The first chance she got, when she could be assured of her privacy, Regina pulled out the information Enais had given her and took a look at it.

She still wasn’t sure what to think about this. About the fact that apparently, her (new?) species had lived here but been wiped out a thousand years ago. Regina supposed she’d already known some part of it, since she and her hive obviously existed but there were no others of their kind anywhere here. They had to have come from somewhere. Of course, she still didn’t have an answer to that question. Did my egg somehow survive in some place for centuries? But what about my memories from another life? Did I get them from the same people that did this, or am I missing something?

She shook her head and forced herself to focus on the information on the piece of paper. It was written in a neat, elegant hand, but the writer had apparently had some trouble keeping their lines straight, which might indicate that they didn’t often write like this. Enais probably had a secretary. Or maybe the elves usually used lined paper, who knew.

Regina read it carefully, then reread it to make sure she didn’t miss anything. There wasn’t much about the actual situation of the Hivekind in the past, the history. Most of the information written here were things she already knew. It was nice to have confirmation of a few of her hypotheses, though. For example, Enais mentioned both sapient and Swarm Drones, but there didn’t seem to be any further types of drones, and it was also mentioned that Hive Queens seemed to be the only non-drone members of the species. The paper was light on details, however. It contained speculation about a psychic connection between members of a Hive, but Regina had already found out far more about it than was written here. The information also stated that her race grew quickly but had short lives, with the possible exception of Hive Queens.

Regina frowned as she read that part. She had already suspected that they leveled up more quickly than humans, just like elves probably leveled up more slowly, considering their lifespans. Still, this was concerning. At least the information Tim and Bea had brought back from the elven city said that reaching higher levels increased one’s lifespan, and since this tended to be absolute rather than relative gain, it made far more of a difference for the shorter-lived species compared to people like elves. Regina didn’t know if this applied to her sapient drones as well, or only Swarm Drones, or the reverse, or what.

One other thing made her freeze and re-read the sentence to be sure that she had gotten it correctly the first time. The Queens of the Hives were one of the anomalies raising many questions regarding the way mana interacts with the sapient races. They are born as Hive Queens, with all of their potential already unlocked. There have been no reported cases of one evolving as some monsters do. Whether it is possible for them to undergo Evolution at all is unclear.

That meant she probably wouldn’t be able to unlock a new Class, as Hive Queen was already a top-tier Class? She still only got one stat point per level, but Regina supposed that the rest of the benefits coming with it, like the potentially vast mana pool, were great enough on their own. She wondered why Enais hadn’t written anything about the way the System worked for her kind directly, though. Was that too secret to be included in the information she'd found?

Regina skimmed through the sheet of paper one more time, then carefully folded it up and put it away. She should try to copy the most important parts down, perhaps expanded with her own observations, later. For now, she was going to give this to Max and the others and let them read it. Not only did they deserve to know about their species just as much as she did, if not more, but she was curious to see their reactions and opinions.

They turned out to be surprisingly calm about it.

"I guessed something like that,” Max said after she finished talking about her assumptions regarding the lifespan thing. “It does line up with what Tim and Bea brought back.”

Tim nodded. They were sitting around the fire, and he had just finished reading the piece of paper and passed it on to Mia, who was now looking at it with a frown, while Tia was reading over her shoulder.

“This also implies that we are indeed monsters,” Tia said, glancing up. “Sapient monsters. But I guess we knew that.”

“I don’t think it matters all that much.” Max shook his head. “Enais and the other elves are on the way back, right?”

Regina nodded. She’d deliberately waited with this until the elves had departed. She didn’t want Enais to watch, and she didn’t know how much the other elves accompanying her knew. Better to be careful. Right now, she closed her eyes for a moment and focused on Dark, who she had told to follow the elves at a distance. The bird hung so far back that she barely even saw the party, but she recognized enough of their surroundings to have a rough idea of where they were going. “They’re heading back to the city, moving pretty quickly.”

