Chapter 431: Spirit Plant Army (2)
While a chunk of the golden-winged bees died from the first round of attacks by the Spirit Plant army, many more remained alive.
The bees emitted high temperatures through their wings, which served as the source, and the ice that had previously made it hard for them to move melted.
The surrounding temperature, which had lowered just moments ago, suddenly increased dramatically.
The nearby vegetation died due to the extreme temperature as the bees flew toward the attacking enemies.
Buzz buzz buzz...
The sound of the bees’ wings flapping in the air filled the area. If it were a human who had to face the bee army, they might soil their pants in fear.
Fortunately, the bees were not facing cowards but Spirit Plants that existed only to do their Master’s bidding.
The fastest bee finally arrived at one of the treants. Its wings grew even brighter as it used its own body to ram into the treant.
However, just when it was about to make contact with the treant’s bark-like skin, the Burning Thornbush spread all over the treant and made its move.
Fire burned all over the treant, but strangely enough, it wasn’t harmed by the flames at all. However, the same could not be said for the poor bee.
The bee made contact with the fire, and since it had a solar attribute, it had quite a high resistance to temperature and flames.
However, swarm-type magic beasts were generally weaker compared to other magic beasts. These bees were no exception.
As soon as the bee made contact with the Burning Thornbush, it didn’t take long before it was burned to death.
This particular scenario did not happen only to this single bee but also to the other bees that attacked the treants via close combat.
One bee after another fell, their lives leaving their bodies and causing the surrounding area to become filled with corpses.
Of course, considering that there were bees that had a higher cultivation than the Spirit Plant army, there were also bees that survived.
A bee attacked a treant, and although it was engulfed by the fire from the Burning Thornbush, it managed to pierce through the treant, leaving a huge gaping hole.
It didn’t stop after making one hole and continued attacking. The other Spirit Plants on the treant tried to attack and eliminate this bee, but it was moving too fast.
In the end, this treant, along with the other Spirit Plants on its body, was killed by the bee.
However, before the bee could even attack another treant, it had already drawn the aggro of the other Spirit Plants.
A large number of ice spikes tore through the air, targeting the bee that had managed to kill a treant.
If it were just one or two ice spikes, it could deal with them. However, as the number increased, it failed to continue defending itself.
Soon, a layer of ice appeared on the bee’s body, and rays of sunlight from the Sunfire Blossoms landed on it one after another.
In the end, this bee died as well.
Seeing that close-range combat seemed to be ineffective, the other bees that hadn’t reached their targets yet changed their attack method.
They spewed solar beams from their stingers, causing a number of treants to die.
However, in return, the Hundred Flames Lotus Flowers sent out a rain of fire that drowned a huge number of bees. Their attacks were weaker compared to those of the Sunfire Blossoms, but they had a larger area of effect.
The Bloodsucking Vines also weren’t idle. From time to time, vines would fly out from the treants’ bodies, latching onto nearby bees.
When the bees were let go, their blood had already been sucked dry, and they died as well.
In the end, after some time, the bee colony was massacred, with not even one of them remaining.
Their corpses were then carried by the treants back to where Rezen was staying. These bees would then be used as fertilizer for the farm.
The case with the Blazetail Fox, as well as the golden-winged bees, was not an isolated one.
The peace of the area around Rezen was terribly disturbed as his army of Spirit Plants conquered one territory after another.
As long as there was anything valuable, it would all be sent to Rezen. Even if there was nothing valuable, as long as there were magic beasts present, they would be attacked, with their corpses being used as fertilizer.
--
Just like that, a whole month had passed. Thanks to the abundant amount of resources, Rezen’s cultivation had broken through not just to the third cycle but even to the fourth cycle of the Senior Rank!
It could be said that one’s birth realm really did make a difference.
Rezen reckoned that even if he had become the overlord of the Savage Beast Realm, he definitely wouldn’t have progressed this quickly.
Just this small area of a random mountain in a high-ranking realm already had far more resources than the entire Savage Beast Realm!
"I am now at the fourth cycle, and the farm can now grow Spirit Plants at the eighth cycle. With my personal strength, as well as the farm’s upgrade, it should have been easier for both me and the farm to improve, but reality is different"
"The weaker magic beasts in the surrounding area are no fools, even if they don’t have the same intelligence as humans. They noticed something was wrong and started fleeing. There are fewer magic beasts in the area."
"Fewer magic beasts means I have fewer targets and resources"
A frown appeared on Rezen’s face. While he had improved at lightning speed thanks to his ruthless military endeavors, his growth and expansion had already started to slow down.
Firstly, there was the issue of fleeing magic beasts causing a shortage of prey. Second, even if he wanted to expand, the areas that he had not yet attacked with his army were all basically out of his league.
The areas he could expand into all had magic beasts at the Great Rank.
If it were a low-cycle Great Rank magic beast, it was still doable. As long as he was willing to sacrifice thousands or even tens of thousands of Spirit Plants, he could still kill them.
However, if he attacked mid- or high-cycle Great Rank magic beasts, then things were different.
Once a living being became powerful enough, numbers would not be enough to kill them.
After all, even if there were millions of ants, they could not possibly kill a dragon that could shatter a whole realm with a single attack.
"Since I cannot expand anymore and reckless military campaigns have to be put on hold, then I will try to become self-sufficient"
"In any case, I already have enough cultivation resources. Unless it is a rare treasure of heaven and earth, I don’t need to gather cultivation resources for the time being anymore. But the farm is different"
With Rezen’s efforts, he managed to gather a large variety of resources, many of which had improved his talent. Granted, each of them didn’t increase his talent by much, but they made up for it in number.
It had reached a point where Rezen could now reach the Great Mage Rank on his own as long as he was given enough time. He didn’t need to rely on the Suppla Grapes soaked in the potion he got from the Savage Beast Realm.
Unless the treasure was extremely rare, Rezen indeed did not need other cultivation resources. This task could be postponed.
However, while Rezen’s cultivation resources were already resolved, the farm was a different matter.
Unlike Rezen, who needed time to digest cultivation resources, the farm was different. It could devour any amount of resources poured into it.
In fact, if Rezen had enough corpses, he could directly elevate his farm to the fourth rank.
As such, magic beast corpses still had to be gathered.
"I guess it’s time to start domesticating magic beasts. With the Spirit Plants I can provide, I don’t need to worry about their food. With my help, magic beasts definitely could grow and reproduce fast"
This world was, after all, a world of magic. If it were back on planet Earth, which had no presence of magic, even if you had enough food, a long time would still be needed to grow a population. But this world was different.
There were surely varieties of magic beasts that could reproduce extremely fast as long as there was enough food. Rezen just had to find those magic beasts.
"Hmm, the bees from before should be an ideal candidate. Small creatures typically reproduce faster, but I cannot be too hasty in my decision. It is better if I gather a variety of magic beasts and test which ones could help me faster"
"While the bees have a fast reproduction rate, there are definitely other magic beasts that are much faster at reproducing. I need to find those magic beasts"