System thought that his personality had changed unconsciously after his rebirth. He'd first noticed the change after happily snatching the juice from the tiny insects. Once he sensed that the insects posed no threat to him, he went ahead and bullied them as if it was the most natural thing to do.

  When faced with these fresh insect eggs, which ranged from one to two millimeters in diameter, System's reaction was also very different from his original way of thinking.

  'I wonder what these eggs taste like...'

  The plump eggs seemed like they would be ready to hatch within a few days. System saw the tiny, vibrant creatures inside the eggs shifting around from time to time in a translucent fluid. Judging from their shape, they should be the rvae of a butterfly or moth.

  His human mind made System feel a little nauseous, but he still bit open a tender egg with his mandibles without hesitation.

  A faint fishy smell wafted up from the fluid inside the broken egg. System took a sip of the fluid, then aimed his mandibles at the insect rva struggling inside the broken egg.

  The fluid tasted like sweet milk, and the fresh rva inside the egg gave System the sensation of biting into rich, milky ice cream.

  'It might taste better if it was chilled.'

  After swallowing the insect egg, System couldn't help but have this strange thought.

  This protein-rich meat would help him grow much faster than any pnt leaves he could eat.

  He could feel subtle changes taking pce inside his body. The exoskeleton covering his legs strengthened bit by bit, and his mandibles gradually became harder and sharper.

  Ever since he'd first woken up in this new world, System was constantly eating young leaves and leaf buds. No matter how many of them he ate, his stomach always felt empty. Now, after only eating four or five of these insect eggs, he finally felt full for the first time.

  System suddenly felt that tingling sensation again that signaled a level up. While he was carefully staying alert to his surroundings and enjoying the delicious food, his experience bar had unknowingly reached the peak of level 3.

  During this level up, the feeling of soreness and numbness in his body was much stronger than it had been when he broke through to levels 2 and 3. He didn't find the reason for this change in the data of [Personal Information Generation], but he knew that it must be reted to the things he'd eaten, with the most likely culprit being the insect eggs.

  How could the growth brought about by eating only green vegetables be the same as the growth from a banced diet of meat and vegetables? Anyone who wasn't a fool could understand that.

  Even if you went to the gym to exercise, your training must be paired with nutritious beef or protein powder. Otherwise, even if you worked hard for a year and practiced every day, you would still end up with worse results than what others achieved in just one or two months.

  ...

  After upgrading to level 4, [Personal Information Generation] showed that System's body had grown from seven millimeters to one centimeter in length. His body's exoskeleton had become much harder, and his mandibles were now stronger and sharper. He estimated that his improved mandibles could easily chew through things that were previously difficult to bite into, like mature leaves.

  Compared to the growth visible on the surface of his body, the growth to System's bloodline was even greater.

  [Molting and Growth] (10/13) leveled up to [Molting and Growth] (11/13).

  When [Molting and Growth] broke through to level 11, System received a strange vision from his bloodline, and he sensed that the grasshopper he would become in the future would now be stronger and more ferocious.

  In addition, he detected new inheritance information in his bloodline. After reaching levels 5 and 8, a new metamorphosis was possible. Also, as long as he raised [Molting and Growth] to level 13, his body could undergo a third metamorphosis.

  After completing his third metamorphosis, he would even have a chance to hear the Voice of the World. However, regarding what the Voice of the World was exactly, he didn't find any further information in his bloodline. He only knew that it was something extremely mysterious.

  With this level up, System's talent [Insect Adaptability] (6/21) also improved and became [Insect Adaptability] (8/21), which was a direct upgrade of two levels.

  System's blood became more active, his body became more responsive, and he also gained a new Derived Skill, [Dark Vision].

  ...

  [Dark Vision] (2/5): A Derived Skill obtained from [Insect Adaptability]. Provides the ability to sense one's surroundings in the dark, even if there is only a faint glimmer of light.

  ...

  He could feel the effect of [Dark Vision] to some extent, but he wouldn't be able to determine its exact effect until he actually used it at night.

  If the effect of [Dark Vision] wasn't ideal, System would still give up on his idea of eating at night. There were more insect hunters active in the forest after dark, and the benefits weren't worth the risk.

  After looking over [Personal Information Generation]'s light screen for a while, System went back to eating insect eggs.

  As his level increased and his body grew rger, he kept getting hungrier. Fortunately, the time it took to eat an insect egg was also significantly reduced. His eating speed had doubled.

  However, while his eating speed had increased, so had the number of eggs he would need to eat in order to reach level 5. System only had to eat six eggs before leveling up from 3 to 4, but he would need to eat far more than that to reach level 5. He estimated that it would take thirty eggs for him to break through to level 5.

