area51novel Chapter 162 Perhaps, that is the Mother Nest
Chapter 162 Perhaps, that is the Mother Nest
Although Panlong Realm is a virtual world, the academy's teachers still followed the laws of the real world when creating the underlying logic of this world.
In the real Douluo Continent, the climate in the south is much warmer than in the north. The vegetation in the south is mostly evergreen broad-leaved forests, and the forests are tropical and subtropical rainforests, a typical example being the Star Dou Great Forest. In contrast, the vegetation in the north is mostly deciduous trees or coniferous forests, and the forests are temperate and cold-climate forests, a typical example being the Sunset Forest.
Tropical forests and cold-water forests are easily distinguishable at a glance. Among these differences, the most obvious is vegetation density. The vegetation density of northern forests is lower than that of southern forests, and once you enter the forest, northern forests are drier, lacking the feeling of water everywhere you look in tropical rainforests.
Since the Panlong Realm was built in accordance with the rules of the real world, the vegetation density of the mountains and forests should obviously also follow the rules of the real world.
However, according to the descriptions of the caravan members, everyone agreed that the vegetation density in the Monster Mountain Range north of Northfrost City was extremely high, far exceeding that of normal forests (due to environmental constraints and limited strength, even caravans could only operate within the territory of the Northern Alliance and had never seen southern forests, so it can only be said that the vegetation was unusually dense).
According to Long You's perception, the climate in the Beishuang City region is already a cold climate. Under such a climate, the vegetation in the forests (as they are both primeval forests, there are no non-primitive forests on the Panlong Realm continent) should not be significantly more lush than the forests in other more southern areas.
However, now that this situation has arisen, Longyou needs to consider other factors affecting vegetation growth, assuming that the climate conditions have not changed.
After shifting his thoughts in this direction, Long You immediately focused his attention on the land. When he first logged into the Panlong Realm, he offended the controller of this virtual world and was thrown outside Beishuang City, where he trudged across the yellow earth for a long time.
At first, Long You didn't notice the seemingly desolate land. After all, there wasn't a single patch of green to be seen within a kilometer. Long You subconsciously felt that the land beneath his feet was a barren wasteland.
However, as he walked, Long You realized that the ground beneath his feet wasn't as bad as he had imagined. Although it was soft, it wasn't loose. Long You didn't know what nutrients this soil contained, but he did know that it could retain moisture.
Now that the caravan members were talking about the lost Monster Mountain Range, where the vegetation was unusually lush, Long You, after ruling out climate conditions, focused his attention on the soil.
Thinking of that seemingly loose but actually soft and nutrient-rich soil, then thinking of the high-quality finished rare metals piled up in the underground space as excrement, and then thinking of the sandworm swarms that inevitably come to the surface every night.
A conjecture popped into Long You's mind that he himself was reluctant to believe—that the vanished monster mountain range was actually the mother nest of the sandworm swarm.
These sandworms devour various minerals and sand, extracting the components they need for growth. Any excess substances that they cannot absorb are excreted as waste.
These excrements are useless substances for sandworms, but they are probably not for other organisms.
If Long You's guess is correct, and the lost monster mountain range is indeed the dormant mother nest of the sandworm swarm, then Long You suspects that the location of the monster mountain range formed by the sandworm mother nest is actually the real mineral deposit gathering point around North Frost City, an unprecedented super-large mineral vein.
As for the obsidian vein beneath Northfrost City and the mines to the northwest of Northfrost City, they are merely remnants of that super-large vein.
During its dormant period, the sandworm mother nest continuously devours the mineral veins beneath it to grow and breed a large number of sandworms. The devoured mineral veins transform into fertile soil, which, under the power of time, evolves into a mountain range and forest, eventually becoming a habitat for soul beasts.
After discovering the remnants of a super mineral vein, the humans of Panlong Realm established human cities near it. However, the humans, who were in a weak position across the entire continent, seemed to have arrived a little too late. After establishing themselves here for several decades, they unexpectedly encountered the sand worm mother nest ending its dormant period and entering its active phase.
Faced with an overwhelming swarm of sandworms, even if the sandworms' original target was not humans, the human residents of Northfrost City would naturally panic and resist.
But their resistance was doomed to failure; Northfrost City was built on obsidian veins, and its walls were constructed entirely of obsidian. A dormant, immobile mother hive might be powerless against this temptation, but the active sandworm swarms wouldn't care about such things.
Northfrost City is a huge target. During the day, sandworms devour the obsidian veins that form the foundation of Northfrost City; at night, swarms of sandworms that can emerge from underground rush directly towards Northfrost City.
From this perspective, the tragedy of North Frost City was fundamentally due to the city's location. The resource-hungry humans of the Panlong Realm built their city near mineral veins and next to the dormant sandworm mother nest.
Having arrived at this conjecture, Long You needed to verify it further. The verification method was actually quite simple: when traveling with the caravan again tomorrow, he only needed to inquire whether adventurers frequently discovered finished rare metals in the Monster Mountain Range.
There may be other reasons for fertile soil, but there are very few reasons why rare metals in finished products might be exposed on the surface for no apparent reason.
He logged in and stepped out of the tent. Last night was a rare peaceful night; Long You was only forced to log on three times throughout the entire night. After sleeping in the Panlong Classroom for two consecutive nights, Long You was getting a little tired, and he wanted to finish this information gathering work today.
After a morning of travel, the caravan arrived at another human city. The caravan needed to sell and buy goods, and Long You, who had confirmed that finished rare metals had indeed frequently surfaced in the vanished monster mountain range, bid farewell to the caravan members in this city and departed.
The distance to North Frost City wasn't actually that far; if Long You flew at full speed, a day would be enough. So, after entering this new human city, Long You immediately found an inn, booked a private courtyard room, and logged off to rest.