Astral Gods

Chapter 125 Seed Requirements

Chapter 125 Seed Requirements

In the Thousand Star Islands, on the Lotus Island training camp, the twilight bathed the training grounds in a warm golden glow, with the lingering scent of primal energy from the battle still present in the air.

Yew stretched its hard, black carapace, having finished a day of intense Force combat training. Its once shiny black carapace was now covered with cracks from various claws and mouthparts after more than half a year of fighting.

It walked steadily toward the nest chamber reserved for the rhinoceros beetle tribe, where it could rest peacefully for the night.

Just as it entered the main hall of the exclusive nest chamber of the rhinoceros beetle tribe and opened its own private nest chamber, a rapid and cheerful chirping came from its side.

A lithe, double-forked rhinoceros beetle with a bronze sheen in the twilight quickly blocked its path; it was none other than Zi Yu, a member of the same clan.

"Zishan, are you busy? I'll show you something good." Ziyu lowered her voice, looking mysterious, her compound eyes gleaming with barely concealed excitement.

The yew stopped, its antennae twitching in confusion as it looked at its kin before it.

Ziyu is a direct descendant of the Purple Hemp Mountain Lord, four or five years older than Zishan. She is also one of the thirty advanced Rhinoceros Tortoise warriors who came to the Thousand Star Islands for training with the tribe. She is quite strong, but has always been lively.

"What is that?" Zishan's mental energy spread out slightly, scanning around Ziyu's body, but she did not detect any dangerous fluctuations of primal force.

Ziyu quickly approached Zishan's side, looked around to make sure no other insectoid tribes were eavesdropping, and then carefully took out a spider silk bag from her midleg.

The spider silk bag was sealed, and a faint aura of fire-based primal force could be sensed emanating from within.

"After I finished training, I went to hang out with some friends I knew before and made some new acquaintances with warriors from other races. I found something good in the Force food that one of the Zerg was carrying, and I showed it to you right away."

"What kind of good stuff is this? Is it divinely bestowed food with primal force? Which aspect of the body's attributes can it enhance?"

The yew's antennae trembled slightly, showing a hint of interest.

At the Thousand Star Islands training camp, where warriors from all races gather and various divinely bestowed food items are brought along, they often see new things.

Zishan never stopped Ziyu from making friends with people from other tribes outside of training.

When they first arrived at Lotus Island, the Twin-Forked Rhinoceros Tortoise Tribe, as a newly arrived tribe from the distant Elephant Banana Island, was weak and powerless. They were looked down upon and ostracized by the established tribes of the archipelago, and even ordinary food had to be obtained through fighting.

As time went by, the Rhinoceros Tortoise warriors, with their formidable defense and diligent training attitude, gradually gained a foothold in the training camp and became friends with many warriors from medium-sized tribes and subordinate tribes of large tribes.

The Thousand Star Islands are home to numerous tribes, not all of which are top-tier clans occupying the core areas; many are smaller tribes that depend on these larger clans for survival.

Some small tribes had a total insect population that was even less than the number of warriors in the Twin-Forked Rhinoceros Beetle tribe. When these small tribes learned that the Rhinoceros Beetle tribe was about to officially settle in the Thousand Star Islands and take on the important task of resisting the invasion of the Sea Beast Kingdom, they put aside their differences.

As marginalized tribes, neither had the right to look down on the other. Their shared circumstances quickly gave them common topics to discuss, and their interactions outside of training became more and more frequent.

"It's not some rare, divinely bestowed food of the Force, just the most ordinary food of the Force." Ziyu waved its spider claws, deliberately keeping it in suspense. Only when its eyes gradually showed impatience did it finally stop teasing Zishan.

Unable to bear Ziyu's hesitant manner, Zishan directly released her mental energy, penetrating the spider silk bag to scan inside. Inside the bag were only a few sesame-seed-sized, bright red fruits that emitted a faint fire-type primal force. They were ordinary primal force foods specifically designed to enhance fire-type primal force power, and had nothing special about them.

It immediately retorted irritably, "What's all this mystery about? It's just ordinary fire-elemental food, is it really worth making such a fuss about?"

Seeing that Zishan was indeed showing some impatience, Ziyu quickly untied the spider silk pouch, took out a fruit, and handed it to Zishan: "Look closely, this isn't an ordinary fire-type elemental food!"

Yew lowered its head, focusing its attention on the fruit in its paw. The seed resembled a mulberry, but its surface was crimson red and faintly emitted fire-type primal energy fluctuations. This was clearly a primal energy food produced by the life seed of a fire-type mulberry tree!

The same plant can have vastly different abilities depending on its variety, cultivation method, and growing environment.

Just like the kiwifruit seed cultivated by the Double-Forked Rhinoceros Beetle tribe, there is the Sweetheart Kiwifruit that enhances blood purity.

The soul-nourishing green kiwi and the muscle-repairing large kiwi each have unique benefits.

