Entering the palace I noticed how the place had changed. From the small cave with a crib it had turned into a kind of playground room. A small bed made from several well placed long plant leaves that made a bird nest like bed.

The room had places that would stimulate her to climb and jump obstacles and many other things that would cause her to grow more.

I found her pouting in her bed and instantly my rage rose.

“COME HERE THIS INSTANT!” I shout, startlingly her.

She let out several pheromones that said, [Fear] [Scary] [Hungry] [Bring food].

My rage grew even more at the last two. She came over with her hands out saying [Food, Hungry, Give me food]

I bent over and held back my strength but slapped her hand to make it sting.

With a dry slap coming from her hands as she pulled them back. Big tears formed in her eyes.

[Hurt][Pain][MEAN] Were pheromones she was letting out.

“I’m not mean. You are a bad girl! You should have asked if you could come out and not just exit! You caused trouble for me.” I said and pulled her hand and slapped her like before causing the stinging of pain but made sure it was just pain she felt since she was still fragile and young.

Tears began falling as she began crying.

It made all the bugs in the hive abuzz to protect her but I quickly suppressed all the bugs. She was even more scared since she couldn’t get any way to defend her.

“From now on you will be a good girl and call me for what you need me for and not just barge outside or you will be punished again.” I tell her.

She nodded while crouching and covering her head with fear of being hit.

“Now tell me, are you in your child phase yet?” I asked, still annoyed.

She nodded and said [Grown up and big girl]

“You’re still a little brat. Anyway for what you did you will stay more time without food while I try and find something you will hunt for yourself.” I said.

Big tears appear on her face. [HUNGRY] She released.

Just curious I checked her hunger status and saw it was at 20%.

I sneered. I called a rabbit body that hadn’t been eaten yet and the instant she saw it she tried to run to it but I caught her and hit her hand again.

“Unless you hunt your own food you will not eat unless I allow it. I will let you eat a few small pieces so that you will have the strength to hunt for yourself.” I tell her and put her down.

I walked over and with a knife I bought for cooking I cut a small piece of the rabbits flank and tossed it to her and she caught it and began to eat it with her newly formed teeth.

She devoured the meat and with a quick look I saw that it rose to 40%. I made the body drop and when she saw it she looked sad and stuck her hand out but one glare from me she shrank back.

“Now tell me do you have any natural weapons?” I asked her.

She tilted her head and thought a bit, balancing her head left to right every few seconds.

Queen Race

A race of sentient bugs, they are beings that live alongside Arthromancers. They naturally have information imprinted in their minds to help their partner. *****

****

Natural weapons of the Queen Race:

Baby Phase: None

Child Phase: Stinger Shoot

****

As babies though fragile still their immune system can keep them safe even when they eat rotting meat. Diet as a baby must be rotten meat that has become soft from the decomposition. Diet of this kind should only last until the queen has grown the exoskeleton and can run around herself at which point she must eat fresh raw meat until reaching full adult height, this is the child stage. Suggested allow for them to hunt their own food once they reach child stage and have their exoskeleton.

Looking at the new information that appeared in the queen race log I saw the weapons.

Seems she also learned it by finding the imprinted information.

She held her hand out and I saw the exoskeleton on her hand spread out and a small needle appeared. She stuck it towards the wall and it shot out and got stuck to the wall.

“Long range huh.” I mutter

Strangely the room seem to shake and I saw several balls that released pheromones that said [Enemy]

It was a target and she instantly looked up and shot toward them. There were 40 counted to the last one in the room and she hit 1 in 10 which was rather bad.

“Keep training since that is your best weapon.” I said as I exited.

Suddenly something I had never expected appeared before me.

You have created a new Skill

Educational Strike

Basic Level 1

A Strike that completely abandons the strength stat and will not cause damage to the target. Instead it would cause only the pain equal to the force used on the target.

This strike can only be used when using it with intent to educate any beast with high intelligence to understand or any child.

Pain when using skill will be amplified by 1.2 times and will cause the target to properly think of his or her actions and learn from mistakes.

I nearly broke out in laughter at the skill. I would almost call it a joke skill if it wasn’t such a useful parenting skill. This is definitely a skill I will be willing to share to the world. Though I fear if people will want it for ‘other’ reasons. It says to educate beasts or children. There are many kinds of ‘educate’. Yeah, it’s best to keep this a secret after all.

After my surprise, I located Flor on the map and ran towards her location.

The kid needed a weapon to use close up. That shooter thing is only useful after she learns to use them. I doubt she could use it continuously. I even think that it will make her even hungrier by using them.

I find Flor on a stand near the water fountain every newbie spawns in.

[Florista’s Craft Shop. The best player-made potions, gear both metal and wood.]

That is the sign that was over her small stand. The setup was like this. On the upper left side of the carpet were the various fruit flavored potions, which she made by combining cooking skill and alchemy. On the upper right were the metal weapons and in the front were short, medium and long bows. Now behind her stand was a station for making potion on the left side, the magic furnace and anvil was on the right and the wood for carpentry was behind her.

