Chapitre 38: King And Knight (3)

Éditeur: Atlas Studios

To System's surprise, his lies and suspicion earned him Foolish's loyalty.

Foolish had not hesitated to attack the mouse even after System had revealed that the was not the ant queen.

System examined Foolish's crippled body, shattered head, and the bleeding wounds where its legs were supposed to be, and felt touched.

"Why did you do that?"

For some reason, System sent a telepathic message to Foolish once again. "I'm not the ant queen. I'm a grasshopper."

"…"

Foolish did not reply and remained silent. It opened its mouth and showed its mandibles, staying in its position to protect System. However, the remaining antenna on its head trembled slightly, proving it had received System's message.

"I'm a grasshopper, not an ant queen."

System kept sending the same message to Foolish.

"No, you're, ant… queen."

Finally, Foolish responded to System. Its telepathic message was firm, and it seemed like it did not want to admit that System was not its ant queen.

"… I'm not."

System sighed and tried to explain again, though he also was unaware why he insisted on telling this to Foolish. Although he was aware Foolish would likely turn against him if it understood, he still did it anyway.

"You're… ant queen." Foolish seemed to be reluctant to admit the truth.

However, in the next moment, Foolish said something that exceeded System's expectations.

Foolish seemed to have figured something out and sent a message to System, "You are, ant… queen, no, you are, queen."

System was stunned for a second. Then he recalled speaking to her a lot after their encounter because he had been lonely and had not cared whether she would understand or not.

Probably, that was when Foolish had learned the word queen.

"… Why do you think I'm the queen?" asked System.

This time, Foolish did not send him a telepathic message. Instead, she used [Spirit Connection] to show him several images.

Amongst them was the image of System giving Foolish the transparent stone, the image of System chatting with Foolish using [Spirit Connection], the image of System ordering Foolish to eat plenty of food so that she would not starve anymore, and the image of System gently petting Foolish's head using his foreleg…

Several scenes, which were insignificant to System, connected, and he sensed Foolish's gratitude and excitement from them.

"Is that why you think of me as a queen?" asked System through a telepathic message.

"Yes."

Foolish gave an affirmative response, and System knew that if his body could move, he would be smiling.

"Nonsense! How can I be called a queen when I'm a male?" asked System in a relaxed tone.

Foolish did not seem to understand what he meant. She slowly turned her body using its remaining foreleg and showed System a puzzled look.

System looked at Foolish and the ant larvae curled next to him before he suddenly came to a realization. Be it Foolish or those ant larvae, he could earn their trust without lying about his identity.

He did not have to lie about being the ant queen!

System said, "Don't call me Queen, that's for females. Call me, King. As long as I'm still here, I'll be your King."

"King?" asked Foolish, confused.

Obviously, she could not fully understand what exactly System was talking about.

"The king is someone that has been elected as the highest administrator by the people of the world because of his wisdom and ability."

System remembered the explanation of the concept of king in his previous life. Whether or not Foolish could understand, System still sent the telepathic message.

Evidently, Foolish did not quite understand its meaning. She pondered for an extended period before sending a message again. "You, are the King, then, what am I?"

"You, you're a soldier ant… No, since I'm the King, it's not suitable to call you a soldier ant anymore, so you…"

System fell into contemplation when he suddenly recalled a class—knight!

In System's previous life, knights abode to eight principles, and Foolish seemed to fulfill the criteria for most of them.

Humility!

Foolish was born not to be arrogant. Although she had the power to command normal worker ants, she had never been malicious towards them.

Sacrifice!

Did you have the courage to sacrifice yourself when it required you to pay a price to serve the majority's interests?

It might be difficult for a normal, intelligent race, but it was an insignificant matter to the soldier ant, Foolish.

Bravery!

Undoubtedly, cowards were not worthy of the honorary title of knighthood. Those without courage could not even pass the test of knighthood.

And Foolish was born to fight bravely!

Faith!

As the human knights believed in religion and kings, the ants believed in their queen, and Foolish believed in him—System.

Honesty!

Honesty was always a praiseworthy virtue, and Foolish did not even know how to tell a lie.

Justice!

Impartiality and strict adherence to the law.

Ants were born with their own set of rules, and so was Foolish.

…

Foolish already possessed six principles out of the eight.

System said, "Since I'm the King, then you're the knight who guards the King!"

"… Knight?"

"Yes. Knight."

System gave it an affirmative answer while showing her the image he had formed in his mind.

In the image, the knight was practicing his swordsmanship and martial arts daily, chopping at the wooden stakes.

