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Chapter 7: History Lesson… Yeyyy~

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“ ” = Speech

‘ ‘ = Thoughts

* * = Actions or SFX’s

~ ~ = Third Person

[ ] = Time Skips

= Status Reports

- - = telepathy

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We are entering the cave like place.

The cave it’s self was completely out of place in an ant mound from my previous world, I mean, I have watched a fair share of ant documentaries and this was never mentioned. But then again neither was talking ants and Mana and shit.

Once again I can only contemplate on how different this world is from what I knew.

Anyway, back to describing the cave.

It was more than three times my height and very wide, somehow imposing and majestic even though it is made of dirt, it gave of homely feels at the same time.

I thought it was just plain weird.

When I entered upon my chariot of ants, I was greeted by gold and riches beyond my wildest imagination!

… Nope, just kidding. I was actually greeted by a big fat ant ass.

More specifically, a big fat ant ass giving birth. Not the greatest first impression.

- Ah! Sorry Mr Satin but it seems we have arrived at a bad time, the Queen is busy making siblings- (Bern)

- Yeah I can see that. – (me)

Actually I can see too much

*SKREEEEECH*

I was interrupted by a mind numbing screech; it was so horrible I changed the “C” to a “K”.

- Achaaaa~ seems like giving birth is painful huh? – (Bern)

- I know right, it’s even painful for the men watching it. It’s like watching your favourite take away restaurant burn down in front of you.- (Me)

- Take away? Restaurant? What…? -

- Ehhh~ nothing. –

- Anyway, let us go to the waiting room. - (Bern)

- What? You have a waiting room? -

Bern led me to a smaller cave to the left of us

-… there really is a waiting room. I can’t imagine you having many visitors though; or rather shouldn’t this be outside the cave? -

- What can I say; the architects didn’t really think about it. But to be fair, when this was made we weren’t as evolved as we are now. -

- hmmmm… wait, evolved? How old is this place? -

- Almost two hundred years I think. Queen Anna is our 36th Queen.

When we came to this forest we were simple Fire Ants but due to this forest being on a Ley line, thus dense in life force and mana, we were able to evolve into an ant variant in exchange for our fire manipulation. - (Bern)

- … wut? -

A lot of terms and random bullshit was spewed at an alarming rate so I stopped Bern there and made him explain everything he just said.

And to the screeches of the Ant Queen giving birth I once again came to the realise how fucking weird this world is.

It was quite a long talk and we had to go back over some stuff because Bern sucks at explaining. Anyway, I’ll sum up the main parts in an order that’ll make it easy to understand.

Firstly, I’ll fill you in on some of this world’s common sense.

All beings have Levels of Sentience. There are two types:

Levels of Race Sentience and Levels of Personal Sentience.

Levels of Race Sentience is basically what your race’s potential power is at, for example worms have a Race Sentience Lvl of 1. This just shows that you can’t get that strong being a worm.

That said, there are ways to Lvl up your Race Sentience, but I’ll explain that later.

Humans, by the way, have a Sentience Lvl of 8, alongside Orcs and most of the Beast Kin races.

Lvl 9 beings include Elves, vampires and the Basilisks.

Lvl 10 beings include Wyverns, Demi-Gods and Sprits like Vinerva.

Beyond Lvl 10 are fully fledged Gods and Dragon Kings, stuff that are way too OP in the mortal realms.

And yes all the fantasy beings I just named exist in this world. I went through a lot of, “No way!”s, “They exist?”s and “I don’t even care anymore.”s to confirm the facts.

But if you’re thrown off by that… I think you should take a break, maybe watch some slice-of-life anime.

Moving on, the second Level of Sentience are the Levels of Personal Sentience.

Simply put they are just like your player levels in RPG games. They are also the key to moving up your Race Level, mentioned previously.

Levels of Personal Sentience are gained the same way as they are gained in RPG’s, through experience. Kills do give you exp but you don’t really need to, you just have to live your life to the fullest and gain “Experience” in its purest form; Work experience… Nooooooo~

Anyways, Levels of Personal Sentience go up to Lvl 100 no matter what your Race Sentience is and once you get to Lvl 100, you get the choice to make/join an evolved version of your previous race in the Race Level above.

Not sure if I worded that well so I’ll give you an Example.

If a Worm which has a RSL (Race Sentience Level) of 1 and had somehow reached a PSL (Personal Sentience Level) of 100. It would have the choice of joining the Greater Earth Worm species that have a RSL of 2, and if it would reach Lvl 100 again it could evolve into the Giant Earth Worm species that have a PSL of 3. Etc. Etc.

Right, now I think you get the point.

