Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 643 - 571: A New Variety of Cypress_2

Column Spotted: "The transformation will be done in two steps, planned to complete within 50 years. First step: before Lord White Ivy is promoted to King-Level, we'll travel with other Spider King Caravans, scout out the routes, and get acquainted with the various tribal leaders or the Insect Kings in charge of trade..."

Column Spotted and Red Peach took turns, describing the transformation plan in detail.

The Snow Velvet Spider King was left stunned, its eight eyes flashing with white light.

Such brilliant scheming!

They had imitated the Snow Velvet Spider King, but also made all kinds of improvements and optimizations based on their own situation and the state of the continent.

Clearly, this plan had been refined many times, considering all factors and presenting solutions for each.

Dragon Cypress listened on, eyes shining with excitement.

With these machinations, as long as the Snow Velvet Spider King agreed and provided strong backing, the momentum could be built easily and the plan rolled out step by step—it would surely succeed.

Once this worked, then, in the future, the White Ivy Trade Caravan would be able to control the vast majority of Divine-Grade Fruits in the Northern Hemisphere.

And if you added the Snow Velvet Spider King, who already controlled most of the Divine-Grade Fruit trade in the Southern Hemisphere…

That would mean, through Snow Velvet and White Ivy, they could buy or trade for nearly every kind of Divine-Grade Fruit currently available in the Origin Force Star Realm.

Snow Velvet Spider King: "Little Column Spotted, was all of this Lord White Ivy's idea?"

Column Spotted: "It's the wisdom of our team!"

Snow Velvet Spider King: "And Lord White Ivy? Is it waiting aboard the Starship, expecting a response?"

Column Spotted: "No. Lord White Ivy said you're certain to agree, so this year it followed the Fuzzy Flower Spider King Caravan and went ahead to scout the route."

Snow Velvet Spider King: "How could it be so sure I'd agree?"

Column Spotted: "Snow Velvet Spider King, just by asking about Lord White Ivy, it shows you're already on board and ready to discuss the details of cooperation."

Column Spotted: "Snow Velvet Spider King, you can just talk with me. I can make decisions on this! I'm very smart, and next year I'll scout the route along with Lord White Ivy."

Snow Velvet Spider King: "..."

Snow Velvet Spider King: "What a clever little thing!"

Snow Velvet Spider King: "Alright! Column Spotted, listen carefully and remember: start by noting down the 25 types of Divine-Grade Fruits I currently have stable trading rights to..."

...

The Snow Velvet Spider King listed out the names, functions, blossom-fruit cycles, next batch production times, and other details of all the Divine-Grade Fruits under its control.

Column Spotted memorized everything.

The preliminary cooperation was set; the next steps would be steady coordination and increasing the volume of trade.

...

After more than half a month,

having completed the early spring roving merchant transactions and dealt with all sorts of business on Cloud Trace Continent, Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid unhurriedly entered Bayonet Continent.

Swinging Leaf Island.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid flew in, circling down to land beneath the Swinging Leaf Iron Core Tree Divine-Given Seed tree.

Silver Cypress from the sentinel post at the summit came whistling down.

"Great King!"

"Second King!"

"Good news!"

Silver Cypress cheered and shouted, "A mutant Rain Tree seedling was found in the nursery!"

"!!!"

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid perked up at once.

Ink Orchid: "What sort of mutation? Is it for the better or the worse?"

Silver Cypress: "Neither good nor bad, it's just that the underside of its leaves has a hint of red fuzz."

"..."

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid immediately calmed down again.

This mutation sounded so minor—chances were it wouldn't trigger a Natural Godsend, and they'd still need to spend a lot of time on selection and optimization.

Dragon Cypress: "Where is it? Let's have a look."

Silver Cypress led the way.

Black Birch and Tie Bush also hurried over.

Together they arrived at the nursery.

A Rain Tree seedling, just over a meter tall, had been fenced off separately for protection.

At a glance it looked no different from the other Rain Tree No. 1 seedlings; only up close, with the leaves turned over for inspection, could the difference be seen.

"Great King, Second King, what do you think?"

Black Birch asked hopefully, adding, "I found it!"

"Well done, Black Birch."

Dragon Cypress gave symbolic praise, then issued simple orders: "Post two sharp-eyed Specialized Green Soldiers and Green Ants to guard it, that's enough."

Ink Orchid added: "This is the second mutation based on Rain Tree No. 1, so it should be numbered Rain Tree No. 2. With two accumulated mutations, there's a chance it meets the conditions for triggering a Natural Godsend. Don't transplant it for now, let it grow and see if it will flower and fruit."

Silver Cypress raised its forelegs high in support, "Second King's analysis is right!"

Pa~

So what, does the Great King's opinion not count?

Dragon Cypress flicked its antennae and instructed, "Alright, get to work, and push on. We must finish building the underground water vein network within this year."

"Yes!"

"Understood!"

"Got it, Great King!"

Silver Cypress, Black Birch, and Tie Bush cheered and accepted the order, full of energy.

Dragon Cypress himself joined in the excavation and directed the work.

...

A year of bustling activity.

In winter, White Rice came to help reinforce and put in an extra month's work.

All the underground water vein networks planned by Dragon Cypress were completed and linked up.

Three broad main escape tunnels running to the seabed connected the east, south, west, north, and central five sub-nests.

Over 200 relatively narrow underground water veins interconnected in all directions.

On the island, every small hilltop and some unobtrusive mounds were furnished with entrance and exit tunnels.

Bean plants were cultivated near the tunnel mouths, with Specialized Green Soldiers stationed to guard them; if attacked, they could trigger the Bean Vine Entanglement Ability to help Blue Soldiers and Blue Ants escape.

Ordinary insects couldn't navigate the deep-sea waterways, but the Blue Soldiers trained by Dragon Cypress could roam underwater at will, launching swift, unpredictable strikes on the island and making full use of home field advantage.

The battles for Yu'e Island between Wave Tree Bay and Blue Island worked much the same way. Once defensive works suited to their side were built, even with equal individual power, attacking the island would cost at least ten times more casualties.

The underground defenses of Swinging Leaf Island had now reached perfection.

Above ground, 60 square kilometers of Rain Tree woodland had been opened up.

This year, they still needed to clear 20 more square kilometers and planned to plant Golden Light Fruit, Mango, Peach, Apricot, Red Lake Fruit, Fey Oil Fruit, Camu Fruit, Inca Bean, Black Flesh Persimmon, and all sorts of tropical fresh fruits, to enrich the island's food variety.