System hadn't expected his lies and trickery to earn him Foolish's loyalty. Even after hearing him say that he wasn't the queen ant, Foolish had still attacked the mouse without hesitation.

  Looking at Foolish's incomplete body, her skull cracked and blood still flowing from her severed legs, System's heart was deeply touched.

  Why did she do this?

  System didn't understand, so he sent a mental message to Foolish, again saying, "I'm not the queen ant. I'm a grasshopper."

  "..."

  Foolish didn't respond, remaining silent once more. She opened her mandibles and y in pce, ready to guard System against any dangers. However, the remaining antenna on her head shook slightly, obviously receiving the mental message sent by System.

  "I'm really a grasshopper, not the queen ant."

  System continued to send mental messages.

  "No, you are the ant...queen," Foolish finally responded. Her mental message was very firm, and she seemed unwilling to admit that System wasn't the ant queen.

  "...I am not."

  After a long sigh, System expined again. He didn't know why he insisted on expining this to her. Even though he knew that Foolish would probably rebel against him immediately after she understood, he still did it.

  "You are...the ant queen."

  It seemed like Foolish still couldn't accept what he was telling her. However, the next moment, she suddenly gave a reply that was beyond System's expectations.

  Foolish seemed to have figured something out. She sent a message to System, "You are the ant...queen, no, you are...the empress."

  System was stunned for a moment. He remembered that when he'd first met Foolish, because he was lonely and hadn't cared whether she understood him or not, he'd talked about a lot of things on his own.

  Foolish might have learned the word 'empress' at that time.

  "Why do you think I'm the empress?" System continued to question Foolish.

  This time, she didn't send him a mental message, but used [Mental Connection] to send him several images.

  There was a scene of System giving Foolish the translucent stone, a scene of him chatting with her using [Mental Connection], a scene of him ordering her to eat a lot of food so that she could say goodbye to hunger, and a scene of him gently stroking her head with his forelegs...

  Many scenes that were insignificant to System were sent through their connection, but he could feel Foolish's extraordinary gratitude and excitement from these images.

  "Is that why you think of me as the empress?"

  "Yes."

  Hearing Foolish's confirmation, System knew that if his body could move, his grasshopper face would definitely be wearing a smile.

  "Nonsense. I'm obviously male, so how could I be called an empress?" System sent a mental message with a very rexed tone.

  Foolish didn't seem to understand. She used her remaining leg to slowly turn her body around and showed System a puzzled expression.

  System looked around at Foolish and the dozen or so ant rvae nestling beside him. He suddenly figured something out...

  Whether it was Foolish or these ignorant ant rvae, he could still gain their trust even if he stopped lying about being the ant queen. He didn't have to lie about his identity at all.

  System said to Foolish, "Don't call me empress. That's a name for females. Call me king. As long as I'm here, I'll be your king."

  "King?"

  Foolish conveyed a message of confusion. It was obvious that she couldn't fully understand the meaning of the word.

  "A king is a person who is elected as the highest leader in some pces because of his high education, great wisdom, and extraordinary talents."

  System expined to Foolish what he remembered of the concept of kings from his previous life. He didn't concern himself with whether she could understand him or not and sent the mental message directly.

  Foolish obviously didn't understand the concept very well. She thought for a long time before sending another mental message.

  "If you are the king, then what am I?"

  "You are a soldier ant. No, if I'm the king, it's obviously not appropriate to call you a soldier ant. Then you..."

  System fell into deep thought, and he suddenly remembered a profession that suited her—knight.

  Knights in his previous life had followed eight codes, and Foolish seemed to adhere to most of them already.

  Humility!

  Foolish wasn't arrogant. Although she had the power to command worker ants, she'd never treated them maliciously.

  Sacrifice!

  Do you possess great courage? When you need to pay a price to fulfill the interests of the majority, do you dare to make the sacrifice?

  Perhaps this was difficult for highly intelligent races, but for a soldier ant like Foolish, sacrifice was a trivial matter.

  Bravery!

  There was no doubt that cowards weren't worthy of the honorary title of knight. People without courage couldn't pass the test of knighthood at all.

  Foolish was born brave and had excellent fighting talent.

