Good question, and one I need to be careful when I answer. Too much information could come back and bite the colony. Not enough and they may feel the need to push for more. Must tread this line with care. Lucky that I have six legs and the Grip Skill. Walking narrow lines is what I’m all about.
[Through the power of the System, our species has taken a great step forward. Each individual worker has grown stronger, with greater potential. It is safe to say that the Dungeon has never seen a colony such as this one. We are more capable than before, better coordinated, with faster development and a level of sophistication that many of the sapient races on the surface can only dream of!]
The eyes of the priest grow wide, his face frozen as if seized by some powerful emotion. After a moment to collect himself, he turns to the gathered village. Despite not being able to understand his words, I can see the people turning to admire and examine the workers around them, trying to take in any differences that may have occurred.
[Further, we have brought you here, to the seat of our kind, to announce our desire for continued and deepening ties of cooperation between your people and ours. The colony has much to learn, and there is much that you can teach us. In return, there will be many things we will be able to do for you. A mutually beneficial relationship that we will be pleased to engage in, if you are willing.]
I’m sweating a little on the inside. Hopefully, this is enough. Further cooperation with the village and its people has been part of my plans. The ants have so much they don’t know. About the System, about crafting, about the surface and the Dungeon. The humans of the village can help us develop so much faster than we could on our own.
As Beyn turns to the villagers and speaks, I watch them with care. Any concerns I had regarding how this proposal would be met by the humans are swept aside in an instant. They begin to cheer and shout, raising their hands to the sky and bowing before me.
Some are even weeping with joy. There is seriously something wrong with these people. How on earth did they become this obsessed with a group of monsters?
38. The Queen Has a New Pet
As the villagers return to their homes and the rapidly expanding buildings that make up their new town, I breathe a deep sigh of relief. That was not something I expected to have to deal with upon my return.
[Gather your siblings together, Sloan] I growl. [I need to have a word.]
[Of course, senior.]
She scuttles off to find his siblings. I’m sure I’ll find them later in my chamber, where I’ll have to set a few things straight. It’s not their fault. I failed to explain the relationship I was trying to cultivate with the village and its potential benefits to the colony. I forgot to illustrate the concept of leaving friendly people well enough alone! In truth, a dramatic oversight on my part. They saw a wealth of Biomass and experience in close proximity and sought to claim it. As any good monster should.
At least disaster has been averted and the workers have been warned off of attacking the villagers. My insides sweat when I think about how close to a massacre we’d been. The only reason the workers would have left the humans alive was so they could feed the experience to the queen since they weren’t resisting. The thought of those men, women and children being funnelled into the queen’s chamber, believing they were about to experience something miraculous, only to have their lives ended by my mother’s jaws…
It’s disturbing to say the least.
No need to think on what might have been! The worst-case scenario has been averted and I’ll work hard to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again. For now, it’s time to introduce the queen to my new creation!
Climbing up the nest with Tiny and Crinis close behind, I pass numerous workers who are all happy to call out with their customary advice:
“Work hard, senior!”
“Make sure you’re working till you drop!”
“Hi there, senior. Work!”
I GET IT.
Yeesh. I know they’re called ‘workers’ but come on. I wonder if I can create a hobby or something for them. Some sort of ant diversion. Perhaps I could invent a sport? It would have to involve digging in some way.
Musing over ants and their lack of diversions, I climb down the main shaft into the queen’s chamber. Below the surface level and packed full of workers, the queen continues to spend almost all her time in this room, being defended from the ever-spawning nightmares of the Dungeon by her loyal guards who make sure to pass on as much Biomass as possible to their mother.
“Hello, Mother!” I called out, trying to make out the vague outline of the queen between the seething mass of workers that crawl over her.
“Hello, child.” Her warm voice emerges from within the swarm, and after a few moments, she shifts closer to me, the workers peeling away from her head so I can see her.
Big as always, the queen is still at least twice as tall as I am and several times longer. An ant the size of a minibus is really quite the impressive sight. Oh, the havoc that would have occurred on Earth had something like the queen ever been discovered!
“What brings you back to the nest so soon, child? I had heard you were out exploring?” she asks mildly.
“I was! Much exploring was happening. But I’ve managed to cook up something I think will be extremely useful for the colony, and I need your help.”
The queen’s antennae wave back and forth in curious patterns. “What is it that you need me for, young one? You usually don’t require my assistance to meddle with the colony.”
There is definitely a tone of amusement in her voice, her gaze ever kind.
I take a little time to explain what I found in the Marsh Expanse. A species of monster that can extract nutrition from plant life and convert it into Biomass that it offers up in exchange for being left alone. I went on to detail the poison I detected within the creatures and the steps I took to remedy the situation with my own custom-designed species of aphid.
“With these loyal aphids, we’ll have another reliable source of Biomass for the colony. One that doesn’t even require us to have to fight, and makes use of resources we otherwise wouldn’t be able to utilise. Those trees offer us no sustenance, but through these aphids we can farm an infinite amount of Biomass over time! If the Dungeon Wave ever recedes, then our farms in the nest will be useless, this could help offset that loss!” I declared with pride.
The queen is visibly interested. She leans down to inspect the core I had Tiny place on the chamber floor. The gem glitters brightly in the blue light emanating from the veins of Mana winding through the walls.
“It does sound like it would be useful,” the queen ponders. “What would I need to do?”
“Not that much,” I said eagerly, glad to see she was interested in my scheme. “The core here is for the Aphid Queen. Someone needs to reconstitute the core and keep her as their pet. I thought you would be the best candidate for that. Aphy can stay here with you, and the colony will provide the Biomass she needs to produce the aphids for us. We can then send workers down into the Expanse to clear out the existing aphids and replace them with our own kind. Some workers will need to remain there, tending to the aphids, keeping them safe and collecting the Biomass they produce, but they should be safe up in the trees since not many monsters go up there.”
The queen fell silent as she contemplated my words. I’m not sure exactly how she felt about having to give up some of the Biomass that would normally be directed to her and instead let it be fed to the queen of another species, but I’m certain she was intelligent enough to realise the colony would get far more back from the aphids than we spent to create them.