System thought about the old druid.

  If the grasshopper swarm hadn't been eradicated, their offspring would have formed an even rger swarm a year ter and endangered the forest. If System was a druid responsible for protecting the forest, he might very well have done the same thing.

  But what did the grasshoppers do wrong?

  What did Quin do wrong?

  There was no right or wrong in this matter. System knew that this situation all came down to a difference in perspective between two completely different species.

  And he was no longer a human being...

  ...

  A grasshopper's body wasn't suitable for digging. By the time System finished burying the queen's body, it had already been dark for a long time.

  Perhaps because his mental power had been enhanced by his new abilities, he didn't feel any mental fatigue. He felt that he could still go for two or three more days without rest.

  System seemed to have gained some kind of mysterious power from the grasshopper queen. He could feel something flowing into his body from time to time from the air around him, and his experience was slowing going up as well.

  Earlier, when Quin had transmitted her powers to System, his experience bar had reached the peak of level 10. Now, even if he did nothing, his level would reach 11 in another hour or two.

  However, he had no intention of thinking about these things. He just used his legs to tidy up the soil above the queen's burial mound while secreting [Corrosive Mucus] onto the soil from time to time.

  He had to try his best to eliminate the smell of the queen's body from the soil in order to prevent her from being discovered by insects like ants.

  ...

  In the early morning of the next day, System advanced to level 11, and his body grew to fourteen centimeters long. He was now almost the same size as a small bird, but his strength and speed made him much more powerful than any little bird.

  During his level up, some of his abilities also improved. [Hunger Resistant Physique] (5/11) upgraded to [Hunger Resistant Physique] (6/11), while [Dark Vision] (4/5) upgraded to [Dark Vision] (5/5).

  He could now see much more clearly in the dark, and his stomach's capacity for food had gotten even more extreme.

  He also gained a new ability—[Enhanced Vision]. With this ability, his compound eyes could now see things that were farther away.

  ......

  [Enhanced Vision] (3/9): A Derived Skill obtained from [Insect Adaptability] and [Mental Transmission]. Provides improved visual crity and increased viewing distance.

  ...

  System looked up into the sky. Although they were still a little blurry, he could now see the rolling clouds above that had always fascinated the grasshopper queen...

  'Quin, what do you think I should do?'

  ...

  System sorted out his emotions, then suppressed and buried them deep down in his heart.

  He knew that no matter what he chose to do in the future, he first had to extend his life and survive through the winter.

  Because of the old druid's trap, there were now fewer insects in the forest, and most of the ones that had died were those capable of rapid flight.

  For example, ants, spiders, and mosquitoes, creatures that could only move forward on their legs or were slow, suffered almost no losses.

  After all, the old druid's trap had been too far away from them. It would have taken too long for these creatures with poor mobility to reach the trap located several kilometers away.

  System guessed that before they could even reach the old druid's light ball trap, it had already dissipated.

  After he left the grasshopper queen's grave, System searched for a new pce to forage and rest. He looked for some small insects to prey on while also testing out the [Mental Transmission] and [Mental Connection] abilities he'd inherited from the queen.

  [Mental Transmission] was a very strange power. By consuming a small amount of mental power, he could communicate with all things.

  However, perhaps because the talent's level was too low, or maybe for other reasons, he could only get his [Mental Transmission] to work on certain types of life forms.

  He could use [Mental Connection] to connect with herbs at a distance of half a meter and feel the emotions of the pnts.

  The emotions of pnts were usually very simple. They longed for sunlight and for their roots to absorb rainwater. When System bit them, they would also emit some pained emotions.

  However, pnts did not have any thoughts. Whenever System used [Mental Transmission] to transmit information to pnts, the pnts wouldn't give him any response.

  In addition to pnts, System could also communicate with insects through [Mental Transmission] and [Mental Connection]. It only worked on insects, though. Arthropods like spiders had no reaction when he used [Mental Transmission].

  Through [Mental Connection], he was able to get feedback from insects when he communicated with them. Although they couldn't communicate at as high a level as the grasshopper queen, System could still roughly understand some of their thoughts.

  For example, when he told a caterpilr through mental messages that the leaves it was eating were highly poisonous, the caterpilr stopped eating and showed a conflicted look. It clearly still wanted to eat the leaves, but at the same time, it didn't dare to.

  "Poison? Poison? Poison? Poison? Poison? Poison?"

  It sent out one-word mental messages to System like a repeater, and when he sent back an affirmative answer, "Yes, the leaf is poisonous," the caterpilr became even more hesitant. After a while, it took the initiative to leave the leaf.

  System didn't find any other caterpilrs in a short time, so he didn't know whether all caterpilrs would react in the same way.

  While he only found a single caterpilr, there was no shortage of ants in the forest. His tests on the ants were very thorough. In addition to telling the worker ants that the food they carried was highly poisonous, he also told them some interesting lies.

  When he told the ants that he was their fellow ant, they generally chose to believe him and sent back friendly emotions. However, it wouldn't take long for the ants to realize that they'd been fooled, at which point they would angrily attack him.

  After an ant turned against him, no matter what information he sent the ant using [Mental Transmission], the ant would ignore it while attacking him angrily.

  Of course, there were exceptions to everything.

  System's lies had an extraordinary effect on one bck and brown soldier ant.

  This soldier ant was from the same species as the bck and brown ants that System had targeted with his first robbery. Her huge head occupied half of her body, and she had a stinger on her abdomen.

  He had low expectations for his experiments on this soldier ant. This ant, with her violent temper, would probably just attack him without hesitation like the two soldier ants he'd used [Mental Transmission] on previously.

  However, the results of his tests on this soldier ant far exceeded System's expectations. After he used [Mental Transmission] to communicate with the ant, he discovered that she was surprisingly obedient.

  She not only believed System's cim that he was a member of the same ant species, she even believed him when he said that he was her queen. This soldier ant unquestioningly obeyed his every command.

  If he asked her to lift her left front leg, she would lift all three of her left legs. If he asked her to lift her middle leg on the left, she would also lift all three of her left legs. If he asked her to lift her left hind leg, this ant would really only lift her left hind leg...

  Except for her low intelligence, this soldier ant was perfect. Because this ant was exceptionally dense, System gave her a nickname, "Foolish."

  ...

  Because of Foolish, System had set his hunting area near this ant nest so that he could observe Foolish's situation and use the ant to perform any necessary tasks.

  In fact, except for being easily deceived by System, Foolish didn't seem to be all that stupid at ordinary times.

  She would guard the entrance of the ant nest diligently, sometimes directing the worker ants to move in an orderly manner near the nest, and would also take the lead in charging forward when she found an intruder.

  Of course, after System appeared, in addition to completing the above daily tasks, Foolish would also, under System's instructions, take the initiative to snatch the food carried by her own worker ants and hand it over to System.