Astral Cockroach

Banbu was startled by the sudden thought, followed by a jump of his soul, keenly sensing that deep underground, a force of life was reviving.

"The natural force has not revived!"

"You are a Marquis-level warrior! You…"

What awakened was the Tree Spirit.

The unusually tall chestnut tree in front of him was not an ordinary plant, but a "divine-grade" God-given species that had stood the test of time.

Having survived to this day, it possessed unique abilities. All its life force was gathered in the underground roots, condensing the tree heart, while the trunk and branches had not withered.

The sleeping Tree Spirit was stimulated and awakened by the force aura released by Banbu, and in a daze, it realized that it had misunderstood many things.

"You are not a Black Cockroach Tribe warrior… The force has not revived…"

"Only you, a single warrior? You did not return from the starry sky… You… Where did you come from?"

"I… I came from another continent…" Banbu sensed that the Tree Spirit was tending towards rage, and quickly explained, "There are many longhorn beetle larvae parasitizing the tree, I just wanted to scare them to death…"

"Fool, you disturbed my slumber!"

Sure enough, the Tree Spirit, having come to its senses, flew into a violent rage, then became fearful, and asked, "The divine power of the gods' protection has been exhausted? The illusionary and colorful barrier isolating the continents is gone?"

"That's not the case…" Banbu's mind raced, and he spoke quickly, preempting the Tree Spirit's next outburst: "I come from a continent where the force still exists and is relatively abundant. I possess the special ability to freely traverse the illusionary and colorful barrier."

"You can cross the illusionary and colorful barrier!" The Tree Spirit was greatly surprised and asked, "You crossed the illusionary and colorful barrier alive?"

Banbu affirmed, "Yes."

The Tree Spirit asked, "Can you still go back? Are you sure that the continent you live on still has abundant force?"

"…" Banbu said, "Confirmed."

The Tree Spirit asked, "Can go back?"

Banbu said, "I have traveled back and forth across the illusionary and colorful barrier, visiting several continents. There's definitely no problem."

The Tree Spirit said, "I slumber in the form of a tree heart. Once awakened, I must grow in an environment with force, do you understand?"

Banbu's heart leaped with joy and said, "I understand."

The Tree Spirit said, "You must take responsibility for this, responsible for safely taking me back to the continent you live on."

Banbu readily agreed, "That's a must."

"Hmph, this will also benefit you!" The Tree Spirit asked, "The gods have not yet returned?"

"…" Banbu asked back, "What gods? Didn't the gods fall?"

"It seems you are just a little Black Cockroach who understands nothing." The Tree Spirit finished speaking, then corrected itself, "You are not a Black Cockroach, your carapace is just black. The aura of the carapace's flame, are you a Fire Cockroach Tribe? There are no Stout Cockroaches as skinny as you, right?"

Banbu said, "A derivative tribe of the Fire Cockroach Tribe's derivative tribe, the Red Cockroach Tribe."

The Tree Spirit asked, "Which derivative tribe of the Fire Cockroach Tribe? Evolved to have both flame and metal abilities? Turned black?"

Banbu said, "That's not the case. I'm quite special, I additionally awakened a second elemental ability."

"No wonder you look like a Black Cockroach warrior." The Tree Spirit's consciousness suddenly weakened and asked, "Do you have any raw stones? My life force is extremely weak, causing my soul to weaken, and I urgently need to replenish force."

"This… I do!" Banbu said, "I'll go get them for you."

The Tree Spirit said, "Go then. Little Black Cockroach, hurry up."

"…" Banbu corrected, "It's Red Cockroach, my name is Banbu."

"Anything black is called Black Cockroach, anything fiery red is called Fire Cockroach, shouldn't Red Cockroach be crimson red?" The Tree Spirit seemed very talkative, but it currently didn't have the strength to chat more with Banbu, and simply said, "My name is Iron Gall Chestnut."

"Alright."

Banbu responded, flapped his wings, and ascended into the air, first heading towards the abandoned raw stone mountain range.

Flying low, he quickly discovered a large area of fresh soil and rocks.

Landing to investigate.

Little White Bamboo was diligently digging a mine tunnel. Sensing Banbu's arrival, it quickly emerged, calling out in surprise, "Banbu! We're rich! Raw stones! The high-purity kind."

"Oh… What a pleasant surprise!"

Banbu originally planned to have White Bamboo follow Camellia over to Iron Gall Chestnut's place to keep an eye on things, and then return to the canyon himself to retrieve a force crystal, but it seemed the plan needed to be changed again.

Banbu asked, "Is the quantity large?"

Little White Bamboo replied, "There aren't many distributed on the surface, and they're very scattered, the leftovers from previous mining. The other party was very unprofessional and didn't dig clean. I need to dig deeper, there should be rich ore deposits deep underground."

