Chapter 15

I couldn’t help but stare at all the notifications. Especially the part about micro drones being unlocked. From what I had learned, the fact that I had unlocked this meant that I was qualified to become a swarm baron. Which meant that it was highly likely I’d be given Earth as my first territory.

The other messages were equally as important. Over the past few days I learned a great deal. The internal nano upgrade was absolutely vital in this society for swarm users. Especially for any swarm lord. Without it anyone with a nano swarm could kill them instantly. They were also susceptible to a multitude of dangers such as poison and conventional weapons.

With a swarm defense in place a swarm user was practically immortal. The description didn’t begin to explain everything it did. It protected against all magical and conventional attacks. Kind of like invisible bulletproof armor combined with a bubble of magic nullification. If somehow the user was injured a regeneration effect would kick in that surpassed what most superheroes had in comics. Basically the only thing that could harm a swarm user after they bought the defense upgrade was a more powerful swarm user, or an attack equivalent to a nuclear explosion.

The nano swarm was the equivalent but for attacking others. It sounded horrific but it would basically melt anyone I targeted. It was also a requirement to use the revitalization ability and to give people mana access.

More importantly it was one of the only things that could kill another swarm user. From what I had read I suspected that not everyone could handle immortality. That or yielding absolute power over millions or even billions of people corrupted them. A small but not insignificant percentage of swarm users either went insane or became serial killers. Often the only thing that could stop them was a more powerful swarm user. As a swarm baron I would be responsible for policing the actions of around a hundred swarm knights. I’d be expected to deal with them if they became a significant threat to the lives of others. Especially the lives of swarm commoners and squires.

Revitalization and mana access were pretty self explanatory. The first healed and reversed aging. Using it on myself would make me practically immortal. The second would allow me to turn people into mages. Importantly, like the ability to use the swarm, the ability to use mana could be passed down to future generations. This made the ability to give mana access far more valuable than revitalization.

Unfortunately all of these abilities cost an insane amount of resource points or drones. For instance mana access and revitalization cost a thousand times more than creating my mental connection. As for the nano defense and nano swarm they cost actual drones instead. It was going to take me weeks if not months to get enough resources and drones.

Meanwhile I had a busy schedule ahead of me. Part of what I’ve learned was exactly why the swarm rankings were so important. Growth units were grouped in threes. Each group required a higher ranked core. In order to produce the next three types of growth units I needed micro cores. Which meant I needed a micro core factory.

It took at least a swarm king to create micro core factories. Unlike nano core factories they weren’t just stored at an assembly and handed out to anybody that needed one. Most new swarm barons had to take territory in a newly colonized galaxy to get a micro core factory. Luckily this wasn’t the case if they came from a planet that didn’t have an established baron ruling it. In my case Earth was just now being reintegrated and didn’t have a designated baron. So I just needed to pay a visit to the swarm king in charge of Earth and swear allegiance to them. Although in my case Earth fell under the territory of a swarm queen instead of a king.

Upon swearing allegiance they would grant me my first territory and a micro core factory. The territory they gave me would also determine which swarm count and duke was responsible for me. In my case it was almost guaranteed to be Earth since I was born there. Normally for a new baron that would be all since Earth was heavily populated. But since Earth was under interdiction in theory they would probably also designate another lightly populated planet or two. That would give me something to manage and support me until the interdiction was over.

All of this meant I was about to go on a very important trip. One to meet someone that wielded an unimaginable amount of power. In my case the swarm queen I would be meeting was in charge of over eleven million planets. Some of those planets had just a few million people, others had billions. It averaged out to just under a billion people per planet.

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The number was staggering. Just as staggering was the number of swarm users under her. At last count there were ninety eight swarm dukes that reported to her. Under them were over ten thousand swarm counts. And I would end up being one of over a million swarm barons.

When I first heard those numbers I didn’t understand why I would be meeting her. Until the assembly master explained. It had to do with just how rare swarm barons were and just how immortal swarm users were. Swarm users rarely died and were rarely born. Which meant that even with eleven million worlds there were only a handful of new swarm barons every week.

It didn’t seem as unreasonable if she only had to meet a handful of new swarm barons each week. Although I still wasn’t important enough to take up a significant amount of her time. Probably somewhere between a few minutes and an hour depending on how busy she was. It also wouldn’t be surprising if I never met her again afterwards. If I did it would probably be decades later, unless I did some truly terrible things and was brought before her for judgement. That was fine with me though. I just wanted the micro core factory, and to be given Earth as my first territory.

After that was done I’d need to deal with Faye. She had decided to hold off on the entire harem thing until after we figured out if I would be a swarm baron or swarm knight. Which meant I had managed to spend almost three blissful days with her without any mention of new harem members. Unfortunately that would change as soon as I got my micro core factory.

It wasn’t like I was worried about the entire issue. The problem was that right now I just wanted to focus on managing the swarm and spending time with Faye. Life had been a whirlwind and right now I wanted a bit of stability. I couldn’t help but think that no matter what I did a harem was just going to make things more chaotic. Luckily it was an issue I could put off a bit longer.

Faye walked into the room. “What’s wrong?” She asked.

“Apparently we are going to be busy for the next few days. I purchased the swarm connection and the option to purchase a micro drone was unlocked.” I explained.

It was at least half a minute before Faye was able to overcome her shock. When she practically threw herself at me. After an enthusiastic and slightly surprising kiss she pulled away. “You’re going to be a swarm baron.” She said, sounding like she was still in shock.

“Maybe.” I said with a grin.

Faye frowned. “What do you mean maybe? If you unlocked the option to create micro drones then that means you are a baron.”

“Unless I’m a swarm count.” I said with a shrug. “So far I’ve seemed to beat the odds. How do we know once I purchase the micro drone I won’t unlock the next access level? For all I know I could end up being a swarm duke or a swarm king.”

Faye blinked. “That seems unlikely. Each rank higher is about a hundred times rarer than the previous rank. I suppose it is a possibility though. Normally we would have a good idea based on the level of access of your family members.”

I nodded. It would be very surprising if I kept on unlocking further levels of access. “Speaking of family, have you given any thought about the possibility that one of my family members will outrank me? I’d say it’s even likely that one of them will.”

It was clear from Faye’s expression that she hadn’t thought about that. “It’s not unknown for swarm commoners to have a child that is a swarm baron. Although it is rare. Far more likely among couples that are swarm knights.”

“I’ve done some reading on theoretical swarm genetics. It’s practically unheard of for a swarm baron to be born to two untalented parents. You are also making the assumption that both my parents have some level of access. Remember Earth knows nothing about the swarm. So it’s far more likely that only one of my parents has some level of access. It’s incredibly rare for the child of a talented parent and untalented parent to have a higher level of access than the talented parent.” I said explaining my thought process.

Faye looked almost as shocked at what I was saying as she had been when I revealed that I was a swarm baron. “That’s true. But we won’t know without testing them. It will take time to get the paperwork approved to break the interdiction. If you explain that reasoning it should be possible though.”

“We are also going to need to test my extended family. I’m an only child but three of my grandparents are still alive and one of my great grandfathers. Also I have a number of aunts, uncles, and cousins. It’s doubtful that any will be more talented than me but there is a decent possibility one of them will be at least a swarm knight.” I said.

Taking a deep breath Faye seemed to compose herself. “First let’s report to the assembly master that you are a swarm baron. He can start working on getting you a meeting with the lesser queen. The sooner you get a micro factory the sooner we can discover if you are a baron or a count.”