Twilight.

Beneath the mound where the Divine-Given Seed had taken root, Starship was communicating with the White Poplar Divine Seed, imparting some basic knowledge.

Cypress, surrounded by soldier ants, hurriedly came to report.

"Great King, the Barley Bug Tribe warriors have come again."

"Who all came?"

"All fifteen Mountain Lord-Level warriors are here. They're asking when trading can begin. Also, High-Level Warrior Wuye has come along."

"Good! Invite them to discuss under the Purple Tung Divine-Given Seed tree."

"Alright!"

Cypress turned to leave.

Starship added, "From now on, when Barley Bug warriors visit, if I'm here, invite them directly under the Purple Tung Divine-Given Seed tree."

"Understood!"

Cypress hurried away.

"White Poplar, your soul consciousness is still weak. Don't use your spiritual power excessively; rest for now. I've got some things to handle."

"Oh—"

The White Poplar Divine Seed responded. After a round of conversation, it was no longer fearful.

Starship also briefed Ghost Fan, White Rice, Spruce, and Snakebark Maple, then hurried alone to the Purple Tung Divine-Given Seed tree.

Almost simultaneously, Cypress led a group of Barley Bug warriors to arrive.

After exchanging greetings,

Fuzzy Flower Mountain Lord looked up at the flower buds on the tree, and said, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, the Purple Tung Flowers are about to bloom."

Starship used the Soul-Setting ability to sense and confirmed these guys really were eager to trade, so he replied:

"Yes, the flowers are about to burst open."

Starship said truthfully, "I just finished a trade with the Flame Spider Roving Merchant at Xianglan Mountain and came back. All the Origin Force Ant Honey has been brought over. However, there aren't enough metal cans to hold the ant honey—Ghost Fan, White Rice, and Areca are urgently making some, so you'll have to wait a few more days. Once they're ready, I'll let everyone know."

Starship: "This year's trade is a bit later than usual. In the future, the annual trade will always be fixed to the blooming time of the Purple Tung Divine-Given Seed."

After speaking, Starship added, "Including High-Level Barley Bug Warriors."

Starship added further: "The metal cans used to store the Origin Force Ant Honey are custom-made by me from Ghost Fan, White Rice, and Areca, at a high price of 50 Source Stones each. For the first trade, the metal cans are a gift to you. But next time, you must bring empty metal cans to trade back..."

"For example, if you buy 5 cans of Origin Force Ant Honey, you must return 5 empty cans to me, to avoid having to custom-make metal cans every year for every trade. Source Stones are a small matter; collecting metal gravel is time-consuming and laborious. It also requires three Insect Clan Warriors to work together to make them—it's quite troublesome."

"Understood!"

"Got it."

"As it should be."

"No problem."

"Thank you, Dragon Cypress Ant King."

The Barley Bug warriors agreed one after another.

Mountain Thorn Mountain Lord signaled with its tentacle, and Wuye stepped forward.

Wuye: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, I can evolve now..."

Starship knew these Barley Bug warriors wanted to test out the auxiliary effect of the Dominating Throne.

Starship: "I'm busy these days. Wuye, come find me after the trade is finished."

Starship asked knowingly, "Wuye, are you planning to nurture a Harewood Divine-Given Seed?"

Wuye: "Yes."

Fuzzy Flower Mountain Lord said, "Wuye helped Dragon Cypress Ant King wipe out the Termite Kingdom and restore the Purple Tung Insect Nation—he made a great contribution. This is our tribe's reward to him."

Mountain Lord Magnolia Bark said, "We should also thank Dragon Cypress Ant King for helping heal our dying Divine-Given Seeds."

Mountain Thorn Mountain Lord marveled, "Is the Dominating Throne a divine artifact bestowed by the Natural True God? It's amazing!"

The other Barley Bug warriors were also amazed, discussing excitedly.

