Tentacles Entwined

If System had been given another chance, he definitely would have chosen to alter the image of the knight in that fantasy.

He would certainly have deleted the knight's oath, so Shawa would not have ended up in such an embarrassing state.

However, seeing Shawa's resolute yet expectant expression, System felt some of the embarrassment in his heart gradually fade away.

System looked over Shawa's scar-riddled body. He could not help raising a forelimb and extending the tentacles stored within it to touch the blood scabs on her broken legs.

"Does it still hurt?"

System sent Shawa a mental message.

Yet the response System had expected from Shawa did not arrive for a long while. Instead, he sensed a faintly resentful emotion from her. Shawa seemed to be waiting for him to do something.

Watching Shawa's expression and movements, System gradually understood what she wanted.

System shook his head helplessly. After letting out a long sigh in his heart, he said to Shawa, "I, System, accept your loyalty, knight."

Upon receiving System's mental message, Shawa became extremely excited. She twisted her body as if trying to move closer to System.

But because the stinger at her tail was firmly embedded in the ground, no matter how many times Shawa twisted her body, she could not move.

System shook his head again. Shawa's comical appearance now was practically like a different insect from the unyielding figure she had cut down plants with her mandibles earlier.

System extended the tentacles from two of his legs, wrapped them around Shawa's body, and pulled her out of the soil.

It turned out that Shawa had used too much force, driving her stinger into the roots of a plant. Since the root material was far too dense, Shawa could not retract her stinger back into her body on her own. Otherwise, the earlier situation would never have happened.

After grabbing Shawa with his tentacles, System suddenly sensed something.

The tentacles wrapped around Shawa trembled lightly, while blue halos flickered intermittently in System's dark green eyes.

System suddenly discovered that the innate Perception he had gained from the Voice of the World seemed to be closely related to several of his tentacles. When he touched Shawa's body with them, he seemed able to sense scattered fragments of information within her body.

System continuously wrapped his tentacles around Shawa and let them roam back and forth across her body. The scattered information he received gradually became clearer.

Just as he was sensing the information from his tentacles, System received a somewhat abnormal mental message from Shawa.

"King, it's so hot..." The message Shawa sent seemed somewhat flustered.

System's insect head showed a puzzled expression. "Hot? Do you mean these tentacles?"

"Mhm..."

After receiving Shawa's reply, System withdrew one of the tentacles testing her body and inserted it into his mouth to feel it.

"The temperature is perfectly normal?"

System replied to Shawa with a puzzled expression, then wrapped the tentacle around her body again to continue testing.

The Perception from his tentacles, combined with [System's Eye] and the Read Analysis function within the [Tool Menu], gradually allowed System to obtain some information about Shawa's body.

10/14.

Shawa's current level should have been level 10, while her level cap should have been 14.

Having sorted out the information, System used his tentacles to wrap around and probe Shawa even more intensely.

As he obtained more information, a thought suddenly arose in System's mind.

Before the Queen died, she had used the special power of Mind Transfer to transfer that ability to him.

Although Mind Transfer could only transmit a certain amount of mental power, and [Limb Regeneration] clearly did not meet the conditions for transfer, he now possessed an exceptionally special ability—[Ability Enhancement].

System realized that if he used the perceptive power of his tentacles to search for information about Shawa, he might be able to grant [Limb Regeneration] to her and allow her to regrow her legs.

However, as System continued searching through Shawa's information, he sensed her abnormal emotions growing increasingly intense. Her body even began to tremble slightly.

"King, I... feel so strange..."

The soldier ant Shawa sent an even more flustered mental message, along with all kinds of inexplicable emotions.

System realized that this emotion seemed to be the kind produced during biological mating.

System suddenly understood.

Because soldier ants were incomplete female ants, Shawa did not possess the ability to reproduce. Thus, she fundamentally could not understand emotions related to mating, and could only send out some hazy feelings.

System felt a trace of embarrassment.

But he quickly adjusted himself. Binding and wrapping Shawa with his tentacles was not some perverse hobby of his; it was something he had to do if he wanted to help Shawa regrow her legs.

"Shawa, bear with it. It'll be over soon..."

While sending mental messages to comfort Shawa, System continuously examined her body with his tentacles.

System discovered that after empowering his tentacles with Perception, touching and examining Shawa with them caused her to experience a pleasure similar to that produced by biological mating.

But his own tentacles felt nothing special at all. All they sensed was Shawa's cold, extremely hard exoskeleton.

A few minutes later, accompanied by a violent surge of emotion and intense trembling throughout her body, Shawa fell asleep.

As Shawa fell unconscious, System's efficiency in using his tentacles to coil around and examine her greatly increased.

System discovered a new method of examination. Using his tentacles, he gathered fragments of exoskeleton, blood scabs, Ant Acid...

System placed the various tissues from Shawa's body into his mouth to taste and analyze them.

Before long, System had successively analyzed two abilities within Shawa's body: [Ant Acid] (3-5/5-7) and [Solid Carapace] (3-4/6-9).

System could not assess these two abilities as precisely as he could estimate levels, but he still calculated an approximate range.

System also sensed Insect Adaptation within Shawa's body, as well as a special ability similar to Molting Growth.

However, with his current Perception, he was still unable to obtain specific results for these two insect bloodline talents.

Most crucially, System discovered that although Shawa did not possess the ability [Limb Regeneration], she had the potential to acquire [Limb Regeneration].

Theoretically, Shawa's body could indeed be granted [Limb Regeneration].

System swiftly took action. Using his tentacles as conduits to transmit power, he drew upon the power of his Mind Transfer and [Ability Enhancement], seeking a way to grant Shawa [Limb Regeneration].

Yet after working for more than ten minutes, when his experience bar had dropped from 8% to 3%, System could only helplessly withdraw the tentacles from Shawa's body.

His idea had not been wrong. In theory, by using certain properties of Mind Transfer together with [Ability Enhancement], he could allow Shawa to obtain [Limb Regeneration].

But there was a prerequisite: his Mind Transfer had to advance to a higher tier—Level 11.

His Mind Transfer was currently only Level 8, and it did not yet possess the power of complete transmission.

Furthermore, Shawa's Insect Adaptation also had to rise to a certain level; otherwise, it would be difficult to activate [Limb Regeneration].