Dragon Cypress, during his 9th Age Period as a High-Level Ant King, had hardly used any Divine-Given Origin Force Food. Waking from his slumber, he did not feel excessively weak.

It was as easy as his evolutions during previous Age Periods.

Shedding his old carapace, his body rapidly expanded and elongated. He clearly felt his muscles growing.

This continued for quite a while until his Physical Strength was exhausted, and the rapid increase in his body size abruptly stopped. His new membranous wings slowly unfolded until they were as long as his abdomen, and the new shell quickly hardened.

As predicted, his body length settled at slightly over 3 meters.

Dragon Cypress picked up the Metal Can prepared on the Dominating Throne, twisted off the lid, dipped an antenna in, and began to eat quickly.

His somewhat hollow body beneath the Carapace started to fill bit by bit.

He expanded his spiritual power, scanning his body. Just as expected, after evolving to the Evolution Mountain Lord Level, a fourth blue ring pattern had appeared on his abdomen.

He silently sensed it, gaining some enlightenment.

Dragon Cypress quickly finished two cans of common Ant Honey, then opened a can of Origin Force Ant Honey. After eating it, his internal Origin Force had somewhat recovered.

He slowly turned around, his gaze locking onto the stone pot in the corner of the cave, filled with fresh water. A Water Sphere, about seven or eight centimeters in diameter, floated up and hovered above Dragon Cypress's head.

At his next thought, he channeled Primordial Energy. The Water Sphere instantly turned into white, solid ice, cold air overflowing from it.

Upon evolving to the Evolution Mountain Lord Level, he had awakened his fourth Water System Ability: Freezing.

Dragon Cypress flicked an antenna, and the ice sphere shot out, crashing towards the Metal Door Panel blocking the cave entrance, and violently exploded on impact.

The Metal Door Panel was smashed down.

Spiked Cypress, who was peeking into the cave through a damaged edge of the Metal Door Panel, let out a series of shrill screams in fright.

The Great King has awakened! The Great King has successfully evolved!

A group of Command Ants, ready to rush into the cave, were rudely shoved aside as Ink Orchid scrambled in ahead of them.

"Dragon Cypress?"

Ink Orchid placed her forelegs on the edge of the Dominating Throne, leaning over to examine Dragon Cypress.

Ink Orchid leaped onto the Throne. "Dragon Cypress Mountain Lord!"

Dragon Cypress said, "..."

"How many days have I been asleep?" he asked.

Ink Orchid replied, "Eight and a half days. Not quite nine."

Dragon Cypress mused, "That's not bad. Quite an easy evolution, actually."

Ink Orchid asked, "...So you really awakened... the Ice Making ability?"

Dragon Cypress waved his antennae towards the scattered ice shards at the cave entrance. "Obviously."

"Then the Ice-Fire Water-Making Pot was a wasted purchase," Ink Orchid said softly.

"Not wasted. Didn't we rely on it to replenish fresh water when we were mining on the Southeastern Continent? And I hadn't awakened the Water Creation Ability back then, had I?"

Dragon Cypress shook his antennae, commanding, "Spiked Cypress, Giant Cypress, go hunt some fresh bloody food in the jungle and bring it back."

Then he added, "I'm fine now. Round Cypress, Fragrant Cypress, Cypress, Silver Cypress, Black Cory, Black Leaf, all of you, disperse and go rest."

After chasing all the Command Ants out of the Ant Nest, Dragon Cypress turned to Ink Orchid. "The Deep Blue Divine-Given Seed and the Southern Gorgon Divine-Given Seed both broke through successfully, right?"

Ink Orchid replied, "Of course. The Deep Blue Divine-Given Seed broke through three days ago. The Southern Gorgon Divine-Given Seed was a bit slower, breaking through yesterday."

"Then I'm relieved," Dragon Cypress said.

He took the Metal Case that was beside him, opened it, then lowered his head and spat out the fully nurtured Black Leaf Citrus Seed, carefully storing it.

My new Life Seed must be the Red Cypress Divine-Given Seed. There's no rush for now.

Dragon Cypress opened his mouth, and the fresh water from the stone pot in the corner of the cave automatically flew up, forming a line and flowing into his mouth.

Ink Orchid helped open all the Metal Cans containing Ant Honey. She grabbed two wooden plates and vigorously poured the Ant Honey from the Cans onto them.

Dragon Cypress lowered his head and continued to eat.

After devouring three more Cans, he felt his body brimming with strength and his mind refreshed.

He stretched his spiritual power to its limit, spreading it along the passage all the way to the Spiked Cypress Life Seed outside the South Mountain Ant Nest.

The maximum range of my spiritual power is about 130 meters.

He reined in his spiritual power and shifted his consciousness to communicate with the Dominating Throne.

[Please select the Messenger type.]

[Guardian of Strength]

[Guardian of Hydrology]

[Producer of Agriculture]

[Producer of Refinement]

Dragon Cypress casually selected [Guardian of Hydrology].

