The moment Mitch left the nest, he saw Madeline rushing over towards him.
"Michael, what happened down there? Are you hurt?"
Worry painted her face as she saw the state of his body, with one arm hanging to the side and one leg limping.
"I'm okay, child. I have brought you the food necessary for your transformation. But not here. We need to run before the rest of the ants find us."
Madeline realized the gravity of the situation just by what Mitch had brought with him, and she just nodded her head. Even if she didn't understand how dangerous it would be for them to remain, she trusted Mitch with her entire being.
Mitch started telling her about what he had found down there, about the ant queen, and the large eggs. He told her about how the ants cooperated to try to bring him down, only for them to lose one of their queens.
They kept walking until Mitch was done narrating everything, leaving the young legio stunned.
"Is that what the Lord wants me to do?" She would be lying if she said that the thought of people bringing her food without her having to move wasn't appealing.
Mitch could practically read her thoughts just by seeing the drool falling from her mouth. He put a hand on her head and caressed her.
"He is merciful, and will not force you into giving your freedom for His cause. He and I have found a way to let you grow up before subjecting you to any cruelty."
Having fought for his life in the ant nest made Mitch realize something. What he was doing to Madeline was exactly the same thing that had been done to him; he was forcing someone into fulfilling a role they never had any say in choosing.
The difference, however, was that he had the freedom to choose the method for achieving his role, while Madeline barely had any knowledge of the world.
Another difference was that he had the power to postpone forcing Madeline into playing the role she was assigned. And that was exactly what he decided to do.
Her eyes lit up after hearing that, and she showed Mitch a beaming smile.
"Thank you, Michael. Thank you, Lord. You two were the ones who saved me and gave me a mind capable of thinking proper thoughts. And yet, you're giving me more while ignoring the payment you originally expected. Don't worry, I will help in any way I can!"
She might have said that, but Mitch refused to change his plans.
Until she became mature enough to understand the weight she would carry in the future, any and all plans related to her were put on hold.
"Silly girl. She truly got swooned by your charm. How does that feel?"
Even Katherine cheered up after Madeline's situation got cleared up.
"I think we're far away enough to start with this thing now." He released his hold on the ants he had brought with him and pointed towards the queen.
"Before you eat this, I want to conduct an experiment with you, child. Is that okay?"
"That's very okay. Go ahead, Michael!" She held absolute trust that he would not do anything to put her in the way of danger, not after risking his life to bring the queen's corpse.
Indeed, Mitch wanted nothing more than to see if different parts of the creature that was eaten gave different amounts of genetic data.
He walked up to the queen's corpse and ripped one of its mandibles clean out. He then used that very same mandible to hack at its neck, trying to separate its head from the rest of its body.
After a few tries, it finally came loose.
"Start by eating this." He said as he handed her the head.
Madeline tried to appear serious to fit the theme of experimenting, but her eager eyes and gaping mouth gave her gluttonous thoughts away.
As she was about to take a bite out of the queen's head, Mitch started monitoring how far along she was in the mutation.
0.02%
0.78%
1.43%
It kept increasing rapidly as Madeline devoured the head, bigger than her own, as if it was nothing at all. It finally settled around 10%, causing Mitch to feel a little bit anxious.
He really didn't have the ability to kill another queen right now, and he would rather not gamble with killing a swarm of worker ants for a measly 0.01% worth of progress per ant she ate.
Pushing those thoughts to the back of his head, he walked back and chopped off the queen's rear part.
"This should have the parts we are interested in as well, meaning you should hopefully be able to start your metamorphosis after eating this."
Getting the go-ahead to dig in, Madeline waited no further. She started wolfing down piece after piece as if it were the most delicious thing she had ever eaten.
As Mitch hypothesized, the part related to the mutation provided a higher rate of progression.
10%
13%
27%
It soon reached around 80% before slowing down.
This scared Mitch, and he could guess why it was.
Normally, when documenting genetics, you need enough sample data to find the most preserved version of a gene. In the case of Madeline, however…
She only had one.
Mitch then noticed something, causing him to calm down.
"It's done; we did it."
Katherine was confused by his statement. The completion rate had stagnated to a halt after reaching 85%, leading her to believe that one queen wasn't enough.
Even after Madeline started on the last piece of the ant, she was barely approaching 95%.
"What do you mean, 'it's done'? Do you really think that the middle part of the queen's body will be enough for her to reach 100%?"
Mitch just chuckled, more than happy to prove her wrong.
"That's what you've failed to realize, Katherine. It has slowed down but never fully stopped. At this rate, she will never reach 100% with just the one queen. But I think I know a way to solve this issue."
He walked over to the other ant corpses and grabbed two.
"Eat these next, child."
Madeline did not question his decision. She ate the rest of the queen rapidly and moved on to the worker ants.
Without even needing to touch the second one, the mutation reached 100% completion, at least for the somatic one.
"Wha—how did you know?" She was thoroughly befuddled.
'She had already gathered enough genetic data but still required variation, which the normal ant provided. Simple as that.'
Leaving the explanation at the bare minimum as a way to tease Katherine, Mitch turned his attention back to Madeline.
"Do you feel it?" He inquired, already knowing the answer from her looking down at her stomach.
"Yeah. Is it okay for me to go to sleep now?" Her eyes were already drooping, and she looked like she would fall asleep at any moment.
"Indeed, it is. Sleep, child, and wake up reborn into a new body."
She nodded her head and lay down on the ground, where she curled up into a ball.
The moment she fell asleep, her exoskeleton inflated like a balloon, eventually turning into the shape of an egg.
Mitch observed the egg for a moment before turning his eyes another way, revealing a sharp glint.
"I think… it's about time I get a little bit more serious."