Regina was obviously living in a fantasy world now, something that could have come out of a story or movie in the vague memories she had of her former world. She hadn’t processed that fact well enough, hadn’t realized what it meant.

Now, as she considered the visitation by the woman that was clearly implied to be some kind of divine being, she cursed her short-sightedness. And her ignorance too, while she was at it. She’d known that the people of this world, or at least this region, believed in several gods. Given that elves and demihumans obviously existed, she should have considered that maybe physical gods did too.

And here she was: if not the only Hive Queen in the world, then clearly the only one in a large area. Even if you disregarded whatever was up with her mind, memories or soul, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that she would be noticed. For all she knew, powerful wizards with farseeing or clairvoyant powers had taken notice, too. Or maybe psychic dragons, or super-spy demihumans. She just didn’t know what was possible in this world.

She really needed to find out more about the names the woman had mentioned; presumably, two gods (given the comment about ‘divine favor’), and both of them apparently interested in her. Although she didn’t know why, how much or what for.

For now, there was little she could do but keep an eye out and try to prepare. Regina had already decided that the next time elves came to visit, she would send at least one of her drones back with them, maybe even go herself. She wasn’t confident that she could find their city on her own, but the previous group had said they’d send tools.

Then there was the war. A part of her was irritated that they’d brought her in just when they were clearly gearing up for a big conflict. It felt like she was getting played, and she did not like that. But Regina didn’t let that anger get out of hand. She would have probably done the same in their place, and they hadn’t even asked her for anything yet. Now, if she actually got drawn into this war, that would be a different story.

In the meantime, she focused on preparing and growing her hive. She’d already decided that she would focus on making more War Drones for now. Given the current situation, they could reliably and productively have several of them put to work under the control of one of her sapient drones. Once she had a few dozen of them, she might focus more heavily on increasing the sapient drones’ numbers.

Regina went out a few more times to hunt down monsters, accompanied by a few of her warriors. They even took along a few War Drones. It seemed those could level up just like any other person or monster. Sending them in groups against the weakest of monsters proved to be the best strategy to get them past the first level, although it took more fights that way. She’d already noticed that the System must adjust how much experience one gained for a fight based on several factors, like whether or not one was in a party and everyone’s relative levels.

Regina reached level 11 a few days later, which increased her hive limit for sapient drones to twenty-eight and the limit for Swarm Drones to sixteen. She got the feeling that with a bit of practice or some more levels, she might actually be able to influence which of the caps got expanded. Although she didn’t have anything concrete to base that supposition on, it was just a hunch.

For now, she filled up her limit of War Drones while the hive continued their expansion. They finished a few houses, though those were honestly little more than huts with four walls and a thatched roof. They also kept working on the defensive palisade, though that was slow going. Regina had marked out the part of the forest they would clear first, and started burning out the stumps of trees they’d felled. At least they were in no danger of running out of trees anytime soon, and clearing the forest further would give them more space to build on or to use for other projects.

She used her Conjuration magic sparingly to create a few things they needed. Mostly, that meant small amounts of metal, which she already created in the basic shapes that were needed. She talked with Mia and made plans to start making charcoal and build a proper forge. Although that would need to wait a little, since they had more important projects to tackle first, and not enough metal or ore to make it worthwhile.

But she was starting to realize that what they needed most was still knowledge, and not just in the abstract sense, but practical know-how on how to make and use stuff on a medieval technology level. They could muddle through a bit with experimentation and the Workers’ instincts, but that would only take them so far. And while Regina might know a bit about electronic and more advanced technology, they simply had no basis for building it. They needed to make the tools to make the tools to make something like an electrical generator. Although a proper old-fashioned waterwheel would probably be more useful at the moment.

That was what convinced her to call the current meeting, as she gathered around the fireplace with her original four drones.

“We all understand how much we need more knowledge and understanding, my Queen,” Mia said after she’d told them what she was considering. “But how much could we realistically hope to learn even if we sent someone to the human village?”

“They probably know at least some things that would be very useful,” Max said. “I think the issue is whether they would agree to teach us.”

The others nodded. “We don’t know anything about the situation there,” Tim said. “To be fair, that’s one reason that I do think we need to find out more. But it’s possible the Delvers are still there and would attack any drone they find. It’s even possible they’ve turned the previously helpful humans against us so that those would do the same.”

“So, it’s risky even if it might be necessary,” Regina concluded.

“Yes, my Queen,” Tim answered. “And not just for whoever we send, that’s not why I’m concerned. But do we want to tip them off that we’re still in the area?”

“Especially since we probably have much better odds of learning something useful from the elves,” Max added. “We’d just have to wait for their next group to come.”

“It would make us even more dependent on them, though,” Tia said.

Regina sighed and tugged on her mandibles. They all had good points.

