"Queen ant, egg."

  Compared to ordinary insects, System could tell that this soldier ant was actually very smart. While ordinary insects found it difficult to communicate through [Mental Connection], Foolish was able to send System a short message after just one afternoon. Although the ant wasn't as smart as Quin, she was still a retively intelligent insect.

  Rather than saying Foolish was stupid, it was more accurate to say that she was simple-minded and stubborn, and that she easily trusted others without question.

  Foolish had completely accepted System's newly fabricated identity as the ant queen. She thought she was System's child, so she completed every instruction he gave her meticulously.

  After he grabbed the ant egg that Foolish was holding in her mouth, System continued to conduct his tests on her.

  "Bring me an ant rva."

  System had first ordered Foolish to steal some food that was being carried back to the nest by worker ants. He'd then progressed to having her steal food that had already been stored inside the nest. Now, he was even ordering her to directly steal the ant colony's eggs and rvae. His tests on Foolish were escating step by step.

  He found that even if he told Foolish to commit suicide or go deep into the ant nest to assassinate the "fake" ant queen, she would obey his order without hesitation.

  However, he only gave the order for the tter two, then immediately told her to stop. It was impossible for him to let Foolish commit suicide, and even if she succeeded in assassinating the ant queen, the end result wouldn't be good for System.

  After he selected a deep crevice between the rocks, System ordered Foolish to carry the food inside, then jumped away from the ant nest.

  ...

  As the sky gradually grew dark, System began to explore the surrounding forest. Because of his [Dark Vision] and newly acquired [Enhanced Vision], he could now see better at night than he could during the day.

  On top of that, because his mental strength had greatly increased after receiving Quin's inheritance, [Information Reading] could be used continuously for more than ten minutes, which was more than three times longer than before.

  In fact, although System had gone out to forage in the dark before, this was the first time he'd gone exploring at night.

  There were many more mosquitoes in the forest at night. They flew together in groups, and it seemed like they were performing some kind of mating ritual.

  Every few meters, System would see a spider sitting in its web and waiting for prey, and one or two toads with bulging abdomens would appear on the ground from time to time. He saw them frequently spit out their tongues to catch any mosquitoes that were flying nearby.

  The forest at night seemed dangerous and mysterious.

  System noticed a small bat shuttling back and forth in the sky. He was immediately on guard, and he prepared to take action to avoid any attacks from the insect hunter.

  However, before he could act, the little bat seemed to have noticed him, after which it quickly flew away.

  System had a sudden realization. This bat, which was about the same size as him, didn't regard him as prey at all. Instead, out of fear, it chose to keep its distance. He was no longer the little grasshopper he used to be.

  Ignoring the bat, System continued to explore the surrounding area.

  There were many different targets for System to hunt at night, but most of them weren't what he was looking for. If he only hunted these normal insects, it would be an inefficient use of his time, since creatures like those could simply be snatched from ants instead.

  He was still looking for magical creatures like slimes that he could eat.

  When System had inherited the grasshopper queen's power, he'd also obtained many of her memories. Her memories of hearing the Voice of the World and gaining her unique mental talent were vague, but her memory of the pnt that had caused her rapid growth was very clear.

  Everything had started after she'd eaten a light blue fruit. That was when Quin had set off on a different path from ordinary grasshoppers.

  ...

  Although System's idea was good, searching for magical creatures in the forest was like looking for a needle in a haystack. He didn't find anything even after spending all night looking.

  However, when he returned in the morning after his failed exploration and went to see Foolish, he made an amazing discovery. He'd found a way to spend the winter safely.

  With this easy method to survive the winter, System no longer had to look for magical creatures to improve his strength as soon as possible. After all, looking for food like the blue fruit Quin had eaten was like buying a lottery ticket and hoping for that once-in-a-lifetime lucky win.

  System only had to prepare calmly and safely, steadily fill his experience bar, and wait another dozen or so days to undergo his third metamorphosis. After that, he could easily survive the winter safely. He didn't have to worry even if it snowed for two or three months straight.

  This amazing discovery was because of Foolish. After an entire night of work, she'd filled the rock crevice System had randomly selected the previous day with food.

  The crevice System had chosen was very rge for ants, and its capacity was about the size of a can of Coke from his previous life.

  Foolish had filled the crevice with food in just one night, and not because she was exceptionally strong or anything. In fact, while soldier ants were rger than worker ants, worker ants were far better at carrying objects.

  Foolish's ability to carry food was as bad as one would expect from a soldier ant. Even if ten soldier ants just like her carried food all through the night, it would be impossible for them to fill the rock crevice.

  The reason Foolish could fill the crevice with food was because she'd mobilized a rge number of worker ants!

  When System came back from exploring, nearly a hundred worker ants were coming and going near the rock crevice.

  Under Foolish's command, the worker ants moved in an orderly fashion while depositing the food they were carrying into the crevice.

  Once the crevice had been filled, the worker ants continued to pile food into other nearby crevices, while Foolish walked among the worker ants with dignity and guided the busy worker ants from time to time.

  Her performance had far exceeded System's expectations.

  Letting soldier ants command worker ants to carry food was something that System's human wisdom had never thought of. He hadn't expected Foolish to think of an idea like that on her own.

  Now that he knew that Foolish could mobilize the colony's worker ants, he immediately thought of countless possibilities, including a pn to use these worker ants to build his winter nest.

  By using these ants who were good at digging, not only could he easily build an underground nest, he could even build an extremely luxurious one.

  He'd originally pnned to dig a simple cave two meters deep underground, which would have allowed him to avoid the worst of the winter cold.

  Now, he could completely rely on these hardworking worker ants to dig a cave five meters deep, and he could also have them dig rooms in the cave to use as a granary.

  System only needed to have Foolish instruct these worker ants to dig wider passages so that he could enter and exit freely.

  As for filling the granary, these hardworking worker ants could also collect food. If the food collection was progressing too slowly, the ants could even be asked to bring food directly from their own nest's warehouse.

  Once winter arrived, not only would he not need to remain in a motionless, hibernation-like state, he could even keep eating underground to further improve his strength.