The knight was wearing armor and holding a huge sword, half knelt to the King, reciting the Knight Oath.

The image changed as the knight charged to and fought with the enemy on his horse. Then System imagined the fantasy world. Now, the knight rode a fiery red dragon and soared through the sky, attacking the dense Undead legions of undead…

"Is this… knight?"

"Yes."

"Knight, is more powerful, than, a mouse."

"Yeah, much more powerful than a mouse…" System agreed as he thought of something and added, "Foolish, I want to give you a name."

"… Name?"

"It's like how I've been calling you Foolish all this time. How about giving you a new name, like Suva? Wait, soldier ants are female. I think a feminine name would be more appropriate. Your name will be Shava."

"I, Sha… va."

"You, Shava."

System sent a message to Shava, confirming her new name.

Suddenly, System's boiling blood started to cool down—his third molting had finally begun!

…

After staring at System for a long time, Shava, whose left foreleg was her only limb, finally noticed that her king had entered a state of deep sleep.

She was still unable to fully digest and understand the messages that System had sent to her, but she had a deep impression of them.

Shava especially liked the image of the half-kneeling knight that pledged allegiance to the King, and she wanted to pledge her allegiance to System like that as well.

Shava tried to imitate the half-kneeling human, however, as almost all of her limbs were gone, she was unable to imitate at all.

Shava used her foreleg and tried to stick her stinger in the soil so that she could imitate the pose.

Unfortunately, after hundreds of attempts and dozens of failures, she was unsuccessful.

Shava ended up having to lie on the ground and make an oath of loyalty to System, and she even pressed her remaining foreleg against her chest exoskeleton.

"I, Shava, take the oath, pledge to be… loyal to my king, and never leave his side."

Once Shava finished, she used her foreleg and movable abdominal joint to wriggle out of the cave.

The mouse had severed almost all of Shava's legs, while her head's exoskeleton was shattered. Although her wounds and the huge blood loss made her very weak, Shava felt that her body was full of power!

Shava was the King's knight, and she had to ensure his safety.

Three hours later…

Shava, with her crippled body, fell and rolled down the cave many times before she finally crawled to the cave's exit.

Ten minutes later, several dark brown worker ants gathered towards Shava.

In the ant society, a crippled ant, like Shava, would meet only one end—the ants would kill her and collect her carcass.

Shava dragged her crippled body to her first battle since she had officially become System's knight!

…

After a few hours, a dozen worker ants appeared near System's temporary nest, patrolling busily and guarding the temporary nest where System was.

Amongst those worker ants was a peculiar soldier ant. She had lost five of her six legs, and four worker ants were carrying her like they were her steeds.

There were many tiny new wounds on the soldier ant's body, and she seemed to have fallen asleep as she was physically weak.

However, even though she had fallen asleep, her head was raised high and looked very proud!

…

In her slumber, Shava had a dream, and this was her first time dreaming.

In the dream, she was riding a lizard and defeated swiftly the mouse that had offended her King.

Then, with a complete body, she took an oath of knighthood before the King, and the king gave her a red stone as a reward.

At the same time, the king petted her on the head with his foreleg…

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Chapitre 39: Third Molting (1)

Éditeur: Atlas Studios

As soon as System's blood cooled down, he lost all sense of the outside world.

He was unable to see as if his compound eyes had lost their function. His vision, which was still clear due to the mushroom's fluorescence a moment ago, was suddenly lost. It was as if the lights had been turned off out of a sudden.

System could not hear nor smell while his antennae seemed to have lost their function. Previously, he could smell the cave's fishy odor and sense the gentle breeze, but they were undetectable now.

System could not feel touching the ground, the flow of his blood, or the beating of his heart. He had even lost the sense of temperature, gravity, and direction. He perceived that his body should be up but suddenly realized that he could not discern which direction was up.

He was also unable to use [Self-Information Generation], which he had been using with ease.

System could only feel the presence of his spirit and the time passing by.

…

As if in the midst of chaos, System thought to himself, 'How's Shava…

Suddenly, his spirit detected a very violent tremor. It was not the first time, as it pervaded him on a regular basis three or four times per second.

"Is this my… heartbeat?"

After becoming aware of this, System could feel his body again.

Although he was still cut off from the outside world, he had a clear grasp of his body. He could sense his blood flowing through his body and the movement of his flesh.

System had regained his body's consciousness, meaning he could use [Self-Information Generation] now.

Thus, he activated [Self-Information Generation], and it displayed the progress of [Molting Growth] on it.

He was undergoing his third molting successfully, and soon, a familiar rhythm came from his bloodline, urging him to make a choice.

[Choose!]

