Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 508 - 488: Evolution, Lord

Xianglan Mountain.

Azure was the first to begin its evolutionary sleep and also the first to complete it. In just five days, consuming only 50,000 Source Stones, it awoke from its sleep, took a brief rest, and then helped Fragrant Cypress command the ant army, assisting Black Yellow and Southern Gorgon in their evolution.

Another five days passed,

The Divine-Given Seeds such as Red Cypress, Round Leaf Keg Vine, Black Yellow, and White Poplar all completed their evolution one after another, waking up from their sleep.

The Source Stone consumption varied, ranging from 60,000 to 100,000.

The taller and stronger the tree, the faster the evolution and the fewer Source Stones consumed. Conversely, relatively weaker ones like Little Wild Chestnut and Two Kings Ink Orchid had the longest sleep and maxed out their Source Stone consumption at 100,000.

...

In the hazy perception of the soul bond, the Ant King had been in a ’dangerous state’ all this time, but the danger was faint and steady.

The ants scattered across various Lands of Origin Force were gradually getting used to it. Their agitation subsided, and they stopped paying attention. Those who had work did their work, while those who didn’t rested in the nest.

...

Molan Mountain.

Ghost Fan, who came to help but couldn’t actually assist, grew bored and spent three days sifting metal gravel from the river channel to craft a large metal pot.

Twilight.

Beneath the Divine-Given Seed tree of Thunder Oak.

A group of insects—Ghost Fan, Woodberry, Red Moonseed, Chinese Clematis, White Willow, and Mountain Persimmon—sat in a circle around the pot.

Black Cory multitasked:

Chatted with the insects as an audience;

Translated everyone’s chat for Thunder Oak;

Directed the Blue Soldiers to use their Boiling Ability to heat the water;

Directed big and small Worker Ants to slice the meat, skewer it, and drop it into the pot to cook.

From Mountain Lord Level to Lord-Level Evolution, the danger wasn’t high. Ghost Fan and White Rice had both succeeded. There was no reason for Dragon Cypress to fail.

No one was worried; they all discussed the affairs of Molan Continent.

——Just exploring the sea area already led to danger. Wouldn’t it be even more dangerous in the future when developing and migrating?

——Will the bee swarms from the Fire Wheel Island United Kingdom find Swinging Leaf Island?

——If they find it, that’ll be a problem.

——Such a good Wild God-Given Seed would be gone.

——The island wouldn’t be safe anymore. At least not until reaching Lord-Level Stage, they can’t develop or build orchards.

——A whole big island of 150 square kilometers! What a pity.

——Will Dragon Cypress Ant King start a war with the Fire Wheel Kingdom?

——Could we even win?

——Will Dragon Cypress Ant King ask us to go help?

——Still wouldn’t win, right?

——If we could win those 30,000 square kilometers of archipelago, we’d all get rich.

——Red Moonseed, as an insect, you have to be down-to-earth. You can’t just think about war, plunder, and getting rich all day.

——Woodberry, all you know is farming. Have you ever grown a Divine-Given Seed? You’ll never get rich all your life.

They looked like they were about to start arguing.

Chinese Clematis quickly stood up, raised her forelegs to stop them, and analyzed, "Dragon Cypress Ant King definitely won’t take the initiative to attack Fire Wheel Island, nor any other kingdom on Molan Continent."

"First, wars between the Ant Clan and Bee Clan aren’t just about comparing strength and numbers; all sorts of unexpected risks are involved. Wars between the Ant Kingdom and the Bee Kingdom involve tens of thousands of killings and sacrifices."

"Second, the purpose of war has never changed. All wars ultimately come down to interests, meaning what Red Moonseed called ’getting rich.’ But Dragon Cypress Ant King and Mountain Lord Ink Orchid are already rich enough, already have an endless supply of Origin Force Food, so why take on the risk of war?"

Red Moonseed was unhappy and refuted, "Who says Dragon Cypress Ant King has endless Origin Force Food? Aren’t they still owing tons of Source Stones to the Flame Spider Caravan and Huagi Mountain, not paid off yet?"

Mountain Persimmon, who hadn’t spoken at all, raised a claw to signal he had something to say, "Dragon Cypress gave me a bunch of wooden tokens—10,000 Source Stones per token—but he’s never turned them into Divine-Grade Fruit or Ant King Honey. Isn’t that being in debt?"

Red Moonseed: "It is!"

Chinese Clematis: "It isn’t."

Woodberry: "It isn’t!"

All eyes turned to Black Cory: You’re an ant, you should know best.

Black Cory: "..."

Black Cory: "This is a deep and profound question, touching the essence of trade rules. It would take three days and nights to discuss fully."

Is it really that complicated? 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Red Moonseed: "Black Cory, just say yes or no."

Black Cory: "It... kind of is, but also not... To say it’s not...but in some sense, it’s a debt..."

