[Pgue Mucus] could maintain its vitality for about ten days once it left System's body, which meant that if it wasn't treated, the pgue bacteria in his mucus would survive for a long time.

  System, who had already given up on his pgue experiments, didn't know that he'd inadvertently caused a camity with his experiments on fish and shrimp a few days earlier.

  Hundreds of kilometers away, a ratman gathering pce next to a river where many streams converged gradually suffered nearly one-third casualties due to drinking the river water.

  About two hundred ratmen and thousands of rats were infected by System's pgue and died. Even the ratmen, who were usually good at dealing with pgues, couldn't handle this one.

  But it was precisely because System's [Pgue Mucus] had such a powerful effect and could even infect ratmen that the ratmen believed that the pgue was a gift from Rafael, the God of Pgues and Curses.

  Perhaps, with this pgue, they could wake up Rafael, who was currently in a deep sleep and could only appear in dreams. Then he would send down an incarnation to the main world to aid in the ratmen's ascent.

  A ratman wizard collected some of System's [Pgue Mucus] and sent it to the ratman city of Helencia.

  ...

  System had no idea about the disaster at the rat gathering pce hundreds of kilometers away. In fact, after a few days of experimenting with the pgue, he was already tired of it.

  The effect of the pgue would become stronger if System improved it with [Ability Enhancement], but doing so wouldn't improve his life level.

  If he truly faced a deadly danger, [Pgue Mucus] wouldn't be of any help. After all, although his pgue was deadly, it had a long dey. His attacks couldn't instantly kill like the bites of some spiders or snakes.

  Earlier, while System had been sleeping, Rafael had tried hard to tempt him into obtaining more pgue power. It seemed like spreading pgues had many benefits for Rafael.

  However, at that time, System hadn't known about the powerful effects of his [Pgue Mucus]. He'd thought that the bacteria studied by the ratman wizard were completely useless. Because of that, he'd been able to easily resist the evil god's temptation.

  ...

  In the st three days, System, who had finished his pgue experiments, had often researched what method he should use to activate [Morph].

  By constantly practicing using the transformation ability of his [Pgue Mucus], he'd developed some unique understandings of [Morph].

  The method System used to transform his [Pgue Mucus] and the method Meatball used to [Morph] didn't really have anything in common, but System was still able to gain insights reted to the aspects of the two abilities that overpped.

  Even [Intuition] had given System a sense of feasibility. He could indeed activate [Morph] with a high level cap, where his body would become like slime or [Pgue Mucus] and could be transformed at will.

  However, before activating [Morph], System still had two things that he didn't know how to deal with.

  One was that the pupating butterfly suspected to be the remnant soul of the Lord of Gciers had reached the final stage of pupation, and System estimated that he would break out of his chrysalis within two or three days.

  The Lord of Gciers hadn't regained consciousness in recent days. At least, if he had woken up, System hadn't noticed. After all, System wasn't paying attention to him at all times.

  As the pupating butterfly was about to break out of his chrysalis, the frosty aura emitted by the chrysalis grew stronger and stronger. In order to prevent the cold air it produced from harming his ant subjects, System had asked Excavator to create an underground chamber where he could store the chrysalis.

  He didn't know whether he should allow the butterfly to finish his pupation in his nest or if he should send him away, then watch him complete the process from a distance.

  Compared with his indecision over what to do with the pupating butterfly, something else happened that made System feel utterly helpless.

  The extremely smart worker ant Little Bck was going to die.

  Bck wasn't infected with the pgue, nor had she suffered any injuries. Her lifespan was simply running out.

  Due to System's enhancement of Queen Linda, the quality of her offspring had significantly improved. They were rger, stronger, and had turned gray due to gaining cold resistance. However, while System's ant subjects were superior in many ways to their predecessors, the bck and brown ants, they still shared the same short lifespan.

  The lifespan of ordinary bck and brown worker ants was about ten months, and Bck's lifespan might be even shorter than that due to her congenital deficiencies.

  ...

  After System had been reborn as a grasshopper, his view of things had gradually become like that of an insect.

  Just like humans could swat flies with fly swatters without any burden, System could now kill any irrelevant creatures without any mental burden. As long as ending those lives was beneficial to him, he would do it without hesitation.

  He could kill insects just out of interest, and his experiments had killed many intelligent ratmen and gnolls. He could even mercilessly kill his own kind, grasshoppers, when necessary.

  However, although his personality tended to be like an insect's, System still retained some emotions.

  In other words, even insects, after gaining wisdom and the ability to reason, would have certain emotions. They would experience joy, anger, sorrow and happiness.

  Shava liked shiny things and his tentacles, Meatball hated loneliness and liked to fly outside, Excavator liked to quietly add water to soil and make mud, Linda liked to count how many ant eggs she'd id when she was free, and Hooks, who controlled lightning, hated rain...

  Although he knew that Little Bck's lifespan was short, System still became a little overwhelmed after learning that she was going to die.

  Although System would still feel sad when ordinary ants died, he undoubtedly cherished Shava and Little Bck more than the others.

  ...

  System had learned that Bck was going to die from Bck herself.

  Bck didn't have System's [Tools Menu] to dispy her lifespan information, but she still knew that her lifespan was about to end, just like some old people who had reached the end of their lifespan in System's previous life.

  In fact, Bck wasn't too uneasy about the situation. She had still reported to System on the happenings in the nest in a normal tone as usual.

  However, when the conversation with System was about to end, Bck had suddenly asked System a strange question.

  "King, after those ratmen die, do they still think? Are they still be able to see and feel, but just can't move their bodies?"

  There had been a hint of expectation in Bck's mental message, but System hadn't picked up on it at the time.

  Without thinking too much, System had replied, "It shouldn't be like that. Dead is dead. Why are you asking this?"

  After waiting for more than ten seconds, Bck had sent a mental message to System. "Is that so? I just thought of this question suddenly."

  It seemed that after learning System's answer, Bck's mental message had been a little lonely.

  Even after a long time, Bck still hadn't left System's chamber to go about her business. Just when System had started feeling puzzled, Bck had suddenly sent a mental message to him again.

  "King, if I die, before you bury me, could you take out my eyes? Or my antennae. I want them to stay by your side."

  After hearing this, System had finally realized that Little Bck's life was coming to an end.