BXBX NOVEL Chapter 62 - 57: A New Variety Has Evolved i
Insect Master Skills: Insect Trace Identification Proficiency 27.6/100, Insect Speak Proficiency 14.7/100, Insect Identification Proficiency 26.4/100, Insect Catching Proficiency 58.1/100.
Insect Trace Identification allowed him to find the traces of insects from various clues and then follow these traces to capture them.
An entire night of effort had elevated it from beginner to proficient.
His ability in this area had also increased dramatically; previously, he could only track insects from some obvious traces, but now he had the ability to discover them from more concealed traces and follow those tracks.
For instance, the marks or wormholes left by insects after eating plant leaves, or the trails and slime left behind by snails and other insects, and even the excrement and shed skins could all become clues for him to track insects.
With a proficient level of Insect Trace Identification, combined with his proficient insect-catching skills, he should be capable of catching some pricey insects to sell and earn some extra money.
Insect Identification too had broken through to a proficient level.
This skill was very important as well.
He could now identify an insect’s gender, species, abilities, age, and health.
The number of insect species he could identify had noticeably increased.
Plus, he had gained two new identification abilities.
One was the ability to gauge an insect’s strength; he could already discern this quite accurately. With just one glance, he could tell if an insect was capable of fighting, suited for burrowing, chewing on wood, or what its flying ability was like.
He could identify all these traits.
The other was the ability to assess the health of an insect, which he could also now identify.
Many people fear buying insects only to find they are diseased.
If the insects died after just a few days, their invested silver money would be wasted, which would be distressing for anyone, wouldn’t it?
With this skill, he could now avoid such pitfalls when buying insects in the future.
As an Insect Master who dealt with insects all his life, sometimes he would be willing to spend a lot of silver money on an insect he liked, which could easily lead to a trap.
After all, insects that were put up for sale were often rare finds.
Today, his newly comprehended insect-catching skill had also advanced from beginner to proficient; the most significant change was the increased efficiency in catching insects. He could now craft specific catching tools based on the different escape tactics exhibited by various insects.
Never underestimate this ability; many Insect Masters spent their entire lives researching and creating insect-catching tools, all to catch a single insect they fancied.
By now, he should have the ability to capture flying insects, burrowing insects, those good at hiding, and jumping insects.
For example, crickets, which fetched a high price on the market due to their ability to jump.
Now, Qin Niu was fully confident in his ability to catch them.
After returning home, he ate a meal of bear meat, took a bath, and then fell asleep.
The night-day reversal made him feel quite uncomfortable.
He didn’t wake up until noon.
Reaching under his mat, he grabbed his Treasured Sword, preparing to take it with him into the mountains.
As soon as he touched it, he felt something unusual.
The sword seemed to be ‘sick,’ as if it was quietly wailing.
Qin Niu was greatly alarmed and looked closely, only to see that the green patterns originally present within the blade had now become extremely dim and were almost gone.
He took the Treasured Sword to the backyard and struck it against a log with all his might.
Bang!
The power was still acceptable; after all, this was the Fine Iron Precious Saber he had purchased with nine silver coins.
But with this strike, he could clearly feel its power had decreased. It was completely incomparable to the peak state of the day before yesterday.
Qin Niu’s face suddenly turned grave.
The Treasured Sword was crying out to him in this silent way for help.
It had not been easy to evolve it with a hint of a special ability by applying the Banyan Tree Blood, but that ability had just begun to emerge and was not yet stable. Its sudden deprivation of ‘nourishment’ threatened to reduce it to an ordinary weapon once again.
He had to resume supplying it with nourishment.
Realizing the seriousness of the issue, Qin Niu went up the mountain with the remaining Banyan Tree Blood.
That blood could still be used to anoint the Treasured Sword one more time.
First and foremost, he had to preserve the sword’s special abilities.
Carrying a basket on his back and armed with a hoe and those five termites, he set off towards the mountain.
Passing by the small stream where clothes were washed, a few village women saw him and immediately had a topic of conversation.
“All Niu, only coming out to work now? It’s already midday, you know!”
“You need to be more diligent and not indulge in sleeping in. Otherwise, getting married will become difficult for you!”
“Auntie Yang, didn’t you know? All Niu is quite impressive these days. I heard that he could sell a basket of mountain mud for fifty wen! That’s five days’ worth of wages for my man.”
“Really? Is that true?”
The eyes of the women immediately lit up.
“I’m not entirely sure. I only heard it from Wu Ma at Wang Furen’s household. She said a steward from the Yan Family personally came to talk to Ah Niu and paid him fifty wen in cash on the spot. You tell me, how could a basket of mountain mud be worth so much money? It’s just everywhere on the mountains!”
“Who knows! The Yan Family has money to burn. Perhaps they were just finding a way to give Ah Niu some charity, so he wouldn’t starve to death!”
“If Ah Niu’s basket of mountain mud really does sell for fifty wen, I’ll marry off my daughter Xiuchun to him tomorrow!”
“Haha… Look at how much you love money! Who knows if Ah Niu will even accept her!”
Qin Niu paid no mind to the village women’s gossip.
He quickly walked past the stream.
This stream was only a little more than a meter wide, formed from spring water flowing down from the mountain, so clear that you could see the bottom.
Normally, the villagers would wash clothes in the stream, fetch water for their fields, and occasionally, when extremely thirsty, they would even drink a few mouthfuls. Qin Niu used to catch fish, shrimp, and crabs in the stream with other children when he was younger.
After ascending the mountain, he went straight to the ant nest and could see that it was still the same as before.
Termites prefer to hide underground or in tree hollows, rarely venturing out.
They even seal off the entrance to their nests directly.
But they are also highly territorial.
Within their territory, they do not allow any other creature to invade.
This is a bit like how humans defend their own country, not relinquishing a single inch of land.
“Fourth, bring out those five termites that drank the banyan tree blood!”
The insect carcasses and eggs Qin Niu had fed them yesterday were already cleaned out.
Considering their small appetite and the small number of the colony, he only fed them a small portion.
He returned the five termites he had taken down the mountain to catch insects back to the nest.
Including Number Five, they all seemed very excited.
It seemed they still liked being in their own home best.
Fourth quickly crawled out.
In its mouth, it held a soldier ant whose tail had turned a light green.
Along with it came a young worker ant with a new green stripe on its body.
A light green vertical stripe ran down the center of its body, from head to tail.
It too was carrying a soldier ant in its mouth.
This young worker ant with the green stripe, whether in terms of crawling speed or the strength it exhibited, was by no means inferior to Fourth.
Qin Niu immediately recognized it as the one that had consumed only one-tenth of the safe dosage of banyan tree blood.
The little fellow had succeeded in its transformation in just a little over a day.
It seemed the less banyan tree blood they consumed, the shorter the time it took for their transformation.
“Not bad!”
Qin Niu examined it closely.
The two soldier ants that were brought out still only had their abdomens tinged with green, slowly spreading towards their waists and heads.
By the looks of it, they needed at least another day to complete their evolution.
As long as death didn’t occur, waiting a few more days didn’t matter.
Theoretically speaking, the longer the transformation time, the stronger their abilities would be..