Flight

The Super Giant unit, despite having an extremely rudimentary oxygen supply system like the ant template, is able to grow to such a large size. It relies on its incredibly powerful muscles to force oxygen to every part of its body.

Therefore, this incredibly dense muscle has a remarkably high energy conversion rate.

When Rowan woke up, not only did he have wings, but his Mother Nest had also grown back.

Previously, Rowan had only speculated about the regeneration of the Mother Nest. Only now that the speculation has become a fact has Rowan breathed a sigh of relief.

Perhaps due to insufficient energy supply during growth, the Mother Nest appears somewhat underdeveloped at this time. However, this is only relative to Rowan's size; compared to when the Mother Nest was first born, it is now many times larger after its rebirth.

They gathered some decaying branches and leaves from the surrounding area and stuffed them into the feeding hole of the Mother Nest. Although this first meal after rebirth was rather meager, life was really tight right now, so they would just have to make do for now; it was better than nothing.

The Mother Nest wasn't as picky as Rowan. After acquiring earthworm genes, she wouldn't even mind soil or pebbles. She claimed that everything within sight was food. So, eating some decaying leaves was naturally no problem for her.

After setting up the Mother Nest, Rowan crawled out of the cave.

If the Mother Nest hadn't been so important, he would have already lost control.

Soaring freely in the blue sky has always been the aspiration of every living being. Whether in his human form or in his current insect form, Rowan longs for a pair of wings of his own.

And now, the dream has come true.

The solid black carapace splits open from the middle and curves upwards to the side.

A pair of delicate, transparent wings sprang out after being folded, and then unfolded. The patterns on them were clearly visible, with a wisp of black along the edges and base.

Then the wings began to flap, and the speed increased, gradually lifting Rowan's bulky body off the ground.

Although he was not very skilled at his first flight and was swaying from side to side with the risk of crashing at any moment, Rowan was still so excited that he hissed.

Flying is an energy-consuming activity, especially for someone like Rowan, who relies on a pair of transparent cicada wings to propel his heavy and clumsy body weighing tens of kilograms. That requires an enormous amount of energy.

Therefore, Rowan, who had just awakened and whose body energy was severely depleted, was forced to land after less than half a minute of flight time and only twenty centimeters off the ground.

Rowan was a little disappointed, but he didn't complain. It wasn't like he was renting it; he could play with it after he had eaten and drunk his fill.

The poor Big-Headed Ant Leaf-Cutter Squad, after two days of peace, was once again ambushed by an unknown creature during transport, losing several Super Giants.

Enraged, the Big-Headed Ant dispatched a large swarm to sweep through the crime scene, but all that remained was a lingering stench and disordered pheromones; the culprit had long since vanished.

After replenishing his strength, Rowan brought two more back to the Mother Nest to speed up its recovery.

With everything arranged, he couldn't wait to begin his second flight experiment.

In the jungle, a large black beetle was flying slowly, half a meter off the ground. Its forelegs and limbs drooped naturally, and its pair of wings flapped rapidly behind it, making its afterimage indistinct.

Rowan was somewhat helpless at this moment. He could fly, but it wasn't quite what he had imagined.

His imagined flight was a series of flashy maneuvers in the air, flying at extremely high speeds, engaging in fierce and exciting dogfights with opponents, just like the scene of the Pterosaur fighting for food in the air before.

But now...

Looking at the scenery slowly moving behind him, his flying speed was not even as fast as when he crawled on the ground.

The gap between reality and expectations was too great, which made him somewhat disheartened for a while.

At this speed, aside from preventing him from being as disoriented as he was during a freefall like last time, it seems there's no other use for it.

However, his slow flight speed is not due to a lack of capability in the flight system; on the contrary, it possesses a considerable amount of advanced technology.

First, it has an extra set of muscles on its back specifically for flapping its wings. The proteins in its myofibrils are arranged very neatly, and the cross-section of the fibers is a clearly defined hexagon. This regularity allows them to flap their wings rapidly.

Rowan's normal fan speed is more than a thousand times per minute, and his maximum speed is more than twenty thousand times per minute. However, this high-speed fanning will generate a lot of noise and consume a huge amount of physical strength, but it will also greatly increase his flight speed.

The wings themselves are membranous with invisible folds. When needed, the elytra open, and the hidden wings underneath pop out and unfold like an umbrella.

Retracting it is a bit tricky, requiring flexible use of the flexibility and elasticity of the membrane wing's internal structure to achieve some complex transformations. Simply put, it involves "folding" the wings back onto the membrane wing along the creases.

At first, Rowan was quite unfamiliar with this operation. After retracting his elytra and membranous wings, a large portion of the membranous wings were still exposed. He thought that was how it should be and didn't pay much attention to it.

After observing the small green Insect Empress, I discovered that its membranous wings could be fully retracted, but it required the help of its hind legs. Essentially, it used its hind legs to force the membranous wings back under the elytra, and the wings would automatically fold along the creases.

If that were all, those wings wouldn't be able to support Rowan's heavy body at all.

Now, the darkest part is coming.

The elytra, which originally belonged to the carapace, have been fitted with a massive number of ultra-miniature pyramidal structures. Driven by the high-speed vibration of the wings, these structures generate longitudinal waves of magnetic particles at their tips. These directional longitudinal waves produce a polarized magnetic particle phenomenon, which in turn generates a shielding gravitational field effect.

Simply put, it boils down to three words: anti-gravity!

The special structure of the elytra shields Rowan from some of the gravitational influences once the wings begin to flap, allowing him to fly with just a pair of light, thin wings, propelling his body, which weighs several tens of kilograms.

However, this system is not omnipotent; otherwise, Rowan wouldn't have complained so much about his flight speed.

Achieving faster flight speeds is actually quite simple: permanently alter the body's structure, abandoning the Exoskeleton Armor and some protective structures to reduce body weight, and changing the rounded body shape to a streamlined one.

This will increase his flight speed.

Moreover, after several days since regaining consciousness, he has gained some understanding of the changes within himself.

His unknown length of slumber had greatly enhanced his racial talents, allowing him to autonomously select gene fragments to modify himself.

If he wanted to, the operations described above would be perfectly fine; all he needed to do was replenish his energy and go into hibernation to pupate.

However, after careful consideration, he decided to temporarily abandon the idea.

The jungle terrain was complex, and his membranous wings were extremely delicate and couldn't withstand any rough treatment. The treetops, on the other hand, were the territory of the Pterosaur, who completely overwhelmed Rowan in both size and numbers.

In conclusion, flying faster wouldn't be of much help to his current situation.

Therefore, he chose defense over speed.

Thank you for the donation from Whisper of Darkness.

The idea that beetle elytra have anti-gravity properties is not just a myth.