Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 565 - 544: Reclaiming Swinging Leaf Island (Part One)
Busy spring.
After three months,
the Divine-Given Seed of Large-Fruited Hippophae grew into a 5-meter-tall little tree.
The Divine-Given Seed of Great King Molan became increasingly stable.
The many common Life Seeds planted by Ink Orchid on Xianglan Mountain advanced one after another to Lord-Level, entering a rapid growth phase.
Same old method: suspend blossoms and fruits, nurture the trees for three years, then gradually resume production after three years.
With Ink Orchid evolving to Evolution Lord Level, the annual income can be roughly predicted:
Fruit-Scented Orchid about 60,000 per year.
Cuihua Hanlan about 40,000 per year.
Snow Orchid about 80,000 per year.
Northern Gorgon about 110,000 per year.
Chestnut Beans about 100,000 per year.
Sea Blue Tree about 100,000 per year.
Red Phellodendron about 120,000 per year.
Ink Emperor Peach about 320,000 per year.
Fey Oil Fruit about 200,000 per year.
Golden Key Tree about 170,000 per year
Large-Fruited Hippophae about 150,000 per year.
Common Life Seed plants bring in about 150,000 Source Stones annually.
Totaling roughly 1.6 million Source Stones, the actual amount might be a bit higher, but not much.
Ink Orchid actually has quite a few Divine-Given Seeds of Life Seed, but for some reason, except for Ink Emperor Peach and Fey Oil Fruit, most are in the middle to lower range, so the income is much less than Dragon Cypress.
Dragon Cypress’s Nine-Leaf Huangqian Divine-Given Seed has started to yield, with output set to increase annually, and Dragon Cypress’s Life Seed yearly income is about to surpass 3 million.
Senior Orchid Mantis is calculated separately.
Roughly speaking, the yearly return from Great King Molan’s Divine-Given Seed reaches as much as 1.71 million Source Stones, but the blossom-fruit cycle is too long.
...
Early summer,
Large-Fruited Hippophae’s Divine-Given Seed awakens soul consciousness, and Ink Orchid stays at White Lotus Lake to take care of and teach it knowledge.
Dragon Cypress finds some free time and lives on Xianglan Mountain.
Spiked Cypress and Silver Cypress evolved one after another to 3-Age Lord-Level, awakening Scorching ability.
Early autumn,
Giant Cypress and Cypress advanced one after another to 3-Age Lord-Level, while Black Leaf and Black Birch evolved to 2-Age Lord-Level, all smoothly comprehending Scorching ability.
Dragon Cypress repeatedly warned: don’t use abilities to look at the moon.
Early winter season...
The transformation work for Swinging Leaf Island can be put on the agenda...
Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid quickly completed the search work for Swinging Leaf Island and Thousand Reef Archipelago on Wanglan Continent.
Ink Orchid returned to Xianglan Mountain.
Dragon Cypress set out again.
...
White Rice Mountain.
Silent winter.
Orange-red sun.
White Rice and Black Rice lay atop the hill, comfortably enjoying the warm sunlight.
The Dominating Throne approached from afar.
"Here he comes." White Rice got up and walked quickly down the mountain.
Black Rice rose slowly, unhurriedly descending.
"Red Fox! White Rice!"
"Black Rice!"
Dragon Cypress called out.
White Rice asked enthusiastically, "Ant King Dragon Cypress, are we setting out right now?"
Dragon Cypress: "We can set out now."
There are certain risks involved in working at Swinging Leaf Island; accordingly, the pay offered by Dragon Cypress is quite generous.
White Rice spread its membranous wings, preparing to jump onto the Throne.
"Wait."
Dragon Cypress stopped him, reminding: "White Rice, be careful. I brought along some small-sized ants—don’t step on them by mistake."
White Rice: "..."
White Rice: "Ant King Dragon Cypress, so you’re arranging the ant group to move into Swinging Leaf Island right away? Didn’t you say we should dig escape tunnels first?"
Red Fox also asked, "Ant King Dragon Cypress, are you sure Wanglan Continent is safe right now?"
Dragon Cypress: "Precisely because we can’t ensure safety, I need White Rice to go, use Earth System Abilities, help excavate escape tunnels, and build the underground water vein network."
White Rice kept up with a question: "Escape tunnels? Water vein network?"
Dragon Cypress: "I’m planning to station Silver Cypress, Black Birch, and Tie Bush long-term on Swinging Leaf Island. Silver Cypress and Black Birch have inherited my Water System Talent and ability, and Tie Bush itself is a Sea Blue Crab. If they encounter unavoidable danger, they can escape underwater."
Dragon Cypress: "Moreover, my evolutionary growth mainly strengthens Water System Ability, and Water System Blue Soldiers are my strongest unit. For Wanglan Continent’s development, I plan to use Swinging Leaf Island as a starting point, with Water System Blue Soldiers as the main battle force. Developing Swinging Leaf Island isn’t just for those 150 square kilometers of land, but more importantly to transform it into an unbreakable sea fortress, making preparations for future Evolution King Level and full-scale migration."
With a thought, a Water Sphere condensed on Dragon Cypress’s tentacle, stretching and morphing into a three-dimensional map of Swinging Leaf Island, hovering in front of them.
Dragon Cypress explained: "The island covers 150 square kilometers, with 31 peaks. I’m planning to build five nests first: one main and four subsidiaries—east, south, west, north, and center—named East Nest, South Nest, West Nest, North Nest, and Central King Nest, respectively."
With a point from Dragon Cypress’s tentacle to the northwest on the ice-map: "The Central King Nest will be built here. From 50 meters underground, dig three main tunnels, each four meters wide, connecting east, west, and north to the deep sea."
