And this is how I got stuck making fucking stone hammers for 22 days straight. Almost a month!
It wouldn't be so bad if it didn't get so boring so quickly.
But it was the optimal strategy. I had it all covered (at least my junk—normal clothing would have to follow the invention of normal string).
I claimed several empty honeycomb cells as my own—nobody protested—and they quickly became filled by the wax tablets I made of spare wax from the colony's storage. There were plans, schematics, and a crude map of my surroundings.
Literacy was a tech with amazing stats, but an unachievable brainpower requirement, so I kept it to myself.
〔Literacy〕
Brainpower requirement: 25
Brainpower: +150% to total value
Logistics: +80% to total value
Military: +1 per 1 thousand populace.
Workpower: +1 per 1 thousand populace.
Allows creating advanced administration.
〔〕〔〕〔〕
For now, I was in the "early game" state of a colony development. All the available genes and technologies were at best mid-tier! The best I could do is to gradually gather resources and wait for the next major upgrade—the maturity of my first brood of daughters.
Too bad I had to wait in real life… In games everything happened as quickly as you can click "next turn".
Queen Ambrosia ordered a part of the Forager Bees to gather rocks, sticks, and tree bark instead of provision. All I had to do was to separate fitting materials from unfitting (Forager Bees often got the instructions wrong).
My work was to put the pieces together. Besides bark strings, I used wax as extra glue, and with all the practice I got, I could make a hammer in half an hour!
An awful achievement.
Ambrosia invited me to her chambers every other day, further helping me fight the boredom. She was laying eggs every third day—this was her full-time job. But bless her generous soul and voluptuous hips, she sometimes found time to help me make those *FUCKING HAMMERS*!
Anyway, by the end of the 22 days we made 360 stone hammers—enough to arm the outer hive guards, at least.
I wasn't counting days, so I was surprised when Ambrosia suddenly invited me to look at the brood cells.
It was an area of the hive reserved for hatching bees. It was huge—a third of the entire colony, probably. We hung on the opposite wall, while endless Nurse Bees and Cleaning Bees were flying between the cells with young larvae (which disgustingly resembled human embryos), pupae, and…
"Ah! They are hatching!" I shouted.
Indeed. A new bee, still wet with pupa juice, tore through the wax and climbed out of her cell, while I watched in amazement and slight disgust.
In front of me, dozens upon dozens of her sisters were doing the same all over the honeycomb—first only a few, but the more time passed, the more bees got out.
There were 3000 bees in this brood! Like in any other brood. Sadly, they mostly just replenished natural losses of life in the colony.
And their stats…
〔Cleaning Bee〕 〔Ally〕 〔Progeny〕
〔Health〕: 9 / 9
〔Stamina〕: 9 / 9
〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee
〔Age〕: 22 d
〔Remaining lifespan〕: 84 d
〔Attributes〕
> Strength: 8
> Agility: 39
> Endurance: 8
> Defense: 9
> Intelligence: 100
> Perception: 43
〔Special abilities〕
Flight, Barbed Stinger
〔〕〔〕〔〕
As the youngest, they instinctively became Cleaning Bees, but they were already so smart! Their adorable black eyes shone with natural child-like curiosity as they cleaned themselves up and looked around.
Too bad these ones didn't have the 'Increased Lifespan I' gene yet, but now only three days were left until their more advanced sisters will hatch.
"You were impatient for this brood to mature, so I decided to bring you here when it was time for them to come out, Drone. The new brood seems to have already inherited your head-thing." She tapped her temple for emphasis.
"First, I told you to call me Nectus, c'moooon, Ambrosia! Second, what 'head-thing'? What are you talking about?"
"The head-thing. That thing… Where you have all these thoughts."
"Wait, do you mean my *brain*?!"
Ambrosia waved her hand dismissively. I was ready to swear she was rolling her eyes at me, but it was impossible to tell with her insect's eyes.
"Yes, yes. You bring out these words all the time—I barely keep up, Nectus. I just hope this brood won't get your mind-illness with it."
This woman—my unofficial wife!—was sassing me! I huffed at her, but she was unaffected.
'Just you wait, Ambrosia… I'm going to teach my adorable daughters *all* the complicated words! Then they will sass you back *so hard*…'
But for now, these bees barely had time to get used to the hive. The time to teach them *all* the fun stuff will come—later.
***
After the hatching, I went to my room and looked at my colony's stats.
Each of the new matured bees slightly increased my colony's stats by being so much slighter than average. Especially brainpower and development points.
〔Your colony〕
〔Wellness〕: 87 %
〔Population〕: 23 thousand
〔Development level〕: 2
〔Development points〕: 50 / 60
〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee
〔Attributes〕
> Workpower: 15
> Military: 13
> Brainpower: 18
> Logistics: 17
> Resilience: 9
〔Resources〕:
> Food: 130 units
> Building materials: 14 units
〔Technologies〕
Dance Communication
Hive Building
Food Preservation
〔〕〔〕〔〕
18 entire brainpower! I could finally *properly* implement all my primitive technologies. And my development points rose by 33 just like *that*!
I grinned and cracked my knuckles.
It was time for the grand strategist Nectus Stingprince to get to *real* work. I already had all the plans charted.
Before I implemented any of that, I put another point into my endurance.
〔For improving endurance, you have a choice of next genes: 'Technology: Primitive Containers', 'Improved Immunity I', and 'Fat Padding'.〕
〔Technology: Primitive Containers: gives instinctual access to 'Primitive Containers' technology.〕
〔Improved Immunity I: reduces chances of falling ill by 20%.〕
〔Fat Padding: allows to accumulate fat padding by overeating, which slightly increases defense and maximum health.〕
'Huh?! A gene with… instinctive access to an amazing technology? How does it work? System, show me the stats of 'Primitive Containers'!'