“From what I could gather, the war has gotten more intense,” Tim remarked. “They probably don’t want Anuis and the other fighters to be gone too long, since they might be needed.”

“Probably,” Regina agreed. “Did you learn anything else about the war, Tim?”

“Nothing specific. They’re pretty good about not letting details slip. I know the war has come closer to the city, though. There have been a string of skirmishes over the last while.”

Regina nodded, then stood up. “Alright. I guess that’s all for now. Let’s get back to work, and let me know if anything important comes up.” She’d let them mull it over in peace and maybe discuss it among themselves.

The others followed suit and started scattering to their various tasks. Regina headed out to check on the current batch of eggs first, then decided to do some more practice and make her rounds of the camp.

She had just finished a workout and thrown a few Magic Missiles, one of them at a passing bird, when the System gave her a familiar notification.

You have leveled up

Regina ran a hand over her short hair, then jogged over to pick up the bird she’d picked off. She’d only managed to hit it on the wing, so it was still alive, if badly injured by the fall. Regina quickly shot another Magic Missile at it to end its suffering, then picked up the bird and carried it to where Ivy was working on the corpses of monsters and animals they’d hunted. She didn’t recognize the bird’s exact type, but it looked like a mundane bird of prey, maybe a goshawk or something. She still wasn’t sure about the ecosystem in this place, with magical monsters and mundane animals mingling, mostly to the detriment of the latter, as far as she could tell. But there was some kind of balance, and people hunting monsters might contribute to it, like the culling that happened during monster hordes.

Once she was done with that, Regina turned her attention to the System, and finally read a message she had been waiting for. Not this exact notification, but one like it.

Congratulations, you have unlocked a new Template: Drone Shooter

Regina grinned. That sounded like a ranged drone. Finally. She’d been uncomfortably aware of her lack of ranged combat options, at the hive level. At least she herself could use magic, but she was only one person. She also noticed that the pattern for new Templates seemed to hold, with this one being the third warrior-type Drone Template to be unlocked. She was looking forward to seeing what it could do.

She’d have to wait for a bit before she could make new eggs, though. She still had some of them developing, and she didn’t think it would be a good idea to add to them. Besides, she wanted to get several of the new drones, not just one. She was confident enough in the promise they held.

Regina headed to the training ground to share the news. She hadn’t even checked beforehand, as she realized after a moment, but she still found Max there. When he wasn’t hanging around her, which she knew he’d been making an effort not to do all the time, he was almost always here. Tim was away on a hunt at the moment, taking some of the younger Warriors with him to teach them a few tricks.

“Guess what I just got?” She called out as soon as Max finished his current kata with his ax.

He lowered his weapon and stepped towards her. “Considering you don’t seem angry, probably nothing I need to be concerned about.”

“What? I’m not that transparent.” She shook her head. “I got a level and a new Drone Template.”

“Oh, nice!” Max beamed excitedly, suddenly looking a lot more like he had at the beginning, all of a few weeks ago. “What kind? What can they do?”

“It seems we’ve finally got a ranged combatant. Shooter.” Regina couldn’t help grinning proudly, even if it wasn’t her that decided on the System’s unlocks.

“That’s great.” Max’s excitement had cooled a bit, but he still seemed enthusiastic. “That is something we’ve been missing. The others are going to be happy to hear that. I can tell them about this, right?”

“Sure.” Regina tilted her head slightly. “Why did you feel the need to ask that? It’s not like I’ve ever kept that kind of thing secret.”

He shrugged, kicking at a loose stone. “I don’t know. But we don’t exactly have a lot of strictures or rules here.”

Regina sighed and crossed her arms. “Is this where you try to get me to make an official chain of command?”

“We already have a chain of command. It’s just not official. Well, maybe half-official, considering what you’ve said. But the other warriors all take their cues, and orders, from me and Tim. And to a lesser extent from Ben. Even Ada has taken a leading role among the Scouts.”

