Chapter 45: Chapter 43: Adjustments and Open Questions

They managed to sort things out pretty quickly, to Regina’s relief. The hive would be a little short on manpower for now, but that couldn’t be helped. She decided to leave some tasks alone and focus on what they needed right now. Which wasn’t just guarding their prisoners, but also training.

She’d pushed herself and laid new eggs for one Harvester, mostly for testing purposes, three War Drones and one Production Drone, also to see what that type was about. She would have liked more of them, but fighting drones had priority right now.

Regina knew she couldn’t afford to take a passive or halfhearted attitude to gaining experience and levels anymore. She sat down with Max and Tim and worked out a training schedule that would push their warriors and even the other drones to their limits, but help them rise through the levels quickly. They incorporated every trick they could think of and everything they’d discovered through their experimentation.

She had free access to a supply of monsters, and she intended to make use of it.

Regina herself stayed at the hive, guarding the prisoners together with the workers and warriors not on shift in hunting expeditions or training. They’d also bring back monsters to fight here, and she could heal some and have them fighting again and again. The System rewarded victory more than death. It helped that her drones had all gained levels, another bit of evidence for that discovery.

The average level for her Warriors was now 12, with Max and Tim both at level 14. The levels for the Workers were slightly lower, but catching up. The War Drones were lower still, but they’d risen to about level 10, which was actually really fast growth. For the survivors of the fight, at least. Regina was confident they could grind out a few more levels quickly.

She’d had Ivy, her single new Harvester, help with odd jobs around the camp. Her type seemed to be a bit better suited to combat than a normal Worker Drone, but she was still clearly meant for something else, mostly. Regina had the feeling there was something she was missing there. Hopefully it would become clearer with time and a few more levels.

Around midday, when they’d finished cleaning up and setting up everything, and were settling into the new routine, she got a new notification from the System.

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