Feeling over fifty thousand tiny little minds excitedly move around, a faint smile couldn't help but unintentionally appear on Beatrice's face.
"If only humans could be that reasonable and obedient, that would be very nice," mumbled Beatrice as she stretched out her finger and let a small ant climb onto it.
As she watched the little ant excitedly move around her hand, Beatrice couldn't help but stretch out her other hand and pet it's head, causing it to no longer move, and instead merely enjoy Beatrice's touch.
'Yes mistress, that would be very ideal,' said Antonia as she walked into the largest opening of the ant colony.
"That's impossible, If that were the case, humans wouldn't be humans any more," mumbled Beatrice as she once again stretched out her hand towards an opening to the colony.
Seeing this, the sensible little ant on Beatrice's hand obediently stepped into the colony.
After course, before she did so, the little ant also rubbed her head against Beatrice's finger a few more times, as if she wanted to say goodbye.
A few moments later, under the quite sad eyes of several thousand ants, Beatrice slowly but surely walked away from the colony.
Unlike Antonia, who was rather smart, the intelligence of these ants was extremely limited, and equivalent to that of a toddler at most.
"I have a lot of things to do," mumbled Beatrice as she looked back at the ant colony in front of her.
...
One week later,
After arriving back at her underground home, Beatrice quickly went back to her work, as she had wasted more than enough time by travelling.
The first thing Beatrice did after arriving back there was to obtain some experimental subjects.
This was extremely simple, as Beatrice merely had to contact her teacher, who then provided some for her.
Even though Beatrice was quite unsure of the method used by Selena to obtain humans, she didn't ask any questions, as she knew better than that.
After that, Beatrice then continued experimenting on the souls of these experimental subjects, as well as on the souls of some other beings.
Looking at the man in front of her, who was lying down on a table with a confused expression on his face, Beatrice couldn't help but touch her chin.
After a few moments of thinking, Beatrice waved her hand, causing a tiny ant to suddenly fly into her palm.
A few moments later, Beatrice successful accessed the soul that she had placed inside the ant body.
"If I give it some suitable memories, there shouldn't be any reason why an ant couldn't control a human body," mumbled Beatrice as she looked at the man lying down on the table with a smile on her face.
That's right, the first thing that Beatrice did once she had got back home was attempt body swapping.
Of course, this was not merely that, as Beatrice had already done some research on body swapping back in the Lyon Kingdom.
What Beatrice was trying to do now was body swapping between different species, more specifically, ants and humans.
...
Looking at the man, who had barely managed to sit upright after some struggling, Beatrice couldn't help but smile.
"As expected, the souls of Earth Ants are much more powerful than those of normal ants, this is going much smoother than before," mumbled Beatrice as she watched the man get up.
Suddenly, Beatrice could no longer watch the ant slowly but surely become adjusted to the human body, as she turned her attention to her hand.
As she looked at the small ant sitting in her palm, who was currently trying to bite her hand, Beatrice faintly smiled.
"Even if that part of the plan fails, it seems as though this succeeded, he's conscious inside the ant body," mumbled Beatrice as she watched the ant try to break her skin.
Of course, although an Earth Ant was extremely powerful compared to a normal ant, a single one could not break Beatrice's skin, which had become quite resistant because of all the Mana poured into it.
"I need to conduct more tests to see what influence an Ant body will have on a human soul, and vice-versa, this might prove quite useful if I want to place my soul into an object," mumbled Beatrice as the struggling ant floated in front of her.
At the same time, a thought couldn't help but emerge from within Beatrice's mind.
"Being transformed into an ant, no ants are too cute, being transformed into a cockroach would be a good punishment for those who anger me," mumbled Beatrice as she looked at the tiny ant in her palm.
It was unknown when this began, but after some time, Beatrice had begun appreciating ants far more than other insects, even more than most humans, who were hideous in both body and soul.
Not only did the ants obey Beatrice without second thought, they were also very cute, at least in Beatrice's opinion.
Because of this, Beatrice felt as though transferring someone into the body of an ant was not a very good punishment.
...
Some time later,
Looking at the ant in a human body, who had now fallen to the ground, shivering, Beatrice couldn't help but shake her head.
"It seems as though even Earth Ants, with how intelligent they are, aren't suitable for a human body, at least at their current growth level," mumbled Beatrice as she approached the man and carefully took the ant soul out of him.
At the same time, much less carefully, Beatrice also took out the human soul out of the ant body, and placed the two back in their original bodies.
Nearly instantly after being returned to their bodies, both the human and the ant woke up, although in quite different circumstances.
Based on just Beatrice's rough vision, it seemed as though the ant was not affected by the body transfer that much, the opposite happened in fact, it seemed as though it had become even more active and agile than before, as it quickly climbed Beatrice's body and happily sat down on one of her fingers.
On the other hand, Beatrice couldn't help but click her teeth as she looked at the man, who was drooling uncontrollably, unable to move his body in the slightest.