Chapter 24: Information
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[#/System Notification/#]
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[Class Skill Activated.]
└ ■ Flesh Assimilation (SSS)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Assimilation Target:]
└ ■ Incomplete Crimson Guardian (F+) ×43
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Assimilation Complete.]
The biological essence of all designated targets has been successfully absorbed.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Evolution Progress Increased.]
└ ■ +30%
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Current Evolution Progress:]
└ ■ 91%
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Lowering his hands, Ethan began walking towards the entrance. Now that his mission was completed, Ethan wanted to retreat as soon as possible.
"I’ve gained quite a substantial amount of evolution progress... It’s a pity, though; I cannot risk assimilating the blood ant corpses outside. I need to be mindful of when and where I decide to evolve." Muttering to himself, Ethan finally paid attention to his body.
From the constant blood spraying all over his body, a thick layer had formed over his jade-green skin. As for his clothes, most of them had been torn apart by the ants, making his upper body bare.
The blood ant queen had already gathered all the zombie blood ants and was waiting near the entrance.
As Ethan came closer, the blood ants moved sideways and gave way. Eris, on the other hand, bowed yet again.
The more she looked at Ethan, the more she felt a profound blend of selfless love and loyalty writhing through her heart.
"Eris," Ethan called out, stepping into the tunnel.
"Yes, my king?" Raising her head, Eris quickly followed behind.
"It hasn’t been long since I woke up. I do not know much about this current world. How long has it been? Where are we? Tell me about this place, as well as the power systems of humans and monsters. Do you know answers to any of these?"
Hearing Ethan’s question, Eris smiled happily.
"I’ll do my utmost to be of your service." She said before answering his questions in order.
"I was born fifteen years ago and have been this colony’s queen for nearly a decade. From what I know, the day of the apocalypse happened way before that. At that time, humans could not adapt to the powers and were massacred by monsters. Over time, they slowly got back on their feet and pushed back against the monsters to reclaim their lost world."
’So it’s been more than fifteen years...’ Ethan noticed as he continued to walk through tunnels.
"But even now, they’re struggling. I don’t know the reason, but despite all these years, humans have grown considerably weaker. A few years ago, the ravine we used to live in was filled to the brim with different kinds of monsters. It wasn’t done by a human, but rather another monster." Nearing the end, Eris’s voice came unusually calmer.
"It was a serpent, one whose title was lower than mine yet was stronger than all of my colony’s strength. According to the ants, the serpent was preparing to break through C-rank in advance. Although the blood seeping out of the corpses was suitable for us, we couldn’t openly use it since its owner’s territory began right across the bridge."
’Ah!’ A thought struck Ethan’s mind as he found the answer to a few-day-old question.
’Across the bridge is the territory lord’s land, the place where I came from! Then that must mean that the territory lord is a serpent, one that is about to break through C-rank no less! I’m glad I didn’t decide to mindlessly fight him back then... but what does she mean by *title*?’ Ethan’s eyes slightly widened before contracting back instantly.
Although he had new doubts forming in his mind, he decided to let her finish first before asking anything further.
"Over the years, humans have sent several teams to deal with that serpent, but their efforts went in vain. If anything, their corpses were thrown right in the ravine to serve as the serpent’s fertilizer. But since the land opposite that of the serpent’s is a human territory, they have no choice but to keep fighting."
"However, there’s one thing I’ve always been furious about. The passing humans always claimed to have awakeners stronger than the serpent. Yet all these years, they let it cultivate its strength and sent so many of their kind to death. What could be their purpose? Ah—" Realizing something, Eris’s face went blank as panic soon set its roots in her heart.
Before she could notice it, Eris had unknowingly drifted into her own thoughts.
’Wh-What have I done?!’ Her eyes darted right and left as she held her hands together anxiously.
Unbeknownst to her, Ethan didn’t mind it at all. If anything, it only made him even more curious.
What exactly had happened in the time when he was sleeping?
’Well, I’ll figure it out eventually. Why did she stop, though?’
"Continue." He said softly as he continued to move forward.
Eris, however, misunderstood his words. Rather than "continue," she seemed to have heard a completely different thought.
’I forgive you, so continue.’
Her eyes lit up with relief, and her lips unconsciously curled into a heartfelt smile.
To not make her king wait for her any longer, Eris quickly stammered.
"Y-Yes, I’ll now tell you about the power system."