Chapter 20: Palpitation
Editor: Atlas Studios
The bird in the old Druid's palm grew quiet as a mysterious green glow bloomed.
The old Druid spoke in an unknown language and caressed the injured fowl gently.
Soon, the large fowl extended its opinion amidst the cheery bird chirps and flew to hover over the Druid's head.
The Druid released his natural aura once again, and System felt as though he had fallen into the arms of Mother Nature.
System pondered whether he should reveal himself to the old Druid and express his intellect to seek out how to extend his lifespan.
System was hesitating. His gut feeling was warning him that there was something wrong with the Druid. Unfortunately, he could not pinpoint what it was.
During System's uncertainty, the spiraling wild fowl had flown away, while the Druid trudged rapidly and vanished into the forest.
…
"Why didn't I head over just now?"
System only regained his senses when the old Druid grew further and further away.
When the thought of having only two more months to live flashed in his head, System regretted not approaching the Druid.
He had the notion that the old Druid was genuinely kind after witnessing him scooping up the aquatic creature and his expression while caring for the large bird. It was worth a bet.
The old Druid might know of a method to extend his lifespan.
However, it was too late. System pranced in the direction where the old Druid vanished, but he was nowhere to be found.
System could only make his way back to the spot where the large fowl's blood was at and decided to consume it.
Next to the pool of blood, there were two quivering ants. They must have been heavily hurt after getting crushed by the struggling pheasant that was under their attacks.
System did not plan on consuming those ants, so he booted away and scanned his surroundings. He noticed that the remaining ants were ingesting the other pool of blood before doing the same himself.
The fowl's blood was delectable, it tasted like a buttery smoothie, blended with what seemed like tea in the previous life. Even when he was not consuming the blood, the remnant taste was everlasting.
It could not compare to the scorpion's taste but was much more appetizing than the other food products. The EXP it provided was around 1.3 times that of a heavy pupa.
It appeared that the fowl's flesh and blood satisfied System's profound taste.
To date, System had consumed a large variety of food, including fowls, tadpoles, scorpions, bugs, and plants. He still had no idea of the EXP anomaly that the scorpion carcass had provided.
He did not spend much thought on it as he continued to ingest mouthfuls of blood, which did not affect [Molting Growth].
He strutted away, in search of the ants' food source.
…
Three days passed.
System advanced to Level 9 as planned, and he grew from 6.5cm to 8cm as his physical attributes improved.
Although his innate talent [Molting Growth] did not reach Level 13, System felt that he was close to the edge. As long as he advanced to Level 10, his [Molting Growth] would be maxed out before he received the details for his third molting.
As he advanced to Level 9, System's [Insect Adaptability] increased.
[Insect Adaptability] (11/21) → [Insect Adaptability] (12/21)
System once again saw the mysterious image that the [Insect Adaptability] in his blood revealed to him.
Countless grasshoppers soared through the vast skies.
Thanks to the advancement, some of System's abilities increased.
[Limb Regeneration] (5/11) → [Limb Regeneration] (6/11)
[Dark Vision] (3/5) → [Dark Vision] (4/5)
[Corrosive Slime] underwent the most drastic difference.
[Corrosive Slime] (7/13) → [Corrosive Slime] (9/13)
The glands in System's mouth also grew in size as his venom's corrosive ability increased. He was able to produce almost twice as much venom.
Furthermore, the glands in System's mouth also underwent unique changes. By compressing the newly formed muscles, he was able to spurt out the venom. It was similar to the venom-spitting King Cobra, or the fantasy worlds' black dragons that were able to squirt out corrosive liquid.
The downside was that System's spraying range was rather short. As of now, his spitting range was several centimeters.
Regardless, this was System's only long-distance attack. Although he was capable of grasping and casting small rocks with his feet, those attacks did not inflict significant damage and were unable to even hurt small ants.
Other than the changes due to his advancement, System also grew familiar with the black ants' habits and was also proficient in robbing them.
During this period, he even resorted to luring a lost ant into the mud as bait. As a result, he could kick the ant army into the water and easily destroy them.
The black soldier ants were much more muscular than worker ants, and their tempers were greater. They also fought very strategically as they targeted the prey's weak spots. They possessed a stinger at their tail that was able to spurt out acidic liquid.
Soldier ants were extremely dangerous, however, they were also dumber than worker ants in other senses.
The soldier ants' vision was stronger than worker ants, but they were still idiots that would swarm toward formic acid and mud pools without any reservation.
System made use of the soldier ants' foolishness to slay one of them.
The soldier ants' carcasses had a stronger stench than those of the worker ants. However, hunting them would bring about too high of a risk. Also, the efficiency could not match up to the food that System would get from robbing the usual worker ants. Hence, System only attempted to kill off one soldier ant before giving up entirely.
System was also lucky enough to meet two of his grasshopper relatives.
After evolving into an adult insect, he felt closer to his kind than when he was in his larva state.
However, both grasshoppers flew off after slight interaction.
Other than the grasshoppers, System also discovered many mosquito-like bugs in the forest. Those bugs seemed to be still in their larva phase.
Although these small bugs were able to fly, they were not on par with the nimble flies. System was able to capture them with a few hops.
With the emergence of the flies, System also ran into several dangerous creatures. They were the toads that he had barely escaped from in the past.
The toads must have been starving as other than consuming the flies, they were also hunting ants near to the ants' nest. Most of the toads were successful in hunting, as the smaller-scaled ants' army was unable to retaliate.
However, a toad that was around 10 centimeters large was courting death as it approached the small hill next to the ant nest.
A soldier ant stung the toad with its stinger and injured its leg, and soon, the toad suffered attacks from five more soldier ants. As expected, the thousands of ants that flooded out of the nest completely swarmed it.
…
At noon, System decided to head back to his lair and rest after hunting for the entire night.
He no longer ran into the old Druid during that period.
At that moment, System felt an irregular drumming vibration in his heart and blood, while an odd feeling rose.
However, he was unable to grasp what that feeling was.
Just then, amidst unique thunderings, a gigantic locust flew past him.
The large locust was amber and around 20 centimeters. It turned around and flew straight toward System…
-- Gift
received