System slowly shook his head. It was obviously unrealistic for him to find the old druid.

  Even if the druid really had the ability to extend System's life and was willing to help him, locating the druid in such a huge forest wouldn't be easy.

  While System seemed to have experienced a lot in this new world, his range of activities had been limited to an area of only about a hundred meters. And how much space does one or two hundred meters really occupy in such a massive forest?

  Devoting so much time and risking everything trying to find the old druid came with its own set of problems, and System didn't even know if the druid was still in the forest.

  Without thinking of a good solution, he finally focused on his [Molting and Growth] talent. He still had a glimmer of hope, which was undergoing a third metamorphosis.

  He had already turned into an adult grasshopper after his second metamorphosis, and the third would definitely bring about even greater changes to his body.

  The mysterious Voice of the World during his third metamorphosis would certainly have some sort of special effect on him as well.

  If his third metamorphosis and the Voice of the World couldn't extend his life, they would at least improve his strength.

  Even if he was still helpless at that time, his physical fitness would have improved, and he would be able to find the old druid faster and more efficiently.

  ...

  Having thought things through, System's expression grew firm. His current goal was to complete his third metamorphosis as quickly as possible, which would leave more time for him to make a choice about how to spend his remaining lifespan.

  As for the impulse to mate with a female grasshopper that had irritated him so much before, he found that he could easily suppress it now.

  After all, as long as he mated, he would only have three days of life left. The horror between life and death had made System's willpower countless times stronger when it came to resisting the urge to mate.

  He quickly jumped toward the tree where the caterpilrs were pupating.

  Though it had been a few days, the chrysalides were still the same as before. None of the pupae had turned into butterflies yet and left behind their empty chrysalides.

  It was already the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. He didn't know whether these pupae would wait for the next spring to break out of their chrysalides, or whether they would turn into butterflies in the next few days, then quickly mate and y eggs, allowing the eggs to hatch during winter.

  The first time System saw them, these six-centimeter-long chrysalides were much rger than his body, but now his body was even rger than the chrysalides.

  System wasn't polite, and he directly used his dark-brown mandibles to bite into a chrysalis. Having completed his second metamorphosis, his mandibles were now two or three times stronger than they had been when he was a rva in terms of hardness and bite force.

  However, after biting, he found that he still couldn't break open this pupa's chrysalis. His mandibles only managed to leave some slight scratches on it. It seemed like these chrysalides were even stronger than tree bark.

  System recalled his experiences eating silkworm pupae in his previous life. The cocoons of fried silkworm pupae were very hard, and it was difficult to chew them even with strong human teeth. If the silkworm pupae weren't cooked to the right temperature, their cocoons would be even harder to eat.

  This pupa's chrysalis seemed to be about as hard as the cocoons of the silkworm pupae System had eaten in his previous life.

  Because of his bites, the pupa obviously felt threatened and started wriggling slightly.

  Seeing this, System no longer tried using his mandibles and directly used the biochemical weapon he'd obtained after metamorphosing into an adult.

  [Corrosive Mucus] activated!

  The corrosive substance was secreted from the special gnds in System's throat and dripped down onto the chrysalis from his mandibles.

  Although [Corrosive Mucus] had strong destructive power, System was still unfamiliar with it and could only secrete a small amount at a time. It couldn't kill an enemy in one shot like spider or scorpion venom.

  However, this kind of mucus was the perfect weapon against this pupating caterpilr, which had super-strong defense, but couldn't dodge.

  The dark-brown mucus hitting the pupa's gray-brown chrysalis caused a wonderful chemical reaction. After about ten seconds, the affected part of the chrysalis gradually turned grayish-white.

  System successfully poked his mandibles through the chrysalis this time, and the caterpilr pupa trembled violently as a white slurry began flowing out. System could finally taste the wonderful fvor of the caterpilr pupa, which was as mellow and sweet as hot chocote.

  His mandibles secreted [Corrosive Mucus] again, further expanding the gap in the chrysalis, and he started sucking out the gooey pupa even faster.

