I Became an Ant Lord, So I Built a Hive Full of Beauties-Chapter 207: Soul Power

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Kai remained on the great iron root-like branch as the ribbons of moon lights cut the violet sky brighter. Bark pressed against his back; dew chilled the backs of his calves. He could feel his heartbeat echoing in the silence — a slow, resonant thrum that matched the soft sway of leaves overhead.

He inhaled once, filling his lungs with trees scented air, then spoke into the hush.

"System... tell me plainly. Is there a way to upgrade my soul power right now? I don’t know how it will take me to go back. I need to inform them that I am okay. And will be back soon."

The question vibrated through his chest, heavier than the sun and moon. For the first time in hours he allowed the concern to surface: Luna’s bright determination, Miryam’s hatchling curiosity, both unreachable because his soul link fizzled out after a few hundred meters. If he couldn’t speak to them across forests, sea and valleys then what kind of Monarch was he trying to be?

A muted tone rolled through his mind:

[DING! System notification- Query acknowledged. Answer is... Yes— immediate soul-power expansion is possible; however, the cost is significant.]

Kai’s fingers tightened around the carved armor plate at his hip and Luna’s gift. "Significant how?"

[System notifications- The process requires a high-density soul artifact. One presently resides in your personal inventory:

Item: (Ruler’s) Heart Core

Origin: Ancient Beast Ruler – "Helio drax, Sovereign of Ten Skies."

Grade: ★★★★★★★★★ (9 Star+)

Essence Category: Celestial / Soul Condensate

Description: The crystallized core of a primordial ancient ruler who commanded not aura alone but the soul wind that flows between air, all over the world. Its energy reserves are vast and highly volatile, capable of catapulting a mortal soul to the upper threshold of this world’s limits.]

The words pulsed in gold across Kai’s vision. The title alone —Sovereign of Ten Skies— felt like a storm pressing against his thoughts. He swallowed.

"When Miryam’s mother gave me that core there was no description," he murmured. "It was silent. Dormant. You said my level wasn’t high enough to know."

[System notifications- Legacy items may hide their data if a host’s appraisal authority is insufficient. Your recent rank-up and system reset recovery now permit full insight.]

Kai exhaled slowly, watching a tuft of breath drift into the cool air. "Is there... any other method? I’d hoped to save that core to break my rank barrier later. Surely there’s another path."

[Ding! System notifications- Alternate route: collect multiple 5 star rank or 6 star rank Soul-Beast cores, process them under tranquil conditions, and meditate for ninety to one hundred and twenty days.

Probability of comparable result: 41%.

Time-cost: extreme. ]

He frowned. Months of hunting, months of risking his colony. "And Miryam and Luna stay mute to me the entire time."

Silence answered.

Kai lifted the Heart Core from his storage soul cube. Even dormant, it radiated faint heat, like holding a sunrise condensed into glass. Inside swirled smokeless flame, curling gold and vibrant crimson threads that drifted to the sphere’s surface before sinking into its depths again.

The system gave another notification:

[The energy of the core will not be wasted, the system added, as if sensing his hesitation. Absorption will permanently raise host statistics to world-law saturation point and maximize Soul Power.]

"How high?"

Projected outcome:

Strength 500

Speed 500

Stamina 500

Soul Power 500 (New stat)

Kai’s eyes widened. "Every attribute... five hundred. That’s beyond Elite."

[System notifications- Correct. At 500, the host will physically equal or surpass most natural 6-Star beasts. Skills, technique, and environmental factors remain variables, but raw metrics place hosts at the pinnacle beneath the six star ranks.]

It was intoxicating—a shortcut to near-mythic might. But the price? He would sacrifice the last relic Miryam’s mother entrusted to him. That gift felt sacred: a promise that the wyrmling would grow under his guardianship.

He turned the core over in his hand. Light refracted through the amber shell, scattering aura rainbows across the bark. "If I refuse," he thought, "I’m postponing the inevitable. I need this range—now."

The decision formed with the weight of iron.

"System," he said aloud, voice just above the rustle of leaves. "I’ll do it. Use the Heart Core."

[Ding system notifications- Confirmation required: consume (Ruler’s) Heart Core?

Warning: The process will trigger full-soul integration. Pain threshold class—Extreme. Estimated duration: 60 standard minutes.]

Kai locked his jaw. "Confirmed. Do it. I need this."

The sphere dissolved. Not exploded— simply flowed apart into a million golden motes that shot like arrows into Kai’s chest. His eyes snapped shut. An icy-hot spike drove through his sternum, then detonated behind his ribs. Soul threads unwound from each of the motes and twined through his spirit like molten wire.

Pain flashed white. Instant, absolute, and incomparable. His breath fled him; his heart stutter-kicked. He pitched forward on the branch, clutching at his chest but no physical wound lay there— only a furnace of soul-heat incinerating him from within.

The world blurred around him. The forest disappeared. Only darkness and searing light remained. They were dancing and fusing inside his mind’s horizon.

A roaring filled his ears—howling winds of memory, glimpses of the ancient ruler’s life: wings of sun-lit gold soaring between clouds, battles across burning seas, worlds where living storms bowed in worship. He was drowning in alien grandeur. He saw cities turned to glass under a Ruler’s breath; stars spun on invisible threads; echoes of laughter that shook continents.

He screamed. Not with his throat but with his soul, it screamed like it was destroyed and rebuilt. The sound vibrated tree trunks miles away, as if some spirit beast howled from inside every stone. Down in the tunnels, Azhara jolted awake, antennae tingling. Akayoroi felt a pulse, like distant thunder in her chest (affected by the mark). They exchanged startled looks but did not leave: the carpenter Ant queen Akayoroi sensed some kind of transformation but she kept silent. She doesn’t know it was Kai.

Above, the process raged.

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