Chapter 29: Arranging Them One by One
The three-Paradise alliance successfully destroyed the Mist Light Bug Nest. Not only that, they also harvested three Soul Crystals (Complete). As for how to distribute them, that was for Afra and the other two to discuss.
Beside the shattered bug nest, Afra looked at a bug corpse at her feet. The tip of her staff glowed faintly as she tapped it on the bug corpse.
After a moment, Afra pressed her staff against the bug nest and reached a conclusion.
This dead bug had been cultivated within the last few days, while the bug nest had existed for at least several months. The life energy fluctuations between the two were vastly different.
Realizing this, Afra felt a sense of relief. Based on the known clues, the enemy had captured this bug nest and forcibly controlled the Bug Queen inside to mass-produce troops.
Not only that, the damaged consciousness transmission device inside the nest, along with the three Soul Crystals (Complete) embedded in it, indicated that the enemy had paid a heavy price to forcibly control the Bug Queen.
Multiple signs suggested that the enemy's various setups were not replicable. For example, capturing a third-stage bug nest required that nest to have formidable third-stage bug units.
Even if that were accomplished, the cost of controlling the Bug Queen was astonishing. At the very least, Afra herself couldn't afford to spend that many resources twice in a row.
In reality, Afra's deduction was correct. The consciousness transmission device had consumed a lot of Su Xiao's materials.
In this world, Su Xiao could no longer build a second consciousness transmission device. The more one understood alchemy, the more certain this fact became.
After Afra confirmed all possible risks, she breathed a long sigh of relief. What she needed to do next was guard against enemy retaliation. But if the enemy didn't retaliate within three days, that would be suspicious.
...
In the base camp forest, Su Xiao sat inside a wooden shed, receiving feedback from Bubu Wang through the adventure group channel.
The three-Paradise alliance had already withdrawn from the valley. Not only that, they had split into three groups.
The Death Paradise group headed straight for the Sun Tribe's territory, while the Holy Light Paradise group moved toward the Ya Wa Tribe (Poison). The Sun Warriors that Death Paradise had obtained earlier made these people envious, and the Ya Wa Tribe also had powerful tribesmen known as Death Hunters, the strongest ranged hunters among all the tribes.
As for the Apocalypse Paradise group, they also headed toward the Sun Tribe's territory to continue their old trade—mining. Mining made them happy.
Upon learning that the three-Paradise alliance had split into three groups, Su Xiao knew that the three thousand-plus Putis hadn't been wasted. One bug nest, one Mother, over three thousand combat bugs, one consciousness transmission device, and three Soul Crystals (Complete) had temporarily reassured the three-Paradise alliance.
If Su Xiao guessed correctly, these people were more worried about him retaliating, ambushing lone contractors.
As for that kind of thing, Su Xiao would do it about once every two days. He didn't aim to kill many enemies, just to let them know that he had retaliated. It was that simple.
Now, there were 11 days left. Within these 11 days, Su Xiao could fully develop his bug army. As for how many he could raise, tens of thousands were no problem.
Su Xiao first summoned Bubu Wang back to the base camp. Not only that, he also had Beini return as quickly as possible. Then, he could split the Demon Beasts into four teams, making their hunting more efficient.
Bubu Wang was closer to the base camp and could return in a few hours. Beini was farther away and would arrive at the base camp by tomorrow morning at the latest.
Su Xiao opened the summon list and checked the information on Jila and the bug nest. He skipped Jila's information; her main growth was in Intelligence and Charm attributes. The three new abilities she had gained were all for controlling lower-tier bugs.
[Bug Nest (Jila's Ownership).]
[Rank: Third Stage (Total of Five Stages. This rank is determined based on this world's power system).]
[Bio-Energy Reserve: 49850/50000 Points.]
[Attached Bug Organs: Energy Storage Tissue (Third Stage), Egg-Laying Tissue (Third Stage), Cultivation Sac (Third Stage), Evolution Chamber (Third Stage), Fungal Carpet (Third Stage).]
[Lower-Tier Bug Count: 2746 (Demon Beasts: 2703, Mantis Armor: 19, Venom Stingers: 14, Spore Tanks: 10).]
...
During Su Xiao's execution of the plan, Baha and Amu had been leading the Demon Beasts on hunts. Combined with the Life Stones obtained from the Mist Light Bug Nest earlier, the Life Stones (Medium) now totaled 317, equivalent to 317,000 Bio-Energy.
Su Xiao used all this Bio-Energy to cultivate Demon Beasts.
Through Jila's command to the bug nest, the "Egg-Laying Tissue" and "Cultivation Sac" inside the nest began working. Seven minutes later, the first batch of Demon Beasts emerged from the nest.
Soon, 1,585 Demon Beasts were successfully cultivated, bringing the total number of Demon Beasts to 4,288, including 42 elite individuals.
Seeing the current number of Demon Beasts, Su Xiao realized that the earlier losses weren't severe. It was equivalent to losing just over 1,000 Demon Beasts.
Su Xiao split the Demon Beasts into three teams. Amu and Baha took two teams to continue hunting, while the last team went to rendezvous with Bubu Wang.
With the previous arrangements, Su Xiao's map was more complete. However, the bug nests near the Sun Tribe and Ya Wa Tribe couldn't be touched. Fortunately, both tribes were on the east side of the base camp.
As for the large grassland where the initial chaotic battle took place, it was north of the base camp. On the outskirts of the grassland was a fourth-stage bug nest, while the central area was the territory of the Sacred Bull God.
In other words, Su Xiao's hunting grounds were now limited to the west and south zones.
The west zone meant deeper into the forest, while the south zone was dense with swamps. What lay beyond the swamps, Su Xiao didn't know.
However, developing toward the southern swamp zone was the best option right now. Known intelligence indicated that there were at least 12 third-stage bug nests there.
First, the southern swamp zone. When the resources there were mostly plundered, he would move toward the west zone, deeper into the base camp forest.
The east zone was off-limits for now. As for the northern grassland, Su Xiao had some ideas about that.
The Sacred Bull God's strength left a deep impression on Su Xiao. He was developing the bug army partly to deal with the three-Paradise alliance and partly to try to see if he could use the Demon Beasts to surround and kill the Sacred Bull God.
Leaving aside whether killing the Sacred Bull God would yield a treasure chest, just its horn alone was already extremely valuable.
The Sacred Bull God was a Void species, as Su Xiao had learned from the Mechanical Sister. However, this species had been hunted to near extinction by the Feather Clan because the Sacred Bull God loved to eat Sakura Willow trees, which held extraordinary significance for the Feather Clan.
If the Sacred Bull God only ate wild Sakura Willows, the Feather Clan, as a major race in the Void, would have had the tolerance for that. But unfortunately, after eating all the wild Sakura Willows, the Sacred Bull God sneaked into their Sakura Wind Forest to eat. That was asking for death.
It was said that upon learning this news, several old-timers of the Feather Clan trembled with rage. The Sakura Wind Forest was their childhood playground, carrying countless generations of beautiful memories for the Feather Clan. The consequences were predictable.
Of course, with Su Xiao's current bug army, he couldn't deal with the Sacred Bull God.
In fact, it wasn't just the Sacred Bull God. If Su Xiao could produce a massive number of bugs, he had even considered eliminating all three fourth-stage bug nests. After that would come the five totem tribes.
Of course, these were all hypotheticals. The first phase of the plan was to arrange the three-Paradise alliance thoroughly. After that, the Sacred Bull God. Only after surrounding and killing the Sacred Bull God would Su Xiao consider dealing with the three major bug nests and the five totem tribes. Whether he could deal with those two sides was still uncertain.