No ambush came.

Caesar returned to the Mushroom Garden to witness the ants patrolling around the area, having gained control of the area long ago. They rushed to surround him for a few minutes, prodding him and his steed with antennae and mandibles before the ants finally recognized the two as their allies. A core weakness of these swarm-type summons: it would be impossible to have two in the same area without a major intelligence boost to these lesser spawn.

Without Alta, communication with the ants became difficult. But he could manage, as he had set up a contingency beforehand for his ant queen when he returned. She immediately understood that she needed to display her army’s improvements over the past month and crawled outside to recall the strongest ants to the area, sending a silent message through the horde that traveled around the region.

As he waited, Caesar closed his eyes and began to think about which summon should receive his new Essence of Elvenkind. It was obvious to him that the fusion would grant spells afterwards, meaning a mandatory Spirit cost to succeed. Although likely, he didn’t want to risk losing out on the Rare spell which cost at least five Spirit.

Both the Tomb Hippopotamus and Stormheart Oak would be good options otherwise, having focused much of their free stat points on Magic. Unfortunately, they both lacked something critical. For the hippo, it didn’t have enough Spirit. And for the tree, it needed Dexterity to use Grasp of the Inferno properly.

Thus, he settled for fusing the essence into his Kelpie. Hopefully, it’d provide his opponents with a nice surprise in battle, even if he failed to gain the Rare spell. But first, he needed enough enemies for it to level up and put the stat points into Spirit.

The mightiest ants returned about an hour later. He beheld his legion and nodded in pride. Currently, the ants had nine rank two fighters consisting of three berserkers and six soldiers, the Manticore Venom Queensguard who remained at Level 20, and a new Queensguard created from consuming the Deceased Cordyceps. It too managed to level up to Level 20 during his absence.

Caesar’s eyes moved towards the rank two ants first, immediately interested in what abilities they had awoken. They began to display their abilities and facets against a few trees and bushes around the area.

Basic abilities stemmed from various available rank one resources around the area, which included the mushroom trees in the garden, the rank one Stormheart acorns from the oak, and anything they happened to find during their patrols. Fortunately, a batch of mushroom trees successfully grew to rank one, providing more ants with catalysts.

Two soldiers crawled up first and struck the tree with icicles formed around their mandibles, presumably from their facet. It left a chilling mark on the bark. Their mandibles also seemed sharper and deadlier, cutting deeper than without the facet activated, but that was all. Along with the passive D-tier augments from the Common Life Shrooms for their primary ability, these two soldiers weren’t worth much.

The other Rime Fruit went to a berserker, who only had a C-tier ability to show. The two soldiers demonstrated more of their power by ripping off a few pieces of flesh, which the berserker ignored. Instead, life energy flowed around its wounds and began to quickly heal, while the ant’s eyes turned red in rage. Although it managed to fight off the two soldier ants at the same time, it failed to last much longer once the effect dissipated.

Not bad. He turned to his ant queen, confused as to what the facet was. She responded by moving over to the berserker ant, feigning an attack to behead it, before the two soldiers crawled over and began to attack around the area wildly in a sphere. Chilly marks of ice appeared all over the floor and nearby plant life before the queen felt satisfied enough to let them stop.

It appears killing the berserker will trigger an icy attack over an area. An explosion? It seemed the ant had awoken a self-destruction facet that activated on death, like a Bloated Corpse or the Spectral Horse from before.

He turned around to view the other four soldiers and two berserkers in the other group – those who had consumed Stormheart Acorns. Because they had also collected the rank one versions of these acorns, most did not eat mushrooms, and thus instead awakened lightning abilities to pair with their facets.

Two soldiers, however, had indeed consumed mushrooms for their first catalyst, and thus chanced to awaken interesting synergies. The first soldier’s ability provided it with additional Mana – a completely pathetic outcome, as that was only an F-tier ability. But its facet, Lightning Blast, was actually B-tier, and scaled on the amount of Mana it used as a price. It demonstrated this by striking thrice with its facet: one using a tenth of its Mana, another with a quarter, and finally with half. The final attack blasted an entire tree to pieces, although it wasn’t one that towered into the sky.

Caesar moved away from the collapsing tree and looked at the other soldier, which promptly used its E-tier ability on Caesar. He felt a wave of courage rush through his body, emboldening him for the briefest moment before he regained his senses. It seemed a little weak but could end up interrupting somebody from retreating if they lacked the Willpower to defend. Luckily, its facet appeared more useful as a more traditional augment on its mandibles, and it attacked swifter as well: a passive effect from its sublimation.

He looked towards the Queensguard arisen from the remains of the Deceased Cordyceps, whose corpse fortunately contained enough catalyst left over to awaken an ability as well. A bright green halo slowly materialized around it and expanded into the area, making him feel invigorated. The wounds of the damaged berserker ant in the earlier fight also began to heal faster, visibly stitching up yet not quite as quickly as its rage ability. B-tier, he wagered. Not bad at all.

With all important units investigated, Caesar took the available materials from his Skeleton Mage’s backpack and began to pair them with the ants. Since he did not yet have the tools to ensure the survival of an Uncommon entity after consuming a rank two Rare catalyst, he would instead reserve whichever catalyst that went unused for future Queensguard ants.

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Naturally, he already had ideas on how the ants would rank up. First, he allowed the less important Halo of Life Queensguard to consume the Seven Weepings Bloom, allowing it to undergo the process before anyone else. It ranked up with little damage, not even requiring the use of his four Common healing potions.

