It took half a month to construct the Azure Blue Reservoir dam, raising it by 2 meters and increasing the water storage depth by 0.5 meters.
When the time was right, Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid packed their bags and set off north towards Silver Cypress Mountain to complete their trade with Mountain Persimmon. Mountain Persimmon had also sustained hidden injuries during its High-Level Stage of evolution and growth, and the remaining White Rice Ant King Honey, valued at 1,500 Source Stones, was allocated to it.
This year's Roving Merchant trade concluded, and they returned to Xianglan Mountain.
Dragon Cypress began cultivating Giant Blue Soldiers and Intelligent Blue Ants. Two special Ant Eggs were housed in two separate nests, with two dedicated teams of Worker Ants assigned to their full-time care.
This winter, Dragon Cypress remained on Xianglan Mountain. Through the Dominating Throne's Messenger feature, he produced a sufficient quota of seven Ant Eggs every four days. He entered the Ant Nest daily on schedule to release Pheromones, stimulating the differentiation of various Ant Eggs and focusing on strengthening the Ant Kingdom's power.
This year, they had also collected over forty types of Berry Ant Honey and more than sixty kinds of dry fruits.
From years of culinary experience, Dragon Cypress discovered that when it came to concocting Ant Honey flavors, more varieties didn't necessarily mean a better taste. Some berries and dry fruits could negatively affect the overall aroma and texture—durian and mango, for example. Some flavors and scents would clash; they tasted great individually but were awkward or even unpleasant when mixed.
Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid, in their roles as Gourmet Bugs, spent their days experimenting with blending different types of Ant Honey and tasting them. There seemed to be no discernible pattern, or at least neither Dragon Cypress nor Ink Orchid had found one. It was all based on intuition, sometimes even on whimsical pairings.
Through countless tests and evaluations, Dragon Cypress preliminarily categorized Ant Honey into four flavor profiles: Fresh Fruit Light Fragrance, Fresh Fruit Strong Fragrance, Dry Fruit Mellow Fragrance, and Mixed Mellow Fragrance. He also designated specific marks for the different fragrances.
Fresh Fruit Light Fragrance was marked with a Woodberry Pattern.
Fresh Fruit Strong Fragrance used a mango pattern.
Dry fruits used Green Torreya.
As for Mixed Mellow Fragrance… a large circle with three smaller circles drawn inside.
…
The Blue Ants' Refinement ability essentially involved removing all useless impurities, retaining only components absorbable by the Insect Clan. A large Spider Silk Bag of Origin Force Food, after Refinement, might not even fill a single metal container.
After ordinary Origin Force Food underwent Refinement, it was blended with different flavor profiles of ordinary Ant Honey, diluted, and made into various flavor profiles of 'Origin Force Ant Honey.'
For future mass production, tags could be cut from wood into oval leaf shapes, polished smooth, drilled with holes, strung with fine Spider Silk threads, and engraved with icons corresponding to the flavor profiles. Each jar produced would be hung with the corresponding tag, making it simple, clear, and easy to differentiate.
The tags were two-sided. The other side could be engraved to indicate the type of Origin Force enhancement the Ant Honey within provided.
The types of Origin Force enhancements from Inherited Memory were too numerous and complex. Dragon Cypress summarized and simplified them into four main conventional types: Elemental, Comprehensive Physique, Sensory, and Carapace. Other types were not considered for the time being.
For Elemental types, Water System enhancements were marked with several wavy lines; Earth System by a mountain; Wood Element by a tree; Fire System by a flame symbol…
Carapace enhancements were marked with a pair of Tenebrionid Beetle elytra.
Sensory enhancements were indicated by a pair of Dragonfly compound eyes.
Comprehensive Physique enhancements were marked by a robust and powerful Mantis hind leg.
Then there was the matter of pricing the goods. Initially, they were divided into three tiers: 1,000 Source Stones/jar, 2,000 Source Stones/jar, and Ant King Honey made from Divine-Given Seeds.
Currently, Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid controlled Fragrant Orchid, Azure, Southern Gorgon, Northern Gorgon, Southern Sour Jujube, Scarletlight Fruit, Ghost Fan Tree, and White Rice Fruit—a total of eight Divine-Given Seeds.
Out of these, five Divine-Given Seeds—Fragrant Orchid, Azure, Southern Gorgon, Southern Sour Jujube, and Scarletlight Fruit—were planned for sale to Caravans. Among these, Fruit-Scented Orchid Seeds and Southern Gorgon Seeds required no additional processing and were sold directly as dry fruits.
Azure Fruit, Southern Sour Jujube, and Scarletlight Fruit were fresh fruits. Some were honey-preserved to maintain their original form, striving for an 'original flavor and taste.' However, this honey-preservation method meant the fruits took up too much space; one jar couldn't hold much. Taking Azure Fruit as an example, a single jar could only contain about 300 Source Stones' worth of product.
