Ten thousand dancing bees—what a sight they were!
The hive shook from the stomping of their feet.
And ten thousand more watched and sang.
The discotheque of all tis!
We stopped only when the sun set, and everybody grew sleepy. One by one, bees went to the nearest empty cell to sleep.
I was about to go, too, but was caught by Ambrosia.
"Nectus, where are you going? Did you forget that we still need to mate?"
I rubbed my eyes and suddenly felt much more awake. I thought I was tired, but apparently, for this task, my body gained a second wind!
"Sure, Amby!"
But when we flew to Ambrosia's chambers, and she began reaching for my tattered leaf skirt, I suddenly rembered sothing.
"Wait! Wait, we can't mate yet!" I grabbed her hands with one pair of arms and put another on her shoulders. "Amby, just wait a little—I need to spend my new attribute points first! Do the system stuff!"
Ambrosia stared at flatly.
Finally, she moved away and folded her arms over her chest.
"Don't take long. You've been putting this mating away for an entire day already…"
I choked on the air.
Was she thinking that I was giving her the good old, "not tonight, I have a migraine" treatnt?
I shook my head and focused on getting done with optimizing my sex as soon as possible.
First, I changed the title back to 'Drone-Consort'. The extra 20% fertility it gave wasn't useless—they increased the amount of eggs Ambrosia laid every brood. But since I had it from the start, it wasn't sothing I had to think about until now.
Second, I cracked my fingers and began picking genes.
First, as usual, went into endurance.
〔For improving endurance, you have a choice of next genes: 'Increased Fertility I', 'Faster Regeneration I', and 'at Digestion'.〕
〔Increased Fertility I: 20% to fertility.〕
〔Faster Regeneration I: 20% to health recovery speed.〕
〔at Digestion: allows digesting at and animal proteins.〕
'Aw, damn, no lifespan genes…'
I had 87 days left to live left right now. This was growing uncomfortably close to where I was starting with.
Still…
'If I take this fertility gene, our hive will grow much faster, and I will reach Developnt Level 2 in no ti. Which will give 5 points. Plus, if soone attacks again… Regeneration is a nice gene, too. But!'
I glanced at Ambrosia. She was tapping her foot impatiently.
'Yeah, fertility it is. I wonder if it will stack between us.'
The next point went to strength. As I put it, I prayed for the next stage of the stat boost.
〔Flying Carriers: increases maximum carry weight during flight to 60% from the base carry weight.〕
〔Claws II: gives multipurpose claws.〕
〔Enhanced Strength I->II: increases base strength to 20.〕
'Yay! Lucky !' I thought, picking the last gene.
And finally, the other criminally low stat—defense.
〔Venom Resistance I->II: reduces damage from venoms and poisons by 40%.〕
〔Thick Skin I: reduces all damage taken by 10%.〕
〔Enhanced Defense II: increases base defense to 20.〕
'Wow, I'm double lucky! Two stat boosts! Stat boosts are always good…'
I confird my choices and looked proudly at my stat sheet. My health improved slightly, but more importantly, my muscles felt much stronger than before!
〔Drone Bee〕
〔Na〕: Nectus Stingprince
〔Active title〕: Drone-Consort
〔Health〕: 26 / 26
〔Stamina〕: 23 / 23
〔Attribute points〕: 0
〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee
〔Age〕: 104 d
〔Remaining lifespan〕: 87 d
〔Attributes〕
> Strength: 22
> Agility: 41
> Endurance: 25
> Defense: 22
> Intelligence: 100
> Perception: 43
〔Special abilities〕
Flight, Horizontal Gene Transfer
〔Titles〕
Drone-Consort, Holand Protector
〔Genes〕
Enhanced Intelligence X, Technology: Primitive Containers, Increased Lifespan II, Fast Learner I, Enhanced Endurance II, Danger-Averse Reflexes, Venom Resistance I, Heat Resistance I, Increased Fertility I, Enhanced Strength II, Enhanced Defense II
〔〕〔〕〔〕
"Now! Now I'm ready to…" I paused when I caught the expression on Ambrosia's face. "To make sweet, sweet love. Hey, actually…"
I walked up to her and tried to lift Ambrosia up, bridal-style. Surely, with 'Enhanced Strength II', I had enough muscle!
Ambrosia gasped, grabbing my shoulders.
"Nectus? What are you—?!"
I raised her twenty centiters off the ground, and my strength ended. So did my balance.
"Aaaah! Sorry!! Ouff!"
We both went down—I fell on the floor, and Ambrosia fell on top of .
She was really heavy! Those voluptuous forms of hers—they weren't full of hot air, it turned out.
Ambrosia shifted, taking part of her weight from . She was still pressing to the floor, and her hands were pinning down mine.
Her face was right next to mine, and our breaths mingled. She was staring at intently.
"Enough of your foolishness, Nectus… We are mating, *now*."
"Yes, my Queen!"
***
Next day, the old routine returned.
Forager Bees foraged, Nurse Bees nursed, and so on. My sweatshop of Craftsn Bees repaired or replaced broken hamrs, and I drafted plans for my colony.
So far, I was really focusing on small day-to-day things, but the First Defense of The Hive put things into perspective.
I had to think more globally. It was ti to move up a stage.
Military. Science. Industry. Economics. Culture.
The five whales that carried any strategy. They could have different nas and colors… but the idea was the sa.
I needed to delegate more responsibilities to others so I could speed up creation and completion of new projects.
For this, I gathered five bees.
Sergeant Warrior B1374. Sergeant Craftsman B581. Sergeant Craftsman B601. Chief Foreman B339. Ambrosia.
They all stood in my Thinking Chambers (my expanded bedroom/workroom), looking at with curiosity and lack of understanding.
"You all understand how rank-based hierarchy works by now. I give orders, and then you give them to other people. You manage, because I can't manage alone. So…"
I raised my hands.
"You will be my Advisers—the highest rank of them all, short of mine. I'm your head of state. The CEO of bees."
Ambrosia tilted her head.
"Nectus, you are just spouting so words now."
"Uh, right. Listen, I'm inventing the Colony Council!"
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