Aoyama pushed aside a cluster of damp ferns, his eyes landing on a fallen dead tree not far away.
Most of the trunk had already rotted away.
Dark green moss covered the surface, and several wild fungi poked their caps out from cracks in the wood.
He was about to walk around the decayed tree and continue searching for suitable firewood when something unusual caught the corner of his eye.
At the base of the trunk was a strange bulge.
“Hm?”
Aoyama stopped.
He crouched down and moved closer.
Between the dead tree and the ground was a mound about the size of a fist.
Tiny holes covered its surface, and dozens of black ants moved in and out of the openings.
They were about a centimeter long, their bodies completely black and glossy, with a faint dark red tint at the ends of their abdomens.
“An ant nest.”
Aoyama’s face lit up.
Using the blunt end of the steel bar, he carefully pushed aside the loose soil covering the mound.
The dirt was soft, and it didn’t take much effort to open a hole.
Inside were countless milky-white eggs packed tightly together.
Each one was about half the size of a grain of rice, glistening faintly under the scattered sunlight.
Aoyama stared at the ant eggs and swallowed.
For any ordinary person, eating ant eggs would require a considerable amount of mental preparation.
But Aoyama understood his current situation clearly.
After hours of intense physical exertion, his body needed protein to maintain muscle recovery and stamina.
A few wild fruits were nowhere near enough to support continued activity.
“Ant eggs.
Rich in protein and fat.”
He picked up several eggs between his fingers and brought them close to his nose.
There was no unpleasant smell, only a faint sour scent.
The surface of the eggs was covered with a thin layer of mucus.
Their texture was somewhat similar to fish roe, though softer.
Aoyama closed his eyes and put the eggs into his mouth.
The first thing he tasted was a slight sourness, followed by a nearly flavorless liquid bursting out.
He forced himself not to chew for too long and swallowed.
“…Not bad.”
There was no disgust, and no discomfort.
He picked up another small amount and ate them again.
This time, he had already adapted to the sensation, and he could even detect a faint aftertaste similar to nuts.
The moment the third mouthful of ant eggs slid down his throat, Aoyama suddenly felt a slight dizziness.
He instinctively closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, a translucent virtual panel appeared in the center of his vision.
It floated about twenty centimeters in front of him, surrounded by a faint blue glow.
[Consumption Record: Ant (Eggs) ×28]
[Current Progress: 28/1000]
[Ability Unlock Countdown: Consume a total of 1000 Ant (Eggs)]
[Ability to Unlock: Hercules (Ant Trait, Allows the user to lift objects fifty times their own body weight)]
[Note: This ability will continue strengthening as more of the same source material is consumed]
Aoyama froze.
“…No way.”
He stared at the floating panel in front of him for a full five seconds.
Then he slowly raised his hand and waved it in front of the screen.
His fingers passed straight through the pale blue light without touching anything.
He rubbed his eyes and opened them again.
The panel was still there.
“So that’s how it is…”
Aoyama muttered to himself, unable to stop the corner of his mouth from rising.
“Is this my cheat ability?
I can gain powers by eating things?”
He roughly estimated the number of ant eggs remaining.
There were probably another four or five hundred eggs inside the mound.
Adding the ones the worker ants had carried deeper into the nest, reaching one thousand shouldn’t be impossible.
With that thought, Aoyama stopped hesitating.
He knelt beside the dead tree and used the steel bar to carefully widen the opening of the nest.
Every time he dug out several dozen eggs, he immediately sent them into his mouth.
The slippery texture continued accumulating in his mouth.
The sour taste gradually became numb, but he didn’t care.
When he reached five hundred eggs, the number on the virtual panel changed.
[Consumption Record: Ant (Eggs) ×547]
[Current Progress: 547/1000]
At seven hundred eggs, Aoyama felt a faint warmth spreading from his lower abdomen, as if something inside his body was beginning to awaken.
When he finally finished consuming them, his body began making faint cracking sounds.
His muscle fibers felt as if they were being reorganized by some invisible force, and a strange tension spread through his limbs.
[Consumption Record: Ant (Eggs) ×1001]
[Current Progress: 1000/1000 (Complete)]
[Ability Unlocked: Hercules (Ant)]
[Effect: Muscle explosive power increased to 47 times normal levels.
Bone density strengthened simultaneously, allowing the body to safely withstand the recoil caused by this strength.]
The virtual panel flashed violently before breaking apart into countless tiny points of light.
They seeped into Aoyama’s body through his skin.
Like electricity surging through him.
A tingling sensation shot from the base of his spine straight to the top of his head.
Aoyama instinctively bent forward, placing both hands against the dead tree for support.
He heard faint cracking sounds from his bones, as if every joint in his body was being recalibrated.
