Chapter Forty-Three: A Million Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes

The muscle dog underwent a qualitative transformation a day ago thanks to Lu Sheng's enhancements. It was clear that push-ups posed no challenge at all for the muscle dog, who had plenty of strength left unused. If that strength wasn’t exercised, it would be a waste for Lu Sheng, so he needed to find some training materials for the muscle dog. Ideally, they would be small in size but dense in weight. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find anything suitable for the moment, so he crafted a stone dumbbell instead.

On either side were massive stones, reminiscent of truck tires, and in the middle was a shaft made of black ironwood, a specialty of goblins, acquired with a Tier-One source bead. The muscle dog had been training with this unique dumbbell ever since. After a day, Lu Sheng could sense his own physique subtly strengthening, though the effect was not very pronounced—for physical training, gradual accumulation was necessary, and it didn’t suit someone like him, who relied more on talent.

He also used up 222 Bloodthirsty Mosquito cards to promote the Water Sprite to the mid-second tier. This was mainly to irrigate four thousand square meters of land, but sadly, even a mid-second-tier Water Sprite couldn’t fill the giant pit quickly. Lu Sheng had to return to the river to fetch water, though now he didn’t need to get as close as before. With constant upgrades, the Space-Time Ant’s abilities had grown stronger; now, he could open sub-dimensional space at any location within a ten-meter radius. This time, he took so much water that the river nearly dried up.

Notably, he harvested plenty of fish during this process. He kept them in a separate pond, with the Water Sprite purifying the water and keeping them alive. Over the last two days, Lu Sheng had enjoyed fish several times for a change of flavor, and he had to admit, the fish here tasted superb.

Through continuous upgrades, he discovered another unique detail: green-quality cards required double the consumption compared to white cards for advancement.

Today was a day of great harvest; if each female Bloodthirsty Mosquito birthed three hundred, then with 3,520 females, he would gain 1,056,000 brand-new mosquitoes. There were also three hundred mid-second-tier mosquitoes. If these million-plus mosquitoes mated again, multiplying by three hundred, he would have over a hundred million mosquitoes.

But there was a problem—the food supply. Even if the Fangtooth Pigs could be endlessly refreshed, each mosquito needed to consume an entire pig’s blood to enter breeding mode. Last time, feeding 3,520 mosquitoes nearly exhausted him. Raising three thousand mosquitoes at a time was about right; it allowed their tier to be upgraded, and concentrated effort was always best.

Time passed, and countless Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes hatched, filling the sub-dimensional space with their buzzing flight. The moment of harvest had arrived; with so many mosquitoes, Lu Sheng could truly boost his power.

The Space-Time Ant could now fully control the sub-dimensional space, but even so, it took Lu Sheng from dusk to late night to kill over a million mosquitoes. He wondered when he would be able to manipulate space itself, crushing all the mosquitoes at once—it would be so satisfying.

The Space-Time Ant perched on Lu Sheng’s shoulder seemed to sense his dissatisfaction. It waved its silvery mandibles in protest, but Lu Sheng ignored it, leaving the ant feeling frustrated and motionless on his shoulder.

Most of the mosquito corpses were fed to the fish, while the rest were burned to ash and scattered over the land, enriching the soil.

Tier-One Perfect Bloodthirsty Mosquito Cards: 1,100,000
Mid-Tier Second-Stage Bloodthirsty Mosquito Cards: 302

The numbers exceeded Lu Sheng's predictions by about fifty thousand. Excited, he placed the Space-Time Ant in the main card slot; its next quality rank would be orange, a grade associated with mastery of laws. If the Space-Time Ant reached orange, its control over space and time would advance even further.

Progress: 100%.
Advancement was possible, but this was only because Lu Sheng had fed all one million mosquito cards into it. After some hesitation, he decided not to advance the Space-Time Ant’s quality for now—it was sufficient as it was. Instead, he focused on upgrading the breeding cards.

He wouldn’t have to wait long; next time he could upgrade the Space-Time Ant, so he didn’t dwell on it. He first upgraded the Fire Ant Queen, since he needed large numbers of second-tier Fire Ants to produce Red Pouches for his cultivation, and the Queen’s production rate was too slow.

The Queen was currently at early second-tier. He consumed a total of 222,200 Bloodthirsty Mosquito cards to promote her to early third-tier, matching his calculations exactly: green-quality upgrades required double the cards compared to white.

[Fire Ant: Queen]
Quality: Green
Tier: Early Third
Skills: Rapid Proliferation, Mental Shock
Evolution Condition: Sufficient monster flesh and blood of no less than green quality.

Rapid Proliferation: Offspring of a tier lower than the Queen are reproduced extremely quickly.

He recalled it used to be called High-Speed Proliferation; now, it seemed the skill had improved. The Queen was now five meters long and two meters wide, enormous enough to burst her old nest.

Monsters reaching third tier underwent their first evolution, greatly improving their power and intelligence. Most importantly, they gained spiritual intelligence and could speak, or at least communicate telepathically with their master.

The Queen’s evolution requirements weren’t difficult; he just needed a green-quality monster, and using bugs, he could endlessly refresh corpses. He currently had muscle dog and Water Sprite, both of green quality. But Lu Sheng didn’t intend to slaughter them endlessly; they were already his companions, and it would be too cruel.

One must live by their heart; only then is life comfortable. He had the luxury to follow his heart, and the Queen evolving later wouldn’t cost him anything. For now, she just needed to produce second-tier Fire Ants for him.

Next, he upgraded the Fangtooth Pig. Breeding creatures relied on the pig for food, and as the other breeders advanced, their demand for flesh and blood increased, so the pig had to be upgraded as well, or supply would fall short.

The Fangtooth Pig was at early second-tier. He consumed 166,650 Tier-One Perfect Bloodthirsty Mosquito cards for the upgrade. The pig was a special case, halfway between white and green quality, requiring one and a half times the cards compared to white. Lu Sheng had tested it; only his pig card had this peculiarity, other pigs did not.

[Fangtooth Pig]
Quality: White
Tier: Early Third
Skill: Boar King Bloodline
Evolution Condition: One third-tier, green-quality heavenly treasure.

Boar King Bloodline: The bloodline of Fangtooth Pig royalty flows within, and upon activation, can summon a hundred Fangtooth Pig guards.

Each monster’s evolution requirements were based on quality—the higher the quality, the harsher the requirements, but the power increase after evolution was also greater.