In the following months, when the weather permits, the protagonist will send out an exploration team, sending five glances in succession, all to reconnoiter and explore the territory of the Leafcutter Ant Kingdom to the west.
Although sometimes unexpected weather conditions caused the expedition team to fail to return, these sacrifices were valuable.
After the exploration team went back and forth, the protagonist finally found the specific location of the hematite in the leaf-cutter ant territory.
The hematite is not far from the tree nest of leaf-cutting ants discovered by the first exploration team. It is about two days' journey from [.
There is a small forest open space with a very conspicuous terrain. Compared with the dense vegetation around it, all the surface vegetation here has been cleared away, and the ground covering soil has also been dug away, revealing a pit as big as a manhole cover and half a meter deep. The bottom inside is red soil, mixed with hematite ore.
But these hematite ores are generally small in size, just like those captured by fire ants from leaf-cutting ant nests. They are natural small particles, which are very suitable for ants to transport. If it were a large piece of iron ore, the leafcutter ants probably wouldn't be able to move it away.
The exploration team brought back a small amount of iron ore and passed the information back at the same time.
As the exploration team's search scope expanded, the protagonist also discovered the use, or one of the uses, of the leaf-cutter ants' hematite.
The exploration team discovered that the roots of some particularly huge trees in the woods had exactly the same complex patterns drawn on the bark with hematite powder.
The protagonist read the pattern from the information package and felt that the pattern seemed familiar. This pattern is generally a circle, but it does not close at the bottom, but leaves a small gap; at the same time, a small seedling pattern with two leaves grows from the gap; and at the top of the circle, there are two more The short arcs stretch to the left and right, looking like an ear.
The protagonist sees these graphics and thinks deeply. These patterns seem to be related to the belief of leaf-cutting ants, and they are probably symbols of tree worship.
Ants also believe in gods, such as those in the old Big-headed Ant Kingdom, but they have not embodied gods. Previously, at the Big-headed Ant Survivor's place, the protagonist learned that some of the gods they believed in had specific images.
For example, the supreme god that the big-headed ant tribe believes in is an ant that lacks middle limbs and antennae and has a smooth and soft body surface; they also believe in a tree god that is shaped like a sheet, a god of wind and water that is shaped like a plate, and a circled flame. The god of fire, the god of rain who is like a pie with many holes.
The protagonist used to be puzzled by such an image, but before discovering that there were humans before this world, and today he was struck by this strange symbolic shape of leaf-cutter ants that obviously has religious significance, the protagonist suddenly woke up!
Damn it! The supreme god believed in by the survivors of the big-headed ants lacks middle limbs and antennae, and looks like an ant with a smooth and soft body surface. Doesn’t it look similar to a human being?
Is the circled, swaying flame-like Vulcan like a stove?
The rain god is like a big cake with many holes, and when connected, it is a shower!
Only the images of the tree god and the feng shui god are too simple and abstract, and the protagonist cannot guess their round shape!
The protagonist now firmly believes that his guess is right. The ancestors of the big-headed ant survivors have obviously inherited some memories from the human civilization period! Could it be that the origin of ant civilization actually occurred in an era before human civilization became extinct? Could this era be closer than imagined?
Turning his thoughts back, the protagonist knows that it doesn't make much sense to discuss the relationship between human civilization and ant civilization now. He turned back to ponder the strange patterns the leaf-cutter ants had drawn with hematite powder.
From the fact that these patterns only appear on particularly large trees and the habits of leaf-cutting ants, the protagonist speculates that leaf-cutting ants have the custom of tree worship.
Tree worship is also very common in human civilization and can be found in almost every civilization. For example, some ethnic groups practice tree burials and so on. Even in an era of very advanced civilization, many people still believe in the concept that peach trees can ward off evil spirits.
Leaf-cutter ants make trees their home, live off trees, and worship trees. It is reasonable to regard some particularly huge trees as sacred trees.
Could it be that the patterns drawn by these hematite powders are the images of tree gods that leaf-cutting ants think? Or is it a religious symbol like the cross or crescent?
The protagonist looked at this symbol again in his mind: a circle with no closure at the bottom, leaving a small gap; a sapling pattern grew out of the gap; and at the top of the circle, there were two arcs. Stretching to the left and right, it looks like a pair of simplified ears.
This pattern looks familiar, but I just can’t remember it! The protagonist always feels that he cannot grasp the memory of his past life at a critical moment, and he really deserves to be beaten!
(Readers have guessed this pattern. I guess many people are familiar with it. If you can’t guess it, feel free to leave (*・ω・)✄╰ひ╯)
——I am the dividing line——
This winter, the Angel King Legion not only found the location of the hematite, but also made great progress.
With the introduction of iron tools, the ability of ants to process items has been greatly improved. With the application of new tools such as iron saws, iron knives, iron planes, and iron drills, the newly formed scientific research team has been guided by the protagonist. Next, the components of the ballista were improved, and the standardization of ballista parts was achieved to a certain extent.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Just like the great progress mankind has made in entering the Iron Age, the Divine Envoy King's Army has also achieved greater development relying on the only iron tools it currently has.
The protagonist used some scarce iron resources and used hammering techniques to build himself a simple piece of armor. The armor is fixed to the body with ant silk ropes, which can protect the head and most of the back and sides of the body without affecting breathing and the flexibility of the six limbs.
However, because the hinges and other structures are too complex, the protagonist cannot make these armors completely cover vulnerable parts such as the neck, six limbs, waist, joints, etc., and can only be attached to the head, back, etc. in pieces. But at least it has achieved progress from no armor to iron armor.
The protagonist himself was optimistic about the extra defensive power given by the armor. Later, he added a few iron thorns to the armor, so that enemies who tried to sting him could not bite him, and it also protected those who were not covered by the armor in disguise. Weak spots.
Since there are too few iron resources left, the protagonist has only built this pair of royal armor.
The protagonist's goal is naturally to equip all three legions with armor, which will undoubtedly greatly improve combat effectiveness.
However, making armor in large quantities requires much more iron than a simple pair of jaw knives, and just relying on a little hematite traded from red imported fire ants is completely insufficient.
Naturally, the protagonist targets the leaf-cutter ants that possess hematite resources.
Of course, with the current strength of the God Envoy King's army, it is unrealistic to forcefully capture the iron ore. The protagonist knows that he needs to find a way to obtain a more stable source of iron ore!
