At the gate I spotted the guard from before and walked over. He saw me and nodded.

“Greeting sir. Mind telling me where I can find rats roaming.” I asked.

A brow raised as I asked. “Rats are found near the 20 sewer exits… this wouldn’t be about…” Before he said it I raised my head and nodded.

“Then I suggest here.” he said and called me over to a map of the city glued to the wall.

He pointed to a spot about 2 km from here.

“This is the exit to the biggest sewer drain of the city. You might already guess but the smell isn’t the most pleasant and most people avoid it but if you want to keep… her a secret, this is the best spot. This exit is also the best entrance into the sewers of the city and the rat sewer dungeon that formed inside.” He said.

“Thank you for the help sir.” I said and nodded.

I walked outside and headed towards the sewers.

I didn’t get any quest because anything related to this place would either be low return or about the dungeon that was who knows what level. No one has gone inside besides the guards so level and information on the dungeon is mostly unknown.

As I got close I noticed the small mice and rat appearing on the fields. Most didn’t have the race or level above them so these were just regular animals so I walked a bit more until the stench of the sewer hit my nose. I was completely… unaffected. Trust me, in my field of work I have gone to the smelliest places to find different bugs not to mention I have worked with bugs that have had utterly repulsive smells that even with a gas mask you can smell the stink. The stench of the sewer on a ranking of 1 to 10 would be around 3 maybe 4 in my personally stink chart.

Very quickly I spotted much larger rats the size of a cat appeared. Over its head was [Rat Level 2]

Seeing the first meal of the little queen I opened the portal and called her out.

She was holding the dagger and instantly the distinctive growl of her stomach shouted like a low roar.

[Hungry!! Hungry!! Hungry!! FOOD!!]

It was all she was saying. A quick look in her stats and I saw she was at 0%.

I was right to believe that her training would lower it much faster.

“Over there, kill it and you can eat it.” I tell her.

Instantly her two big baby eyes turned sharp like predators.

On her small little legs she ran out and stuck her hand out shooting that small stinger that flew and stabbed the tail and embedded it into the ground.

The rat squeaked in pain and looked at the culprit. It turned towards her and tried to jump at her but the tail was stuck so it fell on its face leaving itself open. She took no pity and brought the dagger to the rat’s head chopping it off. Without hesitation she grabbed the head and chomped on it making a heavy crunching sound that was far from comfortable to listen to.

Then she pulled the stinger and put it back in her hand before taking the body and from the neck she began slowly eating one chomp at a time.

It was something out of a horror film. I am more than certain that this scene would have caused Flor to faint while foaming to the mouth.

When I looked at the Satiety on her status and saw it had gone up to 100% and she also gained 1 str and 2 agi eating the rat.

This caused me to wonder if she assimilated the best stat of something she eats. Rats being rodents, they are normally really fast and considering their size they were stronger as well.

She ate everything down to the tail and all the inner organs as well. I don’t know if I should fear her hunger or respect it for being able to down all that.

When she was done, she happily walked over but what shocked me was that her entire front side was covered in guts and blood. It seems that even in her frenzy she didn’t eat the guts and instead cut the rat but not properly enough and just let it all fall out on top of her.

Yeah, a true horror film scene of a blood 2 year old girl with big pure black eyes like an alien.

If it was anyone else I doubt they would sit quietly.

I pulled out a water canteen and dumped the water on her and rubbed off the blood and guts.

“From now on, when you remove the insides of the rats. Don’t let it fall on you. It makes you dirty and ugly.” I said.

She nodded really quickly understanding what I said.

Since she had some sharp nails on her hand I told her what to do. Simply use her nails or dagger to cut the rat and pull the guts and what she doesn’t want out. Just never do it in the open with people or animals nearby.

Though she was full a quick look at her status showed the Satiety bar dropping 1% every 15 seconds.

The metabolism of this girl is incredible.

Since it was like that and she was probably in a growth phase we go ahead and move closer to the sewers. On the way she killed 3 more rats in the same fashion and then suddenly came over and handed me 4 rat tails and 2 claws.

“She also has an inventory huh.” I mutter

I did notice I get some exp, always the same amount which meant we still shared but to what amount I didn’t know. Unlike the bugs where I think I get around 70% or more I think with Levi we share 50% as if we were in a party. Maybe she gets more if we consider pets until she is at my level but who knows.

When we finally spotted the sewer we also saw that in front of it were a unique type of mob.

[Ratman level 6]

It seems this was the intermediate monster of this region that held the level 5-7 that lacked between rats and rabbits.

All around there were lots of Level 4 rats so I made her start from them. She hasn’t leveled up yet but I think it would be soon. She has gained stat points from eating the rat bodies though.

We found a lone level 4 rat that was as big as a rottweiler a bit away from the sewer.

I let her go and fight it. Like with all rats she shot the stinger on the tail. She shot four one after another. One hit the flack way off its mark, 2 missed and the final one almost got the tail if it had not moved.

With the presence of an attacker the rat looked at the little girl and screeched before lunging at her.

