System imagined the scene of the fearless ant army and the slime fighting each other. He felt that it was very likely for both sides to suffer heavy losses.

  The slime would devour countless ants, but the endless stream of ants would also cause serious damage to the slime's body. He couldn't guess how a battle between the two sides would end.

  The result would also depend on the scale of the ant colony. As long as the colony was rge enough, the slime would eventually be submerged by a torrent of ants.

  He just didn't know how intelligent these magical slimes were.

  When it found itself in danger, would the slime choose to fight the ant colony to the death, or would it stop as soon as it noticed a problem and jump away after eating only a few ants?

  ...

  Conveniently, the slime was only about twelve meters away from the reddish-brown ants' nest, and System had already discovered a simple way to lure it over. He just needed to keep tossing twigs in the appropriate direction.

  During his previous tests, he'd discovered that the slime's behavior followed a very simple pattern. As long as there was even a tiny abnormal vibration nearby, it would move in that direction.

  If this slime maintained that behavior and didn't move around randomly, System was certain that he could attract it over to the ant nest by throwing roughly one hundred twigs.

  Now that he'd made up his mind, he quickly took action.

  Just now, he'd been more than a little annoyed by the slime's scent trap, so even if tossing a bunch of twigs to lead it over to the ants would waste a lot of time, he was definitely still going do it.

  System spent some time searching for suitable twigs and creating stockpiles that he set up between the nest and the slime. Once that was done, he only needed to accurately toss the stashed twigs over and over again to slowly lure the slime to the nest.

  The slime's intelligence was indeed very low. Just as System pnned, it steadily hopped and rolled its way closer to the ant nest.

  However, the slime's speed didn't match System's expectations. Usually, each time he threw a twig, the slime would only move about five centimeters. In addition, the terrain in the forest was complex. System estimated that he would have to throw more than two hundred twigs if he wanted to lead the slime all the way to the ant nest.

  By the time he finished, he would have been throwing twigs for at least seven or eight hours. The skies would have already grown dark by then.

  Just thinking about working under the night sky and the mental fatigue that would build up after so much boring repetition made him want to give up.

  But if he missed his chance today, who knew when he would find another slime to experiment on?

  System thought about it for a while before finally deciding to continue. He tried to make his movements more agile and efficient in order to save time.

  It was very difficult to direct the slime in the beginning, but as noon approached, his attempt to guide the slime made some unexpected progress.

  Several reddish-brown worker ants arrived near the slime. They appeared to be exploring in the slime's direction.

  Soon, once the ants moved close enough, the slime pounced, swallowing the entire group of worker ants into its body.

  It wasn't long before more worker ants crawled out of the ant nest for reconnaissance. The slime continued jumping and swallowing the ants, getting closer and closer to the nest with each attack.

  Ever since the first group of ants had shown up at around noon, System basically hadn't needed to take action. It almost seemed like the ants were actively trying to attract the slime to their nest.

  System guessed that ants and slimes made up a link in this forest's food chain. Even if he hadn't taken the initiative to lure the slime over to the ant nest, the slime was probably destined to fight against the ant colony anyway.

  However, System couldn't figure out who had the higher position on the food chain between the slime and the ants. Although it seemed like the slime was the one actively swallowing the ants as it progressed toward the nest, it might also be that the worker ants were acting as bait to reel in the slime.

  As the slime gradually approached the ant nest inside the rotten tree, more and more ants exited the nest, which caused the slime's swallowing actions to become more and more frequent. It was now rapidly encroaching on the ants' nest.

  System could see reddish-brown dots appearing inside the slime's body. Ant corpses were now starting to build up. It seemed like the slime couldn't completely digest too many ants in a short time.

  The slime slowly drew closer and closer to the ant nest until it was only half a meter away. Suddenly, ants began rushing out of the nest like a flood, all charging straight at the slime!

  The mandibles on these reddish-brown ants were slightly smaller than the ones on the bck and brown ants, and their bodies were also shorter and more slender, but they compensated for those disadvantages with their greatly increased speed.

  The slime started jumping and rolling non-stop, easily engulfing and swallowing hundreds of ants. However, as the slime continued its rampage, thousands of ants had already trampled over their companions and crawled all over the slime's getinous body.

  The slime was still swallowing more ants, but System saw that many worker ants were already carrying rice-sized chunks of slime back to their nest.

  The battle between the ants and the slime was extremely fierce. After half an hour, because the slime had swallowed too many ants, the viscosity of its body was greatly reduced, and many ant corpses and globs of slime began to scatter and fall to the ground.

  Not long after, perhaps due to some survival instinct, the slime gave up on its fight with the ants, choosing not to fight until the bitter end. It bounced away from the ant nest, and as it continued to bounce, more slime chunks and ant corpses continued to fall from the slime's body.

  When the slime had arrived, it was about twenty-five centimeters in diameter. By the time it left, it had swallowed countless ants, but its overall size hadn't changed. Obviously, much of the slime's getinous body had been bitten off and hauled away by the ant colony.

  Although the ants had plundered a rge amount of slime, they had also paid for it with the lives of tens of thousands of ants.

  The fight between the two was obviously a lose-lose situation.

  Under the guidance of the huge soldier ants, the remaining worker ants near the nest began hauling away the corpses of their dead companions while also carrying any fallen slime that was still on the battlefield back into the nest. The movements of the ant colony seemed orderly and well-practiced.

  ...

  System didn't stick around to watch the ants. He hopped off in the same direction the slime had headed while fleeing.

  There would definitely be a lot of slime chunks and ant corpses scattered along the path the slime had taken when it escaped. System would finally have a chance to taste the slime, and he could also munch on some ant corpses to fill his stomach.

  A steady stream of slime globs and dead ants fell from the slime's body as it continued to bounce away. It had already shrunk by nearly a third after traveling just over ten meters. Finally, it bounced into a puddle of mud and stopped.

  While keeping an eye on the resting slime, System decided to try eating a little of the scattered slime bits lying on the ground.

  The globs of slime that had dropped from the slime's body didn't die immediately. Instead, they slowly crawled on the ground, and it seemed as if they were trying to gather back together.

  However, only a few rge chunks of slime had successfully managed to join together. The smaller pieces had all completely stopped moving within a few minutes of leaving the slime's body.

  'Is this its way of splitting and reproducing?'

  System looked at a gently trembling slime ball about five centimeters wide that had gathered back together in front of him. He felt that he now had a better understanding of these magical creatures.

  He moved his insect head closer to the slime ball and took a bite.

  This small mass of slime seemed to still be alive. As System's mandibles touched it, the slime tried to bounce over and swallow him.

  However, this mass of slime was too small and weak, and System easily smashed it to the ground with his forelegs.

  As food went, the slime was pretty good. It had a texture reminiscent of yogurt and tasted like mushrooms, only more intense.

  The slime only had a slightly stronger fvor than caterpilr pupae, but the experience it provided was three times higher.

  As System sucked down the slime, he could feel it trembling gently in his stomach. The slime wiggling inside his body didn't make him feel uncomfortable. It was actually very much the opposite and felt surprisingly nice. It was like the slime he'd eaten was now massaging his abdomen from the inside.

  As the slime in his stomach was gradually digested, System also discovered that it had an extraordinary effect on his [Molting and Growth] talent.