After some consideration, System decided to transform [Molting and Growth] into [Pupation] first. After all, he'd been preparing to transform this talent for several months, and he didn't want to experience any more twists and turns.

  As long as he waited for Shava to wake up, with her acting as his guard, he could safely activate the [Pupation] talent.

  After investigating the meatball's core for a while, System remembered the Lord of Gciers' inexplicable behavior from earlier. It seemed like System's eyes possessed an ability that even the Lord of Gciers didn't have.

  System read over [My Information] in the [Tools Menu] again, but he couldn't find anything strange in [System's Eye]'s description.

  'Could I maybe discover something after strengthening [System's Eye] like the Lord of Gciers said?'

  System couldn't figure anything out in the end, and he also didn't pn to strengthen [System's Eye] immediately.

  After considering the dragon's inexplicable words, he finally decided to strengthen himself at his own pace and grow into a magical life form as soon as possible.

  ...

  Right as System was wrapping up his investigations, a familiar figure crawled into the room—the worker ant, Bck.

  "King, have you found the five missing ants yet? And Shava seems to be injured. Is she okay?" Bck seemed to have already seen the injured Shava and looked a little worried.

  Compared to Shava, Bck was smarter and usually picked up on some details that even System didn't notice.

  "The ants are dead, but the problem has been solved. Shava will recover in two days." System stretched out his tentacles and gently rubbed Bck's head.

  He viewed all of his ant subjects as his children, but even so, there were still differences in closeness. Bck was his favorite little worker ant.

  "King, do you need me to tell the other ants that they can start going out to find food again?" Bck asked.

  "Yeah, tell them they can to go out and collect food as usual. Wait, no, I'll do it myself."

  System set the meatball's core aside and left the chamber.

  Five of his ant subjects had been killed by an attack from a creature that the colony had been unaware of. Although the threat was gone now, it was difficult to guarantee that there wouldn't be a next time.

  System decided to send mental messages to his ant subjects telling them not to attack every unknown creature they met. He wanted to avoid the colony suffering any unnecessary casualties again.

  Although his mental messages might not be able to fully change the ants' habits in the long run, it was still better than doing nothing.

  ...

  After talking to his ant subjects, System continued studying the meatball's original flesh and blood while also eating the chunks of meatball flesh that were tainted with demon blood.

  This food full of demon blood tasted strange, but the experience it provided was dozens of times as much as the same weight of insect pupae.

  The first few pieces of meat System ate made him feel violent and confused, but after he ate a few more, those abnormal emotions were greatly reduced. After that, he only felt a slight dizziness, and the more he ate, the dizzier he got.

  He stopped eating when he saw that his experience bar was about to reach the peak of level 14. He wanted to avoid gaining a level and losing the full experience bar that he'd been saving up for nearly a month.

  During his investigation, System discovered the meatball insect's original race by comparing the meatball's bloodline with the information recorded in the [Tools Menu]. The meatball's bloodline was simir to that of an aquatic insect that only grew to less than one centimeter long even after reaching adulthood.

  System didn't know the name of this insect. He'd found it twice in puddles half a year earlier and had given it a very basic analysis with his tentacles.

  Its body was translucent and soft, and even its exoskeleton could change shape. He guessed that the meatball's [Morph] ability was inherited from this insect's bloodline.

  After his in-depth comparisons of the information, System could now more clearly perceive the [Morph] ability in the meatball's bloodline. It seemed like this ability was somehow reted to the way an insect's body changed shape during [Pupation].

  However, System needed to spend more time studying to fully understand the [Morph] ability.

  Although the meatball's core had no consciousness, its internal activity didn't decrease with the passage of time. Instead, it remained very stable, and it seemed like it would remain active for the time being.

  When System pced some moss and mushrooms from the forest on the fleshy core, after a few minutes, the meatball slowly wriggled and swallowed the food, then began to digest it...

  ...

  Two days passed, and System didn't make much progress with his research on the core.

  On the second day, Shava finally woke up.

  After ordering her to stand guard outside his chamber, System began transforming his [Molting and Growth] into [Pupation].

  System, who had already made his final preparations, wrapped a ten-centimeter-long caterpilr tightly within his tentacles, then began transforming his [Molting and Growth] according to the caterpilr's [Pupation].

  Thanks to his nearly half a year of preparation, System's talent transformation process went extremely smoothly.

  It took well under the half a day he'd originally expected. In just four hours, System had completed the transformation of his bloodline talent, and he even had thirty percent of his experience bar left.

  ...

  [Pupation] (13/19): System's unique Special Talent formed by transforming [Molting and Growth]. By pupating, an insect's body undergoes significant changes. A unique Special Talent of insects.

  ...

  After the transformation, System's [Molting and Growth], which had already been upgraded to level 15, became [Pupation] level 13. However, compared to [Molting and Growth], System's level limit for [Pupation] was higher, which allowed him to detect more information in his bloodline.

  As long as he raised [Pupation]'s level to 17 and raised his own level as a green-tailed grasshopper to his level cap of 15, he could undergo a third pupation.

  When he broke out of his pupa, the level cap of a green-tailed grasshopper would be broken, and System would become a magical life form with a new, higher level cap.

  He'd be like the meatball. The meatball's level had been around 25, and his level cap had been around 60. After the meatball's third pupation, he had become a brand new life form.

  In the information from System's bloodline, he also sensed what he'd become in the future after he broke out of his pupa. He'd no longer be a grasshopper, but would instead become a brand new type of tentacled insect that was based on his current body.

  Unlike the weird grasshopper body with tentacles that he had right now, his body shape would become very natural at that time, and he wouldn't look strange even though he'd still be covered with tentacles.

  'Will that really be my future?'

  System sensed his future appearance, and continued checking other information in the [Tools Menu] to observe whether there had been any changes to his body's other abilities.

  While System was checking his information, he suddenly felt his body become itchy, and a strange feeling arose from his bloodline.

  He immediately realized the reason for the strange feeling. After all, there were some differences between [Molting and Growth] and [Pupation].

  Although he'd undergone three metamorphoses, he'd never pupated. He still needed to complete the process and make up for the missing first and second pupations.