Flor herself had leather archer gear and a wooden composite bow. It was the simple kind that formed the W shape and it was longbow sized.

She was smithing at the moment and was just finishing a curved dagger for a thief player.

As she finished putting the guard and hilt I call out.

“Flor!” I shout.

I ignore the line of people and head over.

A quick look I could tell the kind of customers she had. 80% were horny fucking men that were checking her out. She had her hair in a ponytail that didn’t subtract her beauty like the thick glasses and braids and long dress did.

She looked up and waved.

“Droso! Need something?” She asked.

I walked behind the counter and began explaining in a low voice. I told her about the queen I got when I obtained the class and how it hatched and I needed a weapon for her.

“What weapon does she use?” Flor asked.

I shrugged making her sigh.

She stood up and dusted off the soot from her clothes.

“Sorry everyone but I need to gather materials so I will be closing shop.” She shouts.

“BULLSHIT!! YOU WERE FINE A MOMENT AGO!” Someone shouts.

“Let me put it this way then if you’re not satisfied.” Flor said with an oh so gentle smile on her face. “You guys leave now or I will never make another potion or piece of gear for you.”

The coldness in her voice was enough to freeze everyone. That said while the men were stunned in shock and were beginning to show rage. The women in the line showed awe towards the female craftsman that could so bluntly rub in the face of a warrior to shove it or you get nothing.

Without warning she began gathering everything in her inventory and then her gear for crafting also followed. In under one minute the stand had vanished and she bowed to everyone saying she would come some other time with premade weapons and potions so there wouldn’t be too much of a hold up.

With that we left and it seems she wanted to smite the men and grabbed my right arm.

“WAH!” I exclaimed.

“Shush. This will make my problems with the playboys go away. Consider it a service as a friend.” She says blushing.

“A ‘friend’ probably wouldn’t go so far.” I mutter, making her blush and I do notice her grip get tighter.

The penetrating glares on my back from the jealous males in the plaza was enough for me to know that what she had done was VERY effective.

After we left the main road we entered an alleyway where she let go and breathed a sigh of relief.

“So let’s go check on the little princess of yours.” Flor said. I looked around and saw there were people in the alley so I walked back out with Flor and looked for an empty one and soon found it and in a far away corner I opened the portal into the palace.

There I found the exhausted Queen sitting on her bed with it growling.

She saw me and ran over with big tears in her eyes.

“You didn’t feed her?” Flor asked.

“I did but it seems she has a higher metabolism than I originally thought.” I said.

I call a rabbit carcass into my arms and begin carving it up and giving her small bits and pieces. The first few she gulped down but soon she calmed down and properly chewed.

“She is really cute. Why do you want to make this cutey hold a weapon and fight?” Flor asked.

“Um… how do I share info…”

“Say [Show ‘notification of what you want’ to ‘Name of person that is the target’]” Flor explained.

“Show information about Queen Race to Florista.” I say and the window properly transmits.

She looks at mid air and scans the information.

“I see, it’s not a question of wanting to but a suggestion for better raising. She isn’t human so habits are also different.” Flor said after reading everything.

“Yeah, so how will you test her for the best weapon?” I asked.

She sat down and put the carpet on the floor and began taking all her weapon types out. Dagger, Mace, Hammer, Two-handed hammer, Sword and shield, Long sword, Great sword, Spear, Lance, Short bow, Long bow, hunter bow.

“Now… Wait, what is her name?” She suddenly asked.

“No name yet. Haven’t had time or any inspiration.” I said making the green haired face palm herself.

“NAME HER NOW!” She shouted.

“Um… oh then urg… Hime then?” I said, like a question.

“Cliche, next.” Flor bluntly rejected it.

“Uriel?”

“Cliche!”

“Caroline”

“Used to much”

“Grandine”

“Old hag name”

“...”

I just stare at the woman in front of me with a blank face.

“Fine I will name her. Hows about… Levi.” Flor

“For some odd reason I feel that would forever block her potential to grow large as a woman.” I said.

Flor understood my joke since we have read a good number of old 21 century manga from the early century.

“That won’t happen, just feed her properly and she will grow as a proper woman.” Flor said.

Seems I can’t win in this no matter what I see. I guess that is the rule of life, “When Men are wrong they are wrong and when men are right they're wrong. While when women are wrong they are right and when they are right they are right.” You can’t beat them.

“Fine, whatever.” I say.

The queen of your hive has been named Levi.

Official then, great.

“Now then let’s find her a weapon.” I said after her hunger bar was raised to 100%.

“Now Levi, see these weapons. Choose one so you can use it while you are still young so that you can hunt for food until you grow bigger.” Flor says to the little bug queen.

She tilts her head and then looks at me saying [What she say?] through her pheromones.

“Seems she can’t understand anyone but me talking.” I tell Flor.

“Then tell her then.” Flor said, irritated.

I sigh and tell the little queen what Flor said making her look at all the weapons.

[Many too big.] She said and I translated to her.

“The lady will make one your size for you.” I tell her.

With that her eyes became like a child that was told to choose a toy and have a custom made one made for her.