Starship just kept nodding his tentacle; when everyone was done talking, he changed the subject, saying, "Harewood is a very good Great Tall Tree. Wuye, have you thought about where you'll plant it after it's nurtured?"

"...Yes!" Wuye looked to Mountain Thorn Mountain Lord.

Mountain Thorn Mountain Lord said, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, this is also something we wanted to discuss with you. When Divine-Given Seeds mature, they absorb a lot of Origin Force—either by supplementing with Source Stones, or by relying on an extremely high natural Origin Force environment."

Mountain Thorn Mountain Lord raised its claw and pointed due east, "I think it should be planted next to the Boundary River Canal between the Barley Bug warriors' shared territory and your Central Region territory."

Origin Force wells up from underground, diffusing from places of high to low concentration, in all directions.

The Central Region's Origin Force concentration is 2.3 to 2.5 times that of ordinary places.

On the far side of the canal, the nearby area also has about 2 times the normal Origin Force concentration. If a regular Divine-Given Seed takes root in such a high-concentration Origin Force environment, come fruiting season there will basically be no need to spend Source Stones.

Wuye added, "I'll plant it about 500 meters from the canal, to avoid conflicting with your Divine-Given Seeds, Dragon Cypress Ant King."

Starship shook his tentacle and said, "I'm just planting a few Divine God-Given Seeds. Their blossom-fruit cycle can easily be ten or more years; there won't be any conflict. Wuye, go ahead and plant it close to the canal—right up by the riverbank is fine. It won't affect anything."

Wuye hesitated and agreed, "Alright—"

Starship swept his gaze over Mountain Thorn, Magnolia Bark, Fuzzy Flower, and all the Mountain Lord-Level Barley Bug warriors, and said, "From now on, if you all have Divine-Given Seeds, you can also plant them close to the riverbank—no problem. Just keep a distance of 1,500 meters from my Divine God-Given Seeds."

All the insects agreed.

Starship paused, then said, "You Barley Bug warriors have already formed a small tribe. The land system you've chosen is semi-private, semi-public. On the Ten-thousand Tribes Continent, most Insect Tribes use this kind of land system. Their operating rules are: the produce of personal territory belongs to the individual insect; the produce of tribe-managed territory belongs to the tribe—clear distinction between public and private."

Starship: "For your tribe to endure long and develop strong, you need to select quality Great Tall Trees and cultivate Wild Divine-Given Seeds. Your Barley Bug Tribe can consider that."

It wasn't a difficult concept, and the Barley Bugs all chimed in agreement.

Starship: "On Huagi Mountain, there is a Knowledge Hall that gathers various land management experiences and skills of insect tribes across the Cloud Trace Continent from the last Origin Force Era. If you have time, you can send a few warriors to observe and learn..."

Starship very nonchalantly chatted with the Barley Bug warriors, providing some suggestions for their future development.

It wasn't until twilight that the meeting dispersed.

…

…

…

Even back when trading with the Flame Spider Roving Merchant, Areca had already started consuming Origin Force Ant Honey, preparing for evolution.

Arriving at the Purple Tung Insect Nation, resting a day, it immediately fell into deep sleep.

To evolve from Mid-Level to High-Level Warrior is quite simple; it woke up in just four days.

After a short rest, it hurriedly joined in metal can production.

Starship soon summoned Wuye, arranged for use of the Dominating Throne, and completed an Age Period Evolution.

The Purple Tung Divine-Given Seed flowers bloomed.

Starship first took Black Leaf and directed miniature Blue Ants to collect nectar and pollen, brewing Ant King Jelly.

Once that was done,

The metal cans were ready, and the trade with the Mountain Lord-Level Barley Bug warriors was completed.

All were quite poor.

They were stranded on an Origin Force isolated island with limited plant variety, and the White Poplar Ant King had forced them to choose plants advantageous for Ant King and Ant Queen development as Life Seeds, many of which were of low yield and quality.

The Mountain Lord-Level Barley Bug warriors had annual incomes of only 30,000 to 40,000 Source Stones—pitiful amounts.

