Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 451 - 431: Muwen, Symbiosis

This Yellow Stem insect is actually quite easy to talk to.

After the negotiations, Dragon Cypress smoothly obtained the Thunder Oak Divine-Given Seed and put it straight into his Life Pouch. On the way, he also took out all the Wood Element Divine-Given Origin Force Food stored in the Huagi Mountain Treasury.

...

Purple Tung Insect Nation.

"Dragon Cypress?"

Ink Orchid came up to greet him, spiraling down onto the Throne, noticing the metal box looked rather familiar.

Ink Orchid knew well that Dragon Cypress had turned all the Wood Element Divine-Given Origin Force Food brought by the caravan into "Azure-flavored" Ant King Honey, mixed them together into one big box.

Ink Orchid pulled the metal box over, opened it for a look, dipped a tentacle in to taste – and sure enough, that was it.

"Dragon Cypress? Why did you take everything out?"

"Don’t touch it. I’ll eat first!"

"???"

"I managed to borrow a pretty good Thunder Oak Divine-Given Seed from Yellow Stem. Thunder System, Great Tall Tree."

"!!!"

"You..."

Ink Orchid’s wings shot straight up at those words.

You bad ant!

Ink Orchid knew Dragon Cypress had been eyeing the Huagi Mountain Divine-Given Seeds not just for a day or two, nor a year or two.

Way back when Huagi Mountain was first discovered, Dragon Cypress was already making plans.

"Borrow?"

"Borrow."

"Will you return it?"

"Of course I will. And I’ll return an even better one in its place."

As long as it’s returned—

Ink Orchid slowly stilled his wings, then asked, "Can you also borrow one for me? It’s urgent."

Dragon Cypress: "I’m afraid not."

Dragon Cypress: "Ink Orchid, you and Spruce are in too much of a hurry, and there’s not enough Wood Element Divine-Given Origin Force Food. I’ll evolve first and give it a try."

Dragon Cypress: "I’ll see if the Dominating Throne can cultivate a third kind of ant that inherits the Wood Element talent."

"Oh!"

"That’s right!"

"Alright then!"

"You go ahead and evolve to Lord Level first."

Ink Orchid dipped another tentacle in the jar, scooped up some Ant King Honey, held it with both claws, and slowly licked at it, asking leisurely:

"Is the autumn trade about to begin?"

"Pretty much. I’ll arrange the work here in the Purple Tung Insect Nation, and we’ll leave tomorrow morning."

After a night’s rest, they set out early the next morning.

During the autumn trade, they made their rounds to the various Origin Force Points, searching for Divine-Given Seeds.

Yet another year with no gains.

...

This winter, Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid stayed together in the Purple Tung Insect Nation, training in combat under the Linnan Divine Tree.

Dragon Cypress’s training routines increased to five.

First, climbing vertically up the main trunk of the Linnan Divine Tree.

Second, winged flight, dashing quickly through the thick branches and leaves of the Linnan Divine Tree.

Third, gathering Primordial Energy in the forelegs, slashing and chopping at ice pillars with his claws, or puncturing ice walls.

Fourth, gathering Primordial Energy in the mandible tooth, pinching and biting off ice pillars.

Fifth, using his own Water System ability to form ice pillars.

He began working on ability training.

The distribution of Command Ants was slightly adjusted.

Silver Cypress returned to Xianglan Mountain, taking charge of the pass defense together with Spiked Cypress.

Giant Cypress came to the Purple Tung Insect Nation, training individually in combat and collective warfare skills under the guidance of the Linnan Divine Tree for four years.

...

...

...

End of winter.

The temperature at Molan Mountain warmed up, and Molan Grass began budding.

Dragon Cypress directed the Worker Ants to plant this year’s batch of mutated Molan Seeds.

Four or five days later, they started to sprout.

After half a month, all seeds sprouted—and all withered and died.

Dragon Cypress then went to Black Lotus Lake. Same situation at Black Cory’s side—not a single survivor.

Then back to Xianglan Mountain: Azure and Fragrant Cypress’s results were also the same.

Another year of failure.

Dragon Cypress wasn’t discouraged at all. He began observing, thinking, and improving.

This Orchid Grass, during growth, spreads new buds through its rhizomes, forming offshoots.

The first batch of mutated Molan planted in Molan Mountain had already developed offshoots through this process, growing into lush, thriving clumps.

