Locusts Crossing (1)

Because System had been continuously eating the slime's colloid before leveling up, so when he reached Level 10, his [Corrosive Slime] increased yet again.

[Corrosive Slime] (10/15) → [Corrosive Slime] (11/15).

Just like System had speculated all along, Level 10 and Level 11 of an ability were two completely different levels.

Be it the spraying distance, slime capacity, viscosity, or corrosiveness of [Corrosive Slime], all aspects were improved.

Meanwhile, [Corrosive Slime]'s most obvious increase was still the liveliness that appeared only after devouring the slime's colloid.

When its level increased to 11, [Corrosive Slime] secreted from System's gland could really move around. Although it was unable to jump around like the slime, System could control it to crawl on the ground—its speed was similar to that of a snail.

The corrosive slime was like an extension of his body, so System could control it, just like how he moved his limbs.

However, there were quite the limitations for controlling the slime.

The corrosive slime could not be too far from him as he would not be able to control it if it was over 20cm away. Also, the slime would lose its liveliness after it left his throat for over a minute, and he would not be able to control it anymore.

In short, just using the slime's liveliness was not enough for it to become an effective method of attack.

Nevertheless, even if he did not rely on the slime's liveliness, his [Corrosive Slime] could still become his hunting tool.

Through consecutive shots of the slime and the powerful physical jumping abilities of the grasshoppers, which made them agile, System had successfully killed an 8cm piebald spider that had been disguised as a yellowish-white flower.

The hunting process lasted around an hour.

System had been extremely cautious. Normally, each time he would shoot out his slime, he would keep half a meter away from the spider to prevent the spider from attacking him. He would wait until the spider calmed down a little, approach the spider, and shoot out corrosive slime at a radius of 30cm from the spider.

The spider had wanted to battle him at the start, but afterward, it had been running away non-stop. It had even curled up into a ball and pretended to be dead.

Only until an hour passed—the spider showed no reaction to System shooting out his slime a few times and throwing dead branches or small stones toward it—was System certain that the spider had really died.

The spider was resistant toward [Corrosive Slime], so System had wasted a lot of slime just to kill it. Even after eating the spider, it could not make up for his consumption.

Therefore, System only tried once. He decided to concentrate on snatching food from ants instead of hunting spiders. It was an arduous and fruitless process.

System had climbed up the food chain level in this forest, as he was able to kill a poisonous spider unharmed.

…

At noon, System went to take a look at his old friend, the slime, that was resting in the dark corner of the mud.

Then he jumped toward the top of the highest branch on a tree nearby. He estimated the time and took a look at his [Self-Information Generation]. He had 51 days of his lifespan left.

He casually took a look at the other information of his [Self-Information Generation] and realized that his estimated combat power had become 0.8.

From 0.4 when he was Level 9, to 0.7 when he was Level 10, his estimated combat power had increased to 0.8.

As for [Self-Information Generation]'s power index, System didn't find it realistic to doubt its authenticity. In the first place, he did not know how combat power was calculated.

Also, besides himself, he had no idea what others' combat power was at all.

Each time his estimated combat power increased, System only knew that he had grown stronger by a little. As for how much stronger he had become, he was not sure, either.

System shook his head and gazed at the sun in the sky, looking into the distance toward a direction.

'It's coming…'

Three days now, at that time every day, System could always feel a weak aura fluctuation.

Shortly after, System's blood started to tremble slightly.

This time what he felt was much clearer as he was at the top of the tree. It was a strange and familiar sensation, which resonated with his grasshopper blood. It was as if it was summoning him, which made him subconsciously want to fly toward that direction.

"Is it you?"

A familiar figure appeared in System's mind—the grasshopper queen!

System felt something familiar, and it seemed that the grasshopper queen was trying to summon grasshoppers.

She wanted to bring the grasshoppers to fly past high mountains and deep oceans, just like the scenes in the grasshopper's bloodline, and explore this vast world.

System was at the tip of the tree branch, and his compound eyes could see 20-30 blurry figures fly from the nearby trees—they should be of the same kind, other grasshoppers.

Those grasshoppers flew into the sky above the forest, toward the source of that aura.

Simultaneously, with a few ear-piercing shrieks, a large reddish-brown bird flew out of the forest and started chasing the flying grasshoppers.

…

"Is it really worth it? To explore the world even like this…"

Upon seeing those of the same kind escaping the bird's chase, System silently jumped down from the tip of the tree branch. He suddenly felt uncomfortable.

However, specifically, where it was uncomfortable, System himself could not say it clearly.

After jumping down from the branch, System continued snatching food from ants. It seemed like snatching could make him feel better…

Two days ago, System had discovered a tree hole high up on a relatively thicker tree. The tree hole was not very big and was unable to fit his whole body.

However, as the tree hole was relatively high from the ground, few ants would pass by there. Hence, that tree hole had become the warehouse where System stored his food.

Normally, after he snatched some food that would not easily rot, System would store it inside the tree hole. Then he would use plants' leaves and his slime to cover up the hole in case of emergency.

These days, the weather had started to turn colder, and System could see tree leaves falling within the forest.

Autumn was coming.

System realized that the plants in this forest were peculiar, some were obviously tropical plants, but there were also some sub-tropical plants. Thus, he was unable to deduce how the climate was like in the forest and whether it would snow in winter.

System had to make more preparations, or else even if he completed his third molting, he who was cold-blooded would turn into a block of ice in the world of snow.

The method System thought of was to dig a hole underground. As long as he had a hole underground, two meters deep, it would be effective against the severe cold of winter.

Although grasshoppers could not hibernate in winter, insects' inborn dormant state was not bad either. By then, if he brought some food into the underground hole, it should not be a problem to survive the winter.

If it did not snow in this forest during the winter, it would be the best-case scenario. He could continue going out to look for food in the winter, too.

…

System would often analyze the ant nest's structure during his free time. It was all in preparation to pick a suitable position to dig an underground hole and survive the winter.

Five days had passed, and as [Moulting Growth] was already at maximum level, System was no longer nit-picky with his food.

His EXP bar had increased by half, and most probably, he would advance to Level 11 in another five days.

The only regretful thing was that his old friend, the slime he had gotten to know for more than 19 days, had finally broken down into pieces in the midst of battle. The ants had surged out from their nest, completely killing it.

Also, in these five days, the special aura sent by the grasshopper queen became much stronger.

…

At dawn, System realized that the grasshopper queen had flown near him when he was snatching food from ants.