Harvest

Although Rowan prided himself on being the main force of this operation, he had not expected that he would only end up providing the brains, with no actual need for him to strike throughout the entire process.

He considered that his combat power had improved significantly over the past two months; the spiders that were once several times his size were now only slightly larger than him.

However, no matter how confident he was, he did not believe he could defeat a spider in a one-on-one duel. After all, the spider's fangs were practically a cheat code, possessing such high lethality that if he were even slightly careless, he might end up being killed by the spider instead.

Yet, he never expected that such a formidable enemy, under the precise coordination of over a hundred insects, would be dealt with like a lamb to the slaughter, unable to put up any resistance at all.

This made him feel that the path he had chosen, which differed from other Efiash, might have even broader prospects.

At the same time, he had only mapped out a general plan for this battle, and the exquisite coordination displayed afterward was entirely carried out by the insects relying on their own instincts.

This served as a warning to him: he must never rely solely on his own strength and act recklessly in the future, or he might capsize in the gutter, just like this spider, played to death by insects much smaller than itself through sheer coordination.

By now, the large spider had ceased all movement; even if it were still alive, it posed no threat. Even if it could finish off all the Soldier Ants, it could not kill the numerous Scout Worker Ants that had burrowed into its body.

There were still many panicked little spiders scurrying about within the cliff crevices. These spiderlings were not yet fully developed and lacked combat capability, but they were excellent sources of protein.

In the spirit of not being wasteful, Rowan ordered the insects to begin hunting these spiderlings.

However, these spiderlings were extremely agile as they crawled on the cliff walls, and after working for a long time, the insects only managed to catch twenty or so, with the majority escaping.

Rowan did not mind; let them run. When they grew up, they would provide even more protein.

The purpose of this trip had been successfully achieved, and the most important harvest was right before his eyes; those scraps were not worth worrying about.

He dragged the large spider to the edge of the cliff and threw it down. Dropping it from a height of five or six meters wouldn't cause it to drift far, and he wasn't afraid of other insects coming to snatch it. If any insect dared to steal his spoils, they would surely be asking to see his "talents" in action.

Subsequently, the team climbed down the cliff face. Rowan divided the large spider, shouldered the largest piece himself, and headed toward the Insect Nest, while dispatching two Scout Worker Ants back to call for reinforcements.

After all, the spider was quite large, and since almost every insect was carrying some limb or another, they lacked defensive manpower. If they happened to run into Scout Worker Ants from another nest along the way, it would be troublesome.

At this moment, the Big-Eye Scout Ant, which had been rounding up the insects that were knocked away, caught up. Rowan took a headcount; aside from one Soldier Ant that had been bitten to death, two Scout Worker Ants were missing. It could be said that the losses were very minor.

Those two Scout Worker Ants certainly hadn't fallen to their deaths; they were likely nearby, and there was no need to go looking for them. They weren't far from the Insect Nest, so they might find their way back on their own, and even if they were lost, it didn't matter—they were just basic worker ants.

On the way back, they encountered the reinforcements from the Insect Nest: over twenty Soldier Ants and more than three hundred Scout Worker Ants. Once the two sides merged, they effectively held half of the Insect Nest's viable strength, so there was naturally no longer any fear of running into ants from other nests.

Along the way, they encountered a few Scout Worker Ants, but Rowan didn't need to intervene; the Scout Worker Ants patrolling the perimeter held them off until the Soldier Ants arrived to slaughter them.

Watching this orderly scene, Rowan finally felt a bit like a boss.

Upon returning to the Insect Nest, Rowan directed the insects to pile all the spider's body parts into his bedroom. Yes, in the new Insect Nest, he had dug out a bedroom as his private space.

The room was covered in dry wood shavings. These shavings were obtained by the ants gnawing through the roots of an unknown tree, waiting for it to wither, and then excavating them from the trunk.

This was a task that took a long time to complete, and Rowan naturally didn't have the time to wait slowly for a tree to wither. These shavings had been snatched from another ant nest.

He shooed the insects away and looked at the spider parts of various sizes before him; it was finally time to taste the harvest.

Because the spider had been broken down into such scattered pieces, and its outer bristles were truly difficult to bite through, Rowan didn't end up eating the whole thing, choosing only to consume the meatier parts.

He called a few Scout Worker Ants to clear out the leftovers in the room, and Rowan fell into a deep sleep.

The spider's genes brought about significant changes in Rowan. While he slept, his body surface gradually secreted a sticky fluid that enveloped him; the fluid slowly solidified, eventually turning into a pupa.

When Rowan woke up and saw that he was inside a pupa, he knew his changes this time would likely be substantial. He hadn't felt anything special in his dreams; it was just like a simple sleep.

He struggled out of the pupa. There were no mirrors in the room, so he couldn't immediately see his new look, which was a pity.

However, his field of vision was quite wide, and aside from a few blind spots, he could see almost his entire body.

After performing various contortions to inspect his body, he felt a bit puzzled.

To be honest, his external appearance hadn't changed much; his body was similar to before, without too many alterations. However, his six limbs had changed significantly.

They had transformed from short, stubby legs into long, slender ones, somewhat resembling the walking legs of a spider. They were much thicker, had more joints, and each leg was composed of seven segments, making them extremely flexible. The outer surface of the legs was also covered in sturdy chitinous exoskeleton, dotted with sharp barbs and fine hairs. The ends still bore small claws, and beneath the claws was a tuft of adhesive hairs with hooks.

Rowan recalled how he had once been pulled away from a cliff face only to be "stuck" back on by the spider's claw; now, he felt he could do the same thing.

He crawled around the room a few times and discovered that he could actually hang upside down on the ceiling of the cave and still crawl rapidly. He used to struggle just to climb a cliff vertically, so he hadn't expected to evolve to such a degree all at once.

The evolution of his legs not only enhanced his offensive capabilities but also strengthened his survival skills. It seemed that if he needed to escape now, he no longer had to worry about the terrain.

In addition to his legs, he felt that his mouth had also changed, with an extra pair of chelicerae. Previously, he could only use a pair of mandibles to clamp onto an enemy and snap them. Now, with these chelicerae, he could actually bite. He could also feel thin tubes inside the teeth, which were likely venomous, allowing him to inject toxins while biting his prey.

Thinking of the spider's toxicity, Rowan secretly told himself to be careful when eating in the future; he didn't know if he had any resistance to this toxin. He shouldn't accidentally bite himself while eating and end up poisoning himself to death...

Thinking about it, that seemed unlikely; he could control whether or not to inject the toxin, and even without venom resistance, he wouldn't go so far as to poison himself.