Inside the isolated, white room, a single glass tank lay in silence. Though, the creatures inside are anything but silent.

  The vivarium housed many plant life and small animals. From Helzar’s view, he could see four types of environments. One was a rocky terrain, much like a mountain, while another was a barren, gravel field.

  And then there was an area with tiny and medium-sized plants, with many streams of water zigzagging through the ground. Finally, he could see some sort of bonsai tree in the south-east side of the vivarium.

  With such a view, he couldn’t help but stare in awe for several moments, forgetting to run out of the test tube he was in.

  ‘Before I was placed on the ground, I caught a glimpse of the “garden.” It’s shaped like an “island,” surrounded by an “ocean.”’

  He also saw a few aquatic critters in the “ocean” area, but he didn’t see what they were. By then, he was already inside the vivarium.

  ‘This garden doesn’t look… man-made,’ he praised reluctantly.

  Although the areas he managed to see were vastly contrasting each other, it didn’t create a sense of disharmony. Instead, each element of the vivarium seamlessly co-existed. It was like seeing a twig and a rock combined, but strangely, it didn’t look odd or unnatural.

  ‘I’ve seen elves create such gardens before. But this is the best one yet,’ Helzar praised, looking through the glass of the test tube. Without even going out, he could feel the humid air, and the refreshing scent of plants.

  ‘It’s more like a miniature planet than a garden. Those humans created this?’ He looked at the direction where Chief left. It was but a mere moment, but when he saw the latter’s glowing blue eyes, he knew something was up.

  But…

  ‘It doesn't matter right now. What I need is time, and power,’ he looked at his spawns. They were all about to die—thanks to their blessed, short lifespans.

  ‘I couldn’t expand my swarm because those humans were watching. Well, it’s also because there was barely any food.’

  Being aware of the agents’ observations, he didn’t dare reveal all his cards.

  ‘The Eater is… a work in progress,’ he looked at the undeveloped eggs laying under him. They were the Eater eggs, which he decided to not hatch.

  ‘It’s not entirely useless. If I had used it, maybe I would’ve been able to keep expanding my swarm,’ he thought in dismay.

  ‘Alas, it’s like giving my enemy the knife to my throat.’

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Thinking about the Eaters, he felt a bit of a headache. The Eaters could process food more efficiently than him, wasting nearly no energy. If he ate an ant and can lay one spawn egg, then the Eater can digest one ant, and after he “harvest” it, he can lay an egg and have half an egg’s worth of energy.

  Of course, the energy obtained from different creatures varied.

  ‘But currently, the Eater explodes after one meal. If I can modify that, they’d serve as a perfect storage unit!’ Helzar chomped down, excitedly thinking of the days ahead.

  But then, he felt something between his mandibles, and his mouth tasted blood…

  ‘Shit,’ he watched as a spawn was accidentally “recycled” by him.

  After accepting his spawn’s “offering,” he had the rest of them go out and dig an underground chamber. That would be their new home.

  Such a task was trivial for the swarm, and very soon, not even a few minutes later, the chamber was dug out.

  ‘The spawns are still expanding and reinforcing it, but I can move in now,’ he thought, not wanting to sit in the test tube for another second. When he touched the moist soil, he nearly jumped for joy!

  ‘Damn, I never thought I'd be happy to touch soil,’ he mused, absentmindedly entering the underground tunnel. A few minutes later, the entire Swarm followed him in, leaving the test tube barren.

  When he sent out his Spawns to hunt, the test tube was gone. He knew that Chief took it away.

  +++-+++-+++

  Forming a group of fifty, the spawns explored the gravel field they were in. There was moss carpeting the rocks wherever they looked, and they also found many springtails bouncing about.

  A few spawns hunted the springtails and shared them to eat and increase their lifespans. This was one of Helzar's orders, as he didn't want to replace the Spawns very often.

  Although the Nest had strong vitality, it would get overwhelmed if he tried hatching hundreds of spawns at once.

  Not only that, Helzar wanted to see if the spawns could evolve on their own through eating.

  After foraging for a few minutes, the spawns finally found a worthwhile prey. A beetle, and a fat one at that. Its exoskeleton shimmered a faint blue light, slowly trying to leave the gravel field with its bulky legs.

  The Spawns knew from Helzar that onwards, a lush area awaits, full of foliage and hiding spots. Upon entering the maze-like amalgamation of plants, it would be easy to lose the beetle they found.

  CLACK!

  The Spawns clacked their mandibles together, staring at their soon-to-be offering for Helzar. They swiftly surrounded the beetle, trying their best to conceal their presence. The beetle was 10 centimeters in length, and its eyes seemed fierce. But it wasn't paying attention to its surroundings. It was merely limping toward the promised haven—the cover of the plants.

  But just as it was about to enter the green, the bullet-like sound of mandibles startled it back. Looking around, the beetle found itself with no exit.

  Now in position, the spawns swarmed the beetle, biting at all corners of its body!

  The beetle trashed about, feeling the painful bites of dozens of Spawns! Yet, the Spawns hadn't drawn blood from the beetle, and the beetle realized this too.

  Seizing the opportunity, the beetle opened its elytra, unfolding its wings!

  BZZZ…

  However, the spawns saw it as a threat, hurriedly mauling its wings. Before it could even flap it once, its hope of survival was torn to shreds, its vision nothing more than the legs of the swarms as they carpeted its body.

  +++-+++-+++

  The beetle's exoskeleton was tough, and the spawns had to spend extra effort to cut it. However, the underside of the beetle was much softer.

  One bite from a spawn, and the guts of the beetle spilled out. Not long after that, the beetle was divided into four pieces with ten spawns marching back home with the prey in tow.

  The remaining forty spawns kept foraging, and this time, they headed toward a lush area of the vivarium. There was bound to be more prey hiding in there, but the spawns would have to exercise their stealth.

  The critters there would be alert, ready to flee at the slightest sound.

  As they predicted, they spotted a snail measuring about 4 centimeters. The spawns easily trapped it, but killing it was another problem. The snail's shell was ridiculously hard, harder than rocks, and the spawns couldn't crack it open.

  The snail itself was hiding inside its shell, secreting an acidic mucus. Two spawns tried entering the shell, but they both melted.

  Deciding that the snail wasn't worth the effort, the spawns let it be. There were more prey elsewhere, they didn't need to waste time on a troublesome snail.

  The next prey they encountered was a caterpillar with a violet body and red stripes. The caterpillar had spiky appendages, but its body was soft and strangely elastic, almost like rubber.

  Such troubles barely fazed the Spawns as they carried it back home in three pieces.

  Now, only thirty Spawns were left foraging for food.

  +++-+++-+++

  Meanwhile, a trail of red ants were marching back and forth, carrying insect parts back to their nest.

  The trail was steady, uninterrupted, and organized like an army of soldiers. That is, until an ant returned from its patrol, communicating through its pheromones.

  It was about the prey it found.

  With such news, an army of hundreds of ants marched toward the east, where the scout discovered a group of snails. Coincidentally, they were headed toward the remaining thirty spawns.