Dragon Cypress returned to the throne, a sudden idea flashing through his mind, and immediately attempted to generate a new batch of "Messengers".

Blue light swept by, and unexpectedly, it successfully passed through.

That means, at the Mountain Lord Level, each batch of ant eggs requires 5 days to be produced, with 10 ant eggs per batch.

On average, that comes to 2 eggs per day.

This rate shouldn't be considered slow.

Inherited memory describes that even for ordinary Mountain Lord Level female Ant Kings, producing ant eggs is quite time-consuming and labor-intensive.

...

Testing continues.

Dragon Cypress directed the worker ants to carve a long row of extra-small hatcheries along the royal stone wall.

10 "Guardian of Hydrology" ant eggs, 2 in each group, separated into 5 groups, with 5 micro worker ants assigned to tend to the eggs, each caring for their own group separately.

Dragon Cypress used pheromones to stimulate differentiation into Specialized Blue Soldiers, Large Blue Soldiers, Medium Blue Soldiers, Small Blue Soldiers, and Miniaturization Blue Soldiers.

Five ant types, starting by cultivating two of each.

Observing larvae development time.

Observing the body size, length, and strength of each differentiated ant type, in order to decide which types to prioritize for cultivation, and which types to cultivate in large quantities.

The second batch of ant eggs were 10 "Guardian of Strength".

The third batch of ant eggs were 10 "Producer of Refinement".

The fourth batch of ant eggs were 10 "Producer of Agriculture".

All split into 5 groups, differentiated into different sizes using pheromone stimulation.

Soon, the first batch of test data arrived.

The ant eggs hatched into larvae after 7 days.

Miniaturization Blue Soldier larvae developed over 18 days, were the first to spin silk and cocoon, and after another 5 days of feather transformation, the adult ants broke out of the cocoon.

The Mountain Lord Level miniaturization blue soldiers still measured only about 1.5 centimeters in length, almost unchanged in body size compared to High-Level blue soldiers.

Black carapace, four blue ring patterns on the abdomen.

Dragon Cypress led the two little ones to the stone bowl in the corner of the royal chamber where fresh water was kept, had them crawl to the rim and stand ready, then issued a command:

——Watch closely.

——Learn.

After issuing the command, he activated his water control ability, manipulating a drop of water to separate from the surface, forming a small water bead about 1 centimeter in diameter, floating and hovering in the air.

With a gentle wave of his tentacles, he issued another command:

——Try it.

The two miniaturization blue soldiers imitated, and after a few attempts, two tiny beads of water, each about two or three millimeters in diameter, floated up from the water's surface and hovered steadily.

Dragon Cypress shook his tentacles and issued another command:

——Watch closely.

——Learn.

Dragon Cypress gently shook his tentacles and heated the water drop, bringing it to a boil, and finally let it burst apart, turning into hot steam.

Dragon Cypress gave the order:

——Try it.

The two miniaturization blue soldiers did the same, raising the temperature of their tiny water drops, bringing them to a boil, evaporating them.

Very good!

At Mountain Lord Level, the miniaturization worker ants also inherit decent water system abilities.

Dragon Cypress continued to demonstrate, teaching.

Both hydrology shield and freezing abilities could be performed.

There's a little bit of power—just limited by the miniaturized body size, the abilities are on a miniature scale.

...

Two Mountain Lord Level miniaturization soldier ants were born.

Dragon Cypress demonstrated and instructed them to use the strength system's "Rend" ability.

That worked too!

Just not very powerful.

...

The Mountain Lord Level miniaturization blue ant was born; blue ants have only refinement and storage abilities, work faster and more efficiently, no other changes.

The Mountain Lord Level miniaturization worker ant was born; worker ants have no abilities except great strength, suitable for all sorts of manual labor, also with no other changes.

Small ants emerged one after another, body lengths ranging from 3 to 5 centimeters.

Medium ants measured between 10 and 15 centimeters in length.

The development time for large ant larvae was greatly extended.

After three months, in early autumn, two large blue soldiers finished feather transformation and were born, each about 1 meter long.

At Mountain Lord Level, large blue soldiers were now on par in size with High-Level Specialized Blue Soldiers.

Dragon Cypress led them to Shandong Reservoir, guiding them in releasing water system abilities.

After a round of testing, he had a rough estimate in mind.

Large blue soldiers inherited about a tenth of the water system ability—decent fighting power.

Dragon Cypress's inherited memory recorded that ordinary female Ant Kings' Mountain Lord Level Specialized Soldier Ants and Specialized Worker Ants could only inherit one-tenth of the Ant King's strength.

For large, medium, small, and miniaturized ants, the inherited power decreases greatly in turn as body size decreases.

Due to the Dominating Throne, the large blue soldiers raised by Dragon Cypress inherited far more water system talent than regular soldier ants.

Not unexpected—the signs were there at the High-Level stage.

Dragon Cypress estimated that Mountain Lord Level Specialized Blue Soldiers probably inherit 20% to 25% of water system ability—the specific number needs testing.

But, after all, these combat ants who release elemental abilities are just incomplete Semi-Origin Force Life; they still have significant flaws: [Limited internal Primordial Energy reserves, limited number of elemental ability uses, and slow recovery rate]

Therefore, this type of ant must reach massive numbers to form a powerful fighting force.

Blue soldiers and blue ants are more herbivorous, with refined ant honey from various fruits and nuts as their staple diet, meeting the requirements for mass cultivation.

