Despite the turmoil,
people still prayed devoutly to the Rot Spirit Flower from outside the woods.
After some time,
the small rotting animals all fell down.
In their place,
a group of rotting insects began to revive.
It looked as though the Rot Spirit Flower had given up parasitizing those creatures and turned to controlling the insects instead.
But what was especially unusual was this:
These insects didn't behave like the Rot Spirit animals had before, moving sluggishly and stiffly like walking corpses.
Their movements were remarkably keen and agile, almost just like when they were alive.
As the people watched closely,
they soon made a startling discovery.
Even while alive, these tiny insects could be parasitized by the Rot Spirit Flower's mycelium.
After being parasitized, the Rot Spirit Insects would live in symbiosis with the mycelium.
From the time they were born until a while after they died, the insects could remain in their Rot Spirit state.
They could be controlled by the Rot Spirit Flower for months at a time, while still retaining their keen and nimble movements.
The larger an insect was,
the slower its movements became.
Its time in the Rot Spirit state would also be shorter.
Take those terrifying giant spiders, for example.
After being parasitized, they would usually die for real after about a month and become unable to move again.
From this, people speculated that
the Rot Spirit Flower found it easier to control large numbers of smaller creatures.
That was why it had chosen the insects as its new servants.
Now,
more and more insects were being parasitized.
From Giant Cockroaches to Flying Winged Insects,
dragonflies and ants—
more and more insects were joining the ranks of the Rot Spirits.
They also displayed behavior similar to that of the Rot Spirit animals.
But soon, they showed that they were different.
A group of ants broke away from the Rot Spirit ranks and began behaving strangely in front of the people:
Sometimes they gathered at the feet of people on the beach, inexplicably crawling this way and that across the sand.
Faced with these servants of the Divine Envoy,
the tribe members naturally didn't dare to step on them.
All they could do was watch warily and puzzledly as the ants crawled back and forth across the ground.
But even after watching for a long time, they still couldn't figure out what the ants were doing as they crawled around in front of them.
After observing them for some time, though, some clever tribe members soon realized something.
"These ants are drawing!"
"They're trying to convey something to us."
The patterns formed by the densely packed ants on the ground were always the same, and clearly pointed to something.
For example,
when people hunted with arrows, the ants would always gather into a triangle.
When people sparred with stone weapons during the sacrificial ceremony, the ants would also form the same shape.
They were pictures.
They were symbols, too.
In an age before writing had been invented,
people could communicate only through language and primitive symbols.
Therefore,
the tribespeople had an inborn knack for sensing the meaning conveyed by simple pictures.
They soon figured out what the triangular symbol the ants often formed meant.
It seemed to represent a "weapon."
At that moment, the ants began crawling toward the cave.
They stopped repeatedly in front of the mural depicting the Sea Monster, as if trying to draw people's attention to it.
At last, the people understood.
Only then did they learn the true purpose for which the gods had bestowed the flower upon them.
It was a messenger that delivered divine oracles.
The gods were giving them a vision of the danger that might soon come.
Richie gathered a group of elders to discuss the matter.
One elder spoke, his face flushed with emotion:
"The gods are warning us. Just like the mural shows, that terrifying crab monster in the sea may one day come ashore on our island and bring disaster upon us."
The other elders eagerly voiced their agreement.
"You're right, Chief Richie. These ants are delivering a divine oracle. The Tribe must take this seriously."
"Chief, we may have to put off the Artisan's plans to build boats and sail out to sea. We must make more weapons out of wood. Otherwise, if the Sea Monster invades, the consequences will be unthinkable."
"The Tribe can't always rely on the merciful gods to grant us their great protection. We must use our own hands and wisdom to fight them and protect our home."
Ever since they had witnessed those terrifying monsters firsthand,
the elders had been deeply worried about the Sea Monsters.
Now, the divine oracle delivered by the Messenger of the Gods had further confirmed their fears.
The elders unanimously agreed
that, following the gods' warning, the first thing the Tribe needed to do was abandon its plans to build ships and sail out to sea, and instead establish a defensive line along the shore and make weapons capable of resisting the Sea Monsters.
Mona had been watching the Abigail Flower deliver divine oracles to the people.
After seeing this, he withdrew his view.
He had to admit,
the speed at which the Abigail Flower learned about and understood the world around it truly surpassed his expectations.
At first, the Abigail Flower didn't seem to have found suitable "hands" or "eyes" of its own.
As a result, its learning had been very slow.
But after it parasitized those insects, everything changed.
The numerous insects flew to every corner of the island.
The flower quickly used those lowly creatures to learn about the Tribe and the natural world.
Now, although the Abigail Flower's intelligence still fell somewhat short of a human's,
it was already as knowledgeable as humans about certain things, and would sooner or later grow into an intelligent being no less clever than a human.
Mona checked the Abigail Flower's knowledge section.
In less than a few months, a new entry had already appeared there.
However, this knowledge was clearly different from the kind humans possessed.
It was clearly based on the skill Rot Spirit Manipulation.
[Knowledge]: "Insect Manipulation lv1"
"Insect Manipulation lv1": The Abigail Flower understands the life structures and information of insects, making it adept at controlling smaller insects. It can parasitize large numbers of living insects, transforming them into Rot Spirits, and control them within a certain range to perform useful tasks for the Tribe. However, when controlling some giant insects, the distance and flexibility of its control remain somewhat unstable.
The Abigail Flower had practically specialized in controlling insects.
Of all the Rot Spirits, it was especially skilled at controlling insects.
Of course, with its current weak power, it could only parasitize small creatures.
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