System did not hesitate and channeled the strengthening power the [Molting Growth] generated to [Digital Code].

Soon, System appeared in the ocean of numbers once again. He turned into a giant ball of light, with several planets made of numbers surrounding him in a fixed orbit.

This time, System was under the impression that the sea of numbers around him was different. Many numbers gathered randomly and aggregated to form different solid-shaped blocks, floating freely in the sea of numbers.

After observing for a while and not finding anything strange, System began to channel the power of [Molting Growth] to enhance the sea of numbers.

Perhaps due to this being his third molting, the power generated by [Molting Growth] was potent.

The giant number-formed planet that had ultimately failed to aggregate in the sea of numbers the last time succeeded easily this time. Then, that planet started to orbit around System, and countless numbers gushed out of it, gradually forming a brand new satellite around it.

System could tell the [Molting Growth]'s power was gradually decreasing while strengthening the sea of numbers. Due to the previous two molting experiences, System had learned his lesson. Thus, he voluntarily withdrew from the sea of numbers, avoiding the possibility of falling in a coma.

After exiting, System observed and perceived his molting body's changes. His flesh and blood were moving regularly, albeit slowly. The molting process was progressing smoothly, and just like the previous two times, he did not need to control anything by himself.

However, at that rate, it seemed that his third molting would take a considerable amount of time before completion.

System checked the [Self-Information Generation] and realized that his talent [Digital Code] had increased by two levels.

[Digital Code] (3/3) → [Digital Code] (5/5)

Many of the abilities associated with [Digital Code] were also improved. At the same time, he had acquired an extraordinary ability, [Data Compilation], and its derived ability, [Ability Enhancement]. They were the newly-formed giant planet and its satellite in the sea of numbers.

…

[Data Compilation] (3/5): A special talent acquired from [Digital Code] and [Molting Growth]. Has the ability to compile and process data. System's unique talent.

[Ability Enhancement] (3/5): A derived ability from [Data Compilation]. Allows you to strengthen the ability of yourself or other targets. System's unique ability.

…

System did not know much about his talent [Data Compilation] and had the feeling that he could only use some basic features of this strange ability.

Surprisingly, even its basic features were very special.

System could use that special ability and create a brand new interface by slightly altering the [Self-Information Generation]'s interface.

He could easily add some functions to it, such as a timer, measure, compass, calculator, video recording, and camera.

System was not a programmer in his previous life and had not worked with anything related to program compilation, but he easily created a menu interface now.

Unexpectedly, at the moment when the menu interface was created, System acquired a new ability.

…

[Information Menu] (2/5): A derived ability created by System using [Data Compilation]. Has the unique ability to measure time, identify direction, calculation, photo-taking, etc. System's unique ability.

…

System designed the [Information Menu]'s interface somewhat similar to the computer desktops and smartphones in his previous life.

System discovered that the [Information Menu] he had casually created could also be integrated with some other abilities.

He easily integrated three derived abilities, [Self-information Generation], [Information Entry], and [Information Reading] into the [Information Menu].

Immediately after the integration, these four abilities combined into one and became a new ability.

…

[Tools Menu] (5/12): Special ability created by System by the integration of [Information Menu]. Has many unique abilities, such as viewing self-information, information entry, reading, and analyzing. System's unique ability.

…

System played with his [Tools Menu]. He was a bit curious about his [Tools Menu]'s form in [Digital Code]'s sea of numbers. If he were to enter it now, how would it look like?

Would it be a planet? Satellite? Or… a comet?

System continued manipulating the [Tools Menu] and tried to incorporate [Data Compilation]'s derived ability, [Ability Enhancement] as well.

However, after several attempts, he found that it could not be integrated.

Although [Ability Enhancement] was a derived ability of [Data Compilation], it was a complex ability that System had yet to understand. That's why he was unable to integrate it.

Although he could not understand, System could still use this ability freely.

[Ability Enhancement] was special and gave System the feeling that he was playing an RPG game. Because of that ability, he could now control the EXP bar in his body and distribute the points at will.

Actually, it was not an EXP bar. After he had mastered [Ability Enhancement], System found that the EXP bar could raise his rank and was actually more like his potential stored in his body.

[Ability Enhancement] allowed System to use this potential and strengthen his various abilities.

In the past, during the leveling process, his body's instinct and [Insect Adaptability] effect had been responsible for automatically strengthening his abilities.

It was just like the stats and skill points that could be freely assigned when a game character leveled up. The only difference was that the only thing System could assign his EXP bar.

Not only that, but System also discovered that he could even use this ability to strengthen other targets…