In the aftermath of the meeting with Anuis and the others, Regina had had more work to do than she thought. She talked to several more people, looked over the makeshift defensive positions they’d set up, and contacted a few of her drones. It took a bit of finagling to figure out who would be going where and who they would need to stay on the island. She wanted to go there soon to look at the condition of the castle with her own eyes. Sure, she could see the same things through her drones, but she’d be able to move around it in her own body and felt like she’d experience it better in person.

After she finally had a free moment again, she hesitated. The sun had definitely risen by now, and in its light, her surroundings seemed to look a bit different. She considered whether she should go on a tour and get to healing the sick and injured villagers like she’d promised, but another System message had been niggling at the edge of her mind for a while. Lately, she’d appeared to go up levels pretty quickly, and level 25 seemed like a bit of a threshold, probably because several spaced-out progressions had something at this level.

You may now select your third Class Skill. Please choose one of the following: Swarm Strength: Your Swarm strengthens your Hive. Double your current limit for Swarm Drones and increase the limit’s set points, multiplying with a factor of 2^(Tier-1) (doubling applies this increase retroactively). All Swarm Drones will now be born with a limit corresponding to a third of the average of their type (rounded down). Stat point gain for Swarm Drones is increased at higher Tiers. The requirement for Swarm Drones to become sapient will be raised, but Swarm Drones that Evolve to sapience will integrate into the Hive more easily. Hive’s Roster: Your Hive is manifold. Unlock the next two Templates you would gain access to immediately (one each for sapient and Swarm Drones). Requirements for unlocking new Templates will be lightened. At higher levels, you will gain access to the chance to customize Swarm Drones more easily. Queen’s Strength: Your power is your Hive’s power. Once per three days, you may boost your own abilities and strength drastically for a limited period of time. Your effective Int and Wis are increased by a factor of (Tier-1)*0.25. Your Spells will be more easily cast and mana fatigue delayed. Your physical stats are increased by a factor of (Tier-1)*0.1. This Ability lasts for level/2 minutes at baseline, but increased draw on your mana will reduce its duration. Afterwards, your stats will be reduced by half and your effective casting time doubled for twice the duration.

Regina frowned as she read through the Ability choices again carefully. They all sounded good on paper, but, then again, they always did. And, in what seemed to be becoming a pattern, while she’d originally been looking forward to getting Hive’s Roster, now she thought it might not be the best choice after all. She was leveling up pretty quickly and getting new Templates wasn’t really much of a problem, and besides, this seemed like short-term benefit over long-term gain. The upgrade to the Swarm, on the other hand, captured her imagination. A true exponential progression. And it would help her in the short term, too. While she hadn’t hit her limit for Swarm Drones yet, she easily could if things continued like this. Them being hatched at higher levels would remove some of the need for grinding their levels, which would probably be especially important later on, and let her build stronger forces more quickly.

The part about them gaining sapience was really interesting. But, while it seemed like it would objectively make them more useful, it would take away from their expendable facelessness, which was kind of the Swarm Drones’ whole point. So, she didn’t mind if that would happen later, especially if it helped the hive further.

The third option left her feeling a bit ambivalent. It would probably be helpful, but she wasn’t sure how wise it really was. Actually, this was the first time she’d gotten an active Skill offered instead of a passive. She didn’t like the danger of being weakened by a lot after the effect ran its course, especially since it didn’t give any details of how much the duration would be lessened, so it might not last that long in practice. The cooldown also wasn’t exactly short.

Frowning and shaking her head to herself, Regina made her decision. She mentally tapped on Swarm Strength, and watched the screen dissolve with a rain of sparkles. She didn’t feel very different afterwards. There might be a small shift in the part of her mana sense she associated with her link to her drones, but she might just be imagining things. Anyway, she’d dithered here for long enough, so she finally got moving.

True to her words, Regina made a round of the village and offered healing to the inhabitants. She figured it was better to establish herself as helpful as soon as possible. Since she still didn’t have that much mana, she had to prioritize and treat the most serious cases first. There was one man with a broken and cut leg, probably some kind of work accident, that had gotten infected. She was privately surprised he’d lived this long at all. Luckily, it was nothing her healing Spell couldn’t fix. She also got a woman with mangled arm that looked like it came from the jaws of a monster and a little girl who must have fallen from somewhere high up.

The villagers were obviously wary of her, but they treated her with respect. A few even seemed surprised when she said she wanted nothing in exchange for the healing. Healing magic is probably expensive, ordinarily, and these are ‘simple peasants’. I’m also not sure how common a Spell like a Heal variant normally is. The little girl, on the other hand, seemed fascinated by Regina. She was a little relieved when the kid’s mother dragged her away. Children - well, human children, anyway - were not something Regina knew how to deal with.

She also checked in on her drones again. Several more of them had reached level 20 and could start the process of their Evolution.

“I’m not sure how much time we have until we are attacked again,” Ben said when she broached the subject of whether they should let these drones do it now. “They likely won’t be able to participate in the next fight. But I also don’t like the idea of them being stuck like this for days, or longer.”

