Chapter 6

I hadn’t realized just how nervous I was until I saw that the nano factory had been unlocked. The fact that it had unlocked meant that I would be a swarm knight. I wasn’t sure exactly what the swarm mental connection would do but it would be a long time before I had enough resource points to purchase it. Probably at least a few days. Which would give me plenty of time to ask about it.

A minute later my nano fabricator produced its first Nano Drone. At the same time I got another nano core. Reaching out I almost pressed the button to purchase another nano drone. I hesitated though as I thought about having to wait for nano cores to buy my nano fabricator. I was going to need 1000 nano fabricators to buy my first nano factory. Which meant that I also needed 1000 nano cores.

It only took me a couple seconds to realize that I was going to run out of nano cores again. I decided to save my cores for now. I was fairly confident that my bottleneck would be the number of cores I had, not the number of drones.

Time: 103

Resource points: 2,261

Nano Cores: 3

Nano Drones: 3

Nano Fabricators: 1

Nano Factories: 0

Purchase Swarm Mental Connection (100,000,000,000 Resource Points Required)

It looked like I would need to check back in ninety seven minutes. I spent a couple minutes thinking about what to do with that time when I heard a chime. Standing up I realized that it was probably some type of doorbell.

Opening up the door I found Faye pushing a cart filled with covered dishes. “I was ordered to bring you food and told that you may want my company for dinner.” She said with a bit of a blush.

I nodded and led the way to the dining room. When I reached to move the first dish to the table Faye stopped me. “You should be managing your swarm, not doing menial labor.” She said strictly.

I grinned and grabbed the dish anyway. “No worries, I’ve got well over an hour before I need to do anything further.” I said and placed the dish on the table. By the time we finished the table was loaded with enough food for a dozen people.

As we sat down I looked at all the food. All of it was stuff I could have found at home. Although it was kind of odd to see a dish of stir fry sitting next to a bowl of fettuccine. “Why do so many things seem to be from Earth?” I finally asked Faye as we ate.

She shrugged. “At the same time you were transported here, your world’s cultural information was transmitted. Candidates deal with the stress of the tests better if they are in familiar surroundings. Also part of the final training for your future servants will be to review that information.”

When she mentioned the servants I frowned slightly. “That is another thing I still don’t understand. It sounds like there are a bunch of people that want to be one of my servants. Even more confusing it sounds like even more want to become one of my concubines. I can’t imagine everyone wants to be a servant or concubine.”

Faye giggled. “Most people don’t. But there are millions of regular citizens for every swarm knight. The average swarm knight only has a couple hundred servants. Selected servants receive enormous benefits for themselves and their families. Even more so for the concubines. After all, there is a small chance they may be the mother or father of a future swarm knight or even a swarm lord.”

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“So what percentage of people try to become servants?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Less than one percent. But that still results in hundreds of applicants for each open position.” Faye answered.

That meant that she had beaten those other people in order to work as a maid. “Why would anyone want to compete with that many people to be a maid?” I said, staring at Faye in shock.

Faye smiled and shook her head. “Remember I want to be one of your mistresses, not a maid. Although honestly being a maid isn’t that bad. Even if a swarm knight has a huge harem occasionally they want something different.”

As that thought sunk in I grimaced. “Wouldn’t that be some type of sexual harassment?” I finally said.

Faye shook her head. “All the women and men that apply to be servants know it is part of the position. A lot of them agree that increasing the number of swarm lords is the second highest priority for swarm lords.”

The conversation lulled for a moment as we ate. “What about you?” I finally asked.

Faye gave me a confused look. “What about me?”

“Do you agree that increasing the number of swarm lords is the second highest priority?” I said with a grin.

Faye grinned back at me. “No. I think it’s the highest priority.” Her tone of voice reminded me about when she had been trying to seduce me earlier.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “It sounds like you think swarm lords should just stay in bed all day. I thought the primary duty of swarm lords was to grow their swarm and help the worlds they rule prosper.”

Faye shook her head. “A swarm lord grows their swarm to provide for the population of the worlds they rule. This results in a higher possible population. Which results in more swarm lords being born from the general population. The purpose is the same, it’s just a different means to that end.”

“Still I wouldn’t think that someone like you would be limited to being a maid. Surely there are other positions?” I finally said.

Faye shrugged. “The competition for any positions above maid is really fierce. I’m not that smart. I’m also not pretty enough to make the cut as a concubine.” She said.

I shook my head. I hadn’t seen any of the concubines but Faye was easily a nine. “I don’t believe that for a moment. You are beautiful and clearly smarter than the average person. I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t be able to get one of those positions.”

Faye frowned. “You haven’t met any of those other servants yet. Nearly everyone that is either a genius or beautiful applies to become a servant. Your administrative staff will be filled with geniuses and your harem will be the most beautiful woman possible. That leaves the menial labor jobs for everyone else.”

“I guess I’ll have to wait until I meet some of the other servants then. When will that be anyway?” I asked.

“You should meet the first few tomorrow.” Faye answered.

“That reminds me I should probably check on my swarm. Be right back.” A couple minutes later I was back. I had decided to bring the core factory back with me to the dining room. When I activated the screen I stared at it in shock.

Time: 197

Resource points: 6,867

Nano Cores: 96

Nano Drones: 96

Nano Fabricators: 1

Nano Factories: 0

Purchase Swarm Mental Connection (100,000,000,000 Resource Points Required)

“It hasn’t been an hour and a half since you arrived, right?” I finally said.

Faye considered the question for a moment. “It’s only been around an hour since I arrived.”

“Does the time on this not show in minutes then?” I asked.

Faye shook her head. “Why would it show in minutes? That’s a measurement of time from your world which is based on the revolution of the planet.”

“Okay so what measurement of time does it use?” I asked curiously.

Faye looked surprised for a moment and then nodded. “I hadn’t quite thought about all the consequences of coming from a world without the swarm. We measure time based on swarm time. A day is divided into two thousand units of swarm time. Each unit of time is a tiny bit less than forty five of your seconds per unit of time. Which means a day is a tiny bit longer than what you are used to.

Just then I hit a hundred nano drones. Instantly I purchased my second nano fabricator. Doing some quick calculations I figured in thirty to forty minutes it would be time to purchase my third nano fabricator.