Ant Lord in the Star Realm

Melde was very angry. Seeing White Ivy return to the clan territory, White Ivy also saw it, but pretended not to notice and deliberately took a detour, bypassing Melde and heading straight to Spider King Spurge.

Melde was still very confused, not knowing what White Ivy had said to Spider King Spurge, and could only watch as Spider King Spurge counted out five Violet-Brown Spider King Silk Scrolls with a face value of 10,000 Source Stones each to White Ivy, then counted a full fifty Spider King Silk Scrolls of 1,000 Source Stones each for White Ivy.

The latest scheme White Ivy was tossing about, selling "Origin Force Honey" in metal cans, was obviously a losing business.

Yet Spider King Spurge actually lent 100,000 Source Stones to White Ivy!

Melde: "Lupine, Grass Dragon, can one of you go and ask White Ivy what's going on..."

Grass Dragon: "Let Lupine go."

Lupine: "Melde, you and White Ivy just had a fight, and Grass Dragon and I unhesitatingly took your side... White Ivy is still mad."

Grass Dragon: "Then just go over and apologize to White Ivy for Melde. White Ivy seems in a good mood, so it'll forgive Melde."

"Apologize?" Melde did not agree. "It should be apologizing to me!"

Grass Dragon: "Then Lupine, you go over there and have White Ivy come over and apologize to Melde!"

"Alright!" Lupine agreed readily, lifting its legs to leave.

"Stop!"

Melde quickly pulled Lupine back with a strand of Spider Silk Rope and said helplessly, "Forget it, you two idiots, stay put and don't go see White Ivy. I'll handle this."

Grass Dragon: "Melde, ask White Ivy if it still wants its goods. If not, just treat them as an inheritance and split with me and Lupine."

"Inheritance?" Melde was furious.

Grass Dragon said calmly, "Spider King Spurge is White Ivy's last support. If it loses all of Spider King Spurge's 100,000 Source Stones again, there's only one road left."

Grass Dragon pointed toward the sea: "Jump in and drown itself, debts die with the spider."

Melde: "..."

Melde: "I'll go ask Spider King Spurge myself."

Melde took a few steps out, then came back and said, "Grass Dragon, you go ask Spider King Spurge."

Grass Dragon: "Ask what?"

Melde: "What trick is White Ivy up to again? Why would Spider King Spurge lend it Source Stones?"

Grass Dragon: "It's definitely still about those clanking metal cans. As for why Spider King Spurge would lend the Source Stones..."

Grass Dragon asked, "That colorful small bottle Spider King Spurge handed White Ivy just now, what was inside..."

Melde: "Bee King Jelly."

Grass Dragon: "Bee King Jelly?"

"That's what Spider King Spurge traded for from the Youlian Kingdom..."

Melde was speaking when a flash of inspiration hit, and it was suddenly stunned.

White Ivy might have found a way to extend the storage time of "Origin Force Honey"!

If that's the case, it'll be much harder for it to lose all of Spider King Spurge's 100,000 Source Stones...

Melde calmed down and said, "Let's just ignore White Ivy for now."

…

…

…

Xianglan Mountain.

After eating a batch of Stone Orchid Seeds produced in Molan Territory, Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple both successfully evolved into 4th age Primary Warriors with the help of the Dominating Throne.

—The Divine-Given Southern Gorgon Seed is ripe; give them both some Southern Gorgon Seeds, and next spring they'll be able to evolve to 5th age.

Dragon Cypress is meticulous and thorough in its work, and strives for perfection especially when it comes to nurturing Little Warriors.

Sky Ox Little Warriors are extremely picky eaters.

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple only like to eat tender leaves and branches, enjoy making slits in tree trunks to suck sap, and even like to eat certain woods after they've dried.

They eat fruit and Ant Honey too, but find it too sweet and aren't fond of it.

As for meat, they have to be forced before they'll eat it.

As Origin Force Life, just eating plants won't cut it; it's difficult to get enough nutrients and energy to support physical growth and Molting Evolution.

The best solution is to strengthen their digestive and absorption abilities.

