Chapter 445 - 417: Insect Race Insect Cultivator
Pangding followed Qin Ziwen into the Giant Beast Breeding Center.
Pangding was somewhat amazed upon seeing the scene inside.
Such a small space actually contained so many different environments.
Sensing Qin Ziwen’s arrival, the Aphidspiders hidden inside swarmed toward him like a tide.
"Aphidspiders." Pangding’s eyes lit up. "So it’s these cute little bugs."
Pangding squatted down and made a soft, purring sound in its throat.
Hearing the sound, a few of the Aphidspiders curiously crawled over.
Before long, Pangding was covered in them.
These spiders, whose bite could incapacitate a person in minutes, crawled all over its body.
Pangding gently stroked the belly of a spider on the back of its hand with its short, stout fingers. The little Aphidspider flipped onto its back, its six legs in the air, and squeaked in comfort.
Qin Ziwen watched, a little stunned. These Aphidspiders might look docile...
...but that was only because he was the Lord of the Homeland, and these little ones had been hatched in the Giant Beast Breeding Center.
They would never be this calm with anyone else.
Nor would they obediently allow themselves to be petted.
Pangding said, "Master, Aphidspiders are a common type of tamed insect swarm for the Insect Man race."
"Oh? So the insects your Insect Man race tames are divided into common and uncommon types?"
Pangding explained, "Our Insect Man race usually lives in forests or the underworld. Aphidspiders are a relatively common, tamable insect swarm from the underworld. They have a gentle nature, are easy to tame, and their venom isn’t weak, making them suitable for assisting in hunts."
"Is that so? Then what about this one?" Qin Ziwen led Pangding deeper inside, passing through a Gobi-like desert to a sandpit. He pointed at the Giant Aphid Rhinoceros Beetle sleeping soundly at the bottom of the pit.
Pangding leaned over to look down at the Giant Aphid Rhinoceros Beetle in the pit. "The Giant Aphid Rhinoceros Beetle. It’s a type of thieving bug."
"What’s a thieving bug?"
Pangding said, "Bugs that don’t have their own swarms and specialize in stealing and bewitching the larvae of other swarms are called thieving bugs. Normally, Insect Man tribes eradicate them on sight."
"From your tone, it sounds like the Giant Aphid Rhinoceros Beetle isn’t the only type of bug like this."
"That’s right." Pangding nodded. "There’s more than one type of thieving bug. The Giant Aphid Rhinoceros Beetle is actually one of the easier ones to guard against. Its honeydew is effective, but it’s also easy to detect. Plus, the honeydew only works for tricking larvae. As long as you heighten your guard, it can’t fool many bugs."
After a pause, Pangding added, "If a young Insect Man eats the honeydew, they’ll also develop a fondness for the Giant Aphid Rhinoceros Beetle."
Qin Ziwen was surprised. "What about humans?"
Pangding was uncertain. "It... should be able to bewitch them too, I think."
The Giant Aphid Rhinoceros Beetle sensed Qin Ziwen’s approach. It shifted its chubby body, rolling over in the sandpit to expose its belly in a friendly welcome.
Pangding said, "Some thieving bugs have even stranger abilities. The scents they emit or the sounds they make can bewitch other individuals. I’ve heard rumors that thieving bugs were once a part of the Insect Man race, but they were cursed, lost their Insect Man form, and became what they are today."
Qin Ziwen smiled faintly and looked at Pangding. "Whether it’s a thieving bug or not doesn’t matter. What matters is that it can be of use to me."
Pangding gently placed the Aphidspiders from its body onto the ground. "Rest assured, Master. I understand what you mean."
Pangding stood up and began observing the surroundings. "Aphidspiders prefer warm, humid, geothermal environments. This sandy area is nice, but it’s too dry. It would be more beneficial for their growth if you could soak some plant leaves and stems in water and pile them near the sand."
"If you want to cultivate their aggressive habits, you can capture some fast-moving live prey to feed them and train their hunting instincts."
"Aphidspiders reproduce quickly. A single brood typically yields 10 to 20 Aphidspiders. They also mature fast. With enough food, they can reach maturity and reproduce again in as little as a month."
"After being raised for seven days, the Aphidspiders can be sent out to hunt. Although they take a month to mature, they possess venom from birth. Their poison glands fully develop after seven days, and the venom released by juvenile Aphidspiders during a hunt is even more ferocious."
Once the topic shifted to its area of expertise, it was as if Pangding had become a completely different being.
It spoke at length, sharing all sorts of insights on how to raise Aphidspiders.
Qin Ziwen asked, "Wouldn’t it be too one-dimensional to only have Aphidspiders? For example, if we need to hunt enemies in the water, what kind of bug do you think would be suitable to cultivate?"
Pangding shook its head. "Master, the Insect Man race is vast and diverse. Whether it’s on land, in the low sky, in water, in swamps, or underground—aside from the high altitudes—there are suitable Insect Men to cultivate for almost any environment.
"There are also plenty of tamable insect swarms, but the prerequisite for cultivating them is finding them first. I don’t know what swarms exist in this subterranean cave world."
Qin Ziwen described the few Insect Man swarms he had seen before.
After listening, Pangding shook its head in disappointment. "Those are all low-level Insect Men. Only that Red-armored Ant-man is slightly better. It should be a Fire-venom Ant-man, which barely reaches the mid-level category."
"The living conditions for Insect Men in this world are harsh. It’s almost impossible to find high-level ones. Only a sufficiently large population base and abundant food can produce high-level Insect Men."
Pangding revealed one of the Insect Man race’s secrets. "The higher the level of an Insect Man, the greater its demand for food and rare resources. As long as food is plentiful and resources are abundant, even low-level Insect Men can gradually breed higher-level offspring.
"When living conditions worsen, the offspring they produce become progressively ’inferior’ in order to sustain the swarm’s propagation. But ’inferior’ isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The more inferior an Insect Man is, the lower its food quality requirements are. Some can even survive by just eating dirt."
Only then did Qin Ziwen realize the Insect Man race had such a secret.
From what Pangding said, the Insect Man race certainly had its merits.
They could adapt and change based on their environment. While many animals in the natural world evolve slowly like this, the Insect Man race could shorten tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even longer periods of evolution into just a few generations.
’That’s terrifying.’
When he heard from Pangding that it took at least seven or eight years for an Insect Man to mature, meaning it would take at least twenty to thirty years to cultivate high-level Insect Men from low-level ones, his interest instantly waned. "So there’s no need to absorb these Insect Men then?"
Pangding gave a simple, honest smile. "They’re not completely worthless. That Ant Queen is very valuable."
"The Ant Queen can breed Ant-man offspring. Plus, Ant Queens are special. If they have enough food and rare resources, the Ant Queen itself can undergo a metamorphosis without having to wait so long. A metamorphosed High-Level Ant Queen can directly breed high-level Ant-men."
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