Enhancing the [Cold Resistance] of ordinary ants didn't consume much experience. It seemed like ant pupae made excellent targets for System's ability.

  After spending only about 5% of his experience bar, System's [Ability Enhancement] had greatly strengthened the two pupae's [Cold Resistance].

  Unlike System's body that had been altered by his [Digital Code] ability, ordinary ants had a limit to how much their abilities could be strengthened by [Ability Enhancement] in a single session.

  Once an ability was strengthened to a certain extent, the ants needed to rest for a period of time before they could receive System's [Ability Enhancement] again. Otherwise, such rapid growth would cause their enhanced abilities to develop problems.

  System specuted that after two days of rest and another enhancement session, the [Cold Resistance] of these two pupae would reach its limit. He just didn't know what how effective the ability would become.

  For now, at least, the effect of their [Cold Resistance] had been significantly improved. The pupae no longer felt cold in the temporary nest, at least.

  ...

  After strengthening the two pupae's [Cold Resistance], System continued enhancing the female pupa.

  Although there was no longer a paired male ant, this female was still receiving System's special care, as she was destined to become the future queen of his ant colony.

  He spent another 10% or so of his experience strengthening the female ant's [Pupation] ability. The growth cycle of ants wasn't long. If he didn't strengthen the ability right now, then after only a few more days, it would already be too te. She would have broken out of her pupa by then.

  After strengthening the [Pupation] ability, although the female pupa didn't undergo any earthshaking changes like Shava's, the brown skin of her pupa became much smoother.

  As System continued busying himself with the two ant pupae, the frost fluctuations he occasionally felt from the outside world gradually subsided. However, by this time, he had already forgotten about them, so their absence went unnoticed.

  He entangled the female pupa with his tentacles for a while, then did the same for Shava, and finally wrapped his tentacles around himself.

  He discovered that when he probed himself with the [Perception] ability attached to his tentacles, he'd also feel an urge to mate, and a strange, comfortable sensation would flow throughout his body.

  Of course, System wasn't touching himself with his tentacles so that he could have any sort of strange experiences. Instead, he was trying to discover more about the [Molting and Growth] talent that was hidden in his bloodline.

  [Molting and Growth] and [Pupation] were the fundamental powers in an insect's bloodline. If there was no such power, insects would no longer be insects.

  There were various types of insects. Although their appearances were very different, there was no fundamental difference in the blood flowing through their bodies. System had discovered this point a long time ago.

  Today, when System had used [Ability Enhancement] to continuously strengthen [Pupation] for Shava and the female pupa, he'd gained a deeper understanding of [Pupation]. At the same time, he'd discovered more about the simirities between [Pupation] and [Molting and Growth].

  System suddenly had an idea. As soon as he thought of it, he couldn't wait to get started.

  Since the functions of [Molting and Growth] and [Pupation] were simir, and [Pupation] was obviously stronger than [Molting and Growth], would it be possible to activate [Pupation] in his own body?

  When he thought of this idea, the blood in his entire body trembled slightly. His [Intuition] brought him a premonition that it was feasible, and he felt that if he could successfully carry out his own [Pupation], his body would definitely experience unprecedented growth.

  'It seems that [Pupation] is truly superior to [Molting and Growth].'

  System ignored the refreshing feeling in his body that his tentacles had caused, instead concentrating on analyzing [Molting and Growth] in his blood and comparing it with the [Pupation] ability in the nearby pupae.

  He discovered that it was basically impossible for him to directly activate the [Pupation] ability in his body. The two talents of [Pupation] and [Molting and Growth] had a natural conflict between them and couldn't both exist in an insect's body at the same time.

  However, he could use another method, which was to completely transform [Molting and Growth] into [Pupation].

  Theoretically speaking, he could use [Insect Ability Activation] and [Ability Enhancement] to transform one ability into another.

  However, at the moment, he didn't have enough experience left in his body to withstand the consumption from transforming [Molting and Growth] into [Pupation].

  Also, System didn't know how likely he was to succeed in his attempt.

  After spending dozens of minutes sensing the blood inside his body, System reluctantly released his tentacles.

  Attempting to transform [Molting and Growth] into [Pupation] was definitely worthwhile, but he still needed to wait until he stored up enough experience.

  As he lowered his tentacles, System noticed that the worker ant's small pupa had begun trembling unnaturally, and it was conveying some uneasy emotions to him.

  System, who had bred many ants, knew that this worker would emerge from its pupa within a few hours and become a worker ant.

  He used [Mental Transmission] to appease the worker's uneasy emotions. After it eventually calmed down, System made his way through the main passageway and left the temporary nest.

  Since his newly upgraded body was able to handle the coldness of winter, he could now leave the nest to search for more means of survival in this harsh weather.

  ...

  The cold, biting wind was blowing incessantly on the surface. When System crawled out from underground, he saw that snowfkes had started falling from the sky again.

  Unlike the previous snowfall that had happened under a clear sky, this time the sky was very gloomy. It seemed like this snow was the normal kind.

  System caught two snowfkes with his tentacles and brought them into his mouth to taste.

  Although the snow still tasted slightly salty, compared to the previous snow, the salty fvor of these natural snowfkes was much worse, and it didn't have the umami taste of MSG.

  System changed into [Frost Form] and began condensing snowfkes by controlling the frost energy floating in the air, then put them in his mouth. He found that his condensed snowfkes tasted much better than the natural snow.

  He suddenly thought of something. He maniputed the frost energy floating in the air, causing it to gradually condense. After a few minutes, the frost energy finally formed a blue ice bead the size of a soybean.

  He popped the ice bead into his mouth, started chewing, and was happy to discover that it tasted delicious. Its saltiness wasn't too pronounced, and it gave off a kind of fresh feeling. It was like eating shrimp or fish, but the texture was a bit crunchy and strange.

  The ice bead provided thousands of times as much experience as the same weight worth of ordinary snow and filled up about 2% of System's experience bar.

  However, System could only condense this kind of ice bead while in [Frost Form], and it took three minutes to condense each one. In the limited time he could keep [Frost Form] activated, he could only condense three or four.

  He once again condensed an ice bead before releasing [Frost Form].

  Although these ice beads were rich in experience, they couldn't actually relieve his hunger, nor could they be used as food for his ant subjects. At most, they could be regarded as an additional way for him to gain experience.

  System looked around and started scanning the surrounding forest. He had abundant food resources avaible for the near future, as the leaves and weeds buried beneath the snow were enough to keep his stomach full.

  However, within a month or two at most, those leaves and weeds would dry out and lose their nutritional value.

  While System continued looking around, he discovered some special little things flitting through the air around him. There were extremely tiny white insects flying in the air.