Satisfied with my haul, I begin to return to my mini Hive Complex. I note exactly where the insect colony is, because I intend to return there tomorrow. This is a reliable source of more biomass and allows me to acquire more Strains from the insect species. Back in my tunnel, I take a look at the two eggs in it. They seem to be doing well and I decide to continue working on my magic. Last time I had no success worth mentioning and I still have no other Sylv creatures on which I can observe my connection to the swarm. However, this should not stop me and first I think a little about what method I could use to make progress.

I think back to the moments when Elise cast magic before. I try to notice something that I didn't notice before. After a few minutes I have a theory and make a few attempts with my fine control over mana, the fuel for magical phenomena. A few more minutes later, I've been able to figure out something interesting through my experiments. Through my knowledge of the process I want to trigger, I can see a path in front of me on how to form the mana from within me. When I walk this path, I use up some of my mana and can see how a flame flares up in front of me for a moment. The problem is that it goes out immediately and the magic doesn't last. When Elise cast a spell, she started it with her mana, but stabilized it with the mana in the surrounding area. Therefore, I suspect that the formula the mage speaks affects the mana of the environment in order to maintain the spell. Probably the whole thing is much more complicated, but this would be a start for me to work with.

I recap mentally: Through my experiments, I managed to sustain a spell for a split second and was able to confirm my theory.

I continue to think about what I can do with the new knowledge and to what extent it could help me to cast a spell without an incantation. If I become significantly faster and more proficient at just starting a spell that immediately collapses back into itself I could already put that to good use. With this, I could start a fire if I have flammable material available, or inflict a weak burn on a predator that attacks me. I see a few problems though, the first would be mana consumption. The small flame I created has reduced my current available mana. I can feel approximately how much mana I have left, which is probably due to my high mana affinity. I would imagine it's not quite as easy for other species. The short flame I could light something with, cost me about one-twentieth of my mana. That doesn't sound like much, but keep in mind that I usually need enough mana to maintain my connection to the swarm. My mana regeneration is quite fast and within five minutes my supply is full again.

The second problem is the time and concentration I need to burn something with my mana. I can't meditate in battle for a minute just to cause a light burn. However, I am confident that if I continue to train, I can significantly reduce the time and concentration required.

The third problem is that I am very limited in how I can use my magic this way, as I have not yet figured out how to sustain my spell for more than a split second. The farther away the target point of my magic is, the more difficult and costly it is for me to cast it. This means that I cannot perform magic attacks at longer distances. For example, I can't cast a fireball that I form near me and then shoot at enemies, because it would never reach them in that short time. I also can't cast extensive or complex spells this way, since I have to build up the entire spell in a flash and can't form one component at a time, while keeping the rest stable.

I decide to keep training to start a spell first, since that will help me not only now but also in the future when I figure out how to sustain a spell through the mana in the environment. I may also be able to maintain the spell through my own mana, which would increase my mana consumption even further, but I'll deal with that thought later. I focus on my inner self again and continue to practice with my internal mana.

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About 20 minutes later I am totally exhausted and my mana reserves are almost depleted. I only risked this because I don't yet need mana to control other Sylv and wanted to find out what would happen if I used up almost all my mana. It turns out that I feel weak, exhausted and sleepy. I decide to leave it at that for today and curl up to get some sleep.

I wake up again and realize that there is some light shining into the tunnel from outside. This means that I woke up too early, it is not yet dark enough and I just think about sleeping a little longer. I decide against it and check my two precious eggs again. The first one is almost ready and my first drone will probably hatch in a few hours. I can feel that my body is also soon ready to lay two new eggs. These new ones are to feed the living structures that will develop from my first two drones. I also plan to use them to upgrade my tunnel to a proper hive complex worthy of its name. I will improve the two eggs that are developing in my body with the Strains I have collected so far. I think for a few minutes which ones to choose and in the end I decide for Ceiling Runner and Silk Generation.

This combination also allows my two worker drones to run along the ceiling and walls, which should greatly increase their efficiency in the Hive Complex. They can also improve the camouflage of the entrance with the threads they can spin. There are even new possibilities, like setting up webs near the tunnel to catch flies, bugs and smaller insects. Not only are these a nice additional biomass source, but sufficient numbers could allow me to obtain new Strains from these. I am excited about the idea and plan to create four such drones for the beginning. After that, however, I will again create a few drones without any adaptations in order to morph them into more living structures. In the morphing process, the Strains of the drones will not be transferred to the structure. However, it is still possible to modify them with Strains suitable for them by having a Sylv queen like me adding them in the process of morphing them.

I can't wait to expand my Hive Complex and increase my swarm. My instincts tell me to focus only on that, the growth of the Sylv. However, I know there are some problems. My environment is dangerous and there are other strong associations like the humans with their tools, with which I could come into conflict by an uncontrolled growth. I want to avoid this because I still have so much to learn and I have too little information to assess the risks correctly. The survival of the swarm is more important than growing as fast as possible, which in the end could lead to its demise. I also see no reason to engage in conflict with other intelligent species, these would consume large amounts of resources, carry great risks, and deny me the benefits I could achieve through peaceful interaction with them. I am curious to see if my approach, my strategy, proves correct. If my approach turns out to be disadvantageous, I will have to change it.

I return to my current situation and decide to continue my training. This time, however, I stop before my mana reaches too low a level. After that I rest a bit and feel ready to lay my next two eggs. I notice that it is getting darker outside while I am about to lay my second egg. I rest a few minutes until my first drone starts to hatch. It is finally time and I can feel how a connection to the drone in the egg builds up. Shortly thereafter, it begins to pave its way through the shell to the outside. With motherly love I watch my little one and stand ready to help her if she has problems to free herself from the shell of her egg. The drone hatched a few hours earlier than is usual for these, I'm not sure why that is, but small deviations from the regular hatching time don't trigger any instinctive discomfort in me, so it's probably okay. My cute drone, however, makes it out of the egg on her own and is standing in front of me shortly after. I am so proud and gently stroke my drone's carapace. I tell her via our mental link that I'm about to go hunting and that she should improve the stability of the tunnel as much as possible in my absence. I intend to let her and the next drone fully grow up, which will take a few extra days before I morph them into a living structure. This will give them full functionality instead of limited functionality like in my first Hive Complex.