Words or sentences that have an asterisk (*) on both ends are meant to be sound effects

I woke up.

This time instead of that endless abyss of pure black where I felt nothing but creeping dread, this time it was quite warm.

It felt comfortable. It felt like I was simply meant to be here. It felt like… home. Then my stomach began to grumble, demanding to be fed.

I opened my eyes and flinched when I saw a light-yellow green colour. Bubbles popping out my mouth as I let out an exhale at the sight.

--I'm underwater..?

More bubbles filled up my surroundings as I panicked, something inside of me pulsated madly, then calm suddenly washed over me. It was then that I remembered, that I died, got chosen by a 'System' to do something and I chose to be a humanoid ant to fulfill that objective.

[Past memories successfully returned. Full usage of the System and current memories will be fully unlocked after 14 days of calibration. Please do your best to survive until then.]

Huh? Ah fuck, well whatever. It's just two weeks, I can do this. But I need to at least form a plan before hatching out the egg…

…

After a few minutes of constant revisions, I planned out what I should do to try and fulfill the goal. I call it, 'Very Awesome Plan for Certain Survival as I Explore the Dark Continent'.

And it starts with getting a Hunter's License. I don't remember much about Hunter X Hunter's plot but I knew that this thing was ridiculously valuable and has benefits that I would need for travelling.

Pumping myself up, I ripped the shell open noting how it felt fleshy rather than hard like a chicken egg's.

The juices that kept me afloat spilled out as I emerged from the egg. Slightly stretching my back and lower waist, I saw a bright purple ant with butterfly wings on it's back, staring right back at me. It's exoskeleton was sleek and surprisingly shiny like a gem, almost like an amethyst.

I wonder if it tastes like grapes.

Something within me felt wrong so I tried pull it towards me and made it flow through my body then I realized said thing was my aura… Ten, if I remember was what this technique was called. The purple ant stared at me while doing so,

In a language so foreign yet so familiar, it called out to me, "Welcome, Zalzamel…"

Zalzamel… Was that my name? It sounds an awful lot like salsa meal.

…. I'm just hungry, aren't I. That said, I can't feel that reduced sanity bit due to being hungry from my beginner's gift.

"Zalzamel..?"

The purple ant called out to me once more, probably because I blanked out for a few seconds and so thinking that it was just polite to reply, I uttered my very first words upon coming to this world, saying something so shocking yet splendid! "I'm hungry." Not.

Although, that first part about being shocking might be right since said-ant who was probably the queen stared back at me for a few seconds. Coughing lightly, it nodded and replied slowly, "Alright, the other ch--ones should be arriving soon… Can you wait for a few minutes?"

It was uncomfortable how motherly she-- no--it was to be honest. But I nodded and said, "Yes."

I sighed to myself as it went off outside(?) this segment of the cave.

Scratching my chin, I observed my surroundings closely and nearly jumped in fright as I noticed the white figure kneeling in front of me.

How in the ever living fuck did it get there?

Observing it closely, it looked like a dragonoid of some sorts. Instead of scales however, it seemed to be covered with fur and an exoskeleton that seemed more like armor that covered its joints, neck and shoulders. Bat/dragon wings were folded on it's back as it's reptilian cyan eyes stared at me unblinkingly.

So uh, "Are you part of my royal guard?"

It seemed a bit surprised at my question but nodded and went back to staring at me.

…

…

This is awkward…

What do I even say to keep the conversation going?! I haven't even found out what it's name is yet!

Right! Its name. Coughing to myself inwardly, I asked in the most old-englishy way possible, "State thy name."

… It stared at me, a bit confused.

I sighed to myself as I asked again, "What is your name?"

The royal guard's eyes lit up and it tilted its head but shook it again.

Then it went back to staring at me.

… "You can't tell me?"

It nodded as I questioned once more, "Why?"

After a few moments of staring at me, it pointed at its mouth, opened it and closed it.

Huh? Am I dumb for not getting what it meant?

The purple ant, which I assumed was the queen, sounded out,"Sh--it meant that it could not speak, Zalzamel…"

"Oh." Yep, I'm dumb.

I knocked my fist against my palm as I got it. I looked at the queen and the few shiny chimera ants following behind it carrying corpses… Why were they all shiny?

Am I shiny?

I ignored the curious looks I got from the other chimera ants and simply stared at the small pile of corpses which thankfully had no humans.

Hungry.

I barely stopped myself from just eating everything since it was proper manners to wait until all the food is served to eat… I shook my head and started to plan what I was going to do with this colony. Knowing how the Chimera Ants in the series acted when they got one of them as prey, it seems like they hadn't hunted many of them yet. It couldn't be none since I was specifically a "Perfect Human Hybrid".

