In just a few seconds, the exchange between the two worker ants had concluded.

One of them continued its previous range of activity, waiting for the arrival of other worker ants, while the other turned around and hurried back in the direction it came from.

As it approached the nest, it encountered more and more of its kind along the way. Every ant it met engaged in a brief exchange before they parted ways, continuing toward the nest. By the time it returned, nearly half an hour had passed.

Within just a minute of its arrival at the nest, more than thirty worker ants had gathered and set off toward the mouse hole. By the time it returned to the hole, over two hundred worker ants had assembled nearby.

Their arrival acted like a signal. The worker ants that had been circling the area immediately merged with the main group and surged into the mouse hole in a coordinated sweep.

Each branching tunnel saw a portion of the worker ants splitting off. Under William’s psychic observation, the mice in the burrow seemed to sense the impending danger, becoming increasingly restless.

One of the larger mice, which had been nestled deep within the burrow, moved toward the entrance, seemingly trying to investigate.

However, after taking only a few steps, it ran straight into the vanguard of the worker ants. Acting on instinct, the plump, one-pound mouse attempted to intimidate the ants, trying to defend its territory.

Yet, the leading worker ant was completely unfazed. It lunged forward and clamped down with its powerful mandibles, locking onto the mouse’s nose.

The startled mouse thrashed violently within the tunnel, rolling frantically in an attempt to shake off the biting ant.

Once the mouse stopped its frenzied movements, the rest of the worker ants swarmed over, covering its entire body.

As the mouse struggled, some ants latched onto its limbs, pulling them apart.

Due to their specialized body structure, the ants possessed immense strength. In no time, they stretched the mouse into a gruesome, quartered position, rendering it completely immobile.

Immediately, four or five worker ants seized the opportunity, biting into the mouse’s neck, easily severing its arteries and trachea.

A few ants lifted the corpse and began carrying it back, while the rest pressed forward.

The entire battle resulted in only one casualty—a single worker ant that lost a leg when the mouse thrashed about. Otherwise, the ants remained unscathed.

This hunting operation lasted just over ten minutes. William did not intervene in any way, yet the entire nest of nine mice was wiped out, leaving none to escape—they all became food for the ant colony.

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"Division of labor, collective action, strategic entrapment… It seems that while these chimeric ants have low individual intelligence, their societal structure is highly advanced," William murmured to himself, summarizing the hunt.

"At the very least, based on this cooperative hunt, these worker ants are not mindless creatures. When dealing with larger prey, their tactics are effective—causing immense pain, exhausting their target, and then swarming in for the kill."

With that in mind, William pulled up his holographic interface and began recording.

"The hunt itself took only ten minutes, but the preparation phase—from discovering the prey to gathering forces—took over an hour. The communication system within the colony must be improved."

After noting this issue, William stood still, contemplating possible solutions.

Although he could use the Faith Network to instantly coordinate the movements of the ants during battle, he couldn’t act as a signal hub at all times. With over ten thousand ants under his control, manually managing their interactions was overwhelming.

"Perhaps I can find a solution in the genes of other insects—enhanced vision range, better auditory systems, or even organs capable of producing sound…"

After jotting down these ideas, William sighed and closed the holographic screen.

It seemed that upgrading the communication system wasn’t something he could resolve in the short term. He needed to focus on expanding the colony and gathering more Faith Power.

With that thought, William shifted his psychic awareness back to monitoring and studying the ant colony.

Time flowed on, and before he knew it, nearly ten years had passed in his divine realm, while only about a month had elapsed in the real world.

During this time, aside from logging out to eat and handle bodily functions, William had devoted himself entirely to the development of his divine realm.

Thanks to the queen ant’s enhanced egg-laying abilities, the chimeric ant population had surpassed two million, spreading across the entire divine realm.

The term "chimeric ants" was no longer fitting for these core followers.

As William analyzed and integrated more genetic material from various species, each new generation of ants underwent significant upgrades, incorporating traits from a wide variety of insects.

The original ant-like appearance gradually disappeared, and within the last two years, no new units resembled traditional ants.

Recognizing this transformation, William officially renamed them as the Swarm.

Now, standing inside a massive hive, he gazed at a towering, one-and-a-half-meter cocoon.

With a sharp tear, the cocoon split open, and a monstrous creature emerged.

Its body was similar in structure to an enlarged rodent, but its head bore distinct insect-like features—sharp fangs, large mandibles, a primary pair of eyes along with four secondary ones, and two antennae extending from the back of its skull.

Its body was covered in metallic exoskeletal plates, its limbs were equipped with deadly claws, and its hind legs were significantly more robust than its forelegs, hinting at immense jumping capabilities.

Most striking of all, a pair of bone-like scythes protruded from its back.

As the new Swarm unit shook off the remnants of the cocoon’s fluids and began moving, William's face lit up with joy.

"This… This is it! The Jumper has finally been successfully—"

Before he could finish his sentence, his expression froze.

The creature, once bursting with energy, suddenly collapsed, foaming at the mouth.

It gasped desperately for air before convulsing, and within ten seconds, it lay motionless—a lifeless corpse.

William immediately wiped away the remnants of excitement from his face, extending his psychic awareness to scan the dead creature.

With a practiced motion, he flicked his fingers, summoning a glowing blue holographic screen.

Without hesitation, he began documenting the failure, summarizing the experiment’s results.

Having used the Divine Login Pod’s auxiliary system as his personal notepad for years, recording failures had become second nature.