Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire - Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Development Level 3 sneaks upon you
“A battle royale? Hm… If you mean that the young Queens will fight for supremacy until their rivals are dead, then yes. That’s what will happen.”

I put my hands on my hips.

“Ambrosia! I won’t allow it! No way. This would be just senseless slaughter! Kinslaying! I know this is for natural selection, but we’ve moved way farther than that.”

Ambrosia raised her eyebrows.

“You care for the lives of all our daughters even if they won’t be a part of this hive? Well… I’m not against your suggestion. With your ‘genes’, I’m sure the new Queen will emerge strong. A single Queen will take fewer resources to raise, too.”

I lowered my hands and smiled nervously.

“Oh, phew. I worried you would argue with me here, Amby… You are, aha-ha-ha, cold as fuck sometimes…”

She shook her head in disapproval.

“Which of us is ill in the head half of the time, Nectus? I’m perfectly warm; if I was cold, I’d be dead. Just feel it.”

Ambrosia put my head on her solar plexus. Her skin *was* very warm.

“And yes, let’s mate. Then, I will tell the Builder Bees to build a royal pod for the future queen.”

***

Six days later, a notification fell on my head like a sledgehammer.

<Congratulations! Your colony has reached Development Level 3. You gain 5 attribute points.>

‘What?! Already?’

All those days my number of development points was steadily climbing towards 100, but of course, when it actually happened, I was thinking about entirely different things.

“Nectus?” Ambrosia tilted her head. “So, if I take a negative number and multiply it… Will it become bigger or smaller?”

I shook my head. Right, I was in the middle of a math lesson.

Ambrosia was really close to achieving literacy. From here, it would spread! Eventually. It took a while—but she almost understood the negative numbers already. Only simple equations were left after that.

“Sorry, I just got some good news.” I grinned at my bee wife. “Good news that I’m about to have more cool genes! So let’s pause our lesson for a bit.”

I felt like I was playing an idle game and winning. Things just happened, and I got showered with rewards. My colony just grew and grew…

I looked upon my status, examining the growing numbers. Higher and higher they climbed, to my delight.

〔Your colony〕

〔Wellness〕: 84 %

〔Population〕: 32 thousand

〔Development level〕: 3

〔Development points〕: 0 / 200

〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee

〔Attributes〕

> Workpower: 53

> Military: 27

> Brainpower: 139

> Logistics: 28

> Resilience: 22

〔Resources〕:

> Food: 1265 units

> Building materials: 115 units

〔Colony Council〕

〔Military Adviser〕: increases total military by 10%. (B1374)

〔Science Adviser〕: adds 10% of total workpower to brainpower. (B581)

〔Industry Adviser〕: increases total workpower by 10%. (B601)

〔Economics Adviser〕: adds 10% of total workpower to military. (B339)

〔Culture Adviser〕: increases all total attributes and wellness by 3%. (Ambrosia)

〔Technologies〕

Dance Communication, Hive Building, Food Preservation, Stone Hammers, Forager Posts, Rank-Based Hierarchy, Primitive Containers, Border Patrols, Primitive Knives, Primitive String, Fire, Candles, Primitive Spiked Armor, Primitive Medicine

〔〕〔〕〔〕

‘Considering that I have 66 days of life left, it’s really time to get the next lifespan upgrade!’

“Oooh,” Ambrosia said, leaning forward. “How does that work? It’s because our colony grew, right? And you have new genes already?”

She was looking me over like a scrupulous housewife checking out a piece of meat at a butcher’s! Hungering for my seed already!

I shifted and fixed my leaf skirt, because admittedly… my seed was always hungering back.

“I have to pick them first. Let’s see…”

〔For improving endurance, you have a choice of next genes: ‘Faster Regeneration I’, ‘Meat Digestion’, and ‘Improved Immunity I’.〕

〔Faster Regeneration I: +20% to health recovery speed.〕

〔Meat Digestion: allows digesting meat and animal proteins.〕

〔Improved Immunity I: reduces chances of falling ill by 20%, potentially improving a colony’s resilience.〕

But where was the lifespan?

‘Am I unlucky, or what? System, where’s my lifespan gene? I can’t put points into other stuff until I fix my lifespan!’

<All offered genes are picked from the pool of available genes at random, user.>

I narrowed my eyes, cursing my shitty luck.

Well, a person with good luck wouldn’t have been targeted by a deranged bee goddess in the first place.

“So between healing slightly faster, ability to eat meat, and improved immunity against illness, which would you pick, Amby?”

“The meat-eating,” she said instantly. “We waste a lot of resources daily because we can’t eat meat. All the dead bodies of the worker bees are just left for scavengers. With this gene, they will serve as a convenient source of food for us all.”

I gaped.

“What?!”

“What?” Ambrosia stared back at me. “What is it now?”

I huffed.

“You really have the mindset of a Grimworld player. First cannibalism, next you will suggest making hats out of people.”

Now she was looking at me with pity.

“Nectus, we already have hats out of people.” She pointed at the bone crown/helmet I was wearing. “*You* have one.”

I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again… Nothing was coming. If my status panel reflected morale, it’d just suffer a ten points blow.

In a weak voice, I asked,

“Ambrosia, are *we* the baddies?”

“Nectus…”

“Alright, alright! I understand. The meat-gene is overpowered, but I draw a line on eating other bees. It has a lot of drawbacks, actually! Prion illnesses… or something.”

“Illnesses are bad.” Ambrosia nodded seriously. “Alright, no ‘cannibalism’.”

I suddenly realized that Ambrosia trusted me *a lot*. If I lied about some illness, she’d probably believe me. Then again, she constantly called me “ill in the head”…

“There are still a lot of other creatures we can hunt. Like the long fat ones,” Ambrosia added.

“Caterpillars? Yeah! They are like insect cows. We can cook them on fire… Oh, I missed meat, to be honest.”

I confirmed the acquisition of the meat-eating gene.

“Will there be more genes, Nectus?”

I nodded.

“Wish me luck… to get the good ones!”

My heart beat faster as I pressed the buttons on the system panel.

‘Alright, another point into endurance… Please, please, please! Fortune, smile upon me! Carry me past this life-and-death gacha!’