Qi Ping set up fifty different combinations for brewing the Hundred-Spirit Honey.
'With this many combinations, I should be able to find one that completely masks the characteristics of the Hundred-Spirit Grass.'
After handing the recipes over to the Brewer Pot-bellied Bees, Qi Ping turned his attention to the growth of his swarm. Over the past month, he had raised about two thousand new bees, but he was still far from his goal of ten thousand combat bees and three thousand brewers. The reason the expansion was slower than expected wasn't his Blood Ginseng production—it was the Queen.
His mid-grade first-rank Queen, though capable of passing down strong traits, could only lay seventy to eighty eggs a day at most. Previously, because Qi Ping's herb production was limited, the Queen's speed was enough. He hadn't thought of replacing her because a Queen was vital for the colony's stability, and the bees showed no desire for a new ruler.
Moreover, Qi Ping remembered a note from the Spirit Insect Cultivation Manual. For insect swarms with a queen, the manual explicitly stated: It is best not to change the queen! The stronger a spirit insect swarm, the harder it was for a queen to be born. She was the anchor of the swarm's stability.
A common problem in cultivation was the queen's strength falling behind that of the elite males. No cultivator dared to gamble with the queen's life on a low-probability mutation, and even if a new queen was born, the friction with the existing swarm was a massive hurdle. Therefore, the best choice was to provide the existing queen with the best resources and wait for her to evolve naturally!
There were many successful cases of this. A queen who evolved on her own could elevate the bloodline of the entire swarm, far surpassing the benefits of a new queen. Because of her unique bloodline, a queen had a higher success rate for mutation. Once the mutated males impregnated her, she could absorb a portion of the advanced bloodline from the eggs to nourish her own. Given enough high-grade resources and talent, her evolution was highly probable.
Once she evolved, the swarm would maintain its highest stability. If multiple variants of males had evolved, the queen might even become stronger than the Balanced Bees. Larvae born from such a queen would have a higher mutation rate and greater potential. This was why Qi Ping had never replaced her!
He had been feeding her the best Royal Jelly brewed by the Brewer Pot-bellied Bees, hoping she would evolve. Just as he was beginning to worry about the expansion speed, a surprise occurred!
The Queen was currently perched on a rock, shrouded in dense spiritual energy. A unique, powerful pressure was radiating from her, steadily climbing. This wasn't the aura of a normal male breakthrough; it was the specific pressure of a monarch. Thousands of bees had surrounded the mountain in a tight formation, entering their highest state of alert.
Qi Ping was shaken by the pressure. It was far beyond any breakthrough he had witnessed among the other bees. But more than shock, he felt immense joy!
"She is finally evolving!"
This proved the Queen's bloodline was exceptional! Since she could evolve once, the probability of her doing it again would be much higher, provided the males succeeded and resources remained abundant.
'From today on, I won't have to worry about the expansion speed.'
A high-grade first-rank Queen would be four or five times faster at producing eggs. Qi Ping wasn't worried about the success of the evolution; her foundation was incredibly solid thanks to the best Royal Jelly, and her aura was stable. He was more interested in how much she would surpass the Balanced Bees.
'During the incubation process, she must have absorbed enough high-grade bloodline energy from the five variants: the Ring-cutter, Ink-Armor, Toxic, Balanced, and Brewer.'
'I wonder how many of those traits she will integrate.'
How many superior traits she could fuse depended on her innate talent. The better the talent, the stronger the integration. The more traits she fused, the higher the potential for the entire swarm. According to the manual, integrating three to seven traits was optimal; anything more or less often resulted in diminished results.
Qi Ping's five variants, likely due to the [Beast King's Grace] talent, were all exceptional. The Ring-cutter's blade-wings, the Ink-Armor's defense and bite, the Toxic Bee's poison, and the Brewer's talent were all top-tier.
"You are a Queen supported by the Beast King's Grace. If the ordinary males are this good, you cannot be any worse, can you?" Qi Ping cheered her on silently.
"Regardless of what else happens, you must inherit the brewing talent!"
To Qi Ping, brewing was more important than combat. He could always trigger another combat mutation, but the probability of another Brewer variant was low. Blade-wings, armor, and poison were replaceable; brewing was not.
In his anxious anticipation, the Queen remained in her cocoon for twelve hours. Finally, the transformation was complete. A unique, powerful pressure erupted from her!