While Nexus personally watched two nymphs conceiving a child… children to be exact, he is still kind of ignorant of how nymphs increase their population.
Considering that the nymphs are tied to him and their growth was also his own growth, there was a great need for Nexus to learn how the nymphs make more nymphs.
"I want to know the details of Butterfly Nymphs' reproduction." Nexus conveyed his intentions, and Wyden frowned at himself for his negligence.
The Mushroom Spirit is a newborn Spirit and is ignorant of a lot of things. Wyden actually neglected to inform the Guardian Spirit about their race's reproduction method!
The way nymphs reproduce is different compared to other races, and anyone who is not aware would be surprised.
This seems like the reason why the Guardian Spirit sounded indifferent at the prospect of reproduction. Turns out, it was unaware!
"Your Highness, we Butterfly Nymphs, and even most nymphs, reproduce differently compared to most races."
"Butterfly Nymphs cannot control when we can reproduce, but there is a sign. Once we see butterfly tattoos on our palms, it means that we are fertile and we can try to reproduce with the help of a nymph of the opposite gender."
Hearing this part of Wyden's explanation, Nexus remembered the butterfly tattoo he saw on the couple earlier. After they conceived their offspring, the tattoo seems to have vanished.
"The tattoo can exist as short as a few days, or as long as weeks, months, or even years before vanishing. As long as we have the tattoos, we can reproduce, but most of the time, once we conceive, the tattoos would also vanish."
"There is no set pattern for when we will have the tattoo. Sometimes it could be just once a year or even once every month. However, we do notice that it has some relation to our physical state."
"The healthier our bodies, the more often the tattoos emerged. In the past, we didn't have enough strength to keep us safe and gather enough food. As such, it was hard for us to have the chance to reproduce"
"Fortunately, with Your Highness's blessings, things are getting better every day. I believe it would only be a matter of time before almost everyone in the tribe will have the tattoo again."
With Wyden's explanation, Nexus was enlightened. It seems like holding hands every day to conceive more nymphs was impossible; the nymphs have to be 'fertile' first.
"How about the babies, how exactly are they being conceived?" Nexus inquired, and Wyden also patiently explained that.
"When the palms of two fertile nymphs touched, eggs would be made, though there are times when nymphs failed to conceive even when they are fertile."
"If successful, the female nymph would have a leaf mark on the back of their palm. The number of eggs on the leaf indicates the number of nymphs about to be born."
"It takes a week before the mother releases the eggs from the back of their palms. After that, the eggs must be kept at a warm temperature for another week before the nymphs emerge."
"To reach physical maturity would take around three more months, and by then, they can start to cultivate and become Transcendents."
One week after conceiving to lay the eggs, one week for the eggs to hatch, and three months to reach physical maturity… this… isn't this too fast?
Nexus was expecting to take decades before he witnessed the next generation of the tribe becoming Transcendents, but it would actually take less than four months before a newborn nymph could start to cultivate.
This isn't just fast, it was bullet train fast!
Nonetheless, this was actually good news for Nexus. With more nymphs, he could absorb more faith.
It was only a matter of time before he reached the Spirit Nourishing Realm, the Resonant Harmony Realm, and possibly even beyond that!
—-
"This wouldn't do. My progress is too slow."
Inside Wyden's tent, he can be seen opening his eyes while a frown hangs on his face. He was dissatisfied with his cultivation speed.
While he was currently the most talented in the tribe, it doesn't mean that he was actually talented.
He was merely a bigger ant compared to other ants, but at the end of the day, he was still an ant.
"I heard that talented cultivators can reach the peak of Transcendents in a few years, but with my cultivation speed, I might take several years just to advance again."
It can be said that although the nymphs had a plan of annihilating the enemy lizardmen tribe, it was something that they originally thought of as possible only after a few years.
Their initial plan was to wait until one of them became a high-level Transcendent. If not for the Guardian Spirit's order, they wouldn't attack so early.
Wyden knew that, despite the fact that the tribe is flourishing now, they are still weak. They don't even have a peak Transcendent amongst them.
When his late father was young, his father roamed inside and outside the Dragonspine Forest. He had seen many of the world's truths and one of which is that even a peak Transcendent is just ants in the big picture.
Since the tribe doesn't even have a peak Transcendent, it means that they are weaker and lower than even ants!
As such, Wyden is anxious and feels insecure. At the very least, he wanted to become an 'ant' and not something even inferior to it.
"I need resources. My talent is lacking, and I can only compensate for it with the use of resources" he muttered.
Nymphs grow quickly, and they also have a longer lifespan compared to most races, but in return, they cultivate more slowly, and their talent is also mediocre.
Nature has a way of balancing things. If nymphs can grow fast, have a long lifespan, yet still have monstrous cultivation talent, the world might have been dominated by them already.
After determining that peaceful cultivation was not giving him satisfactory progress, Wyden decided to do something and hunt for resources.
"From what my father taught me, there are a few cultivation resources I can gather nearby. One is the water stone, the same one we gained from the lizardmen tribe."
"When wearing the water stone or putting it close to one's body and injecting mana into it, the cultivator's power would increase, but the price is a drop in cultivation realm. However, father told me that if we crush the water stone into powder and mix it with some common herbs before consuming, we could create an elixir that aids cultivation."
"Aside from the water stone, there were also the mana crystals inside the territory of the Wailing Bats nearby. Absorbing the mana inside the mana crystals makes it faster to accumulate mana compared to cultivating by absorbing the free mana in our surroundings."
"There were also the amberthorn basils that can only be found by digging around, or the rare thunderpulse reed and blooddew orchid."
"Most of these are either protected by powerful beasts or are rare and hard to find. As of the moment, the one I could try my luck on was the water stone."
"Since the Lizardman Chief possessed one, there might be a source of it nearby, and the danger level is not high, considering that a high-level Transcendent managed to obtain it."
As the chief shouldering the fate of the tribe, Wyden doesn't have room for hesitation. Since he decided to rely on external resources to increase his power as fast as possible, he decided to act immediately.
He walked out of his tent, and the tribe and nymphs greeted his eyes. Seeing his family happy with a smile and joy in their faces also brought him happiness.
He vowed to forever protect the smile of his family, and seeing them just made him more determined to increase his power.
"Lino, Ygro, take care of our tribe and protect the Guardian Spirit. I will go out for a while."
Before leaving, Wyden informed his people first, especially Lino and Ygro, the only other mid-level Transcendents in the tribe.
"Where are you going, Chief? Are you going hunting?"
"Chief, you should take some nymphs with you. It is dangerous outside of our tribe."
The two reminded kindly. The nymphs like to eat fruits, nuts, and vegetables rather than meat, but they still constantly hunt wild animals or even magic beasts, and most of the time, they offer them as a sacrifice to the Guardian Spirit once a week.
As such, the two thought that Wyden was out to hunt again. After all, he was the one who usually did the hunting.
Wyden was indeed a qualified chief. He was not afraid of danger, and he even bravely put himself in danger rather than his people.
It was no wonder that despite the fact that there were nymphs older than him, he automatically became the chief after his father's death.
"No, this time I'm not going out to hunt. I need to find something."
Before the two could even ask for more questions, Wyden already bade farewell. He was not sure if his search would bear fruit, and he didn't want to give the tribe false hope.