After Bern had explained this to me for the second time I heard the ever so familiar *Ding*

*Ding*

Having learned more of this world, your

Analytic Sense and Status has updated itselfStatus Update:

+ Can now see your Race Sentience and Personal Sentience

Analytic Sense Update:

+ Can now see creatures Race Sentience

+ Can now tell if a creature’s Personal Sentience is higher or lower than your own

INTELLEGENCE +20

499 >> 519

After the blue boxes faded away I saw a blur above Bern’s head, when I focused on it to the point I could make out its outline, it suddenly solidified into an another blue box

This blue box:

BernRSL: 3

PSL: Higher

Next I shall explain LeyLines

LeyLines in the previous world were invisible lines that ran across the ground where places of historical/natural/supernatural importance, happened to line up. There were many natural phenomenon’s and beautiful formations that lined up neatly with places of historical importance. And if you were to dig a bit deeper you would find that there were many supernatural happenings there also.

Many have reported seeing Magic, Werewolves, Demons and the like on LeyLines.

(AN: Ley Lines are real btw, just Google it. If you want to search “Ley Lines in England” it’s pretty interesting (I am English btw))

If you are wondering how I know all this, all I can say is, I was bored is … really bored.

LeyLines in this world are much like the previous world’s LeyLines. They are places of Historical and Natural importance. They are also the place that… exhales, for lack of a better word, Mana. Everything that sits on or near a LeyLine is considered a Mana dense environment. Just like this forest.

Having learned all this I heard the…

*Ding*

Having learned more of this world and still be in a form that can be considered a Beast+ You have gained the sense to tell when you are near a LeyLine

+ You feel the effects of Mana exhaustion less

+ You gain EXP quicker when on a LeyLine

INTELLEGENCE + 5

519 >> 524

The “Beast” thing annoyed me a bit but I ignored it because I had come to yet another realisation: One stating that there probably was Mana back on Earth, Just very little of it.

I realised that the Magic and Supernatural stuff that were said to happen on those LeyLines back home probably did happen (or at least some of them anyway). And that the historical stuff was drawn to the Mana (because Bern said that people naturally gather towards Mana) and that the Natural Wonders were probably caused, or at least influenced, by Mana!

At the revelation I heared:

*Ding*

You have solved a great Mystery of the world!

And you’re not even there!INTELLEGENCE + 101

524 >> 625

You Have Gained the Title:

Grand Detective

Well not that I really mattered. I’ve already died there after all.

At least I got good stats for it, and a Title.

I'll check them later

Anyways, enough of the background and doggy theory stuff, let’s move on.

Bern’s ancestors were Fire Ants, literally. Unlike the fire ants I knew of these had minor manipulation over fire and acids. They were a war minded and proud, their bites left acid that could burn through skin and when in trouble they self destructed.

This may sound all well and good but there was a problem, Fire Ants are STUPID. Like, really, really stupid.

And stupid warring ants with self destruction abilities… things didn’t go too well.

After being driven into a corner by all the species they pissed off at their previous forest, the Fire Ants had no choice but to accept that they had bitten off more than they could chew and high tail the fuck out of there.

One way or another they had arrived here and decided to stay. After twenty or so years of rebuilding and repopulation, they did what Fire Ants did best. Start pissing off the inhabitants.But this time it was only those who pissed them of first, mainly the JuJak’s (those arrogant looking birds that started this all)

This time the war went surprisingly well and the new, slightly cleverer Fire Ants managed to drive away a few of their predators and also managed to Evolve whilst doing it! They Evolved into what I see now: the Kingdom Ants!

The very rare RSL 3 Kingdom Ants have exchanged most of their fire bending techniques for intelligence and almost unlimited Variants that can be born, like Bern the Mind Ant.

It seems that only the Queen and her Royal Guard Ants (which are another rare variant) have the ability to self destruct. Now most of the ants only have a minor resistance to fire and very few have retained their acid glands.

Good thing too. If they were still Fire Benders I would have to wipe them out.

Having become cleverer and lost the ability to self destruct the new Kingdom Ants flourished and drove off all, save one, of their predators. The Kingdom Ants made a peace treaty with their one remaining enemy (the JuJaks) and then flourished in numbers they never had before.

Time passed, as time does, and the Kingdom Ants continued to grow, establishing Ant Mound two, three and four eventually bringing us to the present, when an old enemy has once again attacked the Kingdom Ants.

If you’re wondering how Bern knew all this it is because he has Genetic Memory, a side effect of being a Mind Ant, other than Bern only the Queen has Genetic memories.

[Back to the present]

- That’s quite the life story…-(me)

- Yep…-(Bern)

- I see you have finished filling in our guest Bern - (???)

A woman’s voice came from the main cave

- AH! My Queen! - (Bern)

‘Oh yeah, the screeching has stopped’

- I humbly apologise for keeping you waiting -

Says Bern whilst lowering his head

- Don’t, you just did the annoying shit for me - (Queen)

‘Unlike Bern’s, her voice is surprisingly normal. Slightly haughty sounding but then again, she is a queen.

- Queen! Please! That isn’t a way for a queen to speak! - (Bern)

‘Bern’s getting worked up’

- Pfft! What a nag…- (Queen)

‘Quite a nice voice actually’

I think I might like her’

- Well? What are you waiting for, come in then. - (Queen)

‘Well then. Let’s get this started…’