Noah didn't know how long he had passed out. But gradually, he stirred from his torpor, regaining consciousness as light came into view. Then came the myriad of pheromones, waking him up quickly.
As he stirred, he felt a burning sensation inside his thorax, the center of his very being. Noah instantly thought about his newly acquired mana core. Shaking his head, he turned his compound eyes to look around.
But this time, something was different. The usual feeling of sensing pheromones was there, but now, Noah was also feeling another source of energy around him. Instantly, he knew it. Mana! Noah was able to sense mana in the very air through his newly gained advanced mana sensory gland, located right inside his antennae.
"Ho, it's interesting," Noah thought, focusing on the shimmering colors of the unending mana in the air. It looked simple, but pretty.
After admiring the scene, Noah turned his focus to his system notifications.
[Warning: Since the user has now evolved, all the excess experience gained during the period before evolution will be recounted.]
[You have gained experience.]
[You have leveled up. You have gained one skill point.]
[You have leveled up. You have gained one skill point.]
"Nice, now let's see my status."
> [Status]
Name: Noah.
Level: 8 (core)
Monster class: Superior Hatchling Mage Ant
Next Evolution Requirement: Level 20
Rank: High D-rank
• HP: 80/80
• MP: 40/40
• Stamina: 100
• Bio points: 22
• Skill points: 8
Skills: Identify (lv1), Crushing Bite (lv1), Dig (lv4), Pheromone Language (lv1), Combat Instinct Antennae (lv1), Dash (lv4), Stealth (lv3).
Mutations: +1 Advanced Antenna, +1 Spring-Fiber Muscle Density, +1 Infused Mandibles, +1 Infused Carapace, +1 Advanced Gland, +1 Advanced Stomach and +1 Healing Gland.
Hidden Skills: Soul Shaping (unlocked at level 20)
"Hmm, the previous batch of experience directly took me to level 8... On that note, it seems after each evolution I will be demoted to level 1 again," Noah pondered, looking at his status.
Noah was pleased to see his maxed-out skills had also advanced with him.
Basically, Noah didn't have to do much during his period of evolution, so he had quickly used his time to evolve his maxed-out skills.
The Mandibles Bite had evolved into Crushing Bite; the force of the bite would easily be strong enough to crush any C-rank monster's exoskeleton now. Then came his other maxed-out skills, which were Pheromone Signal and Antenna Sense.
Pheromone Signal evolved into Pheromone Language—this evolved skill allowed him to communicate and persuade other ants more easily. Then Antenna Sense evolved into Combat Instinct Antennae. The name suggested its specialty: allowing Noah to dodge any surprise attacks instinctively.
Wanting to test out his newly acquired skills, Noah turned to find his partner. "Looks like Ruby went away without me," Noah thought, not minding her absence as he turned to look around the chamber.
His antennae twitched, sensing more pheromones than usual in the chamber. The ants were bustling and scuttling with more energy than before. "Heh, did something happen while I was evolving?" Noah narrowed his eyes as he tried to distinguish the particular scent the ant workers kept leaving behind.
Need more brood tenders over here... In need of more food...
Noah's eyes widened, as a possibility of what this could mean came to his mind. "Wait, don't tell me." Then, without hesitation, Noah hurriedly followed behind some of the red ants, probably brood tenders.
As he rushed deeper into the chamber, Noah noticed the Queen was resting again. This time, looking really exhausted. "It seems what I'm thinking is really the case," Noah thought, his mandibles clacking in excitement as he turned and went deeper into the brood chamber.
Noah stepped in and halted.
Dozens of red ants were in motion—possibly all brood tenders. The entire chamber was brimming with activity. Ants worked around the walls, the floor, and most importantly—the center.
And there, in the corner of the chamber: hundreds of eggs, dark blue in color, clustered neatly together like gems in a sacred vault. Each one glistened slightly under the faint moss that grew on the walls.
The brood tenders were already doing their job, tending the eggs carefully and as gently as possible, regulating the temperature or cleaning any slight dust or dirt on the eggs.
Noah stood rooted to his spot for a moment, fascinated. But quickly his fascination turned into worry. "The eggs are probably hundreds in number," Noah frowned, his antennae rubbing on his head.
"Hmm, I don't know how much time they will take to fully hatch. But the demon corpses Ruby and I hunted from the demon realm might not be enough for them," Noah mused, though he wasn't that worried, honestly.
He turned to the side, spotting one of the brood tenders carefully fanning an egg.
Noah stepped up. "Hello," he said, releasing a smooth line of pheromones—his newly evolved [Pheromone Language] skill active.
The red ant didn't respond at first. Then, after a second, its antenna twitched. It turned and looked at Noah, eyes blank but focused. Then it leaned in, gently tapping the top of Noah's head with its antenna, giving what seemed to be an ant high-five.
After that, the brood tender went back to work.
"Heh... the skill really works then." Noah clacked his mandibles in glee, feeling slightly elated.
...
After finding that he could basically talk more freely with other worker ants, Noah greeted any ants that crossed his path. Upon greeting, the ants would stop and tap at Noah's antennae, giving the ant high-five.
As Noah was freely doing his stuff, he came across the resting Queen. Not thinking too much, he greeted her like every other ant worker using his skill.
"Hey Queen, how's it going?"
The Queen turned her large head slowly, looking at Noah with a ponderous look. "Going?" she asked.
"...uh, what?" Noah stared back, shocked as well.
'She can talk? Or is it my evolved skill that lets me distinguish her scent more clearly now?' Noah's mind raced as he stared at the Queen dumbfounded. But coming to his senses quickly, he hurriedly explained. "Um, I meant how are you, Queen?"
The Queen let out a small, "Oh," before nodding gently. "I have been well, child. Are you well?" the Queen asked gently. Her voice felt like it had the maturity that old people exude, and the tone was soft too.
