Astral Cockroach

Upon learning that the lotus leaves had withered, King Red Chitin was equally alarmed. He had mobilized so many warriors, creating such a frenzy, digging earth with their lives on the line, only for it to die before the lake was even finished? What was this all about? How was he supposed to explain this to the warriors?

After worrying for over half a month, Banbu and Baba were finally certain that the lotus god-given seed had entered hibernation. Their hearts, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled.

Upon careful consideration, there seemed to be a special reason.

This lotus god-given seed had once lived in the Northern Wilderness, where winter temperatures dropped to forty or fifty degrees below zero, and the entire lake would freeze over. Unable to withstand the winter, it had developed a habit of hibernating.

Anyway, as far as they could tell, there was no immediate danger to its life, so there was nothing to fear.

… …

The lake was designed with a radius of 1.5 kilometers. After a winter of hard work, they had advanced approximately 200 meters. The outer ring had a larger area, so the further inward they dug, the faster it would be.

The river channel was 25 kilometers long. By the end of winter and the beginning of spring, it had not been completed as expected, with more than 10 kilometers remaining. The unfinished lake also needed a river channel for drainage, otherwise, the accumulation of rainwater during the spring and summer would make it impossible to continue digging in the autumn and winter of the following year.

After careful deliberation, they selected and kept 200 warriors to continue working.

Originally, the task could have been completed in just over two months at the previous rate. However, under Baba's countless strong demands and various threats using her insect body, Banbu was forced to change the plan.

Utilizing the difference in terrain between the northwest and southeast, the river channel was divided into two sections with a height difference of more than 5 meters. A dam was built to block the river, and five sets of turbine generators were installed side by side. For this purpose, an additional reservoir with 80-meter sides had to be dug, one to buffer the river and prevent torrential floods from directly impacting the dam, and the other to increase the power station's water storage capacity.

This change almost doubled the workload, directly causing the 200 warriors of the Red Chitin Tribe and the 10 warriors of the Horned Chitin Tribe to remain at Reedspeak Peak, working continuously until midsummer.

For this hydroelectric power station, tens of thousands of raw stones were spent in a whoosh.

There were not enough metal materials to build the power station, and they couldn't spare so much manpower to mine and smelt ore, so they simply dismantled all the wind power stations on the mountaintop.

The dismantled metal materials were used in small part for the construction of the hydroelectric power station, and most of them were transported to the lotus pond where the lotus god-given seed was planted. Banbu used his metal ability to melt these metal materials and build a circle of alloy barriers around the pond.

The intention of this approach was very simple: When digging the lake this winter, they could directly dig away all the soil around the lotus pond. By the time the summer rainy season came and the lake was full of water, Banbu could use his metal ability to dismantle the metal wall, and the lotus pond would be perfectly connected to the lake.

… …

According to Baba, the genes of the lotus god-given seed were still changing continuously.

Stimulated by the warm spring climate, green shoots emerged from the lotus root nodules underground and at the tip, developing rapidly, breaking out of the water surface, and growing into 9 large lotus leaves about 1.5 meters in diameter, rising 2 to 2.5 meters above the water surface, staggered and well-proportioned.

Banbu had been guarding the lotus pond. One day, he finally realized that the height of the lotus leaves largely depended on the water level, maintaining a fixed height above the water surface.

For an entire spring, the 9 lotus leaves were constantly absorbing sunlight and primordial energy, synthesizing nutrients and transporting them to the lotus roots in the pond.

From April to June, for an entire summer, it continued to do so.

The only change was that the tree spirit recovered, its soul spreading and enveloping 5 lotus root sections, not far from regaining consciousness.

At this time, the river channel project and the hydroelectric power station were finally completed. The Horned Chitin Tribe warriors left, and the 200 warriors of the Red Chitin Tribe simply stayed to continue digging and expanding the lake. By getting busy now, everyone wouldn't have to work as hard as they did last year in the autumn and winter.

… …

Princess Red Maple passed the news that Banbu had agreed to sell a portion of the Giant Dragon Bamboo Fruit back to Autumn Maple County.

King Autumn Maple Chitin was straightforward. Without saying much, he began to arrange for warriors to transport raw stones to Reedspeak Peak in batches, with 500,000 raw stones per batch. As per the usual practice, a deposit of 5 million was paid first, and the remaining 5 million would be paid in installments during the year when the Giant Dragon Bamboo Fruit matured.

Banbu counted his wealth.

After selling 2 Giant Dragon Bamboo Fruits to the Black and White Flower Lotus Tribe last time, there were still 10 million left.

