Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 515 - 495: Thousand Reef Archipelago

After Dragon Cypress evolved to Evolution Lord Level, the first batch of Specialized Green Soldiers and Specialized Green Ants, after a long nine months of development, finally emerged through feather transformation.

Actual observation showed that the ability inheritance matched expectations.

Specialized Green Soldiers excel at the combat abilities of Bean Vine Entanglement and Flying Leaf.

Specialized Green Ants are proficient in the production abilities Flourish and Tranquility.

The Forest Symbiont ability is rather unique; it’s neither combat nor production type, and both Green Soldiers and Green Ants can perfectly inherit it. Dragon Cypress classifies it as a ’survival type’, an ability that helps Origin Force Lives survive better in this world.

...

Specialized Blue Soldiers, Specialized Blue Ants, Specialized Soldier Ants, and Specialized Worker Ants, which were specially bred for observation and ability testing, are also emerging one after another.

Water System Blue Soldiers successfully inherited the Water Creation ability.

Strength System Soldier Ants successfully inherited the Hundredfold Strength ability.

There were no other major changes.

All differentiated ant types saw their ability strengths increase in tandem with the improvement of Dragon Cypress’s own abilities. The ratio of inherited ability strengths remained almost unchanged, specifically depending on ant type differentiation and ability type.

Because the Creator Civilization that built the Dominating Throne was a Water System Civilization,

Water System Blue Soldiers are much stronger— a single Specialized Blue Soldier’s Water System Ability is roughly 25% to 30% of Dragon Cypress’s own.

Strength System Soldier Ants and Wood Element Green Soldiers/Green Ants are slightly inferior. The abilities inherited by Specialized Soldier Ants, Green Soldiers, and Green Ants are about 5% to 20% of Dragon Cypress’s own abilities.

Dragon Cypress has not yet mastered production-type Strength System abilities, so currently Worker Ants have no usable abilities.

Blue Ants are the most special. Although Dragon Cypress, as the Ant King, does not possess the ’Refinement’ ability, Blue Ants do—likely due to the Dominating Throne as well.

Dragon Cypress speculates that once he evolves to King-Level, the sixth awakened Water System Ability will be ’Refinement’.

The Creator Civilization was not skilled in combat; production was likely their forte, and ’Refinement’ was a core ability of their civilization.

...

...

...

Xianglan Mountain.

In the north of the mountain, Cold Orchids bloom, and winter has arrived.

"Dragon Cypress, two years have passed."

"Oh—"

"The Fire Wheel Kingdom must have given up by now, right?"

"With matters of life and death like this, it’s best not to ’assume’ anything until we know for sure."

"So, should we go verify?"

"Not ’we’—me."

"I can help. If we encounter the butterfly you mentioned again, I’ll finish it off for you."

"No need. I can handle it myself."

"Then what about me?"

"Come with me to the Areca Rainforest."

After returning to the mountain and making a round to inspect the territory, Dragon Cypress packed up simply and set out with Ink Orchid.

Ink Orchid waited for news in the Areca Rainforest.

Dragon Cypress set out alone for the Molan Continent.

...

The Dominating Throne circled Leafcutter Island in a wide arc, from west to east, then clung to the Divine Force Barrier, flying above the clouds, heading straight east.

Dragon Cypress estimated the distance, dived deep into the sea, turned south in an L-shaped route, and headed directly to Swinging Leaf Island.

King-Level soul stage.

At the shallow sea floor, he activated the Soul-Setting ability, instantly covering the entire island and scanning back and forth.

On the island, only the soul of the Divine-Given Seed of the Swinging Leaf Iron Core Tree was present.

Reassured, Dragon Cypress landed to inspect the situation.

The Divine-Given Seed of the Swinging Leaf Iron Core Tree was in perfect condition; last time when evacuating, he had picked all the fruit from the tree, and it had recovered quite a lot.

Over two years, it had flowered twice more, bearing two batches of green fruit, with a significant increase in the number of fruits set.

Dragon Cypress tapped with his tentacle, dropping eight consecutive Flourish abilities, then piloted the Dominating Throne to patrol the island.

He found no traces of any search having been conducted.