If they can get through the primary stage smoothly and advance to intermediate warriors, things get easier. Their herbivorous instincts will weaken and change as their Life Level rises.

Feed them well right from childhood, build strong bodies, so future growth and evolution will be much easier.

...

Dragon Cypress also began preparing for its own evolution.

This autumn's trade converted some Divine-Given Ghost Fans into Origin Force Food that strengthens comprehensive physique. Plus, both Dragon Cypress and Molan Territory's common Life Seed plants had decent yields, which helped alleviate the shortage of edible Origin Force Food.

After tallying it up and calculating by roving merchant sale prices, the total was 18,800 Source Stones.

Keep 8,400 Source Stones worth of goods as seed capital for next early-summer's trade.

The remaining 10,400 Source Stones worth of regular Origin Force Food is to be refined into Origin Force Ant Honey, packed into metal cans, and divided among everyone.

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple: 200 Source Stones each.

Ink Orchid: 1,000 Source Stones.

Dragon Cypress: 4,000 Source Stones.

Round Cypress, Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress, Cypress, Fragrant Cypress: 1,000 Source Stones each.

Due to insufficient resources these last two years, Round Cypress and Giant Cypress are still at 4th age intermediate, Spiked Cypress only just at 5th age, and Cypress and Fragrant Cypress have only recently evolved to 2nd age.

They've worked hard, but haven't received rewards proportional to their efforts.

It's obvious that everyone's motivation is waning.

The direct example is that after digging at Shandong Reservoir all autumn, only the surface layer was scraped away.

Round Cypress isn't motivated, and as soon as the Worker Ants see that, they slack off too, causing slow progress.

South Mountain, dining hall.

Dragon Cypress gathered Round Cypress, Spiked Cypress, and three others for a feast, to boost morale and also to set a clear rule.

After eating and drinking to semi-full,

Dragon Cypress stood up, walked to the blank stone wall, tapped on it with its tentacle, then lifted a foreleg and drew a circle.

"I think it's necessary for everyone to be clear about how much profit our Kingdom makes each year."

Round Cypress, Spiked Cypress, and the rest, who had been focused on the stone pot, immediately looked up.

Dragon Cypress: "Let's calculate by item, starting with roving merchant trade income."

"Ghost Fan Mountain, ordinary Life Seed plants yield about 7,500 Source Stones per year, profit is about 1,500 Source Stones. The Divine-Given Ghost Fan Seed has a blossom-fruit cycle of three years; averaged out, that brings in about 1,400 Source Stones profit per year."

"Ghost Fan Mountain's annual average is 2,900 Source Stones."

Dragon Cypress carved three horizontal lines on the stone wall, two long and one short.

"White Rice Mountain, ordinary Life Seed plants also yield close to 7,500 Source Stones per year, with around 1,500 Source Stones in profit. The wild Divine-Given White Rice Seed has a blossom-fruit cycle of three years, giving us an annual average profit of about 1,000 Source Stones."

"White Rice Mountain's annual average is 2,500 Source Stones."

"Silver Cypress Mountain..."

"Silver Cypress Mountain's annual average is 1,300 Source Stones."

"Black Lotus Lake..."

"Black Lotus Lake requires an annual subsidy of 500 Source Stones, to help White Willow become a High-Level Beautiful Winged Dragonfly Warrior as soon as possible."

"Scarletlight Mountain..."

"Scarletlight Mountain, territory of Mulberry, the average annual profit from ordinary Life Seed plants is about 5,000 Source Stones, profit about 1,000 Source Stones. For the Divine-Given Scarletlight Seed yield, we don't take any cut on the price."

Dragon Cypress finally summed up: "Currently, the total annual income from roving merchant trade is 7,200 Source Stones; sometimes profits can be slightly cut, so just round it down to 7,000."

"Great King—" Spiked Cypress raised a foreleg as a signal.

Dragon Cypress: "Go ahead."

Spiked Cypress: "Isn't White Willow already a 5th age intermediate Beautiful Winged Dragonfly Warrior? Why are we still helping it?"

