Gnolls

Unlike the Mind Transfer the queen had bestowed upon him, System's ability to grant Shawa [Limb Regeneration] was fundamentally different.

In fact, abilities like [Limb Regeneration], which had nothing whatsoever to do with mental power, simply could not be transferred through Mind Transfer.

What System had done to give Shawa [Limb Regeneration] was not truly transferring an ability, but rather a means of activation.

He had used the Insect Adaptation talent within Shawa's bloodline to activate the [Limb Regeneration] ability she might already possess.

Thus, after Shawa gained [Limb Regeneration], System's own [Limb Regeneration] would not disappear as a result.

The experiment he had conducted on Shawa with his tentacles undoubtedly provided System with a new direction for the future.

He could use Mind Transfer and the power of [Ability Enhancement] to activate Shawa's [Limb Regeneration].

Then, in the same way, he could use this special power to activate unique abilities for himself from Insect Adaptation. Insects came in every strange shape and habit imaginable, possessing countless distinctive abilities.

System felt this idea was well worth trying.

After thinking a while longer, System wrapped the unconscious Shawa in his tentacles and carried her back to an empty chamber in the temporary nest.

After settling Shawa down, System checked on the ant larvae in the temporary nest.

System found that the first batch of ants that had formed pupae seemed to be on the verge of emerging. In another day or two, they would likely become adult ants.

The male and female ant larvae System had been paying particular attention to were both growing very healthily. When they saw him approach, they conveyed the same affection as before, showing no sense of estrangement despite not having interacted with him for two days.

After soothing all the ant larvae and pupae, System came to a special empty chamber. In one corner lay two golden discs—the Grasshopper Queen's eyes.

System could not eat the queen's corpse, so in the end, he had removed her eyes.

Gently winding his tentacles around the two eyes, System emerged from the nest once more. He spread his wings and shot into the sky at tremendous speed.

He was much faster than the queen had been, and his wings were stronger as well.

As he flew higher and higher, System felt the wind in the air grow increasingly fierce. The powerful gusts even carried a biting chill, and System felt a trace of stiffness creep into his body.

A grasshopper's body was very light, and System found it difficult to maintain his balance in the strong wind.

At first, System intended to fly directly against the wind. Yet after flying at high altitude for a while, he suddenly felt an indescribable sensation course through his body.

Flying was not simply a matter of brute force.

System slightly adjusted the angle and range of his wingbeats. As another violent gust swept past, System traveled with the wind—

The grasshopper body's speed nearly doubled in an instant. Borrowing the power of the gale, he rose into the sky even faster.

As his altitude increased, the air became far thinner and the temperature colder still. Yet in the end, System flew into the clouds.

"I told you, clouds are just another form of water. See? They're pretty much like fog..." System muttered silently to himself through mental messages amid the clouds.

But when System, suspended within the cloud layer, looked down below it, he could not help but stare in a daze.

Flight had been humanity's dream since ancient times. To stand above the clouds and look upon the world was undoubtedly a wonderful feeling.

Below the mist-wreathed clouds, System saw the endless glacial mountain range thousands of kilometers away, the boundless green forest, and the vast grasslands at the forest's edge on the other side.

Near one lake, System also saw countless orange-brown butterflies flying in swarms past the water...

[System's Eye], gained during his third metamorphosis, had made System's vision incomparably powerful. He could even see the entrance to his temporary nest through a gap in the forest from within the clouds, though he had trouble making out the ants patrolling around it.

System looked into the forest and searched carefully. Before long, he spotted two slimes he had wanted to find earlier in a swamp several thousand meters away.

Not only slimes—System also discovered what appeared to be a village of green-skinned creatures over ten kilometers away. He saw some dog-headed humanoids as well, somewhat like the gnolls of fantasy worlds.

These gnolls seemed to have gotten into some sort of dispute with the goblins.

The cloud layer high in the sky was cold and thin-aired. After staying there for a while, System flew down.

After storing the queen's eyes in the nest, System flew toward the village of green-skinned creatures.

It was not that he had any particular designs on these goblins and gnolls. He simply wanted to learn more about this world by observing these intelligent races.

System's first encounter with these green-skinned creatures had occurred only a few days after he first awakened. At the time, a boar capable of producing flames had run past ahead of him, while three green-skinned monsters wielding clubs chased after it.

Back then, his compound eyes could not clearly see distant things, and his perception of his surroundings had not been very accurate either.

Now that he thought about it, the flames produced by that boar had not actually been very strong. Otherwise, it could never have been chased down by three scrawny green-skinned creatures.

Since hearing the voice of the world, System had gained a somewhat deeper understanding of this world's power system.

That flame-producing boar and the slimes should have been creatures like himself and the Grasshopper Queen, creatures transforming into magical lifeforms.

However, compared to the Grasshopper Queen and himself, System felt that the magical power possessed by that boar and those slimes was somewhat different.

They did not give System the feeling of having heard the voice of the world.

"Could it be power inherited in the bloodline, because they are descendants of magical creatures?"

System guessed, though he himself was not very sure what the true situation was.

A nest piled together from weeds, a filthy and chaotic environment—upon drawing close, System's antennae caught the fishy stench of excrement.

For the first time, System felt that possessing [Olfactory Enhancement] might not necessarily be a good thing.

Perhaps the smell of excrement was delicious to maggots, but the grasshopper body clearly hated it.

These green-skinned creatures clearly lacked human building skills. They could not even construct ordinary mud houses, and had only thrown together crude shelters from branches and weeds.

Such shelters might block some of the cold wind at night, but they absolutely could not keep out the rain.

Perched on the branch of a tree, System listened carefully and watched the interactions and conversation between the two kinds of creatures below.

This gathering place of green-skinned creatures had roughly twenty-odd goblins, while only three gnolls had come here.

The gnolls were extremely robust, standing around 1.9 meters tall, while the goblins appeared very small and thin. Adult goblins were only about 1.2 meters tall.

The three gnolls paced back and forth through the goblin village, speaking some unknown language to the goblins. The goblins appeared extremely flustered...