It still took a while for the gnomish delegation to arrive. Regina’s range had grown by a lot, and she was pretty sure that the border of - or entrance to - the Confederation was well within it now. Among other things, it meant that while the traders presumably had a safer journey, they still had some distance to cover. It also took longer than it might have because Regina had them directed along the edge of the hive’s territories and to one of their more developed outposts, which they’d quickly built up even further. It was also close to Forest’s Haunt, to facilitate trade there. The visitors would probably be moving on, anyway.

In the end, Regina had decided not to come and visit them herself. With both the hive and their international renown growing, it was probably about time for her to act more like a queen, or at least think in those terms when appropriate. Besides, it wasn’t like she needed to make a personal visit — she could see, hear and smell everything just as well through one of her drones, and basically participate as well by talking to them over the psychic link. If she needed to, she could even take direct control of one of them, or even several. Not that she’d really seen any need for that in a long time.

The gnomes had brought a wider assortment of goods to trade than before, and seemed pleased about the collection the hive had put together as well. With their access to Conjuration magic, it wasn’t hard to get something to trade, though Regina still insisted on being careful and not letting on the true value of what they had. She wasn’t going to show them heaps of precious stones or anything stupid like that. Still, they could have easily gotten some gold and silver from trade or as war reparations - and had received some from Whitor’s ransom - so she didn’t think they needed to pretend to be too poor to buy anything. The bulk of their trade was still made up of monster parts they couldn’t properly utilize themselves and various odds and ends, though.

Bea took the lead in dealing with the visitors this time. She already had some experience as a diplomat, or at least the closest thing the hive had, and Tim was busy. Besides, Regina had a suspicion that sending a third-Tier Champion might be sending a message she didn’t necessarily want, at least to handle a simple trade arrangement.

Having outsiders within her territory also reminded her to pay more attention to things like information security and other forms of defense. She already had to adjust her patrol patterns and deployments. Since Regina had proof that scrying magic existed, it would be stupid to assume someone couldn’t use it against them. The Delvers had even admitted to watching them before! Of course, there was only so much she could do without compromising the efficiency of her hive. It was one reason she should develop the underground parts of their new homes, though.

Their tunnels were coming along, slowly but surely. For now, Regina avoided moving any drones through them, at least in an obvious manner. It would be pretty easy to figure out if anyone watched from the air, after all. They had also only dug far enough to connect the closest settlements, around their main base, so taking the tunnels would still actually take longer than walking or flying as a method of travel.

Eventually, the first of the new drone Template hatched. Regina had hesitated over the decision, but elected to only add one egg to the hive for now, so she could see what they were like and make a plan on how many she should include and how to integrate them into the hive.

Once she felt that one drone hatching, she slowly started making her way back to the hive’s main base. She had been visiting one of the other outposts and didn’t hurry back, but it wasn’t like she needed to be present personally. Especially since she could sense everything through the psychic link, and it wasn’t like the new hatchling would be alone. Mia was already there, as well.

So, Regina already had a bit more information to work with, even if it was just an impression, when she finally met the boy. This Drone Keeper was male, and it was a bit hard to guess what his role was supposed to be from his body type. He was relatively small and slight for a sapient drone, which hinted towards being a magic user. He didn’t have any wings, though. Instead, his left side appeared to have two hands, while his corresponding right limb ended in a sort of multi-tool-like shape vaguely reminiscent of a Worker, although it included a blade and most prominently … was that supposed to be a writing utensil? It reminded her of a fountain pen, anyway.

His status did support that impression, though. This Template clearly focused on the mental stats, Int and Wis, while neglecting the physical ones.

Name: N/A Drone Keeper Level: 1 Mana: 200 Con: 8 Str: 8 Dex: 8 End: 8 Int: 15 Wis: 13

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said with a smile as they stepped outside of the hive’s main building together. “I have to admit that I’m not quite sure about your, uh, intended role and capabilities, though. You’re the first of your Template. Although I think I can get an idea - there’s certainly a hint of something in the psychic link, anyway.”

The new Drone Keeper smiled back and bowed his head. “Thank you, my Queen. I hope I will be able to be useful to the Hive.”

She would expect the new guy to have strong magic, judging by his status, and there was clearly something to that. She could sense that he had a big mana pool, at least for his level. But there was also something off about it. She didn’t know if he would actually be able to use that mana pool. At least for magic. It seemed to almost bleed into the psychic link in a way she had never seen before. In fact, his presence in the link seemed more prominent in a new way, as well.

“Do you have any insight into your abilities and role?” she asked.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then nodded. “I feel like I’m supposed to keep the hive’s knowledge, my Queen. And perhaps something more. It’s … hard to put into words, entirely.” He shrugged slightly. “I can feel the link connecting the hive, and I do feel I can work with it.”

She regarded him thoughtfully and nodded after a moment. “Usually, I give newly hatched sapient drones a name,” she said, changing the subject. “I assume you’d like that as well?”

He nodded eagerly. “Yes, please.”

“Okay. Then, I think I’ll call you Jem. Welcome to the hive.”

“Thank you, my Queen!” He smiled brightly.

Regina already decided to add more of this Template to the hive. Even if she wasn’t very sure about the details of what they could do, their potential use was obvious. She was looking forward to seeing how they would help to shape her hive’s operations and culture. After all, even the societies in her memories didn’t have anything like the psychic link. She suspected that it might come to mimic the Internet, in some way — but there would obviously be differences, as well. And in a more immediately practical sense, they didn’t have much paper or other writing materials, or the base needed to build a bureaucratic infrastructure for the hive. They had also been using the psychic link to compensate for that to some degree, communicating mentally and using it to send messages. Adding any kind of information storage ability would be a useful, and interesting, development.