Dragon Cypress: "That's a good question. We need to quickly establish a self-sustaining trading circle for Origin Force Food within the Cloud Trace Continent. This is the lifeblood of growth and evolution, and we must control it ourselves. Trade with the Flame Spider Roving Merchants can only ever serve as a supplement to the development of the Ant Kingdom, never as our dependency."

Spiked Cypress: "Got it—"

Obviously, it didn't understand.

Dragon Cypress didn't bother explaining further, drew another circle, and continued:

"Now, about yields from our own territory, starting with Divine-Given Seeds."

"Wild Divine-Given Scarletlight Seed produces an average annual yield of about 13,000 Source Stones."

"Wild Divine-Given Southern Sour Jujube Seed, blossom-fruit cycle of 5 years, average annual yield about 11,000 Source Stones."

"Both Southern Gorgon and Northern Gorgon Divine-Given Seeds each bring in 11,000 Source Stones every year."

"Divine-Given Fruit-Scented Orchid Seed brings in 5,000 Source Stones per year."

"Deep Blue God-Given Seed, blossom-fruit cycle of 3 years, brings in about 4,000 Source Stones per year—currently a bit low, but with massive room for growth; the next batch of yield will see income soar."

Dragon Cypress concluded: "Currently, all the Divine-Given Seeds we control have a combined annual yield of about 44,000 Source Stones. There's big room for improvement—the actual income will only go higher, not lower."

Round Cypress, Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress, Fragrant Cypress, and Cypress all looked at each other.

That much?

Is it really that much?

Dragon Cypress saw their doubts and said, "Everyone hang on for just one more year. Come the spring after next, once I trade with White Ivy Mountain Lord and sell off the yields from Scarletlight and Southern Sour Jujube's Divine-Given Seeds, and exchange them for the Origin Force Food we need for growth and evolution, everything will start looking up."

Dragon Cypress filled the stone wall with horizontal lines and went on, "My and Ink Orchid's ordinary Life Seed yield is about 3,000 Source Stones this year, will reach 5,000 next year, and about 7,000 the year after—rising year by year."

Dragon Cypress: "Let's take the lowest, 3,000, to keep it simple—in summary, all our income sources combined, our current total annual revenue is about 54,000 Source Stones."

Dragon Cypress: "Also, trade with the Flame Spider Roving Merchants for Origin Force Ant Honey carries some risk and uncertainties, so I haven't included it."

Dragon Cypress: "In the future, once things are running smoothly, we'll need to buy at least 10,000 Source Stones worth of goods from the caravan every year—the more, the better. Part goes to operating our Divine-Given Seeds, part is stockpiled in advance for advancement to Mountain Lord Level."

Dragon Cypress: "In theory, that leaves us with 44,000 Source Stones each year to allocate."

Dragon Cypress: "I've thought of a pretty decent way to split the income. Since you five are all at Intermediate Life Level, Origin Force Food will be distributed as needed; once you evolve to High-Level, you get a salary by season—spring, summer, autumn, winter, each season 1,000 Source Stones."

1,000 Source Stones?

Only 4,000 a year?

Is that enough? Probably not?

Ten tentacles swayed in perfect harmony: Too little!

Dragon Cypress added, "Everyone work hard—once the territory income improves, after trading with the Flame Spider Caravan each year, I'll give you additional rewards, 1,000 or even 2,000 Source Stones worth of Divine-Given Origin Force Food!"

"Also!"

Dragon Cypress solemnly and gravely added, "All this building of reservoirs, digging channels, building marsh gas pools, and expanding fruit groves on the mountains and lowlands—ultimately, it's for refining Ant Honey to supplement the Ant Kingdom's food, but more important is the breeding and planting of superior trees, to cultivate and gain top-tier Divine-Given Seeds through intelligent insect selection."

"Divine-Given Seeds are the ultimate goal for all our efforts! I'll set another reward: if a Divine-Given Seed is produced through cultivation in your territory, you five can permanently enjoy 50% of the revenue!"

"!!!"

Round Cypress, Spiked Cypress, and the other three straightened their tentacles and cheered in unison.

"Great!"

"This is wonderful!"

"Let's work hard!"

"Long live the Great King!"

"Wisdom to the Great King!"