The storm seemed to have spent most of its power. It dragged on, rain still coming down and the occasional gust of wind shaking the leaves of the trees in the forest, but that only made things unpleasant. By the time they had cleaned up the aftermath of the battle, at least mostly, everyone in the hive was thoroughly drenched and uncomfortable. The ground had devolved into mud in many places, especially where the grass had already been trampled by them walking and where the battle had taken place. At least there didn’t seem to be any large-scale environmental destruction, like you could probably do with magic or Skills at higher levels. Even the explosion had been in a clear, unobstructed stretch, and the houses hadn’t really suffered damage in it or the rest of the battle.

Tia had barely waited for the important things to get settled, like dragging the bodies of the dead humans to a designated spot and collecting their gear, before she approached Regina, grinning and with barely suppressed excitement in her step.

“I reached level 20, my Queen!” she said.

Regina smiled. “Great. I got two levels, myself. So, you reached your Evolution now?”

“Exactly! I’m just looking at my options, and they seem really exciting.”

Max smiled where he was standing beside and behind his Queen, keeping an eye out. It was good to see Tia being so cheerful, especially given what had just happened. He wasn’t particularly surprised that she had reached the level-up. Tia wasn’t exactly hesitant when it came to joining a fight. And some of the defenses they’d used, like the palisade, were her work, so she might have gotten some Experience for that, too.

Tia and Regina started discussing the choices the System offered her. Max didn’t listen in on everything, but he caught enough to have an idea of what she received. Tia didn’t seem very enthusiastic about a straight-up evolution of her Drone Worker Class like Drone Burrower or Drone Craftsperson (Max wondered if that name was deliberately gender-neutral. Did the System even see them as having genders, considering their biology?). An option she seemed to like better was Drone Engineer, or even Drone Architect. Mia had stopped a short distance away from them, and Max noted her perking up when she heard those names. But Tia had gotten even more options than Max, and he was not surprised to hear that she seemed to focus on the last one.

“So, you want to be a Drone Combat Engineer?” Regina asked. “I can’t say that doesn’t fit, even if you’ve mostly done large-scale work more in the line of building defenses like the tunnels and palisade.”

“Yes, please. Can I?”

“Of course. Have fun with it.”

Tia smiled brightly. She then turned to Max, and appeared to hesitate for a moment. “What’s it like?”

“Nothing to worry about.” He smiled reassuringly. “Just like falling into a deep sleep. I didn’t even know I was out for - a day or so?”

“More than that,” Regina cut in. “Do it right now, Tia. I’d rather have you back as soon as possible.”

“Of course, my Queen!” Tia scurried off, heading for the hut Max and Tim had just come out of.

Regina turned back to Max. She smiled, but after a moment that expression faded into a faint frown. “Something feels different about you,” she told him. “I know you just changed your Class and everything, but I don’t think it’s just that. More like, I don’t know, my sense of mana?”

Max nodded. “I think I can guess what it might have to do with.” He focused for a moment, sharing his status screen with his Queen.

Regina raised an eyebrow after glancing at it for a second. “You’ve got mana now?”

“Seems like it. I didn’t expect it.” Max shrugged and tried to listen into his body for a trace of that mana again. He probably wasn’t nearly as good at it as she was, but he could feel something. “I don’t really know what to do with it, yet.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Regina said confidently. A grin slowly spread across her face. “This is great. It might be more like what Dark has, though, kind of associated with one element. I don’t think he can learn just any spells. But I’m going to try to teach you a few simple ones, just in case.”

“What element would that even be for me?” Max wondered.

She shrugged. “I’m sure we’ll find out. Like I said, it might not be the same. Maybe it just powers a specific Skill or two for you.”

He nodded. Then he looked around.

“It looks like we suffered more losses,” he said quietly.

Regina nodded. She looked sober, and a grimace flittered across her face. She’d mentioned once that she sensed the death of her drones, even the Swarm Drones. He wondered how this felt for her. “I’ll need to go and do some healing,” she said, then set off.

Max followed after her, taking a closer look around while his Queen worked her magic. Luckily, it seemed like they’d been spared serious losses. Their tactic had worked better than he’d have expected, and while it had cost them quite a few Swarm Drones, none of the sapient drones had sustained a fatal wound. Maybe we have learned from Amy’s death. But he pushed that thought away quickly. From what he had seen, they had kept the Workers and especially the low-level drones back, though. Those had thrown some stones or maybe a few javelins or arrows, but they hadn’t really been in the path of the attack. Especially since the humans had again included many close combat fighters, or many who could fight at a mid-range with their Abilities.

Max waited patiently while Regina worked. He wished he could do more to help her, but his own skills didn’t extend beyond basic first aid. He kept watch, guarding her back. They might have won this battle, but there was no point in taking chances. There could still be an enemy about who might want to take this opportunity to sneak up on her. Max felt like he was better at the task than he had been. His new Class helping him, maybe.

