System's rushing blood during his metamorphosis seemed to be conveying a voice to him, asking him to make a choice.

  But what was he supposed to choose?

  He kept thinking and carefully sensed every flow of his trembling blood, but he still couldn't find any further information.

  However, as his body continued to metamorphose, the voice gradually became clearer and clearer until System could finally understand its meaning.

  The data on [Personal Information Generation] also showed the content of this voice.

  ...

  [Molting and Growth Mode]: A mode entered by some insects when they molt and metamorphose. They can choose an ability to strengthen using the power stored within their blood. A special mode of the talent [Molting and Growth].

  ...

  System needed to choose an ability to strengthen. He could strengthen his mandibles, his strong hind legs, his Special Talents, or his Derived Skills. He had quite a few options to choose from.

  Compared to ordinary grasshoppers without wisdom that generally strengthened their mandibles, hind legs, wings, and exoskeleton hardness, System had a deeper understanding of this strengthening.

  His first thought was to use this power to strengthen the talent [Molting and Growth]. If [Molting and Growth] could be strengthened to its highest level of 13, he would have the opportunity to metamorphose a third time.

  If he underwent a third metamorphosis, not to mention listening to the mysterious Voice of the World again, there would definitely be a huge improvement to his body, and he should even be able to fight against some insect hunters like mantises.

  However, System immediately thought of the talent [Digital Code], which was even more important than [Molting and Growth].

  [Digital Code] was rarely felt or used by System, but he believed that he could grow rapidly by increasing its level and relying on this talent.

  The information in his bloodline from [Molting and Growth] gave System an understanding of the rules reted to the growth of ordinary grasshoppers.

  Life in this world generally followed the concept of levels. Like System, ordinary grasshoppers also had levels that could be increased by eating. However, compared to System's ability to rapidly gain levels, the leveling of ordinary grasshoppers was a slow process.

  After an ordinary grasshopper's experience bar reached the threshold of the next level, it wouldn't level up immediately, but would instead slowly level up by eating. Usually, each increase in level would take a day, but at higher levels, the time taken would also grow longer.

  Even if an ordinary grasshopper was diligent and ate day and night, it would still take five or six days to reach level 5 and undergo its first molting. It would never be like System, who could undergo his first molting in just two days.

  Of course, because ordinary grasshoppers upgraded slowly, they wouldn't have the feeling of extreme hunger in their abdomens that System experienced each time he gained a level.

  But the shortcoming of increased hunger didn't outweigh the benefits. [Digital Code] was definitely the most unique ability with the highest potential that System currently possessed.

  ...

  After making his decision, he transferred the power in his blood into the ocean of 0s and 1s in his mind.

  As the power flowed out of his blood and into [Digital Code], System began to sense the Special Talent. For the first time, his mind didn't feel an explosion upon doing so, only a slight sting.

  In the digital ocean, System felt that his mind was like a fwlessly pure, bright-white ball of light. There was a sphere composed of numbers orbiting around him just like a pnet orbited a star.

  System was very familiar with this pnet composed of numbers, because this was his Derived Skill [Personal Information Generation] that he'd already possessed upon first waking up in this world.

  Following the injection of the power from his blood that [Molting and Growth] had generated, the entire digital ocean composed of 0s and 1s grew increasingly wide and deep.

  System watched as the numbers close to him surged violently, gradually converging until they combined to form a brand new number-pnet, which was dozens of times rger than [Personal Information Generation]'s number-pnet. This pnet quickly found its own orbit and began slowly rotating around System.

  The moment the pnet's orbit stabilized, the blood power from [Molting and Growth] suddenly began to fade, and System's mind exploded in the digital sea as he experienced severe pain.

  System fainted...

  ...

  When he woke up, bright light was shining through the cracks in the dead leaf. It was obvious that the night of metamorphosis had passed, and a new day had already begun.

  His hunger after metamorphosis was clearly stronger than his hunger after his previous level ups. He felt as if he'd been starving for several days.

  With a rustling sound, System moved his body, breaking apart the leftover material surrounding him after molting. A brand new exoskeleton was revealed as he emerged.

  After a round of metamorphosis, his body had grown from 1.6 centimeters to 2.3 centimeters. The antennae on his head were now thinner and more sensitive, the exoskeleton all over his body and his mandibles had both become stronger, and his forelegs that the ant had torn off had already fully regenerated.

  A pair of wing buds now grew out of System's back. As he continued to grow, he would soon master the power of flight.

  Compared to his body, through the power of [Molting and Growth], System's [Digital Code] (1/1) had broken through the talent's level cap and was upgraded to [Digital Code] (2/2).

  Because of the upgrade to [Digital Code], he'd gained a new Special Talent, [Database], and from [Database], he'd gained two new Derived Skills, [Information Entry] and [Information Reading].

  ...

  [Database] (1/2): A Special Talent obtained from [Digital Code] and [Molting and Growth]. Provides the ability to record and analyze data. System's unique Special Talent.

  [Information Entry] (1/1): A Derived Skill obtained from the Special Talent [Database]. Passive ability. Provides the ability to record things that System touches.

  [Information Reading] (1/1): A Derived Skill obtained from the Special Talent [Database]. Activated ability. Provides the ability to summarize and read the information recorded by [Information Entry].

  ...

  These newly acquired abilities were auxiliary abilities. System felt that they were useless at first, but after he crawled out from under the leaf stuck to the pine tree, he understood the power of these skills.

  The effect of the Derived Skill [Information Entry] wasn't very obvious. It passively recorded the things that System touched. However, when he consumed mental power to activate the Derived Skill [Information Reading], he found that the whole world changed in his eyes.

  Although objects in the distance were still blurry when viewed through his compound eyes, the outlines of all things now emitted a faint light. After he activated [Information Reading], any insect hunters hiding nearby would be unable to escape his sight.

  [Information Reading] could also obtain information about the pnts System ate. As long as he'd eaten a specific type of pnt at least once, he would be able to recognize that pnt even when viewing it from a distance.

  System, who had just jumped down from the tree, used [Information Reading] to instantly identify three nearby pnts that he'd previously eaten, then checked their information.

  He could see not only the fvor and hardness of each pnt's leaves, but also an estimation of how many leaves he would need to eat to reach level 6.

  To level up, he would need to eat 1,028 grams, 225 grams, and 78 grams of leaves from each pnt respectively.

  This [Information Reading] ability was somewhat simir to the cybernetic brain impnts in System's previous life's science fiction novels that helped humans process and analyze information.

  However, System's [Information Reading] was obviously less intelligent, with almost no calcution ability, and his mental power would quickly run out after using it for a short while. He estimated that he would have to rest after using the skill for only five or six minutes.

  Even so, this new skill would be of great help to him.

  He quickly followed a safe path dispyed by [Information Reading], circling and jumping his way over to the pnt that would allow him to upgrade after eating only 78 grams of its leaves.

  On the way, he easily avoided a mantis disguised as a branch.