Huxter was a Healer.
He was also a Scholar.
The Scholar profession's ability to spread knowledge soon began to take effect.
The Insect Herbal Medicine he had developed gradually became known to the people of the Tribe.
A craze for catching Giant Cockroaches to make medicine swept through the Tribe.
It wasn't difficult.
Giant Cockroaches could be found all over the island.
These loathsome bugs were as numerous and hard to eradicate as mosquitoes.
Whenever they needed some,
the tribespeople would carefully catch one or two from some dark corner of their homes.
Then they would leave them in the Blue Forest, where the Rot Spirit Flowers grew, for a while.
After that,
once the disease-causing properties had been removed, they could harvest Rot Spirit Giant Cockroaches to make medicine.
"We used to hate those Giant Cockroaches, but now they seem downright pleasant."
"That's right. Thanks to Elder Huxter's secret recipe, the boils on my back—which used to hurt every time I rolled over in bed—are gone. I've never slept so soundly."
Someone laughed as he shared this with the tribespeople.
"Hmph. Instead of thanking him, you should thank the great God. If the God hadn't bestowed the extraordinary Rot Spirit Flower upon us, Huxter never would have discovered the secrets of those insects."
Someone else gave a cold snort.
Clearly, some people still had strong objections to Huxter's earlier actions.
Still, Huxter had set a precedent for them.
Before,
the tribespeople had treated the Rot Spirit Insects as something to be admired from afar, but never touched.
But Huxter had broken through that constraint, proving that the God permitted people to explore the many other possibilities of the Rot Spirit Insects.
And so,
some bold tribespeople began to imagine other ways they might make use of the Rot Spirit Insects.
"If Huxter can do it, so can we."
"There are all kinds of powerful insects on this island!"
"Why don't we catch a few Giant Spiders and offer them to the Divine Envoy? Then those terrifying creatures could become servants that pose no threat to the Tribe!"
"Exactly! That spider's acid is incredibly powerful. Maybe the great Divine Envoy can control them and use them to fight off the Sea Monsters! We could even try extracting their acid!"
The tribespeople grew more and more excited as they talked.
In the end, they reached an agreement and went to the Tribe's chief.
After Richie and the elders had discussed it, they finally agreed to this seemingly dangerous idea.
After all, they were now facing the threat of a Sea Monster invasion.
The Tribe had to make use of every possible source of strength and try to create something capable of threatening the Sea Monsters.
However,
the people's attempts were extremely clumsy.
They tried to hunt the Giant Spiders with bows and arrows, then offer them to the Rot Spirit Flower.
At that moment, the Rot Spirit Flower seemed to understand what the people wanted.
A vast swarm of ants began arranging patterns on the ground again.
They showed the people a better way to accomplish all this.
The ants led the people to the cave where the Yamal Spiders were hiding.
Then,
they took them to the place where fish were laid out to dry.
The bewildered people couldn't help wondering:
Why had the ants led them to the Yamal Spiders' cave, only to bring them to the place where fish were dried?
What did these two things have to do with each other?
But soon,
someone seemed to have an epiphany and began sharing his guess with the others.
Mona watched the Abigail Flower guide the people as they embarked on an unprecedented experiment.
At that moment,
a brilliant light appeared in the Tech Tree.
[Your believers have made their first attempt at raising creatures.]
[Civilization Tech Tree unlocked: Animal Husbandry]
[People have come to realize for the first time that perhaps nurturing a danger can help the Tribe survive better than destroying it.]
[When faced with a more powerful enemy, trying to turn existing terrifying creatures into a source of strength for the Tribe is a sound strategy.]
[The Tribe is now attempting to raise Yamal Spiders.]
[The industry branch of your Tech Tree has now been unlocked.]
Now, a new category appeared in the Tech Tree.
It was the Industry category.
Within it were the familiar Fishery and Agriculture.
Animal Husbandry had just been unlocked.
[Your believers have developed animal husbandry within the Tribe.]
[You have gained 15 Light of Technology.]
[You can learn about existing related inventions more easily by viewing Animal Husbandry.]
[Displaying related points for Animal Husbandry.]
[Giant Bait: A large piece of bait made from fish coated in Rot Spirit Mycelium, intended to lure Yamal Spiders. The fishy smell will draw the Yamal Spiders to eat it.]
[Spider Ranch: A cave ranch where people can safely attempt to collect Yamal Spider acid. The powerful Rot Spirit Yamal Spiders mate on their own inside the ranch.]
"Even in my old world, raising spiders was unusual, let alone raising venomous spiders this enormous."
Mona smiled when he saw the information.
The Apostle he had created had indeed brought him a pleasant surprise.
With the Abigail Flower leading them,
the people seemed to be developing an unusual insect-raising industry.
He was quite optimistic about this Animal Husbandry, which seemed to have "gone off track."
Now,
after the people had continued feeding the insects,
the Abigail Flower's Insect Manipulation had also reached Lv. 2.
Although the distance at which it could control insects hadn't increased,
the variety of insects it could control and the duration of its control had improved significantly.
Even when it parasitized a Yamal Spider, it didn't lose much of its lifespan.
Yamal Spiders already had a long average lifespan for insects, about six years.
After becoming Rot Spirits, they could remain in that state for at least three or four years.
This also proved that raising Yamal Spiders with the Abigail Flower's power was viable.
Guided by the ants sent out by the Rot Spirit Flower,
the Yamal Spiders on the island received food that even the ordinary tribespeople couldn't enjoy.
The people placed fresh live fish near the Rot Spirit Flower.
Although the Rot Spirit Mycelium could only parasitize the surface of the fish, that was enough.
Once the surface of the live fish was covered with Rot Spirit Mycelium, they became Giant Bait and were placed where the creatures were hiding.
Ever since the Tribe's great hunt with bows and arrows,
the Yamal Spiders had holed up in the island's shadowy places, no longer daring to invade human homes.
As a result, their food supply had dwindled considerably.
Therefore,
when these starving creatures saw all the Giant Bait placed in front of their cave,
they rushed toward it in delight, gobbling up every last morsel.
These foolish creatures didn't even stop to think.
How had food with such a strange fishy smell, from the distant sea, suddenly appeared?
Soon afterward,
as the tribespeople watched excitedly,
several parasitized Yamal Spiders made their way to the new cave, the Spider Ranch.
Nourished by the nutritious fish,
the Giant Spiders, which had grown weak, became strong again.
At last, they began spitting acid into the specially prepared stone jars, which the people had coated with resin and set out beforehand.
When several bold people nervously but excitedly carried out the stone jars filled with acid, the people cheered.
Everyone in the Tribe knew just how potent this acid was.
With it, they might even be able to corrode the Sea Monster's hard shell.
The people couldn't believe it either, and exclaimed in wonder.
"My goodness, I didn't expect it to go so smoothly. It's like we had divine help."
"What are you talking about? Didn't we accomplish all this with the God's help?"
"Haha, you're right! Praise the great God!"
After obtaining the acid, the jubilant people immediately resolved not to waste anything the God had bestowed upon them. They began researching without delay how to use the acid in weapons or other applications. At the same time, they started actively collecting more biological materials, such as the supple spider silk and the sinews of the giant birds that sometimes circled above the coast, hoping to use them to make more useful things.
From then on,
the Tribe's Tech Tree seemed to have started down a one-way road.
Before you continue