“I’m busy.”

“But Mother, give birth-”

“Busy!”

Yup. Still didn’t want to lay a bunch of eggs.

“You are a big baby, Enno. Just make the eggs and be done with it.”

“Baby? You’re one to talk.”

“Mother?”

Right, right. I had to try and separate the mental discussion between Queen and Beatrice. To be fair, ignoring them at the same time was easier to accomplish, considering they were hounding me about the same thing.

After Beatrice and I had gathered some crystal fragments, a metal spike, and some glowing dirt, along with extra meat, we returned to the base to rest. If Queen had an internal clock, then I could assume I had been in this world somewhere in the realm of a couple of measly days.

At that moment, I was furiously staring at a tiny crystal fragment, spinning a stick in my hand.

Oh? Guess I hadn’t kicked that habit, though I didn’t even remember picking the stick up. Ah, it did pale in comparison to one of my beloved pens. Their weight, their shapely form, there was truly nothing like it.

“Eggs.”

I dropped the twig. Fine! I’ll lay some eggs, if nothing else, to stop the complaining.

“Fine, fine, enough. How many eggs did you say would be good, Beatrice?”

“Five, Mother.”

Five. Hoo, boy, that was a lot. How would I even manage to accumulate enough mass at a time?

“Alright. Queen, any idea how much food I’ll need to eat?”

“Simply create the eggs, and their form will demonstrate their readiness.”

Well, that could have been more helpful.

“How about subtypes?” I asked. I was inclined to make a mix of warriors and workers so I wouldn’t have to fight as much anymore…

“It would be most efficient to create five workers. That way, we could create more favorable conditions with a preliminary hive, reducing the negative effects of unfavorable birthing conditions.” Beatrice stated clearly.

It was pretty creepy to think this bee had literally been born yesterday and already sounded like an old manager I once had. She was practically an adult, likely in part because of the Link.

Anyways, workers?

“Not a warrior or two?”

“Well, if you want to make six or seven eggs, then perhaps….”

“Gotcha. Five eggs it is!”

I got to work. Creating the five eggs with the skill took barely any effort. The annoying part was barfing up the mass required to finish the eggs’ creation fully. Five small orbs floated before me, and I decided to run another little experiment at the last second. I doubled the amount of Mind used to create each egg. Of course, a worker only took 0.5%, plus the 50 percent penalty for unfavorable conditions. So I allocated 1% for each egg instead. I could already feel that the mass required would increase, so I prepared myself for a hellish few minutes.

Minutes turned out to be hours. When I had run entirely out of digested food, the eggs were still not fully formed. Maybe the experiment with five eggs at once wasn’t a great idea. The time required to finish the process ballooned as I consumed more food and waited for it to feel right to… apply to the eggs.

Eventually, my nasty task was completed, and five little orange bouncy balls sat before me.

[{Egg Creation} Level up! -> Lv. 2

Rather than growth through quantity, you have achieved growth through quality. The Bee has recognized your efforts.

Choose two Subtypes to unlock:

Subtype choices:

* Wax Drone

* Pollination Drone

* Sting Warrior

* Swarm Warrior

Special Subtypes unlocked:

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

* Aide’s Aide

* Force Warrior

* Gathering Drone

* Construction Drone

]

“Whoah!”

“Mother? Is something the matter?”

“My ability leveled up! I can choose new bee subtypes.”

“Fantastic! Allow me to investigate the options….”

I let both Queen and Beatrice inspect the choices. They were the bee experts, and there really wasn’t anything I was looking for in particular. I didn’t plan on laying more eggs until it was absolutely necessary, so I was fine with pretty much any subtype choices. Too bad I couldn’t have gotten this choice before I did a big batch.

“It may be easier to eliminate any options that are not particularly necessary at the moment. I would hope that these choices will remain in the future if you level the ability again,” Beatrice finally said.

“I agree. But… they all sound so great! I would love all of them. Why must I choose!?”

Well, besides the fact that I was the one who had to choose, some sounded way less interesting than others, and some were definitely not immediately useful. For example, Aide’s Aide sounded interesting, but considering the small size of the hive, it likely wouldn’t be much help at the moment.

It would be pretty funny for there to be a secretary’s secretary, though.

“Aide’s Aide, Pollination Drone, and Swarm Warrior should be immediately rejected, in my estimation.” Beatrice finally said. I could agree with all of those. Besides Aide’s Aide, this forest seemed way too dead for pollination specialists to help much, and swarm warriors sounded like they worked in big numbers, which we didn’t have. And I didn’t want to make a whole swarm of eggs.

“I think Construction Drone is a good option,” I added, “Construction specialists would be a big help to quickly expand the hive.”

“Exactly my thoughts, Mother. I would also suggest Gathering Drones so as to bolster our food stores.”

Hmm. While I agreed with Beatrice’s reasoning, I leaned more towards Force Warrior. It just sounded cool.

“I was thin-”

“We can also completely disregard useless options such as the various warrior types. Such things would be foolish to consider.”

Ah.

“-king, the exact thing you, uh. Just said. About warriors.”

“As expected, Mother. In that case, we can safely select Construction and Gathering Drones to prepare for the next clutch.”

Oooooh, please don’t call the eggs a clutch; that’s just too weird to think about. I gloomily selected Construction and Gathering Drones. As specialists, they took a greater minimum Mind to create, but not much, only 0.80% and 0.85%, respectively. Either way, I wouldn't be making these for a hot minute.

