Natural God's Gift

“Black Rice…” Four Leaf and Bai Zhi climbed down from a large spider, their faces lighting up with excitement as they saw Black Rice watering the seedlings.

“Mountain Lord Bellflower, thank you for your trouble.” Four Leaf first thanked the large spider. They were both too small, and it would have taken them forever to run here. Fortunately, they met a large spider from the White-Legged Flame Spider tribe on the way and hitched a ride.

“It’s nothing.” Mountain Lord Bellflower waved its claw dismissively and left. Giving two small spiders a ride was no big deal.

“How did you two find your way here?” Black Rice asked, a little surprised.

Four Leaf explained, “We asked Returning Spring.”

“Oh, what did you come to me for?” Black Rice noticed the bulging backs of the two spiders. A quick mental scan revealed what was inside, and it immediately had a guess.

Before Black Rice could overthink it, they took out the bamboo tubes from their backs and excitedly opened them to show it: “Black Rice, look, how many Origin Stones is this God-Given Strawberry worth?”

Black Rice glanced at it, understanding dawning in its mind: “Is that a Profound Jade Strawberry produced from the God-Given Life Seed of the advanced Flame Spider warrior, Xuan Yu? Did it give it to you?”

Bai Zhi praised, “Black Rice is so smart, you could even guess that.”

Black Rice: “……”

Four Leaf: “……”

The Flame Spider Kingdom only had so many God-Given Seeds. Everyone knew exactly who had them in their territory. There was no need to guess, right?

“This strawberry isn't cheap.”

Four Leaf responded, “Yeah, we don't have Water-type talent and can't bear to eat it. We plan to trade it for some Origin Power food that's useful to us. How much Origin Power food do you think we can get for it?”

“Trade it to me?” Black Rice was a little surprised. Usually, this level of God-Given Origin Power food circulated between Mountain Lords and Territory Lords. It, a small warrior who had just been promoted to the intermediate level, wouldn't normally have a chance. It didn't expect Four Leaf and Bai Zhi to come all this way to trade with it.

“How many Origin Stones do you think it’s worth?”

“Let me think,” Black Rice pondered carefully. The value of different Origin Power foods varied depending on who held them. For example, these two God-Given Origin Power Strawberries wouldn't be worth even one Origin Stone in the claws of a bug clan with only Fire-type talent. They would have to sell it at a discounted price. But in the claws of a bug clan with Water-type talent, they could be sold for hundreds of Origin Stones.

The Flame Spider traveling merchants did just that. They purchased cheap Origin Power food from different bug clans at discounted prices and then sold them at high prices, using the profit to evolve themselves.

However, when they traded among their own clan, they sold goods at a fair price. Moreover, this was a God-Given Origin Power food that it needed. Eating it would be perfect.

“How about I buy these two God-Given Origin Power Strawberries from you for a price of one hundred and five Origin Stones each?” Generally speaking, one hundred Origin Stones was the price that Flame Spider traveling merchants sold to outsiders. Black Rice added five percent on top of that, as encouragement for the little spiders being so thoughtful.

“Ah? Isn't that too expensive?” Four Leaf was a little uneasy. Based on its limited knowledge of Origin Power food, this God-Given Origin Power Strawberry should be worth around seventy to eighty Origin Stones. Black Rice suddenly offering one hundred and five made it worry that Black Rice would lose out.

“It's not expensive,” Black Rice explained. “I just broke through to become an intermediate warrior, and I plan to eat these two strawberries myself to consolidate my realm. They basically sell for this price outside.”

“Oh,” the two little spiders said, seeming to understand.

“Here, take it.” Four Leaf and Bai Zhi handed the bamboo tube to Black Rice.

“I’m working here and didn’t bring any Origin Power food.”

“Then give it to us when you get home.”