Swinging Leaf Island is a deep-sea isolated island, located northeast of Fire Wheel Island, about 1700 kilometers away— not easy to find.

After repeated confirmation,

Dragon Cypress rested on the island for a night, and at dawn the next morning, flew west at high altitude.

Twin Pillar Island: Safe.

Fragrant Silk Island: Safe.

There was still plenty of time, and Dragon Cypress was not in a hurry to return.

He could further explore the near-shore areas close to the Mainland, searching for an Insect-Free Deserted Island.

——Where to search?

Last time, after encountering the Flash Butterfly Warrior Purple, he had deliberately fled west, leaving misleading Ant Nest clues on the western side.

The northwest and directly west sea regions off the Mainland were not safe to approach for now—too risky.

The northeast sea region of the Mainland had already been explored, and two Insect-Free Deserted Islands were found.

So, head for the sea to the east of the Mainland...

Dragon Cypress set out at night, steering the Dominating Throne east, estimating the distance, then making a sharp turn south. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

After just one night’s travel, he entered the direct eastern sea region.

He calculated his position,

acted cautiously, and flew over 500 kilometers away from the coast, remaining high above the clouds.

By mid-morning, there was a discovery,

about 200 kilometers from shore, he found an island, not large, about 30 square kilometers, dived beneath the sea to approach, scanned with Soul-Setting ability, and confirmed it was unoccupied by insects.

Further south,

after flying less than 100 kilometers, he found another sizable great island.

He waited patiently, approaching only after nightfall.

This island had an area of over 300 square kilometers, and a beehive was present, occupied by a bee swarm.

Regrettably, this great island had been taken by the near-shore Bee Clan Kingdom.

Without further delay, he slipped away quietly.

Resting at sea overnight,

he set out at dawn and continued north...

He entered a region densely populated with islands; in those two days alone, he discovered over three hundred islands of various sizes.

Seven of them had areas over 100 square kilometers.

Of these, five near the coast had been occupied by the Mainland’s Bee Clan Kingdom.

The other two large offshore islands, both more than 500 kilometers from shore, were not occupied by insects—one about 150 square kilometers, the other about 400 square kilometers.

There were more than eighty smaller islands over 10 square kilometers, each worth landing and searching. Combined, the entire area exceeded 2000 square kilometers.

All the islands were clustered relatively close to one another, with distances between a few hundred meters and several dozen kilometers.

Viewed from the sea floor, this region was a kind of "plateau area" in the ocean, with dense underwater mountains.

Mountain peaks rising above the surface became reefs.

Among the archipelago, thousands of black rock reefs dotted the area.

Fish and shrimp swarmed in the sea, and flocks of seabirds filled the sky.

This was a richly abundant marine area.

Dragon Cypress named it the ’Thousand Reef Archipelago’.

It was relatively ideal— the place for the Ant Kingdom to migrate and take root after evolving into Insect King in the future.

However, in the Lord-Level stage, attempting to search for Divine-Given Seeds here would inevitably involve great risk...

He needed to observe the situation...

Dragon Cypress chose a 400-square-kilometer offshore great island far from the coast, unoccupied by insects, and lay in ambush at a depth of 200 meters on the near-shore sea floor.

He periodically used Soul-Setting ability to scan.

Lying in hiding, he observed.

He waited patiently for over half a month.

Then, one day,

by mid-morning, a small bee swarm—fifty Specialized Professional Bees and three hundred Large Worker Bees—swept in low across the sea, heading straight for the island.

A King-Level bee swarm of small size.

After landing, they immediately split into fifty squads, each with one Specialized Professional Bee and six Large Worker Bees, dispersing into the island’s forest.

Toward noon, the bee swarm, laden with prey, gradually regrouped at their dispersed landing spots and departed together.

Dragon Cypress waited patiently until nightfall, then surfaced and landed to inspect the situation on the island.

The island had many wild fruit trees, all untouched.

Numerous bird feathers were scattered about.

They ate no wild fruit, only hunted birds and beasts.

Clearly, this was a purely carnivorous bee clan, likely a fierce species such as wasps or hornets.

Not lingering, Dragon Cypress turned back, heading for Cloud Trace Continent.