Because of the rampaging ant colony that crossed over to the otherworld, Lin Miao had completed an abnormal awakening and was thus restricted by the system.
Unlike others, for a clueless novice like Lin Miao, the help of the Divine Net was indispensable, but there was only one way to lift the restrictions.
That was to make the ant colony stronger and continuously expand its power. Only then could Lin Miao, as their deity, continuously raise his Divine Status.
In fact, after rising one grade from the lowest tier, some of the restricted functions had already been unlocked.
In other words, as the ant colony grew in the future, those restricted functions would surely unlock one after another.
【The servants have finally constructed a brand-new nest】
Could it be said that the timing was perfect?
Just as Lin Miao was filled with irritation, the ant colony, which had already defeated the Northern Alliance, was undergoing a large-scale expansion.
The large-scale pioneering group, including the egg-laying queen, had selected the site of a former human village for their new nest.
In this destroyed and abandoned village, an ant nest was rising from the ground.
In that world, these giant worker ants, whose bodies were comparable to wild wolves and other fierce beasts, dug the earth together to construct underground tunnels.
They then used the excavated soil to build a castle on the surface, while felling trees to cultivate mushrooms that could serve as food.
Lin Miao couldn't help but marvel, “So fast. To think they built this much in just a single day.”
The hive mind could multiply the working efficiency of the worker ants several times over.
As long as one observed closely, this ability could be clearly seen.
Thousands of ants bustled about, but not for a single moment did even a single ant engage in any inefficient behavior; they all acted strictly according to the plan.
The result was that in a short period of time, a massive ant nest was born in this former village.
Could they be... mimicking human castles?
But this was far from over.
Lin Miao's ants were monsters with the ability to learn and grow in real-time.
When he saw that they were no longer just piling up dirt but were embedding massive stones into the walls like humans building castles, Lin Miao was completely stunned.
Now, it wasn't just the scale that was comparable to a castle; even its appearance had truly become that of a castle.
Beastkin and goblins would never build such a grand castle.
Clearly, they had seen human castles during their battles with humans and learned from them.
【Territory and notoriety expanded. Divine Status raised.】
【Low-Tier Deity, Grade I → Low-Tier Deity, Grade II】
【Some restricted functions have been unlocked】
And the growth of the ant colony was Lin Miao's growth.
Just as Lin Miao had expected, as the ant colony launched its large-scale expansion, his Divine Status rose once again.
“This Transcendent Divine Status... what on earth is it?”
With an anxious heart, Lin Miao sent an inquiry to the Divine Net, hoping to get answers to the questions that were driving him crazy.
If this power was indeed the reason the rifts near his home were disappearing, then it meant he possessed a power that no one on Earth had ever held before.
【Transcendent Divine Status: The power possessed by a deity who shoulders massive karma and destiny. The difference in status ensures that they are not affected by hostile lower-tier powers. As the Divine Status rises, this power will strengthen accordingly.】
Looking at the explanation, Lin Miao muttered to himself, “Lower-tier powers?”
Fortunately, the system provided an explanation—a clear and concise one that struck right at the heart of all his doubts.
But Lin Miao quickly fell into a new state of distress.
Because he seemed to finally understand why the rifts around him were disappearing.
The words of an academician who appeared as an expert in an Awakened-related video he had once watched flashed through Lin Miao's mind.
That Academician Yang Zhenning was recognized as the most authoritative rift research expert in the Dragon Nation.
He had once said, “Before a rift appears, it releases a massive wave of magic power to the corresponding coordinates. This is a force imperceptible to ordinary people, but it can be detected through special methods.”
Lin Miao thought to himself, Rifts are mediums composed of magic power, and that magic power is, in all probability... the same kind of power that appears in that otherworld.
Lin Miao opened the file where he had compiled all the information he had gathered during this period, racking his brain as hard as he could.
According to the description, the Transcendent Divine Status could nullify hostile lower-tier powers around a deity. Therefore, the rifts opened to invade Earth—which meant attacking Lin Miao—naturally fell into this category.
Furthermore, if the deities of the Divine Net were intervening in the land where he lived, then the real-world theories about the magic power of monsters and the magic power of the Awakened must also be entirely identical to the system he knew.
