Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 540 - 519: Exchange

The Ant Kingdom is developing and expanding, right in its time of need; Xianglan Mountain happily welcomes its fourteenth official member, and under Dragon Cypress’s command, welcomes its eleventh Assistant King.

First, have Fragrant Cypress take charge.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid set out, heading for the Wanglan Continent to search for Divine-Given Seeds.

They only searched once through Swinging Leaf Island and the Thousand Isles Archipelago.

But found nothing.

When they returned to Xianglan Mountain, Black Persimmon had already undergone one leap evolution.

Its entire body was ink-green; without a doubt, it had perfectly inherited Dragon Cypress’s Forest Symbiont ability.

Its body length had shrunk from about 2.4 meters to about 2.2 meters. According to pattern, after experiencing six leap evolutions, it would eventually be just over 1 meter in size, which is to say, starting evolution from a 1st Age Period High-Level Warrior.

It’s highly likely that for any Mountain Lord Level, Lord-Level, or even future King-Level Specialized Ant, if they are to give birth to such all-rounder Assistant Kings, they must follow this pattern and fall to 1st Age Period High-Level.

King-Level and above is unknown and cannot be speculated.

...

Dragon Cypress settled down at Xianglan Mountain for a long stay; in the idle winter, personally instructing Black Persimmon in recognizing all kinds of animals and plants, as well as in characters.

Most of Dragon Cypress’s self-created characters borrowed from the knowledge of the Huagi Knowledge Hall on Huagi Mountain, with a small part directly transplanted without modification.

According to the Banner Divine Tree, those characters at the Huagi Knowledge Hall actually borrow from the Flame Spider Roving Merchants...

Tracing back to their origins, they come from the ancient Flame Spider Kingdom.

Perhaps there were omissions in the borrowing process—many, many things cannot be clearly and accurately expressed.

Dragon Cypress had been steadily expanding the number of characters; after dozens of years, growing from the initial one thousand or so to four or five thousand.

Still not enough.

The biggest problem is: there are more than 2 million species of animals and plants in the Natural Star Realm, and each character can only describe one species.

It’s clearly impossible to create more than 2 million unique characters.

The naming conventions for flora and fauna in the Natural Star Realm are highly systematic.

Dragon Cypress thought of a solution: using combinations of multiple characters to describe a species.

For example: cypress.

The cypress tree is a great clan.

Subdivided into Dragon Cypress, Round Cypress, Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress, Cypress, and so on—various different species.

"Cypress" is one character.

"Dragon" is one character, "Round" is one, "Spiked" is one, and so on...

Combine two or more characters to describe a certain plant.

Every day on the mountain, besides releasing pheromones at set times—morning, noon, and night—to stimulate the development and differentiation of ant eggs and larvae in the nest, Dragon Cypress had nothing else to do.

Bored, while teaching Black Persimmon, Dragon Cypress also contemplated refining and augmenting the existing self-made characters, gradually constructing a new character system.

...

Spring of the new year,

A trade with the Flame Spider Roving Merchants—Divine-Grade Ghost Lotus Seed delivered, Cypress used it and broke through to Evolution Lord Level.

After eleven months, Black Persimmon completed six leap evolutions, becoming an official 1st Age Period High-Level Assistant King.

Sent to the Purple Tung Insect Nation, to study warfare command and combat skills with the Linnan Divine Tree.

...

Time flew by for another year.

The Flame Spider Caravan arrived with a Divine-Grade Lightwing Seed, Giant Cypress used it and broke through to Evolution Lord Level.

At this point, all the traditional Command Ants of the Giant-Headed Ant Tribe under Dragon Cypress’s early guidance—Round Cypress, Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress, Cypress, Fragrant Cypress, Silver Cypress—had all reached Lord-Level.

Moreover, in their seventh, eighth, and ninth Age Periods, they had almost only consumed Divine-Given Origin Force Food.

The reinforcing effect of Divine-Given Origin Force Food is three to five times that of ordinary Origin Force Food.