Building the plank road for Red Crow Mountain earned 10 million in hard labor fees; the 5 million compensation from the Giant Dragon Bamboo Fruit exchange with Double Star Apricot last time. At that time, the 15 million raw stones were received in one lump sum. Banbu used 8 million to light up and activate the second small supernatural power of his second heart, leaving 7 million that he had been hoarding.

In recent years, selling 2 batches of Sacred Bamboo Fruit yielded a surplus of over 9 million raw stones.

In addition, Reedspeak Peak had other income this year, totaling over 1 million.

The three raw stone warehouses on the mountaintop, mountainside, and foot of Reedspeak Peak held a total of 27 million raw stones.

Another 10 million raw stones from Autumn Maple County would be shipped in batches.

The warehouses at Reedspeak Peak were a bit full.

Banbu calculated that his current total wealth was 37 million raw stones. The maturation of the Giant Dragon Bamboo Fruit would consume approximately 18 million. Judging from observations, the growth of the lotus god-given seed was quite slow, so reserving 5 million raw stones for emergencies would be more than enough.

Deducting the less than 1 million in labor costs for building the lake.

Then there would still be a surplus of 13 million raw stones?

The warehouse can't hold any more!

Use it!

After careful consideration, Banbu decided to light up and activate the third small supernatural power in the second heart position.

There were two benefits: the small supernatural power would transform his physique, allowing him to quickly advance to L3 County Lord; the first supernatural power tree was composed of 4 small supernatural powers, so he should light up and activate them all as soon as possible to observe whether the Giant Dragon Bamboo god-given seed could continue to derive a second supernatural power tree.

If the Giant Dragon Bamboo could derive a second supernatural power tree, then the efficacy of the Giant Dragon Bamboo Fruit would definitely increase accordingly, and it should be able to support County Lord-level warriors to survive in an environment without primordial energy. As operating costs increased, the value of the bamboo fruit would naturally skyrocket.

In fact, after Banbu advanced to County Lord, he could also light up and activate the second type of 300 supernatural power patterns in the first heart position, which fused with the Overlord Realm metal core.

The consumption was also not small. Each pattern required 20,000 raw stones to light up, and a large amount of high-quality metal-based primordial energy food was needed to activate it. The cost was not low, but the use was far less practical than the supernatural power patterns in the second heart position, so it was not considered for the time being.

Perhaps one day, when he became rich and wealthy, he could consider it.

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… …

In late summer and early autumn, the lotus god-given seed finally changed. It began to grow lateral roots, a total of 9, releasing the energy accumulated for half a year in one go. In just a few days, the 9 branched roots grew to more than 20 meters, first developing root hairs and lotus leaves, and then producing a section of lotus root. The lotus root grew section by section, at a rate of about 10 days per section. Before winter, 9 sections of lotus root were formed, and correspondingly, the number of branched lotus leaves was also 9.

The lotus root was too large. Currently, the 50-meter diameter pond could barely accommodate its growth.

Banbu had figured out the pattern: similar to the growth pattern of bamboo, deriving branches, one giving birth to nine, nine giving birth to eighty-one, and eighty-one giving birth to seven hundred and twenty-nine.

Corresponding to this should be the primary primordial energy plant level, the first metamorphosis and growth, and the second metamorphosis and growth.

Under normal circumstances, the third metamorphosis and growth of non-arboraceous god-given seeds is mainly a qualitative change, without increasing the number of branches, and there will be no increase in production.

The lotus god-given seed was not normal. The murals in the cave showed that its scale was far more than the final derivation of seven hundred and twenty-nine branches.

Could it be multiplied by nine again? That would be a change at the cosmic life level.

… …

In late autumn, King Red Chitin arrived with 300 Red Chitin warriors to continue digging the lake.

In winter, the temperature dropped. Like last year, the lotus leaves withered and turned yellow, and the lotus roots underground fell into dormancy. The tree spirit's soul had completely covered the 9 sections of the mother plant's lotus root, but there was still no sign of awakening. The plant's genes continued to change, adjusting itself to adapt to the drastically changing living environment.

The lake was completed half a month ahead of schedule.

Immediately close the sluice gate and start storing water.

At the same time, another task was carried out: making nutrient soil and backfilling the bottom of the lake.

There were many continuous overcast and rainy days in winter and spring, and water could not be stored. Everyone was crawling and working hard in the mud, which was very annoying.

The lotus god-given seed really did wither and flourish every year. In the spring, it sprouted, grew leaves, and the pond was a patch of emerald green.

Fortunately, its growth was not fast. Like last year, spring and summer were for accumulating and storing nutrients and energy, and it would suddenly burst out in autumn.

Banbu had the Heavenly Eye, which could "see" the changes in the tree spirit's soul state, becoming stronger day by day. Knowing that it was about to awaken, he settled down next to the lotus pond, guarding it day and night.

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