Laws of the Insect Hive - Chapter 58

Chapter 58: Frost Cold Ring (2)

Because of the ice-blue light pillar, the black eagle’s body turned into an ice sculpture.

System noticed a layer of ice crystals on the black eagle’s feathers. Surprisingly, that layer did not affect System’s tentacles that were twining around it.

System unwrapped the frozen black eagle and observed the ice-blue light ball in the sky. It hovered motionless at a distance of two meters above System’s head, and the forest’s chilly wind did not affect it at all.

System kept vigilant against the blue ball for a dozen seconds or so, but it stayed motionless the whole time. However, when System moved his body, this light ball would follow him and keep a distance of two meters directly above his body.

“What is this?”

System tried to communicate with the light ball using [Spirit Transmission], but there was no response.

He then made a few snowballs with his tentacles and threw them at the blue light in the sky. However, the snowballs went right through the blue light, and nothing happened next.

System felt that the light ball was watching him, but he could do nothing about it.

After continuing to gaze at the ice-blue light ball for a while and seeing that it was still unresponsive, System gave up on it and moved next to the black eagle. He was famished and wanted to eat it…

The ice crystals covering the black eagle’s carcass were tough, and System could only chew as hard as he could using his mandibles.

Soon, however, System found a new way to deal with it. He had [Frost Cold Breath], meaning his blood contained the power to resist frost, and so did his saliva.

When his saliva came into contact with the ice crystals on the black eagle’s body, it would not raise the ice crystals’ temperature. Instead, it softened and made them melt slowly.

System greedily tore the black eagle’s carcass and devoured it. Just as his hunger subsided and his abdomen became round again, System felt more uncomfortable, while the feeling of being watched by the overhead ice-blue light ball became stronger.

It was very irritating to be watched by something unknown while he was eating.

He controlled his tentacles, climbed up the trees beside him again, and moved swiftly through the icy forest as if he were playing on a swing. Suddenly, he detached his tentacles from the branches, fell, and swung his tentacles in an attempt to bury himself in the snow.

After trying for a while, System eventually gave up as he realized that he had no talent in digging. He had been digging in the loose snow for some time, and yed, he had not managed to bury himself in the snow.

In the end, he was unable to get rid of the ice-blue light ball above him.

“What the hell do you want!?” System once again used [Spirit Transmission] to send a telepathic message to the hovering light ball. However, just like before, it did not respond to System at all.

It seemed that his [Mind Transmission]’s level was still too low to allow him to communicate with the other party.

Left with no other choice, System had to give up. It was impossible to get rid of the light ball.

The hovering ball of light may make System uncomfortable, but it was unlikely it would harm him. Also, his [Instinct] did not alert him with any signs of danger.

System refocused his attention on the black eagle’s corpse and resumed eating it.

Finally, after two hours, his abdomen was full, while his lost Health was gradually restored from 30% to 70%.

As his Health reached 70%, it stabilized, and the further digestion of food could no longer affect it. Instead, all the food-generated energy was converted into EXP and was stored in his body.

System inspected his body and speculated that his Health’s current upper-limit was 70%, no more than 73% at most. He would be able to restore the remaining 30% of his Health only after his crippled body fully recovered.

System fed on the bird’s flesh until his belly was too full to continue doing so. Then, he tore a chunk of flesh, dripping with blood, with his mandibles.

Although it was impossible for System to carry the entire carcass, even with his crippled body, he could still carry back a part of it. He believed that Shava and his ants would love this kind of bird flesh.

Half an hour later, System wrapped roughly 200 grams of bird meat with a few of his tentacles and left that place. To his surprise, as System used the remaining tentacles to move between the branches, he discovered that the chunk of flesh did not affect his speed much. Therefore, System speculated that he would be back to his temporary nest before dark.

Simultaneously, although the light ball was still hovering over his head, System was getting used to its presence. After all, several hours had passed since it had begun following him.

…

System entered the forest, where he once again encountered a small animal’s footprints, like last time.

He followed its tracks, and this time, System spotted an animal. It was a small light brown creature, about 15 centimeters in length, and it was munching on a tall plant stem, which had not been fully buried by the snow.

Its physique was peculiar. It was like the crossbreed of a mouse and rabbit, as it had shorter ears and a longer tail than a normal rabbit. Yet, it looked more like a rabbit.

System was already carrying enough food with his tentacles, so he did not want to waste energy to capture this small creature. However, he could use it to test something.

He used the newly-formed gland in his throat, and a cold aura formed and gathered around it. Then, icy blue gas jetted out of his mouth!

System had discovered that by allowing the icy breath to gather in the gland, the breath’s strength could be significantly increased. Also, he did not need to consume too much energy and could just as easily spit three times in a row.

System’s actions were so stealthy that the short-eared rabbit did not even notice his icy breath.

Unexpectedly, an uninvited guest stopped the long-planned attack halfway through its flight—it was the ice-blue light ball that had not been moving all this time!

On top of that, the ice-blue light ball absorbed all of [Frost Cold Breath] that System had spewed. And as it absorbed System’s attack, [Mind Transmission], which had been useless against the light ball before, suddenly had a slight effect.

The light ball gave off the peculiar emotion of wanting to be close to System. He could not help himself but gather the power of frost in his throat again and activate [Frost Cold Breath].

Ding! Your [Mind Transmission]’s level has increased.

When [Tools Menu] notified him that his [Mind Transmission] talent reached Level 9, System also felt that the ice-blue light ball was transmitting a strange spiritual power to him. He could clearly perceive the initiated emotions from the light ball.

The ice-blue light ball drifted slowly in System’s direction. Then, it changed its shape and shrank a bit, becoming an ice-blue circle hovering over System’s head this time.

“Frost headband? Is this an Incantation of the Gold Hoop for me?” muttered System.

System waited for some time, but the frost-cold ring above his head did not seem like it wanted to land. It just hovered 5 centimeters over System’s head like a light ring…