Now that Bates' attribute template had advanced to lord-tier, he had obtained two powerful active skills, as well as a support skill. His gains had greatly exceeded his expectations.
Next, it was time to return to the Dark Forest, raise his level, raise his four attributes, and raise the overall strength of the gold-eating ants!
It took Bates two days to bring the worker ants back to the ant nest, in the center of the Dark Forest.
During the time that Bates and the little worker ants were away, the queen ant had stayed behind and followed Bates' instructions to carry on laying eggs, causing the number of gold-eating ants to finally exceed 10,000!
The hundreds and thousands of gold-eating ants that remained at the nest, had continuously hunted, which had caused the center of the Dark Forest to become barren without any living creatures.
Other than the forest and the plants, that were still lush, there were no signs of life, as the terrifying amount of gold-eating ants had killed both small and large creatures, and turned them into food for the ant colony. The result of clearing so many monsters had increased the strength of the entire ant tribe.
There were more than 10,000 gold-eating ants, most of which were still at level 1. There were more than 3,000 ants that had reached level 2, and more than 500 that had reached level 3. There were over a dozen that had surpassed level 4 and reached level 5. It was obvious a lot of these level 5 gold-eating ants would likely become elite ants!
A single gold-eating ant might not be a match for a goblin, but the strength of the gold-eating ants together had already far surpassed that of the goblin race.
It wouldn't be long before the gold-eating ant race would be as powerful as the swamp murlocs, a race with an average level of 15!
However, after losing the murloc lord, the swamp murlocs were now in a scattered state, after having always appeared in groups, similar to the goblin race.
The current gold-eater ant race might be able to destroy the whole swamp. After realizing the ant race's current strength, Bates pondered silently. The poisonous swamp was definitely going to be taken!
Even if they didn't want the huge amount of experience that thousands of swamp murlocs could provide, the poisonous gas that filled the swamp, might allow the ant race to obtain the passive skill [ elementary poison resistance ].
The poisonous swamp couldn't be left as is.
The only concern was how much loss it might take in order to clear the whole swap.
Even so, Bates had made a decision, and heaved a sign of relief.
It would be up to the gold-eating ants to see how much strength they could increase in the next three days, before heading to the swap!
Following Bates' orders, the queen continued to produce ant eggs at full speed, increasing the number of gold-eating ants.
The ants would spread out and hunt the monsters and creatures in the Dark Forest. Any corpses were transported back to the ant nest as food for the queen, to produce ant eggs.
During the hunting, many ants didn't survive, and just a day later, the number of ants had dropped from nearly 12,000 to 11,000. However, the number of level 2 ants increased from more than 3,000 to more than 3,500.
Two days later, the number of ants dropped from 11,000 to 10,000. Then, the number of level 2 ants increased from more than 3,500 to more than 4,000.
Three days later, the number of ants remained at 10,000, but the number of level 2 ants increased from 4,000 to nearly 5,000!
The number of level 3 ants had exceeded 1,000!
The number of level 4 ants had exceeded 200, and the number of level 5 ants had exceeded 50!
There were also two gold-eating ants that had killed so many monsters in the past three days, they were able to raise their level from level 5 to 7!
As a race that had grown from an extremely low level, it made every upgrade so much more important, and represented a massive achievement.
A level 7 gold-eating ant could kill a level 7 goblin.
The strength of the gold-eating ant race had begun to take shape!
Under the command of Bates, all the gold-eating ants that were above level 3 entered the poisonous swamp. Guided by the higher-level ants, they hunted the swamp murlocs and tried to obtain the passive skill [ elementary poison resistance ]!
The level 1 and 2 gold-eating ants had stayed behind and continued to hunt in the Dark Forest to increase their strength and level. When they reached level 3, they would then join the hunt for the swamp murlocs.
The ant nest was equivalent to Bates' barracks, and continued to produce the lowest level gold-eating ants, then trained them in the Dark Forest. Those ants that had just matured, would constantly hunt in the forest, training their abilities and raising their levels, without the fear of any real danger.
The poisonous swamp was Bates' battlefield.
Gold-eating ants that had reached level 3 were like new recruits that had just walked out of the training ground, and the poisonous swamp was now their battlefield.
Only the gold-eating ants who had joined the poisonous swamp and survived the battle, were then qualified to become warriors!
Bates used the soldier training method to build up the gold-eating ants, as it allowed the entire colony to grow and grow rapidly!
Every day, a large number of gold-eating ants died in battle, but every day, a large number of gold-eater ants leveled up and obtained the [ elementary poison resistance ] passive skill.
Both Bates', and the entire colony's, strength was increasing quickly.
To Bates, this was a real world, but to the players, this was just a game. The bosses that were killed in the world would not respawn, which was something that Bates had known for a long time.
Whether it was the goblin general Geer, or the murloc lord, or the vemonous dragon lord, after they were killed by Bates, they completely disappeared from this world!
This was also one of the reasons why Bates was worried about the players. In the game, the players would not disappear, nor would they die. If they were killed, they would only lose some experience points, and could be revived immediately.
Even the worst-case scenario was that they would delete their accounts and just start all over again.
If bosses die, they die!