Having an enormous lifespan gradually began affecting Liam’s perception of time. Hours started feeling like seconds, while entire weeks could pass as though they were nothing more than a few hours. With Temporal Acceleration constantly allowing him to compress enormous stretches of history into moments, his sense of time had become increasingly detached from the way ordinary living creatures experienced it.
Liam looked toward the stars scattered across the endless darkness above his planet, wondering how the other players were progressing. Somewhere among those distant worlds, thousands of other reincarnated individuals were probably developing their own planets, experimenting with their abilities, and preparing for the distant future.
There was nothing he could do about them for now.
Liam couldn’t simply keep creating races and constantly interfering with the organisms below. The Karma System had already warned him about excessive intervention, and he had no desire to discover exactly what would happen if he pushed its limits. For now, patience was probably the smartest strategy.
As Liam continued staring into space, another thought suddenly entered his mind.
"So in the far future, people on this planet might eventually start developing colonies."
His imagination immediately began constructing possibilities.
"I’m thinking of something like a space-magic technological progression. Maybe they’ll combine magic with technology and eventually start spreading beyond their home planet."
Liam paused.
The word colonies suddenly caught his attention.
He remained silent for a moment.
A colony was a group of individuals that left their original homeland and settled somewhere else while maintaining some form of connection to their place of origin. Human civilizations could eventually establish colonies on moons, planets, asteroids, or perhaps even artificial structures throughout space.
But then Liam remembered something much more primitive.
Ant colonies. A single colony could contain thousands or even millions of ants, all functioning together under an incredibly organized social structure. At the center of many colonies was a queen whose primary purpose was reproduction, with the rest of the colony supporting its survival.
Liam’s curiosity immediately intensified.
"Do ants exist on this planet?"
He activated Intangible Spectation and began searching through his planetary ecosystems.
His consciousness traveled across forests, plains, and underground environments until he finally discovered several tiny colonies beneath the soil.
"They actually exist."
He watched the insects moving around their colony, carrying food, maintaining tunnels, and interacting with one another.
"For some reason, I really want to try this."
An idea began forming inside his mind.
"If I can become a queen ant and grow a colony until it reaches its limits, wouldn’t that be a good way to practice?"
Liam considered the idea further.
"And ant queens don’t even live that long compared to me. Around twenty years would basically be nothing."
For someone whose lifespan could extend for billions of years, twenty years was practically insignificant.
He could experience an entire life cycle of a queen ant and return to his planetary consciousness afterward.
It would also give him something he hadn’t experienced since becoming a planet.
A completely different perspective of life.
Liam selected one colony and patiently observed it.
He watched the workers expand their tunnels, gather food, protect their nest, and care for their young. Eventually, the colony reached the point where a new generation of reproductive ants emerged.
Liam continued watching.
Then the moment arrived; the ants began their nuptial flight. Liam immediately recognized the opportunity.
"Alright."
He focused his consciousness on one of the reproductive females.
"Let’s try this."
He activated Consciousness Override.
The sensation returned immediately.
His consciousness was violently pulled away from the familiar perspective of his planetary body and forced into something incomparably smaller.
"That feeling of my consciousness being pulled..." Liam struggled to adjust.
"I still can’t get used to it." He mentally sighed.
The enormous perception he had grown accustomed to suddenly vanished.
Liam was no longer observing an entire planet.
He was inside an ant.
His perception had been reduced to the tiny body of a single creature, surrounded by countless others.
Liam tried to look around.
He immediately encountered a problem.
"Ah..."
His vision was completely different from what he remembered.
Being an ant meant that he couldn’t rely on ordinary human-like eyesight. Instead, he had to depend heavily on the creature’s other senses to understand its surroundings.
Liam became increasingly disoriented.
"Ahh, shit..."
He tried adjusting to the darkness surrounding him.
"I thought ants were nocturnal."
The system immediately responded.
[Player may modify the current body to gain nocturnal vision without affecting the original species.]
Liam didn’t hesitate. "Please do that."
[Affirmative.]
A strange sensation spread throughout his temporary body as the modification took effect.
Liam’s perception immediately changed.
The darkness that had previously obscured his surroundings became much easier to navigate. He could now distinguish objects around him more clearly, allowing him to finally understand the environment from the perspective of the tiny creature he had possessed.
Liam remained silent for a moment.
Then, slowly, his curiosity returned.
"Alright..."
He looked across the surrounding dirt, trying to take in his unfamiliar surroundings, when something large suddenly blocked part of his vision. Liam paused before realizing what it was.
"Ahh... my mandibles."
He then looked down at his tiny body and carefully examined himself from head to toe. The segmented legs, hard exoskeleton, antennae, and mandibles all looked completely foreign from his perspective, yet there was something fascinating about experiencing a body so different from anything he had ever possessed.
"This is so cool."
Liam moved the tiny body experimentally, becoming increasingly fascinated by how naturally the movements responded to his thoughts. Even though the ant’s body was incredibly small compared to his planetary form, every movement felt strangely tangible.
"I wonder if I’ll eventually stop noticing my mandibles once I get used to them."
He shifted his attention toward the large structures at the front of his face.
"Just like how my nose is basically invisible to my eyes most of the time."