Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 464 - 444: Senior Orchid Mantis and Junior Orchid Mantis

Chapter 464: Chapter 444: Senior Orchid Mantis and Junior Orchid Mantis

Southern Sour Jujube Mountain had been extensively planted with Snake Blood Apricot, Dominant Chestnut, Black Emperor Peach, Spotted Star Pear, Purple Kiwifruit, and various types of grape trees.

The peach and apricot trees had long been dug up and replaced with Black Peach Trees.

After personally surveying the land with Black Cory, Dragon Cypress decided to dig up all the grape and kiwifruit trees, and to remove half of the pear and chestnut trees.

Large-scale monocultures are prone to outbreaks of pests and diseases.

Cypress trees are highly disease-resistant, so more Silver Cypress, Round Cypress, and Giant Cypress trees could be planted, and the shelterbelts between orchards appropriately widened.

With the plan settled,

Dragon Cypress transferred Worker Ants in from Xianglan Mountain.

Black Cory took command of the excavation.

...

Time flowed by,

the land warmed, and the new spring brought all things back to life.

There weren’t many matters to attend to this year,

so after completing the trade with the Flame Spider Roving Merchant and delivering 4.5 million Source Stones to Huagi Mountain on time, Dragon Cypress settled down at Southern Sour Jujube Mountain as a resident.

Feeling idle, he moved in 100 Specialized Soldier Ants and 300 Specialized Blue Ants from Xianglan Mountain.

He commanded combat training, demonstrating for the Divine-Given Seed of the Round Leaf Keg Vine, and explained various Ant Clan combat techniques.

Dragon Cypress also demonstrated the training methods he had learned from the Linnan Divine Tree to the Divine-Given Seed of the Round Leaf Keg Vine.

He planned to imitate Huagi Mountain, cultivating the Divine-Given Seed of the Round Leaf Keg Vine into a dedicated combat ’Divine Tree’. If there was time, other Insect Capitals from Cloud Trace Continent could also be brought to Southern Sour Jujube Mountain, to showcase their combat abilities and the knowledge learned from the Linnan Divine Tree.

The Azure Divine-Given Seed could serve as the ’Divine Tree’ in charge of running production—it could do even better than the Quandong Divine Tree.

Red Cypress and Thunder Oak were both clever and could become ’wise Divine Trees’ who contributed ideas and strategies.

...

The height of summer brought frequent rains and no dry season, so Dragon Cypress found himself with nothing to do and simply trained himself—focusing on running, climbing, and wing flight.

This year brought the first batch of Divine-Given Southern Sour Jujube Seeds after the wild Divine-Given Southern Sour Jujube evolved to the Evolution Lord Level. On the advice of the Linnan Divine Tree, Dragon Cypress ate more Silver Cypress Seeds along with them to optimize his membranous wings and enhance his flight ability.

...

At the end of summer, the Black Peach Fruits ripened.

Dragon Cypress busied himself commanding the ant colony in the harvest: removing fruit cores, drying and dehydrating them, sending them back to Xianglan Mountain to be sown next spring.

When the work was done, Dragon Cypress stayed at Xianglan Mountain, keeping watch together with Ink Orchid over the two mutated Ink Orchid Divine-Given Seeds.

"Dragon Cypress, are you picking one as your Life Seed for the Seventh Age Mountain Lord?"

Ink Orchid proposed for the eleventh time.

"Mm—oh—not in a hurry—"

Dragon Cypress replied vaguely, getting up and heading down the mountain.

"I’m in a hurry!"

Ink Orchid darted forward and blocked Dragon Cypress’ way.

"Let’s wait a bit, we can decide once the seed is fully mature."

Dragon Cypress was torn.

Dragon Cypress really didn’t want to pick an Ink Orchid Divine-Given Seed as a Life Seed—the returns just weren’t high enough.

However, it was indeed Divine-Given—couldn’t just throw it away, right? If he didn’t pick, then both would go to Ink Orchid. Since everyone’s returns get pooled anyway, it really made no difference in the end.

Choosing one made Dragon Cypress feel a bit unwilling.

Each Age in Life Evolution is only allowed one chance to nurture a Life Seed. As a Seventh Age Mountain Lord, Dragon Cypress only had a few Life Seed slots left.

Dragon Cypress didn’t hope for a Divine Grade—top-level was the highest goal, arbor or vine was the bottom line.

"Is it because you don’t like Ink Orchid?"

Ink Orchid’s tone was calm, but the threat was obvious.

"I do like you~"

Dragon Cypress sighed and conceded: "We’ll check them again after they’ve fully matured for harvest. I’ll pick one as my seventh-age Life Seed—you take one, I’ll take one."

Ink Orchid: "You can choose right now."

"Mm. Mm. Mm. Alright. Alright. Alright."

Dragon Cypress wiggled his antennae in reply, then changed the subject, asking curiously: "Ink Orchid, don’t you love naming things? How come you haven’t given the mutated Ink Orchid a name?"

Ink Orchid: "I’m not as hasty as some ants! We’re not even sure what kind of mutation enhancement it is, so there’s no rush to name it."

Your naming skills aren’t that great anyway~

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress: "How clever, Second King!"

Ink Orchid: "But there’s another problem I’ve been thinking about. With two Ink Orchid Divine-Given Seeds, we’ll need to distinguish them by name."

Dragon Cypress: "South Orchid and North Orchid?"

Ink Orchid: "Nope. Southern Gorgon and Northern Gorgon have already been used."

Dragon Cypress: "Then East Orchid and West Orchid."

