CHAPTER 379: CHAPTER 365: THE SPREAD OF KNOWLEDGE, THE GERMINATION OF CIVILIZATION SEEDS

It takes less than two days round trip from the Purple Tung Insect Nation to Hulan Mountain.

Dragon Cypress made three trips in a row, bringing over all the Worker Ants from there, organized under the command of Fragrant Cypress.

By this point,

There were more than 3,000 Specialized Blue Soldiers from the Purple Tung Insect Nation; the number of Blue Ants, which store food, was slightly insufficient and was being cultivated urgently.

Blue Ants and Blue Soldiers are mainly herbivorous, so there was no pressure from food shortage.

There were over 800 Soldier Ants, and more than 1,000 Worker Ants of various sizes.

Soldier Ants and Worker Ants are carnivorous, and this number was already the current carrying limit of the Purple Tung Insect Nation.

The Purple Tung Insect Nation covers a vast area; to operate here efficiently, at least 5,000 each of medium, small, and micro-sized Worker Ants and Soldier Ants would still be needed.

Small Ants eat less, but when their numbers grow, their food consumption is also significant.

The sources of food are mainly twofold,

The first is the low Origin Force concentration area on the edge of the Land of Origin Force, covering about 300 square kilometers. In theory, these areas do not produce Divine-Given Seeds, but Origin Force Creatures can roam and be active. Previously, the Termite Kingdom developed and managed forests here, logging for food without intensive management, leaving plenty of wild animals in the woods, all of which serve as food.

The second is four large reservoirs, along with a crisscrossing network of river canals where fish and shrimp can be caught for sustenance.

If there is a desire to increase the number of Soldier Ants and Worker Ants, the optimal solution would be to dig four more large reservoirs at the edge of the Land of Origin Force for fish farming.

This project is not urgent and can be started in a couple of years.

...

The Origin Force Food harvest in the Barley Bug Warriors’ territory was completed. As required, High-Level Warriors prioritized trading with Dragon Cypress.

The Origin Force Food acquired in this way was mostly of the Earth System Comprehensive Elemental Ability Enhancement and Life Force Enhancement type; a smaller portion was Comprehensive Physique Enhancement, Carapace Enhancement, Perception Ability Enhancement, and so on.

The average quality was slightly lower, so after Refinement into Origin Force Ant Honey, it would be blended into the Origin Force Honey used for trading with White Ivy and Grass Dragon.

It was sent to the Huagi Mountain Treasury for temporary storage.

For many years, Dragon Cypress had also stored a large batch of Ant King Honey made from various Divine-Given Origin Force Foods in the Huagi Mountain Treasury.

He retrieved it, consuming it steadily at a rate of 2,500 Source Stones per day, beginning to prepare for Age Period Evolution.

...

With harvest season over, the Barley Bug Warriors once again took up the task of digging boundary river canals.

White Rice, Ghost Fan, Spruce, and other insects finished transforming the Ant Nest and helped with the construction of canals.

Dragon Cypress resided permanently in the Purple Tung Insect Nation, participating as well, controlling the Dominating Throne to hoist and transport earth. While working, he communicated with and grew more acquainted with the Barley Bug Warriors.

First, he confirmed that they had no objections to the land allocation.

It was also confirmed that they had no objections to the Xianglan Mountain Kingdom occupying the central area rich in Origin Force.

Most importantly, after long observation, it was clear the Barley Bug Warriors were internally united, with Mountain Thorn, Magnolia Bark, and Fuzzy Flower—the three eldest Mountain Lord-Level Warriors—presiding over the tribe’s affairs.

This meant that as long as these three "old warriors" were satisfied, the Barley Bug Warriors would harbor no ulterior motives.

Regarding the sowing site for the White Poplar Divine Seed, Dragon Cypress made a final decision in his heart.

He instructed Fragrant Cypress to work at the burial site of the White Poplar Ant King, Red Phellodendron Ant Queen, and the Assistant Kings, scraping the remnants of the White Poplar Divine Seed with wood shavings, mixing them with soil for backfill, piling up a mound two meters high and thirty meters in diameter.

Preparations for sowing were done in advance.

...

The cold wind from the north grew sharper day by day.

Time hurried by,

Until one morning, when everyone exited the nest again, they found the water’s surface had frozen over.

Winter had arrived.

This year’s work came to an end.

Dragon Cypress made a trip to Silver Cypress Mountain and Black Fruit Mountain to complete trades with Mountain Persimmon and Red Moonseed.

He sent White Rice, Ghost Fan, Mulberry, White Willow, Spruce, and Snakebark Maple back to their respective territories.

