Chapter 89 - 84 Raising a Green Giant Bumblebee 1
Under normal circumstances, whether he is cultivating insects or birds and beasts, he would tame them first before breeding them.
Because if they’re not tamed, they’re uncontrollable.
The stronger they are, the harder they are to control.
Even Qin Niu himself could be killed by them.
Such tragedies have occurred several times. Some bold Insect Masters or Beast Tamers, overly confident in their abilities, capture wild beasts or poisonous insects which they continuously fail to tame. So, they think of first showing goodwill to build a relationship.
It will then be much easier to tame them later.
But after they’ve nurtured the creatures to become more powerful, the creatures break out of their enclosures and turn on their ‘masters’.
Qin Niu conducted this experiment to see if he could pave a new way for wealth.
Based on his experience with cultivating termites, just feeding them Banyan Tree Blood or Thousand Eyes Tree Blood could almost certainly help them evolve some special abilities.
Even the weakest wind worker ants possess powerful special abilities.
After capturing a worker bee from an ordinary hornet, to prevent accidents, he specially made a more robust cage and isolated it inside.
He then fed it a bit of its favorite, honey.
However, this small piece of honeycomb was mixed with just a little Banyan
Tree Blood.
According to the size of the hornet, this was about one-twentieth the safe dosage.
At first, it didn’t eat.
Instead, it climbed and flew around frantically, trying to find an exit.
Qin Niu didn’t pay it any more attention.
After about an hour, he checked on the hornet again and found that it had eaten the honey.
After struggling for half the day, it must have gotten hungry.
That’s one advantage of worker bees.
They can feed themselves when they’re hungry, whereas the queen bee needs to be fed by the worker bees.
He carefully observed the hornet that had just consumed the Banyan Tree Blood; its evolution wasn’t much different from that of the termites.
Its body began to swell rapidly, especially its entire abdomen, like an inflating balloon.
Gradually getting fatter before his eyes.
Because the dosage was very small, its abdomen only grew fatter by two rings before it stopped.
It lay there motionless, shivering with discomfort, trembling its two antennae and wings.
This result was just what Qin Niu wanted.
Without being tamed, it was definitely not possible to cultivate it into a Grade TWo hornet.
The night passed quickly.
In the morning, he checked again on the hornet that had been fed the Banyan Tree Blood to see if there were any changes.
He found that its body size had increased by about a third, which would make it equivalent to a major figure among the swarm of hornets.
A layer of pale green appeared at the tip of its abdomen, progressively lightening as it extended upward, until it vanished.
The protective plates on its chest seemed significantly strengthened, faintly gleaming with a metallic luster.
Its already powerful mandibles had become even more powerful.
And they too shone with a metallic sheen.
Additionally, its stinger’s deployment speed had increased; it could extend quickly and retract just as fast, like lightning.
Moreover, the luster of its stinger was almost equivalent to that of refined iron.
Because it wasn’t tamed, he couldn’t check its attributes directly.
Qin Niu used his Insect Identification skill on it directly.
[Green Giant Hornet, a species from the Hymenoptera Vespidae family, female (not fully developed), with a lifespan of about 5 years, and special abilities including enhanced biting strength, strengthened stinger, and increased stamina.]
“How strong!”
Qin Niu silently congratulated himself for using a clay pot to cage it.
Otherwise, with the beast’s current powerful biting force, an ordinary cage made of vines or bamboo would likely be unable to contain it.
As he had expected, the hornet hadn’t successfully advanced to Grade Two.
But its body, mandibles, and stinger had all been enhanced.
This result was very good.
And surprisingly, its lifespan had increased by about five years.
Long-lived queen bees also only live for about five years, whereas the shorter-lived ones usually only have a one-year lifespan. It would live even longer than a queen bee.
“If I could sell this for a good price in the city, that would be perfect.”
To Qin Niu, creating such an impressive Green Giant Hornet so easily was just like crafting a piece of trash.
But for other Insect Masters, it might be priceless treasure.
He took out the Treasured Sword from the stone trough and quickly made a trip to the mountain.
