That was one scary insect.

According to team leader that was an ant lion and they are the predators of ants.

And the word predator clearly explained the unusual fear that I felt looking at it, even though it was half buried in the ground.

“If you even come across those big pits like things on the ground, just go around and don’t look back. They are stalkers and don’t come out of the ground much.”

{Battle tactics has become lv 5}

So it’s better to run if you see one, than to try and fight with them. Got it.

We left that patch of land with funnels behind and walked toward our destination.

As we kept going onward the grass which grew in large patches, became far and spread out.

{Stamina regeneration & preservation has become lv 8}

{Map has become lv 10}

{Map has reached its maximum level}

This skills path is preselected.

*Ting*

[Skill: Map has evolved into Skill: Map2.0 gained]

[Skill: Cartography gained.]

[Skill: Projection gained.]

[Skill: Hawk eye gained.]

Cartography: provides you with a map like none other.

Projection: streams live scenes of everything happening around you.

Hawk eye: allows you to zoom in and out o the map.

Can it be used to…

You don’t have access to unlock pervert mode. Don’t try ever again…

Ahem. Though the map didn’t give me an option to choose, but the skills it gave had more impact on my map than even I demanded.

The skills completely transformed the hand drawn sketch to a life like and live video stream. I could even see myself lost into thoughts onto it.

I couldn’t help but play with it. I even had a brief thought to use to plan a war against the other colonies.

{Military knowledge has become lv 5}

{Battle tactics has become lv 6}

This evolution of map looks to have more usage in battle than anything else.

Anyways, I focused back on the road after playing with it for a while.

And saw a spherical shape across the horizon.

I used the hawk eye view which could only be used in conjecture with the map, and saw how big the thing was.

In comparison to the other things around it, it wasn’t that big, but its sheer size if compare to an ant…

Incomparable…

And soon the grass all around us got left behind and the moving mountain came into my view.

{Clarity has become lv 2}

“And that is the moving mountain…” the scout said, pointing at it.

Though we could see it, but it was so far away from us that it took us another 20 minutes to reach.

The mountain was at least a whole meter high. It didn’t have any grass on it and instead had long and spiky white towers touching the heaven.

We climbed on one such tower and reached the land hidden underneath a whole canopy of them.

{Balance has become lv 8}

{Climb has become lv 7}

This mountain had hard surface, but didn’t have that granular structure of our hives floor. It was too smooth.

{Examine has become lv 4}

“Now, don’t go anywhere okay. This place is like a maze and is really easy to get lost in. So stay close and stay focused. We are on enemy grounds now and they can attack from any…”

And we heard the sound of something moving.

Scout turned around and shouted, “There, I saw one there.”

“Okay team… It’s show time.”

The team then automatically got in a formation with one soldier ant in the back and three at the front while the rest stayed inside that circle.

“Um, you cover our back.” Leader told me and we started running.

{Military knowledge has become lv 6}

*Ting*

[Skill: Basic Military formations gained.]

I understood her intentions and got at the back. She probably wanted me to first see then study and then act. It’s also not like I know if I can even fight the so called blood suckers or not.

So, rather than making me mad her decision brought respect for her instead.

{Learning has become lv 5}

We ran fast dodging the towers left and right and saw the thing we had come to capture.

It was running away from us without stopping, jumping between one tower and another without looking back.

“Run faster or we won’t be able to catch it!” the team leader yelled as she speeds up.

I hurriedly used an appraisal on it to see what the hell it was, and it turned to be a carrier insect.

{Appraisal has become lv 6}

Spoiler: Status ->Brown Tick (Common)

Brown Tick (Common)

Level

4/10

Type

Blood sucker

Rank

1

Job

Carrier

Health

7/7

Stamina

12/12

Skills:

Bite(8), Movement(10),Reflex(4), Flexibility(3), Blood sucking(10), Blood vapor(3), Poison usage(10), Poison creation(10), Poison modification(3), Stab(4), Absorption(10), Dissolve(7), Call(3), Hide(10), Sneak(8), Hard shell(6), Kinetic storage(3),

Stat Tier: K

Strength

.5

Intelligence

1

Agility

.3

Vitality

.5

Dexterity

.7

Endurance

2

He had more max leveled skills than me, and that did make me look at it in new light, but even with all of his stats and skills how would he be able to fight against 9 ranked ants? It was an impossible Endeavour.

Though its defense was across the roof, its agility wasn’t much and we easily caught up with it.

Up close I saw that its body was wider and longer than me, its back looked kind of hard and difficult to handle, but its small head and even smaller jaw was of no problem to us.

{Examine has become lv 5}

I unlike an ant jumped on its back and used weakness tracking, but unlike before nothing lit up.

I tensed up and griped hard on its back to not slip. Then I pounced on its stone like back with my legs, but other than it creating sounds, nothing else happened.

*Ting*

[Skill: Stab gained]

{Bare handed mastery has become lv 4}

{Iron grip has become lv 5}

It shook me off its back, and I rolled on the ground, as the others zoomed past me like bullets.

