Bates wanted more than an ant race similar to the goblins, he wanted the ant race to be as strong as possible, so no one would dare challenge it.
Under Bates’ orders, the queen ant returned to the depths of the nest and began to lay eggs.
With plenty of food provided by Bates, the queen was laying eggs the size of pigeon eggs, and they started to densely occupied the deep part of the nest.
In just one day, hundreds of young ants were born from the eggs.
Each young ant was around 3cm long, and they had all reached the ‘tiny’ level. The colony was past the time where only the queen and the worker ant could reach that level!
Then, under Bates’ order, the hundreds of young ants began sweeping the surrounding area, killing any creatures within a 500-meter radius. Whether it was insects like spiders, grasshoppers, and crickets, or slightly bigger creatures like frogs, toads, and mice, all were hunted. Apart from any official monsters, all creatures were their targets.
In just half a day, hundreds of all kinds of creatures were killed by the ant colony, but it did result in the loss of more than a third of the ants.
While the young ants were doing a sweep, the queen, after eating a lot of food, had already laid the second batch of ant eggs.
When the second batch of young ants grew up, they immediately joined the process of killing other creatures. The killing range of the ant colony spread from 500 meters to 1,000.
Then there was a third and fourth batch of eggs!
On the fifth day, the queen ant managed to reach level 4. Her four attributes increased again, which meant that her ability to lay eggs was further enhanced.
Among this ever-extending ant colony, there was one ant that had become the first to reach level 1, and become an official monster!
Bates knew that with the first ant, there would be a second.
Seven days later, there were four ants that had become level 1 monsters.
Nine days later, the number increased to seven ants, and on the twelfth day, the number of ants that had become a level 1 monster had reached ten!
This meant that level 1 and level 2 monsters in the Dark Forest had also become the target of the ants.
By this time, the first batch of ants had all died. There were only a few of the second and third batch left alive, after the hunting.
However, every ant that survived either managed to upgrade, or successfully awakened their race talent, becoming one of the elite ants.
After the twelve days of hunting, thousands of ants had died. Despite this, the total number of ants in the colony continued to increase.
The corpses of countless creatures were brought back by the ants and became food for the worker ants and the queen ant. Not only did it keep the worker ants and the queen ant in a constant state of leveling up, but it also strengthened the power of the ant colony bit by bit.
As the queen still had the [ mutated egg ] talent, every time she ate the corpse of a creature, it would make a small adjustment to the ant eggs, making them stronger after birth. This small adjustment could easily be ignored, but over time, the newly born ants became stronger and stronger, and the overall strength of the ant colony also became more powerful.
Without anyone noticing, Bates had also begun to increase his own strength at the edge of the Dark Forest. Therefore, not only was the colony getting stronger, Bates was also continuing to increase his stats.
Half a month had passed.
The worker ants had risen to level 5, while the queen ant had risen to level 6!
The strength of the ant colony was countless times stronger, had had manged to accumulate over a hundred level 1 ants. Nearly all of the them were close to upgrading to level 1 monsters.
However, the colony had reached the limit of development, as there were no more resources for the ant colony if it wanted to continue evolving at the edge of the Dark Forest.
During the last few weeks, all living things within a 10km radius of the nest had been wiped out by the ant colony, and had become the food for the evolution.
If he wanted to continue developing, he knew they had to change position.
With Bates’ current speed, it would take him two days to reach the center from the edge of the forest.
The Dark Forest was very big. A forest that size had enough space to house around ten thousand ant tribe members.
However, it was important Bates carefully considered where he placed the ant colony so it would, not only survive, but also maximise the advantages of the ant tribe.
Bates thought about the location of where the old goblin city one was, and realised it was the best place to move to. It was located in the center of the Dark Forest. The monsters in that area were between level 7 and level 10, which would allow him, and the rest of the colony, to hunt higher-level creatures, giving them better rewards.
If the colony were to move there on they’re own, it would be difficult for them to survive in this area. However, with Bates’ protection, the ant tribe would be able to easily pass through the initial stage.
When the new round of strength enhancement began and more powerful ants appeared, they would be able to officially stabilize their position in the center of the Dark Forest.
Just like the ant tribe at the beginning, passing through the initial stage in the Dark Forest would account for many losses in the ant tribe. However, after passing through the initial stage, the benefits would be great.
More, and higher level, monsters would bring more food and experience to the ant tribe. After devouring the corpses of these monsters and making minor adjustments to the ant eggs, the newly born ant tribe would become stronger!
As long as they stood firm in the center of the Dark Forest, the ant tribe could have the possibility to crush the goblin race!
Bates stopped as a thought popped up in his head, ‘It’s such a huge project, and so many ants would have to migrate.’ He looked down at the dense mass of ants and knew he had to abandon some of them.
The level 1 ants would definitely make it, and the ants that had awakened their race talent would also be okay. As for the rest, Bates knew they had to be abandoned.
In Bates’ eyes, the queen ant was the most important. As long as the she didn’t die, the colony would still be able to have eggs again and create another army of ants in just a few short days.
If it weren’t for the fact that it so difficult for ants to awaken their talent, Bates would have left with only the worker ant and the queen ant.
Once the abandoned ants lost their queen, they would continue to feed and live their previous life. When this batch of ants all died in battle or from old age, the remaining ant species would become extinct.
Survival wasn’t easy, and living in a game world where the strong preyed on the weak made life more difficult.
If the pace of evolution couldn’t keep up with the growth of the entire species, they would eventually be abandoned or become food for stronger monsters.
That applied, not just the ant colony, but to Bates aswell!