〔Your colony〕
〔Wellness〕: 83 %
〔Population〕: 24 thousand
〔Development level〕: 2
〔Development points〕: 20 / 100
〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee
〔Attributes〕
> Workpower: 16
> Military: 12
> Brainpower: 98
> Logistics: 16
> Resilience: 9
〔Resources〕:
> Food: 27 units
> Building materials: 7 units
〔Technologies〕
Dance Communication
Hive Building
Food Preservation
Stone Hammers
Forager Posts
Rank-Based Hierarchy
Primitive Containers
Border Patrols
Primitive Knives
〔〕〔〕〔〕
Yep, we were terribly unprepared for any war.
Not enough food to live through a siege, not enough military to deal with a swarm of bee-killing machines called "giant hornets".
The development points were growing, but it felt incredibly slow, while the threat of hornets was incredibly close. Besides, any upgrades I will buy will take a while to manifest among new generations.
But speaking of those—judging by the increase in the colony's resilience, the generation that inherited all my latest superior genes had just matured!
The timing was perfect, because I needed my bees to be the best they could.
***
I went to the "nursery" part of the hive to look at the latest brood of my daughters. It's been a while since I visited, and there was a sharp contrast compared to how things looked a month ago.
Instead of mindlessly doing their tasks in silence, now Nurse Bees and Cleaning Bees chatted among each other.
Their work was much better organized, despite me not putting in any effort. If before, Nurse Bees would make countless trips from food storage to larvae and back, now only a part of them was carrying wax jars of food, while others tended to the larvae.
Similar segregation of jobs was happening among Cleaning Bees, too.
But the Cleaning Bees themselves changed even more!
They carried full jugs with ease, deftly dodged each other in the air, and barely stopped to rest.
All thanks to their stats.
〔Cleaning Bee〕 〔Ally〕 〔Progeny〕
〔Health〕: 21 / 21
〔Stamina〕: 22 / 22
〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee
〔Age〕: 23 d
〔Remaining lifespan〕: 143 d
〔Attributes〕
> Strength: 10
> Agility: 39
> Endurance: 19
> Defense: 9
> Intelligence: 100
> Perception: 43
〔Special abilities〕
Flight, Barbed Stinger
〔Genes〕
Enhanced Intelligence X, Technology: Primitive Containers, Increased Lifespan II, Fast Learner I, Enhanced Endurance II, Enhanced Strength I, Danger-Averse Reflexes, Venom Resistance I
〔〕〔〕〔〕
This generation of bees was OP!
At least as much as I was, since they had all my genes.
Their endurance was twice the normal, and so was their health and stamina! Not to mention, their lifespan was much longer.
But… Even they weren't ready to fight giant hornets.
If these beasts of insects were anything like the giant hornets of my world, then just 30 of them could—and would—wipe out our entire hive. We will forever have to live in fear of their scouts finding us.
In my world, only a specific subspecies of honey bee learned how to fight against the giant hornets. The bees would surround a hornet into a tight ball, shiver to raise their body temperature, and kill the hornet with heat and suffocation.
A thousand bees against a single hornet. These tactics saved the bees from scouts, but not from an outright invasion. And it certainly won't work in *this* hive!
I had to make my bees ready to fight by other means.
'They will face a lot of hardship… But they are tougher than me—they will prevail. Oh, I hope they will. They *have* to.'
With a last look at my daughters, I flew back to my room.
Plans needed to be drafted—a lot of them.
***
Next morning, I watched a grandiose, awe-inspiring show.
4440 Foremen Bees stood in neat rows on the ground. Each was armed with a stone hammer. Every tenth had a cross, a line, or a dot on her head.
There were so many of them, they were a sixth of the colony's total populace! If not for the boost of productivity from the overall smarts of current worker bees, I feared we'd have a shortage of workpower inside the hive.
As parties of Forager Bees flew out in search of food, squads of Foremen Bees flew out, too. A dozen by dozen, the floor of the hive was becoming emptier.
And my colony's stats shot up!
〔Your colony〕
〔Wellness〕: 82 %
〔Population〕: 24 thousand
〔Development level〕: 2
〔Development points〕: 30 / 100
〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee
〔Attributes〕
> Workpower: 29
> Military: 15
> Brainpower: 98
> Logistics: 23
> Resilience: 9
〔Resources〕:
> Food: 27 units
> Building materials: 7 units
〔Technologies〕
Dance Communication
Hive Building
Food Preservation
Stone Hammers
Forager Posts
Rank-Based Hierarchy
Primitive Containers
Border Patrols
Primitive Knives
〔〕〔〕〔〕
Now that these 4440 Foremen Bees entered the workforce, they gave my colony all the benefits of their titles, hammers, and forager post technology.
And by noon, I could already see that our food storages were skyrocketing!
27 units turned into 47 as if by a snap of fingers, even though the Foragers had to stay away from the Danger Zone.
It was incredible!
Inside of my room, where I prepared my next project for the Craftsmen Bees, I laughed like a madman.
'I can take a nectar bath right now, and don't fear wasting any of it, because we still have a lot! Several days like that, and we will be able to survive a short siege!'
I laughed some more and returned to my project with even more enthusiasm than before.
The scheme in front of me was becoming clearer and clearer.
It was an image of armor that will be able to protect my bees even from hornets. Or at least, made them regret ever attacking them.
Because of technical limitations, it will have to be made from dead bees…
'They will avenge themselves and help the colony, even from the grave.'
I finished the sketch. All that was left was to build the armor prototype.
I flew to my Craftsmen Bees with an announcement.
"Enough string for now! However many you made—it's enough. Time to use this string for other things. Look at this!"
They looked. Then they gasped and whispered and rubbed their hands with excitement.
For the rest of the day, we've been all working together—and finally…