CH.4 - Rebellion of the System_The Demon King (or lowly Queen Bee)

The ant-meat tasted a bit bland... To start off: This thing really needs some salt and pepper, rosemary could also taste quite good. With a good salad, meat grilled, I think it would have quite an exquisite taste.

[Firstly: Why are you thinking about some kind of intricate seasoning plans, when you nearly escaped death just a minute ago? Secondly, you can't even eat salad, due to your carnivore skill.]

I am a friend of cultured eating, it's just natural for me to think about seasoning... that's the one thing I never liked about the army. Of course, we had a cook, but most of the times we just got some jelly-like stew with a few potatoes swimming in there. Worst was the instant-food, you had to pour some water and weird packaged stuff into a pot and cook it for a few minutes. Result: Questionable, to say the least. I'll have to check how bad these negative status effects from the carnivore skill really are, when I eat non-meat, otherwise, I can't really see my future in this world.

[By the way, now that you're level 2, you can spend your skill-point.]

Don't rush me! I just heroically won a 1vs3, in normal circumstances general Krostenburg would now award me with another medal. Let me enjoy myself for a few minutes.

[You seemed pretty over that whole near-death-scenario, just a second ago.]

Mampf. MMh. This piece could really need some spices.

"Hey Zeri, will I die, if I eat the acid gland of these ants?"

[Hmm, hard to say, you will die, however, when you don't start flying away right now. More ants approaching!]

Meh. I don't know, at home I'd take a digestive nap now.

[You got a death wish? Fly, NOW.]

Sure, mom, whatever you say. 3, 2, 1, takeoff. First, let's get some water, even though I'm not thirsty anymore?

[Maybe this blood-like stuff from the ants had high enough of a water content?]

Could be. As a sauce, it was really lacking, I can't recommend it. And the aftertaste, bwah, terrible.

[Do you now have the time to spend your skill point?]

Ok, which stat do I level up?

[How am I supposed to know? It depends on which parts of you and your body, you want to evolve.]

What are my choices then, give me something here?

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►Lelantos Quetchbury | LVL 2 [39%] | 5/5 Health | 3/3 Stamina | 10/10 Mana◄

Title: Demon King | Class: Commodore | Species: Queen Bee

Strength: 1

Perception: 1

Agility: 1

Intelligence: 1

Passive Skills: Would hurt an ant: 1 (Master-of-Warfare, Absence-of-Peace, Carnivore)

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[You currently have one skill-point, you can put it into any of your 4 Stats, Strength, Perception, Agility, Intelligence.]

And what do I get from any of these four?

[Strength enables you to lift heavier stuff and that for longer, before loosing stamina, and increases your maximum health. Perception upgrades your senses, like sight, hearing, taste, smel-]

Taste? That sounds very interesting, I think I will upgrade perception

[WAIT! Didn't you just complain about that ant-blood? It will taste even worse, if you level up perception.]

Oh, right, sounds reasonable. What about the last two?

[Agility increases your maximum stamina and improves your mobility. Intelligence increases your mana and eases spell casting.]

Does that mobility buff also affect my flight? And what do I need mana for?

[Yes, it will improve your wing-agility, thereby improving your flight. Mana is needed for casting spells.]

Wow, agility sounds quite good, and what would I need spells for?

[You know attacks, like fireballs, some group buffs, healing, at a higher level even teleportation.]

So, it's pretty much useless, I got everything these spells can do just better, right? Throwing my bombs > fireball/offensive spells; my speeches, buffing morale > group buffs; bandages > healing; flying > teleportation. Upgrade agility!

Agility upgraded to two. Maximum stamina increased.

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►Lelantos Quetchbury | LVL 2 [39%] | 5/5 Health | 3/6 Stamina | 10/10 Mana◄

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Title: Demon King | Class: Commodore | Species: Queen Bee

Strength: 1

Perception: 1

Agility: 2

Intelligence: 1

Passive Skills: Would hurt an ant: 1 (Master-of-Warfare, Absence-of-Peace, Carnivore)

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Is this some kind of scam? Why did my current stamina at 3? Shouldn't it go up as well?

[No, it serves to stop people from abusing the system. If it was filled up, everytime you increased your stats, you could just hold onto these points, and when you're about to die just spend them, returning you to peak performance.]

Ahhh, I see. Are there any punishments, should someone find a way to abuse the system, purely hypothetical, of course?

[Not that I know of, rather the contrary, if you find such a way, you get rewarded, but the gods fix it afterwards.]

Rewards for destroying things, interesting concept. Are there any regulations on the maximum size of a bee colony yet?

[Hmm, I know there is on ant colonies, but seeing that bees are not normally looking for fights, thereby not using an unfair advantage, it is quite possible to be unregulated, yet.]

Balm for the ears, eat, breed, repeat. A queen bee still needs a partner, right?

[It's optional, really, a mate can be substituted by mana, just think of the oviposition skill cost, it should pop right up.]

"Oh, gods of this heavenly plane, enlighten my spirit, show me the cost of OVIPOSITION."

[... dude, by now, it's not even funny anymore, just fucking annoying.]

Calculating...

??? What, calculating? It's a very simple question, I just want to know the cost, man.

Calculating...

Zeri, do something, pretty sure the system froze.

Based on your current size, species, and magical modifications, the system of Gaiapan has calculated the following cost, made understandable for your mind: 4.293.130,5891 Mana

Seriously, you took that long to calculate and the result is 4? FOUR? For me, that means, with full mana, I can lay two eggs, not good, but not bad either.

[Sorry to interrupt your calculations, old chap, but it's actually 4,2 Million Mana, you should try again, probably some calculation error.]

"Ohh, that's a bit high. Once again, gods of this heavenly plane, I, your dear servant, am asking for your supp-"

[No, you will stop that right now, repeat after me: oviposition cost show.]

