Horrible abominations, terrible beasts, rapists, monsters, and slaves. Any number of insult could describe how the elves felt about them. Most members of the collective could sense it from the elves. One drone could feel the hate more accurately than the others. His name was Phileas Phileas.

Phileas Phileas often just Phileas was a drone who favored the Minotaur shell. A class M to those in the know or shell breeders. They were a favored among the collective and Phileas’s choice of shell was no surprise. It was what he did with the class M shell that was unique.

Like the others, he boosted Vitality, Strength, and Endurance, using the shells quest earned points. Phileas used some of his own points to purchase charisma. A stat considered useless by most class M shell users.

When Phileas reached 100points in the charisma class he purchased the stat ability and was surprised when the Class M no longer looked like the others. There were several aesthetic changes.

His horns had gained a golden luster, his snout was less pronounced, his eyes gained a slight slant to them, and it was more difficult to make his body fat. With every point he added to charisma his voice became deeper and carried further. Public Speaking, Crowd Control, Glamour, Bartering, and Dealing were some of the skills that he gained thanks to the new stat.

Not long after that he was made an ambassador to the elves. It was up to him to sweet talk the queen and her rebels to surrender. The rebels number in the lower 200s by reports.

Their military General Bison had chosen to collect the spoils of war after the initial battle and consolidated the territory. While they worked the land, the elves licked their wounds and regrouped.

Soon after the battle supply lines were attacked by hit and run operatives. Weapons, tomes, and bars of food were stolen. As a class M, he could live off the local foliage and add a few of the local animals to his diet. Class Gs dug in and created burrows while the class Ms worked to improve the defenses.

A cathedral was to be built, one to honor their god. Shipments of building materials have been stolen along with a sacred idol. The points on this side weren’t coming in enough to pay for the land tax, this was a problem.

So, he dressed in a set of white robes and walked out into the forest with a team of class Gs with apprentice rank archery and survival skills. He stood an impressive 8ft and due to the youth of his body, he may well reach 10ft before this shell ceases growing.

They set up camp and hung a flag for a truce. Then they waited for the queen to meet with them. Hours passed and eventually a dirt covered elf and her retinue showed themselves. They were missing the druid werebear who met with their god in the forest.

Said druid was captured and mated to many goblin females to produce a line of class B shells. Whether the elves knew of his fate or not was up to debate.

Phileas stood much to the elves displeasure and gave a low bow. His horns dipped horizontal and he waited for the elves to return the bow. The elf queen reluctantly bowed back. He gave her a kind smile and her face colored involuntarily.

The male elves looked affronted by the display. “We have had a misunderstanding queen Tsarra. Please let’s end this war in peace. It was never our intentions to destroy your people. We have no animosity towards your kind. We merely do what we’re told.” Phileas said confidently.

“My people have not been destroyed beast! We are tactically retreating. I bet it hurts being hungry and without shelter. Surrender and we will show you that rule under the elves is tranquil.” Through the society’s chatroom, Bison sent him a message describing just how many soldiers he had ready to march back down there and destroy them once again.

“Why don’t we have something of a cultural exchange. You give us two of your elven maidens to teach us your culture and we will give you two of ours. Let us exchange cultures and find a middle ground. We can share this territory. It is too big for either of us alone.” She shook her head. Phileas wasn’t surprised. That happens when you’re dealing with stubborn people.

“No if your calling for a truce then you’re unable to fight for much longer. Those in the strong don’t stop picking on the weak. Surrender and we will be merciful masters continued holding our sacred ground and we will continue bleeding you.” The class Gs looked at each other and asked if they could begin shooting now. He shook his head to both the queen and them.

“This is your only chance. Join us and remain autonomous keep your queendom and let us work within your lands or we can really destroy you. Your culture will be gone eaten by us. The only elves remaining will be shells. You will be farmed for your traits.” Phileas said in his saddest voice. He could sense the effect his words were having. Perhaps, for a second he got through to them.

“We would rather die than join you willingly.” Two of the elves turned into massive humanoid bear elf hybrids. They slashed with claws like meat hooks backed by a ton of muscle. The queen ran into a tree and Phileas watched the tree connect to another and she swam through the bark to the next one. Society saw it through his eyes and Bison was already creating tactics to deal with it.

He looked over at the after math of the battle. The class Gs had used grappling lines to bind the werebears’ limbs and one of his fellow drones opened the elven woman’s mouth for the transfer. He watched grey brain matter transfer and the druid’s body began to writhe on the ground.

The other class Gs cut the binds on the drone’s class B shell and he began eating his class G. Leaving behind nutrients wasn’t in the cards. Society added all the elf’s memories to the data on elves.

Phileas chalked this meeting up as a failure and made his way back to camp.