The daggers she took and began to swing like a sword. It was then that I noticed we were going about it wrong and I quickly had her stop and made Flor make wooden models in child size.

To save time she let the system rapidly craft the items but for the purpose we needed bad quality was enough.

With the new weapons in her size, we showed her all the weapons and how to hold and swing.

She laughed and played with them and after all of them had passed through her hand I asked.

She looked at the selection then picked up one large shield then the ‘big’ lance.

“Seems she liked the lance. With that exoskeleton it feels like I am looking at a tiny knight girl.” Flor said while gawking over the tiny bug girl.

“Can these wooden weapons do damage?” I asked.

“These are poorly made ones so no. They are made for looking.” She told me and gestured to the weapons.

I took the child sized sword.

Child sized wooden sword model

A poorly made Child sized wooden sword. It is a plain model that can at best only be used as a toy by kids but it can help find what weapon talented kids like. Can’t do any damage due to poor durability and blunt edge.

“Yeah, these weapons do suck. I can guess you will be making new ones?” I asked.

“5 silver coins for a proper child sized Iron lance and 3 silver for the child sized lancer shield.” She said.

I frown at her hearing her say that.

“Don’t look at me like that. If you want a simple quick system made lance I will cut the price by 2 silver on both but semi guidance which is what I use. It makes the quality better so take it or leave it.” She says.

I sneered as I tossed her the 8 silver coins.

She happily takes them then sets up the magical furnace and the anvil. She then takes out lots of iron ore and begins melting.

One by one they were melted in the furnace that looked like a 21st century cement mixer.

As I watched the metal melt, the liquid metal lowered and the impurities rose up but what surprised me was that Flor wasn’t pulling it all out to improve the quality of the iron.

“You’re not going to remove the impurities?” I asked.

“What?” She said.

Instantly I facepalmed myself and remembered she only got the class and didn’t work at a smithy.

“Didn’t you read the books on blacksmithing!? You should know that to improve processed metal quality you need to remove the impurities. Like this.” I said and took the tool used for removing impurities which she took out but didn’t have any intent to use. I then passed it on top removing the dark impurities and tossing them away. Doing it a few times revealed the glowing molten iron below.

“There.” say and put down the brush and sit down again.

“How do you know this?” She asked.

“Internet… manga… light novels. Take your pick. Enough of them have mentioned this process as a quick and easy way to improve metal quality.” I said. “If you had worked in a smithy you would have known.” I tell her.

She was pouting at how I insulted her lack of knowledge which should be common sense.

Still she took it as a lesson and continued the process and poured the metal into square shaped forms. They instantly cooled into ingots and took several with a tong. She began to line a few and with several bangs between two of them they magically connected becoming a longer ingot. She lined 5 into one long metal bar and did that four times with 20 of the ingots she made. She took the two bars and sat them on top of each other and began hammering in several spots before the bars merged into one. She did the same with the other two making two large bars. Finally she put the two merged bars and hit for 30 seconds in many spots before the metal bars began glowing and changed into the shape of a child sized metal lance.

“So that is the semi guidance huh?” I say.

“Yeah, I think combat classes have a kind of shadow appear in their view and they try to copy it or some lines appear for you to follow with the weapon.” Flor says.

“Interesting, might look into this later. Anyway make the shield as well.” I tell her.

“Yes yes.” She says while I take the Lance.

Metal Lance (Child Sized)

A Metal lance with a fine point that was made child sized.

A lance made for a training squire that wishes to learn the way of the lance. This lance is naturally lighter than a normal lance so it can be wielded by a child.

Durability 30/30

Damage: 12

Requirement: Can only be used by children or people who are child sized

I chuckled when I saw the weapon stats.

A child only weapon or a small person weapon. I think halflings and dwarves would use weapons at this size.

I hand the weapon to the little queen. She takes it in one hand but the weight seems a lot for her. In her two little hands the lance was shaking as she tried to hold it.

I tell her to stand in a similar way to how I hold the Glaive but with a change to let the weight of the lance be supported by the legs more.

She got some control but it still shook since her arms are still weak. It will take a few days of training I guess.

After a few minutes the shield part was done and similarly the ‘Metal Lancer Shield’ was child sized and about the size of a kite shield instead of the near tower shield it should be but to the little queen it was perfect.

That said she could barely hold it.

She sat down tired after a while. Flor took out a dagger that could be used as a sword and handed it to me.

“Until she can hold the lance let her use that as a sword. Will be enough to get a few days of hunting with it.” Flor says and we handed the dagger that was converted into a sword by the queen.

“Guess we should go then. Thanks for the help.” I tell Flor and she nods as she finishes cleaning up.

“You should take her to the weak monster zone. After the rabbits became higher leveled rats appeared in the fields as well but they aren’t as strong since they are more meat eaters and crops aren’t enough for them.” Flor says.

“That’s really good news. Was worried about having to walk with her around town looking for rats in the alleyways.” I say.

I open the portal and leave the little queen inside telling her to train with the dagger and lance as well as her shooter until I call her.

Outside I split up with Flor as she goes her own way and I head towards the gates and find out where these rats are.