The baby octopus climbed to the edge of the crystal bucket and waved its tentacles. The slender tentacles twitched like lightning across half of the room and whipped an iron ant.
The sound was crisp, but not very powerful. It only left a white mark on the body of the iron ant that was beaten, but it returned to its original color in a moment.
But this iron ant has been working loudly and seems not to notice any impact.
The bored octopus cub looked at his friends in the room who were busy, waving their tentacles idly as if for fun.
"Don't bully others. They still have to work. If you have nothing to do, just wait and improve your soul strength."
Hero stopped what he was doing, condensed a ball of black water in his hand and threw it, hitting the octopus's exposed round head directly.
With a flutter, he dropped the octopus baby back into the barrel, and then continued to pick up the unmarked grenade shell parts.
Beside him, the little ant queen was holding back her energy, laying eggs frantically while directing the engineering ants to operate on the assembly line.
The whole room looks very different from when it was first developed.
It's not so much a room as it is a nest under regular management.
Hero specially selected a place for the little queen ants to establish a colony.
Ever since he instilled twisted characteristics into the little ant queen's body and labeled it with the twisting vortex, this soul beast, which was responsible for reviving the tribe, became his wage earner.
At least for now, it is.
After selling off part of the thousand-year-old tree heart and receiving the resources distributed for the first time after the assessment, Holo, who obtained the starting capital, found Ami and once again purchased all the soul beast metal material inventory in her hand.
Fortunately, Ami was able to come back alive during this assessment, otherwise he would have to use ordinary natural metals. With the same output efficiency, the price of natural metals would be greatly reduced.
After buying the materials back, he took out half of the Queen Ant Essence from the bottom of the box.
That's right, it's the one that gathers the essence of all the flesh, blood, and soul of the previous generation of ant queens.
At that time, he and Byrne had half of it. Although I don't know what Byrne did with the half, the half in his hand can be regarded as returned to its original owner.
After giving the scarlet essence to the little queen ant, she shed her shell for the first time in her life.
The huge and well-matched energy overflowed crazily in her body, but it did not break away from the constraints of the body and cause no waste.
It only took the little queen ant two days to digest all the essence in her stomach, but the energy of the essence had not dissipated yet, and most of it was still lurking in the little queen's body.
Her body and soul are not strong enough to absorb these essences in a short time, and can only be slowly nourished and grown over a long period of time.
But it is much faster than her natural growth. After all, she has not merged with Holo's soul and cannot get any help. She can only rely on herself and some suitable external objects.
As the little queen ants grow older, their bodies have gradually matured and they are able to lay eggs.
Although the quantity was small at the beginning, the quality was surprisingly high. A large part of the consumption for laying eggs came from the essence that had not been absorbed by the body.
The eggs produced by the little queen ants hatched in a very short time. As Helo consumed resources to purchase natural metals to feed them, they received rich nutrition and grew into engineering ants at the fastest speed.
The first batch of Engineer Ants were under the command of Hero.
They used metal materials and unique oral gland mucus to create an ellipsoidal capsule package, which was embedded in the ground and wall.
Constructing these metal casting platforms in the room is not only the place where they live and reproduce, but also the place where they work...
This allows them to rest and work at the same time.
The engineering ants were placed in batches, and each batch was responsible for processing different parts of the grenade. Through the iron ants' excellent casting of metal materials, Hero was able to obtain a batch of parts with worry-free quality.
They feed on stones and metal, and the forelimbs and mouthparts they evolved are very sharp and flexible, making them perfect for the most time-consuming step of processing soul beast metal materials.
Finally, he would engrave the soul magic formula on the components and assemble them.
When the engineering ants grow more, or the soul strength of the little queen ants becomes stronger, he can leave this job to them.
The entire assembly line is entirely handled by the iron ant tribe.
Process materials, engrave formulas, and assemble.
Although the quality is definitely not as high as what Helo made using [Exponential Explosion], it is better in terms of efficiency and high production capacity.
Once it is in operation, it will be a factory for manufacturing soul coins.
Moreover, their orders to the little queen ants come from spiritual respect. As long as the little queen ants are controlled, Hero will not be afraid of them being lazy.
Where can I find free workers who work so hard without any compensation and with little food?
"Would you like to ask Bain about half of the Queen Ant Essence? Will the whole pill be more effective?"
He looked at the little queen ant next to him. The entire assembly line now formed a perfect closed loop.
The leftover grenade scraps from processing the materials are all eaten by the little queen ants. The metal materials produced by the spirit beasts are much more nutritious than the natural metals eaten by ordinary engineering ants.
With a constant supply of high-quality food, Hero never saw the little queen ant lower her butt.
…
"You want that queen ant essence? Could it be that you lied to me last time and what you hatched was the iron ant egg?"
Some time after the evaluation and assessment ended, the apprentice level of the tower returned to its former tranquility. Most of the apprentices stopped working and were busy digesting the gains gained during this period. Of course, learning will not stop.
After being invited by Holo, Byrne also thought that he had been alone for too long, so he accepted Holo's appointment.
On the one hand, it is to exchange experiences, and on the other hand, it is to relax tense nerves.
"How is it possible, but you are right, that iron ant did hatch. I just want to cultivate her to become a helper in manufacturing [Tesla grenades]. In the future, we will have a continuous supply of grenades, and the cost can be reduced.
Some.
How about it? If it’s still there, consider it and make an offer.”
Hero pulled down the collar of the apprentice robe that covered his collarbone, allowing Byrne to clearly see the complex mark.
It also proved that I was not lying.
After seeing this, Byrne felt relieved. He and Holo had no conflict of interest, and of course he didn't want this friendly friend to do something stupid.
The slightly complicated mark in front of me is definitely not the result of fusing iron ants.
"I haven't sold that half of the essence yet. I originally thought that if the assessment failed this time, I would use it to exchange for resources, but the assessment went well and I got the golden key.
But I think it would be good to use it to cultivate soul beasts. If you want it...how about doing me a favor?"
Byrne changed his usual careless attitude and asked a little cautiously.
Holo felt more wary.
What this guy said before was nothing more than asking for too high a price. Why is it now something that can be solved with just a favor?