Astral Cockroach

Banbu persevered in extracting Origin Power from ordinary life-seed plants every night, without interruption except for the period when the fruits were ripening.

Mid-February.

After a year and four months.

Having absorbed the Origin Power of over 20,000 Origin Stones.

In the heart, a Divine Ability Rune was finally lit up.

The soul sensed that this Divine Ability Rune corresponded to the two abilities of "Metal Conversion" and "Metal Manipulation," which were the most basic abilities for constructing the Divine Ability "D-108 Type Ultimate Metal Riot Domain."

It seemed like it could be used!

But he wasn't quite sure if there would be any uncontrollable changes.

Banbu took Big Bear and followed the Jinping Mountain Range southeast, arriving at a rocky, barren mountain to experiment.

Relying on the keen sense awakened by the metal ability, and using mental power to sense, he carefully selected a stone with a relatively high metal element content.

With a thought, the Divine Ability Rune in his heart, filled with Origin Power, lit up, and the ability was activated.

Target locked.

The color of the selected stone changed instantly, becoming jet black with a metallic texture.

Turning stone into gold!

There was still a bit of power left.

Banbu continued to urge the ability, metal manipulation, and the shape of the metal block slowly changed.

… …

Big Bear watched with his mouth half-open and his eyes wide.

"Big Bear, hurry, get me something to eat."

Banbu exhausted the Origin Power accumulated in the Divine Ability Rune, and his own energy was also almost depleted.

"Oh, okay."

Big Bear blinked, got up, took a few steps, couldn't help but turn around, and asked, "Banbu, what is this?"

Banbu explained, "Metal conversion ability, simply put, it consumes Origin Power and energy to change the microscopic particle structure of a stone, converting the non-metallic substances that make up the stone into metallic substances…"

"No…"

Big Bear scratched his head vigorously and asked, "What did you turn it into… what is it?"

"This? It's a pot."

Banbu said, "I meticulously controlled the metal conversion. This is an alloy pot, with excellent texture, high strength, rust-proof, and high-temperature resistant."

"Pot?"

Big Bear still didn't understand.

Doesn't he even recognize a pot? Stupid!

Banbu was too lazy to explain in detail and scolded, "Why are you asking so much? Do you want to starve me to death? Hurry up and find something to eat."

Big Bear ran quickly down the mountain and into the forest to hunt.

Banbu lay on the mountain waiting.

In the distance, Baizhu poked his head out, curiously looking around.

Recently, Baizhu's strength had soared, and he had begun to become restless. Among the other six bamboo rat warriors, only Rat King could control him. Rat King couldn't keep an eye on him all the time, so this guy would seize the opportunity to skip work and wander around.

"Baizhu!"

"Ha, Banbu, I just happened to be passing by…"

His whereabouts were discovered, and Baizhu simply walked out, came forward, and circled around the dark pot, asking, "Banbu, what is this?"

"Pot."

"Pot?"

"Yeah."

Banbu shook his antennae and said, "Baizhu, be quick, go down the mountain and get some dry branches."

"Okay."

Baizhu asked, "Dry branches? Banbu, what are they for?"

"Stop talking nonsense, go quickly!"

"Alright."

Baizhu hurriedly went down the mountain to collect firewood.

A large number of trees had been felled when the bamboo forest was opened up, and they were piled up not far away, so it wasn't particularly troublesome.

Banbu slowly recovered and began to get busy, cutting mountain stones and building a simple stone stove, setting up the alloy pot worth 20,000 Origin Stones.

There was a mountain spring nearby, and he filled the pot with water using a bamboo tube.

Big Bear returned, dragging a sika deer with its head smashed.

Banbu personally skinned, cleaned, and cut it into pieces.

The firewood collected by Baizhu was almost enough, and he used his ability to light it.

Still missing some seasoning…

There wasn't even any salt.

Banbu thought about it and took Baizhu down the mountain to search, collecting some mushrooms that should be non-toxic and some fresh wild vegetables that were probably edible, and also got a few bamboo shoots, throwing them all into the pot.

Lacking a lid, he had to add water from time to time.

He was busy from morning until noon, almost getting it done.