  Faith!

  If human knights believed in their religions and their kings, and ants believed in their queen, then Foolish believed in System.

  Honesty!

  Honesty was a praiseworthy virtue wherever it was practiced.

  Foolish would never lie.

  Justice!

  Being fair, impartial, and strictly abiding by the w.

  Ants were born with their own set of rules, and so was Foolish.

  Foolish directly followed six of the knight's codes.

  System said, "Since I am the king, you are a knight who protects the king!"

  "Knight...?"

  "Yes, knight."

  System gave a confirmation to Foolish, and at the same time, he sent a series of images to her mind.

  The knight in the scene practiced sword skills and martial arts every day, constantly sshing his sword against a wooden stake.

  Later, the knight, while cd in armor and holding a great sword, half-knelt and swore allegiance to the king, saying the knight's oath.

  The scene changed. The knight now rode on a warhorse and charged into combat with the enemy.

  Then the scene sent by System changed to one from a magical world. The knight, riding through the sky on the back of a fiery red dragon, attacked a dense army of undead.

  "Is this...a knight?"

  "Yes."

  "Knights, stronger than mice," Foolish remarked.

  "Yes, stronger than mice..." System echoed Foolish. He then thought of something and continued, "Foolish, let me give you a name."

  "...Name?"

  "Just like I call you Foolish, I'll give you a new name. How about Sava? No, soldier ants are female, so a feminine name is more appropriate. Your name will be Shava."

  "I, Sha...va."

  "You, Shava."

  System sent a message to Shava and confirmed her name.

  At this moment, the boiling blood in System's body suddenly cooled down, and his third transformation finally began...

  ...

  Shava, with only her left forelimb remaining, stared at System for a long time. She found that her king had not responded yet and seemed to have fallen asleep.

  She couldn't fully digest and understand the various mental messages that System had sent her, but she had a deep impression of the images of knights and kings.

  Shava especially liked the scene of the knight half-kneeling and swearing allegiance to the king. She also wanted to swear her allegiance to System in the same way.

  She tried to make her body look like a human half-kneeling to swear allegiance, but her limbs were almost all gone, so she couldn't perform such difficult movements at all.

  Using her only remaining forelimb, Shava tried to stick the stinger on her tail into the soil so that she could form a posture simir to a human half-kneeling. However, even after trying hundreds of times, she still didn't succeed.

  Finally, Shava could only lie on the ground and make a half-hearted oath of allegiance to System. She even staunchly pressed her st remaining leg against her chest exoskeleton.

  "I, Shava, swear an oath of...allegiance...to be...loyal to the king, and to be sincere...and faithful, and never leave his side."

  After Shava finished her oath, she used her remaining left forelimb and abdominal joint to twist her body and crawl out of the cave.

  The exoskeleton on Shava's head was a little cracked, and several of her legs had been severed one after another by the mouse. She'd lost a lot of blood from her numerous wounds, making her body very weak.

  However, Shava felt that she was now more full of strength than ever before.

  She was the king's knight, and she had to protect the king's safety!

  Three hours ter, Shava, after using her broken body to crawl and roll countless times through the cave, finally managed to maneuver her way to the exit.

  Over the next ten minutes, several bck and brown worker ants gathered around her. In ant society, disabled ants like Shava who had basically lost their ability to move had only one fate. She would be killed by her fellow ants, then her body would be collected.

  Shava adjusted her disabled body and started her first battle since officially becoming System's knight!

  ...

  A few hours passed.

  Dozens of worker ants had arrived near System's temporary nest and were busy patrolling. They were guarding the nest.

  Among these worker ants, there was a very strange soldier ant. Five of this soldier's six limbs were missing, and she was being carried by four workers.

  This soldier ant had many tiny new scars on her body. She seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep due to her numerous injuries.

  However, even in her sleep, the soldier ant held her head high, looking very proud...

  ...

  While sleeping, Shava had her first ever dream.

  In the dream, she rode on the back of a lizard and easily defeated the mouse that had offended the king.

  With an intact body, she swore the knight's oath to the king with great honor and dignity, and the king presented her with a shiny red stone as a reward.

  She was also touched on the head by the king's forelimb.