Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 539 - 518 Black Persimmon

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid circled around the continent, completing this spring’s Divine-Given Seed search mission.

Ink Orchid headed to Southern Sour Jujube Mountain.

Dragon Cypress stayed at Molan Mountain, personally beginning to teach Zihuang Peach all kinds of knowledge.

...

Early summer, Round Cypress and Fragrant Cypress were the first to break through to Lord-Level.

Early autumn, Spiked Cypress and Silver Cypress broke through to Lord-Level.

Giant Cypress and Cypress weren’t in a rush this year or next. They’d wait until the Divine-Grade Youlian Seed and Lightwing Seed arrived next year and the year after, eat one each, and then evolve. That way, they’d be able to comprehend abilities upon evolving to Lord-Level.

After Lord-Level, the resource demand increased, so the Assistant Kings’ evolution and growth might slow down a bit.

...

This year was still relatively busy,

After Mountain Persimmon evolved to Lord-Level, the first batch of Divine-Given Sky-Blue Persimmon Fruit ripened and was harvested this year.

At the end of autumn and beginning of winter,

Dragon Cypress brought Chinese Clematis and Red Moonseed along, arriving promptly at Silver Cypress Mountain.

Red Moonseed was good at flying. She left the Throne and landed first under the Divine-Given Seed of the Sky-Blue Persimmon tree.

Every time the fruit ripened, she came to mooch, so the Divine-Given Seed of the Sky-Blue Persimmon also recognized this insect, releasing a thread of mental power, lazily greeting her.

"Eh? The Sky-Blue Persimmon greeted me?"

Red Moonseed: "Mountain Persimmon Lord! Good news! Chinese Clematis also obtained a Divine-Given Seed!"

"Oh——"

Mountain Persimmon asked curiously: "What kind of Divine-Given Seed?"

Red Moonseed: "Flowering Indigo Basket! Chinese Clematis is planning to evolve to Mountain Lord at three-age period next spring and gestate a Divine-Given Life Seed."

Not a Persimmon Tree.

Mountain Persimmon immediately lost half his interest.

——Flowering Indigo Basket~

Mountain Persimmon racked his brain, searching his Inherited Memory.

"Mountain Persimmon!"

"Mountain Persimmon Lord!"

The Dominating Throne followed right behind.

——The Ant King has arrived!

——Hello, Ant King!

The ant colony, scattered above and below the Divine-Given Seed of the Sky-Blue Persimmon tree, greeted.

After completing the rotation of the Purple Tung Insect Nation’s Soldier Ant Legion, Dragon Cypress sent some of the retired Mountain Lord Level Combat Ants to Silver Cypress Mountain and Black Fruit Mountain.

He sent two or three Lord-Level Specialized Ants to lead the team and guard the orchard, mainly to help drive away bird and beast attracted by the fruit aroma when the Life Seed fruits ripen.

After greeting and explaining the details about the Flowering Indigo Basket Divine-Given Seed, all eyes turned sharply toward the Persimmon Tree.

After Mountain Persimmon evolved to Lord-Level, he let the tree rest for three years, and then only kept 2005 fruits from the first batch.

At Lord-Level, the flower-fruit cycle of the Divine-Given Seed of the Sky-Blue Persimmon is as long as six years. After another six years of growth, the tree had reached a height of about 150 meters.

An enormous tree towering to the sky, with only 2005 fruits hanging on it, looked a bit sparse.

The fruits were bright orange-red, about to ripen.

The fruit aroma was rich, wafting through the entire Land of Origin Force.

After surveying for a while, Dragon Cypress tapped his tentacle repeatedly, casting Flourish Ability eight times in a row onto the main trunk, instructing:

"Mountain Persimmon, for next year’s blooming, you can consider keeping 2500 fruits. For the batch after that, there’s no need to control it—just keep as many fruits as there are flowers."

"By my estimate, at Lord-Level Stage, the Divine-Given Seed of the Sky-Blue Persimmon will reach a height of 180 to 200 meters, and fruit production per batch should increase from 2500 to 3000. The arbor will keep growing, and with time, it’s possible to surpass 3000 per batch."

Mountain Persimmon: "Oh——"

Red Moonseed and Chinese Clematis both stood their tentacles straight in amazement: How many Source Stones will that fetch?

Mountain Persimmon: "Dragon Cypress, what’s the unit price? Roughly how many Source Stones per fruit?"

Dragon Cypress wiggled his tentacles and sniffed, saying, "About 1,000 Source Stones each."

Red Moonseed: "Wow!"

Chinese Clematis: "Hiss——"

Red Moonseed and Chinese Clematis both gasped in wonder.

Mountain Persimmon calculated silently...

If it could bear 3,000 fruits, that’s 3 million...

For every batch of fruit, around 300,000 Source Stones need to be invested...

Mountain Persimmon was secretly delighted.

A top-level Divine-Given Seed like the Sky-Blue Persimmon could more than feed an Insect Clan Warrior.

Mountain Persimmon asked again: "Dragon Cypress, any updates on the Divine-Grade Fruit that grants Wood Element Ability for auxiliary territory management?"