{Roll has become lv 5}

The scout came and gave me a hand.

“Its back is almost unbreakable. No need to waste energy on it. Just see how they handle it.” He said with pride.

I saw the team leader and vice team leader running up to it. And then what happened opened my eyes to another realm of strategic fighting.

‘So it can be done like this too.’ I thought.

They timed their speed and jumped at its legs. Their sharp mandibles did their work and cut through its four legs like they were nothing.

{Battle tactics has become lv 7}

*Roar*

It shrieked in pain, and fell to the ground as its momentum carried it sliding over some distance.

The four of them then looked at its pitiful self from behind, as it tried to use the last two of its legs to walk forward.

I felt a little sad for it, but controlled my emotions and focused back on the objective.

{Strong willed has become lv 8}

But with its body in pain and its confidence breaking, its struggle didn’t last long.

Then one of the four soldiers went forward and stabbed its head, killing it on the spot.

The three carrier ants then moved, and dug their jaws into its body.

And magically the Ticks size started reducing.

{Examine has become lv 6}

“The carriers have a skill that allows them to convert biological things into glucose and store it into their body. But it isn’t a ground breaking skill as one may think.”

When I asked her what skill it was she said, “Absorption and bio convert.”

{Interrogation has become lv 6}

But not only did the carriers absorb all of the tick, they also got visibly fatter.

I was going to ask her how their bottom was getting so bigger, but she replied on her own.

“And there are two things which make a carrier ant, a carrier ant. One is their ability to convert Biological material into glucose ad the other is their special bottom. As you can see it is a storage unit. At an average, a carrier ant can store 40 times its weight and bring it back home without ending up dead cause of severe exhaustion.”

{Interrogation has become lv 7}

{Common knowledge has become lv 6}

And just as they sucked the tick dry another one of them came to greet us.

It was grey in color and was three times the size of the previous one.

{Lucky has become lv 8}

“Yes!! Thank god there really is one here.”

I asked whether the big one dangerous and she snorted,

“Dangerous? It is a blood sucker! Moreover a grey one, it’s not danger, it’s a lottery ticket which only few ants ever get! It came because the other one used call when we cut its legs… It’s a coward. See…” she nudged her head at it and said, “It’s running away after looking at us.”

And really the grey one started running backwards, just as it saw its companion dead, and us standing there.

“You know for normal sucker we would have had to kill 20 or more to get enough food, but five of these and we are done. Moreover these are easier to handle. Maybe even you can handle them. Want to try?”

I didn’t reply and simply started running toward it. Its speed was too slow. Its appraisal showed that it was a variant of the tick family and was also a ranker.

But otherwise its stats were pathetic. Even compared to the one before it, they were simply too pathetic.

Spoiler: Status -> Grey vampire Tick (Rare)

Lv – 13/15

Rank – 2

Type

Blood Vampire

Health – 48/48

Stamina – 48/48

Mana – 12/12

Skills:

Bite(10), Mandible cut(3) Blood sucking(10), Blood fang(10), Blood vampire(8), Blood summon(3), Run(4), Patience(8), Perseverance(1), Head butt(5), Diamond shell(7), Kinetic discharge(3), Bleed(9),

Stat Tier: F

Strength

0.5

Intelligence

4

Agility

0.3

Endurance

8

Dexterity

3.2

Vitality

4

I mean even though it was a ranker, it was like it hadn’t evolve, but devolved.

I didn’t even had to cut its legs like team leader did, and instead I ran up to it and took a bit of its bulging soft sac at its back.

{Movement has become lv 10}

{Movement has reached its maximum level}

And it presents you with the option to:

Move wild or Move precise

I don’t think moving precise would get me what I want, once the colony wars starts.

*Ting*

[Skill: Reflex gained.]

[Skill: Muscle memory gained.]

Reflex: you move before your mind signals your body and you move accordingly.

It didn’t cry and kept on moving its foot, but I didn’t let go and took bites after bites at it.

{Bite has become lv 5}

“What did you do?!”

One of the carriers came running and yelled when he saw blood dripping out of its sac.

I saw its stamina not decreasing, but draining like it had a leak.

An irony and eggy taste spread across my mouth to which I could only say one word.

“Delicious.”

{Absorption has become lv 6…7…}

It didn’t die right away, as the carriers sucked the life out of it.

It somehow struggled, and moved its head to look at me and spoke,

*Ting*

[Skill: Tick language gained.]

And I understood what it was trying to say.

“You… won’t… be… able to … leave… hahaa… she won’t… let you… ”

And it died, leaving behind an ominous prophecy.

Or did he?

{Foreboding has become lv 7}

Maybe he did.

*Ting*

And at the same time that the last blue box appeared in front of him somewhere in the land of the volcanoes a roar rang out.

“WHO IS IT!! WHO GAINED THAT CURSED TITLE??”