It seems like no one should have found out about this colony yet… So maybe it is viable for me to try and train them to follow me into the Dark Continent. Not to mention with a Chimera Ant Queen, I could theoretically have a soldier spawner. Not to mention that royal guard seems to know how to hide its aura, Zetsu, already. Did it already awaken to Nen or is it just that it already knows how to instinctively hide its own aura like Gon?

After the last of the chimera ants finally dropped their catch, I started tearing through the pile.

As I take each and every bite, a small amount of aura pulsed within me. It was small but I noticed how my aura became just a tad more powerful. Nothing overwhelming to the point my aura basically doubled or something but just around a 20th. There were some live prey like a multi-colored shrimp that seemed to have transparent skin that had more aura than others. It seemed like by eating creatures alive it would allow me to earn all of their aura.

As I finished through the small pile, I let out a satisfied burp. Nothing was left of the corpse pile, not even the bones. I once again ignored the strange stares which now included the Queen and my royal guard.

The influx of memories weren't even that invasive. Although it felt like they were mine, I could easily differentiate what was truly mine and not. Not to mention with just how many things there were, I had a rough layout of some parts of this forest.

Once again, I did not feel my mind or reasoning changing now that I'm full so maybe I wasn't that hungry yet?

That said, I need to address every single one of them staring at me weirdly as a small smile appeared on my face. I announced to them calmly as I made up my mind, "All of you, thank you for the meal. But I'm afraid that I must leave soon to fulfill my duty to our race."

While I could stay here, I need to at least explore the surrounding area to see if there were any human settlements around since the memories tell nothing of the sort. That said, I don't look like a human so that could cause some problems regarding that Hunter License.

For some reason, I could just see the slight panic in the Queen's eyes as I said that. Especially during the " I must leave to fulfill my duty" which was strange. The aura that escaped from the tip of its head suddenly flickered like a candle in the wind. The queen then replied back a bit too calmly, "Zalzamel, maybe you should stay for a while longer? There has been quite a powerful threat in the surroundings…"

I stared at the queen for a while as if in contemplation then nodded, "Fine, but only for a while."

A threat? I tried to recall everything in the memories of the victims--errr, prey that the chimera ants caught. There were certain areas in my mental map that were unexplored but the most dangerous part seemed to be deep in a very foggy area that seemed to be a bright cloud in the distance.

The sunlight reflected on the clouds, giving off a bright golden colour during the sunset and sunrise. And as much as it was beautiful, apparently everything stronger than a few bottom-feeders stayed out of that location since most of their instincts told them that it was certain death in there. The Crystal-skin Shrimps lived there since nothing ever dared to come near its pond, except one of them apparently got nabbed by a 6-legged wolf then that wolf got killed by a praying-mantis chimera ant which then led to it delivering food to me…

The cave doesn't seem to be misty or foggy but I'll have to see what it looked like outside. Not one single prey seemed to even have come close to the nest of the Chimera Ants.

As for the queen… While I could just not play along, that would be a tad dangerous. It wants something from me, I don't know what but it should be quite dangerous. If not towards me then towards humans. It would be my fault if I could not control the nest and let it explode out of control like the one in the series.

If the Queen poses too much a threat and I can't control then I would have to kill it. If Humanity has a bad impression of us Chimera Ants then I would have to probably hide myself and that would be a detriment to my mission.

Not to mention, it knew Nen but seemingly wanted to hide it from me. It was only for a split milli-second but it's aura suddenly withdrew itself into Ten then quickly released itself back to escaping from the tip of its head. While it could have been just a trick of the eye, it wasn't that far out of the stretch that a chimera ant could awaken to Nen on its own.

Adding all of these, even though some may be a stretch, I could not take this lying down.

D e d e m o m a l a c k y

A few hours later…

It was a pretty troublesome situation I was in. Some of the chimera ants have left including the queen after a while but there were still two of them that stared at me unceasingly, which the queen explained by, "Oh they are just replacements for two of your royal guards since they are… gone."

She seemed sad at that but I just chalked that up to her trying to be a pity party.

With nothing to do, I started by circulating my aura more vigorously but it just made my Ten denser which wasn't increasing its amount. There didn't seem to be any cups, leaves or water around so I couldn't test what was my Nen Type since that was the only way I could accurately find out what it was.

If I knew what my Nen Type was, I could start developing my own Hatsu which was essentially a special technique or something… I really forgot about the details regarding that one thing.

All I knew was that Enhancers, enhanced things like straight up becoming stronger or making your voice scream louder.

