Chapter 88: Chapter 088: Age Period 6 (Four Updates)
The first skill that the young warriors of the Flame Spider Tribe learned after Awakening was weaving Spider Silk Bags.
Primary-Level Little Flame Spiders wove small Spider Silk Bags.
Mid-Level Little Flame Spiders wove medium Spider Silk Bags.
High-Level Flame Spiders wove large Spider Silk Bags.
The Leader of the Flame Spider Caravan would pay Source Stones as ’rewards’ based on the quantity and quality of the bags woven by everyone.
The main purpose was to cultivate the business acumen of the young Flame Spiders from an early age, teaching them to earn rewards through their labor and understand the principle of prosperity through diligence.
However, from a different perspective, these Spider Silk Bags were also acquired from the Little Flame Spiders in exchange for Source Stones.
The first time the Flame Spider Caravan traded with the Insect Clan Warriors, they were accustomed to giving away one or two Spider Silk Bags as gifts; if there was a bulk transaction, they might give away a few Spider Silk Bags.
Suddenly being swindled out of ten...
Damn Little Ant King!
The transaction, initially enjoyable for White Ivy, became less so the more she thought about it, and she walked down the hill with heavy steps.
"White Ivy Mountain Lord."
A Mental Power message called out from not far away.
White Ivy swept her spiritual power over and saw a five-meter-high Seven-Leaf plant with a Mountain Lord Level Flame Spider lying next to it.
"Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord."
White Ivy responded.
They recognized each other.
The other was a direct descendant of the Aconite Spider King, who had a standing goods exchange agreement with Spider King Spurge, maintaining a good relationship.
But White Ivy was not very well acquainted with Seven-Leaf.
"White Ivy Mountain Lord, do you have any good items? We can trade them for equivalent value."
"No."
"I heard you acquired the trading rights for a Divine-Given Fruit-Scented Orchid Seed?"
"Yes..."
White Ivy, cautious, said vaguely, "That belongs to a Little Warrior of the Flower Mantis Tribe on the Continent of Myriad Clans; he’s still only a Mid-Level Warrior and has no yield yet."
"Oh—"
Seven-Leaf said, "You went to the hills because..."
White Ivy explained, "Didn’t Melde pick up a male Great-Headed Ant King from the Giant Head Ant Clan a few years ago? No Great-Headed Ant Kingdom on the Continent of Nations was willing to take it in, so they left it to survive on the neighboring Cloud Trace Continent. Melde treated that little guy as a younger family member, gifting it some Origin Force Food every year. I was helping Melde deliver the Origin Force Food."
Seven-Leaf said, "I always tell the insects that Mountain Lord Melde is generous and values friendship, but no insect believes it. White Ivy Mountain Lord, do you believe it?"
"Believe it or not."
White Ivy dropped the words and left briskly, heading straight for Spider King Spurge.
"Spider King Spurge, that guy Seven-Leaf called you an old fossil! Quick! Drag it over and give it a beating!"
Spider King Spurge said indifferently, "I noticed your conversation with it."
"Uh—"
White Ivy was speechless and anxiously said, "It seems it has discovered something."
Spider King Spurge said, "It’s not your fault; no spider would pay attention to you. Melde is somewhat well-known within the Flame Spider Tribe; it was Melde’s unusual behavior that attracted Seven-Leaf’s attention."
White Ivy asked, "Spider King Spurge, what should we do?"
Spider King Spurge said, "You and Melde might not be able to keep this to yourselves. I will contact the Aconite Spider King."
Spider King Spurge paused, then patiently explained, "That Little Ant King, Dragon Cypress, is intelligent. It understands the rules of roving trade. When it evolves to a certain stage, it will surely seek out a second caravan to introduce competition. It’s better for our close associate, the Caowu Caravan, to contact it. This will help us avoid vicious competition."
...
Ink Orchid carefully hooked a Yellow Peach from a Metal Can with its tentacles, held it in its claws, and licked the honey off.
"Dragon Cypress, eat the peach."
"Not hungry, won’t eat."
"It tastes much worse than our Ant Honey."
Ink Orchid tossed the Yellow Peach back into the Metal Can.
Dragon Cypress was speechless.
Ink Orchid then picked up the Spider Silk Bag again and flipped through it, brimming with joy, and said, "A High-Level Warrior’s territory has a rich output of Origin Force Food. We can send one each to Mountain Persimmon, Ghost Fan, and White Rice, and keep the rest for ourselves."
"Hmm—"
Dragon Cypress absentmindedly agreed.
Ink Orchid asked, "Dragon Cypress, should we send a Metal Can to Mountain Persimmon?"