After Little White Bamboo finished speaking, it burrowed into the freshly excavated mine tunnel and quickly came out holding a raw stone, translucent like jade, with a captivating agate-red color.

"Banbu, beautiful blood raw stone! This one is very high purity and can be directly weighed and cut as a common currency."

The force properties of raw stones are all the same, presenting different colors due to the different impurities they contain.

However, this kind of brilliantly red raw stone was indeed rare, and many insect warriors, especially certain insect warriors with red carapaces, liked to collect them as decorations.

Banbu tapped his antennae and said, "Well, then you continue digging."

Little White Bamboo asked, "Banbu, did you need me for something?"

Banbu said, "When Camellia comes looking for you later, have it wait."

Little White Bamboo asked, "Anything else?"

Banbu said, "I discovered a living 'divine-grade' God-given species. It's very weak and needs to replenish force. I'll return to the canyon first and bring a force crystal over."

"A living 'divine-grade' God-given species?!" Little White Bamboo jumped up happily and exclaimed, "Banbu, Reeds Bamboo Peak is rich again!"

"We urgently need raw stones right now, Little White Bamboo, continue digging." Banbu instructed, spread his wing membranes, ascended into the air, and disappeared.

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…

Returning to the canyon, he gathered White Bamboo and made simple preparations.

White Bamboo carried a backpack, containing a force crystal storage box and a force crystal.

Banbu carried White Bamboo, flying through the air, heading straight.

Arriving at the hills where the Iron Gall Chestnut God-given species was rooted, Camellia was already waiting under the tree.

Just as they landed, before Banbu could speak, the Iron Gall Chestnut Tree Spirit couldn't help but say a few words:

"What is this? A rodent warrior!"

"Banbu, is this raccoon cat warrior also raised by you? Quite cute."

"It seems that the Myriad Race Continent you live on has abundant force, otherwise, you definitely wouldn't have the leisure to raise beast warriors. When the force is exhausted, you'll know how precious resources are, and you'll learn to cherish…"

White Bamboo glared, quickly took off the backpack, and took out the metal box and force crystal.

"What is this again?" The Iron Gall Chestnut Tree Spirit frequently transmitted thoughts, currently extremely weak, but just couldn't resist its curiosity.

Banbu replied, "A force crystal and a force crystal storage box, from extraterrestrial metal debris. Iron Gall Chestnut, your condition is very poor, don't communicate for now."

Then he instructed, "White Bamboo, hurry up."

"Alright." White Bamboo carefully sensed the distribution of the underground roots and began digging.

The Iron Gall Chestnut Tree Spirit was silent for a few seconds, couldn't hold back, and asked, "Extraterrestrial metal debris? What is that? Force crystals contain a lot of force! From extraterrestrial? I can tell you, that's the starry sky!"

"Yes, that's right, I know, the starry sky… Iron Gall Chestnut, you're too weak, very dangerous, don't use your mind to communicate for now."

Banbu turned sideways and asked, "Camellia, why did you come over? What's wrong?"

Camellia replied, "Little White Bamboo dug up a raw stone mine, the purity is very high, it's qualified ore. The quantity is also quite large."

The Iron Gall Chestnut Tree Spirit explained, "It must be the ore vein discovered by Sugar Chestnut. It said that there were still many raw stones left, not completely mined."

Banbu asked, "Sugar Chestnut?"

The Iron Gall Chestnut Tree Spirit said, "The last warrior… You tell that rodent warrior… it can appropriately cut off some tree roots… Be careful, don't hurt the tree heart…"

The Tree Spirit awakened, but not only did it not receive a force supplement, it also kept using its mind to communicate. Gradually, its speech became intermittent, and then there was no more.

Another chatterbox! Banbu urged, "White Bamboo, hurry up."

White Bamboo vigorously dug, excavating a tunnel directly to the tree heart's location.

Everything was prepared.

Banbu used his metal ability to control the force crystal storage box lid to float, concentrating and waiting.

White Bamboo cut the force crystal into powder and quickly put it into the box.

With two light sounds, a clang and a click, the box lid closed.

The force crystal storage box slowly and steadily leaked force outward.

White Bamboo held the box and deftly burrowed into the tunnel, placing the box next to the tree heart.

"Banbu, what is the starry sky?" This fellow White Bamboo had a habit of snooping for secrets. While working, he had been carefully listening, and grasped the keywords in the conversation, and was now curiously asking.

Banbu sternly warned, "The gods and the starry sky are both taboos, White Bamboo, Camellia, you two remember, don't spread it around."

"I'm not that bored. I don't like this Tree Spirit, it's noisy." Camellia wagged its tail, as if to say goodbye, and said, "I'm going to see how many raw stones Little White Bamboo has dug up."