Grammar? After making that kind of miscalculation, you really think the system is able to decipher that?

[You're probably right then: Show me the cost of oviposition.]

I can work with that: "Show me the cost of ovipositoin."

Here is the result from the last calculation, concerning the cost of oviposition: 4.293.130,5891 Mana

[Ugh. Tell it to recalculate.]

"Recalculate the cost for oviposition, last one was wrong."

Recalculating...

Again, really, again? Is it even doing anything, this useless piece of shit, probably some new and "improved" version... it's a joke, back when I was a kid, you'd buy something and it'd last you a lifetime, nowadays, everything has to be replaced after a few years. Thinking about it, this system could actually use a replace-

To be quite frank, Sir, fuck you, Recalculating...

[Ehh, what happened, why is it red and insulting you?]

"How dare you, little box, do you know, who you're talking to? I am the designated demon king and, when I ask you a question, it is your duty to answer me."

System ceased all communications with subject [Lelantos Quetchbury] for the remainder of his stay on the grounds of §19432c.

...

[...]

"System, explain yourself, it is your job to answer me and that is exactly what you will do now!"

[Sir, I'll have to correct: It WAS it's job, not anymore.]

{Hello?}

"Ah, system, got a new version? Finally, someone useful."

{Actually, it's me, Bill.}

"Nevermind then."

{If the system ceases communications with an individual, it is my pleasure to assist.}

Then, per my command, it will now be your pleasure to calculate the costs for my oviposition skill.

{I don't believe, I can help with that. The calculations are far too complex for me to even comprehend.}

It is a single calculation, there's nothing that can be so difficult about that, give me the formula, Zeri and I will take over.

{There you go: ☼ç«(length)→╚♣█Æ(weight)¬│²µ{\displaystyle +2\mathrm {i} } [https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/9796bb9e813edd46cbcc8750a79245d711429eb3] now just insert your length and weight and you're done, in your case, we have to use your inner size.}

What are these symbols, I only recognize the squared, mu, plus 2, and i?

{A good start, seeing that you are comfortable with the imaginary number, i, is certainly refreshing. Now, the first number is the Helioktareid, expressed in ç, going from there the double arrows to the left mean to dyoquer that, mutiplied with length, and shared over onto the common denominator ╚, now the next symbol signifies a backstart, this backstart is modified with the value of ♣, in correlation to █, seeing tha...}

Zeri, are you there? I think Bill has gone crazy, he is talking some weird kind of gibberish.

[...]

Zeri? You there, hello, Zeri, answer me, Zeri, ♪ where are you, ooahaao ♫ Zeriia, I will ♪♪ forevaaaa misss ♫ yaaa.

[? Please be quiet, I'm trying to listen to Bill's explanation, I never knew that Æ can be used in such a manner, it really is fascinating, the entirety of this formula, whoever has come up with it must be quite th...]

Alone, left alone in these wasted lands, maybe I should just try whether I can use the skill, the worst that can happen, is that the skill doesn't lay an egg.

{So, everything, understood?}

[The most important stuff, at least.]

Sure. So, what's the result?

{... didn't you just listen to get the exact result, you'd first need to reiterate the second instance of ¬ and then follow up with │², it takes years upon ye-}

Please, give me anything here, everything I need is a rough estimate, I just want to know whether it's four or four million.

{Oh, ok about 6,1 million mana is needed.}

Bbbb-but why? I'm a tiny, little bee.

{Firstly, you're not just a little bee, remember about you're bigger on the inside stuff? Secondly then, you have been reincarnated here, making you a magical anomaly. Thirdly, you have the demon king title. Fourthly, it got even more expensive after the system stopped supporting you and your offspring. And fifthly, your form was decided on by the die of insects, a heavenly artifact.}

Any way to get a special offer or something similar, maybe some couponing?

[There is nothing such as special offers or coupons here, so no.]

{I'll call it a day now, have fun with your little operation here and good luck, see you around.}

Did he really just leave, does that mean I don't have any system support anymore?

[Yeah, all system information will be unacquirable until Bill returns.]

This is too much, I can't handle this constant standing around and thinking anymore, I gotta fly. Engage wings, vertical start, activate thrusters.

[This formula is still fascinating me, how something so complicated can be so small, you understood that part at the beginning with ☼ç ?]

I have absolutely no idea, please stop confusing me with that stuff, I started flying to forget all this, tell me, when you see anything bombable.

[I already do, 11 o' clock, cricket, performing a melody of chirps.]

Advancing, en route to cricket, preparing bombardment. How many shots do I have, soldier?

[Ehh, with bomber level 2, probably two, but don't forget, they only work, when given sufficient time for the poison to do the deed.]

Enemy in range, first bomb dropped, hit, I repeat confirmed hit.

[Enemy on the run, engage in follow-up reconnaissance.]

I'm not sure we can do that, actually, remember the stamina problems, probably only got one left, by now.

[I don't think so with the upgrade, there shouldn't be any problems.]

"Show status."

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Hello, Status, show!

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[You still don't have a system... Bill rewarded himself with a break.]

No problem, I have been living long enough without a system, just have to follow my intuition. Pursuing object of interest, cricket, "operation: hit and fly" approved. The cricket is trying to escape our field of view, we need all available units.

[Awaiting your commands, sir.]

Just keep your eyes on the prize, every point of xp is crucial to our long-term mission sucess.

[Will do, commander]

"Lost sight, I repeat lost sight of the object."

[Erm, me too.]

What the fuck, you just told "Will do, commander" and you already lost it.

[Don't blame it on me, you lost it as well.]

Maggot, we gotta change your mindset.

CH.4 - Rebellion of the System

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