“Okay, do you want Origin Power food or Origin Stones?” Black Rice wasn't rich after just evolving. More than two hundred Origin Stones was already half of its savings. After removing the Origin Power food that wasn't suitable for Original Flame Spider warriors to eat, the quantity might not even be enough.

Four Leaf put a spider leg in its mouth and thought for a moment: “Give me Origin Stones.”

Territory Lord Green Maple told it not to evolve too fast. It didn't need much Origin Power food and could exchange some Origin Stones for Lucky Clover to grow.

Bai Zhi called out: “I want Origin Power food.”

It wasn't far from the four-year stage and would soon be able to evolve. If it had Origin Power food worth one hundred Origin Stones, it might even be able to accelerate its evolution. Then it wouldn't be beaten by Ze Xie.

“Okay, I’ll send it to you after I get back.”

“Then we’ll go back.”

“I’ll take you back,” This was such a long way. Who knew how long it would take for the two little spiders to walk back.

“Don’t you have to work?”

“I finished it today. I’ll do it tomorrow.” It was working for Mountain Lord Cocklebur on a per-seedling basis. Nurturing one hundred seedlings to sprout earned it four Origin Stones. Planting a little more or a little less each day didn't make a big difference.

Four Leaf and Bai Zhi climbed onto Black Rice’s carapace, and Black Rice quickly ran towards the territory of the Original Flame Spiders. As a large spider with a leg span of eighty to ninety centimeters, it ran much faster than Four Leaf and the others.

On the way, Four Leaf and Bai Zhi chatted with Black Rice: “Black Rice, did you know? Mountain Lord Knotweed said that conch shells have a second way to play with them.”

“Really?”

“It said that if you make a hole in the tip of the conch shell, it can amplify the sound tenfold.”

“You mean a conch horn? I have one.”

“You have one too?” The two spiders were very surprised.

“Yes, my elder, Mountain Lord Dragon葵, once made one for me. It sounds pretty good when you blow it.”

“Black Rice,” This time it was Four Leaf’s turn to be puzzled: “My conch shell also has a hole in the tip. Why can’t I blow it?”

“Maybe you’re too small,” Four Leaf’s two conch shells were so big that even the smallest one was big enough for it to live in. It was normal that it couldn't blow it.

Bai Zhi had a wild idea: “Black Rice, what do you think, if we use the spider leg transmission method to tap on the conch shell, would the sound that comes out be doubled?”

“Good idea,” Black Rice praised. “If you think your legs are hard enough, you can try it. If you tap it too many times, your claws might wear down.”

“What about mental power?” Four Leaf asked: “Can mental power be amplified through a conch shell?”

“Unfortunately, mental power is not bound by the conch shell.”

“But I tried it with that conch shell yesterday and found that the mental intent disappeared without a trace after entering the conch shell. What’s going on?”

“How is that possible?” Black Rice was no longer calm. “The conch shell doesn’t have the ability to bind mental power. Mental intent should pass directly through the conch shell. Weren’t you too sleepy yesterday, causing you to have an illusion?”

“Is that so?” Black Rice said it so firmly that Four Leaf was a little unsure. Could it really have been too sleepy yesterday and had an illusion?

“How about we try it again at my nest later?” It clearly remembered trying it twice.

Black Rice crawled very fast, bringing the two little spiders back to the nest before the sun completely set.

“Black Rice, take a look at what’s going on with my big conch shell?” Four Leaf nudged the conch shell at the entrance of the nest, showing it the pointed end.

Black Rice carefully examined the conch shell and found that the jade-like shell was very thin, with an estimated thickness of less than one millimeter. The surface also had magical patterns. The missing part of the pointed top exposed a small hole less than one millimeter in size. It felt that the missing part of the tip was more like it was naturally formed than knocked off, because the middle of the hole had a very smooth arc, which didn’t look like a knocked-off mark.

It released a trace of mental intent to probe the conch shell, but the mental intent landed directly on the surface of the conch shell and couldn’t penetrate the shell at all.