The Heart of Storms and Greater Water Core would likely provide some powerful facets to the ants. Since the water core only worked for water-type abilities, it became a priority for him to find a rank one Rare water catalyst, hopefully for another Queensguard. That meant he needed more Rare materials.

As the Halo of Life washed over him once more, he felt its new effect: temperature control. It did not only provide resistance to cold, but also resistance to heat. Did the Seven Weepings Bloom have additional properties, discoverable with techniques from a more experienced herbalist? Caesar wanted to experiment, but he’d have to first find another talent-granting material to do so.

The Queensguard ant walked up to its queen and activated its new facet, shrouding her in a whirling cloak of icy shards and snowy flecks. It matched her size, creating a veritable blizzard even in the heat of the forest, which lasted for a very long duration before it disappeared. Did it also retain resistances to heat and frost? If so, this might be an A-tier facet.

Caesar felt delight and gave the Wisplight Core to the Apex Predator Queensguard in hopes of acquiring another incredibly beneficial facet. It consumed the catalyst with much difficulty, wisps of energy tearing apart its insides as its entire body trembled and shook. He motioned to use a potion, but the ant queen stopped him.

With help from the Halo of Life, the Queensguard ant successfully gained its new facet. As soon as it recovered, it activated it to disappear from sight, sound, and smell. Although footsteps appeared in the snow, he could neither see nor hear its exact movements even when gashes suddenly materialized on a tree. Furthermore, the ants closest to it had also vanished, sharing the same traits as the Queensguard and working together to rip apart a bush. They seemed able to sense each other when under the same effect.

This has high potential for growth with its perks. He felt satisfied with this trip.

Now with enough information to discern his next path, and eager to see what his ant queen would acquire, Caesar placed the perk point into her ability. He scanned through the options and began to estimate what each choice really meant, as the system remained vague about what abilities were most likely to awaken.

[Elite Swarm Specialization (A)]: An ability that enables the first five larvae from this entity who have consumed Rare materials to evolve into Queensguard ants. These Queensguard are highly capable entities completely loyal to this entity.

- The swarm leader may also produce Berserker ants from their larvae.

He knew the ant queen could either produce worker ants or soldier ants, which were general purpose attackers. What really interested Caesar was having ants with access to controlling effects, who could turn the tides of battle with a single powerful ability like the vines Magnus’ party faced. Although the Queensguard could potentially fulfill the same role, he didn’t exactly have those types of abilities yet.

[Perk Option 1 – Scout Specialization]: The swarm leader may also produce Scout ants from their larvae.

Scout ants presumably meant ants with a specialized focus on speed, detection, tracking, or communication. Since he knew Berserker ants gained abilities based on berserking, and facets which augmented that in some way, it seemed likely for scouts to awaken their own abilities similarly. Some Rare types of catalysts might even allow for Divination abilities or facets, if his theory was correct.

[Perk Option 2 – Brood Specialization]: The swarm leader may also produce Princess ants from their larvae.

Princess ants specialized in the production of ants instead of combat, meaning they’d likely awaken abilities which provided buffs for their spawn. An elemental catalyst might grant resistances or augment ants born from their eggs. Compared to the Queen ant, they probably lacked essential talents of a successful swarm, using weaker talents in lieu of Swarm Decomposition and Swarm Queen.

[Perk Option 3 – Guard Specialization]: The swarm leader may also produce Guard ants from their larvae.

To Caesar, guard ants obviously signified defensive abilities. But would they also gain area control effects? If so, its appeal would increase massively.

But interests did not coincide with what he truly needed as of now. Since he expected to face the Order of the Fox in Placto, he needed entities able to track them. And although these ants were very conspicuous, the Apex Predator Queensguard provided an immense advantage with its detection ability and vanishing facet. Thus, two viable choices appeared: the Scout ants and the Princess ants. One likely specialized in tracking, but the other was a more generic option who had ways to accomplish the same goal.

Even under the Vanishing effect of the Queensguard, he refused to believe the ants could make much progress alone in a human city. Alta would be the most likely candidate to gather intelligence about the city and observe the Order of the Fox’s movements.

All three choices seemed to only let the queen spawn more Uncommon ants that supplemented the army with their own affinities. He expected nothing powerful from them, like the Queensguard, so they’d likely serve a more background role. If so, what did he lack? Caesar pondered for almost the entire five minute duration before he made his decision.

The overall trend hinted towards Brood Specialization as his best choice. Princess ants would allow him to extend the reach of his legion to other locations, not only where the ant queen stayed. This was essential to maintain control of the Forest From Before while still gaining its support in Placto, confronting the Order of the Fox on their territory. He hoped these new pseudo-queens would bring him plenty of surprises.

With that decision finally completed, Caesar allowed another soldier ant at the peak of rank one to consume the Shimmerwisp Core, selecting it for the potential to awaken a scouting facet. Simple visual invisibility was what it received, albeit with a longer duration than the Apex Predator. Not bad, for a D-tier passive Life Shroom ability.

“Now is the time to hunt,” Caesar said to the Ripjaw Ant Queen, putting her two free stat points into Agility to bring it up twenty-five. She acknowledged his words and sent out another invisible message.

Why had the Fox Cult avoided settling in this place? Here was a place where the Fog Hydra could not tread, and thus a place safe for the second strongest being in the dungeon to dwell in. The risk simply did not correspond with the reward.

Due to the risk of incurring high losses, the ants avoided many places they discovered during their explorations in the past month. But with their new and vastly improved army, it became a good opportunity to secure experience and loot as they slowly readied themselves to fight that miniboss.

The entire ant swarm, even those currently out exploring, began to gather around the queen and mobilize towards a single direction. In the center, Caesar rode his Kelpie and moved with them to war.