“Huh? What are you asking that for?”

“O, he probably wants to level up some in the three days.”

“Yeah, even though his status is like an expert, he is still a first ranked ant after all.”

“Yeah, the stronger he gets, the lesser our burden will be.”

All of them shared their thoughts about my sudden urge to go level up, other than Dark ‘The blasphemous’ who was cranking up bad jokes and making the situation feel a little awkward.

Though hearing all of their comments, I wanted to tell to them right away that I wasn’t asking for a playground to level up myself, but because I had a skill which could help me party with others and share the experience I get from killing mobs with them. And that was the reason I was asking for it.

‘It’s best if I don’t tell them, but then how will I smuggle Tiny, Bill and the others out of the mound?’ Firstly, I wasn’t actually sure whether [Party system] would really work the way I wanted it to, and then there were the expectations that they would have had from me hearing that I had such a way.

‘And it isn’t like I can be there to help all the novices advance in level in under a week. I have my own priorities and growth to think about as well.’

Helping tiny and Bill was one thing. They were my friends and you always take care of your friends, but that didn’t mean I was obliged to help others too and stagnate my progress.

‘One or two days are the best that I can do.’ And this holiday couldn’t have come at any more perfect time.

“So is there any place for me to hunt?” I asked and Mink ‘The crusher’ excitedly spat out the name as if he had been there a lot in his times.

“Yeah, surely there is. How do you think the soldiers prepare themselves? Just outside the mound is a small termite farm. The colony is not big and houses only five thousand or so termite and the best part is….”

And while I was thinking, ‘How could a Termite colony be so small?’ Mink answered my question in his excitement.

“The best part is that we have their queen under our control.”

“What!?” it came as a shock to me. How was it possible to control the queen of a colony? It was insane just thinking about it. If it was some other colony then they surely would have killed her the moment they found her, but…

And I replayed his words in my mind once again, especially the part where he said that we have a termite ‘farm’ I our backyard.

“Don’t tell me we are farming the termites!”

And proving me right, David nodded his head before saying, “Absurd right? Who knew such a thing was possible. A queen is laying eggs just to serve us with food and mobs to kill and gain experience from.”

I couldn’t say anything after that. Who knew the elites of my colony were such savages. But it was just their way of surviving and who knows they might be doing the world a favor by killing the termites and not letting them latch onto the trees as a pest.

Seeing my sad face the captain tried to encourage me by saying, “Don’t feel sad. That’s just how the world works. Like how we are enslaving the termite queen, somewhere, someone stronger than us ants might also be enslaving an ant queen just for the same purpose. It’s just how the world works. So don’t feel sorry for them.”

But his words only made me think more about that something which was strong enough to kill the soldiers and workers of a whole colony and imprison an ant queen.

‘What would happen if they attacked us?’

But I buried the thought deep into the depths of my mind before it could jinx us.

And I made up my mind.

But now was the time to ask them to let me take some of my friends out on the hunt with me.

Clearing my mind of those useless thoughts, I remembered that I didn’t have a way to take Tiny and the others out without the consent of the captain and decided to tell him the reason I was asking for a hunting ground.

“Actually I want to take some friends with me.”

“Sure. It’s not like every scavenger under me has to come and ask me whenever they want to go take a leak. So tell me straight why are you asking me such a useless thing?”

There was a reason he was the captain alright.

I told them my friends were not rankers and were instead novices and their expression changed. Confusion, mockery and even anger, they showed all kind of emotions just from me asking them to let me take some novices out on an adventure.

It was my new team leader David ‘The hammer’ who was the only one still acting the same, who in the end asked me, “You know novices don’t get experience from the kills right? And it’s not like everyone is like you who can hunt rankers while being a novice either. So tell us, why do you want to take them away from the protection of their home and out in the danger?”

I could hear slight abrasion in his voice, as he reached spoke the last some words. I didn’t know what they were acting so angry about. It was not like I was taking novices out to feed them to someone.

‘Wait, did someone actually did that!?’

The thought lingered in my mind all the while I stayed in the room, but I didn’t let it out. Who knew what kind of reaction they would have given if my guess had hit right on the mark.

As for the reason I was trying to take the novices to hunt for? I decided to tell them the truth.

They didn’t look at me like they thought I was lying, but rather, looked at me as if I was a cheater. Then after a short silence, captain asked me what kind of skill it was and how I got it. And I hesitated.

Though in the end, I still told them that it was the special unlocked skill of [Bonding].

“But it only unlocked because I had [Whisper]”

“You even have [Whisper]? But isn’t that a skill which only Scouts are supposed to have?”

My new team members discussed with each other looking at me with curiosity, while I told the captain that I wasn’t sure whether [Party system] would really work like I advertised it would.

“You sure are a treasure trove of skills. Just how many skills do you have?” Crimson asked me with a smile, seeing which I finally felt relief.

195… it almost slipped out of my mouth, but I handed it safely.