For every Age Period Evolution, an Assistant King requires half the Origin Force Food of a complete Insect Clan Warrior.

All in all, the strength of all these Assistant Kings was no less than that of typical Insect Clan Warriors—if not even greater.

Black Cory had reached 9th Age Period Mountain Lord.

The later-born Black Leaf, Black Birch, and Black Peach evolved to varying degrees.

However, being born late has its advantages: the Ant Kingdom’s prosperity let them, from even Mountain Lord Level or High-Level onward, only evolve by consuming Divine-Given Origin Force Food. Regardless of combat skill, their overall physical quality and ability intensity far surpassed others of the same rank.

...

Another two years flashed by.

Blue Catalpa, Snakebark Maple, Black Rice, Woodberry, and White Willow all advanced to Evolution Lord Level together.

Of the Insect Clan Warriors who had participated in the attack on the Termite Kingdom that year, only Mulberry had yet to evolve.

Despite earning 50% of the Divine-Given Scarletlight Seed’s profits and once having more Origin Force Food than could be eaten, Mulberry had become rather tight in recent times.

In fact, White Willow and Black Rice were not well-off either.

White Willow had received plenty of Bee King Honey from Black Cory, who shared its profit share with White Willow.

Black Rice had support from White Rice, who had advanced to Lord-Level early on.

Similarly, Woodberry did not have a Divine-Given Seed and so was quite poor. After Ghost Fan advanced to Lord-Level, its Divine-Given Seed produced annual average earnings of about 180,000. With Ghost Fan’s help, Woodberry soon caught up.

Mulberry, however, lagged behind...

...

Mid-Autumn,

As it advanced to Lord-Level, the first batch of nine Divine-Given Seeds produced by the White Poplar Divine Seed matured. Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid stood guard, oversaw the harvest, then prepared to set out, traversing the continent to begin that year’s autumn trade.

Many Divine-Grade Baihe Fruits were quickly distributed to the warriors who needed them.

Finally, they arrived at Scarletlight Mountain.

At the North Mountain Orchard, Mulberry was busy loosening soil for the mango trees; Specialized Blue Soldiers lined up, drawing water from the mountain’s Marsh Gas Pool for irrigation.

Under the Wood Tangerine Divine-Given Seed tree, Areca had hunted a wild boar and was slicing it up to feed the little Primordial Spiders of the same tribe. Sensing a surge of Origin Force Fluctuation from the Dominating Throne, Areca got up and dashed toward the Divine-Given Scarletlight Seed.

Yet the Dominating Throne flew directly to Mulberry’s dwelling cave, landing and docking at the entrance.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King!"

"Ink Orchid!"

Mulberry and Areca arrived one after the other.

"Areca!"

"Mulberry! Look what this is!"

Ink Orchid swung the Spider Silk Bag in her hand, leapt lightly to the ground.

Areca hurried over and curiously asked: "Divine-Grade Baihe Fruit?"

Mulberry suddenly realized, said with delight: "Ah! Right! The White Poplar Fruit has ripened!"

Mulberry couldn’t help but sigh: "Time really flies!"

Ink Orchid handed the Spider Silk Bag to Mulberry, briefly explaining: "This batch produced 9 seeds. Three will be sold to White Ivy and the Luoli Caravan, three sold to the Spider King Spurge, and the other three—White Willow gets one, Ghost Fan gets one, and you, Mulberry, get one."

"Thank you, Ink Orchid!"

"Thank you, Dragon Cypress Ant King!"

Mulberry opened the bag to check, joyfully expressing gratitude.

Ink Orchid waved her tentacle, "Mulberry, you’re too polite. This is your deserved reward."

Dragon Cypress hovered up and down, quickly unloading cargo from the Dominating Throne, calling out: "Mulberry, eat your White Poplar Fruit on the Throne—the effect will be a bit better."

Mulberry: "Alright!"

Dragon Cypress settled the Dominating Throne in the cave.

Mulberry jumped right on and absorbed the Primordial Energy of the Baihe Fruit.

