Fertilizing (Happy New Year)

Every bug in the Insect Nest now possessed the genetic segment required to consume soil. With this talent, solid food was everywhere; they could eat as much solid matter as they desired.

The idea was quickly put into action.

Rowan first gathered five hundred Worker Ants for an experiment, ordering them to eat a portion of soil every day and then deposit the bio-fertilizer next to designated plants.

The effect of consuming soil was extraordinary; for the same number of Worker Ants, the amount of bio-fertilizer produced skyrocketed several times over.

During this period, he also ordered the Worker Ants to cease their behavior of helping aphids migrate. Whether this would help the plants grow better required further testing, which would take time. Thus, he planned to pursue a two-pronged approach: researching bio-fertilizer while simultaneously curbing the expansion of the aphids.

The bio-fertilizer experiment was a great success. Perhaps it aligned with certain natural laws, as the bio-fertilizer produced by the Worker Ants eating soil was far more effective than the fertilizer previously produced from consuming water droplets.

Consequently, the order that originally applied to only five hundred Worker Ants quickly spread to every bug in the nest, excluding Rowan and the Spy Bugs who freeloaded in the Hatching Room.

The quantity of bio-fertilizer produced daily by the more than twenty thousand bugs in the Insect Nest was quite considerable. Rowan hatched a few more Worker Ants, specifically tasked with transporting this bio-fertilizer to the base of the vegetation within his territory.

Although the plants had been fertilized, the previous order to curb the aphid population remained in effect.

Now that the aphid population was sufficient to supply the needs of the Insect Nest with a daily surplus, there was no need to increase their breeding volume.

With the vegetation crisis resolved, life returned to a steady rhythm. The benefit of the bugs lacking autonomous consciousness became apparent; they worked tirelessly every day without a single complaint.

Rowan now enjoyed climbing to the trunk of the tallest tree in his territory every day, watching the bugs below as they busied themselves in an orderly fashion.

He disliked the dark, damp environment underground and that narrow, claustrophobic space. Previously, he had been forced to hide underground to protect himself.

Now that he had the ability, he could be considered a hegemon of sorts. Although his territory was small, there was no longer any need to cower underground at all times.

Suddenly, a disturbance on the tree trunk nearby caught Rowan's attention.

A few Worker Ants seemed to have discovered something while on the move. As the hegemon of this place, the Worker Ants naturally went up to investigate.

Whatever happened, the ants released assembly pheromones. The passing Worker Ants, upon coming into contact with this information, stopped in their tracks one after another.

The number of Worker Ants grew, surrounding that spot tightly as if they were about to engage in battle.

What Rowan found strange was that the plant was not very far from him.

He could clearly see the Worker Ants, yet he could not discover what exactly they had surrounded. In Rowan's field of vision, it was just a piece of ordinary tree bark.

In this monotonous, day-to-day life, finally encountering something novel instantly piqued Rowan's curiosity.

He kicked off with his legs, leaping from the tree trunk in a "leap of faith" posture, landing on the grass below and sprawling out with his belly facing the sky.

However, his walking legs were now extremely flexible, with seven segments each, and he easily flipped himself over to prop himself up.

After standing up, he quickly crawled toward the scene.

As he gradually approached the circle of Worker Ants, Rowan discovered something different.

Although that piece of bark looked almost indistinguishable from the surrounding area, under his high-resolution vision, he could barely make out the outline of a bug.

Could it be a Camouflage Bug?

Rowan lost a bit of interest. In the forest below the cliff, just as in the desert shrubbery, he had seen Camouflage Bugs and Black Armored Beetles.

They seemed to lack the limitations of the Earth-Yellow Ants, spreading their branches and leaves here as well, and in significant numbers.

However, the Camouflage Bug had low combat power. If its sneak attack ability was king-tier, its head-on combat ability was so trash it was only bronze-tier.

And its camouflage ability was useless against a blind unit like the Worker Ants, which identified friend from foe via pheromones. Once discovered, a few Worker Ants could easily handle it.

As for the Black Armored Beetle, one could only say that if it didn't run, the only thing waiting for it once the Worker Ants called for reinforcements was being recycled into protein.

The individual combat ability of the Worker Ants was not strong, but their ability to swarm was formidable, and they knew how to call for help, effectively becoming the hegemon of this area.

Even the Grasshoppers, which had given Rowan such a headache and were impossible to catch, were now being killed by the dozens every day.

He didn't know how they managed it.

Rowan had long since tasted the flavor of a Grasshopper, but its strong hind leg gene—the only thing Rowan found worthy—had only strengthened his leg muscles slightly and had not reached the level of the Grasshopper.

Suddenly, Rowan, lost in memory, snapped back to reality. He noticed something different; the "Camouflage Bug" in front of him seemed slightly unique.

The tree bark it used for camouflage did not seem to be added later; rather, the color patterns on its body were identical to the tree bark.

This was a type of bug he had never seen before.

Rowan's interest was piqued again. A new species of bug meant new genetic segments; regardless of whether he could use them, he would collect them first.

He quickened his pace, reaching the outside of the circle in a few steps. His antennae waved, and the Worker Ants cleared a path.

This new bug was smaller than a Camouflage Bug and had a rather slender build. Unlike the Camouflage Bug, it possessed quite thick shoulder and back armor.

The color of its entire body was truly identical to the surrounding environment, blending into it; even the patterns on its back armor were almost indistinguishable from the texture of the tree bark.

The bug ignored Rowan's approach, remaining motionless.

Rowan cautiously extended a Digging Leg and poked it. Rowan's body was many times larger than the bug; a single Digging Leg was roughly the same size as the creature.

At the touch of the Digging Leg, the bug acted as if it were truly tree bark, showing no reaction.

Applying slight pressure, he pushed the bug. Although its body swayed a bit, it continued to play dead. However, Rowan could see its small claws gripping the tree bark tightly.

Rowan felt like laughing. Did this bug think that by pretending to be tree bark and staying still, it could actually fool him?

As if his intelligence had been insulted, Rowan exerted force with his Digging Leg, launching a Rowan's Combat Technique opening move straight at its head.

Although the bug was slender and thin, it was tougher than he imagined. After taking a direct hit from Rowan, it was surprisingly unharmed.

However, it seemed to realize at this moment that it had truly been exposed. It stopped pretending to be tree bark, its short limbs let go of the bark, and with a powerful kick, it detached from the tree trunk and plummeted toward the ground.

A miraculous thing happened: after the bug hit the ground, the color on its body changed, rapidly becoming identical to the color of the surrounding grass and leaves.

Its figure blended back into the surrounding environment and vanished from sight.