‘Phew… my status is so much trouble.’ I rebuked my inner self and told it to have some control, while David ‘The Blasphemous’ asked me about the second problem I would be facing in my hunt.

“You know novices can’t kill rankers. So even if we suppose that your skill works, if they aren’t able to kill then they won’t earn any experience. So it’s all the same anyways.”

The problem was a headache, I knew, but I had a plan. A great one at that. I subconsciously smiled creepily and made David flinch.

“I’ll bind the termites or knock them out some way and let my friends finish them off. I’ll see what route I am going to take once I am there.”

Though my idea didn’t satisfy them, but they still gave in, in the end, and agreed to let me take Tiny and the others on hunting.

“Well, if it you…”

“Yeah.. you will probably be able to handle the termites alone.”

“You can take your friends on this little experiment of yours, but keep them well and don’t let them die.”

Everything was fine and well until captain decided that I was good enough to handle four rookies alone.

“Though there are no problems with you, it is not possible to know what those deranged termites might do.” And captain looked at the members of the elite team before smiling and putting extra burden on my shoulders.

Or one could say that he gave me some body guards.

“Okay, take all of these fool’s with you too.”

“What!” That wasn’t me alone, but reaction of every one present in the room other than the captain.

“But why…!”

“Argh… I don’t want to go! I want to sleep off my rest days.”

“Yeah, I want to take her out on a dat… Ahem! You didn’t hear anything.”

But captain didn’t listen to them one bit, “It will be a good experience for your next mission. You lot will be able to see how proficient he is with your own eyes and he will be able to get to know you all better.”

“But…!”

Mr. Crimson ant with high hormones tried to get a leave to go on his date, but captain wasn’t in the mood to hear no from an ant working under him.

“You re going and that it.”

In the end, Crimson had to agree to come with the rest of us to the termite mound, as a body guard for four novice ants.

“Though I don’t know whether we’ll be needed or not, but it will be good seeing novices getting stronger in front of our eyes.”

“Yeah, that and history being re written. Who said novices can’t gain experience? Come with us and we’ll show you how it’s done.”

“Okay, let’s decide when we will be going…” David our team leader intervened in their conversation, but I had to stop them there.

“There is no need to make a plan. We are going right now.”

“Right now?” team leader asked frowning and I replied with a firm, unshaken, “Yes.”

“Really.” He asked once again and I still had the same answer for him.

“Yeah.”

“Sigh…” Dark ‘The blasphemous’ sighed and surrendered his three free days for a greater cause. “I didn’t become a member of this team to baby sit some novices!”

“let’s just go. The earlier we go, the faster we’ll get to come back and I will be able to make up with her too.”

“Just come on, how bad it could be?” said Mink, while passing me smiles.

David our leader nodded seeing his friends giving in and asked me, “So do you need to go pick your friends or something?”

“No, they are already standing by at the entrance.” I replied and he commented, “Quite a swift planner you are.”

“hee….”

“Actually what would you have done, if I captain hadn’t given you green signal”

“I would have taken them anyways…. Opps.”

But what I was thinking would happen didn’t happen and instead their laughter ensued in the room.

“That’s more like it.”

“A rebel! we have a rebel in our midst’s!”

“I am liking you more and more ki… no, partner.”

I nodded my head and we walked out of the room and Mink hurriedly spoke, “The last one to reach the entrance will baby sit the rookies, while others will enjoy the termites!” before running away with a dash and disappearing into the tunnel.

“This cocky little shit!”

“That’s not fair, I am too heavy. I don’t want to baby sit.”

And I was happy seeing how open my team mates were with each other. They were carefree and fun loving guys, who were strong and dependable when situation needed them to be.

“So how do you find this team? They are fun right?” Captain came out of the room and asked me.

“Yeah.” I absentmindedly replied, looking at David’s getting further and further ahead of me.

“That’s good, but shouldn’t you start running now. Although this might look like a game to you, but it’s actually them testing your worth. You shouldn’t let them get one up on you. Your voice will lose weight if you came last. That will only make them think you are not deserving of this position.”

But I could only laugh hearing that.

“Oh! Let them get a few seconds up on me, because they don’t understand what it means to be the fastest ant in the world.”

Activating [Haste] and [Acceleration] I looked captain right in the eyes and calmly spoke, “Thank you for everything you have done for me.”

That was it. I then took a step forward and disappeared from his sight.

Spoiler: Status

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Level

1/15 (85%)

Species

Silver “Trap Jaw” Ant(Unique)

Rank

1

Job

Scavenger

Health

117/117

Stamina

156/156

Mana

368/368

Gender

Male

Health Reg. (+53/hour)

Stamina Reg. (+54/hour)

Mana reg. (53/hour)

Conserves (5)

Stat Tier: Below F

Stat gain/Level: +1Agility, +10Hp, +20Sp, +5Mp

Strength

43 (36)

Intelligence

139 (120)

Agility

99 (94)

Wisdom

84 (77)

Dexterity

54 (52)

Defense

22 (20)

Vitality

46 (30)

Charm

21 (21)

Endurance

69 (65)

Luck

64 (38)

Titles:

Student, Skill collector, Cultivator, Tenacious, Ant Hero,

Blessings

Skill up with level increase, Easy skill gain.