The same goes for mulberry trees. For many years, the tribe has been collecting various mulberry tree seeds from all over the world, and even commissioned the Flame Spider merchants who travel across the continent to buy back and cultivate any rare mulberry tree varieties they encountered.

However, the core mulberry tree of the Rhinoceros Tortoise tribe has always been the Purple Mulberry, which enhances vitality. Later, under the guidance of the Lord of Zehui Mountain, the tribe mastered the technique of mulberry tree hybridization and grafting.

Starting with the generation of Rhinoceros Tortoise Warriors who were students of the Lord of Zehui Mountain, almost every warrior would try to cultivate new varieties of mulberry trees in their own territory, hoping to cultivate new varieties of mulberry trees.

Even so, the tribe has only collected eight varieties of mulberry trees, covering common enhancement directions such as life, defense, and basic elements, but there is no mulberry tree variety that can enhance fire elemental force.

Yew's compound eyes lit up instantly, its spider claws, which were holding the fruit, trembled slightly, and its tone became serious: "From which tribe did you obtain these fire-attribute mulberries? Since the other tribe possesses fire-attribute mulberry seedlings, they must also cultivate ordinary mulberry plants!"

"It was a warrior of the Mi Xiang tribe. I discovered it by chance while chatting with it. According to it, this mulberry tree was a new variety that their tribe accidentally cultivated and named Fire Mulberry."

Their tribe even possessed a Fire Mulberry, a divine gift, but the Fire Mulberry's fire-based primal energy was completely incompatible with the primal energy attributes of the Rice Elephant tribe, rendering it utterly useless.

Therefore, of the divinely bestowed food produced by Fire Mulberry each year, 30% is sold to Flame Spider Merchants, and 70% is directly distributed to the market in the Thousand Star Islands.

This was just an inexpensive, mediocre, and obscure mulberry variety; the tribe didn't even care about it.

Upon hearing this, the yew tree's antennae twitched rapidly as it quickly searched through the tribe's inherited memories in its mind, and soon found the records about the rice elephant tribe.

Rice weevils are a very peculiar insect species. They are born from dried grains and depend on grains such as rice and wheat for survival. Cultivating grains and breeding seeds is their main occupation.

Mulberry trees are neither their food source nor their core species; for them, the fire mulberry is merely a plant they obtained by chance.

This is quite different from the Double-Forked Rhinoceros Beetle tribe, which only decided to cultivate the mulberry tree as its core species after discovering the vitality-enhancing effect of the purple mulberry.

The silkworm clan in the central part of the Thousand Tree Continent is the most skilled at cultivating mulberry trees on the mainland.

The silkworm tribe relies entirely on mulberry leaves for survival, from larvae to cocoons. The tribe possesses more than twenty varieties of mulberry trees, and has at least five divinely bestowed mulberry seeds, making them the biggest competitor of the Rhinoceros Tortoise tribe in mulberry cultivation.

"Shouldn't the Rice Elephant tribe be focused on cultivating rice and wheat? How could they have cultivated such an insignificant plant as the Fire Mulberry?" The yew tree was full of doubts, but it didn't have time to investigate further. At this moment, it only had one thought in its mind: it must obtain the seeds of the Fire Mulberry!

The Mi Xiang tribe did not value the Fire Mulberry, but for the Shuangcha Xijin Gui tribe, which was eager to expand the variety of mulberry trees, this Fire Mulberry was undoubtedly the icing on the cake.

Of the eight new mulberry varieties currently in the tribe, apart from the purple mulberry which has a life-enhancing effect, the white jade mulberry, pearl mulberry, and green mulberry are just ordinary elemental and basic enhanced mulberry varieties.

Grafting and cultivating similar mulberry varieties can improve quality, but if a completely new fire-attribute mulberry variety like the Fire Mulberry is added, even if the success rate of hybridization is unknown, it can open up a completely new direction for the tribe's mulberry cultivation.

"Is there a way to get the Fire Mulberry seeds from them?" Zishan's tone was filled with barely concealed excitement, her compound eyes fixed on Ziyu.

Zi Yu frowned, scratched his head with his spider claws, and said with some difficulty, "I'm not sure either, but judging from the tone of that rice elephant warrior, they really don't care about the fire mulberry. But if they want to get the seed, they will have to put in some effort and may even have to pay a price."

Zishan was overjoyed; the Rice Elephant tribe's disdain was their opportunity! Without hesitation, it turned and took out a Spider King Scroll worth ten thousand Primogems from its nest, handing it directly to Ziyu: "I'll cover the expenses. Take these ten thousand Primogems first. If you need more, just let me know. You only need to do one thing—find a way to build a good relationship with that Rice Elephant warrior, find out how much their tribe values ​​the Fire Mulberry Seed, and get the seed no matter the cost."

