Natural God's Gift

"Call the Snakeberry Mountain Lord over," Fourleaf said, not venturing too deep into Silver Plum Continent, lest the Snakeberry Mountain Lord and the others think it brought so many spiders to do something.

"I'll go right away." The Fourleaf Merchant Group and Silver Plum Continent had been trading with each other for over a decade. Besides being a bit greedy, the merchant group had no other flaws, and there was basic trust between the two sides.

Hearing Fourleaf's words, Reed Grass hurriedly flew towards the main island of Silver Plum Continent.

Seeing Reed Grass leave, Bai Zhi asked, "Fourleaf, are you planning to have them collect bird droppings?"

"Of course!" Fourleaf said as a matter of course, "We don't have that many insect claws right now, so it's best to leave this simple task to them."

Flame Spiders at the advanced stage and above in the kingdom all had to go out to trade, and the junior and intermediate Flame Spider warriors were either working within everyone's territory or at the shellfish farms, so they couldn't spare any insect claws.

The insects of Silver Plum Continent were all island insects, and there were a large number of islands covered with bird droppings in the sea near them, making it perfect for them to collect materials locally.

Fourleaf and the others didn't have to wait too long before the Snakeberry Mountain Lord and Hollowheart Mountain Lord quickly flew over, flapping their wings.

"Boss Fourleaf, it's been a long time since you've been here," the Snakeberry Mountain Lord and Hollowheart Mountain Lord landed one after the other from the sky, saying something similar to what Reed Grass had just said.

"The kingdom is quite busy, so I didn't have time to come," Fourleaf casually made up a reason, but in reality, it was because it didn't value the small amount of business here.

The Snakeberry Mountain Lord was just asking casually. As long as there were insects trading Origin Power food with them, they didn't care whether it was Fourleaf or Bai Zhi who came.

However, they didn't expect that after only a dozen years, Fourleaf had actually been promoted to the Mountain Lord level.

But they thought that since Bai Zhi and Angelica had both been promoted to the Mountain Lord level, it was normal for Fourleaf, the leader of the merchant group, to be promoted to the Mountain Lord level as well.

"I heard you were looking for us for something?"

"Yes, I have some good things for you."

Fourleaf raised a claw and pointed to the bamboo tubes on the sea, "Do you see those bamboo tubes on the sea?"

"I see them." The Snakeberry Mountain Lord and the others had flown over, so they could naturally see farther in the air. As soon as it came over, it noticed those bamboo tubes.

Fourleaf said, "I'm preparing to take some bird droppings back to the kingdom to use as fertilizer, and I'd like to ask for your help."

"Bird droppings?" The Snakeberry Mountain Lord frowned slightly upon hearing Fourleaf's strange request, "There's plenty of that stuff on our islands. You can just go dig it up yourself."

These islands were full of seabirds, and the bird droppings were all unowned. It didn't think that the Flame Spider Merchant Group would need its permission to dig up bird droppings.

Fourleaf said, "We don't have any insect claws available at the moment, so we'd like to hire you to do the work. Don't worry, I'll pay you."

The Snakeberry Mountain Lord said casually, "Boss Fourleaf is too polite. Just tell us what you need us to do. It's just a small matter. How could we possibly accept payment?"

They had the most bird droppings here. Whether it was during the Origin Power Reincarnation Revival period or not, these birds lived here, and they had accumulated for who knows how many years. Some islands were even built up from bird droppings. Here, birds were the least valuable thing.

Fourleaf reminded, "Behind me is an entire kingdom, and the amount of bird droppings needed is very, very large."

Hearing Fourleaf's words, the Snakeberry Mountain Lord realized that things were not simple. The wealth of the Flame Spider Kingdom could be seen from the Fourleaf Merchant Group and the Spider King Scrolls, knowing that they were an extremely wealthy kingdom. Even the wealthy Flame Spider Kingdom felt that the amount was large, so how much would that be?

"About how much is needed?"

Hearing the Snakeberry Mountain Lord's words, Fourleaf calculated in its heart.

It wanted to make ten 5*20 meter swamp pools in every square kilometer of the Dragon Bamboo Plain, and with 120 square kilometers, that would be 1200 swamp pools.

To fill a swamp pool, it would need nearly 400 cubic meters of bird droppings, and 1200 swamp pools would need a total of 480,000 cubic meters.

In addition to that, it also wanted to make 10 large swamp pools, each estimated to be 100*50 meters. To fill it, it would need nearly 400,000 cubic meters of bird droppings, and 10 would need 4 million cubic meters.

Adding these two together would be 4.5 million cubic meters.

Does it sound like a lot?

Actually, it's not.

If you carefully calculate the needs of the Dragon Bamboo God-Given Seed, you'll know that each bamboo pole of the Dragon Bamboo God-Given Seed has a diameter of one meter,

and can grow to be two to three hundred meters tall. Wouldn't it be reasonable for such a large bamboo pole to absorb ten cubic meters of bird droppings for nutrition?