He hadn’t brought back the Ant Queen with the Fourth and other termites yesterday because the entire ant nest had to be manned by them to ensure safety.
Those hot-tempered Grade Two tiger-striped soldier ants would go on a rampage at the slightest disturbance, one after another, as if injected with rooster’s blood.
There must be a powerful and intelligent termite to restrain them.
Warmongers will inevitably perish, this is an eternal truth.
“Fourth, come out!”
Following Qin Niu’s call, a blur shot out of the cave, and two Grade Two tiger-striped soldier ants guarding the entrance of the nest were directly knocked away.
They picked themselves up; they didn’t dare to feel any dissatisfaction.
The evolved Fourth was too strong.
The Grade Two tiger-striped ironclad ant was still evolving.
He was looking forward to its newly evolved abilities; if they were good, they might help Fourth achieve a second evolution.
The entire ant colony had gained eight worker ants and two soldier ants.
No termite with great strength or a slight poison attribute had appeared.
There was no helping it, the probability was naturally quite low.
A 2% chance to produce offspring with the great strength attribute did not mean that out of 100 termites, there would definitely be two with that attribute.
If lucky, there might be one among ten.
If luck was poor, there could be two hundred regular termites, not a single one with the great strength attribute.
Because Qin Niu was in a hurry and some termites bred yesterday were still evolving, he didn’t meticulously check the attributes of the other termites.
Instead, he rushed down the mountain with the Ant Queen, Fourth, a few regular worker ants, and two regular soldier ants.
Before leaving, he had issued a command to the entire ant colony to stay and guard the nest quietly.
He forbade those impulsive and aggressive tiger-striped soldier ants from going out and causing trouble.
Though their abilities were strong now, it depended on who they were up against. A bird, or a snake, or a forest frog could wipe them out in minutes.
So it was better to keep a low profile.
Fourth’s abilities were such that Qin Niu estimated ordinary birds or frogs would be no match for it.
Because its speed was simply too fast.
It could easily retreat back to the nest.
Pius, with its Soul Devouring Poison at hand, a counterattack would likely give the enemy a very sour experience.
Perhaps even lead to them being counter-killed.
As for how strong Fourth’s combat power really was, Qin Niu had no certain idea.
Anyway, to deal with that nest of black stinky ants, one Fourth was more than enough.
And it was more than enough by a long shot.
When he descended the mountain, he passed by Xie Laizi’s house.
Qin Niu noticed Xie Laizi crawling on the ground, looking out at him as he passed.
This scourge, not dead even after being beaten by Wang Haikun, truly had a hard life.
“Ah Niu… what are you doing going up the mountain so early?”
The voice that Xie Laizi emitted was very hoarse, it sounded eerie and made one’s skin crawl.
Qin Niu ignored him and quickly walked away.
This man, if he didn’t seek death, he wouldn’t die.
If Xie Laizi really insisted on courting death, no one could stop him – only King Yama could take him.
When Qin Niu passed beneath Miss Wang’s attic, it seemed she could recognize his footsteps and had already opened the window, waiting for him.
“All Niu, thank you for the wild boar meat.”
“You’re welcome!”
“When will you be going into town?”
Is there something you need?”
“I want you to pick up a few things for me.”
“Sure.”
Qin Niu nodded in agreement.
She pointed to the room below the attic, winking at Qin Niu.
She was asking whether her father, Wang Furen, was downstairs spying or not.
Qin Niu almost didn’t need to look to feel sharply that someone was secretly watching.
Every time he spoke with Wang Wanyan, Wang Furen would definitely be hiding in the shadows, spying and eavesdropping. If there was any sign of improper conduct between the two, he would immediately come out to stop it.
Qin Niu winked back at Wang Wanyan.
She understood immediately.
Following that, a small parcel was lowered from upstairs.
Qin Niu didn’t speak, he just took it and left.
After returning home, he opened the small parcel, which contained a gold bracelet and a note.
He was curious to see what Miss Wang wanted him to buy for her..