Blue soldiers can serve as the main battle force for Xianglan Mountain Ant Kingdom at Mountain Lord Level!

Dragon Cypress began mass cultivating Specialized Blue Soldiers.

After Mountain Lord Level, the larval development period of specialized ants became somewhat excessively long…

The first two specialized blue soldier larvae cultivated were now just over 1 meter in length, chubby and sturdy, eating and drinking well, but showed no sign of spinning silk or forming cocoons.

Dragon Cypress waited another month…

It was now late autumn,

Up and down the mountain, except for the three Life Seeds that were sown relatively late—Binmu, Sharp-Leafed Thuja, and Black Leaf Citrus—the rest of the common Life Seeds had all smoothly reached Mountain Lord Level, transitioning without danger or incident.

Black Leaf had been following Round Cypress and Cypress to study, and was also using Black Lotus Seeds, steadily completing four rounds of molting evolution at a rate of once every two months.

Much like Black Cory at the time,

The body size shrank significantly with each evolution.

Now Black Leaf was less than 0.5 meters long, with the aura and qualities of a Command Ant being very apparent.

The Black Lotus Seeds were finished; this year's Black Lotus Life Seeds will need some time to ripen.

There was nothing else pressing on Xianglan Mountain.

Dragon Cypress was getting a little impatient.

Ink Orchid had spent the whole summer at Scarletlight Mountain; would she be bored?

Has the Divine-Given Scarletlight Seed evolved or advanced?

Ghost Fan's Divine-Given Seed was set to bear fruit this autumn—it's the first batch produced after its evolution to Mountain Lord Level, very important.

The Green-Red Kiwifruit Life Seeds of Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple should also be maturing…

This autumn still had quite a lot to do; Dragon Cypress packed up and set off with Black Leaf in tow.

...

Kiwifruit Mountain.

A low-lying, small mountain range.

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple, one to the south and one to the north, were patrolling beneath their respective Life Seed plants; sensing the Origin Force Fluctuation of the Dominating Throne flying by, they both ran up quickly, climbing the ridge.

——Dragon Cypress Ant King!

——Where's Ink Orchid?

They greeted him,

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple's attention was attracted by the Black Leaf alongside Dragon Cypress.

——This soldier ant is a little weird.

——Doesn't this guy look familiar?

——Oh! I know it! When we were kids, it led soldier ants to bite us!

——Yeah! I know it too! It's definitely the one!

——Its mandibles have degenerated?

——Could it be like Black Cory, an ant that can evolve into an Assistant King?

Black Leaf clearly recognized these two as well, waggling its tentacles as a greeting.

Dragon Cypress: "Black Leaf bit you two before?"

Blue Catalpa: "Black Leaf?"

Snakebark Maple: "It should be it."

Blue Catalpa: "It led soldier ants to chase us."

Snakebark Maple: "Many times! I recognize it!"

Dragon Cypress: "Why didn't you tell me?"

Blue Catalpa: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, weren't you right there?"

Snakebark Maple: "Yeah. You and Ink Orchid were both present."

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Was there an early sign? Did I just not pay attention?

Dragon Cypress asked Black Leaf, "Did you bite them?"

Black Leaf: "No."

Dragon Cypress: "Did you lead the soldier ants to chase them?"

Black Leaf: "I think so."

Dragon Cypress: "Why?"

Black Leaf: "I don't really know… Pests?"

Pests? Xianglan Mountain did indeed list the Sky Ox as the number one orchard pest.

Before using Black Lotus Seeds to ascend and evolve, Black Leaf's self-awareness was weak—dull and muddled, acting mostly on instinct.

Dragon Cypress pondered for two seconds, not dwelling on it, and formally introduced to Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple:

"Its name is Black Leaf. I only found it in spring; it is indeed similar to Black Cory. It's completed four class evolutions—just two more and it can become a full Command Ant."

Dragon Cypress: "Now Black Leaf is very smart and won't attack you."

——Try attacking us again if you dare.

Now both Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple were High-Level Warriors, not scared at all, and provocatively waggled their tentacles at Black Leaf.

Black Leaf ignored them.

Dragon Cypress extended his spiritual power, scanning down the mountain.

On the slopes below the ridge, north and south, grew the two Green-Red Kiwifruit Life Seed plants nurtured by Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple in their youth; both had used many Divine-Given Remains, and the main vines were now over forty meters long.

But, what about fruit?

Dragon Cypress jumped down from the throne, walked to the northern slope, and used his spiritual power to search the hillside carefully before finally finding some kiwifruits almost ripe.

He counted—there were only a mere 200 fruits in total.

Where were the rest?

When he checked in spring, didn't he specifically instruct to keep a full 500?

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple came over.

Blue Catalpa: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, good news—the fruit quality has exceeded expectations."

Snakebark Maple: "Bad news—the Divine-Given Level fruit is a heavy burden for ordinary Life Seed plants. Higher quality means even heavier strain."

Blue Catalpa: "We had no choice but to painfully remove quite a bit of fruit."

Snakebark Maple: "This Green-Red Kiwifruit Life Seed can only handle 200 fruit at most."

Blue Catalpa: "Any more and it'll affect its growth—not worth the loss."

——Quality exceeded expectations?!

Dragon Cypress immediately guessed the reason—it was definitely caused by the use of Divine-Given Remains.

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