A few of the others shot him looks, but no one complained or even indicated that they disapproved. They cared about her safety, too. Max glanced around, looking for Tim. He was just starting to wonder if he’d missed something when Max saw him walk through the gap where the gate was supposed to be. Tim caught his look and gave him a nod, smiling slightly. He moved quickly and fluidly, and Max wondered if he had gained mana, too. As soon as he had the opportunity, they should sit down together and talk about their Evolutions and what they entailed.

“What are we going to do with the prisoners?” he heard Mia ask quietly.

Max glanced at her, and noticed Regina turn to her, too, standing up from the drone she had just been treating. Alf jumped up and scurried off, obviously relieved.

“Keep them in a separate hut from the other one for now,” Regina answered, raising her voice just slightly, so everyone would be able to hear. “We’ll need to interrogate them, and then, depending on where they actually come from, we may be able to get rid of them. Uh, as a ransom or something, I mean,” she hastily added. “I don’t think killing prisoners is something I want to stoop to lightly,” he heard her mumble to herself.

Max hid a smile and watched as a few of the drones, escorted by a bigger group of War Drones, brought the two humans into one of the houses. At this rate, they might have to build a new hut just as a prison. Though he didn’t think the others would mind moving closer together.

Max closed his eyes for a moment and focused inward. He thought about Tim, the sense of having his brother beside him or guarding his back, the feel of him. A moment later, he felt the psychic connection linking them. Where are you? he asked. I’m with Regina. He sent a short impression of his location. Did you look around outside?

Yes, Tim answered. His mental voice sounded clear, the connection steady. I’m talking with Ada, and after that, I intend on heading back out to look around. See if there are any other humans hiding in the woodwork. Or even monsters attracted to the scent of battle.

Good. Max glanced around. Take some others or War Drones with you if you feel it might help. Ada and the Scouts should do the same.

She just said the same thing. Tim sounded a bit amused. You’re staying back to protect the Hive?

Of course. I’ll make sure you and the Scouts are covered for the work we have to do now.

The connection faded, though he still got a faint impression of Tim starting to move. Trying to connect to Tim always worked best for Max, compared to the others. Still, it was particularly clear and easy today. Maybe something about the Evolution, the new Classes or having mana now helped.

Then Max noticed Regina start moving, and he quickly fell into step behind her. She walked up and down the edge of the settlement, inspecting the palisade and taking in the state of the area. Max accompanied her quietly, doing the same.

“Max,” she spoke up after a few minutes, “are you using a Skill? Did you get a new one for your Class Evolution?”

Max stopped and hesitated. He glanced at his screens. “Yes, I did get a new one, my Queen. It’s another defensive Skill, basically. It relates to my new Class directly, though.”

“Sounds interesting. What does it do?”

“It’s called ‘Queen’s Shield’. It lets me cast a shield on you, or rather my primary charge or superior, that should be able to take one attack.” Max shrugged slightly. “I also get the passive benefit of always being able to tell where you are. More exactly if I’m close, but also the direction and rough distance if I’m farther away.”

Regina shook her head, but he could see her smile slightly. “And you cast that Spell?”

“I don’t know that it’s a Spell. And yes, I cast it pretty much right away, before the battle was over.”

Regina stared at him for a moment longer, and he tried to meet her gaze steadily. Then she turned her head and looked at the gap in the palisade again. “Well, alright. That should be useful. How often can you use it?”

“Only once a day for now, although I’m hoping that will go down as I get better with it,” he replied, checking their surroundings again. “It lasts for about an hour and a half right now.”

“Okay. In the future, tell me when you’re using it. We need to manage its use carefully, so you don’t have the Skill on cooldown when it would be needed.”

Max nodded silently. He hoped that it wouldn’t lead to her being more careless with her life, relying on having the Skill that should protect her. It would only hold up to one major attack, after all. He already felt like she put herself in danger too much, but he didn’t say anything about it, knowing that he couldn’t tell her how to act.

Regina looked like she wanted to say something else, but then she paused. Slowly, she started to frown. She looked off into the distance, then turned to him again.

“Elves are coming,” she said. “A relatively large party, but it looks like Anuis is with them again.”

Max nodded. “Do we want to meet them here?”

“You know what, I think it might be time for us to approach them. Let’s move out with a group. It shouldn’t be hard to arrange to meet them.”

“The formerly abandoned outpost might be a good location,” he suggested.

“It’s still pretty close to the hive. But that’s not a bad idea.” Regina looked around, and the corner of her lips curled up. “I don’t think I necessarily want to explain exactly how we managed this little bit of landscaping work, if they don’t find out anyway.”

She started walking again, and Max fell in beside her. “There is still a little bit of time left on the truce deal,” he said after a minute.

“That it is,” she agreed. “Plenty of time for preparations.”

Max smiled. He didn’t know exactly which faction of humans had attacked his home, his family, this time. But every bone in his body urged him to make sure there wouldn’t be a next time. And while his ‘build’ and Class might be defensive in nature, he knew that anyone only staying on the defensive was ultimately doomed to lose.

They hadn’t been able to use most of the little tricks and things Regina knew in this battle, but that wouldn’t be the same for future ones. And perhaps more importantly, they had the chance to get allies involved.

He’d act according to Regina’s wishes, though. He trusted her.