White Rice straightened his tentacles, calculating in his mind: "Just these three escape tunnels add up to over 20 kilometers long? What does underground water vein network mean?"
Dragon Cypress’s tentacle swiped the ice-map, drawing three thick water lines, then crisscrossing dense water lines connecting the five nests and each mountain on the island.
Dragon Cypress: "Channel seawater to flood the water vein network. My Blue Soldiers can dive and manoeuvre freely. Swinging Leaf Island is isolated deep in the ocean—if war breaks out, the invaders will most likely be the Bee Clan. The Bee Clan are lousy at tunnel warfare, and they won’t be able to get through water-flooded tunnels."
Dragon Cypress: "White Rice, your main job is to use Earth-Stone Ability to reinforce the escape tunnels and water vein network stone walls, to guard against collapse from long-term seawater immersion."
Dragon Cypress: "The workload is enormous and may take several years or more than a decade to complete. I’ll need to cultivate a batch of Specialized Worker Ants and Large Worker Ants on the island, who’ll be dedicated to digging and earth-moving work."
With gestures, Dragon Cypress pointed: "From this mountain, going north, it’s only about 2,500 meters to the sea in a straight line. White Rice, you dig and I’ll haul the earth. Our mission for this winter is to break through this line—finish before spring arrives in the Northern Hemisphere."
Dragon Cypress: "Next year, we’ll dig a westward escape tunnel. With two escape tunnels, I can settle on Swinging Leaf Island for good and start mass cultivation of the ant group and large-scale construction. White Rice, every winter you spend two months reinforcing the finished tunnels will suffice."
"Understood!"
White Rice spread his wings, took off, circled, landed carefully on the Throne, and said goodbye: "Red Fox, Black Rice, don’t worry. This is a deep-sea island. Not dangerous at all. I’ll be back on time next spring..."
...
Swinging Leaf Island.
The Dominating Throne sped to the island, landing in front of the natural rock cave once used by Tie Bush for storage.
White Rice crawled ashore and, looking down, gazed at the Divine-Given Seed of Swinging Leaf Iron Core Tree at the foot of the mountain with emotion: "Hasn’t it been just a few years? This tree must’ve grown at least 20 meters upward already, right?"
Dragon Cypress: "You know, for safety, I took Tie Bush to Cloud Trace Continent. With no bugs to care for or harvest it, I simply suspended blossoms and fruits every year. Ink Orchid and I also delivered Divine-Given Remains and Source Stones each year to strengthen and replenish it. With such generous conditions, how could growth not be fast?"
As Dragon Cypress spoke, he leaped to the ground, shrunk the Dominating Throne, and commanded the accompanying ant group to disembark.
This time, he brought ten each of medium, small, and micro Worker Ants; fifteen each of medium and small Blue Ants—fifty small-sized ants in total, nothing fancy.
They will be the first immigrants for the Xianglan Mountain Kingdom’s expansion into Wanglan Continent.
Dragon Cypress raised a claw, pointed to the cave, and said: "White Rice, help out, would you? On the front stone wall, 10 centimeters above ground level, make the main ant nest tunnel—diameter one meter, depth twenty meters, gently slanting down and winding left and right, not in a straight line. Understand?"
"Got it!"
White Rice withdrew his gaze, burrowed into the cave, activated Earth System Abilities, and got to work.
He finished the task easily enough.
Dragon Cypress then directed that several small side tunnels branch from the main tunnel for subnests.
The simple, primary ant nest was completed.
Dragon Cypress directed the ant group to move in.
This mountain is located directly west on the island, about three kilometers from the west coast. The mountain is quite large, the rock is tough, and it’s planned to be the west subnest of the island in the future.
...
After finishing up, they rested for the night.
Early next morning,
The Dominating Throne carried White Rice to a spot near the island’s center.
An unimpressive peak, only about 200 meters high—the spot Dragon Cypress chose for the Central King Nest.
After briefly explaining the blueprint to White Rice, they started digging.
From the north side of the mountain, a tunnel entrance was opened at the lower mountainside, digging a four-meter-diameter main tunnel, winding toward the mountain belly.
White Rice handled the digging, and the excavated earth and stone were consolidated into gigantic blocks 1.5 meters long, 1 meter wide, and half a meter thick, with some extra solidification.
Dragon Cypress used his mandible tooth to carry them down to the mountain foot and stack them neatly.
After digging every ten or so meters, White Rice would turn around and use Earth System Abilities to consolidate the tunnel walls.
When his Primordial Energy was almost exhausted, he’d hop onto the Dominating Throne to rest and recover.
Dragon Cypress kept hustling, carrying materials in the meantime.
With efficient teamwork,
the main tunnel soon reached the mountain belly, then began spiraling downward, burrowing into the underworld...
Fifty meters beneath sea level, the path turned straight, continuing north in parallel...
While working, the Dominating Throne was also steadily producing Ant Eggs, which Dragon Cypress delivered to the western subnest for cultivation.
This year, there were only about seventy days of work time.
Ant eggs are produced every five days as a batch.
The first batch: 14 Specialized Blue Ants for food storage.
The second batch: 14 Specialized Green Soldiers for rainforest hunting and nest defense.
The third batch: 14 Specialized Worker Ants for moving earth and stone.
The fourth batch:14 Large Worker Ants.
The fifth batch: 14 Large Green Soldiers to bolster the hunting squad.
The sixth batch...
Specialized Ants take up to ten months from egg to feathered adult; pheromone-induced differentiation must continue until the larvae reach about half a meter, ensuring the body type stabilizes.
Starting from the fourth batch, Dragon Cypress gradually reduced the type size of ants he cultivated, while also perfecting all varieties of ant types in the nest, creating a micro subnest capable of self-sufficiency and independent survival.
