Locusts Pass (Part 1)

Because he had continuously eaten slime gel before leveling up, once he reached Level 10, System's [Corrosive Mucus] (10/15) improved, becoming [Corrosive Mucus] (11/15).

Just as System had always surmised, Level 10 and Level 11 were entirely different tiers.

His [Corrosive Mucus] received a comprehensive boost in every aspect—spray range, mucus volume, viscosity, and corrosiveness.

Yet the most noticeable improvement to [Corrosive Mucus] was the activity that had only emerged after consuming slimes.

After rising to Level 11, the [Corrosive Mucus] secreted by the glands in System's throat could truly move. Though it could not bounce like a slime, System could control it to slowly wriggle across the ground at roughly the speed of a crawling snail.

This mucus was like an extension of his bodily organs; System could control it as easily as he controlled his limbs.

However, System's control over this mucus came with many restrictions.

The mucus could not get too far away from him. Once it exceeded twenty centimeters, he could no longer control it. And after it had left the glands in his throat for more than a minute, it would lose its activity and become impossible to control again.

All in all, the mucus's activity alone was not enough to make it an effective means of attack.

But even without relying on its activity, his [Corrosive Mucus] could now serve as a tool for hunting.

Through ceaselessly spraying mucus, coupled with the grasshopper body's formidable mobility, after reaching Level 10, System successfully killed an eight-centimeter flower spider disguised as a yellow-and-white blossom.

The hunt lasted for over an hour.

System was very cautious. Usually, after each spray, to prevent the spider from suddenly lashing out, he would retreat half a meter away. Only after the spider had calmed down somewhat would he approach to within thirty centimeters and spray it from a distance again.

At first, the spider still had the will to fight him. Later, it could only keep fleeing, even curling itself into a ball on the ground and playing dead.

It was not until more than an hour had passed, after spraying it several times and throwing dead branches and pebbles at it several times without eliciting any response, that System finally confirmed the spider's death.

The spider's body clearly possessed resistance to [Corrosive Mucus]. System had wasted a huge amount of mucus to kill it; even eating the entire spider would not replenish what he had expended.

So after trying it just once, System decided that from then on, he would focus on robbing ants instead of doing something as thankless and laborious as hunting spiders.

But no matter what, being able to kill a venomous spider without so much as a scratch undoubtedly meant that System had climbed another rung in this forest's food chain.

Around noon, after visiting his old friend, the slime recuperating in the mud of a dark corner, he hopped to the crown of the tallest nearby tree.

Estimating the time, System glanced at his [Self-Information Generation]. He had fifty-one days of life remaining.

Casually flipping through the other information in [Self-Information Generation], System discovered that his estimated combat power had somehow become 0.8.

From 0.4 at Level 9 to 0.7 at Level 10, and now at noon today, his estimated combat power had improved again, becoming 0.8.

System had never had much tangible sense of the combat power shown in [Self-Information Generation]. He did not know how this combat power was calculated.

And aside from his own, he had no idea what anyone else's combat power might be.

Whenever his combat power increased, System only knew that he had grown a little stronger. As for exactly how much stronger, he did not know either.

Shaking his head, System looked at the sun in the sky, then gazed far into the distance in one direction.

It was coming—

Starting three days ago, at this same time every day, System had been able to sense a faint ripple of aura.

Sure enough, before long, the bloodline within System's body gave a slight tremble.

This time, having come to the top of the tree, he felt it even more clearly.

It was a peculiar yet familiar aura that resonated with the grasshopper bloodline, as though it were calling to him and making him unconsciously want to fly in that direction.

"Is it you?"

A familiar figure surfaced in System's mind—his kind, the Grasshopper Queen.

Within that aura, System sensed something familiar. It seemed that the Grasshopper Queen was calling out to the grasshoppers.

Just like the scenes within the grasshopper bloodline, she was going to lead the grasshoppers over mountains and lakes to explore this vast world.

Perched at the tip of a branch, System's compound eyes caught sight of twenty or thirty blurry figures flying out from the nearby trees. They should have been his kind.

These grasshoppers flew above the forest and headed toward the source of that aura.

At the same time, accompanied by several piercing cries, a large reddish-brown bird shot out from the forest and began chasing the grasshoppers flying through the sky...

"Is it really worth it? Even so, you still want to explore this world..."

Watching his kind flee before the pursuing bird, System silently jumped down from the tip of the branch, a sudden discomfort filling his heart.

As for precisely what felt wrong, System himself could not say.

After jumping from the branch, System returned to his old trade: robbing ants.

It seemed that as long as he robbed ants, he would feel a little better...

Two days earlier, System had discovered a tree hollow high up in a relatively thick tree. The hollow was not very large and could not accommodate his body.

However, because it was high above the ground and ants rarely passed by, this tree hollow became System's food storage.

Whenever he snatched some food from ants that would not spoil easily, System would store it in the hollow, then plug the entrance with plant leaves and his mucus in preparation for a rainy day.

The weather had grown cooler these past few days, and System often saw scattered leaves drifting down among the trees.

Autumn was drawing nearer and nearer.

System found the plants in this forest strange. Some were clearly tropical, while others were subtropical. He had no way of determining what the climate here was truly like, or whether it would snow in winter.

System knew he had to make more preparations. Otherwise, even if he completed his third molt, with blood that held no warmth, he would turn into a lump of ice in a world of snow and frost.

The solution System could think of was digging a burrow underground. As long as he had a hole two meters beneath the surface, it could effectively ward off winter's bitter cold.

Though grasshoppers lacked the hibernation abilities of certain creatures, the dormant state inherent to insects was not bad either. When the time came, he could bring some food into the burrow, and getting through the winter should not be a problem.

And if winter in this forest did not freeze over, that would be even better. He could continue going out to forage during winter.

Having settled on his overwintering plan, System began studying the structure of the ant nest from time to time in the breaks between snatching the ants' food, preparing to choose a suitable location to dig his winter burrow.

Another five days passed. Since Molting Growth had already reached its maximum level, System had become far less picky about food.

His experience bar had risen by half. He estimated that in another five days, he would reach Level 11.

However, there was one regret. The old slime friend who had spent more than ten days with System ultimately broke apart and shattered during a battle with the ants. It was swallowed beneath the ants pouring out of the nest, and died completely...

Over these five days, the special aura transmitted by the Grasshopper Queen had grown increasingly intense.

Then, early that morning, System, who was in the middle of robbing ants, discovered that the Grasshopper Queen had flown to a spot not far from him...