Thinking

Rowan carefully recalled his past once more. Fortunately, his "insect life" had not been long. Even counting from the moment he "hatched," not much time had passed, and he could review the entire span in a mere instant.

Could it be that the genes carried by his own body had been activated? Just like the digging feet? That was not impossible, but what use could this thing possibly have?

It was frustrating not being able to choose which gene fragments to activate; it resulted in things that just gave him a headache. Rowan desperately wanted to grow up and reach maturity, but that was impossible; it required a long period of time and accumulation.

Reflecting on his "insect life" again, apart from the few types of insects he had encountered, his food sources were pitifully scarce. Root juices, White Grub, Black Algae, ants, Black Beetle, Camouflage Bug...

Wait, Rowan traced his thoughts backward and noticed a new discovery: ants?

He then remembered he had also taken a bite of a Stinky Earthworm. Although he had spat out most of it, who knew if he had absorbed some random gene fragments from it?

Upon reflection, that didn't seem right; the Stinky Earthworm didn't have this kind of abdomen. They were clearly different species, so he ruled it out.

The ants didn't have it either, so the clue hit a dead end.

Rowan refused to believe it; this big butt couldn't have appeared for no reason. There had to be a trail to follow.

He recalled that every evolution brought him exactly what he needed most. So, what did he need most right now? A big butt? That was absurd.

Suddenly, Rowan remembered the day he watched the Camouflage Bug ambush and kill the Black Beetle. He seemed to have spent a long time pondering philosophical questions then. Could the problem have stemmed from that?

Could an individual, relying solely on itself, reach the ultimate peak and ignore everything else? Yet, on the road to the strongest, before one actually becomes the strongest, weaknesses always appear, and one can be targeted by various means. So, before reaching the ultimate peak, was the power of the collective necessary?

These questions had left him dizzy at the time, and he hadn't found an answer even after thinking for a long while.

But if he used this as a starting point and followed the logic, Rowan guessed a terrifying answer.

Deep in his heart, the answer to the question had already been provided: the power of the collective.

But Rowan was currently a lone insect, not even seeing a shadow of his own kind. Where was he supposed to seek the power of the collective?

The answer was practically screaming at him...

Yet, Rowan did not want to accept it. This was not what he wanted.

Thinking of his predecessors who seemed to have followed the path of individual martial prowess, he realized that with no one to teach or guide him, relying solely on his own exploration had indeed led him astray.

Since his predecessors hadn't walked this path, they naturally wouldn't have left behind any gene fragments. Thus, the root of the problem still lay within himself.

He considered the greatest possibility to be those ants. At the time, he had first picked up the body closest to him, then grabbed a head the second time, and on the third and final time, he had carefully chosen the largest one...

Could that have been the body of a queen ant? Rowan didn't know much about it, but he knew that queen ants usually hid deep in their nests and never came out.

However, there were rumors that all ants carried queen genes, and if the queen died, the lack of certain pheromone suppressions would cause them to mutate into a queen.

It was also possible that a queen from a split colony had just stepped out with her followers when she was snapped in two by a Black Beetle "war god." That would explain why those ants had attacked so crazily and fought to the death. Damn, this plot could be written into a novel.

But that was the behavior of ants back home; he didn't know what these things were, even if they looked similar.

He thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out. Even if he did, it was already a done deal; it was too late to say anything.

His inner self had chosen the power of the collective and, very considerately, solved his "lone insect" problem for him...

But the solution was to give him a reproductive organ so he could give birth himself!

Actually, what Rowan truly rejected wasn't the choice of collective power. To be honest, living cautiously and walking on thin ice these days, he did want a few companions—at least someone to keep watch.

But he couldn't accept this method. Didn't this mean he had become a female insect? This was a matter of dignity as a male; he absolutely could not compromise!

But now that the wood was carved into a boat, what was he to do?

Rowan felt a bit bewildered again.

Thinking about the problem gave him a headache, and mental labor seemed to consume a lot of energy. Plus, having just woken up, he needed to replenish his food supply rapidly.

"I'll go find some food first. Only when I'm full will I have the strength to think about this."

Although he told himself he would think after eating, in reality, it wasn't easy to control what his mind wandered to. Sometimes, the more you try not to think about something, the more you involuntarily continue to ponder it.

Therefore, throughout the journey, Rowan dug half-heartedly, his mind never stopping.

Actually, if Rowan were in his mature stage, this problem would be easy to solve; he could just evolve it away. But he was only a larva now and didn't possess such abilities.

However, the successful case of replacing his licking-style mouthparts with chewing-style mouthparts gave him new hope and a new line of thought.

Back then, he had strongly resisted and complained about those mushroom-shaped licking mouthparts, and as soon as he got new gene fragments, he replaced them immediately.

So now, if he strongly resisted the reproductive organ behind his butt, would there be a chance to revert it to its original state?

His train of thought was clear, his goal was defined. Rowan's eyes lit up, and he dug with much more vigor.

He didn't go to the surface; with his current bloated and clumsy physique, going up there would be like feeding the enemy—he'd be reported for throwing the game.

So, he just found some plant roots underground. Since his stomach had shrunk, he ate very little. After hurriedly filling his belly, he immediately returned to the small cave he had dug temporarily.

Since he had just woken up and not much time had passed, Rowan lay on the ground, unable to fall asleep for a while.

He still didn't know how this evolution function worked. Did he have to be asleep for it to trigger? Could it not be activated while awake? In an instant, a flurry of questions popped into his head.

As the saying goes, true teachings are but a single sentence, while false teachings fill a thousand books.

He had a mountain of questions that needed answering. If only someone could offer a few words of guidance, he wouldn't have ended up in such a miserable state, accidentally changing his own gender...

Being idle was boring besides thinking about problems, so he prepared to study this new organ a little. Even if he couldn't evolve it away, he needed to know what he was dealing with.

Actually, he was quite curious about it.

Curiosity is the primary driving force for development. The first step for a girl to fall in love with a boy is to become curious about him.

If a bug were to become curious about one of its own organs, what kind of sparks would that ignite?

Curiosity leads to exploration, and Rowan sensed it slightly; this new organ was connected to the very end of his abdomen.

There was a small hole there that he had previously assumed was an excretory vent, but after he lost his last three segments during a fight, that little hole had naturally vanished as well.

After the wound healed, the hole that had disappeared somehow grew back at some point.

Yet, up until now, Rowan had only ever expelled fluid, and that had been through a hidden pore located in the middle of his abdomen. Therefore, he had never used the one at his rear and had no idea what its actual function might be.