“Regina,” Max called from the edge of the forest, “do we need more wood?”
Regina turned to watch him stagger under a big pile of sticks and broken off branches. Having four arms came in handy, even if two of his lacked proper grasping implements like hands.
“I think that’s enough,” she replied as she approached him, glancing over what they’d gathered so far.
Max had settled in pretty well and the two of them had even started to develop something of a routine in the day or so since he’d woken up. She’d finally gotten some proper sleep while he was staying on watch, then switched with him to watch for monsters or other dangers while he slept. They’d even caught another rabbit, which provided them a good breakfast.
“I’m not quite sure what we’re supposed to do with all this,” Max admitted, stretching his upper arms and cracking his neck after he’d set down his batch.
“Neither am I,” she replied. “But we need some sort of shelter. It hasn’t rained yet, but that’s only a matter of time.”
Regina looked up at the sky with a frown. Clouds were gathering in the north. It might even rain later today.
“We should build it in the forest, so we have the shelter of the trees,” he suggested. “Maybe up against one of them?”
“That’s what I was thinking, yes. A shame we didn’t find any other caves, that would have spared us a lot of work.” She sighed. “Well, let’s get started.”
As it turned out, building a crude shelter wasn’t all that difficult. They used the bigger and more robust logs of wood to form the basic structure, then added smaller sticks and a few large leaves they’d found. Regina used copious amounts of vines to tie it all together. She had some vague impressions of a building technique that used mud, maybe straw, and interwoven sticks to make walls, though that wasn’t very useful yet. She knew her limits, and started with a shelter that looked like a small half cylinder built against a thick tree trunk. It should be just enough to fit the two of them. It didn’t need to have a lot of space, just offer them some shelter from the elements.
It wasn’t like they had any delicate possessions to protect.
“Once this is done, we should get started with building a proper building,” she grumbled. “Or at least something close to it. Even just a hut. I guess that might go better if we wait until we have some Workers, though.”
Max glanced up. “That means you intend to continue leveling, my queen?”
“Of course. There are hopefully enough small monsters around to push both of us up a few levels.” Regina shook her head. “We should probably focus on that once we’re done here.”
The other egg was still in development, and Regina couldn’t help but be a little resentful of her System limits in making drones. She might not have the ability to take care of many of them, but it was still her body and her hive!
They built their shelter near the treeline, so they still kept as close to the fireplace and the egg as possible. Later, Regina could ask Max to cut down some more tree branches for some more protection against wind and rain.
Once they were finished, she stepped back to take in their work. It wouldn’t win any beauty contests, but it should be functional enough.
Max cleared his throat. “I’d like to go to the river, and maybe gather some more food on the way back. Can I go?”
“Of course.” She gave him a distracted smile, then returned to her fire to make a new torch they could use.
After she was done with that, she gathered new firewood, then checked on the egg again. It was growing quickly, at about the rate Max had, as far as she could tell. Already, it looked bigger than any bird egg she’d expect to see. Although in a world that might very well have giant monster birds, maybe that didn’t mean much.
Max was still out, so Regina made a slow circuit of the immediate environment around their camp, setting up a few new traps on the other side of the hill. She paused when she came to the cave system where she’d entered the world, checking the entrance. It was still sealed, and the door still didn’t react to her efforts to get in at all. She shook out her hands and moved on.
When Max still didn’t return, Regina grew a bit worried. She considered going after him, but she didn’t know exactly which path he’d taken. Besides, he might have just wanted some time alone. They’d been together almost non-stop since he was born, and with the apparent urge to be loyal that he felt, he might need some space.
Still, after she waited for maybe fifteen minutes without a peep, Regina sighed and closed her eyes. She just wanted to check on him quickly. So she focused on that sense of him that she’d gotten before, and tried to see if she could feel anything.
Almost immediately, she realized that she needn’t have worried. Their minds were obviously still linked, and this little distance between them wouldn’t even begin to hurt the connection. She could pinpoint Max’s location pretty well, or at least his bearing and distance from her. Dropping quickly into his mind to get more info, she realized that he was heading back to the camp, carrying a small animal.
Regina withdrew and instead turned her attention to one of her projects. She’d started trying to carve something from a log of wood, though it was slow-going. Stones really weren’t good enough for that kind of work, and her claws weren’t well suited to it, either.
A few minutes later, she sensed Max approaching and put it away. He walked closer with a grin on his face, holding up his catch to show it to her. “Mother, I leveled up!”
Regina cocked her head. “You did? Is that a monster?” She tried focusing on it, but the System didn’t give her anything.
