Encountering the Old Druid Again

Watching the scorpion's corpse in the crack between the stones and the ant squad, System fell into brief thought...

As night approached, the ants' range of activity would gradually shrink, leaving only a very few worker ants patrolling near the nest.

But once they discovered a large amount of food, the colony would still dispatch huge numbers of worker ants into the night to carry it away.

Ants were creatures like this—they began storing food in summer to prepare for winter's bitter cold and scarcity of food.

System recalled a little story from his previous life.

It was about how grasshopper musicians mocked the ants who toiled all day through the summer, saying they did not know how to enjoy life. In the end, the lazy grasshoppers were judged by winter's bitter cold.

The story used the grasshoppers' laziness to set off the ants' diligence.

And that was indeed true. Ants truly were hardworking creatures.

"But even without winter's bitter cold, grasshoppers wouldn't live that long anyway..."

As he recalled the story, System thought of himself. He looked at the lifespan entry in [Self-Information Generation]: 62 days.

After this night passed, his lifespan would become 61 days.

Anyone would feel unhappy knowing that the countdown to their few remaining days had begun.

Still, System was fortunate to have such a countdown, so he would not suddenly drop dead at the end of autumn without warning.

Not dwelling on it further, System found a dry grass stalk and hopped toward the ant squad.

After a whole day of fighting and testing himself against them, System had become extremely familiar with these dark brown worker ants.

So long as one could successfully deal with the ants' inborn combat instincts, these ants were fools that could be toyed with at will.

When they encountered an enemy, these ants would usually clamp down on their opponent with all their strength and secrete an acidic liquid with an irritating scent—pheromones. Other ants that smelled it would swarm forward, continuing to secrete the same acidic liquid and drawing in even more ants, until their opponent died or escaped.

System used the same principle to lure away these dozen or so ants. He caught an ant and made the grass stalk pick up its acidic liquid, then used the stalk to lead the ants away.

From catching an unlucky worker ant and forcibly making it secrete acidic liquid onto the grass stalk, to later drawing away the vast majority of the ants near the scorpion, System's operation went very smoothly.

Step by step, he led the ants to a puddle two meters away, then finally planted the acid-stained grass stalk into the mud at the bottom of the puddle.

Since ants hated touching standing water, the dozen or so ants kept circling the puddle, apparently unsure whether they should force their way through the water to attack the grass stalk in the mud.

System did not continue observing those stupid ants. He directly returned to the vicinity of the scorpion's corpse two meters away.

Having prevented this ant squad from calling over companions from the nest around the scorpion's corpse, System began testing [Corrosive Mucus] on the two ants still remaining nearby.

Using [Corrosive Mucus] to draw a prison on the ground was a good idea, but only if [Corrosive Mucus] actually worked.

More than ten minutes later, System's test yielded a successful result: [Corrosive Mucus] had a clear repellent effect on ants.

Under ordinary circumstances, the ants would actively avoid it from a distance of three to five centimeters. But if System provoked them, they would charge forward even with [Corrosive Mucus] right before them.

Kicking the two ants away one after another with his powerful hind legs, System began using [Corrosive Mucus] to draw a prison on the ground.

System did not directly use mucus to draw lines. After all, the amount of mucus he had was truly limited. He secreted more around the fixed routes the ants traveled, while only scattering a few drops in other places.

If ants unfortunately broke into the forbidden zone, he would have no choice but to drive them away himself.

Far fewer creatures moved about on the night after the torrential rain. System had not encountered even half a mouse or mantis—the creatures common during the early days of his rebirth—after the downpour.

Other than a few mosquitoes and insects flying past from time to time, his meal suffered no further interruptions.

The only flaw was that, as time passed without rest, System began to feel mentally fatigued.

The scorpion's shell was less tough than a butterfly chrysalis, but harder. Even System's mandibles could not leave a mark by biting it.

But his armor-piercing weapon, [Corrosive Mucus], still had a remarkable effect.

After corroding and softening the scorpion's shell, System soon reached the flesh beneath it.

A rich milky fragrance mixed with the flavor of cherries or strawberries. Its texture was somewhat like set cream pudding. The flesh was wondrous, and even System could not quite describe it.

Perhaps it was not the most delicious food, but it suited System's tastes the best.

And this was after the scorpion's flesh had been soaked in rainwater for several days and was no longer very fresh. Otherwise, it would have been even more delicious.

A piece of scorpion meat of the same weight provided roughly 1.5 times the experience of a chrysalis, perfectly matching System's rule that deliciousness corresponded to experience. It was a high-experience food.

However, this scorpion meat was not very effective for Molting Growth—not even half as effective as an equal weight of ants. It seemed that a scorpion's molting was far less significant than that of insects.

After System ate it for an entire night, the food's effect on Molting Growth dropped by more than half again.

He could only give up this food that suited his palate so well.

At dawn.

Dragging his slightly swollen abdomen, System, who had eaten through the entire night, returned to the tree hollow not far from the ant nest. He would rest here.

Though ants occasionally passed through this tree hollow, System had gained an invisible wall through his experiment of drawing a prison on the ground: his [Corrosive Mucus].

By secreting this liquid around the tree hollow, the ants would actively detour around it once they smelled it.

However, [Corrosive Mucus] was highly volatile, and after a few hours, most of its scent would fade. But a few hours were enough for System—enough for him to rest and recover his energy.

System quietly entered a dormant state inside the tree hollow, half-asleep as he contemplated his plans for what came next.

Yesterday's foraging had been fairly successful, though it still could not compare to endlessly eating insect pupae to raise his level.

But at this pace, he could reach Level 9 in another three days and Level 10 some ten days later. His Molting Growth would also reach its maximum level by then.

Near noon, the effects of [Corrosive Mucus] around the tree hollow had weakened considerably. Two ants passed by System's tree hollow in succession, but fortunately, neither of them disturbed him.

By then, System's body had mostly recovered from its rest. He decided to wait a little longer before beginning another round of foraging.

Just then, System heard an unbroken stream of bird calls from over ten meters away.

Ever since the torrential rain, System had not heard birdsong for a long time. Yet in this bird's cries, he heard something miserable and desolate.

An insect's antennae were highly sensitive to the direction of sound. System quickly realized that the bird was not in the sky, but on the ground.

"Could it have been injured and fallen?"

System guessed that the bird had been wounded by some hunter in the forest. He had no interest in joining the spectacle and continued recuperating in the tree hollow.

But several minutes later, the bird was still crying without pause. Clearly, no hunter had come to deliver it a fatal blow.

System crawled out of the tree hollow and ultimately decided to go take a look at the unfortunate bird.

Through the weeds between the trees, System saw a bird around twenty centimeters long struggling on the ground, its feathers mottled reddish-brown and white.

It resembled a pheasant, though it was a little smaller.

System spotted some blood on the ground. He had no idea what injury the bird had suffered, but it could only flap and struggle helplessly where it lay.

Before long, perhaps drawn by the scent of blood, an ant scouting party that slipped through every crack and crevice appeared. The ant army would surely arrive soon after.

System quietly watched and waited nearby, intending to take advantage of the situation later and snatch some pheasant meat for a taste of something fresh.

Yet the scene System had been anticipating—an ant legion surrounding and killing the crippled pheasant—never came to pass. Faint, nearly inaudible footsteps gradually sounded from the dense forest.

The bird struggling endlessly on the ground was finally lifted by a hand. The owner of that hand was none other than the old druid System had been trying to find...