Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos.

Chapter 278. Ant Nest Tour!

Igantia and the ant she was riding walked along the tunnels. They were surrounded by Liu Shu’s roots which the ants guided and moved to form supports and other infrastructures, supporting the entirety of the nest. 

Back then, when Ignatia started to spread her nest inside Liu Shu’s root net, she spoke with Liu Shu about what to do about her roots. Liu Shu said not to worry; as long as the ants moved the roots as they wanted to without damaging her, her subconscious would comply.

So, Liu Shu was observing all of this closely for the first time, and she was amazed by them. “Wow, your children are really good at using my roots, Ignatia!”

Ignatia chuckled and answered her in a similarly impressed tone. “I didn’t expect my children to adapt to your existence so quickly, to be honest. Many of the Worker Ants have developed skills to communicate with you. One of them being <World Tree Murmur>. It’s a passive skill that allows my little ones to communicate with your roots without bothering you.”

“Huh?” Liu Shu was baffled for a second, and then she focused on her root net deeply, as deeply as she could. When she did so in the location where the Worker Ants were excavating, she could sense harmless intentions being spoken to her and her roots gently parting or excavating in directions that she didn’t actively think about it.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Looking at Ignatia, she asked, stunned. “Since when have they been able to do this? That’s so… strange?”

The Ant Queen’s antennae bobbed side to side, her smile arching further with Liu Shu’s words. “Strange is not a word I would use to describe it. How about… wonderful? You and my colony are creating a symbiotic relationship generation after generation.”

Liu Shu asked, confused. “But… Doesn’t this happen across many more years?”

“My little ones can evolve quickly depending on how I change. The more interlocked we become, the closer they will be to you. Soon, you might even start understanding their pheromones and words.” Ignatia paused and said. “We’ve arrived at the first and most important place of the colony!”

Liu Shu refocused on the tour and spread her gaze in the direction Ignatia pointed. “Woah~, so many babies!”

The place they arrived at was the nursery. “This is the nursery… Or, well, one of the many I have surrounding the Main and Secondary Chambers, where I and the Ant Princesses live.” 

Inside the nursery, many white worm-like squishy bugs were roaming around, with a few small ants looking after them and making sure that they weren’t hurt. At the entrance of the nursery and inside of it, there were around ten Soldier Ants, all Level 20 and above.

The largest one was in the middle of the room, relaxed as the recently born ants and those still in their pupae state roamed her body. The image was quite endearing. 

When Ignatia entered, she jumped down from the ant and approached a few of the cute white little ones, picking them in bulk between her arms. “Ah~, look how adorable they are!”

“So many… How many eggs are you laying per day, Ignatia?”

The Ant Queen became thoughtful after she heard her question. “Hm… It’s difficult to say, to be honest. Between thirty to fifty?”

“Oh?” Liu Shu muttered. “It’s not that much, no?”

Ignatia smiled. “What I lay are only the highest level of ants. Usually, I lay one Ant Pirncess for every one or two thousand eggs since I can’t really control when they will appear. The rest are strong ants that will become powerful soldiers or other high-ranking members. The grand majority of Worker Ants are laid mainly by the Ant Princesses.”

Liu Shu asked again, curious. “Are there only Soldier, Princess, and Worker ants?”

“Of course not!” Ignatia explained. “I am summarizing them to these ranks. However, inside worker ants, there are tunnel carvers, nurses, trash gatherers, and many others. Each of them is slightly different and has skills focused on their tasks. Soldiers as well are divided into those who protect me, those who fight in the front lines, those who defend the nurseries, those who patrol, and many more.”

“Oh! That’s so interesting!” 

Ignatia placed the children on the ground and slowly picked those crawling over her body joyfully. “Okay, babies, Mommy needs to go~. Bye-bye!” 

Ignatia jumped onto the back of the ant that carried her here and patted its back. “Let’s continue our journey!”

Traversing the complex tunnels of the Ant Colony, Ignatia soon arrived at a large and empty cave. “There are the barracks! You can see the places where the Soldier Ants rest on the walls. The wide space you see here is for them to practice their skills. Simple and direct!”

“Ignatia! Where do these two tunnels lead?” 

Looking sideways, Ignatia saw two tunnels on the right side of the large cave. “Oh, those go to the armory. Later, when we start crafting armor and other types of items, we’ll place them there. The right tunnel is for entry, while the left one is for exit.” 

The World Tree observed everything with interest, while Ignatia added. “There are a few barracks strewn all over the colony. We are prepared in case they attack us from anywhere!”

Not hearing an answer, Ignatia asked softly. “Are you there, Liu Shu?”

“I am!” Liu Shu answered instantly. “I was impressed, that’s all~.”

Ignatia laughed and patted the ant below her again. “Great, then let's go to the next location!”

The place where they arrived was a zone where Liu Shu actually spotted other creatures that weren’t ants. “What’s this place?”