Of course, she was getting ahead of herself a bit.

Jem was evidently happy with his new name, and he seemed upbeat about the situation in general, looking forward to facing his future, exploring the hive, meeting the others and exploring his abilities. Regina had to admit, if only to herself, that it was a bit gratifying to see one of her hatchlings feeling so content and secure in their situation, their hive.

They didn’t have to struggle for survival in a monster forest anymore, and even the prospect of war with the Cernlians, the Delvers or whoever else was more of a distant threat right now. Of course, still not a smaller one, on the contrary. They certainly needed to prepare for it. But they had some peace, and even if Regina knew it might not last much longer, she was grateful for that.

She was also content not to pressure the new Drone Keeper, or the others who would be hatching after him. It was probably better not to rush figuring out their abilities and the finer details of the psychic link itself. In the meantime, though, she would still be working on her Spells and magic. Now that she had gotten magic not supported by the System working, she was eager to see what else she might be able to do with it, and she had a few ideas. If nothing else, it would help increase her understanding of magic in general, which would be beneficial to all of her magic, even the System-assisted Spells.

Regina was confident that she was starting to figure things out. As she suspected, she seemed to have a natural knack for it, something that went beyond just having a very large mana pool. She suspected that most people wouldn’t have been able to figure out something like scrying magic with just a few weeks or months of practice. Though that large mana pool certainly helped. But now she was running into difficulty trying to teach it to the others. She didn’t think it was a matter of lacking talent or being a bad teacher, exactly. It was just hard to put these things into words sometimes, and she didn’t have that much time for it with all the other things demanding her attention. At this rate, it would probably be a while before her hive made real strides with magic, at least in that direction. Well, I suppose we can’t have everything, Regina reflected.

She could already see the influence of the new Drone Keeper starting to have an effect, though. It was as if it stabilized the psychic link. She suspected that he might also function as a relay that could expand the link’s range, although, of course, that didn’t do anything while they were both so close together. It was something to test for later, though.

She wondered if getting it now had anything to do with the Abilities she had chosen and her progression of the psychic link, or if she would have unlocked the Template anyway. Not for the first time, Regina wished she knew more about the System and how it interacted with - or maybe filtered? - the traits of her species. She could be pretty sure that Hivekind were not actually unique to this world or the one that had been connected to it with the portals. There might be more of her kind elsewhere in the multiverse. Alianais had implied as much, anyway. Granted, that had been a thousand years ago, but still, it meant the System probably wasn’t an … intrinsic necessity for their abilities.

She couldn’t help but ponder that issue for a while, even as she realized it was distracting her from her other work. She found herself checking in on the hive and the psychic link in general often, trying to evaluate any changes. It was pretty fruitless. Regina only pushed the distraction aside when something else captured her attention.

She gathered her focus when Bea returned to the main base of the hive. She had contacted Regina ahead of time, but they had quietly agreed to hold a meeting in person. Regina pushed the door to her office open with magic - not a Spell, but telekinesis, which she’d been working on - and ignored the look Via gave her. Bea entered, glancing at the other drone who’d just stood up, then evidently decided to ignore the byplay and focused on Regina.

“You’ve been doing a good job, Bea,” Regina greeted her, smiling and nudging her to take a seat.

“Thank you, my Queen.” Bea inclined her head and settled down. She seemed a bit more reserved than usual, probably lingering effects from dealing with the visitors.

“Before we get started talking about the details of the trade, is there anything interesting or important to discuss?”

Bea shrugged slightly, looking a bit hesitant. “I’ve been trying to feel out the gnomes a bit, my Queen,” she said. “Trying to get a sense of their attitudes and how they react to us wanting to send a group to their Confederacy. The response has been pretty mixed.”

“How so?” Regina frowned, leaning forward slightly.

“I think there are probably some cultural nuances I’m missing,” Bea said, shaking her head uncertainly. “I get the feeling they don’t get many visitors, but they’re not set against them in principle. And we do have an invitation. I don’t think it counts exclusively as a personal invitation for you, anyway.”

Regina nodded. “That’s good. Did you confirm if they’re from the same faction that we dealt with before?”

“They didn’t want to come right out and say it, but yes, I’m pretty sure.” Bea sat up a bit straighter, sounding more confident. “I’m not sure how the civil war in Cernlia plays into it, but I got the impression that, well, that other faction we saw definitely backed the wrong hose, at least when it comes to the region out here.”

“Good to know. Is there anything else?”

“Well, if I may ask, my Queen, do you intend to send Janis as part of that group?”

Regina frowned. “I haven’t decided yet. Why?”

“Well, she must have caught wind of what was going on and asked me. Besides, I think some of the traders have figured out who and what she is, too. And they didn’t seem hostile, but definitely wary.” Bea hesitated for a moment. “The Confederacy might have dealings with the elementals, but they’re not on good terms.”

Regina nodded slowly. It sounded like whatever relationship they had, presumably an antagonistic one, was actually closer than she’d thought. “Did any of them actually encounter elementals personally?”

Bea shook her head. “If so, they certainly didn’t say so. I don’t think they did, though. There aren’t exactly many of those monsters around. From what they said, elementals sound more like individual threats. But we do know they’re powerful sapient monsters, and they clearly can speak and interact with other people if they want to.”

Regina leaned back in her seat. “Thanks, Bea. Good work.” She exchanged a glance with Via and Max, who’d silently entered the room. “It occurs to me that we haven’t really met any other sapient monsters so far. It sounds like this expedition might be an opportunity in more than one way.

As long as we’re careful, of course.”