Soon, Qin Niu had planted over two hundred ears of corn in the freshly-dug earth.
The sky had gradually darkened, and he couldn't return home to rest yet; instead, he carried a yoke of water and began to water each one.
In the beginning, because his watering skill was only at the beginner level, the efficiency was low.
He simply spent 9.9 labor points to upgrade his watering skill from beginner to proficient.
When he tried watering the planted corn again, the efficiency was obviously more than doubled. Moreover, because he could control the amount of water more precisely, he saved a lot of water, sparing himself the trouble of repeatedly fetching water back and forth.
After watering 210 planted ears of corn, the moon had already climbed into the sky.
He was filled with anticipation, waiting for the corns to sprout and grow strong.
The harvest period for corn is roughly three to five months, depending on the variety and level of cultivation.
If the water and fertilizer management is appropriate, the seedlings grow quickly, and the harvest period can be significantly shortened.
On the other hand, if the planting technique is poor and the seedlings are half-dead after they emerge, a total crop failure is also possible.
Now that he could use labor points to quickly improve his planting skills and greatly enhance his water and fertilizer management level, it would be terrific if the harvest period could be shortened to three months.
By that time, the family's stored food would have just run out, and the new crops would be ready for harvest.
This way, they wouldn't have to go hungry.
...
Days went by just like this, one after another.
He visited the mountains every day to check on the Female Milky White Ant.
After constructing her nest, she lay dormant inside the cave, motionless; she was preparing to lay eggs.
Her energy would decrease by about two points every day.
Perhaps because she chose a special location to build her nest, she remained untroubled.
In the blink of an eye, seven days had passed.
Qin Niu toiled diligently in the field every day, averaging about three patches of land dug up and around two hundred ears of corn planted daily.
His labor points were steadily increasing as well.
After a busy day, he could earn around 30 labor points.
He saved all of it, not squandering any.
Planting, watering, loosening the soil, weeding—his proficiency in these four planting skills was also continually growing.
By the fourth day, both his loosening soil and weeding skill proficiency levels had almost simultaneously upgraded.
He went from proficient to having some modest accomplishments.
This further significantly improved his soil-turning efficiency.
He could now manage to turn soil on five patches of land within a day, and the turned soil was more scientifically arranged and staggered, maximally maintaining the soil's looseness and aeration.
While his work efficiency improved, he also gained more insight into conserving energy.
By the seventh day, he had turned and planted corn in the entire acre of land.
In the morning, after getting up, he habitually checked the Female Milky White Ant's attributes.
Female Milky White Ant (Ant Queen)
Level: Grade Two winged insect, upgrade experience 100/1000
Lifespan: 4.2 years
Energy: 131
Skills: Breeder Ant Onefold 0.05/10, Feign Death Onefold 1/10
Talent: Medium intelligence
After reading, Qin Niu was startled.
Why had so much energy suddenly disappeared?
Its normal energy consumption was 2 points per day, and the morning after it finished constructing the nest, he remembered it still had 168 points left.
Six days had passed, and the normal energy consumption should be around 12 points.
It should have 156 points remaining.
How could it have suddenly lost an additional 25 precious energy points overnight, could something have happened?
Moreover, how did it change from a Breeder Ant to an Ant Queen overnight?
And its level had also risen from a Grade One winged insect to a Grade Two, with the experience for leveling up surging by 25 points.
What on earth was going on?
Having raised two termites before, he had some experience; after a bit of thought, he came up with a possibility: the Female Milky White Ant had laid eggs.
Yet, he remembered that the previous two termites had consumed much more energy when laying eggs!
This one had used only 25 points of energy in total, 5 points per egg, which meant it had laid only five eggs?
Anxious, Qin Niu decided to go to the mountains immediately to check.
He took a small hoe and a firewood knife and headed straight into the mountains.
Since it was early morning, there could be some wild beasts still wandering around without having returned to their nests.
Usually, these were weak small-sized carnivorous beasts, like lone wolves, wild cats, and so on.
Because their hunting abilities were far less formidable than stronger beasts, their success rate in hunting was much lower, and they didn't dare to compete for prey with other fierce beasts. Therefore, the probability of them being hungry was quite high.
Driven by hunger, even though it was already daylight, they would still roam around the peripheral areas of the mountain forest, hoping for good luck and the chance to encounter prey.
