CHAPTER 53: CHAPTER 053 AZURE FRUIT

The early summer was abuzz with cicadas.

It was the peak growing season for the Deep Blue Divine-Given Seed.

From a distance, Dragon Cypress saw its seventh broadleaf already unfurling.

"Azure!"

Dragon Cypress maneuvered the Dominating Throne closer, slowing down and hovering above the water’s surface.

"Dragon Cypress!" Ink Orchid pointed with its claw.

Gazing directly below the third broadleaf, they saw the deep blue veins dotted with tiny green spots.

At first glance, it looked as though some pest insects had attached themselves.

With a sweep of spiritual power, Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid ecstatically exchanged thoughts using Mental Power.

"Azure is bearing fruit!"

Dragon Cypress asked, "Azure, are you bearing fruit?"

"Yes," Azure replied.

"When did the flowers bloom?" Dragon Cypress continued.

"After you and Ink Orchid left."

Dragon Cypress was speechless. Their trip had taken a total of twenty-one days.

Azure obviously could not specify the exact day.

Dragon Cypress did not press the issue, asking instead, "What color were the flowers? How many days did they bloom?"

Azure explained, "They were small blue flowers that bloomed at night. They wilted as soon as the morning sunlight appeared."

Dragon Cypress then asked, "And the fruit? Do you remember how many days it has been growing?"

Azure seemed to ponder. "It seems like... perhaps eight days?"

Alright... Dragon Cypress spread its spiritual power and scanned up and down.

Only the lower four broadleaves bore fruit.

The tender green fruit were the size of sesame seeds, closely attached to the veins with very short stems, similar to the Jiabao Fruit from his Inherited Memory, but the fruit distribution was much sparser.

Currently, the Deep Blue Divine-Given Seed stood over four meters tall. The lowest broadleaf was the largest, with a diameter of at least 1.2 meters at its opening, bearing twenty-three fruits.

The second broadleaf from the bottom had a diameter of around one meter at its opening, bearing seventeen fruits.

The third and fourth broadleaves were successively smaller, each bearing eleven fruits.

This was Azure’s first time flowering and fruiting, totaling sixty-two fruits.

The number is somewhat low, Dragon Cypress thought. What matters next will be the final size of the fruits. There’s also another question: how many years do the fruit need to grow on the tree to mature? Generally speaking, the longer the growth time, the higher the quality of the fruit. However, when quality is divided by time cost, the average yield doesn’t increase. The key is still the yield. Since the Deep Blue Divine-Given Seed has only been planted for a year, it’s too soon to determine whether its yield is high or low.

As the plant continued to grow taller, the first broadleaf of the Deep Blue Divine-Given Seed was now nearly thirty centimeters above the water’s surface.

"Azure, is the pond’s water level sufficient? Do we need to raise it?" Dragon Cypress inquired.

"It is very suitable now," Azure replied.

Azure then said happily, "Dragon Cypress, the tadpoles beneath the rice paddies have grown legs."

All Divine-Given Seeds were the same; Azure and the Fruit-Scented Orchid both had their own independent consciousness. They knew that the seeds of Origin Force Life could not produce offspring, so they were unconcerned with their own fruits.

Azure cared more about those frogs and tadpoles.

However, after communicating more with Dragon Cypress, it had also acquired a bit of an insect’s nature.

Azure proactively asked, "Dragon Cypress, did you and Ink Orchid earn any Source Stones on this trip?"

"Of course! We earned a lot," Dragon Cypress laughed.

Having heard many caravan stories, Azure too had developed some interest in riches.

Dragon Cypress enthusiastically began, "On our return journey, Ink Orchid and I had an unexpected gain; we discovered another Land of Origin Force, where a Southern Sour Jujube Divine-Given Seed was growing..."

Ink Orchid was anxious to return to its own territory to share the gains of the journey with its Fruit-Scented Orchid Divine-Given Seed. After circling the newly dug large pond, it took its leave.

After conversing at length with Azure, Dragon Cypress returned to the Ant Nest on the mountain.

Round Cypress, flanked by five specialized worker ants, darted over to greet him, waving his tentacles in salutation.

"Dragon Cypress Ant King, you’re back!"

"HMM..." Dragon Cypress landed the Dominating Throne and asked as usual, "Has everything been alright while I was away?"

"All is well," Round Cypress reported.

"That’s good to hear." Dragon Cypress cut the bamboo tubes tied to the stone and gave instructions, "First, move ’Spiked Cypress’ back to the Ant Nest to settle down. There are also some ant eggs and larvae here, all specialized blue ants. Collect them into the corresponding nest chambers for care."