Dragon Cypress replied, "Let’s send one. Later, we can refine various Origin Force Foods that enhance Comprehensive Physique. We can then mix them into one can for packaged sales to appropriately increase profits. We’ll give Metal Cans as limited gifts, one for each Insect Clan Warrior. Ghost Fan is relatively wealthy; we can give Ghost Fan two."
Ink Orchid said, "I was thinking the same thing."
Ink Orchid asked, "What about White Willow?"
Dragon Cypress said, "Let’s skip White Willow. It’s too poor and still needs our support to get by."
Ink Orchid sighed, "White Willow is so pitiful..."
Ink Orchid then flipped open the Spider Silk Bag containing seeds to check, asking, "The Sky-Blue Persimmon Seeds cost 500 Source Stones. Dragon Cypress, how many Source Stones do you plan to ask from Mountain Persimmon for them?"
Dragon Cypress replied, "Give the seeds to Mountain Persimmon. Let it cultivate them, but it must agree to two conditions: first, we get seeds for free from it whenever we need them; and second, throughout its High-Level Warrior stage, for every Age Period Evolution, it must choose Sky-Blue Persimmon as its Life Seed."
Dragon Cypress explained, "At the High-Level Stage, each Age Period’s Molting Evolution is accompanied by rapid growth in size. On the Ten-thousand Tribes Continent, many High-Level Warriors awaken from their slumber and successfully molt, only to face issues during the subsequent growth phase. Their new carapace is fragile and can tear, leading to injury or even death."
"The enhancing effect of Sky-Blue Persimmon can effectively solve this problem," he continued.
"Furthermore, advancing to the Mountain Lord Level is accompanied by the final, most significant surge in size, which is when accidents are most prone to happen. Sky-Blue Persimmon also aids in advancing to Mountain Lord Level and is worth promoting vigorously."
"However, the Sky-Blue Persimmon plant requires a certain amount of cold during winter to bloom and bear fruit optimally. The middle to upper elevations on the north side of Fragrant Orchid Mountain have sufficiently low winter temperatures for cultivation, but it’s not suitable for cultivation on its southern side."
"Understood!" Ink Orchid said. "Then we can keep two as Life Seeds. When we have time, we can look in the north, find another Insect Clan Warrior, and encourage it to choose Sky-Blue Persimmon as its Life Seed more often."
Exactly!
Dragon Cypress tapped his tentacles, saying, "Look between Fragrant Orchid Mountain and Silver Cypress Mountain."
...
They returned to Fragrant Orchid Mountain late at night.
The next day, Dragon Cypress immediately threw himself into the reservoir construction project, controlling the Dominating Throne to transport soil and continue excavating for the dam.
Dragon Cypress alone was equivalent to 300 large and medium-sized Worker Ants.
Dragon Cypress took some of the high-quality Origin Force Food purchased from White Ivy, making up a batch worth 1,000 Source Stones. He refined it into Origin Force Ant Honey and shared it equally with Ink Orchid.
Dragon Cypress was the first to fall into slumber.
In the South Mountain Ant Nest, he slowly awakened. He shed his old shell and sorted through the Inherited Memories that came with his Awakening.
His new carapace rapidly hardened.
Now a 6th Age Period Mid-Level Ant King, he was one small step closer to becoming a High-Level Ant King.
He spat out the nurtured Spotted Star Pear Life Seed, called the Worker Ants forward, and had them take it to Round Cypress for planting.
He took out a petite Spider Silk Bag he had prepared, opened it, and found a dry bamboo tube inside. He pulled out the dry grass plugging it, and with his toe tip, hooked out another Spider Silk Bag hidden inside the bamboo tube.
He then opened this Spider Silk Bag; inside was the Divine-Given Gorgon Fruit Seed.
Dragon Cypress, somewhat obsessed, twirled the seed between his claws, examining it intently for a moment before swallowing it into his Life Pouch.
He stretched his spiritual power to its limits, spreading it along the Ant Nest passages and all the way outside.
Even after consuming 40 Ghost Fan fruits around the 5th Age Period, my spiritual power only increased by about one meter.
This is difficult!
And it only gets harder from here.
Such a slight increase comes at too high a cost.
Dragon Cypress did a quick calculation and decided not to use Ghost Fan fruits while he was a Mid-Level Ant King.
Ink Orchid’s situation must be similar, so it’s unnecessary for it to continue using them either.
First, I’ll focus on strengthening my Comprehensive Physique, go all out, and aim for High-Level!
Dragon Cypress communicated with the Dominating Throne again for a simple test.
There were no changes. The maximum number of Ant Eggs he could produce at one time was still five. According to the pattern, it should increase to six during the 7th Age Period.
The overall size of the Ant Kingdom urgently needs expansion.