The Flame Spider's Carapace had limited storage, meaning it could only transport a finite amount of goods. This was manageable with smaller quantities, but once the total value reached tens of thousands, or even over a hundred thousand, White Ivy definitely wouldn't be able to transport it all. Honey-preservation was not only laborious to transport and complicated to produce, but its flavor was also inferior to Ant Honey.
Therefore, Dragon Cypress preferred to process the Divine-Given Fruits into 'Ant King Honey.' Both the Fruit Pulp and Fruit Cores were refined and blended into 'Ant King Honey'. Then, appropriate amounts of ordinary Ant Honey with different flavor profiles were added for taste and to dilute the concentration as needed. They were finally packaged into jars of Azure Ant King Honey, Southern Sour Jujube Ant King Honey, and Scarletlight Ant King Honey.
In terms of pricing, it couldn't be too high for now, divided into 1,000 Source Stones/jar and 2,000 Source Stones/jar. Each jar would have a Wood Plaque hanging from it, clearly marked with the price: a single rice grain-sized groove for 1,000 Source Stones, and two such grooves for 2,000 Source Stones.
White Ivy's calculation skills were poor. So, with this jar-by-jar, whole-number pricing, when the goods were sold, she only needed to count the 'rice grains' on the Wood Plaque to know how many 'thousand' Source Stones they were worth.
The simplest counting like this, surely she can't get it wrong?
White Ivy really wasn't a clever partner.
Dragon Cypress spent a month pondering these issues before finally settling on a highly feasible plan.
「Midwinter.」
It was a sunny morning at the North Mountain Restaurant.
Dragon Cypress brought hundreds of Blue Ants of various sizes. Pushing his own brain's memory capacity to its limits, he repeatedly tested Ant Honey combination schemes.
"Dragon Cypress, I've already lost my sense of smell and taste..." Ink Orchid, responsible for tasting, had lost her initial enthusiasm after too many trials. Faced with thousands of combinations, her whole being had gone numb.
"I'm going down the mountain to look around..." Ink Orchid said, fleeing the restaurant. She went first to inspect the territory of the Divine-Given Fruit-Scented Orchid Seed, which was not yet ripe. Then she beat her wings, took to the air, and circled down towards the Northern Gorgon Water Reservoir.
"Northern Gorgon, isn't your fruit ripe yet?"
"I don't know... soon..."
"Well, hurry it up."
"I know."
"Need any extra fertilizer?"
"No need. Ink Orchid, don't worry about me. You go on with your tasks."
With its fruit stubbornly refusing to ripen and being pestered daily by Ink Orchid, Northern Gorgon was finding it hard to bear.
"I'm not busy."
Ink Orchid flew low, circling the Divine-Given Northern Gorgon Seed twice to inspect it. Confirming everything was in order, she then leisurely flew off. She looped around Xianglan Mountain a couple of times, stood on the summit to enjoy the view and breathe the fresh air, and flew another two circuits. As noon approached, she returned to the North Mountain Reservoir.
"Northern Gorgon, your fruit..."
"It's ripe! It's ripe! It'll be ripe right away!"
"It's about to enter the ripening period?"
"Yes! It's ripe! Ink Orchid, hurry and bring the Source Stones!"
"Yay!" Ink Orchid cheered, took to the air, and dashed towards the mountain.
"..." Northern Gorgon was on the verge of tears. Weren't we supposed to be twinned? Why is it my misfortune to be saddled with such a Mantis?
...
Dragon Cypress planned to develop Ant Honey into a luxury, high-end Origin Force Food, meticulously refining its flavors. Preferences for aroma and taste varied among insects. What Dragon Cypress aimed to do was to create Ant Honey combinations that would satisfy the taste preferences of the vast majority of insects.
Spiked Cypress led the Soldier Ants, stationed beneath the peaks on the western side of the mountain range for long-term defense.
Giant Cypress was guarding the Northern Gorgon Water Reservoir.
High-Level Worker Ants were not as susceptible to the cold and remained active in winter; Round Cypress was leading the excavation of the Shanxi Reservoir.
The only one without tasks, Ink Orchid, had run off as well.
Dragon Cypress brought out Cypress and Fragrant Cypress, who were still in their Larvae stage, to use them for testing the Ant Honey flavors. Larvae could release simple signals via Pheromones: hungry, full, tasty, disgusting, like, dislike. These two were natural-born foodies, able to distinguish between tasty and disgusting, and had already developed their own preferences.
While he was busy, Ink Orchid suddenly burst in.
"Dragon Cypress!"
"Good news!"
"Northern Gorgon's fruit is finally about to ripen!"
"Quick! The Source Stones! The Source Stones!"
Is it finally entering the last stage of ripening?
Dragon Cypress calmly waved his Tentacles, signaled the Worker Ants to move Cypress and Fragrant Cypress back to the Ant Nest, and then issued an order for Worker Ants to deliver 400 Source Stones.
Taking 20 large Worker Ants, he maneuvered the Dominating Throne and floated down towards the reservoir at the foot of the mountain.