The time recorded in System's [Tools Menu] slowly continued to climb, and it had now reached almost one year. System believed that his total pupation time must have been much longer than a year, though.

  Because of the series of dreams that he'd experienced soon after his pupation began, there was no way for him to know how long his pupation had sted.

  System could feel the liquid that was formed from his body slowly solidifying. After witnessing so many of his ant subjects' pupations, he could tell that his third pupation was about to end.

  One day, System finally heard the unique buzzing sound of the Voice of the World again.

  This time, he wasn't pulled into the white space by the Voice of the World. Instead, he just inexplicably received a new power. Receiving the power made System shiver uncontrolbly and gave him a very comfortable feeling.

  His mind inexplicably gained some knowledge, and he finally knew the fundamental difference between the so-called mortal and magical life levels.

  The mortal rank and the metamorphosis rank both belonged to the mortal life level.

  Creatures at the mortal rank were ordinary, and hardly any of them could use magical powers. Even for the very rare mortals who had the ability to use magic, their power would be extremely weak.

  Creatures at the metamorphosis rank could start to absorb the energy that floated in the air, then use that energy to wield magical powers. They could possess abilities such as emitting fire from their bodies or shooting out arcs of lightning.

  This metamorphosis level could also be called the awakening level or apprentice level.

  The awakening level referred to creatures or warlocks who had awakened the power of their ancestral bloodlines, while the apprentice level referred to intelligent races that acquired magical powers through learning.

  The magical life level belonged to a higher level of existence than mortal creatures. Magical life forms could utilize and absorb floating energy, and they used that energy more skillfully than mortals could.

  But the biggest difference between magical life forms and mortals wasn't in their use of power. It was that the existence of a magical life form represented magical power itself.

  Even if they didn't absorb or utilize the energy floating in the air, they could still use their magical powers.

  After obtaining this information, System finally understood some things that had previously made no sense to him.

  In the Warren Pins where frost energy was extremely scarce, the butterfly that was possessed by Aura's remnant soul could use hundreds of times more frost energy than System, which meant that Aura most likely wasn't a mortal creature.

  Although he'd only undergone two pupations, Aura was likely to have already become a magical life form.

  ...

  After this brief thought, the solidifying goo that currently made up System's body continued to tremble uncontrolbly for a few minutes before finally settling down.

  System knew that his level lock had been broken. As long as he broke out of his pupa, he would have a higher level cap and become a magical life form.

  And the two cores of his magical power were [Perception] and [Mental Transmission].

  ...

  Level: 15/?

  Lifespan: ???

  ...

  The information from System's [Tools Menu] couldn't accurately determine his level cap or his newly increased lifespan, but he could estimate a rough range.

  His level cap should be somewhere between 80 and 130. The specific value would change according to how along his pupation sted, so it couldn't be fully determined for now.

  The same was true for his lifespan. He would have a lifespan of 60 to 250 years, becoming a species with a retively long lifespan. However, his exact lifespan would also depend on the ter stages of his pupation.

  During [Pupation], the process of the body gradually solidifying from its liquid state to form a new body was particurly important, and it often had a huge impact on the final result.

  However, System wasn't very clear on what he should do to solidify his body.

  All he could do was wait patiently. As long as he waited like this, his pupation would be completed naturally.

  ...

  Time passed peacefully little by little, until System's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a buzzing sound that appeared in his mind again. An inexplicable feeling appeared throughout his entire body, and a system prompt sound from his [Tools Menu] rang out inside his head.

  ...

  Ding! You acquired the title [Insect Lord]!

  ...

  [Insect Lord]: A title given to System by an unknown existence. When your loyal insect subjects are near you, they will gain [Fighting Spirit] and [Exceptional Endurance].

  Even if you don't have a true territory, you still have subjects who are absolutely loyal to you.

  ...

  Not long after he got the title, the goo inside System's pupa began to wriggle rapidly. It quickly began condensing into his flesh and blood at an extremely fast pace.

  System noticed that the process of the goo transforming into his flesh and blood was very close to the [Slime-Body Transformation] ability that he'd been hoping to activate. Before he had time to think about that, another notification sound interrupted his thoughts.

  He'd just obtained the inspiration to activate [Slime-Body Transformation], but he was surprised to see that his body had already gained the ability on its own.

  ...

  Ding! You acquired the Derived Skill [Slime-Body Transformation] (11/17)!

  ...

  [Slime-Body Transformation] (11/17): A Derived Skill obtained from [Pupation], [Morph], [Pgue Mucus], and [Insect Adaptability]. Your body can be partially transformed into [Pgue Mucus].

  ...

  After System took a quick gnce at the description of [Slime-Body Transformation], he concentrated on sensing his body. As his body continued to solidify, he slowly regained his sense of touch.

  His antennae also grew out nicely, and he could once again hear the subtle movements around him. He even heard Shava's familiar heartbeat nearby.

  System's eyes gradually re-formed and firmed up. Because of his weak ability to see through objects with [System's Eye], he could see a blurry image of his surroundings through the outer wall of his pupa. The chamber he was in seemed to have been modified by Excavator, and it was much rger now than it had been when he started his pupation.

  The final stage where he would break out of his pupa seemed to arrive surprisingly quickly. The flesh and blood inside System's body solidified at a very rapid speed, and he soon felt extremely stuffy trapped inside the pupa.

  He used his [Armored Spike] ability very naturally. Spikes grew at the tips of his dozens of tentacles, and he easily tore through the pupa's shell.

  System was finally able to see his what he looked like post-pupation.

  With the exception of his tentacles, he could still be said to vaguely resemble a grasshopper, but aside from the joints on his head, his other joints had all disappeared. His entire chest and abdomen were connected as one, and some snake-like scale armor was now covering his soft abdomen.

  His appearance was even more hideous than it had been before his pupation, and many spikes had appeared on his exoskeleton. At the same time, he saw that his body was now covered in even more tentacles.

  Some of these tentacles were ordinary, and some were exoskeleton-covered tentacle-legs simir to the ones from [Tentacle-Leg Conversion]. The leg tentacles with exoskeletons were thicker, and the ordinary tentacles were thinner. These tentacles were evenly distributed between all parts of his body, and he now resembled a combination of a grasshopper and an octopus.

  After a rough count, he found that his total number of tentacles had increased to thirty-six.

  System didn't keep inspecting his body. He looked over at the figure standing next to him and stretched out a tentacle to touch the figure's head.

  "Sorry, the pupation took a little longer than I expected."