Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire - Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Become hunters
Before Pollenia could answer, Ambrosia interfered again.

“There’s no question. The outside world is dangerous. You will learn more from me, either way, Pollenia.”

“I was about to say the same thing!” Pollenia said. “I will only go outside to find myself Drones to mate with.”

Another thing I didn’t want to think about. And didn’t have to—not now, at least.

***

Later this day, I gathered a squad of Foremen Bees and gave them spears.

“We are going to hunt for meat. Today!”

The first generation of bees with the meat digestion gene didn’t emerge yet, but should do it soon. However, I wanted meat *now*. Bees couldn’t live on nectar alone—it was pure carbohydrates and lacked vitally important protein.

And I wasn’t going to eat any bee bread anymore.

“Hunt? Like hunters?” the Sergeant Foreman asked.

“Yeah! Then I will show you how to cook meat. But before you start… Drink this.”

I had a large jug filled with 6 health points worth of my blood.

〔Health〕: 29 / 36

My health points weren’t quick to recover. From what I observed, the base regeneration of other bees was about half a point per day. Maybe three quarters of a point with medical attention and regeneration.

It really was a sacrifice each time (and my hand hurt a lot now).

“Is this your *blood*?” Sergeant Foreman scrunched her nose.

“Yes, now shut up and drink it—a couple of gulps each. It will make you stronger.”

“Ugh… I’d rather kill ten wasps than do this…” another Foreman Bee complained.

“Hey, Father told you to shut up!” Sergeant Foreman said and made a large gulp from the jug.

She looked ready to vomit. Then her eyes opened wide.

<Vertical Gene Transfer had successfully transferred 7 genes that were missing from the target’s genome.>

“Wow! I feel… strength!” she shoved the jug into the hands of another bee and flexed her arms. “I feel like I can fly for hours without getting tired!”

“Really? Well, Father is always right—he said so himself!”

One by one, my bees drank their fill. Each time they were disgusted at first, then full of wonder.

And now my squad of hunters was not only strong, they could also digest the prey they would catch.

“You have spears and hammers… I have a spear, armor and a knife… Let’s go—we won’t have to go far.”

I led my squad out of the hive, past the patch of the forest picked bare by Material Foragers. After a short flight under the canopy of the fern-trees, I spotted a target.

“Here!”

〔Caterpillar〕

〔Health〕: 15 / 15

〔Stamina〕: 8 / 10

〔Species〕: Purple Hawk Moth

〔Age〕: 18 d

〔Remaining lifespan〕: 182 d

〔Attributes〕

> Strength: 12

> Agility: 8

> Endurance: 12

> Defense: 9

> Intelligence: 1

> Perception: 6

〔Special abilities〕

Fat Padding, Basic Camouflage

〔〕〔〕〔〕

One of the many purple hawk moth caterpillars in the area. It looked like a truck-sized green leather sock full of meat.

It looked like it could be cut into many, many delicious steaks. Almost like a cow.

Unaware of any danger, the caterpillar was chewing on a leaf it sat on.

First, I switched my title to ‘Homeland Protector’ for the 10% strength and stamina bonus of home territory. Then I addressed my squad.

“Alright, everybody. This thing is slow, but you don’t want to be accidentally smashed by it. Just poke spears into it from the side until it dies, and try to stay away from its teeth.”

“Why spears, Father? We have hammers. Hammers are great!”

“Who the hell hunts cows with hammers? Hammer blows will be absorbed by its fat. We must make it bleed to death instead! Let me show you.”

The caterpillar was slow, and I felt sure of myself.

In fact, I was about to show another important technology—one that went unappreciated when I first unlocked it.

I hovered in the air a few meters away from the caterpillar. It wriggled away from me, but its movements were so slow, it was no effort at all to stay close.

I raised my arm, moved it back, aimed…

My spear flew in a graceful arc and stuck deep into the beast’s side.

〔You deal 1 damage. You inflict weak bleeding.〕

The caterpillar let out a gurgling sound and moved away even faster.

“Ha! Take that! Just fourteen more blows like that, and it will die! Squad, attack!” I shouted.

“Attack!” Sergeant Foreman echoed.

“Die! Die!”

“Become hunted!”

My bees swarmed the caterpillar, poking her with their spears. It twisted its body, trying to hit them with its tail, but they dodged all blows easily.

A few of them tried to repeat my throw, but most then had to pick their spears from the ground. Despite that fumbling, they were super effective!

Each spear blow took only a point of health, but my bees stabbed the caterpillar until their stamina ended. And thanks to the gene boosts, their stamina was going down much slower than the caterpillar’s health.

In a few minutes, the creature’s health went to zero. Its grip on the leaf loosened, and it fell to the ground below, landing with a loud thud.

“Great job, girls!” I cheered. “Next step—bringing this pile of meat home. Or at least part of it—we can’t eat this much meat before it spoils, anyway.”

I pulled out my knife.

“Too bad you don’t have knives… Well, just wrap pieces of meat in leaves after I cut them.”

It took a solid hour to cut enough meat with only my stone knife. But the effort wasn’t for nothing—we returned to the hive with a triumph.

I showed bees how to skewer and cut meat on a fire. The first attempt was raw inside, the second turned into coal, but the third…

The delicious, absolutely delicious taste of soft and fatty meat! Even the lack of salt wasn’t bringing it down—it was like the best piece of chicken mixed with pork!

“Amby, Polly, everybody! You should try this out! Soon, this hive will enter a new age of cooking! We will become meat-eating bees!”

<Congratulations! You’ve unlocked ‘Cooking’ technology!>