Although sleep no longer held the same significance it once did in the world of evolution at night, Ye Zhongming still used this excuse to decline many invitations and requests for meetings.
Most of these people had good intentions, though some harbored ill will, but Ye Zhongming didn’t particularly care.
Given his current status, at least in Black Dragon City, no one could sit as his equal.
If Ye Zhongming wanted to gather more information about the north, he would inevitably have to interact with the major figures of Black Dragon City. Many things were beyond the reach of someone at Black Brother’s level. Logically, this was an opportunity to build closer ties with these people.
However, Ye Zhongming politely declined. The truth was, he had already obtained many good things from the Essence Pavilion.
For example, those on the second floor—Cracked Froststone, a versatile material that could be embedded in equipment to enhance ice-based abilities. It was also the main ingredient for a type of glove called Frost Gauntlets. At the time, because he needed gloves, Ye Zhongming had collected blueprints for various gauntlets, and Frost Gauntlets were one of them. However, he abandoned the idea of crafting them due to his inability to find cracked Froststone.
Another example was Ice Marrow Liquid, a consumable liquid for evolved with ice-based skills or those whose overall attributes were ice-aligned. It could directly boost the power of such abilities. It was even more suitable for ice-aligned battle beasts.
Now, both of Ye Zhongming’s ice birds had reached level eight. With the addition of Ice Marrow Liquid, they would become even more formidable.
Then there were the Snow Pattern Ants, a lifeform Ye Zhongming had never heard of before. After reading the detailed introduction provided by the Essence Pavilion, he learned that these were highly trainable battle beasts. Controlling the queen ant, one could command the entire colony, consisting of worker ants, soldier ants, and general ants—a unique hierarchical species.
The soldier ants were tasked with hunting and defending the nest, protecting their territory, and the worker ants when they ventured outside.
The general ants were primarily responsible for reproducing with the queen. However, they also served as the colony’s strongest combat force, safeguarding the queen, the colony’s core, from attacks.
This group had a clear division of labor and a strict hierarchy.
Although the queen of this particular ant colony was a newly mutated lifeform with a low level (only level two), and its first brood consisted of just a few dozen level-one worker ants and five soldier ants (with no general ants yet), the description stated that they had immense developmental potential. Once the queen reached level five, a qualitative change would occur. The offspring would begin to include general ants, and the colony would enter a rapid growth phase. With sufficient food and suitable temperatures, they could evolve quickly without bottlenecks, swiftly becoming high-level mutated lifeforms.
Additionally, due to the nature of ants, their numbers could become staggering. People in the northern regions had once witnessed the migration of a colony with a level-eight queen, a scene they would never forget. There were over 100,000 level-five worker ants, more than 10,000 level-six soldier ants, and hundreds of level-seven general ants.
If they had remained as small as before the apocalypse, even 100,000 wouldn’t have been much. But one had to remember—level-five worker ants were the size of calves, level-six soldier ants were as large as rhinos, and level-seven general ants were like elephants!
As for the queen? She resembled a boneless whale!
Moreover, the general ants could fly.
With such a combination, they could dominate their territory. Even an isolated level-eight lifeform would retreat upon encountering them.
It was hard to imagine how powerful these creatures would become if the queen evolved to level nine, gaining even greater reproductive capabilities.
“They’re impressive, but their early-stage evolution is quite difficult.”
After reading the description of the Snow Pattern Ants, Xiao Peng marveled at their strength but lamented the challenges of their early development.
Ye Zhongming smiled. “If it weren’t so difficult, the Essence Pavilion wouldn’t have sold them—and at such a low price.”
Indeed, this colony of a few dozen ants had only cost three level-seven monster crystals.
“Ice crystals, ice-aligned gemstones, Ice Marrow Liquid, primordial snow…” Xiao Peng read aloud while shaking his head. “Any of these is extremely rare, yet they’re only meant to be fed to a level-two lifeform, with no clear quantity specified. This is just…”
He didn’t even know what to say. The description stated that the queen needed to consume these items, but the exact amount was unknown. It was likely not a small quantity; otherwise, the Essence Pavilion would have raised them itself. Since they were selling them at a relatively low price, it was clear that the queen was a voracious consumer.
“We’ll take it slow. There’s no rush. If we can successfully raise them, our battle beast division will reach an entirely new level.”
Xiao Peng nodded. He envied the battle beast division of Cloud Peak. He had once wanted to establish a naval force but had failed after many attempts. Though not a complete failure, he could only control relatively weak lifeforms now, and they often lost contact in the vast ocean, giving him constant headaches, even with his own battle beasts assisting.
While Ye Zhongming was talking with Xiao Peng, most of his attention was actually focused on several other items on the table.
These were all premium goods purchased from the third floor of the Essence Pavilion—where the equivalent of 100,000 level-six monster crystals had been spent.
The first was a round box, resembling the packaging of a famous brand of cookies. Inside were three concentric rings of compartments: three small ones in the center, eight in the middle ring, and twenty in the outer ring. Each compartment held a glowing orb—silvery-white and shimmering beautifully.
This item was called Frost Soul.
It had no offensive or defensive capabilities itself; it was merely a material. But it was special—when fused with various types of puppets, it could enhance their abilities, grant them a degree of intelligence, and even enable self-evolution.
To be honest, the effects were incredibly potent. If someone patiently cultivated puppets with these, they could become overwhelmingly powerful.
However, powerful items always came with limitations, and Frost Soul was no exception.
First, it was a complete set and could not be used separately. In other words, all orbs had to be used at once—using just one or a few would render the remaining Frost Souls useless.
Second, each Frost Soul could only be used on one puppet.
Third, the targets of use had to be interconnected.
Combining these three conditions meant that the Frost Souls had to be used as a complete set on a complete set of puppets.
The last condition was something few could fulfill. Even if the same person crafted puppets, it didn’t necessarily mean they were interconnected.
But Ye Zhongming happened to be an exception.
Because he had the Ruins Formation Disk! The bronze puppets on it were a complete set—perfectly suited for the Frost Souls.
Although there was a success rate for fusion, the sheer number of bronze puppets meant that even if some failed, it wouldn’t matter.
Ye Zhongming also had many other methods at his disposal and didn’t need these puppets urgently. He could let them evolve slowly after fusion, waiting until they became even more formidable before deploying them.