Ink Orchid: "Nope, nope—too tacky."

Dragon Cypress remained enthusiastic, suggesting: "How about Heaven Orchid and Ground Orchid? Names that shake heaven and earth."

Ink Orchid spread her wings and flapped them. "Dragon Cypress, be serious!"

He’d tried North, South, East, and West—all failed. If none of those worked, well, there weren’t really better options.

Dragon Cypress chose silence.

Ink Orchid thought and thought, raised a claw and pointed, and said: "This randomly-birthed Ink Orchid Divine-Given Seed shall be named Great King Molan. This Divine-Given one shall be named Two Kings Ink Orchid. Together, we can call them Senior Orchid and Junior Orchid."

Ink Orchid: "Dragon Cypress, what do you think?"

A name to suffocate any ant~

Dragon Cypress: "...Your naming is as formidable as ever, Ink Orchid."

Ink Orchid: "Great King Molan belongs to you, Two Kings Ink Orchid belongs to me."

Dragon Cypress couldn’t help but reply sarcastically: "No, no, no—you’re the Great King! You’re my Great King. You are Great King Molan."

Go die, ant! Ink Orchid raised her wings and struck.

...

They waited patiently for a month.

The Seed Pod nurturing Great King Molan’s Divine-Given Seed naturally split open and fully matured.

Judging by the faint aura it gave off, the enhancement was still ’visual system’ based.

When ordinary Ink Orchid produced Life Seeds, the Orchid Seeds’ enhancement was ’static vision’ boost.

Even after the mutation, the enhancement system did not drastically change.

Great King Molan and Two Kings Molan had slightly different Origin Force auras, but both were still under the ’visual system’ branch.

"Wow~oh~"

Ink Orchid didn’t move, crouched by the side, having watched for several days—when the Seed Pod split, she cheered, lifted her claw to collect, "Dragon Cypress, you go first?"

Such a fake mantis~ Dragon Cypress: "Great King Molan first!"

"Hmph!"

Ink Orchid huffed, bowed her head, carefully extracted the seed grain, twirled her tongue, swallowed it into her abdomen, Origin Force enveloping and protecting it, sending it to her Life Pouch.

Ink Orchid spoke in earnest: "Dragon Cypress, now we can officially name this new leaf-vein mutated variety of Ink Orchid."

Dragon Cypress: "You do it."

Ink Orchid: "By the usual convention, it should be called Vein-variant Molan."

Dragon Cypress: "Yes. The Great Tribes all name mutated new plant varieties this way."

Dragon Cypress continued: "Later, I’ll plant both native and vein-variant Molan at three Origin Force Lands: Molan Mountain, Southern Sour Jujube Mountain, and Cold Orchid Mountain."

Ink Orchid approved: "Sounds good!"

Dragon Cypress: "If we ever get bored, we can also broadcast the seeds of vein-variant Molan in the Origin Force Vacuum Land, let this new variety spread across Cloud Trace Continent. Given huge numbers, natural selection will pick out saplings best adapted to the local ecology."

Dragon Cypress: "Maybe, the vein-variant Molan will be recognized by the Natural True God, and become part of the Insect Clan Warrior Inherited Memory."

"Oh!"

Ink Orchid took off happily: "If we succeed, our naming will live on in the Inherited Memory with every Insect Clan Warrior for generations. An individual life has its end, but the Insect Clan’s legacy does not. Even if one day we disappear, our naming will mark that we existed—we will never be forgotten."

Ink Orchid soared in a circle, landed on the Dominating Throne, and suddenly became silent, beginning to absorb Origin Force and nurture the Life Seed.

Dragon Cypress waited patiently, continuing to wait.

Another day passed.

The Two Kings Ink Orchid Divine-Given Seed matured for harvest.

Dragon Cypress deposited it into his Life Pouch.

On the Throne, Ink Orchid spoke softly:

"Dragon Cypress, there’s one more small issue."

"What is it?"

"Where’s the best place to plant our Senior and Junior Orchid? Southern Sour Jujube Mountain? Molan Mountain?"

"Molan Mountain. After all, they’re still Ink Orchid Divine-Given Seeds—they should be planted on Molan Mountain."

"Right! Then let’s go early, pick the best planting spots, dig pits, pile compost, and make up some substrate soil."

"Alright, let’s go now."

Dragon Cypress directly piloted the Dominating Throne and took off.

...

Life Seed Divine-Given Seeds nurtured by the same warrior can communicate with each other.

For example, Azure, Southern Gorgon, and Black Yellow planted at Xianglan Mountain are all in the South Mountain, lined up in a row. Azure’s spirit force is strong and, being in the center, can communicate with Southern Gorgon to the west or Black Yellow to the east.

Another example: Red Cypress, Little Wild Chestnut, and Round Leaf Keg Vine planted at Southern Sour Jujube Mountain stand as a triangle, each about 1,200 meters apart.

Red Cypress’s spirit force is strong enough to chat with both Little Wild Chestnut and Keg Vine. Little Wild Chestnut and Keg Vine are a bit weaker and still need some time to grow.

Below King-Level, communication between Life Seed Divine-Given Seeds is limited to those from the same Insect Clan Warrior.

After reaching King-Level, Life Seed Divine-Given Seeds from different Insect Clan Warriors can also communicate, and by then, with everyone’s advanced evolution and wisdom, fights shouldn’t break out.

At present, Dragon Cypress’s Thunder Oak Divine-Given Seed is taking root alone on Molan Mountain, quite bored—time to arrange it a couple of companions.