Natural God's Gift

Siyue had the Artemisia small bee queen guard the Mai Li God-given seed, while it and Angelica freed their claws to help right the sunflowers that had been blown over by the typhoon.

Siyue had initially asked Qingfeng for five hundred sunflower seeds. Besides those used by Angelica to nurture its life seed,

and those that didn't sprout for various reasons, it had cultivated and planted a total of four hundred and eighty-two sunflowers in the spring.

This time, the typhoon knocked over more than a hundred sunflowers, and more than twenty were uprooted, beyond saving.

It made many tree branch supports that were more than a meter tall, like slingshots, except the handle was more than a meter long.

This way, after righting the sunflowers, it could directly prop them up with the tree branch supports to prevent them from falling again.

Otherwise, if each of the fallen sunflowers had to be propped up with a tripod, they would be busy until the sunflowers were ready to harvest.

In the sunflower field, Angelica was responsible for righting the sunflowers, and Siyue for setting up the supports. The work was quite simple, just propping up the fork in the direction the sunflower had fallen, a mindless task.

Angelica, while supporting a sunflower, chatted with Siyue: "Siyue, it's almost August."

"Mm," Siyue replied, focused on its work.

Seeing Siyue's perfunctory response, Angelica thought for a moment and said, "Siyue, are we going to Hongcha's place to trade this year?"

"Ugh," Siyue thought seriously for a moment, then nodded: "We are going."

Putting aside everything else, Hongcha had a God-given tea tree seed there.

You should know, how many God-given seeds are there in the entire Flame Spider Kingdom? As of now, including the wild king-level God-given seeds left over from the previous Force cycle, and the life seeds of many Flame Spider warriors, there are only a little over a hundred God-given seeds in the kingdom.

The Ziyun Merchant Troupe has been trading for hundreds of years and has traveled to many tribes, but they only have a dozen or so God-given seed trading shares. Even so, this trading share has supported the three spiders, Ziyun Mountain Master and the others, and allowed them to advance to the Mountain Master level.

Of course, we can't ignore that they also have thousands of ordinary Force trading shares, otherwise, it wouldn't be enough for them to evolve no matter what.

But from these aspects, we can also see how important the trading share of God-given seeds is.

According to the Flame Spider's nature, they won't let go of any business that can make money, let alone this matter concerning the trading rights of a God-given seed.

Otherwise, how would Siyue and Angelica gather their meager savings to exchange a portion of ore and Force food for Hongcha?

Hongcha isn't Siyue's biological father, if there were no benefits, would it need to be so attentive?

"When are we going?"

"We don't have many ores in our claws now. After our Force food matures and is harvested, we'll exchange another portion of Force food suitable for Hongcha to eat with the kingdom."

They are very poor now. They only have the two hundred and fifty ore stones that Xiangzuo King left them when he harvested the God-given bee honey before. It was a bit reluctant to use them for its life seed when it evolved in its small age.

It's not that it's reluctant to use them, but it would be more cost-effective to buy fertile soil from Ziyun Mountain Master to use for the life seed when it returns. But it seems that this wish is also difficult to achieve. The Mai Li God-given seed may need a sum of ore to replenish Force when it matures.

"Sigh," Angelica sighed helplessly. The poor have short ambitions. Siyue probably knew what Angelica was thinking. It tapped Angelica's carapace with its forelegs: "Don't be too anxious,

we're only four or five years old, we have plenty of time to grow."

"Mm!" The next period of time will probably be quite busy, right?

After Siyue, Angelica, Bai Zhi, and Artemisia spent more than ten days working hard, they finally tidied up the territory and other places to look almost like they did before the typhoon.

After becoming free, it continued to guard under the Mai Li God-given seed. It didn't know if it was a psychological effect, but it felt that the Mai Li God-given seed grafted onto the plum tree was growing very fast. To be precise, it was absorbing natural Force quite quickly.

It had seen the world, after all. It had experienced the Lucky Clover from fruiting to maturity, the Rapeseed Flower God-given seed maturing, and the Date Palm God-given seed maturing.

It knew that the rate at which herbaceous God-given seeds and large arbor God-given seeds absorbed natural Force was not the same. Mai Li belonged to small shrubs, but the rate at which this God-given seed absorbed natural Force was almost catching up with the Date Palm God-given seed.

"Could this be the effect of Angelica's ability?" Siyue didn't understand, but it didn't dwell on it too much.

Time flew by and it came to October. October is the season of harvest. The entire kingdom began to get busy. Most of the plants planted by the Flame Spider warriors in the kingdom matured one after another.

Bai Zhi's planted Bai Zhi grass matured first. Bai Zhi grass is a perennial herb with very small seeds. After the insects checked that there were no God-given seeds among the planted Bai Zhi grass, the Artemisia small bee queen led the bee colony to collect the Bai Zhi grass seeds, and then immediately caught up with the sunflower's maturity.