“Huff…
huff…”
Three seconds later, everything returned to normal.
Aoyama slowly straightened himself and opened his hands.
His ten fingers were still long and strong.
His palms still had calluses from gripping the steel bar, but now he could clearly feel something filling every muscle fiber.
A massive amount of power.
He bent down and picked up the half-meter-long steel bar.
It felt light.
So light that it was almost like holding a plastic straw.
He casually squeezed it.
The steel surface actually sank inward, leaving behind a shallow dent.
“…That’s this powerful?”
Aoyama looked down at his palm.
There wasn’t even a red mark left.
He tested his strength further by grabbing a nearby rock about the size of a wash basin.
With only a little force, the stone weighing at least thirty or forty kilograms was easily lifted above his head.
He even felt like he could lift it several more times.
“With this level of strength, dealing with anything in this forest should be easy enough.”
Aoyama lowered the rock, brushed the dirt from his hands, and couldn’t hide the smile on his face.
He picked up the steel bar again and weighed it in his hand.
It still felt like nothing.
“Getting dinner shouldn’t be a problem anymore.”
Following the direction of the stream, Aoyama continued searching upstream.
His plan was to first confirm what animals lived nearby.
If he could find something like a wild rabbit or pheasant, then he would have meat for dinner.
After walking another two or three hundred meters, the terrain became lower and wetter.
The stream curved around here, carving out a shallow muddy bank.
Several dead leaves floated on the water’s surface.
The soil on both sides had been disturbed by countless animals, leaving behind various footprints.
Aoyama crouched down and examined them.
Deer hoofprints.
Wild boar tracks.
And several claw marks that seemed to belong to a canine animal.
However, what truly caught his attention was a trail left in a muddy pool near the edge of the shallow bank.
“Hm?”
“What is this?”
A drag mark nearly one meter long stretched across the mud, as if some long creature had crawled out of the water and left clear impressions of its belly scales behind.
Aoyama followed the trail with his eyes toward the center of the muddy pool.
Under the murky water, he could faintly see a dark shape resting at the bottom.
Then the surface suddenly rippled.
The dark shape moved.
Aoyama’s pupils narrowed slightly.
A crocodile, about one meter long, slowly rose from the bottom of the muddy pool.
Its rough scales were covered in mud.
Two eyes protruded above the water, their pupils narrowed into vertical slits as it calmly stared in his direction.
It was a juvenile Siamese crocodile.
At around 1.2 meters long, it wasn’t large, but for an unarmed human, it was still an extremely dangerous predator.
“Seriously?
There are even crocodiles in this forest?”
Aoyama didn’t move.
He remained in a half-crouched position.
The young crocodile seemed to be evaluating this unexpected intruder entering its territory.
Its head slowly rose higher, its mouth opening slightly to reveal rows of sharp, interlocking teeth.
A low hiss, barely audible, escaped from its throat.
“Perfect.
Time to test the new ability.”
Aoyama slowly stood up and tightened his grip on the steel bar.
The distance between him and the crocodile was around eight to nine meters.
Between them was muddy ground and shallow water.
The crocodile seemed to sense his hostility.
Its upper body suddenly lifted from the water, its legs digging into the mud as it charged toward him.
The moment it rushed out of the water, Aoyama swung his right arm.
“Whoosh!”
His movement was so fast that even he couldn’t fully follow it.
The half-meter steel bar shot forward with all his strength, drawing a straight silver line through the air.
The sound of it cutting through the wind was sharp enough to sting his ears.
The steel bar entered through the open area above the crocodile’s mouth, piercing through its upper jaw and skull before breaking out through a gap between the scales at the back of its neck.
A spray of dark red blood followed as the weapon buried itself into the mud with a heavy impact.
The young crocodile’s body convulsed violently.
Its limbs thrashed through the muddy water, and its tail slammed against the surface, sending dirty water flying everywhere.
But after only a few seconds, the struggle stopped.
The crocodile collapsed limply at the edge of the pool, blood flowing from the wound and staining the surrounding mud a dark brown.
“The accuracy is decent.”
Aoyama walked over and grabbed the crocodile by the tail.
With barely any effort, he pulled it out of the mud.
The crocodile, more than a meter long, felt as light as a sea bass in his hand.
He could barely feel its weight.
He examined the wound.
The force behind the steel bar had completely destroyed the skull.
The crocodile had died instantly.
He then checked its teeth and claws.
After confirming it had no venom glands, he nodded in satisfaction.
“A one-meter crocodile.
This should provide food for several days.”
He carried the crocodile over his right shoulder.
The rough scales pressed against his shoulder blade, but the weight was completely insignificant to him now.
Aoyama followed the path back toward camp.
His steps were much lighter than before.
He could even use his free hand to push aside vines blocking his way.