HC:Pacifist | Ch. 139 - Mind Expansion

Congratulations! Your intelligence has reached 250.

[Inner Calm] has been upgraded to [Eidetic Memory].

Congratulations! Your intelligence has reached 300.

You have unlocked [Perfect Timing].

Your wisdom is under 100.

You’ve lost [Strategic Thinking].

Your strength is under 50.

You’ve lost [Healthy Bones].

Your dexterity is under 50.

You’ve lost [Fast Hands].

Your charisma is under 100.

You’ve lost [Charm].

Your endurance is under 150.

[Horse’s Gallop] has been downgraded to [Cat’s Sprint].

[Stone Skin] has been downgraded to [Bark Skin].

As Roth became the shortest badger man in history, his high intelligence kicked in, and concentrating on the brain waves around him became much easier. It was like the walls at the edge of his mind that had held his mind captive had all crumbled, and the darkness around him faded. He could now feel all the ants around him.

The individual presence of each ant appeared in his mind as motes of light. There were millions of them, like stars in the universe. Some of them were brighter, others were fainter. Maybe it reflected the different species of ants that mingled here. As his mind became able to hone onto the millions of souls around him, he felt smaller and smaller. There were too many ants.

He couldn’t see the pathways themselves but could feel the ants roaming them. They covered every surface inside of the den. What previously had been dark, cramped tunnels suddenly became a series of interconnected highways. He sensed how they stretched high above him through tunnels carved inside trees and below, leading to many different chambers and structures. As his mind kept expanding, he heard a rumble. It was the buzz of a massive city that never slept.

You have expanded your mind and connected it to many others. Your brain grows stronger.

+1 intelligence.

+1 insight.

After a few more moments of concentration, Roth felt something else. There were bursts of light rushing through the ants. Impulses ran through them like lightning in a storm. They reminded him of biology class. They were…. The implications started sinking in. They were synapses.

“So that means that on one hand, you are an individual, but at the same time, you’re the neuron of another individual.”

“Good. That’s it.”

“Wow. That’s incredible.” This raised more questions than it answered. What happened to the mind of the Lord of the Woods when one of the ants died? Did it just forget things? How quickly was this communal mind able to think? “I have so many questions about you and your city. Can I talk to one of your leaders?”

“Leaders?”

“Yes. Don’t you have a king of a queen?”

“We have queens, but they don’t lead. They only breed. They are the mothers of the tribe, but they don’t make any of the decisions for the colony.”

“Who decides then?”

“We do.”

“We?”

Roth received a series of flashing images in his mind. There were mental pictures of millions of ants congregating in many different chambers.

“Yes. We.”

“I see.” That meant that there was no ruler. Everyone was a part of the mind that ruled. That made his job more manageable. “Is it OK if you answer some of my questions?”

“I’m sorry, this is the larder. I have to get to work now.”

Roth had been so busy trying to keep up with the ants that he failed to realize where they had arrived. As he checked his map, he noticed that he had come deep underground. He followed Leia with his eyes as she walked toward golden spheres that lined the chamber's walls. He then realized that the spheres were moving. They were ants!

Holly, the Honeypot Ant

Lvl. 36

22,500/22,500

Their bellies were so bloated that they looked like massive honeypots. Leia climbed the wall, regurgitated the liquid she had secured up in the tree, and fed it to the honeypot ant, adding to the food reserves of the colony.

Leia’s abdomen had visibly shrunk, and she rushed out the door to go get more of the precious liquid to bring to the honeypot ants. She didn’t even bother to say goodbye to Roth.

Roth scratched his head as he tried to think of whom to ask the many questions he had left. Everyone looked so busy and frantic. His eyes focused on one of the ants with the big dishes on their heads that served as the doors of the colony. He inspected the one closest to him as he approached.

Gilberta, the Turtle Ant (Elite)

Lvl. 50

30,000/30,000

You are seeing many new things and meeting many new people.

+1 insight.

He didn’t know if it was because of discovering a new world region, but he was getting free stats left and right. He loved it!

“Hi, Gilberta.”

“Hello, human.” Whereas Leia’s mind felt agile and daft, this ant’s mind felt more solid and patient. It was as if Leia’s mind was like a rapid, while Gilberta’s was an ice cube.

“I was wondering if you could answer some of my questions?”

The ant moved to block one of the holes in the wall with its massive head. “OK. But I’m swamped. I have to unplug this door in 10 minutes.”

Roth resisted the urge to laugh. Was that being very busy? To plug a hole in the wall with one’s head and stand still for 10 minutes? “Of course. Your job is of paramount importance to the colony. You work hard.”

Gilberta is pleased that someone notices how hard she’s working for the colony.

+1 reputation with the treeants.

Only one point? There was a lot of flattery to go before he could become closer to the treeants! He had to try changing to fox form soon. “I was just wondering. Can you tell me about the treeants? Where do you come from? How come so many different species of ants live together here?”

“Alright. But I only have 9 minutes and 36 seconds to spare.”

“OK.”

“Once upon a time, ants ruled the earth. There were so many of us that we couldn't be counted. We were like the stars in the sky, like the grains of sand on the beach, like the drops of water in the ocean.