Sunflowers and Bai Zhi grass are slightly different. Sunflowers are annual herbs, and they are also top-level plant species, so they must be treated with caution.

At the beginning of September, Siyue had the Artemisia small bee queen guard the sunflower field, mainly to prevent birds or other animals from stealing sunflower seeds. It would be fine if some were stolen, but it would be troublesome if they were taken out.

Although sunflowers are not unique to the Flame Spider Kingdom, and there are also sunflowers in other parts of the Myriad Race Continent, the sunflowers in the Flame Spider Kingdom are carefully cultivated large-pan sunflowers that can reach a maximum diameter of half a meter.

For the Flame Spider Kingdom, the significance of top-level plant species is not only that they represent the possibility of harvesting top-level God-given seeds, but more importantly, they serve as a means of opening up trade routes.

God-given seeds are always limited. Currently, the kingdom has more than a hundred God-given seeds, which can be regarded as a unique top-level tribe in the Myriad Race Continent.

But as time goes by, the Force warriors of various tribes will only become more and more numerous, and there will be more and more God-given seeds. Some tribes can even collect thousands of God-given seeds in one Force cycle.

If one tribe is like this, what about the billions of tribes on the continent? No matter how strong the Flame Spider Kingdom is, it is difficult to compete with so many tribes.

Without God-given seeds to open up sales channels, it will be difficult for their trade routes to develop and expand.

This is where the role of top-level plant species comes into play. With many top-level plant species, they will use these top-level plant species as a stepping stone to open the doors of these tribes in alternative ways.

However, if other tribes want to buy top-level plant species to cultivate forest seas as the foundation of their tribes, the Flame Spider Kingdom will not allow it. At most, they will allow them to be nurtured into life seeds.

Unless these tribes are willing to trade the top-level plant species cultivated by their own tribes equally with the Flame Spider Kingdom,

only then can they obtain the cultivation rights of top-level plant species.

In fact, most of the Flame Spider Kingdom's top-level plant species are traded in this way. Otherwise, how could the five Flame Spider itinerant merchants in the kingdom, relying solely on the original Flame Spider tribe, plant so many types of top-level plant species?

Siyue and Bai Zhi, Angelica, and Artemisia transformed into ruthless tool insects, using their exclusive small machetes in the sunflower field to first cut off the sunflower heads.

The flower heads were placed in spider silk bags, and then the sunflower plants were chopped into two or three sections with two or three knives, which could be pulled into the marsh pool for fermentation at that time.

While cutting the sunflower heads, Si Ye also directed everyone, "Be careful when harvesting, don't miss any flower heads, and don't let the sunflower seeds fall to the ground."

Ai Hao struggled to lift a flower head: "Si Ye, isn't this flower head a bit too big?"

The largest flower heads in the field were half a meter in diameter, and the smaller ones were thirty to forty centimeters in size. Although Ai Hao had already chosen the smaller flower heads to pick, it was still a bit too much for it to lift. Its age of evolution was still a bit low.

Si Ye also saw that Ai Hao was having difficulty with this task, so it said, "Then Ai Hao, you can go peel sunflower seeds, peel the sunflower seeds from the flower heads."

"Okay, I guarantee to complete the task." It thought to itself, this kind of delicate work is more suitable for it and its bee colony. As for using a small machete to chop trees, that's the kind of rough work that spiders do.

There were more than four hundred sunflower plants. In order to ensure the ripening time and quantity, each sunflower plant had three to four flower heads left on it. They had to pick them all and dry the seeds, then peel them. The amount of work was quite large.

Si Ye selected a wide open space and laid all the sunflowers out to dry here.

The sunflower heads were indeed a bit large. Si Ye and the others could only fit two or three flower heads in their silk pouches at a time.

So, they had to take a trip every two picks. It took them three or four days to pick all the sunflowers.

A clearing was filled with drying sunflower heads.

Harvesting the flower heads did not mean the end of the matter. The sunflower heads had to be dried for another two days. After the seeds on the flower heads were dried a bit and easier to peel off, they would be peeled off completely, and then dried again.

After all the sunflower seeds were dried, Si Ye and the others would have to pick out all the empty sunflower seeds, the small sunflower seeds, and the immature ones, crush them, and destroy them. Only the plump sunflower seeds would be selected and handed over to the kingdom.

Ai Hao picked up a rather plump sunflower seed to examine it: "Bai Zhi, do all these sunflower seeds have to be handed over to the kingdom?"

"Yes,"

Ai Hao said with some regret: "Can't we keep some? I want to select one to nurture as a life seed."

"No," the usually lively Bai Zhi became serious: "The top-level plant seeds in the kingdom cannot be kept privately. Even if it is a plant seed that you planted, the harvested seeds must all be handed over.

