Celestial Beast Taming

Chapter 487: Chapter 276: Crimson Absorption

When the female nuptial Celestial Craft Ant’s Bloodline completely transformed into a Celestial Craft Ant Queen, the queen, now resembling a giant sea urchin, had become too large to measure its exact length.

Including its newly grown, dense cilia, the sea urchin-like Celestial Craft Ant Queen had a diameter of nearly 40 meters.

Just as Zhong Yi was wondering how this Celestial Craft Ant Queen would consume food, he heard a short, loud sonic boom.

Zhong Yi looked closer and saw the Celestial Craft Ant Queen’s enormous abdomen, wrapped in cilia, begin to writhe rapidly.

One by one, Ant Eggs emerged from its abdomen.

After being laid, the mucus on the surface of the Ant Eggs would adhere directly to the cilia growing from the Celestial Craft Ant Queen’s body.

As the cilia constantly trembled, the Ant Eggs arranged themselves neatly upon them.

Each of these Ant Eggs was only the size of a fava bean.

If it weren’t for Zhong Yi’s excellent eyesight, he would have had a hard time even noticing the Ant Eggs, given the Celestial Craft Ant Queen’s colossal size.

Before long, the Ant Eggs began to hatch.

The hatching Ant Eggs sprayed out a slippery mucus, and the newborn Ant Successors slid down the cilia along with it.

After landing on the ground, they began to rapidly gnaw on the rocks.

The color of their translucent Insect Armor steadily deepened, turning a grayish-blue similar to the Celestial Craft Ant Queen’s body.

However, the blue on their Insect Armor was much less pronounced compared to the queen’s, which had turned almost entirely an iridescent blue.

Even after their Insect Armor had set, these Ant Successors were still only the size of a fava bean.

After eating their fill, the Ant Successors continued to consume the rocks on the ground.

Slowly, the abdomens of these Ant Successors became extremely bloated, swelling to the size of an egg and turning translucent.

Through their translucent, grayish-blue skin, Zhong Yi could see that they were filled with a grayish-brown liquid.

When their abdomens were bloated to the absolute limit and began to leak fluid, the Ant Successors slowly moved their bodies and climbed up the Celestial Craft Ant Queen’s body via her cilia.

They climbed in an orderly fashion all the way to the Celestial Craft Ant Queen’s mouth, injecting the liquid from their abdomens into two specialized, funnel-shaped cilia.

This liquid would then slide down the two specialized cilia and directly into the Celestial Craft Ant Queen’s mouth.

Seeing this, Zhong Yi understood. The Celestial Craft Ant Queen relied on these small "nursing ants" to obtain Energy.

These small ants didn’t possess the ability to build infrastructure, but they were fundamental to ensuring the Celestial Craft Ant Queen could obtain Energy and reproduce other Ant Successors.

The Celestial Craft Ant Queen had now become Zhong Yi’s Guardian Beast.

Zhong Yi had first used a Soul Taming Seed to form a Contract with the Celestial Craft Ant Queen, but he wasn’t going to provide it with Flowing Soul Soil.

Zhong Yi clearly informed the Celestial Craft Ant Queen that it only had ten days.

In those ten days, the Celestial Craft Ant Queen was to plan the production quantity of these nursing ants.

It was to use its existing Energy to produce as many construction-focused Ant Successors as possible.

After receiving Zhong Yi’s command, the Celestial Craft Ant Queen ambitiously began to build its own Ant Race kingdom.

Zhong Yi, for his part, closed his eyes to doze off and recover the Soul Power he had expended using the Realm Passage Token.

In any case, the production of Flowing Soul Soil was fixed for the next two days.

His Soul-Controlling Flower had not yet produced a Soul Taming Seed capable of forming a Contract with the member of the Blood Race, so there was really nothing Zhong Yi could do right now.

But Zhong Yi’s passive, idle behavior made Funnie extremely anxious.

She thought Zhong Yi had no intention of cultivating her.

The method Zhong Yi had just used to help the Celestial Craft Ant Queen transform had astounded Funnie.

’That seed he fed to the Celestial Craft Ant clearly has the ability to help me elevate my Bloodline.’

’This boy in front of me didn’t feed the seed to me... Did I do something wrong? Did I displease him?’

The more Funnie thought about it, the more scared and wronged she felt.

Her small mouth trembled, and a few crystal-clear tears welled up in her large, dark-red eyes.

Funnie was afraid that the sound of her tears hitting the ground would disturb the boy’s rest.

