25: Chapter 25 Restoring Vitality
Chi Anlin was unaware of what was happening in the outside world. He lay comfortably on a smooth stone surface, gently patting his stomach.
The taste of this Rock Pig was simply superb. The meat was refreshing and springy, with the perfect balance of fat and lean. Even when roasted plainly, it carried a fruity aroma.
It was a pity there were no seasonings; otherwise, it could have been roasted to be even more delicious.
There were several pieces of meat left that he couldn't finish, so Chi Anlin had Xiao Yue take them to the deepest part of the cave to be kept under Ice Seal. Although there were many magical beasts here, it was better to store them just in case.
The herbivorous magical beasts on the plains were no pushovers; each one ran faster than the last. Fortunately, Xiao Yue had the Gale Step skill. If it were the Ant Queen's Insect Soldiers, they would only be left eating dust.
Chi Anlin looked at the Ant Queen, who was devouring the flesh and blood of a magical beast. After thinking for a moment, he opened her gene panel.
[Regeneration]: Consumes a large amount of energy to quickly restore damaged body parts.
[Colossal Strength]: Ant race talent, increases strength twenty-fold.
[Iron Armor]: Integrates metal into the shell to improve its defensive power.
[Fire Poison]: Can produce a continuous burning effect on enemies.
In an ordinary world, an ant could probably lift something over 400 times its own body weight. However, the Ant Queen's current strength far exceeded that and was no longer determined by her own weight.
If he had this skill himself, he estimated that no one in the same realm could withstand a single punch from him.
Pure envy!
The Regeneration gene cost Chi Anlin 30,000 blood energy. Having this gene was enough for the Ant Queen to heal herself, though she was still a bit short on energy at the moment.
Xiao Yue left early and returned late, his combat awareness growing stronger. Almost every time he returned, he brought back the corpse of a low-level magical beast.
Once the Ant Queen recovered, her primary goal would definitely be to produce Ant Soldiers. If not for the lack of blood energy, Chi Anlin would surely have collected some genes for the Ant Queen to produce different types of units.
For example, giving the Ant Soldiers wings and transforming their abdomens into explosive packs to blow up whoever they encountered.
Or perhaps spray-type Ant Soldiers that could carry a large amount of Fire Poison?
Shaking his head, he realized he had nothing right now. It was better to improve his strength and earn blood energy first.
When his blood energy reached 10,000 before, the system had given him a reward, which was why the Ant Queen's productivity had taken such a huge leap. He wondered what changes would occur when his blood energy reached 100,000.
[Killed mortal rank third stage magical beast Deadwood Python, obtained 350 points of blood energy]
After being out for only a short while, Xiao Yue had slain another magical beast. Against a magical beast like the Deadwood Python, as long as he used the Ice Seal skill, it basically couldn't move.
He wondered if cold-blooded animals could break free from such limitations once their levels were higher.
Before long, Xiao Yue returned dragging a four-meter-long python. This python was food for the Ant Queen to use for her body's recovery.
In the cave, the Ant Queen, who had previously been reduced to a mere insect stick, had recovered significantly. Several small legs had grown on her body, and the cracks on her back were filled in.
Having devoured half of the python, the Ant Queen lowered her body and began to produce Ant Soldiers.
Since her evolution, the Ant Queen's Ant Soldiers no longer required a long incubation period, nor did they need to cultivate on their own like that previous Golden Fierce Ant.
These Ant Soldiers only took five minutes to hatch, and they were born with a cultivation of Mortal Grade Second Stage.
After producing three Mortal Grade Second Stage ant eggs, the Ant Queen began devouring again. These Ant Soldiers required energy to be produced.
So, if Chi Anlin wanted the Ant Queen to produce fifty Ant Soldiers a day, he would need to hunt at least one Mortal Rank Five magical beast.
Soon, three Ant Soldiers hatched. This time, the Ant Soldiers had incredibly sharp barbs on their joints, and their mandibles glowed with faint red light. This was the Fire Poison exclusive to the Ant Soldiers, a major killing tool that could wear down an opponent.
Actually, for Chi Anlin, it didn't matter where these magical beasts died. The main thing was that the Ant Queen still needed their corpses. Otherwise, he could obtain blood energy just by using poison to slowly wear them down.
As for the remaining Deadwood Snake corpses, Chi Anlin did not have the Ant Queen produce ordinary Ant Soldiers, but continued to produce Mortal Grade Second Stage Ant Soldiers.
The Ant Queen's efficiency in producing ordinary Ant Soldiers was still a bit low. Those two thousand ordinary Ant Soldiers might not be weak, as they also carried Fire Poison, but their numbers were still too few. If there were tens of thousands, they could even surround and kill a mortal rank third stage magical beast.
However, the casualties would be heavy that way. So, it was better to continue producing Mortal Rank Ant Soldiers and wait until the Ant Queen's production speed increased again before trying.
Three Ant Soldiers walked out of the cave and headed toward the other side of the forest.
That way led deeper in, where the magical beasts' strength would be much greater. Chi Anlin was only sending them to scout the way. Ant Soldiers were not like Xiao Yue; he wouldn't feel heartache if they died.
The Mortal Grade Second Stage Ant Soldiers were not slow. They could directly hunt some first-stage magical beasts and attempt to swarm second-stage ones.
Individual Ant Soldiers were definitely not as strong as magical beasts of the same realm, but since they were consumables, there was no need to fear death, which removed many concerns.
Soon, the Ant Queen sent him a message. Over a kilometer away, a group of monkeys resided. Their strengths varied, but most were around mortal rank third stage.
This was an unexpected surprise for Chi Anlin. Magical beasts had their own territories, and the time Xiao Yue spent finding a magical beast was often longer than the time it took to kill one.
There were about seventy to eighty monkeys in the troop. If they were all mortal rank third stage magical beasts, he could obtain at least 30,000 blood energy.
His cumulative blood energy had currently reached 40,000. He needed another 60,000 to successfully reach the 100,000 mark, at which point he should be able to obtain another system reward.
[Killed Mortal Grade Second Stage magical beast Deadwood Snake, obtained 170 points of blood energy]
[Killed mortal rank first stage magical beast Deadwood Snake, obtained 90 points of blood energy]
[Killed mortal rank third stage magical beast Deadwood Snake, obtained 340 points of blood energy]
...
[Killed ordinary beast Deadwood Snake, obtained 30 points of blood energy]
Many messages popped up in succession, making Chi Anlin pause in surprise. Had Xiao Yue found a nest of Deadwood Snakes?
Why are there so many Deadwood Snakes?
Against this type of magical beast, Xiao Yue had a natural advantage, so killing them was effortless.
In just this short amount of time, he had contributed over 2,000 blood energy to Chi Anlin.
There was still about 2,000 left until he reached 10,000 blood energy, and upgrading the Ant Queen's production skill also required 10,000 blood energy.
It was a pity his injuries still needed to heal slowly; otherwise, he could go out and earn blood energy himself.
[Killed Mortal Rank Fourth Stage magical beast Deadwood Snake, obtained 700 points of blood energy]
After the last message popped up, Xiao Yue stopped the slaughter and began returning to the cave.
A Mortal Rank Fourth Stage magical beast was the biggest catch of these past few days, enough to allow the Ant Queen to produce over twenty Mortal Grade Second Stage Ant Soldiers.