Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 617 - 563 Everyone is old friends now

After Dragon Cypress finished handling the affairs on Cloud Trace Continent, he took Ink Orchid along and hurriedly set out for Swinging Leaf Island.

The Dominating Throne was continuously producing Ant Eggs, with a focus on cultivating large, medium, small, and micro Worker Ants, expanding the labor force of the Swinging Leaf Island sub-nest.

Dragon Cypress and Black Birch worked together, directing the ant colony to excavate the underground water vein network while also reclaiming and expanding the cultivated land, steadily increasing the planting area of Rain Tree No. 2.

Time flowed by,

This side of Wanglan Continent entered the winter season.

After a brief discussion, Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid decided to change the timing for searching Divine-Given Seeds, setting out early to search Fragrant Silk Island and Twin Pillar Island first.

No results.

They boldly headed for the Thousand Reef Archipelago...

They visited every year; year after year, Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid were now familiar with every island here.

Laying low during the day, acting at night.

As usual, they started with the largest island of 400 square kilometers.

After two busy nights, nothing was found.

Next, they turned to the 150-square-kilometer large island...

Soul-Setting Ability sensed, confirming safety.

Ink Orchid walked on water, landing on the island to search.

Dragon Cypress lurked in the shallow waters near the shore for support. After a short wait, sensing something, he activated Soul-Setting Ability, locking onto Ink Orchid's location.

"Great King! There's something!"

"A Divine-Given Seed?"

"Of course!"

"Which plant?"

"Bayonet!"

The communication was cut off.

Dragon Cypress opened his mouth, the semi-submerged Dominating Throne rapidly shrinking, then floated into his mouth for concealment. He strode onto the island across the sea, rushed close to the ground, and arrived at Ink Orchid's location.

It was a stretch of rolling hills,

Atop the hill, large swathes of Bayonet grew densely, forming a continuous patch.

The best-growing ones had already reached heights of five to six meters.

Because of the name Wanglan Continent, Dragon Cypress had always paid special attention to the 'Bayonet' plant species.

Completely unlike Ink Orchid's Orchid Grass, Bayonet belonged to another plant group—somewhat like palm trees—with woody stems, a single main trunk growing upward, and very few branches.

Bayonet is a large family, with thirty-four species recorded in the Inherited Memory, all distributed across the Southern Hemisphere, with close relatives numbering over a thousand species.

They mostly grow in tropical or subtropical regions.

The Bayonet plants before them had distinctive features: thick, straight stems, swollen bases, whorled leaves...

Dragon Cypress instantly recognized them: Elephant Foot King Orchid.

"Dragon Cypress!"

Ink Orchid greeted, lifting a claw to point at the ground.

Beneath the tree, naturally matured and fallen, split-open capsules lay scattered; on a piece of gray-white, flat sandstone sat a single oval seed, brown-black with white patterns, emitting a faint Primordial Energy Fluctuation.

Ink Orchid: "It fell to the ground and no insects picked it up. Luckily we came in time, otherwise it would have sprouted roots on its own."

"Ink Orchid, you're awesome~"

Dragon Cypress marveled.

Elephant Foot King Orchid could roughly be classified as an 'arbor,' but it retained many herbaceous characteristics. After bearing a God-Given Life Seed, its basal rhizome would send out offshoots, growing many main trunks and forming a large clump.

The Wanglan Seed spreads through underground rhizomes and develops by offshoots.

Somewhat like bamboo—a single plant grows into a whole forest.

High yield, and the quality is decent.

Most importantly, the Life Seed of the Elephant Foot King Orchid matched perfectly with the Ant Clan's Strength-enhancing talent.

The ones in front of them were wild and just a bit short of reaching the top-level, lacking only in the quality of the produced Divine-Given Origin Force Food.

But if Dragon Cypress cultivated it, with the Ant Clan talent bonus, it could just make up for that flaw and achieve top-level quality.

"Ink Orchid, this is a Strength System Divine-Given Seed..."

Dragon Cypress looked shy, too embarrassed to say it directly.

Ink Orchid: "It's my turn to evolve!"

"Strength System..."

Dragon Cypress persisted modestly.

Ink Orchid cocked her head, cast a sidelong, disdainful glance, and waved her claw grandly, "Forget it. The Divine-Grade Mountain Pillar Fruit will take another nine years to arrive anyway. You go first, it's fine."

"Thank you, Second King~"

Dragon Cypress was delighted, buried his head, opened his mouth, and sucked the seed into his Life Pouch.

He now had the Divine-Given Seed needed for evolving to a 6th Age Period Lord.

Ink Orchid said seriously, "Dragon Cypress, do you want to wait for the Divine-Grade Fruit with Fire Talent promised by White Ivy? Another 9 years? Or maybe you could negotiate with Snow Velvet Spider King to get the Divine-Grade Fruit they promised as compensation sent ahead?"

Dragon Cypress replied, "No rush. Aren't you also trying to evolve into a 2nd Age Period Lord? Silver Cypress, Black Birch, Tie Bush—they can't fall behind in their growth, and the current kingdom income can't support us evolving too frequently."

Ink Orchid thought it over a little, lightly tapping her tentacle.

Evolving a 1st Age Period Lord to 2nd Age Period costs relatively little—6 million Source Stones for a Divine-Grade Mountain Pillar Fruit, plus 8 million for Earth System Divine-Given Origin Force Food.

Dragon Cypress evolving to a 6th Age Period Lord was much more expensive: the Divine-Grade Fruit granting Fire Talent required 10 million Source Stones, and he'd also need Divine-Given Origin Force Food worth about 24 million Source Stones.

If, within ten years, both Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid evolved once each, the total cost would reach 48 million Source Stones.

Currently, the kingdom already had twelve Assistant Kings, all evolving solely with Divine-Given Origin Force Food; together, their annual expenses were astronomical.

The production cycle for Divine-Grade Molan Seed was too long, and until then, the kingdom's average annual revenue was less than 7 million.

Income couldn't keep up with expenditures, so they might have to borrow from White Ivy again...

This certainly wasn't sustainable, at least not borrowing too much at once.

It would be good to slow the pace of Age Period Evolution a bit.

Dragon Cypress comforted, "Ink Orchid, you've only just turned 120 this year—you're still young, no need to hurry."

"Already 120?"

Ink Orchid seemed a bit lost, sighing softly, "Not so young anymore."

Ink Orchid raised her claw again, pointing at the ground, "Dragon Cypress, should we collect some ordinary Elephant Foot King Orchid seeds to bring back and cultivate?"

Dragon Cypress shook his tentacle, "No need for now, let's focus on cultivating Silver Cypress and Rain Tree first."