30 Ants Adventure 1 (1/2)
The Nagant also known under its scientific name”innoxias formicae” is a species known for being a remnant of a time long before the supremacy of us Chosen. It is a relict, from a time where the only the strongest most fearful creatures could successfully survive. Scientists are unsure, how the Nagant did not go extinct.But the most common theory is that, due to the low numbers of this ant and the minuscule amount of nutrients in their body, their predators began to specialize and hunt different prey. Many generations later their former predator now does not even hunt it anymore.
Its existence is a joy to every curious child all over the world. It is the favourite toy for every little child for a reason. They are easy inflammable and produce a soothing crispy sound when they are crushed. They can be dismantled with ease as well. There are so many ways, that a modern child can be satisfied with such a simple Nagant.
The Nagant is a herbivore and coprophagous aswell. It mainly consumes seeds of small plants and the excrements of other animals. A Nagant colony consists up to 100 ants. After hatching out of their egg they either grow into aWorkernagant or a Warriornagant. The only visual difference is that the Workernagant is smaller and its task is to gather materials to feed their queen with. If the queen is in danger the Warriornagant tries to distract the enemy and fulfil his destiny as cannon fodder.
After conducting several tests, we could safely conclude that this creature is incapable of using mana in any way, it is just stuck it its evolutionary state and failed to adapt. The main reason for that is its inability to wield mana. It does not show sign of intelligence at all, it just acts based on instinct and millennia without any natural predator left this strange being just able to gather food and dying standing still if they ever find themselves attacked.
This animal inhabits dark caves or digs itself a strange system of tunnels without any sense of direction. Once exposed to sunlight, a squirming reaction is visible. Furthermore, once the surrounding temperature reaches a certain level of humidity, they lose control over the body and are unable to move till they reach their demise.
The queens low fertility us partly caused due to the laying process lasting several hours for a single egg and the low rate of successful hatchlings that survive the first week. Those hatchlings die either to diseases or succumb to their bad genetical disposition. Or they just get eaten by their gluttonous queen.
The only reason this species continues to exist is due to their way above average lifespan. Something inside of them extends their lifetime by multiple times, it is speculation whether it some sort of exchange for the near inability to wield mana or being a remnant of the creatures of older times. Not much is known about the times before our glorious Ancestor appeared.
But while investigating an old abandoned nest several strange inconsistencies were found. It is built in an organized fashion and several other species were found in it as well. While every other nest is located deep underground, this one was on the surface shaped like a huge hill. This pile of Earth. took way too much space for such a little colony, yet several mummified corpses of a nagant were found in there. But these nagants were much smaller when the nagants we know of today. Scientists identified this kind of ant as a distant relative, but after comparing the general physiology with our current nagant, not even a slight change could be found, just the difference in size was massive. And this nest is the only one of its kind, there has not been any logical conclusion why only one kind exists in our glorious world.
To summarize the nagant is relict out of the dark times, being one of the only animals incapable of using mana. It is harmless in nature, way too weak to exist and it is just a question of time, till it goes extinct.
”So we can all agree, that this is the animal we intended to put in our game, right? A harmless creature, that is more of a feature and a toy for people if they ever find themselves bored of exhausting battles. Correct me if I am wrong, but that was the purpose we designed and used the nagant for. Then can someone tell me, why the nagant in our game does everything and I mean everything that it is not supposed to do?”
” All out of the sudden, this tiny, little ant became a flesh-consuming predator? You tell me, that this ant is capable of using advanced war tactics? Hiding in dead corpses, then popping out if their prey is near? They are even setting up ambushes, in groups. We are talking about a nagant,
an N-A-G-A-N-T. Who was the sick fuck, that made these beasts only target the nether regions of every player they encounter? And making them nearly resistant to magic, great idea. These ants are running rampant, they are just like locusts eating everything that gets in their vision. ”
”I am already sick of asking every concerned parent of those entitled children, no dear parents our system does not actively target your dear children nuts. There is no need to worry, every damage that is felt only is psychological, there is no need to worry about him/her producing an heir. In general this only a temporal state of affairs, after all this is still the testing phase. We owe you our deepest apologies. it was never our intention that your dear little angels have their precious confidence crushed because they are unable to kill even a single nagant.”