The group of insects was baffled and annoyed:

——Stop acting deep and mysterious like Ink Orchid.

——Speak plain insect words!

Black Cory quickly changed the subject, "It seems like Dragon Cypress Ant King succeeded in evolution..."

...

——Dragon Cypress succeeded!

——The Great King succeeded!

The news spread simultaneously through Xianglan Mountain, Purple Tung Insect Nation, and Southern Sour Jujube Mountain.

The ants realized belatedly, and the Ant Kingdom erupted in celebration.

With Dragon Cypress advancing to Lord-Level, the entire Great-Headed Ant Kingdom had now ascended to the Lord-Level tier.

...

White Lotus Lake.

Dragon Cypress awoke from the Dominating Throne and quickly shed his old shell.

Strangely, the shed carapace was black.

The newly emerged carapace had, right at the center of the back, a deep emerald pine-needle-shaped leaf-pattern. As the carapace hardened, the emerald pattern quickly spread, soon covering the whole shell, and then started to stretch onto the Pulse Wings.

Age Period 1 Lord.

The Wood Element Ability ’Forest Symbiont’ had undergone an unexpected mutation.

The ’leaf factors’ with vital activity that he’d collected from the Quandong Divine Tree, and decomposed using his ability, seemed to have become part of his body.

Or rather, they’d become part of the ’Forest Symbiont’ ability.

——The Aconite Spider King who sold the Divine-Grade Thousand-Layer Fruit never said it would mutate like this.

——Was it because the Quandong Divine Tree’s evolution surpassed King Level?

Otherwise, Dragon Cypress couldn’t think of any other reason, so for now, he put the matter aside and swept his spiritual power over himself, examining his body.

There were slight changes in physique: a little thinner, body length increased by about ten centimeters, now at around 3.5 meters.

After evolution, the green of the carapace was much lighter than before, and half the membrane wing was yet to be covered by green.

The ’leaf factor’ wasn’t enough.

"I need to go to the Quandong Divine Tree again for more leaves."

"Or, for a change of taste, ask Linnan Divine Tree for a few leaves?"

Dragon Cypress muttered inwardly, immersed in thought as he used the Soul-Setting Ability to sense his soul’s changes.

Sure enough, there had been a qualitative change.

From a vague blob, it had become a blurry ant shape.

King Level soul!

With future Age Period evolutions, it would gradually become solid.

"That Ant Clan King-Level soul I once sensed on the mainland coast must have reached the seventh, eighth, or even ninth Age Period."

Dragon Cypress mused, spreading his spiritual power, which burst out of the ant nest tunnel and spread wildly.

"The max range for spiritual sensing is about 900 meters!"

"A 1st Age Period Insect King’s spiritual power typically ranges from 800 to 1,000 meters, and won’t exceed 1,000. I’m right in the middle—not high, not low, not weak."

Dragon Cypress was quite satisfied, and immediately used the Soul-Setting Ability to sense further.

He easily burst out far beyond the Land of Origin Force.

Far away.

A rough estimate: it must’ve exceeded 30 kilometers.

——Now I’ll have a much easier time operating on Molan Continent.

Dragon Cypress withdrew the Soul-Setting Ability and glanced down at his abdomen.

The blue-ring patterns on his abdomen had increased to five, meaning he’d awakened the fifth water system ability from the Outworld Civilization.

Dragon Cypress paused for two seconds, organized his thoughts, grabbed a jar of ant honey, lowered his head, dipped his tentacle in, and ate slowly, calming his mind, and sinking into deep thought.

"Dragon Cypress?!"

From outside the cave came Ink Orchid’s delighted exclamation, followed by a surge of spiritual messages, interrupting Dragon Cypress’s thinking.

"Awake?"

"Already eating?"

"Shall I go fetch some fresh food for you?"

Dragon Cypress: "...Second King, thanks for your trouble."

Humph~ Ink Orchid’s form flickered and vanished.

Dragon Cypress sped up and finished the jar of ant honey, turned his focus, and linked with the Dominating Throne.

[Please choose Messenger type]

[Guardian of Strength]

[Guardian of Hydrology]

[Guardian of Wood]

[Producer: Agriculture]

[Producer: Refinement]

[Producer: Symbiosis]

Six ant types. After evolving to Lord-Level, all of them would have some changes more or less.

Which one to try first?

Dragon Cypress pondered briefly and chose [Guardian of Wood]

The Dominating Throne immediately transmitted a prompt:

[Please select quantity]

[Quantity 1]

[Quantity 2]

...

[Quantity 13]

After evolving to Age Period 1 Lord, the Dominating Throne could now produce up to 13 Ant Eggs per batch.

The Messenger generation cycle probably wouldn’t change much—it was five days per batch, averaging out to 2.6 per day.

Dragon Cypress picked [Quantity 5]

After a quick tidy up, he strode briskly out of the ant nest.