Upon smelling the piles of pollen and a miniature pond of nectar, the ant immediately went for them, ignoring the bees nearby.
But I, the nearest bee, wasn't going to let the greedy ant get our stuff!
I jumped and flew at it, using my speed to give more impact to my blow.
However, the ant jumped out of the way! She wasn't as distracted as she looked like.
I frantically beat my wings to regain my balance, but three more bees already noticed the ant.
They charged in, immediately overwhelming the ant with numbers. Their hammers crushed the ant's chitin like potato chips.
It was over in seconds. The ant didn't even have time to spray anyone with her acid. Only with her own blood.
Yuck.
Afterward, the bees pushed the dead body off the leaf and
I landed back near the forager posts. At this point…
"You've been doing great, girls. I think you can deal with the rest by yourselves! Don't forget—after the Foragers finish gathering all the food from the flowers, half of you will stay guarding the post, and another half will escort them back and forth as they carry their haul."
"Yeah, we remember. Don't worry!" a Foreman Bee waved at me dismissively.
They really took after their mother in terms of personality…
I was distracted from my angst by the system.
〔Forager posts〕
Brainpower requirement: 9
Workpower: +0,2 per 1 thousand populace.
Logistics: +0,15 per 1 thousand populace.
Reduces rate of death for foragers and scouts.
〔〕〔〕〔〕
Hell yeah, finally! Sweet, sweet attribute points, and maybe I will get more lifespan and will stop living like my last day is just around the corner!
***
By the evening of the day, the impact of the new technology was already obvious.
In the last weeks, the food storage of the colony was mostly dwindling, as I've noticed. But now it shot up again! Just like the colony's stats.
〔Your colony〕
〔Wellness〕: 85 %
〔Population〕: 25 thousand
〔Development level〕: 2
〔Development points〕: 15 / 100
〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee
〔Attributes〕
> Workpower: 24
> Military: 16
> Brainpower: 20
> Logistics: 23
> Resilience: 10
〔Resources〕:
> Food: 155 units
> Building materials: 13 units
〔Technologies〕
Dance Communication
Hive Building
Food Preservation
Stone Hammers
Forager Posts
〔〕〔〕〔〕
155 units… It sounded like a lot, especially since it was 135 just yesterday. But from what the system told me, 1 thousand bees ate approximately a "unit" of food a day.
This was barely a week of supplies!
The hive really was down on times before I arrived, it seemed.
But this was going to change soon.
This was what I told Ambrosia that day. She was heavy with eggs again, but listened with great interest.
"Yes, more food is great. The colony must grow… There will be a need for more honeycomb cells in the future to store everything," she said. "I don't see why you had to go outside again, but you did a great job, Nectus. It's such a pity that you won't even live until next winter. I hope there will be resources for you to help me make a daughter Queen before you grow old."
I blushed wildly and clutched my chest.
"Amby, Ambrosia, don't say this! I-I mean, I'm glad that you appreciate my effort, but I'm so *not* going to die, I swear! We will live more years than you know how to count!"
"That would be nice."
She sounded like she didn't believe me at all!
"Just you wait, Ambrosia, just you wait."
I huffed at her unimpressed face loudly and flew off to my room.
It was dark inside the hive and away from the entrance, but my bee eyes were surprisingly light-sensitive. My room was close to the exit, and the little light that went through the wax walls was enough to read and write.
Plus, system windows were visible even in total darkness.
Inside, I spent my points. The first one immediately went to endurance. By this point, I had 68 days of life… Not enough! Not at all!!
〔For improving endurance, you have a choice of next genes: 'Improved Immunity I', 'Improved Lifespan II', and 'Improved Metabolism I'.〕
〔Improved Immunity I: reduces chances of falling ill by 20%.〕
〔Increased Lifespan II: +60 days to lifespan.〕
〔Improved Metabolism I: reduces the need for food by 5%.〕
Damn, they all were good. Well, the first one—less, but the last one?
It would be such a boost to the economy! Less food eaten meant more food stored.
I needed that lifespan, though. That metabolism upgrade was going to reappear later… I hoped.
Just to test my luck, I put another point into endurance, and got three more options.
〔Improved Metabolism I〕
〔Fat Padding: allows to accumulate fat padding by overeating, which slightly increases defense and maximum health.〕
〔Enhanced Endurance II: increases base endurance to 20.〕
'Shit, the choice is too hard again!'
Bonus 5% of food, or bonus 10 endurance to myself and future daughters? What a question!
'Wait a second, stamina scales with endurance. If I increase my endurance, maybe Ambrosia won't tire me so quickly during sex! Except, wait, her stamina would also grow. D-damn, now I really want to take this gene… Ah, fuck it, more stamina isn't less of stamina!'
〔Drone Bee〕
〔Name〕: Nectus Stingprince
〔Active title〕: Drone-Consort
〔Health〕: 21 / 21
〔Stamina〕: 22 / 22
〔Attribute points〕: 3
〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee
〔Age〕: 68 d
〔Remaining lifespan〕: 123 d
〔Attributes〕
> Strength: 8
> Agility: 40
> Endurance: 24
> Defense: 10
> Intelligence: 100
> Perception: 43
〔Special abilities〕
Flight, Horizontal Gene Transfer
〔Titles〕
Drone-Consort
〔Genes〕
Enhanced Intelligence X, Increased Lifespan I, Technology: Primitive Containers, Increased Lifespan II
〔〕〔〕〔〕
Indeed. My stamina and health shot up!
'Now, to the more practical things. The forager posts have one downside—they attract scavengers. Time to invest into my future military…'