Ben rolled his eyes.
"You always overthink things.
I'm not giving it to you, just lending it.
Consider it a test subject," he said.
Elvira's excited smile shifted into a playful pout.
"Ugh, you're no fun," she said, but her mood bounced back almost at once.
With quick hands, she snatched the crystal and darted off like a child with a new toy.
"Alright!
I'm starting now!" she called out.
Ben blinked, a little stunned by how fast she switched gears.
He let out a short chuckle as he watched her dive into her examination.
'So she's the type who goes crazy over experiments... no wonder she's into those krell,' he thought.
He shook his head with an amused smile and adjusted his grip on his pickaxe.
'Well, at least she won't bother me for a while.'
He turned his focus back to his surroundings.
With the Hell Worm's body finally reduced to rubble, Ben took a moment to study the cavern.
The ceiling above was covered with clusters of blue crystal stalactites that glowed faintly.
Plain rock stretched in every direction under his feet.
There was nothing special to see, other than the scattered remains of the Hell Worm's carcass.
'Other than these crystals, there's not much here... but this space is perfect for another base,' he thought.
The cavern was massive, with plenty of open ground.
Piles of the Hell Worm's remains lay across the floor, ready to be harvested for biomass.
More importantly, there was only one large entrance that also served as the exit.
The tunnel was clearly carved out by the worm's massive body.
'This could work...' Ben thought, already forming plans.
With his system, sealing the opening would be easy.
He could build a reinforced gate for controlled access.
He could also set up a maze on either side to slow down or trap intruders.
The idea reminded him of the first base, the one he had built in the Six Cartel area.
Curious about its condition, he opened his system interface.
[Krell Kingdom]
[Forces:]
[Krell Scout: 2]
[Ant Soldier: 4]
[Ant Worker: 22]
[Stockpile:]
[242x Red Spotted Mush Tree]
[898x Roasted Mush Ball]
[18,345x Stone Brick]
[12x Stone Tile]
[2x Stone Wall]
[Facility:]
[One kitchen, barracks, two houses, two warehouses, one junk storage]
[Trap:]
[24x Spike Trap]
[43x Boulder Trap...]
'The base is still working... seems like nothing's wrong,' he thought.
Ben closed his eyes and tried to reach out through the hive mind.
He wanted to connect with the other ants and check the situation directly.
After several attempts, he clicked his tongue in frustration.
The connection existed, but it felt like listening to a radio full of static.
'Damn, the distance is too far to get a full picture,' he thought.
Even so, he could still send commands, though they would not be very precise.
He ordered the ants to keep maintaining the base.
Then he told half of them to search for an ant princess.
Without a queen, their numbers could not grow.
Capturing a princess and forcing her to breed more ants was the only way to expand.
There was another option, to leave the base as it was and not push for growth, but that would not give Ben any real benefit.
As for the krell scouts, he assigned Airi to guard the base, while Aqua explored the tunnels to search for both of them.
The Hell Worm's movements had carved out a wide tunnel system.
Ben needed to chart a safe route back to his old base.
At the same time, he wanted to see what kind of biomes existed at this new depth.
'I should create more krell scouts to map the area from my position too... but how far down are we, really?' he wondered.
The rising temperature gave him a rough answer.
If the previous heat had felt like a scorching desert, now it was enough to boil water.
They were getting closer to the planet's core.
If he had stayed a normal human, he would have been cooked alive without special gear.
Pickaxe in hand, Ben got to work.
BAM.
BAM.
BAM.
[Ding! You obtained 1x Grimslate!]
'Grimslate?' he thought.
Curious, he opened his inventory.
[Grimslate Block x1]
[Type: Block]
[Use: Crafting material, building]
[Understanding: 0.001%]
[Max Stack: 9999]
[Rarity: Common]
[A dense, dark stone found deep underground, often near magma chambers or ancient ruins.]
Ben sighed and rubbed his forehead.
'So it's basically like granite, just tougher,' he thought.
The stone was strong, but breaking it down took several strikes per block.
Building anything with it would demand more effort than he had hoped.
Even if he summoned more krell scouts, they would not be very useful without proper tools.
To make new tools from Grimslate, he needed a complete understanding of the material.
'If only I could upgrade this damn Blockify Pickaxe...' he thought.
His gaze moved up to the glowing stalactites.
'Do those have mana?' he wondered. 'They're not the same red gemstones I found before.
Could they be a better version?'
His first idea was to ask Elvira, but when he looked at her, he changed his mind.
She floated in mid-air, completely focused.
The cracked Empyrean Crystal hovered in front of her.
Complex magic circles appeared and vanished around it like shifting diagrams.
It looked strange and almost otherworldly, but Ben knew what it really meant.
'Those are just magical notes... she's probably in deep research mode.
No way I'm interrupting her now,' he thought.
He let out a small sigh and turned his attention to the Hell Worm's remains.
"Consume," he said.
His hand reshaped into a gaping maw and bit into the worm's flesh.
Wherever he ate, nothing remained.
[Ding! You obtained 8x biomass.]
[Ding! You obtained 12x biomass.]
[Ding! You obtained 7x biomass.]
He focused on clearing the scattered remains and stockpiling biomass.
Later, he planned to use his carapace armor to farm the stalagmites.
The work was repetitive, but he found some satisfaction in it.
Each bite of the Hell Worm's remains sent a wave of energy through his body.
The fatigue from their battle faded.
His body used the biomass to fully repair all the damage from the last fight.
After an hour of using Consume, Ben finally felt ready to start working on the stalagmites.
There were still many chunks of the Hell Worm left, but he decided to save them for later.