Ninth Age Period Mountain Lord, taking two days to fully absorb all the Primordial Energy.

Emerging from the cave, the aura around Mulberry had clearly changed—teeming with vitality, life qi powerful; he really was fifty years younger all at once, turned back into a twenty-year-old youthful insect.

The feeling of youth is wonderful!

Mulberry couldn’t help but rejoice.

Dragon Cypress said with gravity, "Mulberry, your evolution has already fallen behind Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple."

Mulberry: "Er..."

Back then, the little warriors I raised with Source Stones have all evolved to Lord-Level...

Mulberry: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, with the Divine-Grade Baihe Fruit harvest this year, will there be a grand gathering in winter? It’s been years since I saw Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple. Or Ghost Fan, Woodberry, White Rice, Black Rice, and the others."

Ink Orchid: "Of course! And this time we’ll change locations—start with Areca Rainforest, then head to the Purple Tung Insect Nation."

Areca cheered at once, "Hooray! I’ll visit my hometown!" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"..."

Dragon Cypress, Ink Orchid, and Mulberry were momentarily speechless.

Dragon Cypress: "Mulberry, let’s get back to business. The 50% profit of the wild Divine-Given Scarletlight Seed is no longer enough to sustain your growth and evolution at Lord-Level. I have a good proposal; you can consider it."

Mulberry: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, please say it."

Dragon Cypress: "Here’s what we’ll do: you get the other half—the remaining 50% profit—from the wild Divine-Given Scarletlight Seed, and, before you evolve to King-Level, Ink Orchid and I will give you another Arbor Divine-Given Seed. In exchange, the ownership of the wild Divine-Given Scarletlight Seed will go to me and Ink Orchid; we’ll fully nurture it, help it evolve to King-Level, and eventually take it with us from the Origin Force Star Realm."

Mulberry thought briefly and agreed cheerfully: "Deal!"

Dragon Cypress: "Good! We’ll start counting from this year! The Scarletlight Fruit is nearly ripe; let’s go keep watch."

...

Back then, Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid had more or less taken advantage of Mulberry’s difficulties to seize a 50% profit share of the Divine-Given Scarletlight Seed.

This share allowed Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid to live in great wealth through all of the High-Level Warrior stage. Sixty thousand Source Stones every year—at the Mountain Lord Level, this was still a considerable income.

However, after Dragon Cypress evolved to Lord-Level, this share became much less important.

So, it was given back to Mulberry first.

Then, reacquired for themselves.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid had not been lucky enough to acquire Divine-Given Seeds in recent years, but were confident that in the long span of four or five hundred years ahead, they would gather all the Lord-Level and King-Level Evolution Seeds needed for each Age Period—plus have a surplus.

Any extra Divine-Given Seed would not have time to be nurtured into a wild Divine-Given Seed.

Could Divine-Given Seeds be taken away?

Dragon Cypress had asked the Banner Divine Tree before, but it did not know either.

Huagi Mountain is wealthy, but not to the point of being extravagant enough to waste Divine-Given Seeds on experiments.

What is the Outworld like?

If you brought a King-Level wild Divine-Given Seed that does not take up a Life Seed quota to the Outworld, let it take root, and let it quickly generate profits, that’s definitely more valuable than bringing just a Divine-Given Seed.

This exchange was also a good deal for Mulberry.

No one can take away a God-Given Life Seed, which for a start, is even more secure than a wild Divine-Given Seed.

...

...

...

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid swiftly completed their search for Divine-Given Seeds on the Wanglan Continent.

Dragon Cypress began shuttling between various Lands of Origin Force, transporting the scattered Insect Clan Warriors to the Areca Rainforest.

The gathering occurs once every sixteen years.

First, everyone feasted and celebrated for five days in the Areca Rainforest.

Then, the party moved to the Purple Tung Insect Nation, where the Barley Bug Warriors gathered for another three days of merry celebration together.

After all the excitement, the coldest ten-odd days of winter had passed by, too.