Of course, it wasn’t quite as easy as that. Regina couldn’t get Nerlia in the palm of her hand just for asking. There was a lot to arrange and the Nerlian delegation pushed for actual, involved talks, which she supposed made sense.

She could have quibbled over the matter of peace talks, but in truth, she wanted to talk to them in a dedicated setting, so they could work things out comprehensively. As long as she didn’t let them get an attack of arrogance while they weren’t actually fighting each other, it should be fine.

Still, with Syman metaphorically throwing in the towel, and literally giving up his sword, things moved quickly. Ira talked to them to handle some details and they started hashing out arrangements for a larger conference, while already getting a few concessions squared away. Regina kept an eye on them and listened in, but found her attention drifting after a while. Ira had things under control and she didn’t really need to pay personal attention at this point, especially since she was just going to get summaries and analyses later. At least one of the Keepers was also listening in at any given point, and she had the impression they wanted to try on their analyst hats. For the hive, of course.

Ben was also paying attention, and already starting to direct his officers according to the results. It looked like actual hostilities in this theater of the war were going to stop completely, at least for now, so the army needed to change its stance. They would still keep moving, and would probably be needed for extensive garrison duties, if not an outright occupation force. Regina shared her impressions with Ben, checked in with a few of the others, and then mentally zoomed out to consider the lay of the land and her hive’s positioning.

It could be worse. They had a lot of minds scattered throughout the countryside, but several major clumps. One was Ben’s army, one the roughly distributed forces currently under Janis’ command. There were also detachments currently working to occupy the parts of Nerlia they’d, well, taken, of course. And then there was the hive’s home territory, largely the main base (which she might have to find a name for at some point) and the area around Forest’s Haunt. The detachment in the mountains rounded it out, but nothing much seemed to have happened there recently. Tim was currently with Ben’s army, and the other commanders hadn’t registered concerns.

Before Regina could start to delve deeper and focus on any one of those spots, she was interrupted by a System message, one she had been waiting for for a while, really.

You have leveled up

Regina smiled. She’d gained levels throughout the war, although she was aware the speed of her leveling had slowed. Not because there was really that much time between them, just considering the amounts of Experience she must have gained. She supposed it was possible the talks with Nerlia had given her some, actually. Apparently enough to push her to the next level.

She was at level 54, now. Close to when she’d unlock the next Ability and to the next Threshold. She couldn’t wait.

But what really interested her was the next message the System showed her.

Congratulations, you have unlocked a new Swarm Template: Form Drones

Her last major unlock, for the Swarm, had been Drone Breeders, which were crucial to basically everything about the hive’s growth currently. She didn’t think this one would be on that level, she didn’t get that feeling, but it still had the potential to be a major benefit. Even if she wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the name.

Well, she could try that out easily enough. It would also be interesting to see if the Drone Breeders she already had could create eggs of the new Template. She suspected not, although it might be different for new ones she had after today. Hopefully, this wasn’t limited to just her like the Drone Breeders, though. I suppose you can’t have everything, and getting breeders to produce more of themselves would have been a real cheat, in terms of exponential growth. Still.

Regina decided to put off whatever she was going to do next and head to the hatchery right away. Ira wasn’t there, of course, but Max and the others picked up on her movement immediately and accompanied her. By the time she reached the hut set aside for this purpose, farther from the village than most and enclosed by other structures, another young Attendant waited for her. She’d only interacted with Lin briefly, but she didn’t mind that. The main part was aboveground since it was easier to build bathrooms that way, and they had a pretty nice tub sunk into the floor. Lin helped her get clean and held her up when she staggered a bit after Regina pushed herself to make quite a few eggs for this batch.

After she was done there, Regina walked back to her current home. She decided to take the long way around, walking slowly and looking around at the hive going about their tasks and building up this base. She hadn’t pushed herself this hard in regards to making eggs for a while, and she was a bit more tired than she’d thought. It was … something she supposed she’d come to terms with. Or something I should come to terms with, anyway. Regina pushed that thought aside.

She’d grown up. Even in the last few months, probably helped by the relatively fast rise in levels at this level, she’d visibly aged a little bit. At least she thought so. Now, people probably still wouldn’t take her for her real - former - age, but she could at least confidently pass as an adult. People wouldn’t really think she was below eighteen, anyway. At least she hoped so. Although her aging had probably also slowed, if you looked at it over the last year and few months she’d been active now. She supposed that was a good thing, if she wanted to have a good lifespan.

To distract herself from those thoughts, Regina turned her attention back to the psychic link and checked a few things. Zephyr was still under, sleeping uneasily but not quite conscious, in the new cave they’d made for him. The main base was a bustle of activity as always and the same was true for the village and the drones living around here.

The Esemen still seemed to be fighting more or less defensively, although Janis’ drones had advanced a little. When Regina focused on them, though, she found her attention captured by something else.

She almost didn’t recognize what she was sensing at first. Then Regina stopped and straightened up, looking northeast despite knowing it was pointless. Marianne Neralt’s mind was visible to her again. Pretty distinct, actually. She … seemed to be being moved towards the Esemen positions in their occupied part of Cernlia?

Regina frowned, quickly letting a few of the drones know before she tried to dive deeper. It was still far away, enough that her psychic skills were undeniably limited. Still, Regina pushed herself enough to at least get a solid understanding of her general mental state.

She needn’t have worried, as it turned out. Marianne was feeling fine. She appeared to be a bit apprehensive, almost nervous, but that was probably normal under the circumstances. She wasn’t in pain, or feeling high levels of fear or stress. That was good. She was surrounded by other minds, presumably Esemen — they definitely felt human, actually — although none of them was right on top of the woman, and she didn’t think they were laser-focused on her, either. Unfortunately, since she didn’t even know them, Regina found it even harder to tell anything about their mental states. It was enough to tell none of them were screaming in terror or feeling really triumphant or the like, at least.