If you want to continue planting in the second year, you can apply to the kingdom to keep a certain number of seeds. If you hoard seeds privately, the consequences are very serious!

As for nurturing a life seed, the kingdom will naturally make arrangements. If you want to use a certain plant to nurture a life seed, you can also tell the kingdom. The kingdom has the best seeds for you to choose from."

"Ah?" Seeing Bai Zhi speak so seriously, Ai Hao was startled. It didn't expect the kingdom to have so many rules. It stammered: "What are the consequences of hoarding seeds privately?"

Si Ye also said seriously from the side: "If it is discovered that you are hoarding top-level plant seeds, you will be expelled from the kingdom at best.

If the number and types of top-level plant seeds stolen are too many, the kingdom will directly kill you. Don't do such a thing!"

"K-kill?" Ai Hao shuddered in fright and quickly threw the sunflower seed in its paw to the ground: "I didn't take it, don't kill me."

"Relax," Bai Zhi's voice softened to comfort it: "As long as you don't deliberately hoard seeds, nothing will happen."

Si Ye also said calmly: "Don't worry too much. This kind of thing has never happened since the revival of Origin Power.

You also have to understand that the kingdom spends a lot of money to cultivate us. Not only is the Origin Power food needed for evolution free, but there are also various top-level plant seeds supplied as life seeds. If a traitor is cultivated in this way, the kingdom's anger can be imagined."

"Oh, oh." Ai Hao thought carefully, considering it from the kingdom's point of view, and could roughly understand the kingdom's approach, but it was still a little scared.

Seeing that Ai Hao was so scared, Si Ye changed the subject: "Ai Hao, the top-level plant seeds in the kingdom are not just sunflowers. If you want to nurture a life seed, I, as an insect, don't recommend you choose sunflowers.

Dong Gui already has a sunflower life seed, so there is no need to repeat too many plants.

You can also choose a few other top-level plant seeds of the earth, wind, metal, and lightning elements to nurture as life seeds."

", Why are there no water and wood elements?" Ai Hao, the little bee queen, was indeed distracted.

"Because there have already been enough water and wood elements nurtured. The earth, fire, and metal elements are more popular now."

The insects chatted for a few words, letting Ai Hao realize the importance of top-level plant seeds, and then stopped talking. Besides drying sunflower heads, they had many other things to do.

For example, the land for planting sunflowers had to be plowed, and the sunflower stalks had to be dug out and thrown into the swamp pool to ferment.

Dong Gui carried a load of sunflower stalks to the swamp pool and flew back, somewhat troubled: "Si Ye, the swamp pool we dug before seems to be too small. It's all piled up over there now. Should we dig another swamp pool?"

"Dig another one? That would be a bit too much of a waste of time." Si Ye had already thought of a way: "First put these sunflower stalks on the swamp pool side, and when Mountain Lord Ziyun and the others come back, ask them to make fertile soil in the swamp pool. This will save time and effort, and after the fertile soil is made, it can also enlarge the swamp pool."

When Dong Gui heard Si Ye's description, its eyes lit up: "That's a good idea. This way, we might be able to expand the swamp pool by more than double. Then I'll continue to move the stalks and pile them up."

Dong Gui and Bai Zhi moved the stalks. Si Ye didn't go to help. It had something else to deal with. It had to calculate the total output of sunflower seeds this year.

Their Flame Spider warriors were planting top-level plant seeds for the kingdom, in addition to the hope of cultivating God-given seeds,

The annual output can also be sold to the kingdom.

After all, seeds cannot be stored for too long. They are easily damaged, and the kingdom also has to reserve inventory.

According to the purchase price given by Mountain Lord Hu Zhang, five thousand sunflower seeds are worth one Origin Stone. Each sunflower seed must be plump, and the shriveled ones will be destroyed uniformly.

This price is a bit low. If it were sold outside, it could be ten thousand times higher, but no one dares to do so. Origin Stones are certainly precious, but life is still more important.

After drying all the sunflower seeds, Si Ye counted the quantity. This year, a total of more than four million sunflower seeds were harvested, with almost every sunflower plant producing nearly ten thousand sunflower seeds.

No wonder this annual herb can be listed as a top-level plant seed. This yield is indeed rare.

After removing the bad seeds, there are probably still more than four million sunflower seeds.

Si Ye used silk pouches to pack five thousand sunflower seeds each, packing eighty to ninety pouches. They couldn't carry them, so they specially asked Mountain Lord Hu Zhang to come and carry them himself, otherwise they wouldn't be able to carry them.

According to the purchase price, it could be sold for more than eight hundred Origin Stones. After Mountain Lord Hu Zhang calculated the quantity, he gave it eight hundred and ten Origin Stones, which was considered a bumper harvest.

If it hadn't been for the typhoon that caused the output to drop sharply, it might have been a thousand Origin Stones.