Emitters seemed to be able to detach their auras easily for ranged attacks. Could I do something like a rasengan with that?

Conjurers, well, conjured things that seemed to be really specific but I had no idea what. All I knew was that Kurapika licked that chain so his Hatsu became stronger or something…

Manipulators seemed to able to take control of things, including living beings through some restrictions. Which I wish I had, since this would make brainwashing the chimera ants easier.

Transmuters were able to apply special attributes to their own aura, with Killua being able to convert his own aura into electricity. Though he had to charge it by electrocuting himself.

Specialists apparently were what you had if you did not fit with any of the other types. The only specialists I could think of the top of my head was;

Meruem, the Chimera Ant King of the series, which can eat living things and gain their aura-… Wait, wasn't that Phagoallaso excluding the transformation and memory part?! Did I just get a better Hatsu than him even though it doesn't count as a Hatsu? Or--

Ahem, anyways, there was Chrono, Kurowo(?), I forgot his name but he could steal Hatsu abilities through his notebook or something.

Pitou, a royal guard of Meruem, had uhh…? A stand that can heal or something? I was confused about her/his/their abilities and I'm even more confused on what gender they were. Probably a girl but eh.

Since I had no convenient cups of water with a leaf on top, I tried to perform acts that could pertain towards a certain type.

First, I tried to enhance my senses.

… Do I just put more aura into those parts or something?

Closing my eyes, I circulated my aura and focused more of them into my ears.

*Crash!*

The sounds of waves crashing against stone.

*Caw! Caw!*

The cawing of seagulls were barely hearable through the world of noise but it was there.

Was that the ocean?

I raised an eyebrow, which I did not have, to this strange revelation. The misty area was dead-on center away from any major bodies of water, the beach was a few tens of miles away from that location. So that meant that the misty area was not dangerous because of Chimera Ants.

Shaking my head, I sighed since my curiosity was boiling. Seeing that enhancement works, I tried Emission.

I closed my eyes and raised my index finger. Everything flowed towards that finger and I tried to carefully detach some of it. Opening my eyes, I saw a blazing purple orb of aura on top of my index finger.

Now to test it…

I threw it towards a wall which didn't have any of the chimera ants and it flew there gently, like a bubble.

Then it popped, resulting in a fart-like sound. Which made the 2 chimera ants "guarding" me look around for something.

Ahh, I broke my focus.

Well, if it made contact with that wall then it would probably be destroyed so let's move on… I should try and practice in a more discreet location later on. It probably also doesn't technically count as a Hatsu since Gon did this more for practice.

This time, I tried transmutation.

I made a thinking pose as I brainstormed on what I could try to convert my aura into. It needed to be something I was intimately familiar with.

Something like… that pitch black void.

I suppressed my shivers as I tried to imagine it.

D E A T H.

Fuck! I grit my teeth and stopped myself from remembering that any further.

I was terrified of death moreso than before. Before, I didn't know what lied waiting for me on the otherside and now… I do. An abyss of darkness with only my thoughts to accompany me. Waiting for the day that something, that something happens.

That something was the System.

I thought I had overcome my fear of that thing and grew comfortable with it. But apparently being alive again made my fear of it even worse.

God, I'm pathetic.

Wait, the system..! I remembered the selection screen which had that more comforting white space.

It felt comforting and uncomfortable. I felt and saw what my very own soul looked like there. It felt like I was naked, that every bit of my dirty little secrets was laid bare for the world to watch… Yet it felt like home.

I tried to imbue my memories and feelings to my own aura… Then I was washed over with a warm yet cold golden light.

Opening my eyes, I felt emotions that were not my own from 3 different sources.

Two of which were filled with comfort, confusion, respect and a bit of wariness against me. They were probably the two chimera ants beside me right now. Their confusion was towards me of whom was glowing golden and staring at them curiously.

…Yeah, I get why they're confused.

The other one was from… behind me? I looked back and saw a flash of my royal guard. I tried to focus and saw it, curled in a corner tilting its head towards me. It was comforted, intrigued, confused, respectful and… sad?

Strange. I couldn't question on why it was sad so I left it be.

Was this the right time to test manipulation?

Sorry for doing this without your consent, you two..!

I tried to fill the replacement guards besides me with the feeling of comfort. They resisted a bit, but became more and more relaxed to the point where they started to close their eyes.

So I can feel and manipulate emotions now. Great, now I can see what that Queen is feelin-

Wait, did I just make my very own hatsu?!

The glowing aura suddenly disappeared which made the two chimera ants beside me more tense…

A giddy grin came onto my face as I whooped to myself.

Hell yeah! A Hatsu on the very first day!