“A farm!” Ignatia answered with a smile. “Our numbers are very high. So, naturally, we need a lot of food. To avoid any shortage, we’ve captured a few wild creatures from above, and we herd them here. That’s why you can see grass and other vegetation types growing here. We cultivate both animals and mushrooms. Mushrooms are incredibly nutritious and have many other uses, so they are ideal for underground agriculture.” 

Liu Shu couldn’t help but notice the animals' state. The meaty creatures Liu Shu looked at were munching on the grass slowly, their eyes looking tired. “They look a bit… depressed? Lifeless?”

Not worrying about that, Ignatia commented. “That’s normal. They come from above, so after not seeing the Sun and being surrounded by the dim lights around, their moods have become extremely poor. However, the next generation won’t know about the surface, and from then on, they will slowly adapt to the underground life.”

Two ants appeared at the side and entered, pausing a bit when they saw Ignatia. The Ant Queen nodded. “Go on, children. There is nothing wrong.”

The ants continued and approached the herd of animals. Liu Shu saw some of them trying to escape, but the large ants didn’t bother and approached one of the animals that didn’t flee. The bigger one opened her mandibles and crushed the creature’s head, instantly killing it. Then, holding the lifeless body with the powerful mandibles, the same ant carried the corpse away.

Meanwhile, the other one spat a strange substance on the place where the blood dropped, and to Liu Shu’s surprise, she could see the blood dissolving together with all the chunks, leaving a patch with only grass. 

“Woah, what did that ant do!?”

Ignatia answered calmly. “Probably dissolve the blood and meat chunks with its spit… That is what it looks like to me, at least.”

Liu Shu looked at Ignatia with a flat gaze. “That... I saw that as well, but how did the grass not melt as well?”

“Oh! You were wondering about that.” The Ant Queen chuckled and explained. “This grass is especially resistant to our acidic substances. That’s why we are using it. As ants attuned to fire, we have the flora resistant to us checked and cataloged. We don’t want our entire nest to go up into flames because a child sneezed or something.”

Liu Shu asked, surprised. “Do ants sneeze?”

Ignatia burst into laughter. “That’s the information that surprised you? Well, some do, others don't~. Now, love, you know what we will do…”

Liu Shu giggled and said. “To the next location!”

“Exactly!” Ignatia laughed, and they continued their tour through the Ant Nest. Liu Shu noticed that they were moving to a place where almost no ants were roaming around. “Hm… What is this place?”

Ignatia hummed happily. “Our technology and research area.” 

“Woah! That’s a grand-sounding name.” Liu Shu’s answer was full of interest.

Ignatia heard the interest and smiled, but her smile was more expectant than proud. “We still have yet to have any ants that have been successful in the creation of anything.”

“Oh…” Liu Shu answered, a bit disappointed. 

Ignatia said calmly. “However, I am not discouraged. I am quite sure that we will soon have our first ant making some kind of advance. Once the first one appears, it will be a matter of time before this place also becomes full of ants working about~.”

“That’s great!” The World Tree cheered, feeling happy that Ignatia was optimistic. “Are there many more locations?”

Ignatia shook her head. “Not many more. The rest are a bit far from here, so you can look at them yourself. They are the Exploration and Expansion Sector and the Pheromone Relay Station that we are slowly developing.”

“Pheromone Relay Station?”

“PRS for short~.” Ignatia bragged. “Once we manage to create it, we’ll be able to communicate over long distances much more efficiently!...” Then, she sighed. “But, well. It is for the far future. We don’t even have Ant Crafters, so we are building the infrastructure.” 

Knowing that the tour has come to an end, Liu Shu commented gently. “That was awesome~! Thank you for the tour, Ignatia!”

The Ant Queen answered with a smile. “It was fun for me too, love.” Then, she patted the ant below her, and they started returning to the Queen Chambers.

Meanwhile, Liu Shu dug deep into the Ant Queen nest and went down below. ‘Hm… We’ve seen the middle section. However, what about this area?’

When she looked there, she couldn’t help but be surprised. “Wow… They are so close to the Terragore’s cave system!”

It was interesting to see that the lowest and highest sections of both nests were super close but far enough that they ignored each other. ‘Hm?’ Looking across those areas, she noticed that there were signs of battle. ‘Have the Ants and Terragores been fighting?’

Curious about it, she couldn’t help but ask Ignatia. “Ignatia, have your ants fought the Terragore? I’ve seen a few locations with conflicts down there.”

“We have,” Ignatia confirmed it and smiled. “However, don’t worry. They were just probing battles. Both sides lost individuals, so we are currently in a truce situation. The Terragore diggers won’t dig upward to our nest, and we won’t dig downwards toward theirs.”

Liu Shu was impressed, Ignatia was making an entire city made out of ants below Golden Sap City, and it was not any worse than it! This solidified Ignatia’s figure as someone to look up to in our World Tree's mind.