“The System told me it was a ‘Spiky Squirrel’.” Max lowered it to the ground. “I guess it stops after a monster is dead. Maybe because it’s not really a monster anymore?”
Regina shook her head. “There may be an ‘Identify’ or ‘Analyze’ skill we could get. Anyway, what happened?”
Max scratched his nose. “Ah, I stumbled on it on my way back from the river. It was a pretty aggressive little thing. It hit me with a few spikes, but my armor turned away most of them, and I got it with my blade-arm.”
She could see that. It was a bit of a bloody mess. “I’m not sure I like you going off and fighting a monster on your own,” she stated.
He bowed his head, but she could still see his crestfallen expression. “I’m sorry, my queen. It won’t happen again.”
Regina pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. “Never mind. At least you’re Level 2 now, that’s a good thing. We can eat that for dinner later. What did leveling up do for you?”
Max brightened up again. “My Con increased! I guess the System automatically allocated a stat point. It also lets me choose an Ability. Give me a second.”
Regina looked over his new status sheet.
Max | Drone Warrior |
Level: 2 | |
Mana: N/A | |
Con: 10 (+1) | Str: 10 |
Dex: 9 | End: 8 |
Int: 15 | Wis: 9 |
“That’s good,” she said. “You could use some more End, but Con’s not bad, either. Although Warrior is probably a Strength-heavy build with a minor focus of Con. I guess we’ll see. So what abilities did it offer you?”
Max appeared to stare into space as he presumably accessed another System window. “Only a few. They’re called Class Skills here. I could get ‘Warrior’s Charge’, ‘Strength for the Hive’ or ‘Last Bastion’.” He frowned as his eyes darted side to side. “It seems like Charge is a movement ability that gives me a short-term boost to my stats, and the Strength thing is a direct increase to Str that varies based on other hive drones in your group and might give bonus effects. Bastion only works if I’m the only fighter of the Hive in the vicinity, it boosts my Con and basically makes me immune to fatigue or effects that would impede my mind or my movements.”
That sounded interesting. “Do the descriptions give any more details?”
“No, I’m sorry. They’re pretty vague.” Max looked at her. “Which should I take?”
“It’s your decision. I’m not going to force you to take a Skill you don’t want.”
Max frowned. “Really? I want to be as useful as I can for you and the hive, and I’m not sure I know what’s best.”
“Still. It’s generally better if we don’t rely on me to make these decisions or micromanage everything. Besides, making people get specific skills and forcing them down a path that doesn’t suit them won’t work out well in the long run. But if you want my opinion, I can still give you tips.” Regina frowned thoughtfully. “They all sound pretty nice, especially if this is a basic skill. We don’t have many drones in the hive right now, obviously, so that one’s probably not a good choice. The charge sounds good, but with our current situation, that Last Bastion could be a real lifeline. Even later, there will probably still be situations where it’s applicable. It will probably be more situational, long-term, but we have to survive to get there first.”
Max nodded seriously. “Thank you, my queen. Then I’ll choose Last Bastion.”
“Good. I wonder if the choice of skills is influenced by our situation, or if everyone gets those starting options?”
Max stretched. He didn’t look any different. “I don’t know. I don’t think we have any way to find out.”
“Of course.” Regina turned to throw a new log into the fire. They didn’t really need it during the day, but she preferred to keep it burning.
Their situation was getting better. Weirdly, that just made her nervous. They still hadn’t seen much of this world they lived in. She barely had any idea what she wanted to do, and without more information on what was even possible, making detailed plans would be an exercise in futility, anyway. There had to be a way to find out what happened to her, but how?
Max stepped away to take care of his kill while Regina sat on a pile of leaves, staring into the fire and thinking. Somewhere along the way, establishing a real hive had gone from a possibility for the future to a goal. It was probably her Hive Queen instincts at work.
And it wasn’t like the human part of her could disagree. A bigger hive meant more power. Alone in a strange land with only the companions and tools she could make herself, who wouldn’t use the advantages they had and try to grow their power? Not to mention that having some semblance of civilization would be nice. She’d kill for proper toilets and a soft bed, not to mention things like electricity.
“Regina?” Max approached hesitantly, interrupting her musings. “Is there anything else I can do?”
“No. I think we’re finished with everything I’d planned for today.” She glanced up at the sky, assessing the cloud cover. It seemed like they might yet get lucky and avoid rain.
Max nodded, then started pacing slowly behind the fire. After a few minutes, he stopped again. “You’re sure, my queen? There’s nothing I can do for you?”
Regina was about to tell him to just relax, then hesitated. “Well, actually, you might help me with my wings, or whatever those are. I can’t reach back there myself, and there’s no good way to get that area clean.”