Skill Slotted

Skills:

Base skills

Knowledge (8), Willpower(26),

Max skills

Pride(10), Charm(10), Admirer(10), Pity(10), Anger(10), Ant sense(10), Vision(10), Movement(10), Trust(10), Memory(10), Focus(10), Greed(10), Balance(10), Evade(10), Climb(10), Breath(10), Talk(10), Interrogation(10), Determination(10), Strong willed(10), Battle tactics(10), Foreboding(10), Decider(10), Absorption(10), Silent steps(10), Examine(10), Anticipation(10), Iron grip(10), perseverance (10), Glare(10), Manners(10), Breath control(10), Slide(10), Weakness tracking(10), Faith(10), Yell(10), Roll(10), Acting(10), Acid Manipulation(10), Acid creation (10), Planner(10), Learning(10), Connections(10), Statue(10), Tracking(10), Hygiene(10), Clean(10), Projection(10), Reading(10), Narrator(10), Scribe(10), Pull(10), Values(10), curl(10), Respect(10), Patience(10), Cartography(10), Treasure sense(10), Slippery(10), Pheromones(10), Pheromone manipulation(10), Lift(10), Inspection(10), Surprise attack(10),

Normal (Tier 1)

Throw(8), Marksmanship(7), Light ball(1), Holy arrow(1),

Tier 2

Hawkeye(3), Foresight(15), High Luck(14), Sensitive hearing(14), Equilibrium(15), Clarity(24), Fury(22), Perception(25), Map2.0(17), Fast processing(16), Bonding(11), Concentration(16), Mind read(12), Whisper(10), Lie detector(11), Chance(12), High Appraisal (15), Prediction (11), Stamina Preservation(10), Memorize(9), Record(9), Leader(7), Link(-), Auto defense (6), Stable Mind (7), High poison(11), Reveal(1), Photogenic memory(1), Mystify(1), Sculpt(1), Excavate(1), Meditation*(1), Metal Detection(1), Longevity(1),

Mana

Passive

Mana sense(10), Mana clad(8), Mana Channel(7), Mana control(7), Wind manipulation(5), Mana Manipulation (2), Vengeance* (4), Overload* (6), Overdrive*(6), Mana vision*(6), Echo*(9), Poison augmentation*(3), Novice Ant strength*(1), Ghost Lick*(1), Mana Influence*(1)

Active

Soul search*(10), Heal**(1), War cry*(8), Shape shifting*(8), Root*(13), Provoke*(5), Cancel**(4), Mana Rope(1), Signal Pheromones(1)

Attack

Normal

Slash (10), Bite(10), Stab (10), Pierce(10), Push(10), Slam(10), Mandible cut*(19), Force Punch*(4), Head butt(9), Tackle*(10), Explosion Kick*(4), Poison ball(3)

Mana

Mend wave(10), Spike*(25), Dissolve*(15), Eye of terror*(10), Air bullet(14), Poisonous Acid Mist*(13), Wind cannonball* (17), Rhythmic Quake*(7), Cross slash*(6), Acid wave*(4)

Defense

Hard surface(10), Iron skin(10), Deter*(16), Fortress*(1), Reflect Magic damage(1)

Move-ment

Passive

Haste*(25), Dodge*(21), Reflex*(21),

Active

Slipping steps of the ghosts*(8), Stealth*(11), Glide*(7),

Specialty

Apex breathing method. Body cultivation(Muscle cultivation)(2),

Ability

Aura detection, Tracking, Night Vision, Fire body, Data gathering, Bleeding, Extension, Acrobatics, Efficient Herbal absorption, Perfect Barrier, Increased Chance, Shock Absorption, Sound waves, Vision, Melt, Cereboost, Shadow steps, Party system, Memory search, Call, Inc. Drop Rate, Foresight, Proficiency Overtaking, Shadow hide, Detach/Attach, Lying,

Resistance

Shock(25), Blunt(21), Poison(23), Push(14), High Fear(4), Wind(24), Pull(15), High Overwhelm(4), High Pain(6), Confusion(15), Mind control(12), Charm(12), Dizziness(13), Fire(24), Faint(10), Sound Resonance(10), Paralysis(9), Soul damage(16), Pathogen(10), Sleep(13), High Mental corruption (8)

Regenerations

High Stamina(11), High Health(10), High Mana(1)

Weapon mastery

Intermediate Bare handed(13), Inter. Mandible(10), Intermediate Sharp weapon(5), Intermediate Martial Arts (9)

Language

Ant (-), Tick(-), Bee(-), Wasp(-), Moth(-), Grass Hopper (-), Worm(4), Spider(3)