Regina nodded. “You’re right. I think we should just let everyone evolve now. The time it takes seems to be a little variable, anyway. And with the help of the elves, I think we can deal with whatever might come in the next few days, since they would be acting on short notice, too.”

“Thank you, my Queen.” Ina smiled. “Although I’m not sure I would be much help in a fight either way, even with my new Class. From the options I have, I’d like to choose Drone Craftsperson.”

Regina nodded. “That sounds useful. Go ahead.” The others who were eligible to evolve now weren’t here at the moment, but Regina didn’t doubt that they’d hear about it right away.

“We have quite a few different Classes now,” Max commented. He’d showed up at some point during her walk and was accompanying her again. “Even just for the Warriors, we now have four different ones, already. My Royal Bodyguard, Tim’s Royal Blade, Ben’s Drone Commander, and Dan’s Elite Drone Warrior. The last one is probably going to be the most common.”

“You’re probably right. We didn’t have anyone else who got a Class like yours and Tim’s offered, right?” They both shook their heads. “Those probably have special conditions. Well, I guess we’ll see. Our hive is definitely growing stronger, anyway. I’m looking forward to what other options we’ll get.”

The others smiled at that, and she knew they were happy to hear her say the hive was growing stronger. Ben quickly left to talk to the other drones and probably tell them they could go through their Evolutions.

Regina turned around and watched her drones. Then she closed her eyes and focused on her link to others further away. Her range had expanded yet again, though she found it difficult to tell by how much exactly. Still, her hive’s settlement was definitely in reach. Just now, she sensed the hatching of the newest Swarm Drone eggs. She waited silently while they hatched, and finally got a good look at them through each other’s eyes.

The Winged Drones were even smaller than the War Drones. Their bodies were slim and light, and she got the impression their shells wouldn’t stand up to much damage, at least compared to others. They had wings in roughly the same style she did, a mix of insectoid and vertebrate, like the Hivekind’s bodies. They were large, their wingspan considerably longer than their bodies. Their forelimbs had relatively large hands, compared to their body size, which would hopefully be useful for carrying stuff, or even something like a bow or projectile weapon.

She nudged one of them to fly. Its wings beat quickly, and it managed to lift into the air. At first, it swerved almost drunkenly, but quickly stabilized itself. She could tell the flight was draining, especially since the drone had just hatched and hadn’t eaten anything, but Regina didn’t much care at the moment. She grinned to herself.

Right now, the few drones she’d left at the hive’s place would take care of them, give them something to eat. Then she should probably leave one or two behind and get the others here as inconspicuously as possible. They had lots of testing to do.

And with no more eggs draining her mana regeneration now, Regina could afford new ones, even keeping most of her mana for preparations. She’d make two Drone Attendants, ducking into a dark corner as soon as possible. For now, Regina opened her eyes and filled Max in. He grinned, looking happy at the possibilities the flying drones opened up.

In the end, Regina had to wait until the elves could accommodate her. They had brought along some supplies and left them with a few guards some distance from the village, and now brought them in. Regina had to applaud their preparedness, although they wouldn’t stay here forever. They’d planned that the elven forces would leave, eventually, though they wouldn’t be going right away.

In any case, they were more than happy to put up a small tent for Regina’s use, and she made use of that to not let the humans know where the hive’s new eggs came from.

Once she stepped out of the tent, she wasn’t quite sure what to do next. She called over a nearby War Drone and started to scratch it on the head. This one was level 19. Its right forelimb had a small discoloration in its shell, where it had cracked, and, while she’d healed it, the edges had shifted a little and left a mark. She’d see if it could also undergo Evolution soon. Regina dipped into its mind for a moment. It was feeling pure bliss. She grinned, kept scratching and looked a little deeper. Its mind didn’t really feel any more complex. Then she discretely handed it the two eggs in their bags and told it to carry them to the Workers. Maybe I should make a habit of petting War Drones, like a theatrical thing. She laughed to herself and turned to head back to the center of the village.

Of course, that was when the baron found her. He seemed to have waited for her on one of the widest streets leading to the town square, and Regina decided to let him say what he obviously wanted to.

“I hear you made good on your word and have offered healing to my villagers, Lady Regina,” he said. “Is that the correct address I should be using for you, by the way?”

She shrugged. “People have been using it for a while now, so I don’t see why not.”

“I see.” He looked a bit confused, maybe wondering if she didn’t have customs of her own people to use. “In any case, I wanted to thank you.”

“Just doing my job.”

He just looked at her for a moment, then clearly realized she wasn’t going to say anything else and continued. “I also wanted to discuss what your, ah, drones are doing on the village’s outskirts.”

“Yes? If you have any concerns, I’m happy to listen.”

“They are digging into the earth and working … something with wood and at least one material I don’t recognize.” He paused for a moment. “May I ask what that is about?”

“Building defenses,” she explained. “Largely, anyway. You’ll excuse me for not giving you all the details, we do have things to do. Don’t worry, this will not be a danger to you or the civilians here.”

He stared at her for a moment. But then, he clearly realized that was all he was going to get out of her. Regina smiled at him. Then he let out a little sigh and shook his head.

She figured that went well enough. She should probably give Anuis or Bianorn a heads-up, though.