It had its claws outstretched and its mouth open with its fangs bared. This was a classic attack of rats to drop their opponent and claw them to death.

Levi jumped back and stuck her hand forward shooting a stinger at the incoming enemy. The shot was dead center into the rats mouth. At once a critical hit was done and 50% of its life was shaved off.

It fell on the ground in pain while holding its mouth. It had sustained the bleeding effect that the stingers inflicted some times.

Not losing a chance Levi ran forward and stabbed at the rat’s neck causing another critical but the rat was still alive in the red zone. It used its tail as a whip and hit the little queen and sent her flying a few meters away.

As she landed big tears appeared around her eyes and she started to cry.

At once the hive mind went into a frenzy as three portals opened up. The three queen variants I possessed, rushed out followed by their minions and without mercy destroyed the rat.

I was in total shock at this as it had happened the time I was educating her.

It seemed that her crying caused the hive mind to frenzy. I took control of all the bugs and recalled them, wondering how they opened three portals at once. Only then did I walk over to the crying queen and picked her up.

“What was that!?” I asked her with a frown.

[Hurt! Pain! I don’t like!] She said through Pheromones.

“You aren’t going to be a little baby forever. You will grow strong with your own hands and not with using the hive to fight for you.” I tell her.

[You don’t fight! Use hive!] She replied.

“Because I want to make the hive stronger.” I tell her.

[Master is strongest! Fight yourself!] She said I turn.

“We are talking about you not me!” I tell her, making her pout.

I pull out a health potion and make her drink it. Her left arm had the exoskeleton crack but after drinking the potion the cracks vanished.

“Now go eat the rat so we can start hunting more.”

[Don’t want! You give food!] Was her reply.

“If you don’t hunt your own food you will not get food from me.” I tell her bluntly.

She looked at me with big alligator tears but it wasn’t effective on me. I may have never had a kid but if I did have one, I know I would be a loving but firm father. This was no difference.

“You will eat and hunt or you will return to your room without eating. I won’t bring anything for you.” I tell her.

Her head drops as she walks over to the rat and starts to cut it apart and take bite after bite from it.

I watched the surroundings to make sure there wasn’t any danger and after 10 minutes the rat was done with and only the uneatable inners were left.

Looking at her stats she had gained 2 Str, 3 Agi, 1 Dex and End and a level.

“So I was right, the stronger the opponent compared to you the more stats and exp you can gain by eating them.” I said.

She had 5 extra points for stats but when I told her to allot them she just tilted her head.

When I looked again I thought of allotting them for her and it had actually worked.

“So I do it for her? Strange.” I mutter. I put the five in End so that her defense rises more.

“Come on. Let’s keep hunting.” I tell her.

She looked glum and I could feel the pheromones [Sleepy].

I sigh seeing as she was almost out of it.

So I picked her up as she was nearly falling asleep from eating all of the rats and put her in her bed.

I did remember she underwent large growth while sleeping. If it was the sudden rise in stats then her sleeping was a means for her body to safely grow to handle the stat points she possessed.

It made sense.

I left the room and returned outside before pulling out my Glaive.

“What she said before was true though. Can’t be a hypocrite and just force her to fight.” I mutter and start walking towards the sewer entrance.

Standing there like before where the level 6 ratmen. They were like large rats but stood about 150cm tall with a hunched back and rat body but stood on their hind legs. In their hand were bone weapons. There were 2 of them one with a bone club and the other with a bone sword.

With my Glaive in hand I walk over and instantly the two ratmen spot me and screech and run towards me.

The one with a club comes at me swinging so I meet him with the back end of my glaive. I easily push him back and the bone club gets thrown out of his hand as I stop the glaive up above. With a push from my left arm the blunt head with the instrument fell on his head and made a ‘CRACK’ sound.

A critical hit landed hard since I seem to have cracked his skull a bit and he was knocked out but alive.

The other came from the side and with a spin I met his slash with one of my own. The impact pushes him back. I pulled my Glaive back and with a step forward I stabbed it in the chest and heart causing a fatal hit that drains almost all his health. As I pull the weapon out it causes a bleeding effect that begins draining the remains of its health.

I walk to the knocked out one and with an overhead slash I kill the ratman.

You have killed Ratman 2x

You have gained 150 exp

Ratman tail 1x

Ratman fang 4x

Bone club

Bone sword

Looking at the drop I was rather happy. When looked at the place the weapons were at but they had vanished since they turned into drops.

“I doubt I can sell these to a butcher but I can make use of their body.” I said as I summoned the queen mosquito and four others that I had normally called during the rabbit hunt.

I let them drain the ratmen of all their blood and as they take flight I notice the four other Mosquitos glowing. They began to grow larger and bulkier. The three minions had two wings but suddenly it split into four and their thin body grew even larger than the queen that had also grown a bit and gained another set of wings.

I was stunned by the sudden change as if it had changed race and I went to look.

Beside the Vampiric Queen Mosquito and Vampiric Mosquitoes, there was a new one. Vampiric Mosquito Royal Guard.

