Ant Lord in the Star Realm

"Oh—"

Dragon Cypress pondered and said, "That job doesn’t sound hard. From South 6501 to South 7000 there are no insects settled. Under normal circumstances, there shouldn’t be much conflict, right?"

Ink Orchid said, "No insects settled, territories with no owners are the tricky ones. Every autumn, lots of Insect Clan Warriors enter those areas searching for Divine-Given Seeds. Disputes break out easily, and then conflicts explode."

"Got it."

Dragon Cypress thought for a moment and asked, "Are there still vacancies for that position?"

Ink Orchid said, "No idea."

Ink Orchid said, "Don’t even think about it. You don’t qualify. Hard requirement: Evolution Level at Half Star Realm or above."

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress said, "I mean, we’ve got plenty of Military Department Insects, like Snakebark Maple, Red Moonseed, Mulberry, Areca, White Willow, and Assistant King Green Cypress, Black Birch, Black Leaf, Black Persimmon and the others. In the future, once they break through and evolve to Half Star Realm, if they’ve got nothing to do, we can arrange a few to go out and earn money."

"Anyway, being idle is still being idle. Earning and spending their own money, 3000 Primordial Crystals per year is quite a lot."

Ink Orchid said, "...That’s exactly what I was thinking!"

Ink Orchid said, "Our insects have more than enough combat strength, totally capable for the job! I’ll go talk with Chairman Kansui and Chairman Giant Taro!"

Ink Orchid rushed off in a whirlwind.

Before Dragon Cypress could speak, the trees quietly spying on their conversation had already spread the news, and all the insects rushed over.

Dragon Cypress informed them of the situation.

—The Second King found a job?

—The Second King is working?

—Maintaining order in the Venus Star System?

—3000 a year? That’s pretty good, huh!

As soon as the insects heard Dragon Cypress’s idea, they all felt this income was generous enough and were itching to try.

They waited together for news.

Two days later,

Ink Orchid came back again, dejected, and said, "Chairman Kansui said Assistant Kings and Alien Clan don’t qualify. Assistant Kings and Alien Clan lack prestige, hard to convince the masses. Dragon Cypress, you’re fine. You can take the post on Magnolia-Bark Star where the Ant Clan is settled—no ant would dare refuse to obey."

"Orthodox Insect Clan Warriors, like Snakebark Maple and Red Moonseed, you’re all fine. Anyone willing to work, once you evolve to Half Star Realm, just go straight to Chairman Kansui to register. For every 500 districts there’s one warrior maintaining order; if there’s a vacancy you’ll be assigned."

"Good!"

"I can do it!"

"I want to earn money too!"

The warriors of the Military Department responded enthusiastically.

The Assistant Kings drooped their tentacles.

White Rice asked, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, we in the Commerce Department don’t have much to do either. Can we go out and earn some quick cash too?"

Green Heart immediately chimed in, "Yeah, yeah. Being idle is still being idle. 3000 Primordial Crystals a year is no small amount."

"Of course that’s fine."

"But the Plant Department insects shouldn’t be running around randomly."

Dragon Cypress flicked his tentacles in agreement, then warned, "3000 Primordial Crystals isn’t that big a number either. Don’t get impatient about breaking through just because of this. Everyone should focus on forging and strengthening their Star Marks first. Only after you reach a sufficient, ideal number of marks should you consider breaking through."

"Understood!"

"Got it!"

The insects agreed.

...

...

Snakebark Maple was the first to use up 3000 Chaos Tops, hitting 300 Traces. His Star Marks were strong enough, and right after Ink Orchid, he became the second to break through and advance to Half Star Realm.

Woodberry was the third to break through.

Red Moonseed was the fourth...

...

King Cypress had insanely high Talent; without using any Primordial Gemstone, he evolved on his own all the way to Star Marks Realm.

Azure also completed his comprehension of Star Marks Realm, meeting the conditions for breakthrough and evolution to Half Star Realm.

Azure wasn’t in a rush to break through, planning to comprehend and condense a few more Traces first and only consider it after going to the White Crystal Star System in the future.

Black Lotus, Great King Molan, Wingless, and Bicolor Mulberry—these four Divine-Given Seeds of Divine Grade—successively condensed their fourth Trace and broke through to evolve to Nine Traces Realm.

However, for these Divine-Given Seeds of Divine Grade, this kind of ’minor Realm’ breakthrough merely makes the Primordial Energy contained in their Divine-Grade Fruits stronger. The Ability granted doesn’t change, the price isn’t affected, and there’s no increase in profit.

White Rice’s Divine-Given Seed, where Red Fox’s Soul was parasitic, after more than eight thousand years of long growth, finally condensed the fourth Trace and broke through to evolve to Nine Traces Realm.

Immediately after that,

Back when Dragon Cypress took Blue Island, out of all his careful choices, the 11 wild Divine-Given Seeds that had condensed Divine Marks broke through one after another.

For these Divine-Given Seeds, their annual income at Third Trace Realm had ranged from 400 to 800 Primordial Crystals. After Evolution, their profit doubled straight up, rising to 800 to 1600 Primordial Crystals per year.

After that,

Among Dragon Cypress’s God-Given Life Seeds, those that had always acted rather steady and smart—like Red Cypress, Round Leaf Keg Vine, Thunder Oak, North Elm, Nine-Leaf Huangqian and so on, these Great Tall Trees—also broke through smoothly.

Ink Orchid and the other Insect Clan Warriors had more or less the same situation.

The annual income Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid received from their Divine-Given Seeds gradually rose to 60,000, 70,000, 80,000...

Once all the breakthroughs were done, it was almost 95,000 per year in income.

...

...

By the time the ordinary Divine-Given Seeds of Xianglan Mountain had more or less all broken through and evolved to Nine Traces Realm,

Many Insect Clan Warriors, including Tie Bush and Rainbow Mulberry, completed their breakthroughs one after another.

Those who joined the Xianglan Mountain Commerce Guild later—Pueraria, Green Heart, Greenstone, Starry Cloud Cypress—were in no hurry; they took it slow. With insufficient Life Span, they could later use Divine-Grade Baihe Fruit to extend their lives.

Dragon Cypress’s original plan had been to use 4000 Chaos Tops, two per year, spending 2000 years on high-efficiency bitter cultivation, and then break through.

But after witnessing Ink Orchid’s 360 Traces and his invincibly powerful Star Core, Dragon Cypress became even more unwilling to break through easily. He added 1000 more Chaos Tops, using all 5000 until they became completely ineffective.

The depressing part was, he was still three Traces short of a full 360.

Dragon Cypress led a group of Assistant Kings and continued to grind it out.

Five hundred years later,

They were about to reach ten thousand years since rooting themselves in the Venus Star System, and two Primordial Gemstones arrived, to be used on the White Poplar Divine Seed.

Another two hundred years later,

Dragon Cypress’s Star Marks finally reached Completion. After some preparations, he entered slumber to evolve.