CHAPTER 398: CHAPTER 383 DRAGON CYPRESS’S HINT

The harsh northern winter.

The snowy plains sealed in ice and snow.

Time flows by quietly.

The sun rises and sets again and again.

Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid keep watch under the White Poplar Divine Seed tree, counting the days, one after another.

At last, the winter’s end when the Divine-Given Scarletlight Seed blooms arrives.

Dragon Cypress sets out alone to the south, piloting the Dominating Throne back and forth, beginning the new year’s work arrangements.

...

Everything is done after a busy half-month.

...

Huagi Mountain.

The mountain and its base still wear a layer of ice and snow.

Yellow Stem and Spruce lie side by side on a boulder along the ridge, basking in the early spring sun in comfort.

The breeze blows; mountain stream water tinkles nearby.

The Dominating Throne, dragging its long tail, plummets swiftly down.

"Quandong Divine Tree!"

"Yellow Stem! Spruce!"

Snakebark Maple calls out, crackling arcs of electricity flickering between its two tentacles, full of enthusiasm.

"Quandong Divine Tree. The Soul-Setting Fruit will mature on schedule this year, right?"

Dragon Cypress calls out to confirm.

Quandong: "Of course."

Dragon Cypress: "I’ll come by on time, then."

Quandong: "The Soul-Setting Fruit keeps well; even if you’re not on time, it’s fine."

Dragon Cypress: "Uh..."

Dragon Cypress lands, carrying a large Spider Silk Bag.

A medium-sized Specialized Blue Soldier lies at the Throne’s edge, poking its head out, curiously peering about.

Spruce comes closer, startled: "Black Birch? It’s so much smaller! How many evolutionary upgrades has it completed?"

Dragon Cypress: "Just finished its third evolution before we left. Its body length is about 1.6 meters, roughly as I predicted."

In the Insect Clan’s inherited memory, throughout the Ant Clan’s history, there has never been a case of a Common Ant ascending to Assistant King.

Dragon Cypress’s ant colony is unique, cultivated through the Dominating Throne.

Yellow Stem and Quandong Divine Tree have seen Black Cory and Black Leaf, but this is their first time seeing an ant mid-evolution. They’re both fascinated, their spiritual power sweeping over Black Birch again and again.

After a long inspection, they can indeed see many peculiarities, yet can’t quite grasp the underlying reason.

They retract their spiritual power and get back to business.

Dragon Cypress opens the Spider Silk Bag, revealing an extra-large metal box inside.

"Last winter, Ghost Fan and White Rice worked together, panning iron sand by the riverside of the Jianlan Plain, and made a sample. I’m sending it here first—put it in the underground treasury and test for size."

Yellow Stem answers briskly: "Alright!"

Dragon Cypress points at the container: "There are two clasps designed here so you can grip them easily with your front claws or tentacles for taking out and placing in."

Yellow Stem taps its tentacle, pointing at the golden orchid pattern on the side, and asks: "Is this decorative gold?"

Dragon Cypress: "Not just decoration. Ghost Fan panned a little gold sand, so I had them make a beautiful filigree symbol. The orchid symbol means the contained Origin Force Ant Honey inside is suitable for Primary, Mid-Level, and High-Level warriors; in the future I’ll use the Azure Tree symbol for boxes containing Origin Force Ant Honey suitable for Mountain Lord-Level warriors; and the White Poplar Tree symbol for Lord-Level warriors."

Dragon Cypress: "We could use a picture of the flowers of the Quandong Divine Tree to mark honey suitable for King-Level consumption..."

Quandong Divine Tree: "..."

Yellow Stem: "..."

That was just a joke—once they reach Evolution King Level, they’ll leave the Origin Force Star Realm, and Origin Force Ant Honey is of no use anymore.

Dragon Cypress continues: "I’ll also use the Knowledge Hall icon to separately mark Comprehensive Physique Enhancement, Carapace Enhancement, Perception Enhancement, Life Enhancement, and Elemental Enhancement."

"It’s a sensible design!"

Yellow Stem wiggles its tentacle, leading the way. Together they climb the mountain and enter the mountain’s treasury.

Entering the cave,

Spruce steps up, pulling open the cabinet door directly opposite.

The cabinet stands just over two meters tall; metal plates are fixed horizontally, dividing it into four equal layers.

Dragon Cypress takes out the box and slides it in.

The fit is just right.

Gripping the side handles with its two claws, it easily slides the box back out.

"Not bad! Easy to use and retrieve."

Dragon Cypress comments, and suggests: "Origin Force Food for Mountain Lord-Level and Lord-Level warriors should be placed on the upper shelves. Primary, Mid-, and High-Level warriors are smaller, so food for them should go on the bottom shelf."

Yellow Stem and Spruce both tap their tentacle in agreement.

It’s Snakebark Maple’s first time in the treasury; it looks around and asks: "Yellow Stem, just how many of these metal boxes can this treasury hold? It doesn’t look that spacious."

