Force Astral Plane: Starting with the Chimera Ants

Chapter 87: Nurturing the Golden Egg to Support the King

P.S. I didn't update yesterday because I was checking if I had written anything offensive again. I was thinking about how to revise it quickly before I wrote too much. In the next chapter, I'll clarify some things that weren't explained clearly in the previous chapters, and then see if I need to revise them.

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"The King of Cinnabar Ants!"

Flying swiftly, Ye Zhi flapped her wings and flew into the nest chamber of the Black Ant King. She then channeled her spiritual power and called out to the depths of the nest.

"What's wrong, little guy?" came the powerful mental energy of the ant king, a lord-level being.

"King Wuyuan Ant, I've come to get some Force food for that little ant king I picked up, so it can quickly advance to the early second instar and plant its life seed. Also, I want to try raising a Zo King..." Ye Zhi slowly transmitted her mental power, stating the purpose of her visit.

"Training Zoro? Little guy, generally speaking, it's best to wait until the Mountain Lord level before training Zoro. He can inherit more of the Ant King's own abilities, and his mind will be more mature, allowing him to complete his work better."

"However, little guy, your situation is special... Do you intend to cultivate your semi-Primal Force level queen ant into a Zoro King, so that it can produce ant eggs at the corresponding stage as it grows and evolves?"

As expected of the old ant king, he immediately guessed her purpose. Ye Zhi moved her antennae and sent a positive mental signal to her alien "elder".

"Since it's a Zoro that can lay eggs, we should use some Force food that enhances its overall endurance and digestive abilities to cultivate it during the larval stage..." The Cuttlefish King's antennae swayed, releasing pheromones to summon the worker ants.

Before long, a pair of slender worker ants came carrying three spider silk bags, two small and one large, and placed them in front of the king ant. They shook their antennae and left to continue their work in the nest.

"Little guy, take these bags." The Black Ant King's antennae twitched, pointing to three spider silk bags in front of it. "These are for that little ant king that explodes. Evolve into its second instar as soon as possible and plant its life force."

"The other one is big and one is small. One is for you to use to raise the little guy, and this big bag... you can take it first and eat slowly. When summer comes, prepare to evolve into the intermediate stage of the third instar."

Leafweave lightly tapped its antennae, pulled out several thick ant silk ropes, tied the mouths of several spider silk bags tightly together, tried to grab them with its six limbs, flapped its wings and took flight, bidding farewell to the Black Cane Ant King, and returned to its main peak nest chamber.

......

Returning to the nest chamber, Ye Zhi first placed the large bag of Force food for her evolution in the storage room, tied the bag tightly with thick ant silk rope, and then took the two small bags of Force food back to the hatching chamber.

"Leaf-woven Ant King..."

Upon seeing Ye Zhi return, Chi Xia cautiously peeked out from behind the ant silk curtain, her mental energy trembling slightly, as if she was having difficulty adapting to the aura of the large number of alien worker ants.

"This is your Force food. Evolve into the early second stage as soon as possible and plant the Life Seed." Ye Zhi shook the small spider silk bag held by her six limbs and sent a mental message to Chi Xia.

"Hmm." The little ant king Chixia tapped her antennae lightly, sending out a grateful spiritual power as she looked at Ye Zhi, her eyes sparkling with hope.

"Wait here for a moment, I'll go get you some regular food, you can eat it with that." Ye Zhi shook her antennae, preparing to leave the nest to forage for food.

"Leaf-woven Ant King?"

Just as Ye Zhi stepped out of the nest, Huo Yun's figure flew towards her, with a small snake whose head had been neatly severed along with its bones tucked between its legs. When it saw Ye Zhi emerge from the nest, it waved in front of her.

"Huo Yun, what brings you here?" Ye Zhi asked curiously, sending a mental message to inquire.

"Leaf-woven Ant King, I heard that the little explosive ant king stayed behind. I've come to see what's different about this explosive ant..." Huo Yun transmitted through her mental power.

"Alright, I was just about to feed this little ant king some Force food, so I'll share some with this snake." Ye Zhi replied, turning and flying into the nest. Huo Yun, with its antennae also pointing outwards, followed closely behind Ye Zhi and burrowed into the nest chamber.

"Ye Zhi Ant King, is this... a Mantis Warrior?" At this moment, Little Ant King Chi Xia saw Ye Zhi arrive with Huo Yun and curiously poked out of the ant silk curtain, sending out a questioning telepathic message.

"Yes, this is a brown bee mantis warrior named Huoyun. It's a fifth-instar beginner warrior." Ye Zhi pointed to her antennae and introduced, "Huoyun, this little ant queen also has a name. It's called Chixia."

"Blazing Clouds? Leaf-Weaving Ant King, what was its first life seed?" Huo Yun asked curiously.

"Golden Cherry." Ye Zhi explained the naming method to Huo Yun again, "When cherry blossoms bloom, they are as fiery as the morning glow on the horizon. And since this little ant king is also fiery red all over, we'll call him Fiery Glow."

Ye Zhi activated the spatial energy in her mind, and two large worker ants stepped forward, tearing open the spider silk bag with a ripping sound. They took out a grapefruit seed provided by the Black Citron Ant King, placed it in front of the little ant king Chixia, and said:

"Here, eat this first to enhance your body's absorption efficiency of Force foods. It will be more effective to eat other Force foods later."

Little Ant King Chixia took the Force food, held it in her mouth, exerted a little force with her jaws, chewed, and swallowed. Force under her exoskeleton surged along the lines, flowing into her life sac and limbs.

Beside her, Huo Yun used her two catching legs to cut thin slices of meat off the snake's body and placed them on the ground. Ye Zhi then directed the worker ants to pick them up and wait on the side.

After swallowing a grain of Force food, the little ant king Chixia immediately became unsteady on her feet. Ye Zhi controlled the worker ants to put down a piece of flesh and blood and push it in front of Chixia. She quickly took it and began to devour it with her mandibles.

With fresh flesh and blood in its stomach, its condition seemed to improve somewhat. It lay on the ground silently digesting the food, and only recovered after half a minute. It looked at Ye Zhi with a longing gleam in its eyes.

Ye Zhi took out another Force food and handed it to Chi Xia. Chi Xia accepted it and ate it. This continued until all three Lord-level Force foods were consumed. Only then did Ye Zhi tie the spider silk bag tightly and take it back to her side.

"Eat this much for today. Stay here until the seed is planted," Ye Zhi said through her mental power.

The little ant king, Chixia, tapped her antennae and retreated behind the ant silk curtain, lying on the soft ant silk cushion to digest the aftereffects of the Force food. Ye Zhi didn't interfere any further, leaving a few large worker ants to guard the area, and then left with another bag of Force food.

Upon entering the nest chamber, the larvae hatched from the golden eggs of the semi-force queen ant wriggled on the soft ant silk pads in the incubation chamber. Beneath their white bodies that shimmered with a pale golden luster, faint traces of force patterns shimmered through their skin.

With a ripping sound, Ye Zhi opened another Force food bag specially prepared for raising Zuo Wang, took out a Force food grain from it, placed it in front of the larva, and tentatively transmitted a "feed" mental power.

The larva's comma-tail-like neck twisted and it happily came forward to nibble, making a crunching sound. On the surface of its body, the Force patterns faintly showed the Force flowing and surging into the larva's body - feasible!

Ye Zhi was excited. She picked out another grain of Force food and fed it to the golden egg larva in front of her. She didn't feed it any more. She put away the spider silk bag containing the Force food, tied the bag with ant silk, and put it into the storage room.