14 Worry

System shook his head gently, as it was unrealistic to look for the old Druid.

Even if the old Druid had the power to extend his life and was willing to help him, it was not easy to find him in the big forest.

System seemed to be experiencing a lot these days, but the range of his activity was only within a hundred meters.

What percentage did these 100 or 200 meters occupy in the forest?

It was obviously difficult to bet everything and spend a lot of time to find the old Druid. Besides, that old Druid might have left this forest.

Without an excellent idea, what System finally came up with was his talent [Molting Growth].

System still had a silver lining, and that had been to undergo his second molting. After the second molting, he had become an adult grasshopper. Thus, he was sure that the third molting would bring an even greater change to his body.

At the same time, the voice of the metaphysical world during his third molting must have some special effect on him. The third molting and the world's voice may not extend his life, but they could still improve his strength.

Even if he was still clueless, his improved physical strength would be faster and more efficient for him to look for the old Druid.

…

After thinking everything through, System's expression became firm. His immediate goal was to complete his third molting as soon as possible, leaving more time to make choices in his limited lifespan.

As for the urge to mate with a female grasshopper which had previously annoyed him greatly, System noticed that he could easily suppress it now. After all, with just one mating, he would have only three days to live, and the horror between life and death made System much more determined.

System quickly jumped toward the tree that was full of pupae.

As several days had passed, the Lepidoptera insects' pupae were the same as before as none of them had become empty shells.

It was now autumn, and System did not know whether these pupae would wait for next spring to emerge. Maybe they would emerge in these few days and mate to lay their eggs, allowing them to hatch over winter.

When System had first arrived there, the six-centimeter-sized pupae had been much larger than his body, but now System's body was a bit larger than them.

System did not hesitate and tore directly at the pupae with his dark brown mandibles.

After the second molting, System's mandibles were two or three times stronger than during his larval stage, both in terms of hardness and biting strength.

Surprisingly, System was still unable to tear the pupae's sturdy shells, leaving only slight scratches on the shells. It seemed these pupae were stronger than tree barks.

System recalled that in his previous life he had eaten silkworm pupae. Their shells were hard after frying and were difficult to bite, even with human teeth. It would be even more difficult to eat them if they were not cooked with the right control of heat.

The hardness of these pupae's shells appeared to be comparable to that of the silkworm pupae in System's previous life.

Due to the tearing, the pupae clearly felt threatened and wriggled slightly.

Upon seeing that, System also stopped using his mandibles and used the post-molting biochemical weapon he had acquired—[Corrosive Slime]!

Corrosive slime was secreted from the special gland in System's throat, dripping down from his mandibles onto the pupae.

Although this corrosive slime was destructive, System was still not familiar with his new talent and could only secrete a small amount each time. Also, it could not deal a lethal attack on an enemy like the venom of a spider or a scorpion.

However, this slime was the perfect weapon for pupae, whose defense was strong but they were unable to evade.

The dark brown slime caused a magical chemical reaction with the brown pupa's shell, and a dozen seconds later, the shell slowly turned into a grayish-white color.

System's mandibles poked through just in time, with a white pulp flowing out. The pupa shook violently, and System managed to taste the mouth-watering pupa, which had a mellow sweetness like hot chocolate.

System's mandibles again secreted corrosive slime, widening the pupa shell gap and subsequently taking in the pulp at a faster speed.

Ninety percent of the larva in the pupa was sticky liquid, which was even softer than the molting dragonfly nymph he had eaten a few days ago. Rather than System eating, it was more appropriate to say he was drinking it.

System may not know the structure of the Lepidoptera larva in the pupa, but it was very tenacious and was still slightly shaking even after drinking 1/3 of it. Finally, it stopped moving after he devoured half of it.

This kind of pupa was so rich in nutrients that System could have leveled up if he had eaten about two of them before becoming an adult grasshopper.

After becoming an adult grasshopper, System discovered that his EXP bar was increasing slowly. He would have to eat 12 pupae to reach Level 9, which was six times more than during his larva stage.

Luckily, System had acquired [Corrosive Slime], a fluid that was secreted not only into his mouth, but also in his stomach, which could help accelerate his digestion.

After obtaining [Corrosive Slime], his digestibility had improved by half. Thus, System estimated that he would be able to digest successfully two pupae before nightfall.

System, who had been avoiding danger, decided to continue feeding on these pupae even after nightfall.

The forest might be more dangerous at night, but his remaining lifespan was running out. If he did not take the risk now, he would be left with no choice after two months' time.

There were 42 pupae left.

Given he allocated some necessary time for rest, System should be able to eat three and a half pupae in 24 hours, meaning he could rise to Level 9 in four days.

His stomach capacity and digestion speed would be further increased after he reached Level 9 and then eating five pupae a day should not be a problem for him.

Twelve pupae were needed to increase his rank from Level 8 to Level 9. Due to the exponential increase in EXP needed to level up, System guessed that about 25 pupae were required to level up from Level 9 to Level 10. The 42 pupae should only be enough for him to level up to a bit more than Level 10.

After careful calculations, he would be able to eat all of these pupae in ten days and then reach Level 10.

System showed a speculative expression as he opened the [Self-Information Generation] screen and looked at his rank—(8/15).

15 was the upper limit of his rank, representing the limit of what a green-tail grasshopper could reach, and 8 represented his current rank.

He had 63 days to live, and after even more precise calculations, his expression became glum.

Assuming he had sufficient and nutritious pupae for him to keep eating, and excluding any possible dangerous situations, it would take 3.5 days to reach Level 9, and a bit more than five days to Level 10. The time needed for him to keep leveling up would keep increasing and calculating at this speed, each subsequent increase in rank would take about half times the time more than the previous.

Then the time needed to level up from Level 9 to level 15 could be roughly calculated: 3.5 days, 5 days, 7.5 days, 11.5 days, 17 days, 25 days, and 37 days. 106 days in total.

Even with sufficient food and making sure to spend all his time on eating and digesting besides resting, System would need 106 days to reach Level 15.

By that time, he would have been dead for over a month.

His bloodline's inheritance message had informed him that he could undergo the third molting under the conditions that he was Level 14 or 15, and his [Molting Growth] was leveled up to the maximum.

Without a miracle, he would never be able to fulfill the condition for a third molting until his death.

…

The antennae on System's head kept shaking, and he fell into contemplation once more. His top priority was to increase the rank of [Molting Growth] as high as possible to Level 13 so that he would get more specific information regarding his third molting.

As for the way to advance [Molting Growth] quickly, System had already detected it through the vague information in his bloodline. He had to try to eat different kinds of insects or other creatures that could molt or turn into chrysalises.

System, who was eating the pupae, made a new decision after some contemplation. He decided to consume two more pupae and then stop. He would hunt for other small insects instead.

Only by eating a wide variety of food could System quickly level up his [Molting Growth] to Level 13 and learn when he could undergo his third molting.

If the rank required for the third molting was too high for him to reach, he could make other preparations earlier.