章 34: You Are Not The Ant Queen
編集者: Atlas Studios
System used [Corrosive Slime] to block the pathway near the rocks to prevent any wandering ants.
Sometimes, System used [Mind Transmission] to brainwash the eggs near the rocks, jumped to the construction site led by Foolish to check the progress of the nest, or picked and carried the eggs that Foolish brought. He appeared to be very busy.
Three days passed…
System had successfully brainwashed the first batch of 13 eggs.
It was a little earlier than System had expected, and most of the eggs would be successfully brainwashed in just about two days and would never doubt him. Only two of the eggs needed three days to be brainwashed completely.
After brainwashing the eggs, they would act as if they were back to their mum's embrace as soon as System used [Spirit Connection]. They also transmitted their peaceful emotions to System as they were already dependent on him.
System guessed that even if time passed, these eggs would never betray him.
However, compared to the smooth brainwashing process, the progress of searching for different types of ant eggs did not fare well. After checking hundreds of eggs in the past three days, System had only managed to find three extraordinary eggs.
Most of the eggs contained worker ants. As for the other two kinds, he only had five eggs and one egg, respectively.
The five eggs should be soldier ants. System was uncertain whether the last egg contained a male or female ant.
In fact, no matter what, System would not be satisfied.
What he wanted was a female ant and a male ant, only by having these two kinds of ants could he safely breed the next generation.
With no choice, System could only ask Foolish to look for more ant eggs in order to gather all kinds of ants as soon as possible.
In three days, Foolish's construction team made huge progress compared to looking for ant eggs. Presently, Foolish commanded nearly 150 ants to widen all the passages in System's cave to a suitable size, without further instructions from System.
Foolish seemed to have become smarter.
…
Ants were social-type insects that lived in colonies, and their living habits were simple but complex.
It was complicated because of the social relationships of the ant colony. Sometimes, they would engage in many behaviors that normal people would not understand, but these behaviors usually had some meaning behind them.
On the other hand, it was simple because everything they did had a clear purpose—the colony's prosperity. And that was also why the two kinds of female ants, worker and soldier ants, which were not capable of reproduction, had to live under harsh conditions.
When they pupated from larvae to adults, they would have to work tirelessly. They would only eat the minimum amount of food needed to maintain their physical fitness.
Foolish was the same as she would only eat a small amount of food every day.
However, this situation changed when Foolish met System. The latter had ordered her to eat for several days until her abdomen was somewhat stretched. Thus, Foolish's size slowly increased.
Her rank should have increased too, but she did not have the talent [Digital Code] like System did. As such, Foolish's growth was only a slow change and not a sudden increase in size like System's.
After these few days, Foolish's body had grown from 3cm to 4.5cm, and this growth had not stopped completely. She was still growing step by step.
Due to her increment in rank and communication with System using [Spirit Connection] from time to time, Foolish had learned how to think. That might be the reason why Foolish had become smarter.
Although she was not as good as Quin, Foolish clearly possessed a new trait.
During the process of directing the worker ants to build System's nest, she always liked to hold a translucent stone the size of a peanut.
This stone was the one that System had accidentally found in the forest and picked up as it was pretty. He did not know if it was a crystal, a diamond, or some other kind of stone.
System had found that Foolish seemed to like the stone and then gave it to her. Since then, Foolish always carried that stone.
Sometimes, she would grasp the stone and play on the ground or would hold it against the sun or moon in the sky and observe. Nobody knew what she was looking at.
Anyway, System found that Foolish had become more intelligent.
…
Because of her growth in intelligence, the overwinter cave was built very spaciously. Hence, System commandeered this place to build a cave with a depth of one and a half meters.
System had to be alert of the surroundings while he was brainwashing the ant eggs near the rocks, which was very inconvenient.
This overwinter nest, the one quarter that Foolish had completed, was suitable for System. Its empty rooms could allow him to store some food and ant eggs temporarily.
As for the overwinter nest's construction, System could have Foolish build a new cave because of the increased efficiency of Foolish's construction team.
System moved into the cave with many ant eggs once he planned and decided everything.
Two days passed quickly.
Foolish's construction team systematically constructed a new overwinter nest, and her progress was expected to reach the one commandeered by System soon.
On that day, System finally gathered all kinds of ant eggs after selecting from nearly 200 ant eggs. He had met the most necessary condition in order to breed a nest of ants.
Also, other than brainwashing the ant eggs for the past two days, System had cultivated a magical product in his free time.
In the dim cave, he managed to use his solution, which was used to digest meat and some dead leaf impurities, to cultivate a type of mushroom that was commonly seen around there.
It was a magical edible mushroom that tasted like normal mushrooms, with a faint yogurt taste. Although it did not have any magical power, this kind of mushroom could emit faint fluorescence.
After observation, System had found that this mushroom's fluorescence would only appear during its growth. When it stopped growing, this faint glow would slowly disappear.
System could not figure out why it could shine.
As the nutrients needed for its growth were too much, he only cultivated a few of the mushrooms in the cave, in order to make his [Dark Vision] work just fine.
Another day passed…
Of the 20 or so ant eggs that System had brainwashed, one finally hatched into an ant larva successfully. It seemed that the growth cycle of these dark brown ants was not very long.
After hatching, the ant larva's attitude toward System did not change much and treated System as the colony's queen.
System picked some soft fungus and butterfly larvae to feed the ant larva. It loved the food System provided it and grew at a fast speed.
Everything seemed to be going according to System's plan, but things went wrong at the most unlikely part…
On the day when he used [Spirit Connection] to communicate with Foolish, as usual, she suddenly sent him a message.
"You, not, ant queen…"
"What?"
System had never thought that he would fall into a panic when facing Foolish.
-- 贈り物
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