Spotty's nest design was fairly scientific.
Despite the incessant pouring rain and the constant seepage into the drainage reservoirs, the accumulated water hadn't managed to flood the storage warehouse.
Summer thunderstorms came fast and furious, and departed just as swiftly.
By afternoon, the sun blazed fiercely after the rain.
Observing the growth changes of plants, Spotty roughly deduced that it was late spring or early summer now, and he had been asleep for a little over a month.
Currently too weak, with dangers lurking everywhere in the jungle, he dared not venture out recklessly.
He survived on two pieces of rotten leaves washed in by the storm, quietly lying by the slightly narrow entrance of his den, waiting for nightfall.
This time, the transformation of shedding the old shell was crucial for survival. His body length had surged to about 15, with a broader physique, making the previously carved nest passage less accommodating.
In his soul memory, many new memories of the Red Roach tribe's heritage were imprinted. Initially awakening, they were blurry and chaotic.
Spotty pondered carefully and roughly divided them into two categories: cultivation and survival.
With Spotty's past experience as a human, he couldn't determine whether the growth of the Red Roach tribe could be considered "cultivation." It was remarkably unique, incredible, and an evolutionary method of growth never heard of before.
When an ordinary cockroach metamorphosed into a Force being, a brand-new organ called the "Seed Pouch" would grow inside them. By incubating an ordinary plant seed inside the pouch through a complete growth cycle, the ordinary plant seed would transform into a Force plant seed, known as the "Seed of Destiny."
The Force plants cultivated by the warriors of the Red Roach tribe that Spotty saw were Seed of Destiny, not naturally generated but nurtured by the Seed Pouch.
The awakening of these memories untangled various previous doubts.
Sowing the Seed of Destiny and nurturing it carefully.
The Seed of Destiny would absorb Force, using some for its own growth while feedbacking the rest to the cultivator.
Thus, the warriors of the Red Roach tribe that Spotty saw never needed to exercise. After being full, they would lazily lie under the Force plants, seemingly motionless but constantly absorbing Force to grow.
The symbiotic relationship between Force beings and Force plants was beyond marvelous; the term "wondrous" couldn't fully describe it, but rather a "divine" aspect of the vast universe's life evolution.
Of course, the most divine aspect was the ability of the Seed Pouch to cultivate ordinary plant seeds into Force plants. The fruits condensed by Force plants were Force food with special genetic enhancement effects.
However, these cultivated Force plants had a certain flaw. They could only replicate the genetic abilities of the cultivator. For example, the Red Roach warrior Spotty saw and the raspberries it planted. The ability of raspberry fruit was to enhance cell activity, which was actually a basic ability inherent in all cockroach genes.
Natural Force plants were different; they randomly derived some Force effects that were varied and unpredictable, with effects ranging from good to bad.
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In his inherited memories, knowledge about survival was even more extensive, with most of it vague and unclear. The basic memories he could vaguely recall were mainly about the identification, classification, and simple descriptions of plants, insects, and animals by the ancestors of cockroaches.
For example, the green grass at the entrance of Spotty's den, called "Xun Tail Grass," would produce grass seeds in late summer and early autumn, known as "Xun Grass Seeds."
Beside Spotty's nest, there was a colony of ants called "Big Head Harvest Ants," big-headed creatures that liked to eat "Xun Grass Seeds," which was quite interesting, belonging to the agricultural tribes among insects.
During spring, they would sow seeds near their nests, even knowing how to weed. They usually collected other animal feces and decaying leaves to fertilize their "fields."
After the Xun Grass Seeds matured, they would collect, sun-dry, and store them.
Most of the seeds were for consumption, while the plump and robust ones were selected and sown in spring.
In the inherited memories, ants were neither tasty nor easy to provoke. Vegetarian Big Head Harvest Ants were no exception. With their big brains and well-developed mandibles, they had a strong ability to tear through armor.
There was no room for them to nest near Spotty's resting place.
Spotty's original plan was to evolve some combat capabilities and then eradicate this nest of Big Head Harvest Ants. Despite their large numbers, they were easy to exterminate. After finding the queen ant and killing her, the remaining ants would lose their ability to reproduce, and the colony would quickly perish.
These ants were mild in temperament, not aggressive. They primarily fed on seeds, occasionally picking up the corpses of dead insects for protein but never actively hunting live insects.
Now, it seemed they could be left alone; they might prove useful.
The nest of Big Head Harvest Ants was also affected by the heavy rain. In the afternoon, they brought out the stored Xun Grass Seeds and placed them in a sunny spot to dry.
After observing for a while, Spotty decided to act as a thief. He swiftly rushed forward, swallowed one Xun Grass Seed he fancied, took off, circled around, and sneakily returned to his nest.
The angry Big Head Harvest Ants shook their antennae vigorously. Hundreds or even thousands of companions rushed out of the nest, swirling around, searching for the enemy. But they dared not approach Spotty's resting place.
They looked fierce, but in reality, they were quite cute little creatures, with individual lengths ranging from 1 to 3, and only a few soldier ants could reach a length of 3. They didn't have the courage to challenge the "giant" with a length of 15.
Spotty's size was not considered large, and the capacity of the Seed Pouch was indeed limited, so the small Xun Grass Seed was just right.
Moreover, at this season, jungle plants were in the flowering and fruiting stage, and only the harvest ants stored seeds. Apart from Xun Grass Seeds, there was no other choice.
"The first Seed of Destiny chosen is the Xun Grass Seed, which will grow into Xun Grass. The advantage is fast growth, but there is no promising future."
"In fact, the ideal choice would be raspberries, but those are only found in the mountains and are only suitable for planting there..."
Spotty contemplated whether to return to the mountains but quickly dispelled the thought. Having experienced the entire spring season, the cockroaches in the mountains were probably eaten up by various predators. However, by nature, those animals would settle where food was abundant, making it still a dangerous place.
Moreover, raspberry fruits only matured in autumn. Taking the risk to go there now wouldn't yield any seeds.
Enduring until nightfall.
Enduring through the noisy late night.
Until the period between night and dawn, Spotty hurriedly went out, climbed up a tree, and began to search.
He checked several tree holes, all of them empty.
"All the woodworm larvae have pupated into adult woodworms!"
"So, the caterpillars and butterfly larvae should also have all transformed into moths and butterflies."
Spotty suddenly
realized, continued searching for a few rounds, found nothing, and finally concluded, "At this time of the season, there are no nutrient-rich and plump larvae to be found on the trees."
He did encounter a few resting locusts along the way, but Spotty was a semi-failed evolution, malnourished and weak, with no ability to hunt live prey.
Luck wasn't on his side. After wandering around until dawn, he couldn't find any insect corpses. With no other choice, he reluctantly returned to his nest, nibbling on rotten leaves to satisfy his hunger.
There was too little protein in plants; he needed to consume meat to pass through this period of weakness quickly.
The summer weather was also terrible, with a whole day of stifling heat followed by overnight heavy rain. The rainwater almost overflowed the drainage reservoirs and entered the storage warehouse.
There was no problem with the nest design, just that it was too small and couldn't withstand the test of heavy rain. It needed to be redesigned and expanded, but he didn't have the energy to do it for the time being.