” We have to find a solution to this problem I don't care if we lose sponsors and revenue because those testers get repeatedly killed by nagants and we are not talking about a swift death, no those animals tear you apart and you feel every single bite of them. So dear Gentlemen if you don't want to find ourselves stuck in our little own world getting eaten by this a little creature until the end of time, you better find and fix whatever this mistake caused and prevent it from ever happening again.”
” It was supposed to be so easy, yet strange things keep happening, that we have no explanation for.Those children are busy trying to test how often they can stand getting tackled by a nagant. I would be worried as well if my children pass their time by letting creatures tackle their weak spot over and over again. Our product is able to offer a diversity of several interesting topics and those morons keep counting how often they can endure the pain in their dicks.I know men in that kind of age always have to prove themselves, but dear Lords in the highest heaven, why did they decide on that? And even some women decided, to take part in that competition as well if that stuff gets public, I will not have to tell you guys, that even if I do not kill you on the spot, other people will gladly do it. We are representing the Church, the famous families and in general only the best that this world has to offer. Just a slight misstep, that tarnishes their name and before we notice it, our heads will role. So for the sakes of our heads, find a solution.
”I will try to prevent this thing from ever landing in the public eye, as long as possible hopefully you found a way till then.”
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While certain publishers were contemplating their life choices and were busy making plans to escape the whole unsightly mess, that they foresaw. The beta testers were having the time of their life, they were not even questioning why such the nagant turned into a vicious predator. They did not even think about, why in such a serious simulation, such a thing would exist. They were busing crowning a victor in a fierce competition that they dubbed ”Balls of Steel”
”Balls of Steel” is a simple event. It is about the showcase of superior will and a testament of the unyielding nature a warrior has to have. One Man one ant, standing in front of each other. The bug would continuously target the crotch until the player falls over and gets eaten. Several spectators would count the score and note it down. The result then would be put on the high score list if you stood your ground successfully. This whole trend started, when a brave soul tried to kill those ants with magic and was caught by surprise as one launched a sneak attack on his groin, but his fighting spirit forbad him from giving in and he kept on standing and thrown spells. The one ant that executed the attack went forward and attacked the man again, aiming for the same spot again, while the rest of the ants just stared at the single insect. It was an unspoken competition, both species putting their pride and body on the line and any interference from the outside would mean eternal shame.
The first fight ended after close to 1 minute, even though the brave soul tried to fight back in the beginning after noticing that his spells were not working at all, he just tried to fight and dodge. He was able to withstand a total of 4 attacks without strengthening his body with mana before succumbing to the 5 one. He has beaten quite miserably but still boasted about his achievements and everyone wanted to laugh at first but felt the sudden urge to surpass that simpleton. Even though the record has been broken quite often, he enjoys his fame for being the innovator of such a great sport. Haniball Barkas, a man that became a trendsetter.
But right now, the whole audience was left speechless and baffled because not only was the current record shattered by a wide margin it also was a girl that endured over 20 attacks of a single ant, before just falling straight over. At first, they even belittled her, for trying to compete in a man's sport but after she did not even flinch once during the whole ordeal, people became awestruck.The previous record of 12 was nothing in front of her, no one wanted to admit it, but most men wanted to bow their head in shame.
After the minutes slowly passed, she comes over with a glee plastered all over her face. She was not tall or small either. Her physique was quite petite, but there was a firm layer of muscles on her body. Her face was quite soft yet showed traces of facing difficulties. Her violet eyes were looking all over the place silently judging everyone. She did not show any signs of maturity, it was like the whole world would spin just for her and she acted like she was entitled to such a treatment. With her head held high and a noble aura, she moved forwards. Everything was beneath her and every single thing had to bow before her. That was her way of living.
