Having mastered the use of [Insect Ability Activation], System didn't intend to immediately capture different kinds of insects to activate more abilities in his body.

  One reason was that he needed to be cautious with his choices due to potential ability conflicts, and the other was that he simply didn't need to activate too many new abilities right now.

  He had a lifespan of more than four years, and there were no creatures around that could threaten him. There was no need to rush to improve his strength. Instead, he should make a safe and reasonable pn for the future.

  Although System still didn't know much about this world, he was much stronger now than he'd been when he'd just woken up more than a month earlier.

  This was a magical world with all kinds of supernatural powers that he'd never witnessed in his previous life. He'd already seen a druid, slimes, and goblins, and he estimated that this world would also have even higher level fantasy races.

  System still didn't have a very clear understanding of the strange energy in the air that flowed into his body from time to time. He had no way to control this special energy at the moment and could only absorb it instinctually.

  After thinking about it for a while, System decided not to worry about the strange energy floating in the air for the time being.

  Concerning his future development, his goal for now should be using [Ability Enhancement] to strengthen his [Ultrafast Digestion] as quickly as possible. In that way, he could gain more experience in the same amount of time. He could then use the increased experience to continue strengthening [Ultrafast Digestion], forming a positive cycle that would result in him rapidly enhancing his rate of growth.

  Once his [Ultrafast Digestion] grew to a certain extent, System pnned to start dividing his newly gained experience into two parts—one for him, and one for others.

  He'd use some of the experience to strengthen Shava's [Pupation] talent with [Ability Enhancement]. His goal was to help Shava go through her second pupation as soon as possible so that she could heal her badly damaged body.

  Most of the remaining experience would be given to the female ant rva. System would either use [Insect Ability Activation] to help her unlock more abilities or use [Ability Enhancement] to enhance the ones she already possessed.

  He'd already decided to cultivate the female rva into a powerful queen ant. He wanted her to have excellent egg-ying prowess and also wanted to improve the quality of the offspring she produced.

  In this way, as ants continued being born, System would get more assistants. The ants would harvest more and rarer food, which System would then eat to gain more experience. Later, he'd use that experience to continue strengthening the queen ant so that she could produce more and more powerful offspring...

  In this way, he would undoubtedly create an excellent virtuous circle. By that time, it wouldn't be impossible to use the ant colony to start hunting small animals.

  ...

  After deciding on a pn, System began implementing it in an orderly manner.

  He first instructed Shava to continue building the winter nest that had been on hold for the past few days. He also had her begin renovating the nest to make it more spacious, then asked her to deal with the remaining ant eggs.

  With all of the necessary work out of the way, System began paying visits to his new slime friend to ask for food.

  Three days passed quickly.

  Because System constantly strengthened [Ultrafast Digestion] by swallowing little slimes, the ability had already risen to level 6.

  He was now able to digest food about two and a half times faster than he could originally. In just three hours, he could now digest an amount of slime that used to take him half a day to digest. System estimated that his [Ultrafast Digestion] would be able to reach its maximum level in another ten days.

  Right after absorbing another ball of slime, System's [Molting and Growth] talent finally upgraded to level 14. He could now picture what he'd become after his fourth metamorphosis.

  However, his future appearance was vague, as if it was covered by a yer of smoke. The mental image soon faded, and he could no longer picture his future self at all.

  During these three days, in addition to using his experience bar to continuously strengthen [Ultrafast Digestion] and returning to the temporary nest to feed the ant rvae, System would also fly up into the sky from time to time to scan for any special creatures below.

  In addition to discovering several birds that could emit lightning, on the previous night, System had finally found the slime that he hadn't been able to locate before.

  It turned out that there was a cave covered by grass near the swampy woodnd where the slimes lived. Perhaps because the inside of the cave felt cool and damp, the other slime had hidden there to rest for the past few days without coming out.

  This slime was simir in color and size to the other slime and would also obediently follow System's instructions.

  When System ordered the two slimes to combine together to form a rge slime, they actually succeeded. However, before long, the rge slime actively separated and formed two slimes again.

  It seemed that these two slimes were individuals that had been formed by one slime splitting into two. When a slime grew to a certain size, it would actively split and form two new individuals.

  ...

  After two days, System's three tentacles that had been bitten off by the mouse were already completely restored thanks to the power of [Limb Regeneration].

  Except for the fact that the newly grown tentacles were slightly lighter in color, and their skin was a little softer, they were almost exactly the same as before.

  Now that System's tentacles were fully recovered, in his free time during the next two days, he used them to catch some insects. First, he wrapped his tentacles around them to tie them up, then he collected information about them.

  System discovered that when he used the power of [Perception] to investigate insects with his tentacles, any mature insects would indeed feel a strong desire to mate.

  Whether it was butterflies, dragonflies, or mantises, these insects would have the same reaction after System wrapped them up and studied them with his tentacles. Even spiders, which weren't insects, had simir reactions.

  However, his tentacles couldn't detect the abilities of spiders, and he couldn't use [Mental Transmission] to feel their emotions, either, so he wasn't particurly clear on what the spiders were thinking.

  System found that after he used this ability, although he didn't feel anything happening to his body, his desire for mating was greatly reduced, and he no longer had to use reason and willpower to restrain his increasingly strong desire to mate.

  It must be said that this unusual situation gave him a very strange feeling.

  ...

  System put a small frog that he'd caught with his tentacles into his mouth. He only ate a few bites before tossing it away. He then packed up another portion of slime to take back to his temporary nest.

  After three days, System had gained a general understanding of Shava's second pupation by asking her questions and investigating with his tentacles.

  She'd indeed sensed her second pupation, and she was also very close to achieving it. When Shava's level increased to 12 and her [Pupation] talent improved a bit, she'd begin her second pupation.

  It turned out that eating slime, in addition to benefiting [Molting and Growth], also had an excellent effect on Shava's [Pupation] talent. As long as she kept eating slime, System estimated that she'd be able to successfully begin her second pupation within half a month at the test.

  After he returned to the nest, System discovered a problem while performing a routine inspection.

  Over the past three days, the first batch of pupated ants had already emerged from their pupae, but System could only locate six of the eight worker ants within the nest.

  Two of them were missing...