Two days later, Bates returned to the edge of the Dark Forest, where the old ant nest was located.
After several evolutions and upgrades, Bates had grown to around one meter in length and 30cm high. With such a body size, it was impossible to enter the ant nest. Therefore, Bates stretched out his claws and shattered the rocks, which immediately expanded the entrance to the nest several times.
Countless ants poured out of the nest. Under the influence of Bates’ lord-like temperament, these little creatures, that had almost no intelligence, immediately lost control of their bodies and obediently lay on the ground, as they watched Bates destroyed their home.
Half an hour later, the huge ant nest was almost completely destroyed.
In the deepest part of the ant nest, a fat, 5cm, white, queen ant lay in the middle. Sensing the weak fear from the queen, Bates continued to dig. yet he slowed down his movements, as if he was afraid of hurting something.
Another half an hour passed.
A cave, that was small compared to Bates’ body, appeared before him. In this cave, a black worker ant, about 3cm long, was eating round ant food.
Bates was unsure as to how the little worker ant had changed so much in just ten days, but he could sense it was the ant that had once helped him!
When it saw Bates, the little worker ant stopped eating, raised its head and looked at Bates for a while, then climbed to his side and put a small ball of food next to him.
“Eat… grow… bigger…”
Bates was touched. It was as if he had finally returned to his hometown after wandering outside for so many years.
Ever since he was reborn into this world, Bates had been in a state of panic.
Despite his powerful skills, and despite the fact that, in the last ten days, he’d achieved things most monsters couldn’t in their entire lives, his fear was still there.
No one could communicate with him.
Bates also did not know when the players would descend.
The only thing that provided comfort for Bates, in a world that made people despair, was the worker ant. Especially now he’d successfully killed Geer and become the overlord of the Dark Forest.
Now, he could see he wasn’t the only one working hard. The worker ant had continued to eat and eat, to become bigger.
It was following in his own footsteps!
Even though its improvement was pitifully small compared to Bates, it was still working hard.
Bates could see that the little worker ant had evolved from the ‘smallest’ level to the ‘tiny’ level.
When it appeared, it recognized Bates straight away, and just like before, put food in front of him.
Although, with Bates’ current size, this bit of food was not even enough to fill the gaps between his teeth.
Nevertheless, a warm feeling flowed through Bates’ chest.
Out of nowhere, two warm balls of light appeared in Bates’ claws. He waved his hands and the two balls of light flew towards the worker ant and the queen ant respectively.
Suddenly, the system’s voice sounded!
“Ding! You have chosen the ant race as your race, are you sure?”
“Ding! You have chosen the queen ant as your family, are you sure?”
“Ding! You have chosen the worker ant to be your family. Are you sure?”
The worker ant and the queen ant were the family that Bates had chosen for himself!
The race that Bates had become after his rebirth, was the one he wanted to stick with!
Bates had carefully considered the decision to choose the worker and the queen ant to be his family, and the ant to be his race, as he knew the race as a whole was very weak. Apart from him, the worker ant and the queen ant were the only ones to have reached the ‘tiny’ level.
It could be said that, even with the strength of the entire race, they still wouldn’t be able to defeat a level 1 monster, let alone a race like the goblins.
However, the ant race had the potential that ordinary people would find difficult to discover. One of Bates’ three great talents, the ability to adapt, came from the ant race. In other words, all the ants in the nest had the possibility of awakening the ability to adapt.
Even if the probability was very small, it was still possible.
If one ant could awaken the ability to adapt, what about 100, or then 1,000. If a thousand wasn’t enough, then tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands!
As long as there was enough food, the queen ant could develop her colony to more than ten thousand in a very short period of time. Under Bates’ control, it was possible for this number to reach a hundred thousand.
Bates still remembered the rules of the system; even insects had unlimited possibilities! As ants were such a low-level race, for the sake of balance, the system made a corresponding compensation; the possibility to upgrade the ant race.
Apart from Bates, no one would choose a group of extremely low-level creatures as their race, as expected!
Nevertheless, Bates confirmed that he had chosen an ant as his race, and the system’s notification sounded.
“Ding! You have chosen ants as your race. You can choose two of the following options as your race talent.”
“1. Adaptability. The adaptability talent of the ant population has increased. When each ant is born, there is a one in a thousand chance of awakening the adaptability talent.”
“2. Rapid digestion. The ants would gain the ability to digest quickly, allowing them to grow at a faster speed.”
“3. Strengthened armor. Ants could possess tougher armor, and be able to withstand more damage than other insects.”
“4. Increased camouflage. Ants would be more likely to blend into the surrounding environment, greatly reducing the hostility of other creatures.”
Four options, four talents.
Without pausing, Bates chose the [ adaptability ] talent and the [ rapid digestion ] talent.
With these two race talents, the potential of ants was no less than that of goblins.
In fact, with enough food and time to grow, perhaps this ant colony would become known in the game world!