“Of course!” Max jumped to get their water, in the waterskin they’d finally made, and a few soft leaves.
Regina smiled slightly. She supposed they could always refill the water later. Then she stood up and tried to stretch out what passed for her middle limbs.
Max was very careful. It was obvious he wasn’t really built for it and had little idea what to do, but Regina still appreciated it. He quickly removed some of the dried gunk, and she finally felt the breeze on something she hadn’t been very aware of previously.
After a while, she twisted her head as much as she could and flexed muscles she hadn’t really used before. This time, her body responded much better, and Regina actually saw what she was dealing with.
It looked like she did have wings, which were usually folded tightly against her body under a kind of protective covering that extended from the limbs anchoring them. The wings didn’t have feathers and didn’t quite look like insect wings. Fully unfolded, they would be a lot bigger than the more rigid parts suggested.
Regina shivered slightly and let out an involuntary sigh as she moved her wings. “Well,” she said after a moment, “I don’t think I can fly with these, at least not yet.”
She tried beating them a little, and although she felt the force of it, it was clear that wouldn’t be nearly enough to lift her. She couldn’t even do a full movement of the wings.
“You look really cool!” Max commented.
She smiled at him. “Thank you, Max.” Then she carefully folded them back against her body. He had to help her get everything into the correct position.
Regina sat down again, running a finger along her side. “I guess they’re still growing in. I can’t wait.”
She could already tell they would probably be a headache, but if she could someday actually fly on her own power, that would be worth it.
A hive should have a lot of members: A swarm. I kinda expected swarm tactics, etc.
This story is really different in this regard. I'm not disappointed that things are different from what I expected from the title/terminologie used. Its rather interesting instead.
I'm imagining that at higher levels there will be an exponential growth. But how the system seems to be working it behooves her to experience everything her drones might need early on because they gained their knowledge from her. I'm expecting later on when she starts being able to experience the exponential growth in the size of her hive the hive mind aspect will allow her to transfer Knowledge from her drones to the newborns
well a hive gotta start somewhere, from a brand new queen landing and digging a nest on her own, and laying the first egg. And it all starts snowballing from there under right conditions.
really alte reply but i think she needs to first create a real hive and not some kind of group, and level up so she is safe, then i think in the higher level up she can create several bees with one level she gains
Honestly, instead of a hard system limit to the number of drones, it would be better if the system was sort of a source of guidance. A soft limit in a sense, more than a hard dictation of her own fertility and bodily function by an outside influence. She could go past the optimal recommended number if she really wishes to and pushes herself for it, but if she were to do so with her current growth level and power, it would come with consequences.
Like, if she had 10 drone limit, the strain of one drone over the system recommended limit probably wouldn't be that bad, but if she tries to keep popping out more and more it would become a serious problem. Her instincts would most likely scream at her to stop anyways, as she feels her control and connection slipping away, her mind and body not being able to handle all the strain, causing all sorts of mental and mana side effects.
It would be like a gradual strain at first. The more over the optimal limit shown by the system she goes, the more she would become overwhelmed and her connections weaken, and at some point her connection with some of the drones would snap. It should be very hard for her to push it to that point tho, her instincts and steadily deteriorating condition should stop her long before it becomes that bad. Maybe only in desperation could such a point be reached, like a war brewing and her knowing the overall strength of enemies she might face, having to push herself to bolster hive numbers double or tripple the recommended limit to face the threat, or be annihilated. Packing town and running away is also always an option ofc instead of pushing herself that badly, depends on the level of desperation she might face, i'm just giving hypotheticals.
Oh, and i think the drones also wouldn't be really built to handle being alone in the world for long. No longer being a part of the comforting hivemind would most likely be a mental blow and source of confusion to them, especially as the hive gets bigger they will most likely depend on having the presence of each other more and more. So they might have a mental breakdown of their own if the connection suddenly snaps. The collective consciousness connection of the hive would basically be a part of their being, it would be like a human suddenly losing a part of their brain. Maybe some less intelligent members would even going berserk etc. This could also come up if there are massive casualties in the sapient cadre of the hive, tho i guess the presence of the queen would still keep the ones left alive somewhat stable to keep on with their duties. But losing the connection to all the hive and the queen in an instant, would probably be a very bad blow to their mental stability. Psychically connected hives got some awesome advantages, but it also gotta come with some disadvantages to the members individual ego and their ability to function completely separate from the hive right?
Anyways, just juggling some ideas. Not sure if it can be implemented even if you like it author, as i'm not sure how the further chapters handled this and if the hard limit on hive drone numbers have been concretely set. Tho even if it is, i guess further evolutions can change stuff like that, up to ya!