He escorted Ink Orchid to Southern Sour Jujube Mountain to sow the Sea Blue Divine-Given Seed.

He then returned to Xianglan Mountain to organize winter fishing activities.

Then, he picked up Ghost Fan and White Rice and took them to the shallow banks of Jianlan Plain in Zhanjiang to sift for Metal Gravel.

After a large round of busy work,

When Dragon Cypress returned to the Purple Tung Insect Nation, it had already become a vast snowy plain.

The ant colony curled up in the Ant Nest, resting to survive the winter.

Dragon Cypress also settled peacefully inside the Nest, cultivating Blue Ants, prioritizing an increase in the Purple Tung Insect Nation’s food storage capacity.

...

The long and monotonous winter.

Dragon Cypress observed something truly fascinating.

Within the Ant Nest, a few Specialized Blue Soldiers, Soldier Ants, and Worker Ants had been transferred from other Lands of Origin Force and had once learned the characters created by Dragon Cypress.

The Blue Soldiers and Soldier Ants cultivated on the Desolation Plains, however, were born for war and had never learned the characters.

With nothing to do in winter, those ants who had learned the characters began teaching the others who hadn’t.

With no Ant King or Assistant Kings organizing, they grouped themselves in threes and fives, sometimes in crowds of eight or ten, gathering together, writing and drawing on the stone walls of the Nest.

Unknowingly, the walls of all nest chambers and tunnels—from the floor to the ceiling—were packed densely, chaotically, with carved characters.

Even more remarkably, some ants began to engrave drawings, depicting the battles between the Giant-Headed Ant armies and the Termite armies.

They even grasped the concepts of imitation and exaggerated storytelling.

They depicted the Ant King and the Dominating Throne as especially enormous.

On the real battlefield, it was clearly the Giant-Headed Ant army that suffered defeat at the hands of the Termites.

Yet in the drawings, under the leadership of the Ant King, the Giant-Headed Ants crushed the Termite armies...

At the Mountain Lord-Level, these Specialized Ants were slowly developing wisdom.

Dragon Cypress once again recalled a profound philosophical question he had pondered: What is civilization?

Dragon Cypress keenly realized that perhaps, characters able to carry and transmit information are an essential component of a civilization.

Dragon Cypress simply organized the ant colony into systematic instruction sessions.

...

...

...

Winter turned to spring.

Spring came a bit later in the north.

Dragon Cypress returned to Xianglan Mountain and, after two days of rest, fell into a deep sleep.

Waking from this slumber, he shed his old shell, and the new carapace hardened.

Age Period Evolution from 3rd to 4th Mountain Lord stage; almost entirely by consuming Divine-Given Origin Force Food, the ultra-high enhancement effect meant extremely high energy consumption during evolution.

Dragon Cypress was left weak and nearly exhausted, eating three cans of Ant Honey in succession to recover some physical strength.

He communicated with the Dominating Throne via spiritual power and mind.

[Please select Messenger type]

[Guardian of Strength]

[Guardian of Hydrology]

[Producer: Agriculture]

[Producer: Refinement]

Dragon Cypress chose Producer [Refinement]

The Dominating Throne promptly issued another selection prompt:

[Please select Quantity]

[Quantity 1]

[Quantity 2]

...

[Quantity 11]

The rule remained unchanged—upon evolving to 4th Age Period Mountain Lord, the upper limit of Ant Eggs produced per batch increases by one.

The increase from 10 to 11 could only be described as better than nothing.

Dragon Cypress bent down, spat out the newly cultivated White Poplar Divine Seed, and stored it in an extra-large Metal Case.

He swayed and called, "Silver Cypress, come in."

"Great King!"

Silver Cypress pushed aside the door panel blocking the entrance, poked its head in to peek, then trotted in.

"Congratulations, Great King! You’ve taken one step closer to King-Level!"

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Since evolving to Mountain Lord Level and gaining spiritual power, Spiked Cypress had taken to mingling with Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple and learned to be glib-tongued.

Spiked Cypress had since taught Silver Cypress as well.

Dragon Cypress said irritably, "Cut the nonsense! Go hunt some fresh meat and bring it back!"

"Oh——"

Silver Cypress: "Great King, should I notify Round Cypress to prepare a banquet for celebration tonight?"

Dragon Cypress: "No need!"

Dragon Cypress asked, "How many days did I sleep?"

Silver Cypress replied, "Great King, it is now noon. You slept for less than six days during this evolution, missing half a day."

——Not bad at all!

Dragon Cypress tapped his tentacles lightly and said, "There’s much and urgent business this spring. Go quickly and prepare. I’ll recover by eating, and we’ll set out tonight."