Chapter 32: Chapter 31: Swarm Drones

It started to rain the day after Regina reached level 10. A light drizzle at first, that slowly turned into a pounding rain pouring down on them as the day wore on. Regina and her drones gritted their teeth and continued with their work.

Lots of animals seemed to seek shelter from the rain, and it hampered visibility as well, so Regina kept the Warriors close. With the additional help, despite the weather, work on their log cabin proceeded quickly. They cut down trees and prepared logs to use in building it. Max and Tim’s higher Con stat seemed to have made their blade-limbs tougher, tough enough that they could use them to chop down trees relatively well.

The rain continued through the night, but their shelters kept the worst of it off them. Regina heard the wind howling through the branches of the trees, but it never quite turned into a real storm. By the time the sun started to rise, the rain was tapering off, and the clouds parted to let some sunshine through. The western horizon showed a truly breathtaking rainbow that made Regina wish she had a camera to capture the sight.

Their meadow had turned to mud in a few places, but overall, it was in pretty good shape. They were far enough from the river not to have to care about any flooding, and the little lake wasn’t going to be much of a problem even swelling with runoff water. Regina told herself that it could have been a lot worse. She wanted some proper walls by the time a real storm came, though.

She took a break from working in the woods to go to the lake and try to catch some fish with Tia and Tim. It turned out that her Magic Missile worked just as well underwater, so even without proper equipment, she could contribute. Tia used one of the crude spears they’d fashioned, while Tim preferred to dive. He was really good at crouching at the bottom of the lake’s shallows, still and hidden, then pouncing on an unsuspecting passing fish. His stats probably had something to do with it.

“My queen, maybe we should start trying to smoke some meat or fish,” Tia suggested. “Winter is going to come eventually, and there might be times when we don’t have time or opportunity to go hunting.”

Regina nodded. “That’s true. And we can’t rely on just meat for long. I don’t want to overhunt the area. Or even on the greenery. We don’t know if we can really sustain ourselves on that long-term.”

Tia cocked her head, looking thoughtful. “Do you want to start cultivating crops?”

Regina sighed and shrugged. “We’ll have to. I just wish we knew how best to do it or had some seed grains. Maybe we can gather some wild grains, but I’m not sure how well that’ll work.”

“Is it even the right time of the year for that?” Tim asked.

“I don’t know. I’m sure there are some crops that you can plant in the summer.”

Regina stretched where she was sitting on the grass, glancing around. It was a nice day, even with the smell of rain still in the air. She couldn’t bring herself to be too worried about food or crops. They’d get by, and they were still only starting out. Besides, she was sure she could trade something with the elves eventually.

Then she made herself get up. She ripped out some grass and ate it, just to try it out. It tasted surprisingly bitter and she had to chew it a bit, but it wasn’t so bad overall. Regina started walking up and down the lake, assessing her surroundings. The lake wasn’t large, but it would let them build and test boats later on, and the connection to the river would be useful for transport.

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Just as she returned to the spot closest to the forest, Regina paused. She felt something shift again. The sensation was different from last time, but she still had an idea of what it meant. Although it had only been two days, not three.

She briefly dipped into the connection she had to her hive as she turned and walked back, checking on everyone’s position. Max and most of the others were still working in the woods not too far from the shelters, though Ben as well as Ace and Ada, the two new Scouts, were out patrolling.

By the time she arrived, the new hatchlings had apparently managed to free themselves of their eggs and stepped out into the open. There, they simply stood, still except for the way their eyes, antennae and occasionally heads tilted to take in their new environment.

Regina paused, coming to a stop a few meters away, and scrutinized them. The War Drones were clearly smaller than the other drones, and built somewhat differently. While their upper limbs had blades similar to the Warriors, their middle ones seemed to be designed to let them walk on four legs as easily as two. They had something resembling hands, though they were stubby, covered in their shell material and four-fingered.

But the most obvious difference wasn’t in their physical appearance, but in their minds. Since she picked her Class Ability, Regina had been more aware of the drones’ minds and found it easier to sense them. She didn’t even need to try with these Swarm Drones; they didn’t seem to have much of a barrier and almost automatically linked with her. And what she found was both easier and harder to interpret. They had the same senses and carried information just as easily, but the drones’ own cognitive processes were basic.

Frowning, Regina picked one at random and dove deeper into it. She sensed what it sensed; the wind, the ground under its feet, the movement of the leaves of the surrounding trees, and more. But its feelings were erratic and transient, and barely went beyond hunger, warmth, companions — and something she found hard to put into words, but the closest would be duty. There was no real, higher-level thought. No awareness of itself as an autonomous entity.

Regina gathered herself and took a step closer. “Move forward,” she told them.

At once, the War Drones obeyed her command, walking a few steps forward. All of their attention was on her.

Regina frowned. This was quite interesting. Then she focused and sent a mental command to the left-most drone. On cue, it started stepping back, then circling the others, then jumping into the air and finally cutting down a thick branch from a tree.

She took a moment to direct her attention to her telepathic sense again and focused on Max, sending a short message. She couldn’t really communicate with actual language and detailed thoughts, not yet. But it worked for simple ideas like ‘Come here’. Sure, she could have just called him over the normal way, but she was trying to practice.

In the meantime, she focused on one of them again and tried to focus her attention in a way she’d come to associate with accessing the System. Right away, its status screen appeared.

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