Chapter 213: Chapter 213: The middle forest (4)- New Evolution pathways for the ants
[Evolution Potential Detected]
[Next Evolution: Sporejaw Ant Queen (optional)]
[Requirements:
Reach level 3 (2/3)
Absorb a fragment of the moss slime’s core (0/1)
Defeat an enemy at least 1 grade higher (1/3)]
[Evolution Traits:
Spore Carapace – Moss patches release faint spores that confuse the enemy
Moss Reinforcement – Moss on the carapace hardens to temporarily resist damage]
Looking at all the status screens that opened in front of him, Theo realized that all the others were the same. All the others had the new species ’Sporejaw Worker Ants’ while the ant queen was the only one that had it differently.
Yet even after the evolution requirements were in front of him, Theo frowned.
"This is not it..." he muttered in a soft voice and gritted his teeth in frustration.
"Everything okay, young master?" Elias asked in order to get Theo to let all his frustration out. It was the best way to get him in a better mood soon enough.
"This is not it, Elias... It’s not good enough." Theo spoke while looking at the requirements before closing it off, there was nothing more to look at in it.
"It seems the moss core only has these abilities to give the ants, just like the mantis... But I don’t want these abilities, they don’t suit the ants, at least not in my eyes...."
Theo stated that even though Elias kept asking what the new abilities were, he kept silent to think about what to do next.
’Last time, when the mantis evolved with the moss slime’s core, I tried giving it different kinds of cores to evolve next, but nothing seemed to work till it ate the snake...’ he thought.
There was a need to get a better option; he couldn’t let the ants get this technique, as it almost felt too passive, which all their abilities already were.
"Elias"
"Yes, young master."
"Bring me all the kinds of cores you can possibly find in the market and check in our castle’s storage too. I want many different kinds... But not anything above the uncommon grade, they won’t work." Theo stated.
Elias nodded and went out right away before Theo went to think about what to do again.
The nostalgic feelings of the last time came over when the mantis had evolved for the first time, and Theo had tried feeding it different kinds of cores.
It consumed everything instead of the ones that belonged to rare or higher-grade beasts. Theo could not understand at this time, but with time, he finally got it.
The cores could not be digested by the mantis, at least not yet.
He hadn’t let the mantis try any new stuff this time, thinking it was not time yet. He needed the abilities of the mantis to become experienced first, evolving too much could lead to some instability in its mind.
Before Theo could give a command, the ant queen showed him images of how all the ants were eating the chunks of the orb as if their life depended on it.
He made it call one of the ants out and Theo saw the requirements only to find out that they had diligently completed the eating part of it already.
Checking a few others made him nod, they all had completed it already even though the quantity didn’t seem to be that high to feed 850 and some uncounted ones.
He quickly got out of the terrarium room and saw the mantis just seated on the table and looking out of the window without moving.
Theo went and sat on the chair to observe it.
Ever since the evolution, the mantis had become a lot more mature. It still pounced at food as usual and ate like a glutton, but there were times of maturity too when it enjoyed sitting in one place and being quiet.
’Do you want to fight together tomorrow?’ Theo asked after keeping his head on the table, looking at the size of the mantis with pride.
The mantis was as big as his head when he kept it horizontally on the table, the size had increased a lot more than before.
Theo could see crimson-colored plants with flowers grown on them and moss the same color of crimson all around the body. Its output had doubled, and Theo had noticed that the mantis was now letting the flowers grow on the back before eating them. It showed the level of patience that was just not there before.
When the mantis finally moved toward him, it kept its one foreleg on his face while pouring a lot of emotions of being ready through the bond.
Theo agreed through the bond too and he stayed like that for a while before he fell asleep again; it was still only the afternoon.
The mantis looked at him sleeping for a long time before it saw the open mouth of Theo.
It swayed its body back and used the foreleg to pluck out a whole flower from its body.
It went closer to the mouth and moved the flower near Theo’s lip before literally squeezing the lower, making a small drop fall on his lip, making Theo twitch and lick his lip before sleeping calmly again.
The mantis moved back to its spot and looked out the window with the same patience.
A few hours passed, and Theo was woken up by Elias’s arrival.
There were many, many boxes he brought with the help of the castle.
Theo opened each one of them and smiled; there were plenty to try his theory out.
He had in his mind a thought that since the ants had not taken the evolution yet, wouldn’t that mean the other orbs should have the same effect on them?
He was late about it when it came to the mantis, and it worked out, but he still didn’t want to leave his case on luck anymore.
Theo rummaged through the boxes until he selected quite a few cores that the mantis had already pounced on.
With its help, he took out small parts like before and soon, went to the ant colony for them to try it out.
The ant queen felt reluctant, but with Theo’s pestering, it ate every single one of them one by one.
The results were astonishing, and Theo couldn’t help but give a pat to his shoulder himself.
Things were starting to look good again.