2: Chapter 2 Genetic Ascension and the Terrifying Ant Swarms That Devour Steel
"Ding! Extraction successful!"
"Congratulations, you have obtained the genetic entry: [Primordial Devouring Gene (Rare)]"
The icy system notification echoed within Su Chen's soul like a divine decree from beyond.
As the voice faded, the pulsating, shadowy light sphere on the altar abruptly contracted and collapsed, transforming into a stream of pure black light.
Without the slightest pause, it pierced the barrier between the divine realm and reality at an incomprehensible speed, drilling precisely into the flickering core of Su Chen's divine flame.
In an instant, a torrent of knowledge and mysteries, mixed with the most primal instinct of devouring, washed over his entire soul.
This was not mere information, but a brand imprinted at the level of natural law.
Su Chen's consciousness felt as if it had been pulled into a river of genes spanning hundreds of millions of years. He "saw" countless creatures, in the harshest environments, evolving terrifying abilities to devour rock and gnaw on metal for survival.
A domineering truth about evolution, about plunder, about turning all things into one's own use was deeply engraved into the depths of his soul.
His divine flame core, that weak flicker of fire, swelled and contracted violently under the impact of this information, its edges even tinged with a hint of profound darkness.
A line of text formed from pure thought clearly manifested in his perception.
[Primordial Devouring Gene]
[Attribute]: Greatly enhances a creature's digestive system, allowing it to strengthen its carapace defense and mouthpart sharpness by consuming high-hardness substances (such as ore, metal, bones).
[Evaluation]: Endure the bitterest hardship to become the supreme among insects.
Looking at this brief yet weighty description, the tremor in Su Chen's soul intensified.
His divine flame, the core representing his life and will, suddenly quickened its pulse, causing the surrounding dim yellow light to flicker erratically.
Devour and strengthen!
This was... a divine skill tailor-made for him, for his Black Armored Ants!
The divine realm he resided in was a barren desert abandoned by the gods.
Here, there were no lush forests, no fertile plains, and no abundant magical elements.
There was only endless yellow sand, hard rock layers, and those ancient mineral veins abandoned for who knows how many epochs!
Food was a sword hanging over the heads of all low-ranking deities.
But now, this very sword could become the stepping stone for him to ascend the divine throne!
"If..."
"If I could make my Black Armored Ants fuse with this gene..."
Su Chen's will instantly descended, piercing the barrier of the divine realm and landing upon that crude bone altar.
His gaze, or rather his perception as a god, precisely locked onto the one hundred strongest soldier ants—the only ones remaining—around the altar.
They were the witnesses for whom fifty comrades had sacrificed their lives to retrieve the spoils of war, the last armed force of the entire colony.
They stood in neat formation, mandibles clicking, emanating pure reverence for their master.
Yet Su Chen could clearly "see" through their seemingly fierce black carapace.
Fragile.
Thin as paper.
Let alone facing the followers of other deities, even an adult human extending a finger could easily crush them to death.
With followers like this, how could he wage war? How could he plunder resources? How could he secure that slim chance of survival for himself?
But now, everything was about to change!
In Su Chen's will, there was no longer any hesitation or uncertainty, only a resolve as firm as breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats.
"System, load the [Primordial Devouring Gene] into the Black Armored Ant colony!"
A cold divine decree descended from the heavens above, directly pouring into the soul of every soldier ant.
"Ding! Loading gene... This evolution requires 10 points of divine power."
Divine power... 10 points.
Su Chen's perception swept over his divine power reserves.
Total: 12 points.
That was his entire fortune, painstakingly accumulated over several years, squeezed out from the day-after-day prayers of countless worker ants.
A single evolution would consume over eighty percent of his reserves.
If it failed, he would fall to the absolute bottom, with no possibility of recovery.
But if it succeeded...
Su Chen's will did not waver for even an instant.
"Confirm!"
Boom——!
A dull, thunderous roar, not exploding in reality, but reverberating throughout the entire divine realm space.
10 of Su Chen's remaining 12 points of divine power were instantly drained. Above the divine realm, the originally calm, mist-like ocean of divine power violently churned in an instant!
A pitch-black pillar of light, shot through with countless strands of purple psionic filaments, tore through the dusky sky and descended from the highest point of the void!
Its target was precise and unwavering, directly enveloping all one hundred soldier ants around the altar!
"Hiss——!!!"
The moment they were enveloped by that bizarre light pillar, all movement from the soldier ants ceased.
In the next second, an indescribable agony originating from the deepest part of their souls and genes made them emit sharp, piercing hisses in unison.
The sound was shrill, filled with a rending pain, as if invisible giant hands were tearing their bodies apart at the smallest particle level, then roughly reassembling them.
