Bates knew that, in this game, monster bosses could not respawn after dying. However, it seemed as if the speed of monster reproduction had been greatly enhanced.
For example, after Geer was killed, the goblin race could no longer unite and rebuild the goblin city. Instead, they were scattered throughout the Dark Forest in small tribes. When a large number of goblin tribes were killed by the gold-eating ants, it caused a dramatic decrease in the number of goblins in their race. However, the goblins that had not been killed then began to reproduce at, what seemed, an increased rate. When these newborn goblins grew up, they migrated away and formed new goblin tribes, allowing the number of goblins in the Dark Forest to remain only slightly lower than when they were at their peak.
As long as the gold-eating ants did not kill all of them, the new monsters would continue to appear.
The Dark Forest would always be the training ground for the ants, and the poisonous swamp would always be the battlefield. This way, the gold-eating ant tribe continued to grow.
If the venomous dragons had not been completely exterminated by Bates, they would have continued to reproduce like the goblins and swamp murlocs.
However, it would be impossible to keep the dragons captured, like the other monsters, to continuously obtain the dragon genes from them.
It would only take a dozen days for the goblins to complete the reproduction of a generation, while it would take many more days for the swamp murlocs to complete the reproduction of a generation. The dragons would need at least one to two years to reproduce enough to keep them sustainable.
Fifteen days passed in the blink of an eye.
A full fifteen days of continuous training had greatly increased the strength of the entire gold-eating ant tribe.
After losing large numbers of ants that had died whilst hunting, the number of gold-eating ants had reached 15,000!
Among these 15,000 gold-eating ants, the level 1 ants no longer occupied the majority of the population. Instead, the level 2 and 3 ants had become the majority.
The number of level 2 ants had reached 7,000, the number of level 3 ants had reached 3,000, and the number of level 4 ants had reached 1,500. There was also more than 500 level 5 ants!
There were even a few dozen gold-eating ants that had reached level 10, the limit of their species.
During the past 15 days, the special worker ant and the queen ant had eaten a large number of monster corpses too. Their levels had reached 15, and their four attributes had greatly increased, along with their ability to survive.
As for Bates, after he had managed the reproduction and training cycle, he had left the nest, and headed towards the poisonous swap to hunt monsters. He had killed countless monsters, and his level had risen from level 15 to 20!
After upgrading his warrior mode to level 3, and his lord mode to level 5, Bates' four attributes had become very powerful.
[ identity ] : Lord of the Dark Forest, Insect Lord, Bates
[ race ] : Overlord Ant
[ template ] : Lord Attribute Template
[ level ] : Level 20
[ status ] : Health 28,050, Mana 4,900
[ attributes ] : Strength 400, Agility 260, vitality 305, Spirit 190
[ talent ] : Soul Bonus, Devouring Evolution, Adaptability
[ skills ] : Passive Skills - Sharp Claws, Resistant Armor Shell, Limb Regeneration, Advanced Poison Resistance, Advanced Fire Resistance, Advanced Ice Resistance, Shadow Raid, Eye of Insight. Status Skills - Bloodthirsty Warrior. Active Skills - Magic-Breaking Strike, Space-Splitting Nine Flashes
[ gene points ] : Giant Dragon Gene 33, Venomous Flying Dragon gene 4,427, Swamp Murloc gene 1,269
[ evolution points ] : 15,479
[ skill fragment ] : none
[ soul points ] : 13
Such a powerful attribute table, even more terrifying than the venomous flying dragon lord back then! If he were to fight the dragon lord again, he would be able to kill it before it was able to finish casting its spells!
Looking at his new attributes, Bates was extremely happy. He then looked at the countdown on his attribute panel.
It read: 121:17:29, which was a little over five days.
In another five days, the players would arrive!
However, Bates was not nervous, as he knew he had already reached the limit as to what he could do.
Even if he went all out hunting monsters, at most, he could increase his level by one and gain some attribute points. The increase in his overall strength would be minor.
The gold-eating ant tribe was still in a crazy training mode. The entire tribe's strength was constantly increasing, and there was no need for Bates to continue commanding them.
Now, Bates needed to sit down and wait for these five days to pass.
Yet Bates was unwilling. Five days was not enough time for his strength to improve, but it didn't mean that he couldn't do anything. He prepared to go out of the Dark Forest, and head towards the edge of the human world!
Bates' current identity was the 'Lord of the Dark Forest', and the boss of the novice village. The entire Dark Forest was one of the many novice maps prepared by the system for players.
Players could not spawn inside a novice map, and could only spawn in the novice village, which was the first place players stepped foot in.
Bates did not know what was in the novice village, but before the players arrived, he could at least go and take a look, and see the strength of it. It meant that, when the players arrived, Bates could have a corresponding strategy prepared.
Bates took out a large number of beginner magic equipment from his virtual backpack. After instructing the worker ants to continue eating the metal to increase their strength, Bates left the ant nest, and headed to the novice village!