Astral Sand Locust

The morning light on the arid wasteland is equally scorching.

The scorching air swayed slightly.

In the distorted and swaying vision, what was once a hill was blasted down by the 'gift of nature' falling from the sky.

The mountainside was cracked, boulders rolled down, and small and large stones were scattered everywhere.

……

The locust tree, flying through the air, paused slightly, looked at the scene before it with a hint of shock, and then flapped its wings with all its might to rush towards the sinkhole.

A giant, yellowish-brown cylinder tilted and plunged into the bottom of the pit. The terrifying impact shattered the entire mountain and pierced deep into the earth.

The locust tree slows down, glides, hovers, and is observed up close.

The surface of the cylinder is covered with relief patterns of unknown and strange animals and plants.

Unknown material.

Despite the devastating impact, the cylinder remained completely intact, with no damage whatsoever to the exquisite and delicate relief carvings on its surface.

"Undoubtedly a divine object!"

Sha Huai glided down to the top of the cylinder, used his mental energy to scan and measure, and then began to struggle.

This thing is enormous, more than five or six meters in diameter, and its length is unknown. Even a random, unidentified animal relief is much larger than the sand locust tree.

—What kind of magical object is this? What is it used for? How do you use it?

As was his habit, Sha Huai buried his head and stroked his antennae, pondering. Just as he was about to examine and study them further, his heart skipped a beat and he suddenly tensed up.

Sha Huai turned around in a flash, pulled back, straightened his front legs, and looked up at the top of the sinkhole.

At the edge of the sinkhole, on a flat piece of gravel, lies a black beetle nearly thirty centimeters long.

Zerg Warriors!

Its jaws are crescent-shaped with sharp, serrated teeth.

The elytra are thick, jet black and glossy.

A warrior from a certain armored tribe!

According to inherited memories, the infantry armor is good at running but not good at flying.

The sand locust tree immediately responded correctly: it kicked its legs, spread its wings, and took off.

However, the sand locust did not escape.

According to the inherited memories, the Zerg warriors born in the natural astral plane all belong to the natural pantheon, and they are all descendants of the true gods of nature.

Newly born warriors should seek out their tribe and ask their elders for protection.

But in this scorching, arid, and rocky wasteland, life is scarce, making it impossible to form a community, and naturally there is no way to find shelter from one's own kind.

This is the first time we've seen Zerg warriors.

Sha Huai has awakened his Force, developed self-awareness, and become a locust warrior for quite some time now. This is the first time he has seen other Zerg warriors.

Judging from its size, the opponent is also a newly born novice warrior.

The other party seemed surprised and curious as well, raising its antennae and staring intently at the sand locust tree.

The sand locust tree flies through the air, rising, falling, shifting to the left, drifting to the right, maneuvering up, down, left, and right...

After a somewhat clumsy display of flying skills, Sha Huai realized that the other party had no intention of attacking. He glided down to the top of the tilted stone pillar and looked calmly at the other party.

Seeing this, the armored warrior strode forward, sliding down the slope of the sinkhole. He stopped about twenty meters from the bottom, near the sand acacia tree, and waved his antennae in acknowledgment, simultaneously transmitting a mental message:

"Are you a Zerg warrior?"

Isn't this obvious?

The distance was too great for the sand locust's spiritual power to travel, so it responded by nodding its tentacles up and down.

"Are you from the Locust Clan?"

The armored warrior sent another mental inquiry.

Isn't that obvious?

The sand locust twitched its antennae, silently labeling its adversary as "not smart" in its mind.

This big black armored warrior was really not very smart; it asked again:

"Your wings are well-developed, making you adept at flight. You belong to the Locust Tribe, are you?"

There's no need to delve into something so obvious that you can see it with your own eyes, and there's no need to ask so many questions, right?

The sand locust patiently responded by nodding its antennae.

"Judging from your physique, you've only recently awakened your soul consciousness, haven't you? Second-stage? Third-stage?"

The sand locust tree twitched its antennae, making two sharp movements.

Do you live nearby?

"..."

The sand locust hesitated for a moment, then raised its claw and pointed south.

It's nearby; you can get there quickly by air.

