Chapter 606: The union
‘…But I know that you will, anyway. Which is WHY I made this decision.’
The way was dark and shrouded in fog, but it was still the only one where there was hope to have hope at all.
“What are you talking about, mortal?” the Goddess of Bees hissed, clenching tighter in the ntal grip that held my astral projection in place.
The God of Humanity frowned and opened his mouth to say sothing as well, but was interrupted.
By this point, my plans were already in motion.
Even before I gave the gods my reply, I had sent an order to Precio-Us. I only wished that I had an opportunity to say the words of warning and goodbyes to my loved ones. Even just THE most loved ones…
But there really was no ti.
Only Precio-Us, perhaps, could move as quickly as they had to. With my approval, they began joining more and more lesser hive minds of Hardbees into their hive mind. Only the sky and the ocean were their limit!
I could feel the growing presence of the hive mind Precio-Us around as their thoughts beca louder and the Divinity Sound in them beca more and more obvious. By now, how many bees were a part of this single hive mind?
‘Ten thousand. Hundred thousand,’ they replied in a chorus of ntal voices. ‘The more people join us, the faster we can bring in others.’
A hundred thousand bees with their minds entirely taken in by the hive mind! Not dead, but asleep until the hive mind would break apart—and die itself, in a way.
I felt awful just thinking about it. But there was no ti for feeling grief, either.
“These bees! They are spreading their… vileness!” the God of Humanity cursed. “We must stop it, imdiately!”
“I will kill them. It’s my right,” the Goddess of Bees said darkly.
At this point, she stopped paying attention to entirely. Even her ntal clutch on ended, leaving able to move again…
As soon as I had the opportunity, I let my ntal projection return to my body and finally opened my eyes. And, despite everything, smiled.
“Fuck it if you will, bitch,” I said.
“What?!” The Goddess of Bees jolted, but it was hard to say whether it was because she was paying attention and heard what I said, or because of the next thing that happened.
Precio-Us has reached the Champion Tree. My orders to Precio-Us were clear, but I wasn’t sure if it was possible to actually follow them.
However, with the massive range of my limit broken telepathy, I felt when the Champion Tree—and countless other usnea trees that had the ability to think and beco a hive mind despite not being able to move—joined Precio-Us, too.
There was a change in the hive mind’s way of thought.
Until now, it was a chorus of consciousnesses, but they all were bee consciousnesses. In most things, they were thinking in unison, or at least in similar ways.
The usnea trees were different. Their minds were so self-centred, I wasn’t sure they could beco a hive mind at all. But here they were!
Millions of quiet tree minds. Each of them saw the entire hive mind as its own mind, and its own mind as the hive mind. They had many fewer opinions than the bee minds, but they added ntal power to the hive mind anyway.
They made it stronger, and the Divinity Sound that they sang beca stronger, too. It made the air vibrate and ears hear faint sounds that couldn’t be described by words—because they shouldn’t exist.
This power was so material and factual that it made the three gods standing nearby pause for long enough that I could sit up.
“Nectus! What is the aning of this?!” Dalmanrach asked, pointing a claw at .
The Goddess of Bees stopped with the questions.
“The problem must be removed at its root!” she hissed and lunged for —but was stopped by the sudden and silent appearance of the fourth figure.
The Usnea God was standing between the two of us, and an invisible force field blocked the Goddess of Bees’ assault. The two equal forces locked, which ant that neither could do anything.
Until the God of Humanity pushed toward , thus shifting the equilibrium and pushing the Usnea God aside.
“Why are you protecting this fool?” the God of Humanity barked at the Usnea God while reaching toward . “Richard Miller, you’ve been given a once-in-a-lifeti-of-a-world opportunity, and you’ve squandered it out of your arrogance! Stop your subjects at once!”
I jumped away from the God of Humanity’s reach. This surely wouldn’t have worked in ordinary circumstances, but now, countless other gods began appearing more bodily in this world.
Right in this room, in fact. It was too small to hold a crowd, but this didn’t stop the gods—they just made themselves smaller to fit.
“What is the aning of this?!” a snake-like god asked in a hiss.
“What’s going on?!”
While they squabbled, I reached out for Precio-Us.
‘What’s the status, girls?’
‘Our power has changed. We can shape reality now—like your system does, Father. But we need more to beco a god-creature. We need… everyone. We will reach them all. Every bee and every usnea tree.’
‘Only them?’ I asked out of morbid curiosity.
‘We could’ve even taken other creatures, but they wouldn’t agree to the hive mind, and would only make it weaker. But the bees and the trees—they know what they are doing this for. They know they have nothing to fear.’
‘Alright. Then keep going.’
‘Father…’
‘Yes. too. I know.’
I let out a sigh and closed my eyes, instead opening my mind.
The ‘Gestalt Consciousness’ gene was within as well. Even if it was suppressed by my morphotype, the potential was always within . Now I felt my being shift and the chorus of the hive mind beco closer.
And then we beca one, and we beca God.
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