Expanding Once More

【Elise confirmed the Great One's will】

Looking at Celia, who had voluntarily submitted to her, Elise ordered the surrounding worker ants to retreat.

Of course, she did not fully understand all of this.

She merely sensed that even without the forced control of the Gene Stealer, Celia now exhibited a submissive attitude, and she could feel the Great One's will radiating from her.

“Phew...”

Watching all of this, Lin Miao let out a long sigh of relief.

The most difficult hurdle had finally been overcome.

Next, as long as he utilized Celia, he could make his plans proceed much more smoothly.

Lin Miao stared at his hand-drawn map, lost in thought.

Currently, among the factions confronting the ant colony, the most powerful was the Lucadia Empire.

Furthermore, while the ant colony was engaged in battle with the beastkin, the Empire was connecting all its old northern fortresses to build a new Great Wall.

In Lin Miao's view, this was a massive nation at least several times larger than the Holy Kingdom.

Having served its purpose as a trap, the Holy Kingdom had already fulfilled its historical mission.

Lin Miao decided it was time to completely eradicate the forces of the goddess Hestia, who had lost both Celia and a massive portion of her military strength in this battle.

Of course, because the colony's primary objective had been to capture Celia alive, the Holy Kingdom's main force had not suffered too severe a blow and had long since retreated to the vicinity of the high wall.

Moreover, the ant colony had paid a significant price for this operation and undoubtedly needed time to replenish its forces.

【Elise is highly satisfied with the continuous supply of food from the front lines】

However, the recovery speed of the ant colony was something humans could not hope to match.

While both sides had suffered losses, the Holy Kingdom would take a long time to recover, whereas the ant colony could replenish its numbers at an astonishing speed.

“There are so many...”

Lin Miao watched the countless worker ants continuously transporting food through specially excavated tunnels, and he could not help but marvel at the sight.

On the western front, the battle between the ant colony and the beastkin was still raging fiercely.

There, an inexhaustible supply of food was being produced for the colony.

Whether they were the corpses of enemies or those of their own kind.

The colony processed them all into nutrients without distinction, transporting them back to the nest to feed the larvae and Elise without a moment's pause.

【Bloodline Regulation LV5: Able to utilize information obtained from devouring prey to regulate produced individuals, creating entirely new classes】

【*The range of obtainable information has expanded and now includes some invertebrates】

【Elise has successfully molted once again】

Elise's growth had never ceased.

She shed her old skin once more, gaining an even larger body and a more developed brain, fully prepared to devour entirely new prey.

“To think they can evolve in such a manner...”

The only difference from before was that there was now another person standing nearby, staring dumbfoundedly at all of this and letting out a heartfelt exclamation.

Celia watched Elise evolve in real-time with her own eyes, her entire body trembling.

Only at this moment did she truly understand where the colony's despair-inducing growth rate came from.

Lin Miao had long since grown accustomed to Elise's growth.

“Invertebrates... Is it really possible now?”

When she realized that the ant colony could now devour certain invertebrates, she still could not help but widen her eyes in shock.

Although they could no longer be called a simple ant colony, this was undoubtedly a qualitative leap and a revolutionary growth.

This meant that their options had suddenly multiplied several times over.

Of course, if the colony's production capacity did not keep up, they might only be able to strengthen their exoskeletons as they had done when devouring crustaceans, without producing any shockingly new mutated species.

All along, it was Lin Miao who had been providing the ant colony with new materials.

Because the ant colony had absolutely no interest in creatures of similar size to insects or arthropods in that world, Lin Miao had never been able to confirm whether they could devour Terra's native creatures.

【Elise believes that in order to achieve faster recovery for the colony, a completely new production system must be established】

But in this process, Elise was also continuously exploring more knowledge and possibilities.

The more she knew, the more she could identify the deficiencies in the current system.

In Elise's view, the current traditional method of colony reproduction—from egg to larva, and then to pupa—was simply too inefficient.

“You're saying you need a new method of reproduction?”

Reading her thoughts, Lin Miao could not help but fall into deep contemplation.

In his opinion, there was already no creature that could reproduce faster than an ant colony.

The fastest-reproducing organisms he knew of were, of course, microorganisms, but the ant colony obviously could not possess such an ability.

“Wait, splitting... regeneration ability?”

Right at that moment, an idea suddenly flashed through Lin Miao's mind.

He thought of a certain creature—one large enough to be eaten by the ant colony, and possessing a super-regeneration ability that was close to splitting.

Although this was strictly not a reproductive ability and came with many limitations, it might actually be feasible.

After all, his ant colony was already capable of modifying and freely utilizing the abilities of the various creatures they devoured, including special powers like magic power and holy power.

As for whether they could modify the devoured super-regeneration ability for their own use, that would entirely depend on Elise's capabilities.