Chapter 131: Chapter 126: Connections, Attention, Understanding

Even if she was really curious and kept thinking about what she’d heard from the Delvers and what else she might be able to learn, Regina exercised her self-control and didn’t try to repeat her scrying very soon.

She’d been more worn out by it than she thought, sleeping for the better part of a day when she laid down for a nap afterwards. Her mana would also need some time to build back up sufficiently. She could delay her various projects and plans for what she wanted to work on to focus on gathering enough for another scrying attempt, but she felt like that would backfire. She certainly couldn’t afford to slow down her egg production for the hive, and pushing off her Conjuration for things the hive needed as well as her practice with her Spells didn’t seem like a good idea.

When she finally sat down again for another try, a week had passed, and she discovered that the Delvers did seem to have noticed her previous scrying and erected some defenses. She didn’t get anywhere with it, at least. Trying to scry for Owin only took a chunk of mana out of her pool and gave her a headache. Since there was the possibility that he just happened to be somewhere that blocked scrying, like out on a mission or whatever the Delvers called their adventuring, she waited a bit and then tried again with Gwen. It didn’t work any better, though; she had a hard time even getting far enough to focus on her and try to cast the magic. Probably because she didn’t feel as familiar with her as Owin, even though she hadn’t really known him for any longer.

So, with some frustration, she backed off and decided to give it some time. She would try to scry on Kiara later, that might work better.

In the meantime, she had more than enough to occupy her attention. The hive was still growing. Even with a firm leadership structure in place and many of her ‘senior subordinates’ (she still found it hard to think of Max and the others like that) taking a large part of the burden off her, that meant more work to do. Regina still had the final say in any decisions and her approval was required for any major changes to the hive or the organization of the drones, including the training and deployment of the warriors and Swarm Drones. And she preferred to actually get information about the situation and their options instead of just signing some report someone laid on her desk. Not that they actually had paperwork.

Either way, between her general duties to the hive, things only she could do, her practice with magic, holding lessons and training sessions with others, and trying to keep up with a few other projects, like their experimental printing press, she was quite busy. Via and Ira were a blessing, helping to keep her focused and organized and taking care of anything they could for her, but it was still a lot. Regina wouldn’t complain, though. Things were good.

More of her drones leveled up and reached new Tiers, both for their first and second Evolution. That included a few Swarm Drones. The second to next one to reach level 40, after another War Drone, was actually a Winged Drone. Presumably, the Production Drones were falling behind because they didn’t participate in combat and so didn’t get any experience from it. And they didn’t have many other opportunities to get more experience, either. In either case, both new sapient drones showed a very similar pattern as Kit. The new Winged Drone, a former Winged Drone Carrier who’d now evolved to Drone Paragon, had also grown a bit and looked sleeker and more dangerous.

“I think I’m going to have to stop doing the three-letter patterns thing,” Regina said, tilting her head as she looked at the two new people. She’d hoped they would choose their own names, but they’d both asked her to name them, like Kit.

Kit was also there, hovering beside her fellow as they stood in the small yard outside the building. She’d taken the two of them under her wing a bit, figuratively speaking. “We could help you come up with new names, my Queen?” she offered, sounding hesitant.

Regina shook her head. “I appreciate the thought, but no, that would only drag things out. I think starting with Evolved Swarm Drones is a good way to break the pattern, anyway.”

"That makes sense to me,” the Winged Drone said, although he (he’d already decided to use masculine pronouns) didn’t sound like it mattered too much to him.

“So.” Regina paused and looked at them. “I’ve thought about calling you Chase,” she nodded at the War Drone, “and you Gale,” at the Winged Drone.

The first one smiled. “That sounds good. Thank you, my Queen!”

“Guess it’ll do as well as anything.” The Winged Drone shrugged. “Thanks, I guess.”

Regina nodded. “If you run into any trouble or need anything, feel free to tell me. We’ll do our best to make sure your transition goes smoothly.”

She stayed with them for a while longer, making sure they were okay. She should have done that earlier, honestly, but she’d been too busy to really give them the attention they deserved. That was why it had taken a while to give them their names, too. But she’d rather do that properly than have them end up with something silly. Well, sillier than usual, at least. Arguably her choices weren’t very serious and dignified.

Then she turned and left. She was just about to head back to her rooms, when the System gave her another notification. Regina paused, standing in the street. Dan, who had been going the other way, almost ran into her, but managed to correct course just in time. She shook her head and mumbled an apology at him, but still glanced towards the message again, thoughtfully.

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