BXBX NOVEL Chapter 86 - 81 Upgraded Bug Catching Skill l
Similarly, termites that have been fed with Ancient Banyan Tree Blood would likely become immune to the same substance if fed once more.
Realizing this, Qin Niu felt relieved that the cultivation of Fourth, the mighty Soldier Ants, Worker Ants, and Poison Soldier Ants had not been overly conservative. If he’d only fed them one-tenth of a safe dose, their evolution would have been minimal, and they would have missed out on an opportunity to advance.
For instance, the Swift Worker Ants are essentially halfway evolved products.
Moreover, it would not be wise to feed them Thousand Eyes Tree Blood first.
Though the Thousand Eyes Tree Blood is quite good, it is clearly inferior to the Ancient Banyan Tree Blood.
None of the termites that consumed the Thousand Eyes Tree Blood advanced; they simply gained the ability to attack from a distance.
The stronger their bodies become, the more energy they will need to further evolve after drinking the Banyan Tree Blood—the risk of body explosion greatly increases with such attempts.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that those four Puppet Worker Ants and Ghost Soldier Ants fed with the Banyan Tree Blood survived; it’s likely because the safe dose they consumed was far from the massive amount of energy required for advancement, relative to their robust bodies.
This also means that what’s being bred are ‘half-evolved products.’
Qin Niu slowly sorted through these profound experiences in insect cultivation.
Not to say in all the world, but at least within Black Tiger City, he might be the only person with the opportunity to obtain the Ancient Banyan Tree Blood.
As his cultivation steadily improved and the termites became increasingly powerful, his curiosity about the Ancient Banyan Tree grew.
With its terrifying power, the tree was certainly no obscure entity.
Yet, just like an age-old turtle, it quietly resided deep in the mountains, unknown to all.
Every human or animal that learned of its uniqueness vanished.
Once inside, if you couldn’t escape, death was almost guaranteed.
“That Ancient Banyan Tree is truly a treasure. Once I have the ability to come and go freely, 1 can use it as a private vault,” Qin Niu murmured to himself.
Once Fourth had adapted to its newfound powerful body, Qin Niu planned to take it back inside the Ancient Banyan Tree for a deeper investigation of its characteristics.
After checking on the ant colony, he took Xiao Nui to the old pine tree next to the Ancient Banyan Tree.
The Queen Bee had been laying eggs for a few days now, and he hoped they would hatch soon.
Then Qin Niu could use the Ancient Banyan Tree Blood and the Thousand Eyes Tree Blood to cultivate special breeds of bees.
The Green Demon once cultivated the Green Demon Bees through tireless effort, step by step.
Qin Niu had a far greater advantage compared to the Green Demon.
Having the Ancient Banyan Tree Blood was like standing on the shoulders of a giant.
As for the Thousand Eyes Tree Blood, it paled in comparison to the power of the Ancient Banyan Tree Blood and was merely the icing on the cake, incapable of causing a qualitative breakthrough.
Only items that can directly help insects advance are truly rare treasures.
Xiao Nui followed behind him, wandering around aimlessly on the way.
Truly, a newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, treating the mountain as its own backyard.
As long as it didn’t stray too far, Qin Niu simply let it be.
People don’t remain naive forever without going through hardships.
The same is true for beast pets. Only after experiencing the harshness of the outside world and taking a beating will they learn to be cautious.
Arriving at the base of the pine tree, he was surprised to find many dead bees littered on the ground.
Worker Bees only live for a few months, so it was normal for some to die.
However, the large number of corpses under the tree immediately put Qin Niu on alert.
Although he had never raised bees, the mass deaths of the bees made it clear to him that some creature must have attacked the bee colony.
These worker bees from the previous generation of Queen Bee, though he couldn’t command them,
were still his private property! And now some creature dared to infringe upon his bee colony. He had to root it out.
No matter how large the bee colony was, if the issue wasn’t addressed promptly, the entire colony could easily perish.
“Queen Bee, what happened?” Qin Niu communicated directly with the Queen Bee.
“We were attacked by three hornets, one of which got away,” the Queen Bee replied, sounding somewhat afraid.
Hornets are one of the natural predators of bees. A few dozen hornets can slaughter an entire hive of bees.
Once they penetrate the hive’s defenses, they invade the hive and steal the bee pupae, eggs, and honey to feed their own colony.
Beekeepers consider the large hornets to be bandits.
It is nearly impossible for one or two hornets to successfully breach a beehive.
Although bees are no match for hornets in combat, they are highly united and fearless in the face of death. A large number of worker bees will encase the intruding hornet, then vigorously vibrate their wings to raise their body temperature.
They can raise the temperature to over 41 degrees Celsius in a very short time.
The encapsulated hornet will ultimately be cooked alive.
This is an evolution strategy developed by bees to ward off enemies.
Now that one of the large hornets has escaped, it will become a serious problem.
That hornet will have left a trail of pheromones in the beehive, which will attract a large horde of hornets. A single large hornet can kill thirty to forty bees in just one minute.
A group of large hornets can easily wipe out an entire hive of bees in a matter of hours.
Qin Niu’s Insect Control Technique skill was currently proficient, and he was on the verge of leveling up.
