The Birth of the Mother Nest, the Genesis of the Swarm

Now that a large organ was attached behind that small hole, Rowan finally understood its purpose.

He could transport the food he consumed through this small hole and into this large organ. His abdomen was currently compressed like a hardtack biscuit, significantly reducing the amount of food it could store internally.

Therefore, most of the food he ate was funneled into the new organ, which then converted the food into energy. As for what the organ did with that energy, Rowan had no desire to experiment.

If it actually ended up birthing an egg, he would be ruined.

By not experimenting now and pretending he didn't know, he still had room to maneuver later. But if he let curiosity turn his hypothesis into reality, he knew he wouldn't be able to handle the consequences.

Lost in these wild thoughts, time flew by, and he eventually drifted off to sleep.

In his dream, Rowan saw the large organ behind his rear end open a slit at its tip, then pop-pop-pop spray out little bugs, while he watched them with a look of benevolent affection.

Feeling as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped on him, freezing him from head to toe, Rowan woke up with a look of sheer terror.

The scene in the dream was too horrifying; if that were to actually happen, he would truly have to end his life to preserve his dignity.

It took a while for the lingering fear to subside, but his body still felt incredibly exhausted—a sign that his energy reserves were depleted.

Instead of being alarmed, Rowan was delighted; this was a sign that his body was undergoing further changes!

He first checked his head, thorax, and back, but there were no changes, and his size hadn't increased.

He let out a soft sigh of relief; at least the vanished energy hadn't been wasted elsewhere.

Then, he looked toward his abdomen with great anticipation, only to see that it had returned to its normal state, no longer looking like a compressed biscuit.

However, to Rowan's shock and anger, the new organ was still attached to his rear end.

A question mark appeared over his head. What was the meaning of this? Did it just restore his stomach? Aside from making his body longer and his movements clumsier, what was the point? Was it trying to get him killed faster?

However, he soon sensed a subtle difference.

With a mere thought, the new organ detached from his rear, becoming a separate entity that sat on the ground.

Then, he moved his rear toward the opening on top of the new organ, and with a click, it reconnected to his body.

Rowan was stunned; he could only marvel at the sheer creativity of his evolutionary ability!

To prevent him from having self-destructive tendencies while still granting him the power of a collective, it had chosen a compromise: it had turned this new organ into a detachable device.

Rowan just wanted to shout "Amazing!" at the top of his lungs.

From now on, he could use this new organ like a machine. In times of crisis, he could even drag it along like a cart.

In this way, his integrity was preserved.

Regardless of what anyone else might think, Rowan believed it himself, and he kept hypnotizing himself until he was firmly convinced of this explanation.

Since the critical issue of his integrity was resolved, Rowan's desire to explore the new organ erupted.

He studied its functions with great enthusiasm.

After some fumbling, he gained a rough understanding.

First, it was a living thing and required a constant supply of energy to survive.

It possessed an independent digestive system and energy conversion system.

The feeding method could be done by directly connecting it to the hole in his rear to transport food, or by dropping food directly into a funnel-shaped receiver on its upper side.

Rowan decided to forget the first option; this new organ only had one feeding method.

It had no independent will of its own; all its actions were governed by Rowan, and Rowan's will was its will. This was easy to understand, as it belonged to Rowan and had detached from his own body.

Rowan decided that this information must be kept strictly confidential.

Furthermore, any part of Rowan's body—his head, his limbs, or even his rear—could trigger its functions just by touching it.

Its function was exactly as Rowan had guessed: it produced small bugs. It shared all of Rowan's genetic fragments except for his evolutionary ability, allowing him to combine them at will to produce corresponding insects.

This function had an added benefit: it gave him a roundabout way to view the genetic fragments within his body. For instance, he discovered that he had indeed acquired some genetic fragments from the Black Beetle, which was a pleasant surprise.

Of course, the new organ had no predatory capabilities, and all energy supplies had to be provided by Rowan.

Even so, it still made Rowan shout "Badass" in his heart.

Before long, he would be a bug with minions of his own.

However, he couldn't keep calling it "new organ" forever, as that would expose certain secrets. It needed a new name.

Rowan considered it for a moment; he would call it the "Mother Nest" from now on!

A very fitting name.

With the name decided, the next step was to test its performance.

Rowan was eager to try, but his stomach was empty, so he went to find food first.

He didn't feel comfortable leaving the Mother Nest alone in the cave.

The Mother Nest itself had no offensive or defensive capabilities. If something were to accidentally wander in while he was out foraging and take a few bites out of it, ruining it, he wouldn't even have tears left to cry.

With no other choice, he shamefully reattached the Mother Nest to his rear and dragged it along with him.

He crawled upward along the tunnel he had used to forage earlier; although it was a makeshift path and had collapsed in several places, it was still less effort than digging a new one.

Reaching the roots of the unknown plant, Rowan began to replenish his food.

After eating his fill, he began to figure out how to feed the Mother Nest. In truth, he had a convenient, quick, and highly efficient option available to him at this moment, but he would never choose to do that.

There was no help for it; he had to bite open the roots himself to suck out a bit of sap, then spit it into the funnel-shaped intake of the Mother Nest. The process was somewhat indescribable, so it shall not be detailed here.

This method was terribly inefficient. After working for half the day, the Mother Nest hadn't collected much energy, but Rowan was exhausted to the point of death.

During this time, Rowan kept touching the Mother Nest to check if the accumulated material was enough to produce a single insect.

Originally, he had designed the insect using himself as a prototype, while adding some of the robust genes from the Black Beetle.

The oxygen supply system of the Black Beetle was not much more advanced than Rowan's, but its internal muscles were far more developed, allowing it to compress oxygen and transport it further, which was how it supported its massive body size.

Later, he thought that doing it that way was not as good as simply creating an enhanced version of the Black Beetle instead.

Regrettably, the amount of material required to create such an insect was simply shocking.

Moreover, the conversion ratio of the substances contained in the sap into energy was extremely low. At Rowan's current efficiency, he would have to work non-stop for a very, very long time to collect enough energy.

This was completely different from the scenario he had envisioned earlier. If things continued this way, the Mother Nest would not only fail to become an asset, but it would also drag down his own growth rate.