Those are some interesting ideas! I'm always happy to get input. Some of this is answered in later chapters, but the idea of the mental strain is interesting. Maybe I'll include something like that later.
“Neither am I,” she replied. “But we need some sort of shelter. It hasn’t rained yet, but that’s only a matter of time.”
Regina looked up at the sky with a frown. Clouds were gathering in the north. It might even rain later today.
“We should build it in the forest, so we have the shelter of the trees,” he suggested. “Maybe up against one of them?”
If only you had a Drone Worker to help you...
They didn’t really need it during the day, but she preferred to keep it burning.
How come? She could practice her Spark magic when she relights it though and just burning nonstop is wasteful
Though I guess it is technically their only form of entertainment
Although Warrior is probably a Strength-heavy build with -> Str-heavy
probably be more situational, long-term -> remove comma
May stretched. He didn’t look -> Max
The wings didn’t have feathers and didn’t quite look like insect -> feathers, but
“Having four arms came in handy, even if two of his lacked proper grasping implements like hands.”
“Errr…isn’t one of Max’s stabby arms still injured from being burnt by the wolf from before?” …. “Yes I am calling them ‘stabby arms’! ‘Blade arms’ sounds too boring! Or at least something to wait until he gets better blades for his knife arms. At least I didn’t call them ‘wolfsticker arms’ or ‘CuttyMcStab arms’!”
“It hasn’t rained yet, but that’s only a matter of time.”
“Baaaaah! It’s like they never learn! They always jinx things and that’s when it starts to rain!”
“Clouds were gathering in the north. It might even rain later today.”
“See?! She jinxed it!”
“It wasn’t like they had any delicate possessions to protect.”
“…” *points at the egg that Regina apparently completely forgot* “‘Nothing delicate’ my foot.”
“The other egg was still in development, and Regina couldn’t help but be a little resentful of her System limits in making drones. She might not have the ability to take care of many of them, but it was still her body and her hive!”
“Look at Regina go, now she’s ready to be a momma and take over the world….I mean find herself a place to call her own.”
“They built their shelter near the treeline, so they still kept as close to the fireplace and the egg as possible.”
“Ok, she didn’t forget about it entirely. That’s something at least.”
“She could pinpoint Max’s location pretty well, or at least his bearing and distance from her. Dropping quickly into his mind to get more info, she realized that he was heading back to the camp, carrying a small animal.”
*whistles* “Dang, talk about next level Mom Senses.” *writes more notes down*
“Maybe because it’s not really a monster anymore?”
“Does a monster stop being a monster just because it’s dead? No, it just becomes a monster corpse. …unless it’s a zombie or something, then it just gets back up and is a big pain in the butt.”
“Still. It’s generally better if we don’t rely on me to make these decisions or micromanage everything. Besides, making people get specific skills and forcing them down a path that doesn’t suit them won’t work out well in the long run. But if you want my opinion, I can still give you tips.”
“Not wanting to micromanage or make her kids dependent on her or force them to do something they don’t want, but still willing to give advice. Regina is a good mom.”
“Not to mention that having some semblance of civilization would be nice. She’d kill for proper toilets and a soft bed, not to mention things like electricity.”
“A woman after my own heart. Soft beds and civilization are *awesome*.”
“She could already tell they would probably be a headache, but if she could someday actually fly on her own power, that would be worth it.”
“It is worth it, it really is. Even if I can cheat and make my wings go away, they’re still amazingly useful and fun to use.”
Thanks for the catch!
Yes, one of his arms is still injured, but it's mostly healed and he's just using it anyway.
Don't tell Regina that she's really a (good) mom! She doesn't want to know.
Also, eggs aren't delicate, at least if you go by Regina's subconscious. (It would take more than a bit of rain to harm them.)
Yep, there's a reason Inaris mostly uses wings out of all the adaptations she could get.
@Tejoka Maybe they aren’t super delicate, but it’s still an amusing juxtaposition when her subconscious was also like “Must guard and protect egg!” Before. It’s like “Make up your mind, blasted subconscious!”
@MarkofWisdom Well, now the hive has warriors to protect the eggs! :D
I'm at the beginning of the chapter and just read what they plan to build. I kinda wonder why they would ever need a worker drone. With her human knowledge and the fact that the warrior variant is human like, they can do everything themselves.
The workers would only make sense much later for that little bit extra efficiency. Hmm. Maybe the race is a bit like the Zerg and the workers are able to morph themselves into organic/living structures.
Lets see where this will develop :)
Thanks for another fun chapter, I really like the interaction between her and Max