She quickly raised her hand to wipe away the tears.

Zhong Yi, oblivious to all this, slept for more than a day before finally stretching out on the makeshift recliner of fox tails.

The second Soul Taming Seed had already condensed, and Zhong Yi prepared to start using it to strengthen Funnie’s Bloodline.

Zhong Yi didn’t hesitate to pour resources into a highly intelligent, humanoid creature like a member of the Blood Race.

When Zhong Yi’s gaze fell on Funnie, he found her with her head hung low, looking dejected, her two small, chubby hands clasped in front of her.

’This member of the Blood Race can’t have issues with being withdrawn, can she?’ Zhong Yi wondered.

’Highly intelligent Creatures easily develop tendencies toward melancholy and withdrawal.’

’If that’s the case, I’ll really have to give this Blood Race girl named Funnie some extra care from now on.’

Zhong Yi cleared his throat and stood up. Instead of calling Funnie over, he walked over and crouched down in front of her.

He then took out a Blood Demon Litchi—an item that cost three Divine Origin Value points to redeem just one—peeled its vibrant skin, and offered the crystalline red fruit to Funnie’s lips.

"This Blood Demon Litchi should be very sweet, and it will be very helpful for your growth."

"I got 1,000 of them for you. You can eat a few every day from now on."

"After you finish this one, I’ll start helping you elevate your Bloodline."

Seeing the Blood Demon Litchi offered to her and hearing Zhong Yi’s words, Funnie abruptly lifted her head, her previously downcast eyes instantly brightening.

Funnie looked at Zhong Yi with her large, misty eyes and asked cautiously.

"Is this Blood Demon Litchi really for me to eat?"

A single Blood Demon Litchi, at three Divine Origin Value points each, was an extremely expensive resource not just for Funnie, but even for a Blood Race Count.

For the current Zhong Yi, acquiring Divine Origin Value was an easy task.

However, an ordinary genius struggling on the Virtual Source Network might not be able to earn three Divine Origin Value points in an entire year.

From the day she was born until now, Funnie had never eaten a material as expensive as a Blood Demon Litchi.

’The boy before her had actually prepared 1,000 for her!’

’She could eat several every day!’

’And he was also going to help her elevate her Bloodline.’

Funnie, who had thought she was being abandoned, looked at Zhong Yi holding out the Blood Demon Litchi and felt as if she were seeing her savior.

Funnie forcefully suppressed the surging emotions in her heart and performed a knight’s salute to Zhong Yi as gracefully as she could.

Then she raised her hand, gently took the Blood Demon Litchi from him, and took a bite.

The sweet, rich juice and the delectable Bloodline Energy made Funnie let out an involuntary, pleasant hum.

Realizing she had made such an unseemly sound, Funnie shyly clapped a hand over her mouth.

After Funnie finished the Blood Demon Litchi, Zhong Yi spoke to her seriously.

"In a moment, I will feed you the seed that helped the Celestial Craft Ant with its Evolution. Your Bloodline will be elevated to the Viscount level at the very least."

"At that time, you’ll be able to reshape your physical body. I won’t give you any suggestions regarding your gender; the choice will be entirely yours."

As he said this, Zhong Yi recalled Fang Ze mentioning that every member of the Blood Race possesses their own unique Blood Magic.

Zhong Yi immediately inspected Funnie.

[Name]: Funnie

[Race]: Blood Race

[Level]: First Level

[Bloodline]: Blood Race Knight

[Contract]: Available

[Contractual Relationship]: None

[Rule]: None

[Fate Grid]: Purple

Abilities

[Crimson Absorption]: By consuming the blood of others from the same race, she can store their basic abilities in her Blood Crystal. During combat, she can temporarily use the abilities absorbed through blood.

As a member of the Blood Race, Funnie was different from an ordinary Guardian Beast.

Funnie’s data template was also different from a Guardian Beast’s; it was more akin to those of the talented individuals with Bloodlines whom Zhong Yi had encountered on the Virtual Source Network.

Currently, Funnie only possessed one Ability, which was called Crimson Absorption.

Seeing the Ability Crimson Absorption, Zhong Yi’s gaze toward Funnie became somewhat intrigued.

Crimson Absorption allowed Funnie to absorb the blood of other Blood Race members and acquire all sorts of unique Blood Magic.

She could then imprint the acquired Blood Magic onto her Blood Crystal—a feature present within every member of the Blood Race.