In the initial stage of the Dragon Bamboo God-Given Seed, the main plant divides into 12 sub-plants. When advancing from the initial stage to the intermediate stage, each of the 12 sub-plants will divide into 12 sub-plants again.

Continuing to split like this, after reaching the King level, the total number of sub-plants it possesses will be 3,257,437.

Over three million Dragon Bamboo poles, each needing ten cubic meters of bird droppings for nutrition, would require over thirty million cubic meters.

Moreover, after it becomes a mature bamboo, it needs to continue growing, maintain its life, and absorb nutrients to bear fruit, right? That would require a huge amount of fertilizer.

Spreading 4.5 million cubic meters of bird droppings evenly over an area of 120 square kilometers wouldn't even be 4 millimeters thick, which is really not much.

Moreover, besides the Dragon Bamboo Plain, the Twin Peaks territory also needs a large amount of fertilizer to irrigate those Life Seeds and planted plant seeds.

Also, besides it, other Flame Spider warriors also need a large amount of fertilizer to irrigate the plant seeds in their own territories.

Without calculating, Fourleaf discovered that cultivating the Dragon Bamboo God-Given Seed required so many Origin Stones. It would cost tens of millions of Origin Stones at the drop of a hat.

Now, it just hoped that Angelica's ability could accelerate the growth of the Dragon Bamboo God-Given Seed, so that the Divine Dragon Bamboo Fruit it bears in the future could sell for a good price. If it could bear a Law-level Divine Dragon Bamboo Fruit, it would be able to recoup its investment immediately.

In fact, if it were replaced with other God-Given Seeds, even other Divine-grade God-Given Seeds, it wouldn't require such a large cost.

It only cost ten million Origin Stones and some God-Given Seed remnants for the Divine-grade Amethyst Grape to regrow from the tree core to its peak state.

It was really because the Dragon Bamboo God-Given Seed was too special. Its single-tree scale was already very large, and it also had a 12-fold sub-plant growth. It could be said to be the undisputed number one scale God-Given Seed in the Star Realm.

Fortunately, its demand for soil nutrients was high, but its demand for Origin Power was not very high. With its large scale, absorbing natural Origin Power was as simple as drinking water.

Otherwise, with the scale of its bamboo forest, Fourleaf would be exhausted to the point of urinating blood and still not be able to meet its needs.

Fourleaf's thoughts flashed through its mind, and it also calculated the number of bird droppings needed for the first batch: "For now, let's get 5 million cubic meters first. We can talk about it later if we need more."

"How, how much?" The Snakeberry Mountain Lord suspected that the mental message it received was wrong.

"5 million cubic meters," Fourleaf said, "Snakeberry Mountain Lord, if you send the insects of your Silver Plum Continent to work for me, I'll pay you 1 Origin Stone for every cubic meter of bird droppings they load."

Bird droppings in the kingdom can sell for 5 Origin Stones per cubic meter, but it also costs to transport them from the Star Sand Archipelago to the Flame Spider Kingdom.

“One cubic meter of bird droppings for one primal stone?” Snakeberry Mountain Master was greatly surprised. When did this kind of unwanted stuff become valuable?

Moreover, Clover wanted 5 million cubic meters, which meant 5 million primal stones.

The dozen or so insect warriors on their Silver Plum Continent probably couldn't earn that many primal stones in their entire lives, right?

Thinking of this, Snakeberry Mountain Master became even more enthusiastic: “Boss Clover, what are your plans? I'll immediately call them over to work.”

Clover said: “What I need you to do is very simple. Just have the insect generals of your Silver Plum Continent pack the bird droppings into bamboo tubes, each tube filled with half a cubic meter of bird droppings.

Once you fill 2000 tubes, I will give you a Spider Queen credit note worth a thousand.”

The inner diameter of the dragon bamboo tubes made by Bai Zhi and the others was about 0.5 square meters, and the height was 5 meters. If the entire bamboo tube was filled, it could hold one cubic meter of bird droppings.

However, it was impossible to fill the bamboo tube completely, as it would sink directly. Filling it halfway was just right, with a section of the bamboo tube above the waterline.

“Okay, okay, okay,” Snakeberry Mountain Master and Hollow Mountain Master nodded their antennae repeatedly upon hearing Clover's arrangement.

This was equivalent to half a primal stone for filling one bamboo tube of bird droppings.

It was payment according to labor. A high-level insect warrior could easily fill dozens of cubic meters a day, which was better than Clover directly paying them a salary.

“Let's try it first.” Saying more was useless; they would only know after experimenting.

Clover led the way to an island reef where seabirds were flying everywhere. Flocks of seabirds flew out of their nests, spreading their elegant wings and drawing graceful arcs in the sky.

These nimble birds, some with snow-white feathers and others with colorful plumage like flowing rainbows.

They either soared in the sky or skimmed over the sea surface, searching for prey with their keen eyes.

Whenever they spotted a target, they would swoop down, their sharp beaks accurately piercing the water, instantly catching a struggling small fish before quickly ascending.