If he could reach a minor level of skill, he would have the capacity to deal with the large hornets.
Right now, he could catch the hornets, but he had no way to annihilate them.
The Insect Control Technique was still weak.
Before the hornet horde arrived, Qin Niu decided to quickly find a solution to bolster his weak points.
Immediately, he began capturing various insects in the mountains and forests.
Actually, capturing Jin Chans yesterday had already significantly increased his proficiency in insect-catching skills.
Now, he was just a little bit away.
He found an empty spider web under a tree and, after careful observation, confirmed that the owner of the web was still alive. Crouching down, he indeed noticed some relatively fresh black pinpoint-sized spider droppings.
Judging from the thickness of the web and the size of the droppings, this was a relatively large spider.
Since his Insect Trace Identification skill was only at a proficient level, he was unable to determine the species of the spider based on the web and droppings.
After some searching, he quickly found a large spider hiding under a sideways branch.
It was just an ordinary wild Smiley-Face Spider.
Its back had black and red patterns that looked like a human smiley face.
This Smiley-Face Spider was quite colorful, and even though it was lying on the vibrant green branches, Qin Niu spotted it right away.
He took out a small jar and directly used a homemade long-handled wooden clamp to grab the Smiley-Face Spider and put it inside.
Termites had now evolved to be very powerful, and it was appropriate to feed them some live prey; this not only helped to enhance various attributes for the Ant Queen but also served as training for the entire ant colony.
Capturing this Smiley-Face Spider, Qin Niu’s insect-catching skill +0.01, Insect Trace Identification +0.01, Insect Identification +0.01.
It was quite a fruitful catch.
As for the Insect Control Technique, he had only learned a few types by self-comprehension.
When he had enough money, he could buy some Insect Control Techniques to learn.
He could even take some powerful Insect Tamers as masters.
However, the tuition fee for apprenticing was extremely scary.
The more powerful the Insect Master, the stricter the standards for accepting disciples. It wasn’t just a matter of having enough money to become part of their lineage.
Right now, what he could do was to seize all sorts of opportunities to quickly complete the early accumulation.
In the forest, one insect after another was caught by him.
The proficiency of his insect-catching skill was rapidly increasing.
When he captured the thirty-first insect, the long-awaited prompt appeared.
[Congratulations on your insect-catching skill advancing to a small level of proficiency, capable of creating various advanced insect-catching tools to capture insects, and able to set up bait and traps to capture all kinds of insects.]
Despite the brief text description, his insect-catching skill had undergone a qualitative improvement.
Previously, he could also make various insect-catching tools, but they were only effective against ordinary insects. Now, able to make advanced insect-catching tools, he had the ability to capture some more powerful insects.
This included fleas, which are extremely small and agile, for instance.
Or some insects that are good at flying or running fast.
Like the Tiger Beetle, which can escape very quickly, and ordinary insect-catching nets or other tools simply can’t catch it.
But with the ability to make advanced tools, there would be a way to capture it.
Moreover, the ability to set bait and traps was even more incredible.
He now had the capability to catch some extremely rare insects with special abilities.
Some insects are very vigilant; if they detect humans or other large animals nearby, they will hide in tree holes, soil, or water without moving, not showing themselves at all.
Naturally, this makes them very difficult to catch.
Even if they are accidentally discovered, as soon as a person approaches them, they would flee immediately, possibly from as far as two or three meters away or even further.
Catching them would be incredibly difficult.
But even the sneakiest of insects can’t outwit a clever Hunter.
As long as one knows how to set bait and lay traps, there’s a chance to catch them.
Catching one could possibly sell for a few taels of Silver Money.
Qin Niu was experiencing the brand-new insect-catching skills; dealing with wasps this time would no longer be a difficult task.
He used vines, branches, and other materials on the spot to make a simple insect-catching net.
It was still an insect-catching net, but it was much more advanced than the ones he had made before.
Many details were improved.
For instance, the length and thickness of the handle were adjusted to strike a balance between flexibility and sturdiness.
The catching distance was also just right.
The handles of the insect-catching nets he made before were either too long, which made them unwieldy, or too short, beyond his reach, leaving him no choice but to watch helplessly as insects got away.
The handle of the current net was tailor-made for him, with the perfect length.
It could accommodate capturing most insects.
Wasps are adept at flying, and with too short a handle, one would only watch anxiously.
And the part of the net for catching insects also had a lot of intricacies to consider.
The size of the mesh holes, their sturdiness, and how to lock the exit after catching the insect to prevent its escape.
Also, removing the insect after capturing it needed to be taken into account.
An advanced insect-catching tool had to cover all aspects.
After creating this insect-catching net, Qin Niu didn’t sit down to rest. Instead, he took a fine string from his clothing and then looked for an appropriate yellow leaf, a very light one.
He tied it properly.
And patiently waited for the wasps to return.
When the scout bees of the wasps discovered a beehive, they would try to mark it with pheromones. Because this special marker couldn’t last very long, its scent would fade over time.
Eventually, it would become very difficult to locate this marking point again.
Therefore, Qin Niu speculated that the wasps would return soon.
Only by wiping them out completely could the beehive be truly safe..