After spending weeks inside the colony through Consciousness Override, Liam had finally become accustomed to his new environment. What had initially felt strange and uncomfortable had gradually become familiar, and somewhere along the way, he had even grown fond of his workers.
He recognized certain behaviors among them and found himself watching particular workers more often than others. Even the enormous mandibles that had constantly obstructed his vision when he first possessed the ant had become almost completely invisible to him, just like his nose had been when he was human.
The colony had slowly become something Liam felt attached to. Then, without warning, a familiar notification appeared.
[Built a personal relationship with your creations.]
[Reward: Consciousness Storage.]
Liam jumped slightly at the sudden notification. It had been quite some time since he had actually spoken with the system, and the unexpected message caught him completely off guard.
"That scared the shit out of me, OMG," Liam exclaimed, his consciousness still recovering from the sudden interruption.
He then looked toward the notification with curiosity.
"Consciousness Storage?"
[Description: A consciousness can now be stored inside a portable space.]
Liam stared at the description for several seconds.
"Consciousness Storage, huh? What does that even mean?"
[You can now extract the consciousness of a creature after it has died and preserve it within a portable location, disconnected from the outside world.]
Liam became quiet.
"I don’t really understand, but it must be useful, I guess."
The explanation was still difficult for him to comprehend, but Liam had already learned that the system rarely gave him an ability without a purpose.
He eventually stopped thinking about it and returned his attention to the colony.
Liam cleaned his mandibles and began walking through the enormous network of tunnels. What had once been a simple colony consisting of only three chambers had transformed into a sprawling underground complex containing dozens of chambers and countless interconnected passages.
Even Liam, despite being the queen and having spent weeks observing the colony, no longer knew the full extent of its expansion.
"This place got huge."
He wandered through several tunnels, watching workers carrying food, tending to eggs, maintaining the walls, and transporting materials between chambers. The colony had developed into something far larger than the tiny nest he had originally entered.
Yet despite all that growth, Liam had begun to feel restless.
"I want to experience something interesting..."
He watched another group of workers pass by.
"Being an ant is actually so boring. All I do is eat, sleep, shit, and lay eggs."
He stared at the workers for a moment before an idea suddenly entered his mind.
"Fuck it, let’s do something interesting." Liam looked around the colony.
"The Karma System shouldn’t be activated on a scale of ant modification, right?"
He wasn’t entirely certain. However, curiosity won over caution.
Liam spotted one particularly large army ant moving through the colony. Its body was considerably larger and more powerful than the surrounding workers, making it immediately stand out from the rest.
He focused his attention on it.
"System, modify this ant to become a male, and give him a charismatic chemical that will make it so other ants will treat him the same as me."
[Genetic Modification complete.]
Liam watched with fascination.
The ant’s body began changing.
Its crimson exoskeleton gradually darkened, the brilliant red slowly transforming into a deeper maroon shade. Its body structure shifted as the genetic modifications took effect, creating a creature that looked distinctly different from the workers surrounding it.
Liam stared at the newly transformed ant. Even he was intimidated by his newly changed aura. After all, he is a male living inside a female body. This made him slightly affected by the new chemical that covered the new ant.
"A king has arrived!" His excitement grew as he watched the creature stand among the workers.
"First king ant in existence..."
Liam examined him for a few seconds.
"But he’s still lacking." Another idea immediately surfaced.
"Please change it so that this ant can pick three female workers at a time and inject something into their bodies that will turn them into queen ants, but a lesser version."
[Genetic Modification complete.]
Liam’s curiosity intensified.
The newly modified king ant began moving through the colony, surrounded by workers that no longer treated him as an ordinary member of the colony. His altered chemical signals made the surrounding ants recognize him as something important, almost comparable to Liam himself.
Before long, several workers began surrounding him.
Liam watched in amusement as the maroon king ant was gradually guided toward a chamber, surrounded by numerous female workers.
He followed them curiously. The king ant had already become the center of attention within the colony, and the workers appeared to instinctively accept his presence.
Liam stared at the scene before a realization struck him.
"Now, I can stop laying eggs..."
His consciousness filled with amusement. "I can finally retire from being the queen!"
Liam began laughing hysterically as he watched the newly created king ant surrounded by workers.
Since becoming an ant, Liam had personally given birth to every single individual within the colony. Every worker, every soldier, and every other member of the colony had ultimately come from his own body, making reproduction one of the most exhausting responsibilities he had experienced since taking control of the nest.
Now, with the newly created king ant and his three co-wives, that responsibility could finally be shared among them. Liam couldn’t help feeling as though he had discovered a loophole in his own biological duties, effectively cheating his way out of the endless burden of producing the colony’s next generation.
He could now simply sit back and watch the colony develop around him. He could still lay eggs whenever he felt like it, but he no longer needed to carry the entire responsibility himself. The new queens could take over reproduction while Liam relaxed, observed his workers, and enjoyed the strange little civilization he had accidentally built underground.