To my relief, even after Ambrosia's pheromones wore off, the smarter bees still recognized my authority. At least, as long as I told them that what we were doing would help the colony.
Older, dumber bees had problems with obeying orders from someone besides a Queen Bee, since they were mostly led by instincts.
By my directive, each new Foreman Bee took 10 students, while I took 10 more pupils from among my daughters and began teaching them how to make stone hammers.
They were going to become Craftsman Bees and free me from the terror of having to make those *fucking hammers* ever again!
A week later, there were 110 Foreman Bees and 10 Craftsman Bees. Half of the Foreman Bees took 10 more students, while the other began working.
9 Craftsman Bees began working too, tirelessly making more hammers, while the tenth took a batch of students for herself.
This led to a new achievement.
〔Stone Hammers〕
Brainpower requirement: 7
Workpower: +0,1 per 1 thousand populace.
Military: +0,1 per 1 thousand populace.
〔〕〔〕〔〕
〔Fast Learner I: increases learning speed by 10%.〕
That was just nice. Although 'learning speed' was a hidden stat—I wished I could see it.
'System, will the 'Fast Learner' gene improve my colony's brainpower after it spreads among the populace, hm?'
'Yes, user.'
That was just great!
And over the course of the week that passed, 6000 more bees were born for the colony. A lot died, though… But the population still grew over time.
Just like my development points, although they were still agonizingly close and far away to the next development level!
〔Your colony〕
〔Wellness〕: 85 %
〔Population〕: 25 thousand
〔Development level〕: 1
〔Development points〕: 55 / 60
〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee
〔Attributes〕
> Workpower: 19
> Military: 16
> Brainpower: 20
> Logistics: 19
> Resilience: 10
〔Resources〕:
> Food: 135 units
> Building materials: 13 units
〔Technologies〕
Dance Communication
Hive Building
Food Preservation
Stone Hammers
〔〕〔〕〔〕
Now that I dropped off the burdens of dealing with new technologies to my students, I was free to do other things.
When my Foreman Bees prepared for their first workday, I went with them to watch the first forager post being made.
In the morning, a first Forager Bee returned with her fuzz soaked in nectar and pollen and danced a dance that pointed at the flowers where she got it from.
As soon as she finished, other bees helped her bring her haul and store it in the hive; while five dozen Forager Bees flew off at where the bee pointed.
There were 50 Foreman Bees with me, which I already separated into groups of ten. Now I addressed the first one.
"Alright, girls! Time to establish our first forager post! Let's follow the Foragers!"
"What?! Father, but should you be going with us? It will be dangerous, and you are the only drone in the colony!"
I stared down at the Foreman Bee that said this.
'I'm so proud that they can understand such complex things, but…'
"Look, I'm older than you. And I'm your father. I know what I'm doing, yeah?" I narrowed my eyes. "Just… guard me. And the Foragers. And yourself, too. First of all—no, second of all. *The first* is guarding me."
"Alright… You *do* know a lot, I guess, Father."
"Oh, c'mon! Why do you act like I have no credibility at all? Did you inherit Ambrosia's sass gene, or what? Have some respect for your dad…"
"Alright, Father."
It didn't sound respectful at all.
After this we flew after the Foragers. After so much time spent cooped in the hive, the outside world was so freeing—and so terrifying.
But having a hammer in my hands and being surrounded by a dozen other armed bees helped.
After a few minutes of flight, the Forager Bees and us reached a spanning grove of trees with white flowers hanging on their branches. Each flower was half a meter in diameter, and they smelled sweetly of nectar.
The Foragers immediately went for the flowers, while I looked over for where to land.
I quickly spotted a massive fern-tree leaf with a concave form. Perfect. I pointed at it.
"Foremen Bees, we will establish our first forager post there!"
It was close to the flowers, and nectar could be put there.
"Got it, Father!"
The Foremen Bees flew to the fern. After we all rested our wings a little (regained stamina), the first Foragers began flying off with a haul.
"No, not to the hive! Come here. This goes to a forager post!" my Foremen Bees shouted at the foragers.
"Ah?.. Forager post? Alright… Damn, all that nectar is heavy."
I watched with a sense of fatherly pride as my Foremen organized everything. I taught them *so* well…
In the distance, other insects were flying over the white flowers: butterflies, mosquitoes, and various bugs.
Time passed, and the forager post rapidly filled with nectar and pollen. A few times, a wasp tried to get a jump on a busy Forager Bee, but in an open space they were easy to notice by my watchful Foremen Bees. They always flew in quickly enough to scare the predator off.
Sometimes, a winged silhouette of something massive would streak through the sky, spooking me—but the fliers (birds?) didn't get closer.
The smell of our plunder was attracting more insects, but most of them didn't dare approach the Foremen.
Until one just climbed the fern leaf, waving her antennae at our nectar stash.
She had dark chitin plates covering her chest and parts of her body, and was a couple of heads shorter than me. But there was some serious muscle rippling in those clawed arms of hers!
〔Worker Ant〕
〔Health〕: 9 / 9
〔Stamina〕: 14 / 14
〔Species〕: Red Wood Ant
〔Age〕: 156 d
〔Remaining lifespan〕: 745 d
〔Attributes〕
> Strength: 19
> Agility: 21
> Endurance: 14
> Defense: 11
> Intelligence: 3
> Perception: 21
〔Special abilities〕
Formic Acid Spray
〔〕〔〕〔〕
The ant was immediately noticed. The first battle of my forager post began.