Noah nodded quickly. "Yeah, um, I am well too, Queen."
The Queen nodded her head gently, before turning away and becoming still, letting her loyal guards groom her. She looked slightly exhausted, possibly still feeling fatigue even after the torpor.
Noah didn't want to trouble her anymore, but he couldn't help but ask one more question. "Queen, I have something to ask you, can I?" Noah spoke, looking at the large ant.
The Queen turned her head toward Noah again, nodding. "Yes, you may, child."
Noah took a breath, then asked the question troubling him for so long. "Why wasn't Queen laying any eggs until now?"
The Queen pondered, looking ahead. For a brief moment, Noah felt as if he asked something he shouldn't have, but he was really curious to know.
"It's because of a simple reason, child," the Queen started to explain. "We are a big family. And a family as big as ours—it has many mouths to feed."
Noah nodded, waiting for her to finish.
"And if I had kept laying, our family would have only grown bigger, increasing more mouths to feed. And it's not a bad thing. In fact, I would have been happy to do so."
"Then why?" he asked again.
The Queen sighed, her mandibles clacking softly. "It's simple, child. Our family was getting bigger than our remaining biomass. And if I had kept laying eggs without the worry of that trouble, what do you think would have happened?"
Noah stayed silent. 'So, it's just like I had thought. She knew once the remaining food ran out, the ants would have to rely on cannibalism to survive.'
As Noah was deep in his thoughts, the Queen gently leaned down, her antenna patting Noah's head. "But then, you came, child." The Queen let out a soft chuckle. "And by some unknown method, you completely took away this worry for me. I can't be more grateful."
Noah was taken aback, then he asked with some surprise, "You don't want to know how I did that?"
"It doesn't matter what secrets you hide. But what you did is a tremendous contribution to our family, and that matters more than any secrets you have, child."
Having said that, the Queen decisively turned away, becoming still as a rock—probably already going into torpor to recover her energy for laying another batch of eggs pretty soon.
Noah stared at her silently. 'She is very human for a monster.' With that thought, Noah also turned away.
...
Noah and Ruby stood side by side in the middle of the rocky chamber, watching as the red ants poured through the Crimson Gate nonstop. The glow of the Crimson Gate kept the cave lit.
Noah's antennae twitched as he looked around.
The red ants were already working.
The makeshift chamber inside the cave—where they had left a huge pile of demon corpses earlier—was now empty. All the corpses were gone, dragged away by the newly arrived ants. Not a single trace of meat or bone remained.
"Heh. Guess they didn't need much hand-holding after all," Noah thought, clacking his mandibles in satisfaction.
Once the first wave of red ants had come through the portal, things moved quickly. After confirming the area was safe and filled with pheromone trails—thanks to Ruby, who as an ant leader gave off stronger command signals—it had been easy for Noah to start giving orders through his [Pheromone Language] skill. He didn't have to shout or explain anything. Just one trail of nudge through the pheromones and they understood what to do.
The first group was already working inside the chamber. Their mandibles clicked nonstop as they dug into the walls and expanded the space. Some were busy carving new tunnels, shaping a whole network that would later be used for bringing back any biomass and teleporting right through the Gate without any trouble.
The second group had been sent out to hunt. Their goal was simple: secure food and biomass. Anything that moved, anything that could be eaten or converted into food was fair game. After all, this territory of the demon realm was filled with low-rank demons, who wouldn't be able to put up any fights with the red ants.
And then there was the third operation.
Noah had taken Ruby and a group of worker ants straight to the mountain—the one with the demon spawn point inside.
The journey wasn't too hard. Most of the demons that had spawned during the time Noah was unconscious were already battling inside the base of the mountain. So, the team dealt with them first. Ruby led the charge, tearing into the low-rank demons like she was shredding paper. The others followed.
After clearing out the area, it was time to begin Noah's plan.
Noah stepped up and started laying down the plan. The inside of the mountain had already been hollowed out a bit thanks to the previous battles. All they had to do now was scrape and dig the floor wider, flatten the area, and create a trap.
Together, Noah, Ruby, and the worker ants reshaped the space. They flattened the inner ground where the spawn point was, creating a pit. Now, every demon that spawned would fall straight into the pit, with no way of climbing out. It was crude, but it worked.
After that, they didn't have to do much.
The ant workers took over. One by one, they dragged the demon corpses out of the pit and hauled them back to the tunnels. A proper tunnel route was already under construction from the mountain to the main chamber. Transporting biomass would now be faster and more efficient.
Everything was working.
And with Ruby's help—being a leader ant and all—Noah's subtle control through [Pheromone Language] only got stronger. Already reaching level 4 in the skill. Which was crazy speed, Noah had to say that.
Meanwhile, Ruby didn't say much. Unfortunately, even with Noah's evolved skill, he couldn't speak to Ruby as freely as with the Queen. But just having her presence amplified Noah's confidence and the pheromone signals like a natural commander. The workers followed the instructions faster, moved smoother.
Noah clacked his mandibles.
"For something I cooked on the spot… this farm's turning out real nice." Noah thought, turning his gaze to look at Ruby before looking back again. "Now with this, the problem of food shortage has ended. Now the Queen can keep laying eggs without worry. Hehe, our family is going to grow even bigger now." Noah clacked his mandibles in satisfaction.
But now that everything was in motion, the ants were self-reliant and wouldn't starve to death. Noah had to think of something else. "What should I do from now on?" Noah frowned, feeling lost.
Ruby turned to look at Noah, giving him a silent pat on his side. Noah glanced at her, before nodding. "Yeah, I guess you are right. I should do what I think is the best." Noah said, smiling with a clack of his mandibles.
"We should explore this realm more."