Law of the Swarm

Chapter 23 Dangerous Magical Creatures

It was not the pitcher plant in front of System that exuded a special smell, but an unknown tree more than ten meters away from him.

The shape of the trees is very ordinary, similar to ordinary poplars, about the thickness of human thighs.

System had eaten the leaves of this tree before, and there happened to be data of this plant in his [Information Entry].

The taste is slightly sweet, and the experience value of this leaf of the same weight is about one-twentieth of that of the chrysalis.

As System gradually approached, he felt the strange smell of this tree even more. Obviously, in the humid forest, System felt a bit of dry heat.

This dry and hot smell is not strong, if it weren't for the natural perception of the insect's antennae, it would be difficult for System to detect it.

System jumped onto the branches of this tree and ate the leaves.

The taste of the leaves is just slightly sweet as described in [Information Read], but the experience provided is five times that of the original leaves.

This was what System ate after waking up. Besides the lizard carcass, it was the second kind of food that did not match his taste.

System bounced around the branches of this tree, carefully observing what was different about this tree, but he couldn't find anything except the dry and hot breath.

"Plant in the magic world?"

Reminiscent of the wild boar covered in flames, the old druid exuding a natural atmosphere.

System speculates that both this tree and the previous lizard should belong to magical species with supernatural power.

The reason for the abnormal experience should be that when he ate this food, he absorbed the special energy attached to the plant and obtained the experience that allowed him to upgrade.

But in fact, his body cannot digest and absorb this special energy, so his sense of taste cannot distinguish the taste of this special plant.

It is very likely that along with the absorption of this energy, when the special energy accumulated in his body exceeds a certain amount, the quantitative change will lead to a qualitative change, and his body will undergo special changes.

However, these are all inferences drawn by System based on his subtle body feelings, which may be quite different from the actual situation.

Whether it is his derived ability [self-information generation technique], or the inheritance in his blood, there is no information about this magical power.

System reckoned that he would find some clues after his third molt, because the grasshopper queen's spiritual communication ability was obtained during the third molt.

Since he didn't know what kind of effect this leaf had, System chose to leave after eating only a few mouthfuls of this leaf, lest unknown changes in his body hinder the improvement of his talent [Degeneration and Growth].

After all, System still knew too little about this world.

After coming to this world, except for the Grasshopper Queen he met, he had no one to communicate with, and everything had to be explored by himself.

……

Continuing to move around and explore, it didn't take long for System to encounter another kind of magical life again.

It's not a plant that exudes a special smell.

It was a ball of light brown jelly the size of a basketball, exuding a faint sour smell.

The jelly wriggled slowly on the ground, melting some rotting branches and broken leaves into the body, as if it was eating.

Slime monsters look a lot like slimes.

Slimes appeared in many fantasy-themed games in System's previous life. They are weak in combat and feed on grass or rotting impurities. They are usually the monsters the protagonist faces at the beginning of the game.

Slime's gelatin is full of corrosive slime, which can digest many rotting impurities in the forest, and belongs to the forest scavenger.

In addition to the sour aura corresponding to the dry and hot aura of the magic tree, this slime also exuded a unique herbal aroma, which greatly moved System.

Seeing the slime moving slowly among the dead leaves, System decided to taste this jelly.

Not to mention the delicious herbal aroma, the digestive juice in Slime's body will definitely have a certain effect on his [Corrosion Slime], so it's worth trying.

System bounced and moved over.

But just as he moved a meter away from the slime, the blood in System's body suddenly trembled.

His [insect intuition] gave an early warning!
……

System stopped, and his mind immediately cleared up.

There was something wrong with him just now, why would he, who has always been cautious, rush in front of the slime unsuspectingly, and even try to suck the slime's jelly?
System turned the tentacles on his head, and the strange scent of grass and trees emanating from the slime entered System's mind again.

His spirit seemed to enter a strange state of relaxation.

This time System was already alert.

Shaking his head to wake himself up, System thought for a while, grabbed a five-centimeter dead branch, and jumped continuously to a branch above the slime.

Throw dead branches from above—

When the stick was hit, the jelly the size of a football shrank suddenly, and the whole jelly trembled violently and jumped up. The stick was swallowed by the slime in an instant.

The scent of grass and woods emitted by the slime does not mean how delicious its jelly is, but that it is a trap for killing bugs!
Slime can be easily killed by humans, but it is a deadly killer to insects.

Seeing the end of the dead branch, System's body trembled unconsciously. If it wasn't for the reminder of the derived ability [Insect Intuition], he might have been swallowed by the slime just now.

Although having [Corrosive Slime] makes his body somewhat resistant to corrosive liquids, he won't be easily digested, but being swallowed by slime's jelly will undoubtedly suffocate him to death.

Species from the magical world may not be as simple as depicted in the game. They also have various habits and are likely to feed on insects.

After this lesson, System decided to be more careful when encountering other unknown creatures in the future, so as not to make this mistake.

……

Jumping away, it didn't take long for System to find some reddish-brown ants. Following the trail of these ants, he quickly found the nest of reddish-brown ants.

Unlike the dark brown ant nest, this one is built in the middle of a decaying tree.

The reddish-brown ants are about 0.8 cm in size, and the scale of the ant nest is smaller than that of the dark-brown ant nest, but there are many ants coming and going.

System watched the thousands of ants wandering around the anthill, and suddenly came up with an idea——

What happens if you lure the slime near the anthill?

(End of this chapter)