Chapter 64: Chapter 62: Queen’s Shield

The storm seemed to have spent most of its power. It dragged on, rain still coming down and the occasional gust of wind shaking the leaves of the trees in the forest, but that only made things unpleasant. By the time they had cleaned up the aftermath of the battle, at least mostly, everyone in the hive was thoroughly drenched and uncomfortable. The ground had devolved into mud in many places, especially where the grass had already been trampled by them walking and where the battle had taken place. At least there didn’t seem to be any large-scale environmental destruction, like you could probably do with magic or Skills at higher levels. Even the explosion had been in a clear, unobstructed stretch, and the houses hadn’t really suffered damage in it or the rest of the battle.

Tia had barely waited for the important things to get settled, like dragging the bodies of the dead humans to a designated spot and collecting their gear, before she approached Regina, grinning and with barely suppressed excitement in her step.

“I reached level 20, my Queen!” she said.

Regina smiled. “Great. I got two levels, myself. So, you reached your Evolution now?”

“Exactly! I’m just looking at my options, and they seem really exciting.”

Max smiled where he was standing beside and behind his Queen, keeping an eye out. It was good to see Tia being so cheerful, especially given what had just happened. He wasn’t particularly surprised that she had reached the level-up. Tia wasn’t exactly hesitant when it came to joining a fight. And some of the defenses they’d used, like the palisade, were her work, so she might have gotten some Experience for that, too.

Tia and Regina started discussing the choices the System offered her. Max didn’t listen in on everything, but he caught enough to have an idea of what she received. Tia didn’t seem very enthusiastic about a straight-up evolution of her Drone Worker Class like Drone Burrower or Drone Craftsperson (Max wondered if that name was deliberately gender-neutral. Did the System even see them as having genders, considering their biology?). An option she seemed to like better was Drone Engineer, or even Drone Architect. Mia had stopped a short distance away from them, and Max noted her perking up when she heard those names. But Tia had gotten even more options than Max, and he was not surprised to hear that she seemed to focus on the last one.

“So, you want to be a Drone Combat Engineer?” Regina asked. “I can’t say that doesn’t fit, even if you’ve mostly done large-scale work more in the line of building defenses like the tunnels and palisade.”

“Yes, please. Can I?”

“Of course. Have fun with it.”

Tia smiled brightly. She then turned to Max, and appeared to hesitate for a moment. “What’s it like?”

“Nothing to worry about.” He smiled reassuringly. “Just like falling into a deep sleep. I didn’t even know I was out for - a day or so?”

“More than that,” Regina cut in. “Do it right now, Tia. I’d rather have you back as soon as possible.”

“Of course, my Queen!” Tia scurried off, heading for the hut Max and Tim had just come out of.

Regina turned back to Max. She smiled, but after a moment that expression faded into a faint frown. “Something feels different about you,” she told him. “I know you just changed your Class and everything, but I don’t think it’s just that. More like, I don’t know, my sense of mana?”

Max nodded. “I think I can guess what it might have to do with.” He focused for a moment, sharing his status screen with his Queen.

---