[Ding! You get 1x biomass.]
[Ding! You get 1x biomass.]
Since they were just normal ants and not the ones Ben had killed himself, each corpse only gave one biomass.
Elvira watched from the side and smiled.
'I knew it.
My decision was right.'
'With him at my side, taking the throne will not be a problem.
After that, I can finally take revenge on them.
But where did he go in my past life?'
She did not believe he had simply died.
'Did he transform into another being?'
Near death, Ben had transformed into a Hive Sovereign.
It was a species Elvira had never heard of in all her life.
Since he could transform into this, it was very possible he could also change into other species depending on the situation.
'The lower we go, the stronger the species we meet will be, but they have weaker minds.'
'They act like beasts.
Did he meet them?
But other than those, there are also the Explorers.'
Explorers were people who tried to go deeper.
Their reasons varied, but most wanted to escape the control of the strong kingdom above.
They were either pioneers or criminals, but both types were still dangerous.
Meanwhile, Ben sat on the floor with a small smile.
All the corpses around him had already turned into biomass, leaving the place completely clean.
[Ding! You got 1.125x Biomass.]
[Ding! Mastered biomass material, creature creation system unlocked.]
A new screen popped up in front of his eyes and showed many options.
'Let me see, base creature form.
I have two options, humanoid and insectoid.'
Next to the options, there were three numbers with three icons.
As an experienced gamer, Ben understood them quickly.
The first was base complexity, the second was mana, and the third was biomass.
When he focused on the word "complexity", an explanation appeared in his mind.
'The complexity of a creature represents how intricate and advanced its design is.'
'Higher complexity means higher mana and biomass costs, because more energy and materials are needed to bring the creature to life.'
Ben chose humanoid.
He felt humanoid forms would be more adaptable and useful.
Insect forms like ants had benefits, but they could not use tools or weapons properly.
After that choice, a new window appeared with size options.
[Tiny, small, medium, large, huge]
'Tiny is the size of a rat, small is like a dog, and medium is the size of a human.'
'For now, I will just use human.'
He could tell the size categories were based on animals from his original world.
After he chose the size, the system gave him the option to customize physical features.
The base form had two humanoid hands and legs, two eyes, and normal skin.
Ben checked the options one by one.
For now, he only saw traits from humans and ants.
'I wonder how I can get more part selections.'
'Do I need to grind for parts?'
As if it had read his mind, the system displayed a new message.
[New parts will be acquired if you use the skill Consume. Please check your skill list.]
With a thought, a new screen opened.
[Skill:]
[Hive Mind]
[Consume]
[Regenerative Brood]
[Chitinous Shield]
[Metamorphosis]
[Consume]
Eat a target to restore a small amount of stamina and health.
There is a chance to learn and incorporate parts of their body for future transformations and creations.
If the target resists, the skill fails and stuns you for 3 seconds.
'So this is how I get more parts.
Interesting.'
Ben also checked the other skills.
Hive Mind allowed him to communicate with others and even take direct control of their bodies.
Regenerative Brood let him use biomass to regenerate.
Chitinous Shield was the skill he had used to cover his body with chitin armor.
Ben wondered if he had received that skill because the biomass he had used came from the ant.
If that was true, he could gain more skills in the future from different sources.
The last skill, Metamorphosis, allowed him to transform his own body using the parts he had gathered.
It worked differently from the creature creation function.
Creation was more limited and followed stricter rules, while Metamorphosis was much more flexible.
'I wonder if this is because of my previous occupation.'
'As a builder and handyman, I already knew how to make tools and gear.'
He pushed that thought aside and focused back on the screen.
[Extra limbs (Arms, legs) +1 complexity, +10 mana, +10 biomass.]
[Claws +1 complexity, +5 mana, +5 biomass.]
[Exoskeleton (Chitin), Ant jaw, antenna, compound eyes...]
Since he did not know the total final cost yet, Ben decided to design the strongest creature he could for now.
He added an ant jaw to give his creation an extra way to attack.
He turned its hands into claws, with three long fingers and a thumb.
Then he gave the creature two extra arms.
The moment he did that, the waist and legs became bulkier to support the extra limbs.
'So the system automatically adjusts the body to keep it functional.'
When he finished with the physical features, he moved on.
The next screen let him choose abilities, but only one was available.
[Royal Ant Strength]
This ability gave the creature innate strength.
They could lift things twenty times their body weight.
The information made Ben pause and think.
If he made a creature as large as an elephant or even bigger, its strength would scale up twenty times as well.
Innate abilities like this were basically cheats.
However, they were not cheap.
The tooltip explained that the cost of the ability changed with size.
Tiny size increased the cost by 25 percent.
Small size increased it by 50 percent.
Medium size, which he used now, increased it by 75 percent for both mana and biomass.
If he made the creature huge, the cost would jump by another 125 percent.
There were also more drawbacks he had to consider.
Small bodies were agile.
Huge bodies were not.
In a narrow underground space like this, a giant body had too many weaknesses.
The royal ant he had killed before was a good example.
It had high speed, but its big body got trapped easily.
'If it had a humanoid-sized body, I would probably be dead now.'
He confirmed the ability window, and a new option appeared.
This time, the system asked him to choose the creature's intelligence.
There were three options: Animal, Human, and Genius.
The default was Human.
Human intelligence did not change complexity or mana cost.
Unlike other settings, this option did not affect biomass at all.
Genius added a 20 percent mana cost.
Animal gave a 20 percent mana reduction.
'Let's choose Human for now.
If they become too smart and rebel, that would be a problem.'
Even with Hive Mind, Ben did not know if his control was truly perfect or if it had any hidden flaws.
A Genius-level creature might find a loophole and escape his control.
That would become a serious threat in the future.