Regina considered it for a moment, before she reached out to Janis. Hey, how are you doing?

Pretty well, Janis replied. She sounded distracted, and peeking a bit deeper showed Regina she was currently reviewing a squad of fliers led by one of the young Drone Fliers, coming in from their first patrol. She quickly wrapped it up and turned away. Is something up?

Marianne just popped up on my radar again, metaphorically, Regina said. The Esemen appear to be bringing her closer.

Huh. I wonder if they’re trying to prepare for negotiations with us?

That was what I thought as well, Regina agreed. I don’t see much of a reason otherwise, unless they think they can get information on your forces from her. Although I guess there might just be internal reasons we aren’t privy to.

Well, I’ll try to see if we can catch a glimpse of her with some Winged Drones, Janis suggested. Knowing that this is happening, I’ll also adjust our patrols and maybe our planned advances …

Yeah. I’ll keep an eye on her location.

Have you seen Ria, as well?

No, although I’ll keep looking. Regina grimaced slightly at the thought that came to mind.

Ria was just one reason to settle things with the Esemen without too much delay. No drone had been out of her range for so long, and she honestly wasn’t sure what the consequences of them being alone, cut off from the hive and its link, for days, weeks or even months would be. She just hoped it wouldn’t be anything bad for Ria.

Unable to entirely fight down her apprehension, Regina flitted through the minds of various drones, catching glimpses of the Esemen. She paused and focused on a group of Winged Drones on patrol for a minute, as they adjusted their course following orders Janis was giving them. These were pretty far out, flying high enough that they couldn’t just be shot down and were hopefully hidden from the Esemen, although she wouldn’t count on that.

The Keepers were already putting the information they got into condensed maps and analyzing the enemy troop movements, but in Regina’s opinion, there was something to be said for just looking at it directly as well. She couldn’t help the thought that the Esemen looked nervous. Maybe she was just projecting, but when she had a viewpoint close enough to really see their soldiers, she could see the tension in their motion. It was nice to see they were aware of how they stood against the hive.

Still, Regina wouldn’t let it make her complacent. The Esemen seemed like just the type who’d bring out some hidden card up their sleeves or secret edge right now, before they asked to talk, so it would shore up their position. Assuming they had anything like that. It probably wasn’t the suppression ritual. And if they had something that helped them with this invasion, they would’ve probably used it in the first place. Maybe something more defensive? Or new?

Regina frowned. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but she supposed it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious.

She withdrew her focus a little from the psychic link and instead relied more on her own psychic sense. It was hard, a delicate balance that she still fumbled more often than not, even if she’d been making progress. But she had gained a lot of experience and skill with her psychic abilities recently, and scanning for minds was a pretty basic application. Regina tried to still use her link, but only as anchors, and instead broadened and deepened her search.

It was overwhelming, a flickering tapestry of minds each shining like a little bonfire, letting off light in all colors of the rainbow and a few you weren’t supposed to see. She reeled for a timeless moment, before Regina pushed through, pushing the more intense, closer ones away to focus on those a bit farther, in the area she’d just defined.

It only took her an instant to notice the big cluster of minds coming closer, from what she realized was about the Nerlian-Esemen border. She examined them for a moment, before concluding it was no big deal. These were definitely reinforcements coming for the Esemen forces. There were a little more than she’d thought, but not enough to change the situation significantly, and this was nothing she couldn’t have gotten through Winged Drones. There was probably already a report noting the high numbers in her immediate future.

No, this wasn’t what she was really looking for. She was tempted to try and search for Ria, try to push her range beyond its limits, but Regina knew that would be a mistake. Even if it seemed different, this was basically just a focusing exercise, and the limit of her range remained the same as always. Instead, Regina let her attention spread wider again, homing in on roughly the area the Esemen occupied. The mix of fear, nerves and anticipation from both the locals now under their boot and the Esemen soldiers was pretty distinctive.

After a search that felt like it took hours, Regina paused. Something was different about the Esemen. Maybe she’d just never noticed it before. But there was … something, she didn’t know how to describe it, that she could almost feel at the edges of her awareness like this. It felt like magic, but also a bit different from when she normally sensed it, whether with the System or even without it. It seemed to focus on a few Esemen in particular, she realized after a moment.

Maybe this is their spiritual practices and magic? she wondered. It might just be a different way to work magic … or a connection to the gods.

Regina frowned. That didn’t seem quite right. She’d learned as much as she could about the Esemen, and they’d always seemed a bit strange. For a culture that apparently prided itself so much on its connection to the gods and their spiritual legacy, they were surprisingly little connected to particular gods. She didn’t even think there was anything particularly noteworthy about their places of worship or religious services.

Or maybe that was a false perception, and they just hid their more important practices, or ‘deeper mysteries’, where outsiders couldn’t see them.

Either way, there was either a lot more than it seemed to the Esemen’s practice, or at least one of them, more likely a few, were directly touched by the gods in some way and spreading that touch among their followers. Which probably means they’re Champions, she thought.

Regina breathed out, rubbed the bridge of her nose and slowly opened her eyes as she decided to give her brain a bit of a rest.

It didn’t really change much, she supposed. They’d still need to fight and deal with the Esemen, and this didn’t really increase their strength, as far as she could tell. At least not beyond the way powerful high-level fighters otherwise would. On the other hand, it might change the situation quite a bit, especially if it had an impact on or even decided what they were going to do.

She supposed she’d just have to keep an eye out. Maybe she should just take it as a training opportunity. She’d figure out more about this weird sensation and what it meant, and the practice would do her other abilities good, anyway.