Regina tugged at her mandibles. She’d noticed that Ada was usually the one to give her scouting reports or come talk to her about what they’d found or their issues, but she hadn’t given it much thought. She shrugged. “Alright. If it works, I don’t see a problem.”

Max looked like he was suppressing his frustration. “I don’t really want to be in charge,” he said after a moment.

“Tough luck,” she told him. “No one asked me whether I wanted to lead a hive, either. Well, I’m pretty sure no one did. Maybe if I get a Drone General or something as a Template, we can do things differently, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.” She shook her head and gave him a small smile. “You’re the oldest and the strongest. It doesn’t mean you have to do much leading. Apparently, there are others who will, like Ben.”

Max sighed softly. He didn’t seem happy with this. She had the impression that the topic would come up again, but Regina didn’t want to get dragged into a debate. Given how the hive continued expanding quickly, there was no point in setting any structures in stone right now. Especially since she didn’t know what would happen with regard to their Templates or Classes, and that was obviously important information to have.

“Alright,” Max said. “I’ll tell Ben I’ve officially got your approval for putting him in charge of various things, then. Knowing him, he’s probably not even going to mind.”

Regina shrugged and hid a smile. She lingered for a bit while Max went back to training, watching the others. The younger Warriors were training with intense focus, although she could see they weren’t quite at the level of Max and the older ones yet. There were also a lot of War Drones, often sparring against each other under the supervision of one of the Warriors.

They were good enough, Regina decided. She still didn’t like that she’d lost one of her strongest War Drones the last time she’d decided to explore the underground tunnels, but they grew quickly enough that she could afford such losses. Now, what she would have previously called the middle range of War Drones were increasing in level, and she could spare a few of them.

Regina glanced around, then focused on the psychic connection she had to her hive and looked for a specific drone. Checking up on her, she saw that Ada had not returned to the forest yet, and, in fact, looked like she was deciding whether to go to the training ground. Regina gave her a mental nudge, summoning the Scout to her.

Ada arrived quickly, greeting Regina with what she guessed was an excited smile. “What do you need, my Queen?”

“I wanted to discuss a change to our patrol patterns and scouting,” Regina said. She raised an eyebrow. “Apparently, you’re the one to talk to about that.”

Ada nodded, looking a bit apprehensive. “If I’ve overstepped …”

Regina made a dismissive gesture. “Not at all. I’m happy for you to lead the scouts.”

“Oh. Then, what can I do for you? Is there an issue with our work, or do you want us to look for something specific?”

“The latter.” Regina tugged on her mandible. “I want you to keep an eye out for entrances to this underground cave system. I know you’ve already been doing that, but I’d like you to intensify the search. Range further afield if you need to. I’ll allocate more War Drones to this.”

“I understand.” Ada hesitated for a moment. “You’re confident there are entrances for us to find, my Queen?”

“I’m pretty sure. Apparently, there are plants underground, but I’d still expect there to be ventilation shafts and other connections allowing for airflow from and to the surface. Plus, ways for other people, like elves or humans, to have come there. Just do your best.”

“Of course, my Queen. We won’t disappoint you.” Ada bowed her head and scurried off.

Regina watched her go with a frown, then shook her head and turned back. She was confident in Ada’s abilities, as well as that of the other scouts. Even if a few of them were pretty young, still. Well, we all are pretty young. But we level up fast. Hopefully, they would get this done quickly.

In the meantime, Regina turned her attention to her psychic hive bond once more, trying to sift through it. It was hard to focus on more than one drone, but she’d been working on getting a general sense of a group, or even her whole hive. That was easier with the War Drones, although there were a lot of them here.

Still, Regina felt she was making at least a little progress with her telepathy. She settled down to make a mental accounting of her Swarm Drones and consider how best to allocate them to different tasks, and which ones she should send to join the scouting teams. She figured things were coming along pretty well.