After leveling up and undergoing his first metamorphosis, System's mandibles had become much harder. Now they could easily cut through mature pnt leaves.

  The leaves System had chosen to consume tasted pretty good. They were simir to watermelon in his previous life, only slightly harder and lighter in fvor.

  As he ate the leaves, the 78 grams specified by [Information Reading] changed to 93 grams. Apparently, different leaves on the same pnt had some distinctions between them, and the effect on his growth each leaf provided would vary.

  The [Information Reading] skill needed to be improved, and more data needed to be collected. In order to make [Information Reading] py a greater role, he decided to eat a little bit of each pnt as often as possible in the future so that he could expand the knowledge stored in [Database].

  ...

  After eating four or five leaves to relieve his hunger, System suddenly felt a little unwilling.

  Very unwilling, in fact.

  Compared to these leaves, the taste of insect eggs was obviously much better.

  After alleviating his hunger, System felt that these leaves, which had originally tasted delicious, were suddenly hard to swallow.

  If he was an ordinary grasshopper, he might continue to eat leaves happily according to his instincts, then gradually grow and transform into an adult.

  But System was fundamentally different from ordinary grasshoppers, and that difference wasn't because of his [Digital Code] talent that made his body grow quickly.

  The biggest difference between System and ordinary insects was his wisdom. Without that, even if [Digital Code] was strong, he still would have been eaten by that toad. Wisdom not only brought him meticulous thinking, but also gave him greed and ambition.

  While eating leaves, he made sure to an eye on his surroundings. This time, he wasn't only checking for hidden dangers, but also looking for and thinking about possible sources of meat.

  He really wanted to eat meat.

  In fact, System found that he couldn't stop thinking about how to find meat.

  Humans in his previous life had become the overlords of Earth because of their wisdom, and the first applications of wisdom by humans were using tools and making fire.

  He looked down at his legs, and his insect face showed a complicated expression. His legs didn't have fingers, so it would be very difficult to make tools. Plus, even if he had fingers, he still wouldn't have any useful materials to work with.

  Did he have to learn from the Paleolithic humans, creating weapons by smashing stones together to make sharp stone bdes? Or learn from the Neolithic people and create weapons by grinding stones together?

  Impossible!

  In the time it would take him to clumsily attack with a stone bde, his mandibles could have already bitten the opponent eight or nine times.

  The only useful material System could think of was spider silk. This kind of sticky silk could be used to make many traps and weapons.

  But after thinking about it, System gave up on that, too.

  Let's not talk about what method he could use to cut off a section of spider silk without getting stuck to it, or how long it would take him to collect dozens of strands of spider silk to make traps; the most important question was, in the process of obtaining spider silk, would the spider agree?

  Perhaps System would continue to grow and increase in strength. Then he would be able to force the spider to hand over its web. However, by that time, the spider would already be weaker than him. At that point, what was the use of spider silk? Wouldn't it be good enough to simply find a spider web and eat the spider?

  In the end, System couldn't think of any way to make tools or traps using his current body.

  If he still wanted to eat meat, the most effective way was to use his [Information Reading] skill to search for insect eggs hidden in the forest.

  The second best method was to prey on herbivorous insects weaker than him, like the few small insects he'd encountered earlier that were drinking juice from the pnt wall.

  The only issue was that using [Information Reading] created a bit of a mental burden on him, so he couldn't keep it active for very long.

  After eating a few more leaves, System, now having made up his mind, jumped away on his quest to find meat.

  After gaining [Information Reading], his actions had become much bolder and more decisive.

  Although the distant scenery was still blurry even with [Information Reading], everything within one or two meters was clearly visible to his eyes. As long as he activated [Information Reading] occasionally and spent a few seconds checking his surroundings, no nearby insect killers could remain hidden.

  Within just a few minutes, System had found a mantis disguised as a dead branch and a spotted spider disguised as a flower.

  During his search, he'd found three of his own kind, each with slightly different body sizes and colors. They should be different species of grasshoppers and his distant retives. He also found several insects simir to flies and bees resting on leaves and saw dozens of ants transporting the body of a dead dragonfly.

  There were many kinds of insects hidden in the forest, but he hadn't find any of the eggs or weak insects he was looking for yet.

  It would obviously be too difficult for System to hunt creatures that were close to his own size, and it wasn't realistic for him to prey on agile flies, either. As for rushing to the ant colony to snatch the dragonfly corpse, that was no different from a zebra charging at a group of hyenas. He wasn't looking to die.

  He could only keep jumping through the forest and try his best to use [Information Reading] to find a good food source before his mental power was overdrawn.

  After another ten minutes, just when he was ready to give up, he finally found a safe food supply. There was even a huge amount of it, enough to st for more than ten days.

  On the trunk of a tree that had a very wrinkled and peculiar shape, System found dozens of butterfly chrysalides. [TL Note: When a caterpilr undergoes pupation in order to become a butterfly, the caterpilr pupa is surrounded by a hard chrysalis for protection. The plural of chrysalis is chrysalides.]

  The color and shape of these chrysalides were very simir to the rough bark of the tree, which consisted of a mix of gray and brown patches. If it wasn't for [Information Reading], finding the chrysalides would have been extremely difficult.

  Each chrysalis was six centimeters long, equivalent to three times System's own size. The chrysalides were firmly attached to the bark with silk threads.

  A group of caterpilrs going through pupation together so that they could become butterflies at the same time was a common method for butterflies to maintain their popution. After all, in the first few minutes after breaking out of their chrysalides and becoming butterflies, their bodies were very fragile. Dozens of butterflies breaking out of their chrysalides all at once greatly increased the chances that some members of the group would survive.

  System's mandibles twitched unconsciously. This protein-rich food must be very delicious. If he could eat all of these pupae, it would undoubtedly greatly accelerate his growth and allow him to become an adult sooner.

  He immediately used his mandibles to bite into a butterfly chrysalis!

  The oval, gray-brown chrysalis prevented his mandibles from exerting any force at all, but System felt that even if his mandibles could successfully exert force, they still wouldn't be able rip through the hard shell protecting the pupating caterpilr inside.

  After trying to bite into the chrysalis for a few minutes, his insect face showed a human-like look of annoyance. He'd found a rge amount of nutritious and delicious food, but was helpless when it came to accessing it, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.

  'It seems like I can only find a sharp stone bde to cut open these chrysalides, but it'll be difficult to exert enough force with this body to use it properly.'

  'Do I have to wait until they break out of their chrysalides and become butterflies before attacking?'

  'But I don't know how long it'll take for them to turn into butterflies. Who knows if I'll have to wait for a month or even longer?'

  'Then...'

  Boom!

  A loud sound in the distance interrupted System's thoughts. At the same moment he heard the sound, he saw a dazzling fire erupt in the dense forest dozens of meters away.

  Strong vibrations and sounds gradually approached from the location where the fire appeared. Accompanied by the frequent sound of violent collisions, he noticed that several trees in the distance seemed to be falling over.

  A few seconds ter, a creature covered in fmes whistled past. It was only a few meters away from System when it ran by, and its racing body sent out rolling waves of fire and heat.