  But no matter what, the hundreds of insect eggs in front of him were enough for System to successfully reach level 5 before nightfall. If he managed to swallow every single egg, it might even be possible to reach level 6.

  When he reached level 4, the spurs on System's legs had gotten sharper. He could now easily hang upside down on the backs of leaves, which made it much easier for him to eat the insect eggs.

  He spent an hour eating more than a dozen fresh and delicious eggs. As he did so, his body gradually grew in size, increasing in length by another millimeter.

  As long as he continued eating and consumed another dozen eggs, he would reach level 5, and his physical fitness would further improve.

  At this moment, System, who was happily devouring insect eggs, discovered an uninvited guest.

  Perhaps smelling the faint scent of the broken insect eggs, a bck and red ant was crawling up the main stem of the pnt System was on, heading straight toward System and the eggs.

  The bck and red ant was about eight millimeters long. While it had a slightly smaller body than the bck ants System had seen earlier, its mandibles were rger. He guessed that this ant's biting strength may also be greater than a bck ant's.

  System immediately climbed down from the back of the leaf and stood facing the approaching ant.

  As he watched this worker ant climbing toward his branch from the base of the pnt, he considered the consequences of its arrival. As long as the bck and red worker ant discovered the rge cluster of eggs, a steady stream of ants would surely follow.

  Even facing an ant army, it was obviously not a problem for System to escape by jumping away on his powerful hind legs, but that would mean having to abandon the eggs. Having already tasted this high-protein, delicious food, and having experienced the rapid growth the eggs provided his body, System would never hand them over to the ants so easily.

  Although an ant colony was strong, System was not afraid of a lone ant, especially a small one like this.

  After leveling up, his body was now even rger than the ant's. Aside from the sharpness of his mandibles, he was also stronger. Plus, his goal wasn't to fight a desperate fight. He only had to use his strong hind legs to kick the invading ant off of the pnt.

  System climbed down to the side of the branch, which left his entire body hanging at a ninety degree angle. He was able to maintain a secure grip due to the strong, spiky spurs on his legs.

  Suddenly, the bck and red ant seemed to discover his presence. It hesitated for a while, but when it saw System taking the initiative to get out of its way, the ant continued crawling along the branch, still intent on following the fishy smell back to its source.

  The herbivorous grasshopper didn't raise much alertness in the ant. It completely ignored System, who was hanging on the side of the branch, and crawled toward the leaf the eggs were on.

  System waited patiently for the perfect opportunity to attack. As the ant crawled next to him, System immediately released his long-charged hind legs and kicked out like a fsh of lightning!

  Unfortunately for System, because he'd never used his hind legs to kick anything before, his attack angle deviated slightly from his expectations, and his powerful kick only struck the ant's forelegs.

  The ant's forelegs lost their grip on the branch, and the weight of its dangling upper body almost pulled the ant completely over the side. However, the cws on its other legs held firm, allowing it to maintain its grip on the branch. Once it regained its bance, the ant immediately struck back at System.

  System started charging up his hind legs in preparation for a second kick, but the bck and red ant rushed over in an instant and bit one of System's forelegs with its mandibles. Strong formic acid was released along with the ant's bite.

  As social insects that lived in groups, ants' attacks were very crude. They didn't know how to attack the enemy's vital points, and would only bite onto the opponent and refuse to let go. If this ant had been a mantis or a spider, System's head or neck would have definitely been attacked first.

  System suddenly felt an intense burning sensation on his forelegs from the formic acid. His legs filed wildly as he tried to push away the ant he was entangled with. System endured the severe pain and used his powerful hind legs once again. This time, he managed to successfully kick the ant in the head!

  Bam!

  As the bck and red worker ant fell from the branch, two arcs of clear blood spshed out from System's thorax. When the ant was kicked away, its mandibles had been cmped tightly onto System's forelegs. Both of his forelegs had been completely torn off...

  The battle between System and the lone worker ant hadn't even sted two seconds, but it had ended with System's body becoming disabled.

  He'd taken battles between insects far too lightly. He'd assumed that his opponent this time would be just like the little white insects earlier and would let him bully it.

  It was now clear that there was a big gap between the fighting instincts of herbivorous insects and carnivorous insects.

  Still, he'd successfully protected the eggs.

  However, if the smell of these eggs attracted ants again, he would have no choice but to escape.

  Enduring the burning sensation from his severed forelegs, System returned to the back of the leaf and began eating eggs as quickly as he could.