“Flee! If those winged monsters catch up, we're all dead!”
The northern region had completely devolved into a lawless land, as most of the lords had abandoned their territories and fled.
On this desolate ground where no refugees remained, a small group of people was desperately galloping on horseback.
They were scouts who had been sent out to monitor the movements of the ants.
During their reconnaissance, they were spotted by patrolling ants. They immediately wheeled their horses around and fled for their lives.
In truth, it wasn't as if they had no choice but to run.
After all, the pursuing ants were only a small scouting squad made up of minor species.
According to recent observations, even ordinary humans were fully capable of handling non-mutated small species.
But if they wasted time trying to kill these scouting ants, even a single tiger hornet ant appearing would mean the total annihilation of their entire group.
The adventurers operating in the north were well aware of this, which was why they didn't dare provoke them and focused solely on escaping.
【The Queen Ant has determined that the colony requires greater movement speed.】
The small ants could not possibly keep up with horses running at full speed, so they didn't even bother to give chase from the start.
Although they were far better than horses at traversing rugged terrain, their running speed on flat ground fell far short.
In reality, having a mix of strengths and weaknesses was natural for all living things, but the ant colony—especially the still-growing Queen Ant—refused to accept this limitation.
【The Queen Ant believes that the new ant species about to be born will make up for this shortcoming.】
With the expansion of the colony and the acquisition of vast amounts of spoils, they now possessed the resources to nurture entirely new variants designed by the Queen Ant through Predation and genetic engineering.
The variant about to be born was one of them.
By feeding the larvae—which carried the new genes created by the Queen Ant—the specific nutrients required for their development, they would spin cocoons and evolve on their own into the corresponding variant individuals.
Ultimately, the new variants that emerged from their cocoons possessed long, slender legs, razor-sharp mandibles, and a seemingly light, graceful build.
These were the newborn individuals that had inherited the capabilities of the tiger beetle, which the Queen Ant had recently consumed.
Does this mean we even have a cavalry unit now?
Just as Lin Miao had anticipated, they successfully inherited the tiger beetle's astonishing running speed, retaining a significant portion of it.
With an instantaneous burst of acceleration, they could sprint down a straight, flat path. Their terrifying speed was easily on par with, if not superior to, the horses running at full gallop.
【The Queen Ant plans to lead the new recruits to conquer vaster lands.】
【The Queen Ant instinctively senses that as the territory controlled by the colony continues to expand, a new method of management is required.】
...
Up to this point, it was a scene Lin Miao had long grown accustomed to.
It was nothing more than the ants devouring prey, predating on new materials, absorbing abilities, and completing their evolution.
But the problem was that, just as the system prompts had indicated, the environment they occupied was gradually changing.
First it was inside the terrarium, then in the uncharted forests of the frontier borderlands.
And now, they had marched out of the forest, claiming the entire northern region as their territory.
This drastic change in environment and conditions demanded that the ant colony adopt methods of action and survival logic completely different from before.
Managing a single tribe and ruling a kingdom spanning a vast territory were two entirely different things.
Yet, the ant colony, which centered around the Queen Ant and never stopped growing, was fully capable of achieving this.
They would self-regulate their population, stockpile resources, and make cold, calculated decisions utilizing the advantages of their hive mind. The precision of these calculations would only continue to rise as they gained experience.
It looks like it won't be long now.
The ants becoming increasingly intelligent was exactly what Lin Miao hoped for.
Lin Miao's goal was to eventually establish genuine, direct communication with them in some form in the future.
However, the process of evolution could not be accomplished overnight.
Before they could truly communicate with him, the colony would inevitably have to go through a phase of independent thinking and exploring the world around them.
During this process, what if they begin to doubt or covet my existence?
Clearly, Lin Miao could not afford to treat these ants lightly.
He deeply understood the weight of this relationship, knowing full well that he and the colony had long shared a single heart and mind.
But the colony had not yet truly grasped this.
Therefore, before these uncontrolled ants caused some catastrophic disaster, Lin Miao had to make thorough preparations in advance.
First... I need money.
To execute the plans taking shape in his mind, the most indispensable element was money.
Lin Miao pulled out his phone, opened his banking app, and checked his account balance, letting out a soft sigh.
Though he considered himself quite frugal, the savings he had accumulated over his few short years in the workforce were truly modest.
At the very least, it was nowhere near enough to carry out his plan.
Even if he scraped together loans from every possible source and emptied his pockets, he could only amass an amount that could barely be called seed money.
[God of Compassion: According to the established rules, this magic stone mine is mine this time. Don't be too upset. After all, I've been squeezed dry lately, so I deserve some compensation.]
If the seed money he scraped together by emptying his savings went down the drain, he would be completely ruined.
Fortunately, he possessed absolutely reliable investment intelligence.
Seeing a deity on the Divine Net Forum rejoicing over their impending exclusive claim to a magic stone mine for the first time, Lin Miao immediately began researching overseas stock markets.
He planned to make this his very first step.
...
“Boss, right now...”
“Quiet. At this very moment, the deity is guiding my path.”
Alcyon Industries, though a startup in America, had absorbed various technologies related to the Awakened and rifts at an astonishing pace since its founding, experiencing rapid growth.
What the world did not know was that President Victor, who had built this company from the ground up after being a failed businessman, harbored a secret: he was the servant of a high-tier deity.
