Chapter Thirty-Three: The Temporal Ant of Violet Rarity

This time, he harvested a total of 306 bloodthirsty mosquitoes, all of them at the peak of the first rank. Next, it was time to plan his advancement strategy.

Currently, the creatures needing enhancement were the Fangtooth Pig, Bloodthirsty Mosquito, Red Fire Ant, and Spacetime Ant. The goblins could wait; if there were extra cards, he might consider upgrading them. Enhancing the Fangtooth Pig would resolve the food supply for both the mosquitoes and the fire ants. The reason for improving the Bloodthirsty Mosquito was simple: they bred prolifically, were easy to cultivate, and now served as an important source of cards for Lu Sheng.

As for the Red Fire Ant, the motivation was clear as well. If second-rank Red Fire Ants could produce second-rank red sacs that were effective for cultivating his main card, Lu Sheng could rapidly elevate its rank. He already had enough red sacs on hand; tomorrow, he would reach the second rank, after which the first-rank red sacs would become useless.

Finally, there was the Spacetime Ant—a candidate for upgrading if there were extra cards, but not urgent. The most important task now was developing his breeding industry. Once that's established, wouldn't advancement be a simple matter?

Lu Sheng's current plan was to focus all his efforts on breeding.

He then experimented to see how many Bloodthirsty Mosquito cards were required to upgrade various creatures. Starting with the Fangtooth Pig, he found that only one mosquito card was needed. No hesitation—he went ahead and upgraded it.

[Fangtooth Pig]
Quality: White
Rank: First Rank, Peak
Skill: Piglets (Twenty)

The number of piglets increased by five, but Lu Sheng was still dissatisfied. He preferred to summon adult Fangtooth Pigs, which had more meat and blood. A single adult Fangtooth Pig could provide as much meat as ten piglets.

He placed the Fangtooth Pig card in the main slot and the mosquito cards in the secondary slot. This time, he needed fifteen Bloodthirsty Mosquito cards to fill the progress bar to one hundred percent—a manageable amount, so he proceeded.

The fifteen mosquito cards in the secondary slot transformed into points of light, merging into the Fangtooth Pig card. With this infusion of energy, the card successfully advanced. The new Fangtooth Pig card looked more refined; the pig depicted within was visibly more robust. Previously, it had been just over three meters long; now, it was at least four meters, and its body was noticeably rounder.

[Fangtooth Pig]
Quality: White
Rank: Second Rank, Initial
Skill: Female Allure

Female Allure: Upon use, summons ten male Fangtooth Pigs from the Blood Moon Realm to serve.

Seeing the skill effect, Lu Sheng finally smiled. This was exactly what he wanted. As for the reduced number, he didn't mind; he only needed the pigs for food, not for transforming them into cards.

Next was the Bloodthirsty Mosquito—the food was ready, now it was their turn. Upgrading from first-rank peak to second-rank initial required ten mosquito cards, just as Lu Sheng expected. He didn’t hesitate and upgraded immediately.

Having performed several upgrades, Lu Sheng had discerned a pattern: the number of cards required for same-rank advancement remained consistent; if higher-rank cards were used to upgrade lower-rank ones, the consumption increased tenfold. For example, to upgrade a Bloodthirsty Mosquito from initial first rank required ten cards of the same rank, from mid rank required a hundred, and from late rank a thousand. Other cards followed the same rule, except for the Spacetime Ant, which was somewhat special.

He now had 280 first-rank peak Bloodthirsty Mosquito cards. To upgrade a mosquito to second-rank mid would require 110 cards per mosquito, or 220 for two. Having already upgraded one, he would need 210 more.

Lu Sheng paused and decided not to rush. He wanted to see how many cards were needed to upgrade the ant queen and the Spacetime Ant.

The ant queen had been prolific, producing over a hundred Red Fire Ants in a single day, though the food demand for fire ants was enormous. At their current rate of consumption, it was no wonder the ant queen could only raise six or seven hundred ants per brood—it simply wasn’t sustainable. Luckily, Lu Sheng could afford it; plenty of meat, so he encouraged her to breed as much as possible.

Upgrading the ant queen to second-rank initial required twenty first-rank peak Bloodthirsty Mosquito cards—a manageable expense. He summoned the mysterious upgrade space, a realm only Lu Sheng could perceive. Placing the ant queen in the main slot and the mosquito cards in the secondary slot, he initiated the upgrade. The mosquito cards transformed into countless points of light, fusing into the ant queen card.

[Red Fire Ant: Queen]
Quality: Green
Rank: Second Rank, Initial
Skills: Rapid Breeding, Psychic Shock

Very good—now at second-rank initial. He wondered if the queen could now produce second-rank Red Fire Ants. He could ask her directly; any monster card under one’s control could respond to its master, and the higher the rank, the clearer the response.

He sent his thoughts, and the queen replied quickly but briefly: She could, but breeding would slow dramatically; even with ample food, only ten could be produced per day.

The number had dropped tenfold, but Lu Sheng didn’t care. The Red Fire Ants were crucial to the strength of his main card; as long as she could produce second-rank ants, that was enough.

After relaying his wishes to the queen, Lu Sheng moved on to the final stage.

He placed the Spacetime Ant in the main slot and the mosquito cards in the secondary slot. Previously, upgrading required about ten thousand first-rank initial mosquito cards, but now, with first-rank peak cards, only ten were needed.

Suppressing his excitement, he chose to upgrade.

The ten mosquito cards transformed into points of light and merged into the Spacetime Ant card. Its blue glow shifted to a brilliant purple.

[Spacetime Ant]
Quality: Purple (previously Red)
Rank: First Rank, Late
Skills: Subdimensional Space (3,000 meters range), Fiftyfold Strength, Time Reversal, Spatial Freeze

Spatial Freeze: When used, freezes space; the consumption and duration depend on the area and the creatures within it.

The Spacetime Ant’s quality had improved again, all its skills were enhanced, and it gained an additional powerful ability. Spatial Freeze—wasn’t that the power to do as one pleased? All those concepts from movies he’d studied in his previous life could now become reality.

Marvelous, truly marvelous!

Suppressing his ecstatic joy, he silently recited ten times, “I am a good person.”

Next, it was time for the Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes. He still had 250 cards left, more than enough to upgrade a pair to second-rank mid.

He consumed 210 mosquito cards, selecting a pair for advancement.

[Bloodthirsty Mosquito]
Quality: White
Rank: Second Rank, Mid
Skill: Super Absorption

Now, these mosquitoes were as thick as a human thigh. If one bit a person, it could drain them dry in an instant.

The thought made his scalp tingle.

After upgrading the pair to second-rank mid, he still had forty Bloodthirsty Mosquito cards left—all carefully selected male and female pairs.

This time, he intended to breed them all. Last time, he’d foolishly left a bunch unused.

But for breeding, the current ten-square-meter pond was woefully inadequate. Not to mention the second-rank mid mosquitoes—it couldn’t even support them.

He’d need to expand. Red Fire Ants and Goblins were the perfect labor force.

He summoned them to dig, aiming for a three-hundred-square-meter pit. This time, he was going big.