Astral Gods

Chapter 86 Shortening Evolution Time

The selection and training of coastal defense soldiers in the Thousand Star Islands begins in March and ends in October each year.

Those with weaker combat strength will be eliminated first, while the strong Zerg warriors will continue to train until they are promoted to the Mountain Lord level.

After advancing to the Mountain Lord level, the strength of the awakened ability also matters. Some warriors are powerful in the advanced stage, but after advancing to the Mountain Lord level, they awaken auxiliary abilities that are not suitable for combat, and can only be forced to switch to a support class.

Some Zerg warriors have mediocre combat power at the advanced stage, but awaken powerful destructive capabilities after advancing to the Mountain Lord level.

Therefore, no one can guarantee that they will be able to join the coastal defense force.

When Lord Zili learned that he planned to send the three brothers to the Thousand Star Islands to join the coastal defense training team, Lord Zehui did not say anything.

The young warriors of the Rhinoceros Beetle tribe have been learning under its claws for five years. It has taught them everything it could, and they won't learn much more useful knowledge if they continue.

Fighting alongside other powerful Zerg warriors in the coastal defense training team heading to the Thousand Star Islands might allow you to learn even more.

Not only did the Lord of Zehui Mountain not stop them, he also reminded them: "The coastal defense force of the Thousand Star Islands and the northern frontier extermination force are the two most powerful forces on the Thousand Tree Continent."

The place is teeming with hidden talents; there are countless Zerg warriors possessing formidable strength. Some Zerg warriors, even at the Mountain Lord level, possess three or even four elemental talents, while others awaken their talents at higher levels. To stand out within its walls, one needs considerable skill.

The three brothers were quite surprised to hear this: "Awakening elemental talent at an advanced stage? Is that even possible?"

Lord Zehui Mountain said dismissively, "What's wrong with that? Many wealthy tribes feed their offspring with divinely bestowed primal energy from a young age. Their primal energy is refined enough that they have a chance to awaken elemental talents at advanced stages."

Taking the Purple Acacia as an example, Zerg warriors primarily consume Force-based foods that comprehensively enhance their physique during the early and intermediate stages. If they also appropriately consume some Metal-based God-given Force-based foods, there is a chance they will awaken elemental talents in the advanced stages.

Zishan asked with a puzzled look, "What are the benefits of awakening a talent at an advanced stage?"

"Of course there are benefits. On the Thousand Trees Continent, most Zerg warriors only awaken their talents after being promoted to Mountain Lord. According to convention, Zerg warriors awaken at least one ability after being promoted to Mountain Lord."

However, if one awakens their talent at an advanced stage, there is a small chance that they will also awaken an ability at the same time.

This way, once you're promoted to Mountain Lord, you can awaken another ability. Each additional ability increases your combat power, not to mention that each additional ability increases your chances of becoming the Insect King.

Even disregarding these factors, a divine fruit endowed with elemental abilities by external forces, regardless of type, is worth at least a million primal stones.

The three brothers' eyes lit up as they eagerly asked, "If the Zerg warriors were to grow by consuming God-given Force food in the early stages, and also consume more element-enhancing God-given Force food, wouldn't their chances of awakening their abilities in the advanced stages be greatly increased?"

"If I can awaken just one ability, wouldn't that be equivalent to recouping my investment of a million Originium?"

"It's not that easy," said the Lord of Zehui Mountain. "Most Zerg warriors, even if they only eat God-given Force food, can only be said to have a chance to awaken elemental talents at an advanced stage."

Furthermore, the more elemental divine-given food one consumes before reaching the Mountain Lord level, the greater the risk of sudden death during the advancement to the Mountain Lord level.

During the junior, intermediate, and advanced stages, it's best to primarily consume foods that enhance vitality, overall physique, and shell structure.

The three brothers were raised under the watchful eye of Lord Zili. He could tell what kind of poop they were going to take just by the way they stuck out their butts.

It waved its tentacles and lashed out at them one by one: "Don't think about these nonsense. In the mid-to-high stages, just focus on eating Primal Force foods that strengthen your physique. If you want to increase the probability of awakening your talent early, you also need to see if your life is tough enough."

The three brothers were not convinced. They had grown up eating food given by the gods with primal force since they were young, and they were almost full of mulberries given by the gods that enhanced their overall vitality.