As the ant colony expanded, the demand for food inevitably increased.

In the Ant Clan Kingdom, food was also considered an essential resource.

After evolving to mid-level, Dragon Cypress had only cultivated forty specialized mid-level worker ants. With no major excavation projects in the short term, he did not plan to cultivate more, to save on provisions.

In one go, he cultivated eighty specialized mid-level soldier ants.

Aside from stationing these soldier ants to reinforce the territory’s defense, he also formed a new combat team. This team consisted of thirty-six mid-level soldier ants dedicated to long-distance hunting, killing large animals to ensure the Ant Nest’s food supply.

Other micro, small, medium, and large soldier ants still hunted nearby insects to diversify the food options.

Dragon Cypress planned to increase the number of specialized blue ants to fifty in the next month or so, and to cultivate ten each of large, medium, and small blue ants, to maximize the Ant Nest’s food storage capacity.

Then it would be time for large, medium, small, and micro worker ants to further solidify the logistical capabilities of the Ant Nest.

Lastly, he needed to cultivate a batch of specialized blue soldiers.

Previously, Dragon Cypress had chosen to hatch a specialized blue soldier under the "Messenger · Guardian · Hydrology" combination for testing. Unsurprisingly, this type of soldier ant only inherited water system abilities, not strength system abilities.

Their work was feeble and lacked strength; they struggled even to lift a stone weighing about ten times their own weight.

As for inheriting water system abilities, the ones I currently master are useless, completely worthless. The blue soldiers replicated by the Dominating Throne, having only about a third of the Ant King’s abilities, aren’t even worth considering.

However, the specialized blue soldiers had one special talent: they could walk on water as if on flat land.

The fruits of the Deep Blue Divine-Given Seed were nearing their ripening phase. This was just in time, so he arranged for a group of specialized blue soldiers to watch over them in the pond, preventing them from being stolen by birds or fish.

The Ghost Fan they acquired through trade was split evenly between Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid.

Ink Orchid’s share was refined by blue ants, mixed into ant honey, and then stored in a tin can gifted by White Ivy.

Holding the tin can, Ink Orchid returned home and ate through her share in less than five days. Two days later, she fell into a deep sleep.

She successfully evolved into a mid-level warrior of the fourth instar. Following Dragon Cypress’s strong recommendation, and enticed by his promise to help her research orchid hybrid breeding, she chose a Golden Pine Nut as her Life Seed.

Afterward, they planted their seeds side by side.

With Round Cypress helping to manage the Ant Nest and oversee the territory, Dragon Cypress seemed to have little left to do.

Repair the reservoir? The Deep Blue Divine-Given Seed isn’t tall enough yet; it’ll still take a few years. Clear land for an orchard? There are only a few dozen seedlings at present, and they won’t be ready for transplanting until next year or the year after. By then, Round Cypress will have it covered.

In the Ant Clan, once the Ant Kingdom developed to a certain scale, the Ant King would no longer do the work personally. The Ant King’s duty was to lay eggs.

But Dragon Cypress was a male ant, and the kind that could not sit still.

With fifty specialized worker ants in tow, he went down the mountain to clear the valley, widen the flood discharge outlet, and prevent torrential rain from flooding the Deep Blue Divine-Given Seed.

Ink Orchid gave Dragon Cypress Origin Force Food worth 500 Source Stones for cultivating ’Spiked Cypress.’

The results were significant.

With an increased proportion of Origin Force Food in the ant honey they were fed, their growth rate accelerated noticeably.

The larvae soon grew over twenty centimeters in length.

「Time flew by.」

「Midsummer.」

The Spiked Cypress larvae had grown over thirty centimeters. They were white and tender, round and plump.

For more than twenty consecutive days, the sky remained cloudless during the dry season. Streams dried up, and the water level of the distant great river had dropped so low it almost dried up.

The ponds and pools dug by Dragon Cypress played their role, allowing them to pass the season safely.

The Spiked Cypress larvae developed rapidly, their length surpassing half a meter.

Looking at the larvae, I can roughly estimate the size of the adult ants. The Gigantification Soldier Ants will grow to over half a meter in length, even larger than Ink Orchid. They’ll truly live up to the name ’Gigantification!’

Dragon Cypress organized the worker ants to urgently widen the Ant Nest’s main passage and important thoroughfares.

They expanded deep underground, creating a dedicated large nest chamber for Spiked Cypress.

After seven or eight days, the expansion project was completed.

The Spiked Cypress larvae also finished eating the Origin Force Food worth 1,500 Source Stones and began to spin their cocoons.

If all went as expected, in about half a month, their Feather Transformation would be complete, and they would emerge from their cocoons.