Whether he was a grasshopper or a tentacle monster, there was no real difference to System.

  After his pupation, he seemed to have completely lost the ability to reproduce with grasshoppers. He no longer had to worry about the situation where his lifespan would be reduced to zero if he suddenly mated with a grasshopper.

  ...

  After emerging from his pupa, System left the chamber. He saw Shava standing guard outside and noticed that she still looked a little depressed.

  It seemed like she hadn't fully recovered from her failure to defeat the Lord of Gciers.

  Shava's thoughts were very simple, but they could be a bit too simple at times.

  She'd grown too quickly from her start as a weak soldier ant. After her second pupation, the mouse that had been completely invincible one moment could be easily killed by her the next.

  As a weak insect, she had a very obvious ck of awareness toward the powerful creatures in this world, though that was perhaps because System hadn't taught her well enough.

  In Shava's view, the mouse that she'd been unable to defeat and powerful dragons were actually very close in strength. While she knew that dragons were stronger than mice, Shava only assumed that they were simir to other predators that ate mice, like snakes or eagles.

  It was because of this that Shava had charged at the dragon without thinking, and up until the moment she'd lost consciousness, she'd truly believed that she was going win the fight.

  Gncing to the side, System found two unfamiliar ants. They were some of the dozen or so ants that had recently entered their second pupation, and these two had already emerged from their pupae.

  The two worker ants that had undergone their second pupation were about six centimeters long. System didn't know if they'd been influenced by Shava, but their bodies were somewhat simir to a simplified version of hers.

  Their heads had become smaller, and although their forelegs hadn't formed bdes like Shava's, they'd instead formed other strange weapons. One's forelegs had transformed into two diamond-shaped spikes, and the other's were now two arc-shaped weapons that looked simir to hooks.

  After careful observation, System noticed some slight differences between the two workers' bodies. The worker with the diamond-shaped spikes had thick legs, while the worker with the hooked weapons had thin legs.

  It seemed that System's previous assumption had been correct. The second pupation of insects wasn't uniform, and individuals would end up with some number of differences unique to themselves.

  ...

  When System arrived, the two worker ants were standing next to Shava and imitating her posture.

  However, unlike Shava, there was some meat piled up near the two workers. They were eating mouse meat while guarding the chamber's entrance.

  These two workers should be the same as Shava. After their second pupation, their bodies had entered a period of rapid growth, so they needed to eat a lot of food.

  If he calcuted according to Shava's growth rate, these two worker ants would grow to a length of about twelve centimeters in another dozen days. After that, the growth rate of their bodies would slow down. They'd eventually reach about sixteen centimeters in length by the time they stopped growing.

  "Me, not full."

  "King, happy."

  The two ants were still as affectionate to System as ever. As soon as they saw him, they started sending mental messages one after another.

  After their second pupation, the intelligence of these two workers had increased significantly. Mentally, they were now roughly equivalent to Shava before her second pupation. Their intelligence was about the same as Queen Linda's.

  "Have you gained any abilities? Did you hear the Voice of the World?" System asked the two ants.

  The two workers showed confused expressions at the same time. One of the workers thought for a while before answering, "Don't know."

  This worker ant's reaction was just like Shava's. After her second pupation, she didn't know what type of ability she'd gained.

  However, the other worker with hooks on her forelegs seemed to have thought of something. She tilted her head repeatedly, as if she was trying to figure out how to express herself.

  After thinking for a few minutes, the worker suddenly raised her pair of hooks. Accompanied by a slight sizzling sound, System saw a faint electric-blue light covering the ant's hooks.

  Obviously, this worker ant had been gifted with the power of lightning by the Voice of the World.

  However, her power was very weak. After just over ten seconds, the hooked worker was exhausted. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't use her lightning ability again.

  ...

  'Are they going to form a knight order?'

  Looking at the two workers that had become simplified versions of Shava, System guessed that the remaining dozen or so ants that were undergoing their second pupation would also look simir after they emerged from their pupae.

  The reason for this, System knew, was that he'd gained the [Mental Network] ability by strengthening his [Mental Transmission] ability a few months earlier.

  The [Mental Network] ability was simir to [Mental Connection]. With this ability, he could connect the minds of all ants within a one-meter range, which allowed them to communicate with each other.

  when Shava had emerged from her pupa two months earlier, she'd used this [Mental Network] ability to transmit the knight scenes that System had shown her to each ant more than once.

  Because System wasn't in the habit of monitoring the conversations of his stupid ant subjects, it was only much ter, long after Shava had sent the scenes, that he'd realized the seriousness of the matter.

  At that time, there had always been ants making strange gestures to him, which had made him feel very embarrassed.

  Fortunately, because System had held a meeting with the ants expressly to prohibit it, and also because the intelligence of ordinary ants wasn't very high, after a few days, the only ant still pying the king and knight game with him had been Shava.

  But now it seemed like the scenes that Shava had sent at the beginning were obviously deeply embedded in the hearts of these ants. Otherwise, they wouldn't have imitated Shava and changed into their current forms.

  'Forget it, it's just a knight order. It'll be fine.'

  Shaking his head helplessly, System moved into the chamber full of ants undergoing their second pupation.

  When he used his tentacles to check the remaining pupae, System found that three more worker ants were about to complete their second pupation. They'd break out of their pupae in two or three days at most.

  As for the remaining eight worker pupae, although there wasn't much movement, System estimated that they'd emerge one after another within half a month, based on the date each ant had begun her second pupation.

  Only two soldier ant pupae remained unchanged. Like Shava, it would take much longer for these soldiers to undergo their second pupations. The process was slower for soldier ants than it was for ordinary worker ants.

  ...

  These new ant knights who had undergone their second pupations had high requirements for food. Ordinary seeds and dried fruits could hardly meet their needs if they wanted to keep growing.

  They would obviously consume a lot of meat in a short period of time. System expected them to quickly go through most of the nest's stored meat.

  It would be too great of a loss if they preyed on the caterpilrs that System was raising. He once again thought of his new friend from the past six months—the frost slime.

  It would be best if he could use frost slimes as food for the ant knights. As long as he found a second slime, there would be enough food for the thirteen ant knights to eat for a long time.

  Except for occasionally swallowing ice and snow, the frost slime's staple food was basically the same as an ordinary slime's, which was fallen branches and decomposing leaves.

  Frost slimes rarely appeared on the snow's surface. Usually, they would melt their way under the snow, forming unique snow cave systems. The slimes would typically live in these snow caves for a long time, as the branches and leaves they ate, along with some frozen pnts, were all buried beneath the snow.

  Since frost slimes had no natural enemies in the snow-covered Lilt Forest, they lived very well, and one could usually be found every few hundred meters or so.

  However, because these frost slimes were buried deep under the snow, even System had to frequently scan with [Mental Transmission], slowly checking each area for emotional fluctuations, in order to find them.