” And here I thought, that those men were something special, yet even a single frail woman like me, easily surpassed them. It is no wonder that our dear parents just feel ashamed off of our current generation. At first, I was searching for a potential husband, but after witnessing this humiliating results, I was forced to show you guys how unmanly, you guys are. I could take all my sisters and they would easily, score higher in that little competition of yours. Yet even after 12 little hits you guys fall over and die. How is this country supposed to exist if you are in charge of defending against the monsters? I am so ashamed of what this country will become. If I look at you guys I just feel pure disgust. I pity your parents for having giving birth to you, expecting something good and yet you were the result. I cannot fathom how much disappointment they must have felt upon seeing you”
She returned giggling to a small group of females, disappearing from the view of the crowd. The crowd did not swear or point fingers at her for ridiculing them, no after their pride was hurt a desire began to burn inside of them, a fire that would not extinguish until they have broken the record.Even if the male ego is frail, it is also the biggest sort motivation in their young lives. If you continued to observe, many males started to show more tenacity and willpower. They continued to improve their personal scores step by step. Even after the record was finally broken, they were so focused on improving they did not even take much notice of it.
”Come on Claudia, don't be so mean to them, you just wanted to rile them up and don't even get me started on the way you broke their high score, numbing your senses with ice magic is totally cheating.” A young freckled girl was teasing the perpetrator, who caused the anguish of many young men.
” It was only specified that you are not allowed to use magic during the whole process, I finished my spell before I began the competition, so technically it is all legal, just because they don't do it does not imply that I have to do the same right? I still could have increased the high score by 1-2 with ease but I did not want to feel the pain all at once after my nerves became active again.Those boys are masochists, not me, I am just a fine lady.It was all for their sake, after all, they can show how ”manly” they are to impress us simple maidens I am just doing them a favour. Am I not magnanimous?”
The young girl could not hold in heartfelt laughter, upon seeing Claudia acting so righteously. She answered shaking her little head:
” You may be able to play those guys like a fiddle, but do not take me for a fool. Your primary focus was to spark their hurt ego as you get to watch their repeated squirming and suffering. That is so much like you, you were always ready to manipulate others for your own entertainment. But alas I am not better in any way, because watching these morons getting attacked in their manhood is quite a refreshing feeling.”
” Eve, I am not as selfish as you portray me here, I did it for our sake. To remember the good old days, when we were still able to roam every day, everywhere. Now we only can meet up online, after having finished our chores. I miss those days, where it was us against the world, we could freely decide what or what not to do. Somehow I just want to feel like being in control for once. Getting always told what or what not to do is so sickening.”
”You guys are living just 5 minutes apart from each other and you are the one bossing around everyone in our household, the only thing that you were told to do in the last few days is to not cause so much trouble” another girl chimed being quite annoyed. She was a bit taller than Claudia, and the whole atmosphere around seemed to be frozen. While Claudia had her golden hair tied to a bun, her golden hair was dancing in the wind, reaching shoulder length.The resemblance between Claudia and her was uncanny. She did not show any signs of nobility and her bearing was freeof any haughtiness. A spectator would feel a deep unnerving chill, whenever they would just see her as if her presence alone could freeze time as well. There were no emotions visible on her face, just gold blue eyes staring at Claudia.
”You are always so serious, Samantha, always so uptight. Relax and enjoy the moment, you are always thinking about how to get stronger and stronger yet forget that other humans do exist as well.At first, people were referring to you, as the Ice Maiden, proclaiming to marry the one who bested you in a fight, but any men you beat was left there in humiliating fashion. Its no wonder people call you the ”Icy virgin” instead”
For the first time anger became visible on Samanthas face and throwing her 2 hands wildly around she nearly screamed: ” Who dared to give me such a humiliating nickname, I will kill him with my own two hands.”
Instead of hearing a name a laughing fit was the response she got.
” Jeez, you are so easy to tease, acting all holy and always focussed on repaying the glorious deeds the Church did. Everywhere you go, you just train and train, there is nothing else for you. Let me give you a bit of heartfelt advice as your dear sister, we will all be on the frontline sooner or later, so enjoy the time here instead of madly killing monsters all day to increase your ranking score. I mean I have no clue, why you are so insistent on getting that first ranking in the first place. Let daddy pull some strings and you will get personally trained by the Church as well. It does not seem worth it to me going through such a hassle, those monsters here are no threat to you anyway. How do you want to improve yourself, if you just kill stuff that you were already able to kill when you just learned magic. Next thing you tell me that you are training so that you can beat those monsters to death as well, like a barbarian.”
Even though the anger was still visible on Samantha's face, she sighed and started to speak in more composed tone.