“That's it.”
Lin Miao's guess matched perfectly.
The great upheaval that swept the entire world about twenty years ago was precisely triggered by the intervention of deities.
And now, the rifts around him were disappearing one after another because he had become a deity and awakened this power.
Lin Miao inquired of the Divine Net once more: “Then how do I control this power?”
【It is impossible for a transcendent being who has attained a Divine Status to be unable to control this power. Therefore, this question cannot be answered.】
“...”
Lin Miao looked at the system's reply and fell into silence.
The only problem was that Lin Miao, who had awakened through abnormal means, knew absolutely nothing about even the most basic common sense.
Looking at the Divine Net's response, Lin Miao was instantly speechless.
This wasn't something that could be learned anywhere. Wasn't this leaving him completely helpless?
Instead of dwelling on this, I might as well think about how to utilize this state now that I've become a walking rift eraser.
Rather than learning how to control it, figuring out how to utilize this state was clearly much more realistic.
For now, this was still just Lin Miao's imagination, but what if his power and status could eventually surpass any deity and cover the entire world?
Perhaps it would truly be possible to return to that world without monsters and rifts—the world that everyone said could never be returned to.
At this thought, Lin Miao's heart couldn't help but pound wildly.
“Heh.”
At the same time, a ridiculous, bitter laugh couldn't help but escape from the corner of his mouth.
In that otherworld, although many existences were the servants of other deities and could be considered his enemies, there were also many innocent lives that were not servants of any deity.
Yet, the more the ant colony scorched that world to ashes, the safer the world he lived in would become?
This was simply an absurd contradiction to the absolute extreme.
...
【The servants have detected enemies approaching the vicinity of the nest】
Having routed the enemy's main force after a fierce battle, the ant colony did not pause for even a moment and immediately proceeded with their next move.
However, the ant colony had also lost a portion of their forces in the battle, leaving a temporary vacancy in their ranks.
And a group of enemies was planning to take advantage of this gap to sneak into the forest and cautiously draw near.
Looking at the figures on the screen, Lin Miao said in a low voice, “Goblins?”
It was the goblins, whom he had thought had long since vanished from this area.
He had clearly seen a portion of the goblins join the coalition army, but he hadn't expected that they hadn't been wiped out. Instead, they had retreated separately to preserve their strength.
What are they trying to do at a time like this?
Yet even with the vacancy in forces, and no matter how stealthy the goblins' movements were, trying to completely evade the eyes of the ants—who now had scouts deployed both in the air and on the ground—and reach the vicinity of the nest was virtually impossible.
Watching the ant colony dispatch a force to intercept them, Lin Miao couldn't help but scratch his head.
The number of goblins wasn't large to begin with, and their condition was no different from remnants of a defeated army that had just fled the battlefield.
Moreover, the current ant colony was no longer at the level of minor skirmishes with goblins from before.
With the goblins rushing over in this state, the ant colony wouldn't even need to exert their full strength to easily stop them.
Could this be an order from their deity?
The goblins in this area were also servants of the deity who had once sent a private message to Lin Miao under the name "Venerable Night Moon".
Unlike Lin Miao, other deities could directly intervene with their servants, providing help and issuing commands. Thus, the goblins' current actions could indeed be instructions from their deity.
“Hurry up! This operation must succeed. We must regain the trust of the great Venerable Night Moon!”
But upon hearing their conversation, Lin Miao changed his mind.
Because the goblin who looked like the chief was anxiously urging his subordinates, which was enough to prove that their actions were not born of a deity's command.
On the contrary, this was a decision they had made entirely on their own.
A goblin subordinate spoke up timidly: “But, Lord Karon...”
The goblin chief sharply interrupted him, raising his weapon high and shouting, “Shut up! O Venerable Night Moon, grant me strength! I must wash away all the humiliation and disgrace we have suffered during this time!”
It seemed that the arbitrary action of this goblin chief, whose mind was consumed by obsession, had led to this operation.
Swept up in the obsession to make a contribution, the goblin chief, constantly urging his subordinates, led the team to continue crossing the forest.
