I head back outside and creep carefully through the forest until I arrive back at the insect colony. I stay at the edge of the colony so as not to be overwhelmed by these bugs by accident. My strategy from last time works again and I can grab one insect after the next without much danger. I remain cautious and keep a regular lookout for other predators so that I am not surprised. I hunt more than I want to eat this time to have enough for my drone and in addition a supply for tomorrow. It's a risk every time I walk around out here. I am careful, but that only reduces the risk a little. This forest is very dangerous, which I have experienced several times.

As I return to my tunnel, I notice that it is not as uneven as it used to be and has the usual coating for a hive complex. The drones can create this coating, which is unfortunately not possible for me. I immediately feel much more comfortable as I move over it deeper into the tunnel. I use my drone to help me store the gathered meat. In the safety of my tunnel, I intend to continue working on my magical abilities. I focus on my connection to my drone and steer it around the tunnel to better observe how it affects the mana the connection is made of.

A few hours later, I'm not much smarter than before and decide to eat some of my stash before continuing with my previous training. At the end of this one, I'm exhausted but thoroughly satisfied. I can now start a spell in under 20 seconds with moderate concentration. This doesn't help me maintain the magic, but I'm sure I'll learn that eventually. I have now reached a level where I could cast a spell as a sort of first strike with some preparation time. I'm still limited to fire magic for now, my range is short and my destruction potential is pitiful, but it's a start!

While my mana regenerates, there is nothing for me to do and I rest briefly before continuing with my training. Now that I have completed my second growth phase, my learning process has become even more effective. I continue with my training and do not risk going hunting again unless it becomes necessary. There is no reason why I should hurry, it would only risk my life unnecessarily and my instincts tell me that I cannot do that as a Sylv Queen.

Eventually it gets too bright outside again and I go to sleep. The next evening my second drone hatches and I lay two more eggs. These contain two regular drones, which I plan to morph into further structures. For the supply of biomass I cannot rely solely on the hunters, which I plan to create with my first structures. The forest is too dangerous and I am too poorly informed about it to rely on it, but I have already thought of a solution for that. I return to my current location and instruct my two drones to enlarge the Hive Complex to accommodate the structures I have already planned. This will take a while, so I already give the order now. There wouldn't be many useful alternatives either, as my first two drones have not been modified with any helpful Strains.

By consuming my supplies, I get another Strain from the insects, which I call Poisonous Flesh because of its function. This Strain makes the creature itself poisonous, so other species usually can't consume it. This does not always work, as you can see from myself. I still find the Strain quite useful and plan to use it in the future. This day I stay in the safety of my growing hive complex and continue training to cast spells. I don't know how long it will take me to stabilize spells and I prefer tangible progress to the uncertain. By the end of the day, I am able to create a small flame within 10 seconds of moderate concentration. I feel that further progress will be much more difficult from now on.

The next day I lay two drone eggs improved by Strains. These are of the same nature as my other two enhanced drones. For better clarity I decide to give this Strain combination a name. Since these can move along walls just like spiders and are able to spin threads, I aptly name them spider drones. So when these hatch, I will have a total of 4 spider drones.

As usual, I go back to sleep at the end of the night when it gets too bright outside. I still can't understand what Elise, Mark and Erik think is so great about it. This blindingly bright light in which you can't see anything, the burning feeling on my skin when I expose myself to the light for too long. It's just awful and the worst thing is that it lasts much longer than the night phases. I noticed that so far only we Sylv have such a problem with the sunlight. Maybe with enough Strains it can be compensated eventually, but it wouldn't be very effective as it would increase biomass cost and production time significantly. A single Strain would certainly not be enough to keep a Sylv able to act efficiently in the bright light during the day.

These thoughts bring me to an interesting idea though, I could try hunting underground during the day. My body is not suited for this, but there are Sylv creatures that are capable of it. I can sense that instinctively, as well as the fact that I will need a much more developed hive complex and more biomass. Until then, however, I could use my drones to set up an underground cave network. That actually sounds pretty good and is also fully in line with what my instincts tell me: dig tunnels, expand the hive complex underground. During the day my swarm will be active underground and at night on the surface! I can already envision it, even though I'm still in the early stages of developing my swarm. Enough planning, I go to sleep and wait for it to get darker again.

I am awakened by a light pattering noise. I feel through my connection to my two drones that they have first perceived the noise and want to know through the mental connection how they should deal with the phenomenon. I look to the entrance of the tunnel, from where the noise comes from and see water dripping down. This triggers a strong instinctive discomfort in me. The swarm needs water to drink, but water entering our underground complexes is not good at all!

I go to the entrance and take a closer look, noticing that it must have started raining and something is dripping in through the leaves above the entrance. This can be dangerous if it rains for a long time or the amount of rain increases. I feel there is nothing more dangerous than flooded underground tunnels. All Sylv by nature cannot swim or breathe underwater. I react immediately and have my drones dig a drain at the entrance of the tunnel through which the water can seep. This is otherwise impossible in the hive complex due to the coating along the walls and would cause it to accumulate. My drones work quickly and are still quite well protected from the cursed light of the surface, which is shining through the gaps of the leaves into the entrance area of the tunnel. My camouflage is proving very useful right now in more than one way. When it gets darker, I will have to instruct the drones to change the tunnel at the surface so that no more water can get in. But that's not possible at the moment, because it would not only take too long, but would be extremely difficult or even impossible because of the bright light outside.

The efforts of my drones show success and the water dripping in starts to flow down into the earth. As long as the water drains away faster than new water flows in, everything is fine. That is the case right now and I hope it stays that way. If the situation with the water slowly turns against us, we have to consider evacuating to the surface during the day. I sincerely hope that this will not happen and instruct my drones to dig more drains. After a while, the rain slowly subsides and my Hive Complex now has an elaborate water drainage system in the entrance area. This has put quite a strain on my nerves and kept me from sleeping. It's not a big problem, though, and I continue my sleep until it gets darker again. I let one of the two drones continue to watch the development with the rain and instruct the other to start a rest period just like me. My drones also need sleep, but they manage with a fraction of the sleep I need. I am glad that I have survived all dangers so far. When I wake up again, I guess I will have to go hunting again. I wonder how long I will be able to feed on this colony of insects, because as a Sylv Queen I eat a lot. I also don't have to hold back on my food consumption like I used to. During my last visit to the insects, I already noticed the significantly lower number that was out and about after I had hunted enough of them. I don’t want to completely deplete this sustainable biomass source.