Qin Niu's journey into the mountain was smooth, after all, he took a familiar path and did not encounter any fierce beasts.
Arriving in front of the termite's nest, its cave was not damaged, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
He peered inside through the small holes outside the cave.
Sensing the presence of its master, the two antennae waved vigorously.
Termites have eyes, located just behind the antennae, but because they live in the dark for extended periods, their vision is extremely poor.
Many worker ants do not even have eyes or the ability to see.
Qin Niu saw five white ant eggs in the shallow cave.
The newly promoted Ant Queen cradled an ant egg with her forelegs and spat out a clear saliva that she evenly covered over the surface of the egg.
She was incubating the ant eggs.
This saliva could protect the eggs from bacteria and viruses from the outside world and also provide moisture, nutrient enrichment, and warmth.
"The first batch produced only five eggs, that's way too few!"
No one is perfect; the same goes for Ant Queens.
Larger queens lay more eggs in their first batch, but they are mindless and often die due to various foolish behaviors.
This small-sized termite possessed rare moderate intelligence, being not only cautious and careful in its actions but also frugal with its energy.
But the number of eggs it laid was pitifully small.
You must know, worker ants that hatch and go out to forage are very likely to die.
The more, the better for sure.
Even if ninety percent die, there will still be ten percent of the worker ants to bring food back to feed the Ant Queen.
Only having five in total meant they could easily be wiped out.
Qin Niu was filled with worry about its future.
After all, he was now the master of this Ant Queen; if it failed, it would mean that Qin Niu's investment of one tael of silver and all his efforts were lost.
The beginning of an Insect Master's journey is extraordinarily difficult.
The path he chose was harder and more prone to failure than that of the average Insect Master.
However, everything has two sides. A high barrier to entry also means high value and strong competitiveness.
No matter what, seeing it successfully lay the eggs still made Qin Niu very happy.
They say dragons beget dragons and phoenixes beget phoenixes, and the son of a mouse will dig holes.
This Ant Queen was outstanding in every aspect except for its small size; he believed its offspring wouldn't be far behind.
Although there are only five worker ants in the first batch, aren't each of them elite soldiers?
Elite soldiers can completely be worth ten ordinary ones.
Five elite worker ants are equal to fifty ordinary worker ants laid by other queens.
So this situation is still worth looking forward to, no need to be too pessimistic.
He now finally understood that the best time to subdue an Ant Queen was after its nuptial flight and before it laid eggs.
Once a female milky white ant lays its first egg after the nuptial flight, it will immediately be promoted to a Grade Two insect.
The difficulty of subduing a Grade Two insect is much higher by several magnitudes.
A low-grade Contract Charm would definitely not be enough.
Using only a low-grade Contractual Talisman to subdue a Grade Two insect, Qin Niu had made a great deal.
Many Insect Masters might need to spend countless effort, wealth, and time to advance a Grade One insect to Grade Two, and even then, success isn't guaranteed.
However, a Breeder Ant can automatically upgrade, illustrating the tremendous potential for termites to level up.
Termites have a history over a hundred million years longer than that of ants; they are no doubt far superior to ants.
This is why Qin Niu chose termites instead of ants as pets.
After checking on the Ant Queen, he made his way down the mountain following the same path.
He hadn't gone far when he felt a prickling sensation on his back, as if something had set its sights on him.
"Damn, I'm afraid I've attracted the attention of a predator in the mountain. If it's the king of beasts, the tiger, then today might be more bad luck than good."
His cultivation was now at the Onefold realm, 18/100.
After toiling in the field day and night for seven days, and eating the meat and corn sent by Wang Wanyan, his cultivation had only increased by 1 point.
Cultivation is an activity even more costly than controlling beasts.
Historically, there has always been the saying of "the poor engage in literature while the rich practice martial arts."
Even the most basic practice of cultivation requires eating meat at every meal.
Qin Niu's cultivation level was very poor now; the cultivation of an average healthy adult man is generally around the Onefold realm, 30/100. If they have no method of cultivation, their level will continue to decline with age.
He was still young, and coupled with malnourishment, his fighting ability was significantly below that of an average adult man.
Even the most ordinary wild wolf could take his life.
The feeling of a threat behind him intensified, and he couldn't stop his eyelids from twitching uncontrollably.
From behind him, there came a faint rustling noise from the firewood, slight yet sounding like the ominous tolling of a death knell.