They acted on the instructions of the deities on the Divine Net, which could be considered the entity behind the system. Their duty was to recruit promising Awakened individuals and manage matters related to rifts and resource dungeons.
“Is it... good news?”
The secretary watched as the man standing by the window, who had his eyes closed in a devout expression, opened them, and immediately asked nervously.
To Victor and his close associates, this deity had long become a "god" in the truest sense of the word.
Victor had always been a devout believer, but in the face of the actual miracles and oracles happening right before his eyes, his past religious beliefs had been completely cast aside.
“It is far more than just good news. Thanks to the deity's grace, our company will finally have exclusive ownership of a magic stone mine. Dispatch a surveying team immediately to the coordinates I'm about to give you.”
Victor grinned, pointing out a specific location on the map to his secretary.
Unlike spatial rifts that closed once the invading enemies were defeated, resource dungeons were more like instanced dungeons that required passing certain trials.
However, on rare occasions, veins of magic stones that could yield massive quantities of resources would be discovered deep within these rifts.
We had everything prepared, yet we were restricted at every turn because of this one issue. Now that we can secure our own supply of magic stones, we can finally break into the ranks of the top Fortune 500 companies.
Unable to contain his excitement, Victor paced back and forth in his office.
Ever since humanity discovered that magic power could be extracted from magic stones and applied to various industries, the entire world had gone mad for this resource.
After all, this was a reward intentionally created by the deities who participated in building the Awakened system, so such an outcome was only natural.
However, this reward, which also represented a significant cost to the deities themselves, was not something just anyone could obtain.
Up until now, all publicly known magic stone rifts seemed to have been discovered by chance, and the finders were considered to have hit a jackpot rarer than a genetic mutation.
But the truth was, these veins were more like rewards given only to the deities who triumphed in performance showdowns against the Outer Gods.
After all, these resources were all bargaining chips used to expand their respective influences on Earth.
Once a magic stone mine was discovered, there was no need to worry about developing it.
Just the news of Alcyon Industries discovering a mine would be enough to cause a massive sensation.
This was a reward meticulously prepared by the deities, capable of multiplying the market value of a previously mediocre company several times over.
And precisely because of this, on the other side of the Earth, Lin Miao, who had learned of this news in advance, had earned returns several times his initial investment.
“...Is making money really this easy? I can move to a new place in a while. Thanks to you guys, my life plans have been moved up by an entire decade.”
Standing in front of the terrarium, looking at the account balance that had instantly multiplied several times over, Lin Miao murmured to himself.
The first step of his plan was indeed to move.
He planned to leave his cramped apartment and move into a spacious house on the outskirts of the city.
This is something that must be done for everyone's sake.
He intended to completely renovate one of the rooms there into a dedicated rearing space for the ants.
It would no longer be like now, where an acrylic terrarium was placed in a corner of the living room with a simple lid thrown on. Instead, it would be transformed into an incredibly secure rearing facility.
Secure enough that even the constantly evolving, ever-strengthening ants would absolutely never be able to break through.
【The servants believe they must set out to find more food.】
The ant colony, utterly incapable of knowing his thoughts, remained busily occupied at their respective posts at this very moment.
The Queen Ant inside the terrarium continued to feed, accumulating the power necessary for her own growth.
Meanwhile, the other individuals worked tirelessly to gather food and hunt, acting as the blood and oxygen that kept the colony running.
That's right, there's no stopping.
The reason for the delay over the past few days was merely because they needed to claim the northern region abandoned by humans as their territory, construct new nests, and expand their population.
Once things stabilized, the ant colony would immediately set out to search for fresh and more abundant food.
And the colony's primary target was, naturally, the south, which they had long set their sights on.
The beastkin tribes to the west were located too far apart, and their territories were too vast.
On the other hand, the human settlements living on the southern islands, which the colony had thoroughly scouted, were mostly concentrated in one area with relatively small territories.
Once they locked onto their target, they would launch an unrelenting, fight-to-the-death pursuit.
If their prey continued to flee south, they would chase them all the way to the southern reaches until every last living creature was completely exterminated.
The enemies to the south are the Church of the Goddess of Light, those who follow the goddess Hestia. And that goddess's title is the Goddess of Light.
Thanks to the ant colony, Lin Miao's Divine Status continued to rise, and he had finally grasped the true nature of the Divine Net and those deities.
Since he had officially begun to pay attention to this war of divine factions sweeping across the entire world, the human forces of the south were already complete enemies to Lin Miao.
Even if there were still some people who had not yet aligned with any faction, they were already being gradually absorbed by the goddess's faction long before Lin Miao's ants could arrive.
Before long, they would be completely reborn as servants who obeyed the goddess's commands.
“Hmm...”
Clutching a sliver of hope, Lin Miao opened the deity forum and checked Hestia's recent activity.
The last time he had tracked Hestia's movements, she had been wandering through various subforums, asking other deities for information in order to uncover the true identity of the ants.
But since then, she had not made any other significant moves.
That makes sense. Even if she is plotting something, since there's a private message function, there's no need for her to discuss it publicly on the forum.
After all, the forum still had many restricted functions, and the information that could be obtained here was never complete.
“Hello, it's me. I was wondering if you could help me catch some rarer insects. As long as you can get what I want, price is not an issue.”
Lin Miao shifted his gaze away from the screen, picked up his phone, and dialed another number.
It was the insect dealer who had been of great help to him lately.
Rate on N.U.
