Law of the Swarm

Chapter 5

The healing ability of the derivative skill [Severe Limb Regeneration] is very effective. As System continued to devour the eggs, the burning sensation of his forelimbs attached to the formic acid quickly weakened and subsided. In just ten minutes, his severed forelimbs The blood flow stopped and clotted into a grayish white scab.

With [Regeneration of Severed Limbs], System is not worried that he will become a lame grasshopper in the future, but he is really worried that the healing speed of his severed limbs is too slow.

If the severed limb cannot heal for a long time, the bloody smell from the wound will undoubtedly attract countless insect hunters and put him in a dangerous situation.

Seeing his wounds congealed into blood scabs, System was completely relieved, concentrated on eating insect eggs, and always paid attention to the movement around him.

……

The dark red ant kicked by System didn't come back in the end, and it's unknown whether he forgot the way to come here, or carried one and a half of his limbs back to the ant nest for work.

After eating nearly twenty insect eggs in a row, System's body gradually grew to 1.2 centimeters, and began to upgrade again.

His body grew from 1.2 centimeters to 1.6 centimeters, and the carapace and fangs all over his body became stronger.

不过相比躯体，这一次他体内血脉中的力量并没有他3级升到4级那么明显，仅仅【昆虫适应力】（8/21）变为了【昆虫适应力】（9/21），同时获得了一个衍生技能：[酸性抗性]（1/4），应该与他被蚂蚁咬断他足肢释放的蚁酸有关。

……

[Acid Resistance] (1/4): A derivative ability obtained from [Insect Adaptability].passive ability.Has a certain resistance to acidic substances.

……

As for the talent that System is most concerned about [Degeneration and Growth], there is no change at all. System just feels that his blood has become a little thicker, which is far less than the previous upgrade.

Because of these several upgrades, System had some speculations about the law of his body growth.

His derivative skills are basically obtained from the talent [Insect Adaptability]. After removing the [Green Camouflage], [Regeneration of Severed Limbs] and [Insect Intuition] that his body originally had, he has obtained [Darkness] in the last two upgrades. Vision] and [Acid Resistance].

The former is because he stared at the dim scene outside the gaps of dead leaves the night before the upgrade, while the latter is because his forelimbs were corroded by the formic acid of ants before the upgrade.

Apparently, his reliance on [Insect Adaptability] to obtain derivative skills is related to his experience before upgrading.

As for the improvement of the talent [Molting Growth] and [Insect Adaptability], although System is not quite sure, it should be related to the food he eats. As long as he eats more nutritious and more diverse food, the two Ability should be significantly improved.

……

After a short thought, System continued to devour the delicious eggs because of the strong hunger after the upgrade.

Because his body size became larger after the upgrade, his swallowing speed accelerated again. In just 10 minutes, he swallowed four or five eggs.At this speed, he would have eaten all these eggs before dark.

But just after System's hunger disappeared after devouring the eggs, the power of [Degeneration] from his blood suddenly filled his whole body.

The trembling blood told him that it was time for the first molt.

System endured the urge to molt, and tried his best to swallow as many eggs as possible.

The feeling from the blood and the information from the [Self-Information Generation Technique] told him that after molting, his body would fall into short-term weakness, and he would need to supplement a large amount of food, so System decided to accumulate as much body energy as possible before molting. Nutrient reserves, in order to make his transformation more smooth.

Decay is not the sooner the better.

But not long after, System finally chose to leave helplessly.

The fishy smell from the eggs finally attracted the carnivorous creatures again. They were two giant black-brown ants with a size of 2.5 centimeters.

If it was still the little dark red ant, System might still consider fighting it, but facing these two huge ants, System didn't think about it, and directly chose to jump away from the back of the leaf.

Facing the weak, he will bully without hesitation, and facing a strong enemy, he will run away without thinking.

System has become more and more aware of the changes in his personality. Although he still has some rationality from humans, his way of thinking is closer to that of insects.

Gently shaking the worm's head, System didn't think too much, and concentrated on preparing for his first molt.

……

Grasshoppers, as a type of insect, belong to the branch of insects with incomplete metamorphosis. They do not go through the three stages of larva, pupa, and adult like butterflies, ants, flies, and dragonflies.

After hatching from the eggs, the bodies of grasshoppers are not much different from adults. Their growth requires continuous moulting, that is, molting.

Some moults are similar to those of snakes, and also similar to those of scorpions and spiders, but insects moult more than snakes, scorpions, and spiders. After all, no snakes or scorpions can change their body structure and grow wings after moulting.

After System woke up, he gradually recalled more things from his previous life, including a lot of knowledge about insects. It seems that he had done some research on insects in his previous life.

System seems to have raised many cold-blooded animals in his previous life, including carnivorous insects such as praying mantises and katydids (ps: read zhong, one sound, katydids are also a type of katydids), and arthropods such as spiders and scorpions animals, as well as amphibian frogs and reptile lizards.

In his memory, there was a black-brown tarantula with a size of [-] centimeters and its legs stretched nearly [-] centimeters. Because of his operation error, he fed a live cricket during the moulting process, and was bitten to death by the cricket.

In this world, the molt of the bug was basically the same as System's previous life, and the body was extremely soft and fragile just after molt.

So what System has to do now is to find a safe place to molt.

Instinct from the bloodline guided System to find a shady and cool backside of leaves as soon as possible to molt.

But although this saves trouble, it is not safe enough.

An hour later, System finally found a pine-like tree, and a large dead leaf happened to be stuck on a branch of this tree.

The space under this dead leaf is the place of decay that System was looking for.

The branch that System chose was more than one meter above the ground, far away from the numerous ant colonies on the ground, and the tree exuded a faint irritating smell, which made System feel a little uncomfortable, with a weak deterrent The role of insects is an ideal molt place.

System quickly got under the dead leaves, and after firmly grasping the plant branches with his feet, System followed the guidance of the blood in his body to start his first molt.

His entire epidermal exoskeleton gradually became soft, and the flesh and blood of his body began to absorb the essence of the softened exoskeleton, leaving only a thin layer of dross on the outermost layer.

A larger layer of exoskeleton gradually formed under System's original exoskeleton, and he felt a tingling sensation in his back, as if something was growing out of his back.

The power from the bloodline filled his whole body, and he naturally acquired a new derivative skill [Smelly Slime].

……

[Smelly slime] (3/7): The ability obtained by the grasshopper after the first molt.Able to secrete a special fishy liquid to get rid of predators.

……

A new organ has formed in his mouth that secretes glands that contain a foul-smelling mucus. By secreting this foul-smelling mucus, the grasshopper can gain escape from many predators.

However, compared to the natural changes of his body due to degeneration, System's attention was focused on the blood in his whole body, and his blood vessels seemed to be making inexplicable sounds.

— Choose.

(End of this chapter)