2: Chapter 2 The Mutation of the Red-Footed Mighty Ant Queen
Inside the small wooden cabin, Chi Anlin stared at the Red-legged Mighty Ant Queen in the test tube, his brows furrowed in deep thought.
On the fusion interface, a cartoon icon of a small ant emerged.
Chi Anlin picked up a small iron rod from the side and placed it into the fusion area on the table.
“Ding! Would you like to fuse [Red-legged Mighty Ant Queen] and [Iron Rod]?”
Chi Anlin looked at the fusion display below and couldn't help but gasp.
blood energy required: 150
Fusion success rate: 60%
Note: During fusion, you may choose one of the fusion materials to disappear.
One hundred and fifty points of blood energy wasn't much, but this was just fusion with an iron rod. At most, it would improve the Red-footed Xiu Meng Ant's defense. If it were fusion with a Termite Queen, wouldn't that require several thousand blood energy?
Chi Anlin sighed; he should focus on collecting blood energy first.
If he could break through the Mortal Realm and enter the First Realm, he could head to the outer regions to hunt demonic beasts.
But for now... Chi Anlin looked at the boxes of mealworms and cockroaches. These were feeds for carnivorous insects and were very cheap; they could be converted into blood energy first.
Obtaining blood energy didn't require killing them by hand. Using water to drown them or poison to kill them still counted as his kills. Otherwise, killing a nest of ants one by one would take forever.
He threw a box of cockroach poison into the cockroach nest and poured boiling water over the pile of mealworms.
The cockroaches in the glass tank instantly went into a frenzy. Chi Anlin quickly shut the lid. There was a reason women called this place a forbidden zone.
The mealworms were much simpler. Once the steaming boiling water was poured over them, their lives straightened out instantly.
And next came the massacre.
“Killed a mealworm, obtained 0.1 blood energy.”
“Killed a cockroach, obtained 0.5 blood energy.”
“Killed a mantis, obtained 0.7 blood energy.”
“Killed a Megasoma elephas, obtained 2 blood energy.”
...
The insects in the insect house were mostly wiped out, netting Chi Anlin a total of 80 blood energy points.
These were all very ordinary insects, not even at the Mortal Beast level. They might have been hard to buy in his previous life, but in this world, they were nothing special.
The rabbits in the yard wouldn't be easy to kill; those were his sister Chi Xueyue's pets.
Taking the Red-legged Mighty Ant Queen and the iron rod, Chi Anlin crossed the yard and returned to the house. As soon as he entered, he saw the kitchen next to the living room, and a spark of inspiration flashed in his mind.
The next moment, he picked up his phone and opened a food delivery app.
Thirty minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Chi Anlin took several plastic bags from the delivery man.
These were fish he had bought. Actually, the delivery app also sold Mortal Beasts, but those ingredients required a linked ID; otherwise, one could only buy processed meat.
Living Mortal Rank demonic beasts, and even First Realm demonic beasts above them, could not be purchased without corresponding strength. This was to prevent buyers from being injured by the beasts, causing unnecessary casualties.
But even if Chi Anlin could buy them, he had no way to kill them. After all, his current combat power was less than three. If it came down to a hard fight, he might actually lose to a fish.
He took several large carps to the kitchen. After knocking them unconscious with the back of a knife, Chi Anlin skillfully gutted them and laid them out neatly to the side.
“Killed a carp, obtained 15 blood energy.”
After killing all five carps, Chi Anlin successfully obtained 75 blood energy points.
These carps were half an arm's length long, but they weren't very expensive. Their value couldn't even compare to the insects he had killed earlier.
Without further ado, having gathered enough blood energy, Chi Anlin quickly ran back to the insect house with the Red-legged Mighty Ant Queen.
The fusion interface appeared again. After selecting the iron rod as the consumable option, Chi Anlin whispered 'Fuse' in his mind.
Instantly, strands of red silk emerged out of thin air, wrapping around the Red-legged Mighty Ant Queen. Meanwhile, the iron rod on the side melted into a puddle of molten iron, which was absorbed by the silk cocoon.
【Remaining fusion time: one minute】
As if a long century had passed, Chi Anlin stared intently at the blood cocoon on the table, not daring to breathe too loudly, fearing that a small movement might affect the fusion's success rate.
“Fusion successful.”
The blood cocoon turned into blood-water and was absorbed by the Red-legged Mighty Ant Queen, allowing Chi Anlin to see the changes clearly.
The originally rough body now shimmered with a metallic luster, losing its excess colors. The Red-legged Mighty Ant Queen's size had become even more massive. Its silver appearance made it look like a ferocious piece of art, brimming with aggression.
Appraisal.
【Name】: Iron Fierce Ant Queen
【Attribute】: Metal
【Level】: Mortal Rank, Stage 3
【Potential】: high-grade mortal rank
【Productivity】: Mortal Rank, Stage 1: 2 per day
Ordinary Beasts: 200 per day
【Description】: A mutated Red-legged Mighty Ant Queen. Defense is enhanced, while production capacity is weakened. The Worker Ants produced can strengthen their own defense by devouring iron and steel.
Chi Anlin gently picked up the Queen in front of him. At this moment, the Queen seemed to have established a special connection with him, making him feel a sense of intimacy and friendliness.
Although the fused Queen had a certain level of loyalty to him, due to its low intelligence, he had to contract it first before he could command its actions through Mental Energy.
If it were a demonic beast with sapience, it wouldn't be so troublesome.
Chi Anlin closed his eyes, and a weak strand of Mental Energy seeped out, merging into the Queen's body.
The Queen did not show any resistance. In fact, even with a pet raised for a long time that was very close, rashly entering its spiritual core would result in a certain degree of backlash. This was related to the pet's own instincts; even if it accepted the master's contract, it would reflexively lash out.
Therefore, demonic beasts with high wildness could only be contracted through overwhelming strength or by being raised from birth.
This was why demonic beast cubs were often more expensive than adults.
Chi Anlin's spirit was like a flickering flame in a gale. Simply put, any demonic beast, even one at the Mortal Rank Stage 1, could have successfully kicked him out of the biosphere and turned him into a 'treasure boy' corpse.
So, he had never succeeded in forming a contract. His parents had been buying him various pills to enhance his Mental Energy, but the results were minimal.
But now, he could finally begin his formal cultivation!
His Mental Energy quickly enveloped the Queen's spiritual core, and the Queen's small figure appeared above Chi Anlin's mental sea.
Chi Anlin looked at the Queen in disbelief. He could clearly feel that he could issue commands to the Queen simply through his thoughts.
This was different from the Beast Taming he had imagined. Wasn't normal Beast Taming all about shouting, “Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!”?
However, in the next second, a powerful surge of heat poured into Chi Anlin's Dantian, quickly spreading to all parts of his body.
The cultivation of a Beast Tamer was usually for those with strong Mental Energy but weak physical talent. They could not grow stronger through their own cultivation, so they could only cultivate using the energy fed back from their contracted beasts.
In layman's terms, it was difficult for such people to absorb spiritual energy from the outside world. The spiritual energy absorbed by the contracted beast would flow into their bodies for a cycle, thereby increasing the Beast Tamer's realm.
Therefore, Beast Tamers themselves were very weak and couldn't beat cultivators of other systems at all; they could only attack through their beasts.
But Chi Anlin clearly noticed that he seemed to be a bit different...