However, they did not refute it. After all, once they advanced to the advanced stage and their life force produced primal food, they could purchase various primal food on their own, and then they could arrange how to evolve.

"Alright, since the Red Heart Cherry Divine Gift Seed isn't a Divine Grade Divine Gift Seed, then don't bother Lord Zehui. You can all go about your own business!"

"Oh, oh!" The three brothers immediately scattered like birds and beasts.

"Purplewood, wait a minute," the Lord of Zehui Mountain called out to Purplewood.

"Lord Zehui, what's wrong?" The three brothers retracted their previously outstretched elytra and turned to look at Lord Zehui with curiosity.

Lord Zehui sized up Zishan and said to Lord Zili, "This little fellow Zishan must have been eating divinely bestowed primal force food during his early and intermediate stages, right?"

"Yes," there's nothing to hide, and it can't be hidden anyway. Every year they trade a lot of divinely bestowed food, many of which are suitable for junior and intermediate-level warriors.

"The yew tree now advances one age every three months? Are you planning to advance it to a nine-year-old intermediate warrior this year, and then to an advanced stage next year?"

"almost."

The Lord of Zehui Mountain commented, "Too slow!"

"The yew previously evolved by consuming food blessed with divine power. Its foundation is solid, which can speed up its evolution process."

It should have had enough of the Force-enhanced food that boosts its overall vitality, right? Feeding it some divinely bestowed Force-enhanced food that strengthens its shell and power can shorten its evolutionary age to two months.

Lord Zili hesitated for a moment: "Will this work?"

"We have experience with this. Some Zerg warriors need to accelerate their evolution for various reasons, sometimes evolving only once every month and a half."

Although Lord Zili is a Lord-level Zerg warrior and Lord Zehui is only a Mountain Lord-level Zerg warrior, Lord Zili's evolutionary path was discovered through his own hard work and trial and error, which is nothing compared to the rich experience systematically summarized by the Flame Spider Merchant.

These Flame Spider Merchants roam the continent, gathering all sorts of information. As a large kingdom itself, they have seen at least 80,000 to 100,000 Zerg warriors at the advancement stage, far exceeding what Lord Purple Plum can compare to.

The Lord of Zehui Mountain advised, "If you're fast at one step, you'll be fast at every step; if you're slow at one step, you'll be slow at every step. If the yew tree only evolves to the advanced stage by the middle of next year, then we'll have to nurture the tree for the next two years, and it won't be able to produce primal force food until at least the year after next. That would be a waste of three or four years."

How many years do high-level warriors actually live? A slight delay could mean they're in their thirties or forties before they can be promoted to Mountain Lord. If it's this difficult to advance to the high-level stage, then wouldn't it be even harder to advance to the Lord and King levels?

"If I can advance to a mid-level warrior in the ninth year by the middle of this year, nurture the life seed planted by the yew tree for another six months, and then have two insectoid warriors with wood-type abilities strengthen the life seed, I can advance to a high-level warrior by the beginning of next year. After nurturing the tree for another year, it will be able to produce Force food the year after!"

Lord Zili hesitated slightly: "Then let Zishan try advancing to the next age level first."

Having consumed so much divinely bestowed food, shortening its evolution time by a month shouldn't be a problem.

Lord Zehui added, "By the way, let me remind you of something. If you plan to have Zishan advance to a high-level warrior in the first half of next year, then the fruit left on the Red Heart Cherry God-given Seed should be removed, or it should be allowed to ripen ahead of time."

If you want to pick it, that's obvious. If you want it to ripen earlier, you can invite a Zerg warrior with wood-type growth abilities to catalyze it, or you can sprinkle more Force fertilizer, primal liquid, Force gems, etc. under the tree to accelerate the fruit's ripening.

The essence of Force Fruits and ordinary fruits is similar. Force Fruits simply have Force and Primal Energy added. The reason why some fruits produced by divinely bestowed seeds ripen once every two, three, or even five years is because the fruits on the tree need to convert the Force they absorb into Primal Energy.

This process can be shortened using various methods, but the Zerg warriors are unwilling to do so because the cost of shortening the ripening time of a tree full of fruit is too high and not worthwhile.

However, if it only helps shorten the ripening time of a few fruits on the tree, then the cost is negligible.

Lord Zili readily agreed, saying, "I will arrange for the insects to do it."