In the Hive Supremo's nursery, 500 future Beemarines were placed in cells aside from their sisters, who had erged 4 days earlier.
Beemarines didn't have their 'Faster Youth Developnt' gene, so they took their sweet ti—a necessary sacrifice for excelling in other things.
Ambrosia was here too, and I could tell that she was as excited and anxious about the ergence of our morphotyped daughters as I and Bloodhero. She kept checking the cells over and over like a school student during the class checks the clock every 5 seconds.
This anxiety made shove my own jitters aside to fly over to Ambrosia and take her hand.
"Don't worry, Amby, I'm sure it will work out! System didn't cross in the past. Well, except a couple tis. But it was because it was made by—actually, you know, forget it!"
Ambrosia stared at for a second, then smiled.
"Now that your head-thinking becos more and more rational, your mouth becos even faster to keep running ahead of it, Nectus. The way this goes, your mind will never catch up."
I let out a choked noise.
What a back-handed complint!
But then again…
"Oh, so you finally admit that I'm smart, Amby!"
She smiled wider.
"I didn't say that."
I grinned back at her. If the first smile could be interpreted many ways, this ti she was definitely sassing with joking intent! I took it as a win.
We gazed into each other's dark eyes, the romantic mont stretching between us—
"Father, Queen Ambrosia—it's happening! They are erging!"
At Bloodhero's shout, I turned to the brood cells.
Nurses were swarming around them as the hands of my daughters began tearing through the wax. One by one, my Beemarines erged.
Still stunned from seeing the world with adult eyes, they dumbly obeyed the Nurses' instructions to put on so clothing, towel themselves with leaves and drink nectar.
From the first glance, it was hard to distinguish Beemarines from ordinary bees. Their enhanced biology was mostly on the inside, and even their thick skin looked as smooth as that of other bees.
But they were all looking around curiously, and catching on to the Nurses' instructions faster than an average bee I've seen.
And their stats were as glorious as I imagined when I created the morphotype!
〔Beemarine〕 〔Ally〕 〔Progeny〕
〔Health〕: 22 / 22
〔Stamina〕: 21 / 21
〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee
〔Age〕: 22 d
〔Remaining lifespan〕: 504 d
〔Attributes〕
> Strength: 30
> Agility: 40
> Endurance: 20
> Defense: 20
> Intelligence: 100
> Perception: 43
〔Special abilities〕
Flight, Stinger
〔Genes〕
Increased Lifespan IV, Enhanced Strength III, Enhanced Endurance II, Enhanced Defense II, Enhanced Intelligence X, Faster Regeneration X (MAX), Fast Learner V, Thick Skin V (MAX), Venom Resistance V (MAX), Flying Carriers, Throwing Wrists, Danger-Averse Reflexes
〔〕〔〕〔〕
Great base stats thanks to all my genes, and the incredible maxed-out genes from the morphotype!
But after I read that part, my eyes went back to the top of the status panel.
'Huh? It shows "Beemarine" instead of a "Cleaning Bee"? Actually, and where is the usual bee ability to make wax?'
'Huuuh? That wasn't in the tutorial!'
The system didn't reply. I huffed and shook my head.
Of course, that tutorial was even shittier than I thought back then. It didn't even say this important thing.
'Well, the wax-making ability isn't that important. I guess Beemarines won't be making royal jelly either. At least they have their stinger, although I hope they won't have to use it.'
I turned away from Beemarines to my companions.
"So how do you like your future elite recruits, Bloodhero?"
She frowned and humd.
"I thought they'd be two heads taller than normal girls…"
I planted my hands on my hips and shook my head.
"Bloodhero, Bloodhero, stop looking only at the size! I still can't get over you asking for bigger hamrs… And you got yourself a hamr which you could barely fly around with!"
Bloodhero stared back at with a stony expression and zero remorse in her eyes.
"It was an amazing hamr, Father. I'm sure I will be able to smash a hornet's head with it, when I beco strong enough. I train every day, and two weeks ago I could make a swing!"
"That was just because I gave you the latest strength upgrade! I don't think anyone can train their muscles this high! Actually, I don't think that any of us can train muscles at all."
We were *kind of* insects, weren't we? I doubted that training will do as much good for us as for mammals. At least, none of the Warrior Bees I've seen, no matter how much they trained, have shown visible muscle growth so far. Their training was all about technique.
"But Bloodhero is right that they don't look very different from any other of our daughters," Ambrosia said. "I suggest putting them through the ordinary school curriculum before doing anything else."
"And how long would that take? I want to make them ready for the siege as soon as possible!" Bloodhero said.
"Less than actual combat training, especially if they will learn faster than average bees," Ambrosia shrugged. "Nectus, if you don't mind, I will give the instructions to the Chief Teacher."
I nodded.
"Yes. Hold your horses, Bloodhero—I an, don't hurry so much. Keep preparing our forces, then train those Beemarines thoroughly. I want them to learn everything that both Warriors and Commandos know. The last ti we hurried, we had to deal with a pandemic… Better go slow and steady this ti. Our empire keeps growing even without this conquest, but failing might set us back for months."
"Yes, Father!" Bloodhero saluted. "Slow and steady, as you said!"
I nodded, looking at the Beemarines again.
"While I'm still here, I will morphotype more larvae. Now that this trial was a success, there's no reason to *not* make more Beemarines!"
"Great idea, Father!"
"And one last thing, Bloodhero… When this batch of Beemarines finished their training, I want to arrange a *real* combat training for them. Let explain how it should go…"
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