Dragon Cypress checked each one, compared and screened them all, picking out the most vigorous and robust offshoots, then sent them to Xianglan Mountain for transplanting.

Azure collected the leaf buds from these strong saplings and continued to cultivate new plants in bulk using the Bud Cultivation Technique.

Meanwhile, Dragon Cypress issued orders to the Worker Ants to remove the early-planted saplings from the Molan Mountain side.

Afterwards, he replaced them with the new saplings.

A full round of old-for-new iteration.

Year by year, all the old saplings in Molan Mountain, Cold Orchid Mountain, Black Lotus Lake, and Southern Sour Jujube Mountain were systematically optimized, constantly cycled and improved until the ideal stock could be cultivated.

...

...

...

In this unhurried flurry of activity, the Thunder Oak Divine-Given Seed finally matured.

It’s time to evolve!

Spring came.

Dragon Cypress returned to Xianglan Mountain, ate and drank his fill, made some simple preparations, and entered a deep sleep.

Awakening from the sleep, he shed his old shell and donned a new exoskeleton.

7th Age Period Mountain Lord.

Because of his Lord-Level soul, this evolution seemed to only take three or four days, with not a trace of weakness.

Dragon Cypress sprawled on the Throne, unmoving, quietly feeling and sensing himself.

Suddenly, he let out a long exhale.

—Done!

—Successfully awakened the Wood Element talent!

—And also comprehended two new abilities?!

—One is the Wood Element.

—And the other is the hardest-to-understand Strength System ability!

—And a surprise I didn’t expect!

Dragon Cypress was overjoyed.

He shifted his consciousness to communicate with the Dominating Throne.

[Guardian of Strength]

[Guardian of Hydrology]

[Guardian of ???]

[Producer of Agriculture]

[Producer of Refinement]

[Producer of ???]

The Dominating Throne sent a prompt: [Please name]

Just as expected: with the awakening of Wood Element talent, a third type of ant can now be added.

"Name it myself?" 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"The Creator Civilization was purely a Water System civilization, and the Dominating Throne is modeled on the Ant Clan and Bee Clan..."

"So when the Creator Civilization built the Dominating Throne, they designed ’Messenger’ types of other elements, but never actually named them?"

Dragon Cypress puzzled over this for a while, thinking and thinking, unable to come up with a reasonable explanation.

He gave it up and focused on the naming question.

What name is suitable for the ant that inherits the Wood Element talent?

Dragon Cypress thought for two loops, then had an idea.

[Guardian of Wood]

Corresponding to the ’Hydrology’ of the Water System Combat Ants.

In the future, should he acquire other Elemental Talents through other Divine-Grade Fruits, the corresponding would be Earth Glyph, Fire Glyph, Metal Glyph, Wind Glyph, Thunder Glyph.

[Producer of ???]

There’s no good reference for this one.

The Strength System worker ants are ’Agriculture’; Water System blue ants are ’Refinement’. There’s no obvious pattern.

Dragon Cypress thought of the Divine-Grade Thousand-Layer Fruit that grants Wood Element ability and the "Forest Symbiont" power it bestows.

This ability is worth three million!

Dragon Cypress had an idea: [Producer of Symbiosis]

Naming complete.

Dragon Cypress tried again—no modification option, so this was definitively set.

Selected: [Guardian of Wood]

Continued further down the options.

[Quantity 1]

[Quantity 2]

...

[Quantity 12]

After evolving to 7th Age Period Mountain Lord, each spawn batch’s maximum number increased by 1 on the Dominating Throne.

Dragon Cypress tried selecting [Quantity 6]

Successfully selected; entered the cultivation phase.

"Spiked Cypress!"

Dragon Cypress called.

"Here!"

"Great King? You’re awake?"

Spiked Cypress was a bit slow-witted, dozing bored at the cave entrance, and hadn’t noticed that the Ant King had woken up in the King Nest at all. Hearing the summons, he jolted awake, pried open the sealed metal door panel blocking the entrance, poked out his head to look inside.

"Great King, should I fetch you something to eat?"

"Yes. While you’re at it, inform Fragrant Cypress that I have successfully awakened the Wood Element talent, and we’ll be preparing a feast to celebrate a little."

"Alrighty!"

Spiked Cypress whirled around and dashed out of the Ant Nest.

Dragon Cypress waggled his tentacles, issued instructions, and Blue Ant brought up Ant Honey, which he hastily gulped down to fill his belly, then walked out of the Ant Nest.