The look was nearly the same but the exoskeleton looked much harder now and when I checked the stats of them and the queen I found they had undergone a boost in stats.

The queen now had stats at 10 all around except the Int that was 11 but the Royal guard was just as impressive. Their physical stats all surpassed the queen’s but their mental ones weren’t Str, Agi, End and Dex were all at 12 points while Int and Wis were at 3.

They were the royal guard in other words mosquitos born to guard the queen. This… what made them evolve like this.

I kept shouting in my mind but then I looked at the ratmen. The word ‘men’ crossed my mind but then I tossed it aside. Blood suckers had sucked on human blood but nothing like this happened.

The sudden evolution would easily result in most of the Vampiric Mosquitos evolving and becoming more powerful.

“I need to test this with all the bugs but only the mosquitos are at a level to hunt. Now I think the spiders can do it.” I say out loud.

Before I leave I bend over with a butcher knife I bought back at the butcher and begin removing all the fangs, the tail and claws. The bodies I transported to the bugs to use.

I then turn around and walk away. I followed the flow of sewer water and noticed that the rats remained around that and I could easily find them around dead animals that had been drinking from the filthy water.

The area here wasn’t farmlands because of the smell and possible disease that would permeate the air. Planting near here would bring contaminated crops and so on.

I opened a portal and called out the brain and soldiers of Brown spiders.

Looking at a lone level 4 rat I begin telling the spiders what to do.

They had developed neurotoxins but the rats are disease riddled animals. Poison and disease are nearly the same and he most likely has resistance.

Taking caution up, I have the spiders climb a nearby tree onto a branch the rat is sleeping under and slower down several web strings. From them they will slowly connect the strings to one another.

From there they would slowly build a net of sticky silk so as to entangle the rat long enough for enough soldier spiders to jump on and poison it enough for it to fall at which point the other spiders come and aid them.

In terms, this plan is totally man made but it is within a spider's comprehension as long as I am thinking and passing orders one by one to them. It’s important they slowly grow smarter and learn these skills themselves.

After several minutes a large enough net, that would tangle the rat for a few seconds, was made. I have noticed that contending with monsters only what I call tier 3 bugs could do that. Maybe there is a connection.

As the net falls so do 10 soldier spiders with the brain spider in tow.

As soon as the net falls the rat notices something and one by one the spiders fall and bites it painfully making it notice the sudden attack. As the leader lands and sinks her fangs in with the most potent poison of all the rat roars in pain as it gets up and starts running only to tangle it’s legs and fall finally noticing the net. At this time about 30 more spiders dropped and began biting him filling it with even more poison. With so much it was impossible for it to free himself as soon as the second wave landed on it.

It tried to get up but lost its bearings and wobbles on its legs as if drunk. It finally collapsed breathing heavily as the spiders jumped on it and began to shoot their silk around it.

What shocked me was when a small portal opened near them and worker spiders rushed out by the dozens and began helping.

This wasn’t the first time but I finally got suspicious. When Levi cried, the ‘queen’ was the first to come. Finally pulling up their status windows my suspicions were confirmed. The beings with ‘Queen’ in their name were a special existence that could let their own swarms out of my hive and the little queen was at the head of that swarm with me.

I hadn’t expected for them to be like this but now that I see it I couldn’t help but notice it.

In record speed, the rat was turned into a silk pouch and was pulled inside the hive by the spiders.

It was a cruel fate that the rat’s faced and this one was oversized compared with the small ones the spiders caught in the city.

I quickly link my mind to the breeders of the brown spider hive. They were the largest of the hive but couldn’t fight due to being breeders. They all were made up of 2 strong genetic traits and were all females. The male soldiers would come and fertilize the eggs and leave. I hadn’t noticed but the spider’s breeding method was ineffective and allowed for many weak genes to continue.

As I noticed this I called upon the spiders list and found the strongest soldiers. I then opened the brain spiders status and saw she was mostly Int and Wis.

“So they are behind.” I mutter.

I find that there are 2 male soldier spiders that have genetics that favor all physical stats. So I ordered the two males to fertilize the brain spider’s eggs.

They quickly find the leader spider and on order they begin the mating that is done quickly and over with.

“I was stupid to not notice earlier and let ‘breeder’ units appear. They are good for weak worker unites but for powerful greater beings these are nowhere near enough.” I say.

The brain spider with the eggs instantly begins to feed on the rat to gather the nutrients for the eggs.

After one serving it waits several moments before taking more. Then again, all the while the eggs were filled with the nutrients. When it was satisfied the brain spider went to a corner it had claimed, a space that it used as its own, and laid all the eggs. Among the white spider eggs was a single dull yellow one.

I shake my head at how simple it was resolved. In a simple order a new Tier 3 race might have been born.

Looking at the list of bugs I had I noticed I had ignored many of them leaving them to just breed a few combos together. Seeing how the combo of all strong stats resulted in true monster bugs I turned my attention to breeding once again so I can have proper fighting units and starting with both spider hives that have queen but not all stats joined to make the complete strong stat bugs.