Seeing Zishan take out the Spider King Scroll with a face value of ten thousand without hesitation, Ziyu was overjoyed, and her previous dilemma was swept away.

It deftly snatched the letter, carefully storing it in its spider silk pouch. Its primal energy surged with excitement, and it stood erect as if injected with adrenaline, vowing to Zishan, "Zishan, don't worry! Leave this to me! I'll definitely get the Fire Mulberry Seeds back for you. If I fail, I'll never return to the Rhinoceros Tortoise Tribe!"

Yew gently swung its front paws, its tone still calm and casual, without the slightest impatience: "There's no need to rush this. We have a long training period in the Thousand Star Islands. If a month isn't enough, then two months, three months, a year, two years, three years, even if it takes ten or eight years, our Rhinoceros Tortoise tribe can afford to wait."

Its desire for the Fire Mulberry is not driven by short-sighted gains. If it were a truly top-tier plant, the tribe's Green Bamboo King would personally intervene and acquire it at any cost, without it even having to ask.

Huosang is just an ordinary new mulberry variety. What it wants is simply to add another variety of mulberry trees to the tribe and provide more possibilities for future hybridization.

In contrast, what Yew truly longs for is the shell bean seed that can expand and strengthen the shell.

Although the Armor Bean is not the most premium plant, it can be paired with Gem Pomegranate and Water Cloud Persimmon to form a special Force Food Set that strengthens the shell of the Rhinoceros Tortoise. This is the key to directly increasing the evolutionary age of tribal warriors.

Before it could even settle down in its nest, it sensed Qingyulan calling to it with her spiritual energy.

"Come in."

Qingyulan opened the door to the yew's nest chamber and climbed down. She asked, somewhat puzzled, "I just saw Ziyu leave in a hurry. What was it going to do?"

Zishan said calmly, "Just let it do some small tasks."

Then Zishan asked in return, "Qingyulan, how's the inquiry about Jia Dou going?"

For the past six months, it has mobilized various insect-related relationships to get the many warriors of the Rhinoceros Beetle to find a way to obtain the seeds of the Armor Bean. Even if they cannot sow and cultivate them in the end, they must find a way to get one as a seed for nurturing.

Qing Yulan said, "I came here today to talk about this matter. After inquiring for so long, I have a general understanding of it."

The matter of Jia Dou is neither particularly difficult nor particularly easy.

This species is a new variety developed by a subordinate tribe of the Spotted-winged Grasshopper on the Thousand Star Islands. As soon as they developed this new variety, the Spotted-winged Grasshopper tribe obtained this new plant.

At first, they didn't pay much attention, which resulted in some of the seeds of the armored bean being released. Once they discovered the bean's uses, many tribes began cultivating the plant.

"The spotted winged grasshopper tribe is not to be underestimated either. Their population exceeds 8000, making them a large tribe in the Thousand Star Islands."

Upon discovering the beneficial effects of the katakaya bean, they immediately began collecting the seeds and strictly forbade the tribes on the island from cultivating it.

Only a few insectoid tribes of similar strength continued to cultivate them in secret. The Spotted-winged Grasshopper tribe could only turn a blind eye, but they had an agreement with them that the seeds of the Armored Bean could not be leaked.

"If we want to cultivate the Armor Bean into a life seed, we only need to find those major tribes and spend a sum of Primogems to buy one. One seed costs about 500 Primogems. This is the default rule on the Thousand Star Islands."

However, bringing the seeds of the Kalanchoe blossfeldiana back to Banana Island for cultivation is practically impossible.

"Is that so?" Yew seemed a little hesitant. "Could we buy one privately, say we've nurtured it as a life-giving seed, and then secretly bring it back to Banana Island to plant and cultivate it ourselves?"

"I'm afraid it won't be easy. It's said that a tribe did the same thing before, and as a result, the six major tribes jointly ordered them to remove all the Armor Bean plants and also fined them a large sum of raw stones."

Unless our tribe, even if we obtain the seeds of the Armor Bean, does not cultivate them in large quantities, but keeps them for our own clan's secret use, and does not reveal this, I have heard from rumors that some small tribes do just that.”

Zishan thought for a moment and said, "Then let's buy a few first and see if we can cultivate them secretly. Even if we don't sell them, we can feed them to the Zerg warriors of our tribe."

If large-scale cultivation is not possible, and one hopes to cultivate a divinely inspired seed, then the role of the bean is somewhat limited for them.

However, it cannot be said to be completely useless; it can only be said that its effect was not that great. Otherwise, the spotted winged grasshopper tribe would have long since cut off the source of the bean seeds, just like the flame spider merchants.

Ultimately, this is because their tribe is not strong enough. If they were really strong enough, they would be like other large tribes that possess armored beans. Even if they had cultivated them, what could the spotted cricket tribe say?

"Then I'll go buy two. When the Green Bamboo King comes over in a few days, I can take the bean seeds back with me."