This forest was originally their former territory, and they had decided to act only after seeing that the main force of the ants had all marched south. It was clear they had used their brains a little, but unfortunately...
Regrettably, the gap in strength between the current ant colony and the goblins was already as vast as heaven and earth.
Even now, they had not noticed the scouting ants that had silently landed on the trees, monitoring their every move in real-time.
【The servants fully remember all combat records with them and have confirmed that their chief is a runaway who managed to escape death before】
The ant colony's judgment was similar to what Lin Miao thought.
Even if this group of goblin remnants took a detour and snuck up to the nest, they could easily be stopped.
【The Queen Ant intends to use them to test the brand-new class of soldier ants that have just reached maturity】
Relying on the massive spoils of war and expanded territory gained from the battle with the coalition army, the ant colony had acquired more resources. Just now, the Queen Ant had finally got her wish and bred a brand-new mutated species.
By preying on the bombardier beetles Lin Miao had introduced and implanting their abilities into the existing venomous ants, a new form of mutant had been created—the bombardier ant.
These bombardier ants had much larger abdomens compared to ordinary venomous ants.
The defensive force carrying them headed straight for the goblins' location through the underground tunnels dug in advance in the forest.
Lin Miao thought to himself: That Venerable Night Moon would probably spit blood from anger if he saw this, right?
To be honest, Lin Miao didn't know if that deity was deliberately ignoring them, or if there was some restriction preventing him from intervening at all.
But if he were the "deity" of those goblins, unable to communicate with them and watching this scene unfold, he would definitely go mad with rage.
At least Lin Miao had long since grown accustomed to such things with his headstrong ant colony, but for those deities who had goblins—who could at least understand human speech—as servants, it probably wasn't the case.
In any case, the goblins' deity could only watch this reckless action, which was destined to end in death, with no other choice.
【The servants have arrived in the vicinity of the enemy】
During this time, the ant colony instantly arrived near the goblins through straight underground tunnels resembling a subway, preparing for battle.
It was just when the goblins had temporarily stopped to gorge themselves on food.
“E-Enemy!”
The goblins were caught off guard by the ant colony suddenly pouncing from all directions, hurriedly throwing away the food in their hands and picking up their weapons to resist.
“Screeech!”
But at that moment, the abdomens of the bombardier ants burst open like an explosion, and along with thick smoke, scorching acidic venom sprayed toward the charging goblins.
This was a brand-new mutated species whose toxicity, corrosiveness, and spraying range far exceeded those of ordinary venomous ants.
“Get out of the way!”
The goblins, who had not expected such an explosive attack at all, let out waves of screams. Swept by venom from all directions, their bodies were horribly burned, and they fell to the ground dead.
Watching from the side, the goblin chief reacted extremely violently: “H-How is this possible! They didn't even use this kind of monster in the previous war!?”
He couldn't possibly imagine that these bombardier ants had been bred in just a few days after the victory of the war, and even mistakenly believed that the ant colony had been hiding its strength all along.
“No...”
The chief's eyes widened in utter disbelief as he watched his subordinates get wiped out in an instant, falling to his knees with a thud.
This was the helplessness and emptiness that only those whose hopes had been shattered would show.
Lin Miao had already seen this too many times recently.
“O Venerable Night Moon, I have done my absolute best. Please, redeem my soul...”
The goblin chief, who was muttering to himself in a daze as he watched his swept-away subordinates, was ultimately split in two—head and body—by the worker ants that rushed forward.
The desperate counterattack that the goblins had painstakingly prepared came to an end in just a single clash.
Even the main force of the ants, led by the tiger hornet ants, didn't have to lift a finger.
【The servants are satisfied with this unexpected harvest, but believe that this alone is far from enough】
Naturally. After all, the real battlefield is in the south.
Once, the ant colony would feast just by conquering a single goblin tribe, but now, those days were long gone.
This army, which easily required thousands or even tens of thousands of portions of food, was marching forward tirelessly to acquire more sustenance.
They were like a runaway, constantly accelerating train.
And in the future, this train would only become longer and heavier.
And now, Lin Miao, who could no longer be called an ordinary human, was bound by fate to this train with an uncertain future.
From the moment he was entangled, it would be so for the rest of his life.
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