  The pupa was softer than the molting dragonfly rva that System had eaten a few days earlier. Nearly ninety percent of the caterpilr pupa inside the chrysalis was a sticky liquid. It was more accurate to say that System was gradually drinking the pupa rather than eating it.

  System didn't know exactly how the body of the caterpilr pupa in the chrysalis was structured, but its vitality was extremely tenacious. Even after System drank one-third of it, the pupa was still trembling slightly. It didn't completely stop moving until he'd swallowed a full half of it.

  This kind of caterpilr pupa was very nutritious. If System had eaten two of them before growing into a grasshopper adult, perhaps that would have been enough to raise his level.

  Now that he'd become an adult, System noticed that his experience bar was increasing very slowly. He estimated that he would need to eat twelve pupae to reach level 9, which was six times as many as he would have needed back when he was still a rva.

  Fortunately, System had obtained [Corrosive Mucus] while metamorphosing into an adult. This substance could not only be secreted into his mouth, but also into his stomach, speeding up his digestion.

  With [Corrosive Mucus], his digestive ability increased by half. He estimated that he could successfully digest two caterpilr pupae before dark.

  After it grew dark, System, who had always been avoiding danger, decided to continue eating these caterpilr pupae.

  The forest at night might be more dangerous, but he didn't have much lifespan left. If he didn't fight now, he would have no chance in two months.

  There were forty-two pupae left.

  Excluding the necessary rest time, System should be able to eat three and a half pupae over the course of a day and night, so he predicted that he would reach level 9 within four days.

  After reaching level 9, his stomach capacity and digestion speed would be further improved, and eating five pupae a day should not be a problem.

  Because the experience required for leveling up increased gradually, twelve pupae were needed to go from level 8 to level 9. He specuted that about twenty-five pupae would be needed to level up from 9 to 10, so these forty-two pupae should only be enough for him to reach slightly over level 10.

  After careful calcution, he should be able to eat all of these pupae within ten days, after which he would upgrade to level 10.

  System's insect face showed a thoughtful look. He opened [Personal Information Generation]'s light screen and looked at his level—8/15.

  15 was his upper limit, representing the highest power that the green-tailed grasshopper species could attain, and 8 represented his current level.

  He had sixty-three days left to live. After further detailed calcutions, his insect face gradually became gloomy.

  Assuming he had sufficient nutritious insect pupae avaible, and that he could eat them continuously and eliminate any potential dangers and unfavorable situations, it would take three and a half days to reach level 9 and roughly five more days to reach level 10.

  The speed of the next level up would get slower and slower. If he calcuted at this rate, the time between level ups would increase by about fifty percent with each level gained.

  With that rate in mind, the time it would take to go from level 9 to level 15 could be roughly inferred.

  Three and a half days, five days, seven and a half days, eleven and a half days, seventeen days, twenty-five days, and thirty-seven days—a total of 106 days.

  If there was enough food avaible and all he did besides eating and digesting was sleep, he would need 106 days to reach level 15.

  By that time, he would have already been dead for more than a month...

  The inheritance information from his bloodline told System that even if [Molting and Growth] was upgraded to its maximum level, he would still need to reach level 14 or 15 in order to undergo a third metamorphosis.

  If no miracle happened, he wouldn't be able to meet the conditions for his third metamorphosis before he died.

  ...

  The antennae on System's head kept twitching, and he fell deep into thought again.

  The most urgent task was to try to upgrade [Molting and Growth] to level 13. Only by doing that could he learn the specific information about his third metamorphosis.

  He had already sensed some vague information from his bloodline about how to rapidly improve [Molting and Growth]. He needed to locate and consume different kinds of insects or other creatures that could metamorphose or pupate.

  System, who was busily eating a caterpilr pupa, made a new decision after thinking his situation through. He decided to stop after eating only two of these pupae. He would then start hunting other small insects instead.

  Only by eating a variety of foods could the level of [Molting and Growth] be raised to 13 as quickly as possible so that he could learn what level was required for his third metamorphosis earlier.

  If his third metamorphosis required too high of a level to be completed in time, he could start to make other preparations early.