“But then something changed. Fire rained from heaven, and the air became heavy. Our minds grew more robust and our thoughts deeper, but our greatest strength has always been in our numbers, not in our minds. Reports of queens becoming barren and many young dying as they hatched from the eggs spread. Colonies started dying off.

“We weren’t the only ones. Our yellow and black winged allies, the kings of the flowers who ruled the heavens, also grew weaker. Their numbers had already dwindled, even before the rain of fire, because of what humans had done to them.” As Gilberta said this, Roth could feel a slight annoyance directed at humanity. Curiously, none of the annoyance was directed at him. It could be either because of his relationship with the treeants or being a zoomorph. Maybe he should stick to one of his zoomorph forms while he was down here.

“We tried to aid them, but we could do nothing. They met extinction. The ants knew they would be next if they didn’t do anything about it.

The rain of fire did something to us. Not only did it make us more intelligent, but it also allowed us to connect our minds to each other's. The more of us there were the more connections and the greater and grander the thoughts we could put together.

While humans were busy fighting one another, destroying what little remained from the days past, we retreated deeper into the forest and the earth. And there it was, in the bosom of nature, that we discovered something that everyone else had overlooked. The trees.”

“The trees?”

“Yes. The trees had also mutated after the rain of fire. We started studying the changes to the silent giants of the forest. We discovered that trees could be encouraged to produce great feats with the right stimuli. They became the tools and shield of my people.”

Roth paused, surprised. He had thought the trees were intelligent beings in AstroTerra, but it turned out that the ants had been operating them, unseen by others. They were the intelligence behind the trees.

“Eventually, where there were enough of them, we built sanctuaries, such as the one you see here. We did this by connecting all the trees underground. The shields that the trees create block the radiation of the rain of fire and keep our queens and eggs fruitful.”

That would mean that the massive tree in the center of the green woods was one of the sanctuaries and that the shields protected the ants somehow.

“So it is, human, that from the many millions of us that inhabited the earth, only a shadow of us remains. We inhabit these lone sanctuaries, scattered across the planet, the last havens that protect us from the radiation of the rain of fire.”

“Does that mean that you operate the oak tree that the badgers use for the council of badgers?”

“That's correct. That oak tree has an illusionary mechanism built into it. We operate it for them.”

That explained why, when Roth went to the council of badgers for the first time, he received a notification that the tree had heard them. But it wasn't the tree per se. It was the tree's operators.

The name of this race was also making more sense to him. The tree ants. Ants that used the trees.

“This is all fascinating.”

“Really? Because to us, it only sounds sad. There used to be so many of us. Now, there are so few. More work, less workers.”

Roth choked as he heard this. He had felt the presence of millions upon millions of ants around him. Was this considered just a few?

“And why are so many different kinds of ants down here?”

“Different colonies have their specializations. We used them to compete against other species and warring among ourselves. But once our existence was threatened, we had to put our differences aside and come together. Now, we use our unique special traits for the sake of our colony.”

Such cool lore. Just as he felt the fascination, a wave of guilt washed over him. His mind went back to his childhood. How many times had he stepped on anthills? Or how many times had he used a magnifying glass to burn ants alive or had turned on the hose into a colony he discovered? He felt his face redden and a foul taste in his mouth. What a monstrous thing to do to these builders of cities.

“Time’s up.” Gilberta moved his massive head out of the wall, and in came an outpour of new ants, all with bloated bellies, ready to dump their cargo in the larder. The more Roth looked around him, the more fascinated he felt. Now that he didn’t have to run after an ant, he sat on the floor and closed his eyes. He also turned off his flashlight. There was only darkness and the skittering sound of ants moving all around him. He devoted his full attention to feeling as much of the ant colony around him as possible.

He closed his eyes tightly and tried to send his mind further. It was a strange command to send to his mind. It was as if he was trying to scream with his eyes, straining his brain to expand the radius of his search. He stretched his mind more, more and more. He couldn’t find the boundaries of the colony. What a massive megastructure. He pushed harder and sent his mind farther. Farther.

He felt a sharp headache, and his concentration dissipated.

You stretched your mind to its very limit and made it stronger. Sadly, you receive some backlash.

+1 intelligence.

-50 hp.

You received a new debuff: [Headache]. -2 energy every second for two minutes.

Roth stood up while massaging his temples. What a sharp headache. That was his limit, even with his badger form. He could discover only so much from telepathy or asking the ants about their world. It was time to get exploring. This place seemed rife with opportunity. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have landed in the Hall of Fame for discovering it.

He didn’t feel afraid of Pegasus anymore. Even if Loki’s goons managed through the barrier, they would have to go through hell to find him here. The weakest ant he’d seen so far would put up a vicious fight against the highest-leveled player, and there were millions of them. Good luck coming down here.

All the concern left was for his real body and his family. But worry wouldn’t help him now. He put all his disquieting thoughts aside. He locked away his regret for his old friends and the tension between him and Loki. It was time to put his explorer's hat on.

Ch. 138 - "You Have Guts!"

INDEX 

Ch. 140 - Wool Over One's Eyes