Now it was just time to wait for the eggs to hatch.

“I shall begin formulating a roadmap for the hive’s expansion. Please excuse me as I grab a bite to eat and get to work.”

It was a relief to see Beatrice leave. Finally, some peace and quiet.

“You are the Queen now! Who cares what Beatrice wants? Do what you want!”

Finally, almost some peace and quiet. Queen was probably right, but this was theoretically Beatrice’s job. Might as well let her do her thing. Now, as for Queen. I felt bad about what I was about to do, but I didn’t really have a choice.

As far as I had seen, humans were the key to my success in this world. And where was my best source of information on humans?

“Alright, Queen, it’s about time,” I interjected, “I need you to tell me everything you can remember about humans.”

She didn’t like that.

“I would much prefer not to discuss humans, Enno. They are unimportant beasts.”

“I highly doubt that, considering how powerful they seem to be.”

I gave Queen time to think. Through my time with her, I knew she wasn’t dumb. Even if her consciousness was barely there before I came along, I knew she was special in some way. If anime has taught me anything, you don’t become the sole survivor of your destroyed family for nothing.

Queen’s humming started again, slowly building until it encompassed my brain, drowning my thoughts. Images rather than words appeared, a glimpse into the bee’s tortured memory…

______________

______________

Hot.

The Hive is hot, good. Too hot, bad.

Outside, fire. Attack the enemy that threatens the Hive.

Mother? Flee? We must defend the Hive!

Tall creatures stepped through the flames. They wore shiny shells. Stingers useless. The children swarmed, but their vibrating heat was nothing to the creatures’ flames. They held shiny sticks that exploded, destroying warriors in an instant.

Humans. Fear.

Why fear, Mother? We are many. They are few.

But the few were stronger. Mother’s fear became mine.

One human pulsed. That one wore no shell. A Mind that could rival Mother?

It took Mother, studied her. No!

I cannot flee. I must save Mother. I must save the Hive!

Another human pulsed, also without shell. The flames washed over me, too much heat. I flew away.

No. I flew back. Must save Mother!

I could feel her. Mother was angry with me. She eliminated our connection! The family panicked, cut off from Mother. Mother pushed, trying to bring the weak humans into our Hive. To control them.

She failed. Despite her powerful Mind, the humans were prepared. They could not be broken. One of the crystals that had suddenly appeared glowed. An angry human.

The sky fell upon the Hive.

The decision. My regret.

I abandoned the Hive.

I abandoned Mother.

The sky destroyed the Hive, but it only grazed me. I was the only one who decided to listen to Mother. To flee.

I hid. I weakened my own Mind, hiding from the monsters. The humans.

The world burned. The sky crushed the ground. I would die alone.

I do not want to be alone.

______________

______________

The images faded. Okay, wow. There was a lot to digest in that literal flashback.

Humans were scary. I didn’t know whether Queen’s perception shaped her memories or if the images were an exact replica of what she saw, but the humans appeared as an imposing, impossible force that couldn’t be defeated. Strength meant nothing. Numbers meant nothing.

“Do you see now? Humans cannot be reasoned with or fought. They are monsters which we must avoid or strategically destroy.”

Queen… She had told me about her hive’s destruction. Hell, I had seen the ruins of the hive myself! Seeing her family get destroyed in front of her through her eyes was a completely different experience. The terror of humans seemed so much more real…No, I had to think rationally. I was a human once. Even in a fantasy world, humans were humans.

What I was seeing was humans from another perspective, from the standpoint of an arguably sentient race of animals. What I had witnessed was classic human behavior towards nature and other humans alike.

Besides Queen’s mother, none of the bees were prepared to take on humans. Their natural weapons were useless against the shiny clothes, which seemed like some sort of metallic armor. Their Mind Link was ineffective against the humans’ mental defenses. It shouldn’t have been surprising. Humans are a paranoid species. We naturally compensate for our weaknesses with innovation, so mental defenses are a reasonable development against creatures with stronger Minds, like the bees.

Simply put, humans were humans. Which meant I had only one thing to fear.

Experience.

With my human knowledge and way of thinking, I could easily go toe to toe with the humans of this world if they threatened me. They made mental defenses? Well, I could just as quickly reverse-engineer and crush those defenses.

As I expected, the issue came in the form of experience. Humans in this world have been working with Mind for as long as it has existed, just as humans in my world worked with what we had. I still didn’t know exactly how they did magical stuff like the electric crystals or the fire, but even these humans used Mind like typical telekinesis. Given time and effort, I could definitely maintain a strong position.

The humans’ motivation for destroying the forest was still somewhat unclear. I could safely conclude that the bees were not the campaign’s focus but rather another obstacle within the forest. Unfortunately, Queen’s point of view didn’t grant further clues on that end.

I knew humans. If they weren’t here now, I would have a good chunk of time to work with where humans were not an immediate threat. If they decided to begin settling here, that’s when there would be problems. Considering their strength, it would probably be better to just make a mutually beneficial deal with them.

Queen shuddered in disgust at the thought. Sorry, Queen, but humans were not something to antagonize in my old world, and this world didn’t seem much different.

Now, there was only one more glaring issue. Something I hadn’t wanted to address because of the fear it instilled. A detail that completely turned my view of my situation on its head and made me question everything.

This world had fucking guns.