Chapter 44: Chapter 44

The next three days and nights went over in a blur. The moths kept up their attacks during the absence of the sun and even started to tear into the foundation of the second floor to reach the Antanoid, but luckily the 2m thick roof above the first floor proved to be too strong a barrier for the large animals. Kai’s daughters had to patch the damage up during the day, though no one complained about it. They all prefered the vague sense of security during the night in exchange for half an hour of boring work rather than their roof failing them suddenly.

With a bit more freedom at hand, Artemis and Kai were also able to observe the moths some more. Shortly after dusk about 40 to 60 of the large beasts would rush to the hive and besiege it, though they were aware that there had to be more of them since different moths came each night, Artemis could tell by their wounds and mana signatures. Were it not for their tunnels Kai was positive that by now neither she or her daughters would be alive anymore, which was admittedly pretty negative.

Their unique defending position offered them some insights into the moths behavior however. It was always their weakest and likely youngest that attacked the settlement while the stronger ones seemed content with staying back and watching the whole thing. 

The largest threat they had spotted was a somewhat larger moth somewhere around level 15 with at least ten levels full of stats. Translated, the thing should be around two to three times stronger than its siblings. It was a blessing that they had only seen that particular beast one time.

What troubled Kai however, was the large amount of stats that some of the moths and other wild beasts had. She knew for a fact that the closer her daughters and drones came to the amount of stats that the first level could hold the less quests they received, which also meant less stats.

The beasts internal mana density was far higher than the surroundings too, which Kai took as a hint that her family's stalling growth had something to do with that. It was possible they were inside of a level 1 zone and the moths ventured somewhere else once they were stronger. At least the critters and other weak local wildlife had the same problem as the hive.

Anyway, they hadn’t much of a problem with holding their own against the damned things as long as they thoroughly barricaded themselves and it only got better when the first shipment of wooden spikes arrived on the second day. They quickly attached them to strategic points such as the barricades and the ceiling above them before Erin returned to the western camp with a few more of Kai’s daughters in tow. Thanks to the spikes they had barely needed to step in during the night's defense and when they did, only to stop the moths from chewing the wood to shreds.

Kai had originally worried that the wooden spikes would be too weak, she just couldn’t imagine the trees she knew from earth being able to stop the razor sharp mandibles. It turned out though that her worry was only partly justified and she quickly learned that in a world with magical hell moths there were also magical trees. The mandibles were still a problem and could quickly whittle away the wood, but at least they weren’t able to simply cut through the pikes like they cut through the bone tools.

As Kai found it a bit odd that the wood was so much stronger than the bones of strengthened animals she had Brian look into it through the drones. The results of that were relatively obvious retrospectively and just as creatures leveled and gained stats so did the plants. Interestingly that meant that some plants could be a lot stronger in one aspect than the majority of their relatives. It was something they should look out for in the future.

Oh and speaking about drones, they were now back to scouting and scavenging again as they weren’t needed for the defense anymore. It had taken Kai a bit to come to that decision though.

She would really like to keep them as backup in case something went wrong, but she also realized that the hive would be continuously unable to see the rest of the world if she did that and with the moths screeching around like there was no tomorrow her hive became a beacon of noise to anything in the forest at night. Who knew what would be interesting in a good bite of moth?

They already knew of the dragon and while it was a behemoth for their region, it couldn’t be the only strong thing out there.

Then there was also the possibility of other sapients finding the hive due to their current problems. On the one side it was civilization, technology and comforts, yay! On the other hand it was also crime, greed and hate. Sure, the assessment seemed a bit harsh and Kai definitely didn’t want to say that every single person was bad. She did however know what humans were capable of and as such other species should be able to do the same shit. 

Kai did not want to come into contact with possible other sapients until she was at least equal to the other party in political strength. Being strong would be a good deterrent.

She had  also realized that she didn’t want her daughters to be influenced by other cultures yet. They were honestly naively cute and every time Kai did something without thinking too much about it she seemed to add something that was, that was just special to them, that was Antanoid.

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First it had been the hug kisses after surviving a fight, then the victory shout after having truly defeated a foe and now the flutes or dunes as her daughters called them. For a species that hadn’t even a year of history they had inherited a treasure trove of knowledge from Kai. However for her daughters most of these things were distant, it was ‘human’ and not ‘Antanoid’, they were still a blank slate that would fill itself as time went on.

Before she had impulsively crafted the first dune 3 nights ago for example, her daughters had no true entertainment during their free time, the free time Kai forced upon them. They would often just idle around and rest, having nothing really to do and sometimes they would play with the drones. That was actually something that came from Artemis.

The last few days though, the hive had gotten a lot noisier. Kai had shown her daughters music and it had sparked a fire in them. They had created more of the dunes, heck they had even gotten better at making them and now they often danced and hummed together during their breaks, but most importantly they laughed freely with each other. It was incredible to witness a change like this and every time Kai saw them make music her heart melted from an adoration overload. She just couldn’t help it.

Kai joined her daughters now and then and it was incredibly silly and fun. It also brought her closer to those of them who had been distant until now, lifting a mental burden from her. Before it had always felt wrong to her not to be able to treat them like family, but now they knew she was just as silly as them, just as much Antanoid as them only that she had a different role in the large picture that was life.

Kai cherished these moments and couldn’t help but smile like an idiot as she thought of them.

Anna, who was sitting next to Kai’s tail on the bed, cleared her throat. “Ahem. As much as I know you are fond of the recent developments in the hive, mother, you wanted to lay a new type of egg.”

Kai’s cheeks warmed up slightly, having completely drifted into a daydream like that. She quickly read through the template description of the new Antanoid race Brian had created once more.

[Antanoid Traveler]

Antanoid travelers are sapient Antanoid of the second tier. They are one of the possible evolutions for workers to advance to.
The traveler's build is similar to that of the worker. They have ears for improved hearing however and are somewhat weaker in strength compared to a worker. 

Instead the traveler's body is focused on endurance. They can survive easier in harsh environments and longer without food and water. While they are generally slower than a hunter they can keep going for longer. 

The most important trait though is that the travelers' swarm brain is more complex than that of their sisters. (3 drone slots) For, a traveler never lasts long without a trusty companion. 

There wasn’t much to say about it. The traveler was perfect for, well, traveling and would thus make good merchants in the future, though Kai wouldn’t force anyone to do something they didn’t want to do.

What was more important right now was that they could command the advanced swarm drones and with them they might be able to finally fight back without having to hole up.

Kai rubbed her shoulders and started to move her mana towards her tail. Let’s get this done!

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