The island reef beneath them was densely covered with accumulated bird droppings. Because of the long passage of time, these grayish-white bird droppings had solidified with the stones above, becoming extremely solid.

Black Tribulus and the others untied a bundle of bamboo tubes and pulled up a hundred large bamboo tubes from the water.

Snakeberry Mountain Master signaled the Barnyardgrass Warriors who had come with them to step forward and work.

The Barnyardgrass Warriors didn't dawdle either, stepping forward to use their forelegs to break a piece of hard bird dropping stone and then put it into the bamboo tube.

Without them even needing to say anything, Clover and the others immediately realized that, compared to the bodies of high-level insect warriors, the 5-meter-high bamboo tubes were a bit too tall. This height was more suitable for Mountain Master-level insect warriors.

However, it was impossible to change the height of the tubes now, as that would greatly reduce the quantity and weight of bird dropping stones that could be carried, which would add a lot of unnecessary trouble and losses for Clover and the others.

After thinking for a moment, Clover said: “Black Tribulus, make them a set of metal tools used domestically.”

“No problem,” Black Tribulus looked around, trying to find an ore containing metal components.

Seeing this, Clover didn't say much, just gathered primal energy between its claws and gently tapped the ground.

The Finger-to-Steel ability was activated, and the soil within a radius of two or three meters was instantly steelified.

“Clover, this ability is too useful, isn't it?” A trace of envy flashed in the eyes of Black Tribulus and the others. Black Tribulus also possessed both metal and earth-type talents, but it had not awakened this ability.

With metal, Black Tribulus and the others immediately began to make hammers, cones, shovels, and other tools suitable for use by high-level stage insect warriors.

Their Purple Flame Spider tribe was very good at making these metal tools.

With metal tools, the work of the insect warriors in Silver Plum Continent should be much simpler.

“Snakeberry Mountain Master, if there are no problems, arrange for insects to come and work. If possible, we would like to take a batch of fertilizer back as soon as possible.” With the tools available and the price set, Clover didn't care too much.

It let Snakeberry Mountain Master and the others arrange for the insect warriors to work.

If they needed to be taught how to make money, it wouldn't mind changing suppliers.

The Coastal Woodlouse tribe, which had trade relations with both the Purple Cloud Merchant Group and Lord Longxu, seemed to have good trade potential. It needed tens of millions of cubic meters of fertilizer, and relying on the dozen or twenty insects in Silver Plum Continent would not be enough even if they worked for ten lifetimes.

It's just that its ship hasn't been built yet, so it can only transport fertilizer back in small batches. It's just right for them to do this work now.

Fortunately, this wasn't something that was urgently needed immediately. Extending the timeline to hundreds of years wouldn't be a problem.

July and August were the slack season for farming, and most of the insect warriors in Silver Plum Continent were huddled in their nest chambers sleeping or building shelters.

Having finally found a business that made money and didn't require capital, Snakeberry Mountain Master summoned them all to work.

At the beginning, everyone wasn't very familiar with the work. The insect warriors of Silver Plum Continent, plus Clover and Bai Zhi,

Black Tribulus and the other twenty or so insects dug up and packed the bird droppings together. In ten days, they only filled 2000 bamboo tubes.

Having filled so many, Clover was unwilling to wait any longer.

It arranged for Bai Zhi and Black Tribulus, and Oil Spot to stay here, both as supervisors and to help the insect warriors of Silver Plum Continent complete the assembly line project.

That is, building an assembly line by the sea, so that the insect warriors were each responsible for a task, with some specializing in crushing bird dropping stones, some in shoveling bird droppings into bamboo tubes, some in carrying, and some in transporting to the seaside for bundling and packaging.

Seeing that everything was proceeding in an orderly manner, Clover also took Amaranth and Fire Coal, along with two thousand large bamboo tubes filled with bird droppings, and had Cloud Fruit pull them back.

On the way back, Clover carefully calculated that, as it stood, it was definitely losing money by spending a lot of insect power and resources to purchase bird dropping fertilizer back.

But in the long run, it was using idle surplus primal stones to hire these insect warriors to work, and putting the plan into action early would make things much easier in the future, so that it wouldn't be in a panic when the time came.

Thinking of this, it said to Cloud Fruit, who was swimming in the sea under its feet: “Cloud Fruit, in the future, I will need to trouble you to run a few more trips between Silver Plum Continent and the Flame Spider Kingdom.”

“No problem, I'm idle anyway.” Cloud Fruit had been following Clover for more than twenty years, just hauling goods. It was usually idle anyway, and it didn't resist it.

Moreover, there was still the pie drawn by Clover dangling in front of it. Clover told it that, in addition to the earth-type divine-grade fruit, it also promised it that it would find a way to get it a divine-grade fruit that it had been thinking about, which would give it wind-type talent.

Wind-type talent, ah. Cloud Fruit was already imagining what it would be like to fly in the sky in the future.