fantastic ideas

"Oh benevolent Father, with my current strength, I can produce over five hundred of these fleshy beds. If I were to produce more, it would exceed the limits of my body. In fact, before I was blessed by you, benevolent Father, I could only produce two hundred of them. It is your benevolence that has granted me this powerful body!"

Deng Ru detected the Queen Ant's meaning through her flattery. She used to only be able to produce two hundred, but now she had become more capable and could produce five hundred.

That meant, at full capacity, she could produce four million ants in an hour.

Truly a formidable insect of reproduction.

Twenty-four hours a day, four hundred thousand ants per hour, that was nine million six hundred thousand ants per day.

After calculating in his mind, Deng Ru suddenly realized that even at this rate of nine million six hundred thousand per day, it would still take over a hundred days to reach a billion.

Which meant they needed the Queen Ant to produce even faster.

Otherwise, with this rate of production, a month's time was far from sufficient.

"If I were to grant you even greater enhancement, could you produce more of these fleshy beds?" Deng Ru inquired.

Since absorbing divine power had allowed the Queen Ant to upgrade from two hundred to five hundred, could she now upgrade from five hundred to a thousand?

After all, a sharp tool makes good work.

"Oh benevolent Father, I am grateful for your generosity. If I continue to grow stronger, I believe I can indeed produce more fleshy beds," the Queen Ant replied affirmatively.

"And if these fleshy beds were also enhanced, could they produce more offspring?" Deng Ru pointed to the fleshy beds that were currently spewing out ant eggs and inquired.

The Queen Ant was momentarily stumped. After a brief hesitation, she gave a somewhat uncertain answer.

"Perhaps... maybe... they should be able to produce more, right?"

The Queen Ant wasn't sure. After all, she knew how many fleshy beds she could produce based on her own body, but these fleshy beds were like pieces of meat that had fallen off her. She had no idea how they could produce more ants.

Her answer was based solely on her own bodily experience.

Deng Ru understood that this little ant's intelligence couldn't comprehend much, and they would need practical experience to find out.

He bestowed a batch of divine power upon these fleshy beds.

The production rate of the fleshy beds increased significantly. Previously, they could only spew out two hundred to four hundred eggs at a time.

After being blessed with divine power, their production increased noticeably, to about three hundred to six hundred eggs.

Although it wasn't a doubling of production, it was still a significant increase.

Unfortunately, each believer could only receive divine power once in their lifetime, so Deng Ru couldn't just keep bestowing power endlessly.

They would have to rely on the Queen Ant to become stronger and produce more fleshy beds, which Deng Ru could then bless.

This was the most stable plan currently.

With this in mind, Deng Ru released over seven million points of divine power.

"Absorb as much of this divine power as you can. Your current goals are to grow stronger and reproduce. Do you understand?"

Upon hearing this, the Queen Ant quickly waved her two antennae, and the surrounding divine power began to flood into her body, enhancing and transforming her.

Deng Ru also took this opportunity to study how the Queen Ant absorbed this divine power.

He saw that the divine power flowed into the Queen Ant's body through her antennae, wandering and circulating within her, constantly forging and tempering her shell.

"I overestimated you... I really overestimated you. This little guy is just brute-forcing the divine power?" Deng Ru was stunned. This little ant was actually growing stronger by enduring the forging of divine power.

No wonder she couldn't explain how it worked. She didn't rely on any techniques.

She didn't need any techniques to make the divine power gentle. She could directly use it to temper her body and make it harder.

But this method was only possible for the Queen Ant.

If any other ant tried it, they would likely not last a second before being overwhelmed by the vast divine power.

So they still needed to find a way to allow ants to cultivate divine power safely, to withstand its vastness, and make it gentle enough for direct absorption and tempering.

As for the Queen Ant, with the tempering of divine power, her body began to grow larger.

She had only been the size of a rat before, but now she had doubled in size.

Her body also turned a deep red, and silver-white patterns began to emerge on her back.

She felt incredibly powerful at this moment.

This change made her excitedly wave her antennae.

"Oh benevolent Father, I feel better than ever before, and I am still growing stronger. I believe I can now produce over two thousand fleshy beds."

The Queen Ant was intelligent. She knew well the value she and her colony held for Deng Ru: their incredible reproductive capabilities.

Deng Ru did some calculations after hearing this.

Previously, with five hundred beds, it would take over a hundred days to reach a billion.

But now, with two thousand beds, it would only take about twenty-five days.

...

If he hadn't used divine power to enhance the Queen Ant, these little ants would never have reached the number of twenty billion in a month that they had boasted about.

This little brat had dared to deceive even him. Truly, she had balls of steel.

Thinking of this, Deng Ru couldn't help but feel a little speechless.

She really was as naive as a child, unhesitatingly lying to gain benefits without considering the consequences of being caught.

The Queen Ant looked at Deng Ru's solemn expression and was momentarily taken aback. She suddenly realized what she had done.

She had deceived their God!

Being deceived by one's followers was a humiliating thing for a deity.

She didn't know that, but she knew that their colony might lose the blessing of their deity.

Even the great power she had just obtained might be taken away.

Nonexistent cold sweat poured profusely from her nonexistent forehead. After all, as an ant, she didn't have sweat glands.

Her two antennae trembled frantically, transmitting a flood of explanations.

"Oh benevolent Father, I am guilty of a great sin. I deceived you. I should not have deceived you to gain your favor. Oh benevolent Father, please do not abandon us. I alone will bear all punishments."

"...This time, I will let it slide. But I hope you will give me accurate numbers in the future. I do not need your exaggerated figures."

Seeing that the little ant seemed genuinely remorseful, Deng Ru decided not to dwell on it.

After all, the Queen Ant only had the mentality of a six-year-old child. He couldn't expect her to understand the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust at such a young age.

"Thank you for your benevolence!"

The Queen Ant wiped her face with her antennae, feeling as if she had just narrowly escaped death.

"Continue to reproduce here peacefully. My demands are not excessive. Ten billion ants is the minimum. Not a single one less."

With that, Deng Ru walked out and took out his phone, opening the social media app and tapping on the profile picture of the young Taoist priest Xiao Qing, whom he had added before.

After all, as a fervent believer of a deity, he was sure to know a lot.