt Forest.

  Among the creatures living in the Warren Pins, the absolute top of the food chain were the gnolls and the pigmen, but so far, System had only seen pigmen from dozens of kilometers away. He'd need to observe them more in the future if he wanted to understand their exact status.

  The status of gnolls in the grassnd was equivalent to that of humans in System's previous life. It could be said that they existed above all other species in the grassnd. Other creatures in the grassnd lived under the gnolls' rule.

  The next level of the food chain below the gnolls and pigmen consisted of the wolf packs that System had seen roaming across the grassnd on occasion, the bck eagles frequently seen flying through the sky, and the ratmen that possessed wisdom.

  The reason System was so eager to catalyze the vines was to keep the nest hidden from the bck eagles. They kept circling in the sky, and he didn't know when they would attack. It wasn't that System was afraid of them; they were just too annoying.

  Compared to the eagles that had no natural enemies in the sky, ratmen and wolves often fought with each other.

  Just like ratmen commanded rats, the wolves roaming the grassnd were like the pets of the gnolls. Whenever wolves met gnolls, they would roll around on the ground in front of the gnolls to please them.

  It was precisely because of the retionship between wolves and gnolls that System had put wolves and ratmen on the same level of the food chain. Otherwise, with the intelligence and strength of the ratmen, they would be one level above the wolves.

  Further down the food chain, there were herds of single-horned sheep and snakes, then small rodents such as rabbits and mice, followed by poisonous arthropods such as scorpions and centipedes.

  In terms of species, the food chain in the grassnd was much simpler than the food chain in Lilt Forest.

  ...

  In recent days, System had seen nearly ten ratmen and had killed three of them. The more he learned about these intelligent creatures, the more he realized just how little he knew about them.

  Although ratmen were below gnolls on the food chain, they weren't as defenseless as the goblins had originally been in Lilt Forest.

  Although their living habits were extremely filthy, ratmen were obviously not stupid, and they could construct simple tools and weapons.

  System had even been hit by a bolt fired from a simple bone crossbow that a ratman had crafted. The bone crossbow bolt had been stained with ratman feces and had carried some type of pgue-like bacteria.

  If System wasn't able to sense the emotions of fungi and bacteria with [Mental Transmission], he might have suffered horribly from the ratman's crossbow bolt.

  During one of his frequent inspections from the sky, System also discovered what seemed to be a ratman settlement more than one hundred kilometers south of his new nest.

  There were hundreds of rat holes hidden in the grass there, and at least hundreds of ratmen and tens of thousands of ordinary rats lived there in what seemed to be an underground ratman vilge or city.

  Wild wolves that strayed into the area were often attacked by the ratmen.

  ...

  System's choice of his nest's location had been influenced by the ratmen's underground city.

  His wintering nest in Lilt Forest had been five meters deep, with three forks and more than a hundred rge chambers. Although that sounded big enough, System still felt that it was too small.

  He decided to learn from the ratmen and build his underground nest a little bigger this time.

  Perhaps his nest couldn't compare to the scale of the ratman city in the short term. However, as time went on, System believed that his ant subjects could build a massive underground city where they could all lead a comfortable life.