“For now, we need to get a better idea of what’s happening over there,” she finally said. “The elves said that they’re rebuilding the fort, but I’d like to confirm that. Then it might be helpful to even just watch the village from a distance, and scout out the area a little more thoroughly.”

The drones nodded. “As you say, my Queen,” Max said. “So who do you want to send?”

“I was going to ask one of the scouts.”

Max and Tim exchanged a look. “Then we should pick at least a few Warriors to go with them, my queen,” Max said. “There are still monsters around.”

Regina nodded. “Right. Not either of you two, though. I need you here.” And she didn’t want to risk them. Even without considering her personal attachment, they were her most experienced and highest-level warriors.

Neither of them looked happy, but they didn’t protest or point out that they were the only ones who’d actually been there. “Then I suggest Ben and Dan, my Queen,” Tim said after a moment. “They’re the highest level after us. I’d put Ben in charge, he has a good head on his shoulders.”

“Alright,” she said. “Make the arrangements, then.”

Half an hour later, the scouting group set off, the two young Drone Warriors accompanying Ada. Regina had debated sending a few War Drones along, but decided against it. They were too weak to be of much use, considering they’d need to level up a lot just to have the same stats as a normal level 1, and she didn’t want to send too big a group.

With that matter taken care of, Regina tuned her attention to the next important point she wanted to consider: The structure of their settlement and the hive. She met with Mia and Tia again while Max and Tim went off to help the other warriors hunt or cut down trees.

“You can probably guess what I wanted to talk about,” she began. “Do we need or want an underground part of this hive?”

Mia frowned thoughtfully. The three of them sat around the low burning campfire, and she perched on top of a tree stump, dangling her legs. In contrast, Regina sat on a small pile of monster pelts, which had to be more comfortable.

“The boys would probably say that it would have a lot of defensive potential,” Tia said when Mia didn’t speak up right away. “Especially if we have actual tunnels and stuff.”

Regina nodded. “I know. But how feasible is it? Can we do a proper underground hive system?” If they could build something like that, it would be great, but so far, she’d hesitated. At least log cabins weren’t likely to collapse if someone didn’t dig correctly or to get flooded.

“It should be possible,” Mia said. “I wouldn’t like to dig too close to the lake, though. But farther up, especially in the direction of the rocky hills we saw before, it should be better.”

“So, would it make more sense to wait until our base is a little better established and we can expand?” Regina asked.

Mia and Tia exchanged a look, then shrugged. “If you want my recommendation, my Queen, I think we can start right away,” Mia said. “We’ll just have to keep working on it and expand it further in time. Besides, having longer tunnels that connect different places would be one of the advantages of something like this, right?”

“I’ll defer to your expertise,” Regina said with a small smile. “Alright, let’s do it this way, then. I’d like one of you two to take charge of that project.”

“Maybe I could do it, my Queen?” Tia offered. “Then Mia could keep working on the houses and other buildings.”

Mia nodded, seemingly agreeing with that suggestion.

“Okay. Then you’re responsible for the fortifications and the underground part, Tia, and you for the rest of the work, Mia,” Regina stated.

She paused and considered the situation for a moment, while Mia and Tia left to get to work. Her hive was starting to get something like a real organization. It was probably inevitable that the older and more experienced drones would end up in charge of their fields. The need to allocate the War Drones just reinforced that. At least she hadn’t noticed any signs of resentment from the other drones.

Regina glanced at their budding village. She was living in one of the cabins at the moment. The drones had insisted on giving her one to herself. They shared the others, and, from what she heard, they were happy with it and wouldn’t have wanted their own bedrooms anyway. The War Drones usually slept outside in the old shelters, though there were always a few drones on watch at night.

It was probably about time to suit actions to words and organize some regular self-defense training for all of the Workers. They should work out more of a schedule, too. Regina liked having dinner with all of her hive. It gave her the opportunity to see all of them, even those she hadn’t talked to much.

She sighed, stood up and stretched. It was time to do some more training. She’d rationed all of her magic, but as she had a little spare mana right now, she was determined to finally get that Firebolt spell worked out.

She wanted to learn a healing spell, too. She felt like she’d been close. That would need someone to be injured, though. Unless she could practice it on some monsters or animals that were injured in a hunt and not killed? Who knows, maybe making them capture something alive will be good practice for the warriors, anyway. Regina smiled to herself and walked to a tree stump she’d chosen as a target.

On her fifth try, she finally managed to set it on fire with her new attack. Shaping the mana correctly wasn’t easy, but her control had improved, and she still remembered the pattern precisely.

Regina grinned, focusing and forming another spell. She had a headache already and felt like she’d run for a few hours, but she wouldn’t let that stop her. After a moment, a new streak of fire flew from her hand and crashed into the tree stump, making it smolder.

She pulled up her spells window, basking in the accomplishment.

Regina smiled to herself and staggered off to find something to eat. Learning more spells would probably get harder from here.