The food Ackster would get to enjoy during his stay in the ant nest as a food packet was ant. It wasn't that surprising when he thought about it. He and Karandiel hadn't seen any tracks of other beings in the area with tall grass, probably because the ants swarmed and devoured whatever stepped inside like a school of starving piranhas. And if he had to guess, most of the food eventually ended up in the ant queen's stomach to be turned into more workers or soldiers.
Giving Ackster ants to eat would be simple and more reliable since he could eat as much as necessary without worrying about when the next creature to step inside the ant region would appear. But Ackster had just eaten more ants than he could count, so he had been looking forward to some proper meat and not the brains or internal organs and muscles of the ants, which were a little weird due to their insect bodies.
Though, he had only eaten worker ants, and he was now served with a soldier ant, so maybe it was a little more tasty. Not that he had gotten the time to savor the taste of the worker ants. The humanoid-esque upper body wasn't even that similar to other humanoid monsters like the goblins he had eaten, especially with the ant head, so it wasn't even that off-putting.
Unlike the ant queen, Ackster couldn't eat the exoskeleton, so he broke the ant apart, killing it in one blow, and devoured as much of its insides as he could. It was a pretty bland taste. It definitely wasn't anything to write home about, but he had eaten worse.
After eating the ant, he used his sword to cut off a piece of the muscles on his forearm. The ant queen accepted it with a cacophony of happy clicking sounds. And, just like before, a soldier ant was in charge of eating it first and using its body to deliver to the ant queen. Another ant took care of the blood streaming out of his wound until it scabbed and stopped bleeding.
It was the first time Ackster had cut off such a large piece of himself. Usually, when he harmed himself to train Strong Body's regeneration or to feed Mio, he either simply cut himself and bled until it healed before continuing, or he trimmed barely more than the layer of muscle right below his skin.
As he thought about it while enjoying the second ant, Ackster realized that maybe that was why his skin healed so quickly after lacerations and why he had gotten Leather Skin. But the reason why he could cut parts of himself to feed the ant queen without wincing was thanks to his Pain Tolerance, whose rank he would have to confirm as soon as he and the ant queen took a break.
Fortunately, it seemed he wouldn't have to wait long. He didn't know why, but the ant queen, while eager for more, started chewing slower and slower. He didn't think she was full yet since he had only given her a few strips of meat and maybe a couple of liters of blood. But it should have something to do with why she wanted his blood in the first place.
Maybe she needed time to digest it.
As Ackster saw his bleeding and scabbing body, which looked a lot scrawnier than usual since he had cut meat off of himself like kebab, he wondered what would happen if he tried to digest himself. If he ate pieces of himself, would Strong Body, Iron Stomach, and Monster Muncher extract enough energy to make up for the loss?
If it was necessary, could he sustain himself solely by eating himself?
'Alright, that's an insane thought. Let's stop there for now.'
Ackster realized his own crazed idea. He wasn't even starving anymore, but he was still thinking of whether it was possible to eat himself out of necessity. That was certainly taking things to the next level.
While eating monsters and debating killing humans, he had once considered what would happen if he ate a human. But, in the first place, he wasn't even good at killing other humans, much less eating them. But now he could solve that problem. If he wanted to find out what humans tasted like, he could just eat himself. That way, he could also maybe find out why the ant queen was so interested in doing just that.
But not now.
Now, he was going to accept the break from cutting himself into pieces and take a look at his Nomi before trying to continue with the secret technique. So, he went into the room the worker ants had made on the queen's order, where only the faintest beam of light came in. But there wasn't anything to see within the room, anyway, so he didn't mind the darkness.
He put his things in a corner.
"I'm not sure if the queen noticed or cared about you, Mio. But I think it might be best if you stayed up there for a while, okay?"
Ackster got a calming scalp massage in response, which he took as an affirmative response. However, just because Mio stayed in his hair and gave him a haircut that looked like a very glossy afro, that didn't mean he couldn't eat. So, Ackster cut off one final, tiny piece of meat and gave it to Mio, who reached out with a scoop and accepted it with another scalp massage as thanks.
With that done, Ackster grabbed his Nomi as he felt his eyes grow heavy. He had done a lot and hadn't slept in a while. Even with the reenergizing effects of Strong Body and Monster Muncher, Ackster was still dead tired. But before he could allow himself a nap, he had to take a look at his progress.
[Name: –]
[Profession: (Adventurer)]
[Stats:
[Strength: B]
[Agility: C]
[Fortitude: C]
[Mana: –]
[Spirit: C]
[Stamina: C]
[Skills:
[Strong Body]
[Pain Tolerance: A]
[Poison Resistance: E]
[Keen Senses: B]
[Iron Stomach: C]
[Sprint: C]
[Strike: B]
[Soft Footsteps: D]
[Leather Skin: C]
[Survivalist: F]
[Iron Fists: E]
[Iron Will: C]
[Clear Mind: E]
[Battlesight: E]
[Limit Breaker: F]
[Resilience: D]
[Monster Muncher: F]
[Iron Wall: E]
[Guardian: G]
"Huh?"