Looking at the colorful pot, Big Bear was a little puzzled and asked, "Banbu, what is this again? Poison?"

"Poison? This is stewed meat!"

Banbu replied seriously.

Baizhu asked, "What's it for?"

Banbu replied, "To eat, it tastes better than raw meat."

Is this edible?

Big Bear and Baizhu showed terrified expressions and began to shrink back.

"Huh? Isn't this a normal reaction for you guys! Don't you think it smells fragrant?"

Banbu blocked Baizhu with his wing and shouted, "Baizhu, you go first, try a piece of meat."

Baizhu cautiously stretched out his paw, picked up a green vegetable from the pot, tasted it, and immediately bristled, spitting it out with a "spit" sound, rolled his eyes, stiffened his legs, and fell to the ground.

"What's your reaction? Playing dead?"

Banbu was furious, flames dancing on the tips of his wings.

"Squeak! Banbu, I should go to work."

Baizhu flipped over and scrambled up, desperately fleeing, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Fool!"

Banbu folded his wings and looked at Big Bear, saying, "Big Bear, you pick up a piece of meat and try it."

Big Bear thought for a while, picked up a piece of leg meat, took two bites, and his eyes lit up, shouting, "Banbu, it's delicious."

Banbu asked, "It's not poisonous, right?"

Big Bear shook his head, answering affirmatively, "Not poisonous."

Banbu was relieved, also picked up a piece of venison, took two bites, and couldn't help but be disappointed: it had no taste, not as good as raw meat.

Cooked food is always better than raw food, why does it taste bad?

Is it because of dietary habits?

Or is it because of racial issues?

Banbu carefully looked at the seasonings in the pot, all kinds of things, quite complete: it can't be that it's not made well, right?

He picked up a bamboo tube, scooped a mouthful of soup, and tasted it carefully, bland and tasteless.

He tentatively determined that it was because there was too little salt.

Even with salt, it's useless. The body structure of insects cannot ingest too much salt. Too much salt will affect health.

Big Bear finished gnawing a piece of deer leg meat, and said, "Banbu, I'm full."

Full? Lying to ghosts? Are you really the dumbest one on Lizhu Peak?

Banbu didn't bother to argue and said, "Big Bear, go hunt some more food in the forest."

"Okay."

Big Bear was relieved, said nothing more, and went straight down the mountain.

Humans, insects, and beasts still have differences in terms of diet. Food that humans find delicious may not necessarily be so in front of beasts and insects.

Thinking, Banbu simply dumped all the stewed meat, carried the pot, and flew back to Lizhu Peak.

… …

"An alloy pot worth 20,000 Origin Stones!"

"What other uses could it have?"

Banbu thought and thought, but couldn't think of anything else it could be used for besides stewing meat: he'll keep the pot for now, and next time he accumulates enough Origin Power energy, he can manipulate it to transform into other shapes for other purposes.

Switching his thinking, he began to think about what other uses the Divine Ability Rune in his heart could have.

Make a few metal buckets for brewing wine? Beast warriors might be able to accept it, but insect warriors definitely won't.

Fancy, no practical use.

Dusk fell.

Turning his head to look, a combat ant was directing a dozen ordinary soldier ants to use their mandibles to hold bamboo tubes and collect biogas from the biogas pool to water and fertilize the ordinary life-seed plants on the mountain.

Banbu's eyes lit up, and he had a brilliant idea: he could make a batch of water pipes to directly guide the water flow from the mountaintop reservoir to the mountainside, so that he could save Datou a lot of labor.

Especially during the dry season, all the plants on the mountain need to draw water from the mountaintop for precise irrigation, and agricultural work is the most繁重. Datou alone can't handle it, and all the members on the mountain have to participate.

If there is a tap water system leading down the mountain, it won't be so tiring during the dry season.

Thinking carefully, the amount of work is not ordinary, and the Origin Stones needed are probably in the millions, the cost is too high.

Thinking carefully again, 90% of the Origin Power used to make this pot is used to convert non-metallic substances into metallic substances. If there is high-purity metal ore, it can greatly save Origin Power, and the cost will not be outrageously high.

The seven bamboo rat warriors are all strengthened metal abilities, sensitive to metal substances, and good at digging, just suitable for finding mines.