"No—"

Dragon Cypress lightly shook his tentacles, "Mountain Persimmon, it’s fine. Once I finish upgrading the Combat Soldier Ants of Xianglan Mountain, I’ll send you 100 Lord-Level Specialized Green Ants."

Mountain Persimmon’s eyes sparkled, "Then let me thank you in advance, Dragon Cypress Ant King!"

Mountain Persimmon raised his claw and pointed to a Specialized Green Soldier Ant lying on the side of the Dominating Throne, saying: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, this ant seems especially smart. It always follows me wherever I go."

Mountain Persimmon: "It even came to get Origin Force Food from me, wants to try it out!"

Dragon Cypress: "Oh?!"

The Specialized Green Soldier Ant that Mountain Persimmon pointed to was Lord-Level, the squad leader Dragon Cypress had sent to Silver Cypress Mountain.

At this moment, he was desperately waving his tentacles, releasing an intimidating Origin Force aura, driving off the birds and beasts attracted by the fruit’s fragrance.

Noticing everyone’s eyes on him, he glanced nervously and shook his tentacles at Dragon Cypress in a friendly greeting:

——Mighty Ant King!

——Ant King?

——I didn’t do anything bad~

The Specialized Green Soldier Ant suddenly panicked a little.

Hey! Dragon Cypress unleashed his Soul-Setting Ability, sensing, and exclaimed with joy: "This ant can evolve into an Assistant King!"

Mountain Persimmon: "Like Black Cory and those guys?"

Dragon Cypress: "That’s right!"

Just in time, as usual, the Origin Force Food sent to Mountain Persimmon included 100 Black Lotus Seeds.

Dragon Cypress pulled some out, leapt to the ground, gathered Primordial Energy at his claw tip, and carefully sliced, peeling the seed coat away.

He issued an order: Eat one and try!

The Specialized Green Soldier Ant looked panicked and confused for two seconds, but suddenly seemed to understand and buried his head to eat.

Dragon Cypress, Mountain Persimmon, Red Moonseed, and Chinese Clematis all immediately shrouded him with spiritual power.

Almost no Origin Force leaked out.

The Primordial Energy of one Black Lotus Seed was almost entirely absorbed.

That’s right,

A Specialized Ant who could leap to become an Assistant King!

And a Specialized Green Soldier Ant at that!

Surely he wouldn’t be as timid as Black Peach, right?

Origin determined personality to a great extent.

Among the omnipotent Command Ants, Black Cory and Black Peach, who evolved from Worker Ants and Green Ants, were a bit timid, while Black Leaf and Black Birch, who evolved from Soldier Ants and Blue Soldiers, had an obviously stronger combat will.

Mountain Persimmon muttered: "I could tell this ant is different, especially smart."

"Congratulations, Dragon Cypress Ant King!"

"Congrats to Dragon Cypress Ant King!"

Red Moonseed and Chinese Clematis offered their congratulations.

Dragon Cypress couldn’t hide his delight and waved his tentacles, "Hey! What’s there to congratulate, it’s just one more mouth to feed." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Dragon Cypress then peeled two more Black Lotus Seeds and fed them to the Specialized Green Soldier Ant, giving the command: Continue working.

Chinese Clematis raised her claw and asked, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, after a Lord-Level Specialized Green Soldier Ant evolves into an Assistant King, does it start evolving from Mountain Lord Level?"

Right! Red Moonseed exclaimed: "One awakening and it’s at Mountain Lord Level?"

But...

For High-Level Specialized Ants, when they leap to Assistant King, they start from intermediate warrior level—the evolution rank drops by one stage.

For Mountain Lord Level Specialized Ants, when they leap to Assistant King, they start from high-level warrior, also dropping by one rank.

According to the pattern, for Lord-Level Specialized Ants...

"Not very likely..."

Dragon Cypress shook his tentacles and denied it, "Although it’s Lord-Level, its body length is only about 2.4 meters. Later with each leap in evolution, the body will shrink further; after six rounds of leaping evolution it’ll be just over 1 meter long. Yet, for Mountain Lord Level Assistant Kings, the body length is generally over 3 meters."

That makes sense!

Analyzing from a body-size point of view, there’s a contradiction.

Red Moonseed: "So it should start from High-Level, but compared to Black Cory, Black Leaf, Black Birch, and Black Peach before, it will be much stronger physically."

Chinese Clematis’s mind turned fast, and she asked: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, what about the carapace? All the Lord-Level Specialized Green Soldier Ants perfectly inherited your ’Forest Symbiont’ ability! Will this degenerate during leaping evolution?"

This is also a question to be tested...

Dragon Cypress tapped his tentacle lightly: "Wait for it to leap and evolve; we’ll observe and know then."

Chinese Clematis was bursting with curiosity, "Will he go to Purple Tung Insect Nation to evolve? I was planning to winter over there..."

Dragon Cypress: "It’s cold in Purple Tung Insect Nation during winter; bring him back to Xianglan Mountain."

Red Moonseed: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, you can give him a name now."

"Right——"

After a moment’s thought, Dragon Cypress said, "He awakened at Silver Cypress Mountain and was discovered by Mountain Persimmon, so let’s call him Black Persimmon."

Mountain Persimmon: "..."