Discovery

This ability is quite good, especially those powerful hind legs. Unfortunately, this insect is highly vigilant; the moment Rowan flicked a blade of grass, it was startled away. Although it didn't jump very far, the vegetation here is dense, and Rowan's "Clairvoyance" is severely hindered in such an environment.

No matter how good his eyesight is, it isn't X-ray vision; he cannot see through these thickets of weeds to the distance. Since his greatest advantage on the surface is gone, it is safer to travel underground.

He is not far from the lake, and the ground is relatively moist. Not long after he began moving, he sensed some movement. After carefully approaching, he discovered it was actually an earthworm.

This earthworm looks different from that stinky one that tried to ambush him back then. Its entire body is a dark red, and it doesn't look as ferocious as the Stinky Earthworm.

At this moment, the earthworm is wriggling through the soil. Rowan figures that since they have met, it is fate, so he might as well take a bite and have a taste.

The more gene fragments in his gene bank, the better; one never knows when one might come in handy. Just like this time, although the Stinky Earthworm was hard to swallow, its ability to extract nutrients from eating dirt was truly remarkable. That bit of energy replenished at a critical moment could save his life.

Since he has stumbled upon a new variety of earthworm, Rowan naturally wants to see if he can collect new genes. Perhaps different types of earthworms can absorb different nutritional components from the soil. Once he collects enough and fuses them through evolution, he might reach a point where he can eat dirt without needing to use the bathroom. By then, he will truly be formidable.

He grabs one end of the earthworm. There is no need to be picky now, so he shoves its soil-covered body into his mouth. This earthworm seems rather pathetic and has no ability to resist Rowan's attack.

Perhaps because Rowan has swallowed even stinkier things before, although this earthworm tastes a bit earthy and has a slight stench, it is still relatively easy to accept.

After eating half of the earthworm's body, Rowan lets it go. Although the earthworm has lost half its torso, it remains full of vitality. In a short while, it burrows into the soil and disappears.

While its vitality is enviable, Rowan has long been able to achieve limb regeneration. However, this gene fragment seems to be slowly integrating into his body, gradually making his recovery even stronger.

Compared to this, however, he actually wants to taste the spider that ambushed him on the cliff. As for whether he can obtain the spider's gene fragments, Rowan is not too worried.

Although spiders are not insects, Efiash is not exactly a proper insect either. While it did look like an insect when it was first born, the definition of "insect" here is not the same as the one on Blue Star.

During the growth process of Efiash, the types of biological genes it fuses are strange and varied. If one had to classify it, it would be the Insectoid race rather than mere insects.

Even if the current members of this race might be limited to just Rowan.

After thinking for a while about the gap between him and that spider, no matter how he looks at it, he has no chance of winning in a one-on-one fight. If it weren't poisonous, he might be able to hold his own with his sturdy armor. But once poison is involved, the combat power undergoes a qualitative change.

A one-on-one fight won't work, but if he brings all the little brothers from the Insect Nest and learns from the Earth-Yellow Ants, a tactic of overwhelming them with numbers might be feasible. He could use cannon fodder to exhaust all the venom stored in the spider's poison sac, and then swarm it.

This method is sound and highly feasible. Since he wants to develop the power of the collective, he cannot always think about fighting alone.

However, there is no rush for now. He needs to find a place to build a nest first, and then go back to bring the insects over.

As for the location of the nest, it is best to find a place with many ant hills.

Ants are indeed widely distributed. Rowan hadn't dug very far underground before he discovered some familiar hollow tunnels.

He climbed to the surface and, sure enough, discovered many Black Ants. Rowan carefully identified them and found that these ants should belong to the same species as the Black Ants in the desert above.

That makes things easy. He changed his pheromones and brazenly crawled into the Black Ant nest.

The layout of the paths inside the nest feels very familiar. Rowan followed the thickest tunnel to the Hatching Room and was surprised to find other old acquaintances there.

As the saying goes, when old acquaintances meet, they are especially jealous. Rowan sent them on their way with a few mouthfuls of thick phlegm. Then, based on the conditions of the Hatching Room and the Storage Room, as well as the number of Soldier Ants, he analyzed that this ant nest likely has over five thousand members.

This place near the water source and with dense vegetation is truly rich in resources; any ant nest he discovers is much larger than those in the desert.

After mooching a meal, Rowan crawled out of the ant nest and began to scout the surrounding area.

Since there is such a large ant nest here, it means there are no major threats in the vicinity; otherwise, with the Black Ants' mediocre combat power, they could never have developed to such a scale.

Therefore, Rowan doesn't want to dig holes underground anymore. Underground, there is nothing but tree roots and earthworms. To obtain more gene fragments, he needs to be on the surface.

He crawled cautiously through the grass. Occasionally, grasshoppers of various colors and sizes would jump out beside him. Most of these grasshoppers stayed on the grass leaves and were very alert. With Rowan's body size, it was too difficult to approach them silently. So, although there were many grasshoppers, Rowan still hasn't had the chance to perform his "talents" on them.

He also discovered many new insects along the way, but most were unremarkable and lacked any special skills worth mentioning. Since Rowan had just mooched a good meal and wasn't very hungry, he couldn't be bothered to engage in "talent exchanges" with them.

In addition, he discovered many Black Ants foraging for food.

Under a piece of gravel, a group of Black Ant worker ants dragged out a long, semi-circular insect. The insect was covered in a thick dorsal shell and possessed many joints and small legs. Now, besieged by the ants, it curled its entire body into a ball.

The numerous worker ants had no way to deal with the insect's armor, but they surrounded it tightly. Every time the insect unfolded its body to try and escape, they would swarm it. The insect had no choice but to curl its body up again.

However, this only delayed its death for a while. Rowan saw a huge Soldier Ant, led by a few worker ants, crossing the grass to get here.

Sure enough, a moment later, the battle erupted again. The insect's armor could not withstand the powerful weapons of the giant Soldier Ant, which was specialized for combat. After a few rounds, it was severely wounded and lay on the ground, its body badly damaged.

The worker ants swarmed it, broke it into small pieces, and carried them back to the ant nest.

Rowan also discovered these diligent Black Ants on the stems and leaves of many plants. Some stems and leaves were covered with a type of small, green, translucent insect.

However, the Black Ants did not attack them; instead, they patrolled nearby. Every so often, these small insects would lift their abdomens and excrete a clump of viscous liquid. A worker ant would crawl over and use its mandibles to scrape this liquid off the insect's rear.

Then, after a while, it would spit out a semi-solid, jelly-like substance and feed it mouth-to-mouth to a companion who hadn't harvested anything...

Rowan looked at that jelly-like substance and found it very familiar. He remembered that he seemed to have eaten some of this in the ant nest earlier; the sweet, delicate taste was quite good.

He had been thinking at the time that it was great to have such good things here, but now, he only felt nauseated and wanted to vomit.