But the quantity was high; with 15 Mountain Lord-Level warriors combined, they sold around 500,000 Source Stones worth of Origin Force Food.

Starship didn't make money off of them, kept trade profits under 10%—just a fee for the effort.

The Origin Force Food bought up would be made into "Origin Force Honey" and, via White Ivy and Grass Dragon, flow to the Ten-thousand Tribes Continent.

Starship would then use what White Ivy and Grass Dragon sent over—Origin Force Food not available on Cloud Trace Continent—to swap out, supplying Cloud Trace Insects to eat.

The same went for all other Origin Force Points and the produce of Insect Clan Warrior territories on Cloud Trace Continent.

If one day trading with the Flame Spider Roving Merchant from Cloud Trace Continent was severed, internal production of Origin Force Food could start at any time.

This year, in the trade with the Flame Spider Roving Merchant, Starship acquired large numbers of quality plant seeds from the north, had already begun sowing and raising seedlings, and would observe for two or three years. As long as they could be grown, they would be widely promoted throughout the Purple Tung Insect Nation.

With so many Barley Bug Tribe warriors, they could greatly enrich the categories of Origin Force Food produced locally on Cloud Trace Continent.

Doing their best to achieve self-sufficiency within Cloud Trace Continent.

There have been instances before of Starship Passages appearing and disappearing—it was necessary to leave an escape route for themselves and Ink Orchid.

This was also one of Starship's core purposes in attacking the Termite Kingdom.

...

The White Poplar Divine Seed grew rapidly, with its soul strengthening by the day.

Starship devotedly kept watch under the tree.

Red Moonseed and Areca helped, gathering various animal and plant samples and bringing them for Starship to teach White Poplar to recognize all things, to know this world, and to impart all sorts of knowledge.

White Poplar was timid, obedient, spoke little, and quietly learned.

Time passed slowly.

At the end of spring, Starship made a trip, sent Red Moonseed back to Black Fruit Mountain, brought Fragrant Cypress back to the Purple Tung Insect Nation, then, with Black Leaf, led the ant colony to continue digging and dividing territory with river canals.

This was work both sides were responsible for.

The Barley Bug warriors conscientiously came to help, while Starship dropped by every so often to chat, strengthen bonds, and observe continuously.

White Rice began to reinforce the river canals.

All kinds of work were proceeding in an orderly fashion.

In midsummer, the White Poplar Divine-Given Seed tree had reached a height of 6 meters, and its roots had reached the depth where the White Poplar Ant King, Red Phellodendron Ant Queen, and those Assistant Kings' bodies were buried. Its growth rate saw a huge surge.

The White Poplar Divine-Given Seed belonged to the Life System, longevity type, and termites' basic talent was also Life System, longevity type.

The attributes matched perfectly.

In terms of Primordial Energy Substance, plants and animals complemented each other.

Plus, the summer temperature and daylight.

All these superlative growing conditions combined, producing effects several times stronger than Starship had expected.

Every day brought visible leaps in growth.

Every three days, it could grow about a meter taller.

Under the astonished stares of the insects, in just a single month, the White Poplar Divine-Given Seed tree grew taller than 15 meters.

In another month, it passed 25 meters, becoming a lush green giant.

The piled mound had sunk, flush with the ground.

Buttress roots rose, supporting the massive trunk.

As autumn arrived, the corpse nutrients were exhausted, and the White Poplar Divine-Given Seed's growth momentum rapidly slowed, returning to normal growth rate in just a few days.

Ant colony breeding work had always been ongoing; the number of Blue Ants permanently stationed in the Purple Tung Insect Nation had reached 800.

At the end of summer, the ant colony began picking fruits of all kinds from the orchards formerly managed by the Termite Kingdom, refining them into ant honey to store food for Blue Soldiers.

Starship then began to breed medium, small, and miniature Worker Ants and Soldier Ants.