But it's not particularly close; crawling or running on the ground would definitely take some time.

"I live over there too. I saw a fireball fall from the sky and hit the ground, so I came to check it out..."

The armored warrior, his emotions rising with excitement, asked, "This is something that fell from the sky? There was a mountain here? It blasted it down!"

The sand locust tree merely twitched its antennae.

"What is this thing?"

"..."

"What's the use?"

"..."

Sha Huai choked back tears, paused for a moment, thought for a moment, then gently pushed off with his legs, spread his wings, glided, circled, and landed on a broken rock two meters away from the armored warrior. He then unleashed his mental power and replied:

"I have no idea."

"It's enormous!"

"Yes."

"It's too heavy. I can't move it."

"..."

The sand locust tree was utterly speechless.

Since we met, this armored warrior has been asking questions and talking non-stop, but all of his words are completely useless.

Sha Huai took the initiative to say, "My name is Sha Huai. My first life seed, which is currently being nurtured, is a Sha Huai tree seed. I am a second-instar, novice desert locust tribe warrior."

"Sand locust?"

"I've seen the sand locust tree before..."

The armored warrior raised its antennae and said, "You're only in your second instar. So you were just born this year?"

"Obviously," Sha Huai replied weakly.

The armored warrior followed up with, "Are you a locust?"

Sha Huai replied, "Yes. Born in a place like this, I can't find any elders of my clan."

"yes……"

The armored warrior seemed to have thought of something, and his high spirits suddenly dropped.

Sha Huai asked, "What's your name?"

The armored warrior replied, "A bean tree. My first life seed was a bean tree."

"Oh—Mother Bean!"

"Hmm—Sand Locust!"

Sha Huai asked in quick succession, "Race? A low-level warrior? How old? What age group?"

Mu Dou replied, "Giant Flat Grounder. One and a half years old. An 8-year-old novice warrior."

—Giant flat armor!

The search for inherited memories by the sand locust tree yielded results quickly.

A family of ground beetles with an exceptionally large body size; the adult giant flat ground beetle is 6 to 10 centimeters long.

After initial awakening, a 1-year-old can reach a body length of 10 to 12 centimeters.

Mudou is still an 8-year-old novice warrior, and its body length has already reached 30 centimeters.

"Do you recognize this tree, the sand locust?"

Mudou swayed its antennae, pointing towards the giant cylinder that was tilted and inserted into the earth.

"I don't know him."

"So, what did you discover?"

"no."

"So... what's the use of this thing?"

"Unknown purpose."

"So, Sand Locust, you're only 2 years old? You haven't eaten any Force food before, have you?"

"I've never eaten it before."

"How long have you been in your second evolutionary stage?"

"It's been a long time. Two months? Three months? I can't remember."

"It's been so long? Sand Acacia, you need Force Food to accelerate your evolution!"

After Mu Dou finished speaking, he waved his two antennae, pointing them both to the south, and then continued:

"You also come from the south, and our territories aren't far apart. You can come to my territory and eat some Primal Force food."

Force food?

territory?

Where do novice warriors get territory and Force food?

When the natural insectoids awaken their Force and become insectoid warriors, they will receive the blessing of the true god of nature, and a special organ called the "life sac" will grow in their bodies.

Zerg warriors can collect ordinary plant seeds into their life sacs, nurture them into Force seeds, and plant them to create Force plants.

This primal plant is linked to the warrior's life and fate, hence it is called the "Seed of Destiny".

The flowering and fruiting of plants produce primal energy food, which can enhance strength and accelerate evolution, making it the most essential resource.

The Zerg warriors are named after the first life seed they spawn.

Within the life sac of the sand locust tree lies a 'sand locust life seed'.

The life sac of the bean must also be nurturing a 'bean seed'.

We are all novice warriors. We need to break through to evolve into intermediate warriors before we can nurture our first life seed.

After a Zerg warrior plants a seed, the place where the seed takes root is called territory.

You haven't even planted the seeds of life, so where do you get your territory?

Where do Force Foods come from?

Sha Huai asked, "Mu Dou, do you perhaps have elders?"

Mudou gently swayed its antennae, glancing left and right, and answered somewhat guiltily, "I guess so..."