"Not bad, even though I’ve been sidelined for a long time, it seems there’s still something to it now that I have power."
No wonder she’s the protagonist of the world...
Although not much time has passed within the territory, inside the instance, it’s already been over a month since the Emperor was accepted.
The Emperor has also been managing the followers for over a month now.
Trusting her witch and Insect Swarm underlings, Bai Yi has never interfered with the management, completely letting go.
Now personally here, she sees that the settlement has not only recovered from initial chaos but also begun operating normally.
The city has even started transitioning from ancient styles to modern development, with road plans and concrete skyscrapers that lean towards modernity.
The daily lives of the followers have returned to normal, and she can even see many humans and the Insect Swarm cooperating in building exterior walls and road facilities.
It’s clearly a scene of human-insect coexistence.
Even in the shops along the street, Bai Yi can see stores specifically serving the Insect Swarm, selling their food and making accessories for them.
Of course, in the very center of the city, there’s the most magnificent church still under construction, dedicated to the Insect Swarm Queen.
"Why isn’t there a service for polishing and waxing insect armors..."
Flying slowly over the boundary with her Aura restrained, Bai Yi joked as she watched the harmonious scenery.
But it’s just a jest, after all, as her "children," she fully understands that the metallic Insect Swarm doesn’t need polishing or waxing.
With control over their exoskeletons, the Insect Swarm can always maintain the most perfect appearance, even creating intricate patterns and carvings.
—— Ultimately, before battles or work, they will uniformly modify exoskeletons as needed, without any impact.
So, only food and wooden grass-woven trinkets that the Insect Swarm can’t produce themselves remain.
Yes, the Insect Swarm isn’t entirely incapable of enjoying food.
Originally, they hibernated when not working due to resource scarcity, but now with the latest research into Magic Power Extraction Arrays, they not only maintain themselves but also gain extra growth magic power.
Calculating this way, when awake, they actually gain more benefits, naturally leading them all to work.
As for their close relationship with followers, it’s due to Little Tower’s attempt to cultivate its own Insect Swarm culture.
For this purpose, it even reduced Swarm control during non-war times, allowing more individual expression rather than collective behavior.
Even food is a result of its lenience.
After all, when it comes to civilization, it’s quite clueless, with only two references: humans and the witch companions.
Being a significant cultural commonality for both, food became the first move.
Even accessories, were an outcome of human followers’ later creativity.
But when it comes to purely taste-based, enjoyment-focused food, Little Tower’s efficiency-driven mindset cannot bear it.
Thus, by implementation, the ingredients for the Insect Swarm food come from Bai Yi’s special seeds.
They are magically enriched crops planted by them, serving as supplemental growth nutrients, offsetting some consumption.
Though not much, they still comfort Little Tower.
As Bai Yi observes the result, it seems pretty good.
Over the month, the Insect Swarm assisted human followers in building new dwellings, and human followers also contributed to the Swarm’s civilization construction.
Not only did they discover food that genuinely delights the Swarm, they even ventured into Insect Swarm accessories.
It would be better if these trinkets were not exclusively Bai Yi as the Insect Lady...
This so-called Insect Lady is actually a new form by carving wood or weaving grass into a figure based on Bai Yi’s body but with insect wings and antennas, typical of the Insect Clan.
Such magically altered sculptures seem very popular within the Swarm.
Bai Yi’s body, the plant aura, and the Swarm symbolism, combined perfectly into a sculpture meeting all requirements, hitting all the Swarm’s simple thoughts.
Though it indeed looks intriguing, even she finds it quite appealing...
Ahem, though it’s "not bad," Bai Yi herself still feels a strong sense of embarrassment...
"Speaking of, should I create a corresponding Avatar? This form does seem...
Hmm, it’s just to make the Swarm happy, definitely not for any other thought!"
Though Bai Yi verbally resists the image, she subtly accepts it, even deciding to use this form for the statue here.
After all, like food can be a main part of civilization, faith can also be.
The witches believe in the Primordial Witch, while the Insect Swarm believes in the Insect Swarm Queen, making some differentiation might benefit civilization building.
Though she doesn’t hold much hope for the Swarm’s ultimate civilization establishment, she still hopes the Swarm, her first "child," becomes part of her ascension task.
Now uncertain of civilization construction progress, the choice is to try every possibility, regardless of faith or food culture.