The Dominating Throne immediately displayed the next prompt:

[Please select the quantity.]

[Quantity: 1]

[Quantity: 2]

...

[Quantity: 10]

Dragon Cypress canceled the selection.

As expected, after evolving to the 1st Age Period Mountain Lord Level, the Dominating Throne's limit for Ant Egg production per batch has increased to ten. Is the production time for each batch of Ant Eggs still four days? I have a faint feeling it won't be that easy. The Primary-Level, Mid-Level, and High-Level stages constitute one Great Rank. The Mountain Lord Level, however, signifies entry into another Great Rank. My Inherited Memory records that conventional female Mountain Lord Level Ant Kings produce Mountain Lord Level Ant Eggs with considerable variation. Some differentiated types of ants also experience a significant leap in size. Correspondingly, the time required for the Larvae's growth and development also extends to varying degrees. The specific changes remain to be tested. No rush. I'll rest for a few days, adjust my body to its optimal condition, and then try it out.

"Dragon Cypress, are you feeling better?" Ink Orchid noticed Dragon Cypress was attempting to use his spiritual power and asked.

"Recovered somewhat," Dragon Cypress replied.

"What about your strength?" Ink Orchid asked. "Evolving to the Mountain Lord Level, your Strength must have skyrocketed, right?"

Dragon Cypress unfolded his wings and gave them a gentle flap. "That's inevitable!"

"What about your Strength System Talent?" Ink Orchid pressed. "Have you comprehended any Strength System Abilities?"

"Well..." Dragon Cypress retracted his wings, lay down, lowered his head, and fell into deep thought.

After a very long time, Dragon Cypress slowly raised his head, his excitement barely containable, and said, "I've awakened a Strength System Ability!"

"Really?" Ink Orchid urged. "Can you demonstrate it?"

"...Let me think," Dragon Cypress mused. "...Let's go outside and find a spacious area."

Dragon Cypress got to his feet, leaped to the ground, controlled the Dominating Throne to shrink, and had it float along as he left the Ant Nest.

Passing by the South Mountain Restaurant, he took Areca along, and together they headed to the Shandong Reservoir.

From about twenty meters away, he locked onto a boulder with both his gaze and spiritual power.

Standing firm, after gathering his power for a while, Dragon Cypress slowly raised his left foreleg, spreading his toes. Primordial Energy converged at the tips of his toes.

Suddenly, he swept it downward.

An invisible Primordial Energy Power burst from the tips of his toes, flashing past.

Without any sound, the boulder split in half, the cut surface smooth and even.

"!!!"

Both Ink Orchid and Areca were taken aback.

A pure and sharp Strength System attack Ability!

Dragon Cypress himself was also shocked and bewildered.

Evolving to the Mountain Lord Level and awakening this Ability means I've stepped into another tier of combat power. Looking back at High-Level Insect Clan Warriors, I feel like I could kill a whole bunch of them with a single swipe of my claw now!

After two seconds of excitement and joy, Dragon Cypress switched to his right foreleg, gathering power once more.

Changing his method, he kicked off the ground, leaped into the air, and swiped at the ground from a distance with one claw.

Silently, a gash four to five meters long, two to three centimeters wide, and over half a meter deep at its deepest point, was left on the rugged, stony ground of the Ridge.

Strong!

Dragon Cypress was extremely satisfied with his awakened Strength System Ability.

He lowered his head in thought, pondering.

My Water System Ability has also taken a qualitative leap!

Dragon Cypress hovered in the air, then glided down to the edge of the reservoir. He twitched his antennae, and a giant Water Sphere, over three meters in diameter, separated from the water's surface and slowly floated into the air.

With another thought, the Water Sphere boiled and burst apart.

My Water Control and Boiling Abilities have undergone a qualitative improvement!

Dragon Cypress focused his mind again. Thirty water droplets leaped from the surface, floating and suspending in front of him. Under the control of his mind, they changed shapes, finally settling into a conical form for enhanced penetration. Primordial Energy surged within him, transforming all of them into chilling Ice Cones that shot forward and fell on the opposite shore of the reservoir.

Not far away, Ink Orchid and Areca were once again astounded.

"Ink Orchid!" A Deep Blue Primordial Energy Shield enveloped Dragon Cypress's body. He waved his antennae to beckon. "Come on, try out my Hydrology Shield!"

"Oh— Alright!" Ink Orchid snapped back to reality, ran forward, lifted her claw, bared its sharp tip, and jabbed forcefully.

The Hydrology Shield wobbled.

It broke without a sound.

Dragon Cypress said, "..."

"...There's progress," Ink Orchid commented.

"...Is there?" Dragon Cypress muttered.

He then said nonchalantly, "The Defensive Ability of the Hydrology Shield has definitely improved quite a bit. It used to shatter with just a light touch; now it's much better."

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