Su Chen's will was stretched taut to the extreme, his gaze fixed intently on every change within the light pillar.
An astonishing, even terrifying scene unfolded.
Under the light pillar's envelopment, the originally thumb-sized bodies of the Black Armored Ants began to expand at a speed that defied biological logic, swelling frantically!
Their muscle tissue surged, bones twisted, internal organs reshaped!
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
A dense, grating series of cracking sounds merged into one.
Their originally fragile black exoskeletons could not withstand this barbaric growth from within, shattering into countless tiny fragments in an instant.
Large patches of fresh, blood-red tender tissue were exposed, writhing frantically under the illumination of the purplish-black light, emitting a scorching, bloody odor.
However, destruction was rebirth!
Almost simultaneously with the shattering of the old carapace, a new layer of substance, gleaming with a cold, metallic luster, secreted, extended, and covered their writhing flesh!
The newborn carapace possessed an iron-like texture, covered in fine, powerful ridges and patterns, as if it were battle armor forged through countless hammerings.
A mere three minutes.
The hissing within the light pillar gradually subsided.
As the purplish-black pillar of light that had pierced heaven and earth slowly dissipated, not a single Black Armored Ant could be seen around the altar.
In their place stood one hundred new, ferocious war monsters.
Their size had swelled from an inconspicuous thumb-size to the size of an adult's fist—more than doubled!
The tiny mouthparts originally used only for cutting grass and soft flesh had completely vanished. In their place was a pair of terrifying, opening and closing giant mandibles resembling industrial hydraulic shears!
The edges of those mandibles gleamed with a chilling cold light. Their opening and closing produced metallic clanging sounds that echoed in the vast desert.
Even more terrifying was the aura they emitted.
If the previous Black Armored Ants were merely humble insects struggling for survival...
Then what stood here now were one hundred miniature war machines born for slaughter and devouring!
A cold system panel automatically appeared in Su Chen's consciousness.
[Race]: Devouring Steel-toothed Ants (Mutated)
[Tier]: Tier 2 (Elite)
[Constitution]: 2.5 (Adult male human = 1)
[Strength]: 3.0
[Agility]: 2.1
[Talent]: Steel Devourer (Can infinitely strengthen carapace and mouthparts by devouring ore)
Tier 2!
Elite!
Su Chen's soul was once again struck by immense surprise.
Just a single rare-grade genetic entry had caused his unremarkable, not-even-Tier-1 Black Armored Ants to leap two tiers directly, evolving into Tier 2 elite creatures!
He understood clearly what this meant.
According to the textbooks of the Divine Academy, ordinary Tier 1 werewolves had a strength attribute of only around 1.5!
Now, the strength of any single Steel-Fanged Ant under his command had reached a staggering 3.0!
These one hundred Devouring Steel-toothed Ants could now... easily slaughter the army of thousands of Black Armored Ants from before!
This wasn't simple enhancement; this was a leap in the hierarchy of life!
"A miracle... This is the blessing of the Father God!"
"Power! I feel... boundless power!"
At the same time.
Below, the one hundred Devouring Steel-toothed Ants that had just completed their transformation, along with the ordinary worker ants prostrating on the ground, terrified by the world-shattering spectacle, were experiencing unprecedented shock and baptism in the depths of their souls.
For a purely hive-minded race like insectoids, the master was the sky, the law, the sole meaning of their existence.
And a master who could rend heaven and earth, elevating them from humble dust to powerful warriors...
A god who bestowed upon them new life and power!
Deserved their souls, their everything, their most fanatical loyalty and life!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Su Chen felt his soul shudder violently.
The faith channel connecting him to his followers was violently forced open by a torrential flood at this moment, instantly expanding dozens of times!
The originally thin, wispy, almost imperceptible stream of faith power now converged into a roaring, rushing brook, surging turbulently into his depleted soul!
[Notification: Your followers have personally witnessed a creation-level miracle. Their degree of faith has greatly deepened!]
[Notification: 100 Devouring Steel-toothed Ants have been promoted to 'Fanatics'!]
[Notification: Your faith points have increased by 1000!]
Fanatics!
Su Chen's perception fell upon the three-digit number that had skyrocketed on his divine realm panel. The face formed by his divine flame finally curled into a cold, supremely confident arc.
In this world of warring gods, the faith power provided by a single fanatic was a hundred times that of an ordinary believer, and of unparalleled purity—the most coveted precious resource for all deities.
Crisis? Desperate straits?
No.
Su Chen's gaze slowly turned downward to the one hundred ferocious creations below, waving their metallic giant mandibles high and roaring soundlessly at the sky.
From now on, the game had only just begun.