As expected of me! I am a genius!

Then I felt stares and quickly stopped myself. Looking back, I saw the Queen which I could see was becoming more and more tensed as she asked amiably, "Zalzamel, what got you so happy?"

… Wait, what was my excuse?!

Not showing any of my panic in my face, I smiled. It was better to use it on her now since I couldn't explain what exactly got me so cheerful. Feeling that familiar warm cold feeling, I stayed silent with a silent smile on my face as it shivered.

The queen was filled with anguish, fear, fear, fear, fear , fear , fear for her own LIFE.

I was taken aback because the queen was terrified of me. Why would she fear for her own life..?

I tried to fill her with some positive emotions, comfort and happiness to be exact but I couldn't even touch what it felt. It was too resistant.

The queen seemed to have felt that, so any pretense of it not knowing Nen was thrown to the air as I felt an aura not that much weaker than mine. As her aura burned brightly like flames that became tinged with a toxic green, I felt even more in danger than before.

The queen's fears was then buried in steely determination.

Oi, what was going on?!

The two guard besides me glowed with killing intent towards me and while they may not be dangerous given how large my aura reserves were, the problem was I couldn't focus on fighting if they

I needed to take her off-guard.

Now that I think about it, wasn't she trying to be motherly towards me?

Then how about this?!

Then as every single one in this room, with the most childish excited tone, I raised my hands up on the air and shouted,

"I CAN GLOW IN THE DARK, MOM!"

Feeling the sudden confusion in the room and the Queen's aura flickering back to Ten rather than Ren, I took the opportunity to suddenly fill each and every single one of them with overwhelming comfort.

The two chimera ants suddenly dropped snoring on the floor while the Queen stayed awake for a brief moment… then crashed on to the floor, a peaceful expression on its face.

I also crashed down the floor as my aura reserves dropped down to the negatives.

"Fuck… That can't be good for my lifespan!"

It probably wasn't since my consciousness blurred as exhaustion came over me. I couldn't even move my own finger properly…

I need to stay… awake…..

As the last of my consciousness drifted off to sleep, I wondered to myself.

What or who was the Queen longing for?

POV: The Royal Guard

Sounds of snoring filled the room. As the sudden attack on the King suddenly came to a close, the remaining forgotten Royal Guard tilted her head, confused.

First, the King glowed with a comfortable sunlight like light then the King noticed her even though she hid her presence. She was quite intrigued by that since even her fellow Royal Guards who died couldn't even notice her, and they were stronger than the King.

The royal guard wandered if the King remembered her by now…

Then the Queen appeared as she questioned the King. The King did not reply but instead glowed once more. The queen didn't seem to take to that kindly as she suddenly felt stronger. The royal guard was confused, did the Queen hide her own strength?

That confusion was quickly snuffed as she felt the killing intent on the air and it was directed towards the King.

Those fools.

Erasing her emotions for more clarity, she had quickly made a battle-plan in mind.

The Queen still had not noticed her, so she could still instantly kill her but that left the King vulnerable. She needed to kill those two besides the King first before dealing with the Queen, so--

Before the Royal Guard had burst down to decapitate the two ants, the King suddenly screamed excitedly, "I CAN GLOW IN THE DARK, MOM!"

Is he stupid?!

Then an overwhelmingly comforting feeling washed over the Royal Guard as the King's light grew brighter.

Then everyone else besides her and the King crashed down onto floor, snoring peacefully. The king then followed it up by also collapsing on the floor, muttering something about how something was dangerous to his lifespan. It took a few moments for him but then the King also fell asleep.

Sighing, the Royal Guard positioned herself slightly hidden from view. Seeing no need to interfere any longer she rested, trying to fight the relaxing feeling that still remained.

Then she closed her eyes, falling victim to the comfort that she had not felt in a long time.

A/N: sorry for not updating in so long, school was kinda a bummer so I died inside for a while

Also explaining Nen was a tad long but whatever, I kinda skipped out the specifics of hatsus so it isn't as much of a hassle as it used to be. Kinda need to explain it as well for a refresher for both me and some readers.

I'm gonna try to write the next chapter sooner but it'll probably be as late as this.

There a lot of fucking ellipses in this chapter, ey?

Also if you're confused why Zalzamel seems pretty weak, well its because he's basically a newborn and a nerf to him. but I'll go into more detail on exactly why he was that weak since Chimera Ants were basically built to be powerful even though they were freshly hatched from the egg. Heck, Meruem ripped himself out the fucking womb which means he hasn't even finished growing! And he is still strong enough to compare to Isaac Netero which was strongest known human character at the time.

Also more queen pov next chap.

Thanks for reading!