Yellow Stem: "Not that spacious? Back in the Origin Force Era, our priceless Origin Force Foods were all kept here."

Yellow Stem: "Each standing cabinet holds 16 boxes per row, four rows total, that’s 64 boxes. This treasury holds three cabinets—that’s 192 boxes."

Yellow Stem taps its tentacle: "Below is another treasury specifically for especially valuable Origin Force Foods, also with three cabinets, and also fits 192 boxes."

Yellow Stem: "So that’s 384 boxes in total."

Yellow Stem thoughtfully calculates again, raises its claw to take the metal box and examine it, then personally tries pushing and pulling it in and out of the cabinet.

Pretty convenient.

Yellow Stem nods in satisfaction and asks: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, are you planning to store Origin Force Food at Huagi Mountain?"

Dragon Cypress: "You could say that. But look, after getting this year’s three Soul-Setting Fruits, I owe Huagi Mountain 13.5 million Source Stones worth of Origin Force Food. I plan to first pay off the caravan’s debt, then repay Huagi Mountain at a rate of one million a year, clearing the debt in 14 years."

...

Yellow Stem, Spruce, and Snakebark Maple all fall silent at once.

You can make that much a year?

Even if you can, isn’t that a stretch?

Yellow Stem: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, why aren’t you and Ink Orchid evolving? And all those Assistant Kings under you—aren’t they evolving?"

Dragon Cypress: "Assistant Kings can evolve slowly—no rush for me or Ink Orchid. We’re still young, taking a decade or two off won’t make a big difference."

If Dragon Cypress isn’t anxious, Yellow Stem is; but after a thought, it sets it aside, changes the subject, and points at the metal box: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, how much Origin Force Ant Honey does one box hold?"

Dragon Cypress: "Ordinary Origin Force Ant Honey suitable for Primary, Mid-, and High-Level warriors, if converted to Source Stone, is about 500,000 to a million per box. For Mountain Lord-Level, depending on the enhancement type, about a million to 1.5 million. Lord-Level, above 2 million."

Dragon Cypress: "Ant King Honey is pricey, relatively speaking, so ’a bit more’—one container can reach 3 to 5 million Source Stones."

Dragon Cypress: "Roughly calculated, about 1.5 million Source Stones per box. So with 384 boxes, Huagi Mountain Treasury could store Ant Honey valued at five or six hundred million Source Stones."

Yellow Stem: "..."

Yellow Stem: "No way we can use that much—not for thousands of years."

Dragon Cypress: "No matter. I just came up with another, even better way to store Origin Force Ant Honey."

Yellow Stem: "What way?"

Dragon Cypress: "Authentic ’Origin Force Honey’—you know that, right?"

Yellow Stem: "...I know."

Authentic Origin Force Honey is made by bee-type Insect Clan, using pollen and nectar from Common Life Seed plants.

It has Origin Force, but no enhancement effects at all.

It’s delicious and sweet—a luxury food not particularly expensive but for enjoyment.

Origin Force Honey also has, to some extent, an Origin Force-stabilizing effect similar to Bee King Jelly.

Dragon Cypress: "Right now, when I make Origin Force Ant Honey and Ant King Honey, I dilute it with ordinary fruit. If I switch to authentic Origin Force Honey, the storage life can be extended substantially."

Dragon Cypress: "Authentic Origin Force Honey isn’t rare. Many caravans can supply it regularly, at large volume, and the price isn’t outlandish. With this kind of metal box, each will only cost 50,000 to 100,000 more Source Stones to refine."

...

Yellow Stem is speechless again.

boxes—brewing costs just rose by twenty or thirty million Source Stones?

And that’s not outlandish?

Then what does count as outlandish?

However, the more Yellow Stem thinks about it, the more sense Dragon Cypress’s plan makes.

If you really stockpile five or six hundred million Source Stones’ worth of Origin Force Ant Honey, and the young Insect Clan eat sparingly, it’ll last thousands of years. In that case, preservation becomes the main problem—worth going all out for.

Yellow Stem taps its tentacle: "Alright! Dragon Cypress Ant King, we’ll do it your way from now on."

"...Alright."

Dragon Cypress feels a bit puzzled.

The conversation had gotten to this point—why is Yellow Stem still so calm?

Do they not understand what five or six hundred million means?

Isn’t Huagi Mountain still hoarding a mountain of Source Stones?

This math isn’t hard—in a limited time, there’s no way Huagi Mountain can stockpile enough Origin Force Ant Honey and Source Stones.

Why don’t you hurry up and let Linnan Divine Tree start making money?

Dragon Cypress can’t just blurt that out, so continues explaining: "The metal box specs are set, but there’s no rush to mass produce. Wait until Areca evolves to Mountain Lord Level, then make them in bulk. Mountain Lord Level Flame Spider’s silk is even better at containing and isolating Primordial Energy."

Yellow Stem taps its tentacle in agreement.

"Alright."

Dragon Cypress calls out: "That’s all I came for today, time to go. Spruce, you still need to help at the Purple Tung Insect Nation this year..."