IMPERIUM INSECTUM

I moved over to one of the few undestroyed chairs. The room was a mess. Gone were the tall bookcases and large tables. Now, The room was completely unrecognisable. Chunks of mangled wood littered the floor. The torn pages of lord knows how many bucks lay mixed in the rubble, and the worst part is that the room is wet, so incredibly wet from all the melted snow.

I chuckled <The dampness down here is going to be a nightmare>. Still, the room was in better condition than I was. My armour was broken and shattered due to the blast, and thanks to all the cold, my fingers and other extremities were pitch black

<I can't let Apollinaris see me like this. She already worries enough.>

I leaned back in the chair, causing it to creak. I reopened the system menu and quickly flicked over to the misc section. Inside were two options: the skill grinder and the Challenges and milestones section. I focused on both and brought up their descriptions.

 

 

 

Wow those are very useful and Solve one of the biggest issues I've seen. The abilities in the ability shop are so darn expensive that getting points through level-ups to pay for them just didn’t seem possible. What is annoying is that it took so damn long to get these useful tools!

*sigh*

I can't blame the system too much. It took me way too long to get here due to getting distracted with other things. Well, what’s done is done. Let's see what challenges I have available.

 

 

I sighed. Of course, why am I not surprised Cindi and I are going to have a long talk about this system. However annoying that stuff is, I can’t ignore the very attractive rewards. Especially the Milestones. I wonder if more milestones will get added later on?

Would you like to claim this challenge? YES       NO

 

I clicked yes, and the prompt disappeared. A quick check of the stats showed I now had 120 points to spend.

<Hehehe. I can't wait to buy a whole load of new toys>

I quickly checked the skill grinder. I’ll be honest: there wasn’t much there, just a menu that let me select skills and then grind them. I don’t know how often I'm going to use this, but it's nice to know I'll be able to declutter my abilities list any time I want And speaking of abilities. I quickly moved over to the ability shop.

< It's been a while since I was last here. Let's see if there’s anything new..>

 

 

Wow….It somehow managed to get worse… Whatever, I've given up asking for any of this to make sense. However, the skills on offer do look very good. Obviously, I'm taking the Conversion process, so that already puts me down to 85 points. Let's see, Big Birtha is off the table way too expensive. Enthrall looks useful, but playing the manipulation game isn’t me and the cost as well 60 points! No way, not right now, anyway. That leaves molting. It sounds great, and I am tempted. But I think that because I'm badly injured, And realistically, I should aim to avoid getting this badly injured anyway. Hmmmm…… Gahh, so much choice... Let's think about this: what would be useful to help me achieve my main goal. Right now, my main goal is to grow my hive, so for that, More eggs and rapid gestation are the best choices, even though the latter is more of a luxury than a necessity. However, I have to keep in mind my other goal of getting stronger. Keeping that in mind level, level-based XP earning will help massively in that regard. Fine let's go 50/50. I will take More Eggs, level-based xp earning and conversion process, leaving me with 60 points. The rest of the points I will use to upgrade my abilities and, if I can, my attributes

 

 

Yes.

 

Instantly, my body temperature shot up to hotter than ever before, especially in my stomach and at the base of my pincers.

< It's been a while since I've felt like this…>

Soon, the heat faded. I placed my hands on my stomach. My stomach wasn’t any wider, but I could feel a difference… I was heavier… No, more dense is a better word. My face curved into a smile. I can't wait to fill up more girls with this.

I quickly switched to my status.

 

 

Let's see…. Let's upgrade more eggs. I have a theory I want to test out…

 

Yes.

 

HAHAHAHA YES! Just as I thought. Each upgrade doubles the amount of eggs from the previous amount!

 

 

The heat in my stomach rose again. Hahah! This is fantastic. So, on average, I can fit 15 eggs inside 1 host, so 120 eggs means 8 hosts in total. But why stop at 8? I mean…No. NO! Think rationally, diva. Expanding too big and too fast has been the downfall of many empires. I need to focus. 8 is a good start for now.

I moved on to the conversion process,

 

Well, that’s a bit shit. Let's dump some levels into it and see what happens. I dumped 12 points into it to bring it up to level 3.

 

It's better now, but this is a skill I plan to use on Apollinaris. I won't take any half-measures here. We’ll keep going till the skill is maxed out or as close as it can be to being maxed out. I selected the skill and kept dumping and dumping the skill until.

 

In total, it cost me 48 points to get it from level 1 to level 12, the max of this skill. It completely cleaned me out points-wise, Putting me back at zero, But it was worth it. I closed all my menus and slowly stood up.

My body was still broken and battered, but it was better than what it was a few minutes ago. The best decision would be to go back and rest, But the door was buried under piles and piles of rubble. I’m stuck down here.

<No words for it. I've got to march forward>

And march forward, I did. I  limped across the room back to where that pedestal was. It’s the only lead I have and is probably my ticket out of here. I limped more and more until something caught my eye. In the ground were the familiar remnants of my royal flies.

<You all stood by my side bravely. I won't forget any of you.>

<Mother, don’t be sad….Protecting you is the most important thing to us.>

<I know… It's just always sad seeing you all die.>

<Mother…..>

<yes.. I'm being stupid, but I can't help it… I love you all>

I Turned away and started heading towards the book. I’m sorry I can't give you all a proper burial. I slowly limped towards where the pedestal was. As sad as I was, this is the unfortunate reality….. My children will always sacrifice their lives if it means I survive. I continued moving towards the pedestal,

I climbed over one last mound of rubble before finally arriving at where the pedestal was. Thankfully, My killing of those 3 golems made the pedestal rise back out of the ground. If I had to pry it out of the ground, I would have killed someone.

I limped over to the book to get a better look. Damn, this thing was huge. The book was covered with solid gold designs of animals and plants. Some of the designs were encrusted with jewels I'd never even seen before. Even if the book has nothing I can use, I can at least sell it for a boatload of money. Not that I’m struggling for money, but more money could help.

I slid my hands under the edges of the book and lifted it up. The ground suddenly started rumbling as the pedestal sank into the ground simultaneously, the far wall started to slide open.

<Oh god, what now?> I took a few steps back. If it's another enemy, I'm done for. I haven't recovered enough to fight whatever it is. Crap, what do I do?

The door opened for a few more moments before finally stopping.

*Fwoosh!*

A torch lit up in the doorway, revealing a set of stairs. There were more fwooshes as more and more torches ignited. Suddenly, I heard rattling similar to what the golems made. I got ready to fight. I may not survive, but I’m not going out without a fight.

The rattling got louder and louder as something made its way up the staircase. I braced myself. I could feel my heart racing. Come on, hurry up, you bastard! I waited in anticipation until, finally, the rattling stopped. My heart raced. What the fuck is it? Suddenly, a tiny miniature wooden mannequin poked its head from around the side of the door.

“Hahaha”

I relaxed my shoulders. Oh, thank god. This I can handle; however, I should keep my guard up.

Like a robot, the mannequin moved its limbs crudely to give me a wave.

“What do you want?! Do you wanna fight?”

The mannequin shook its head. It pointed one hand down the staircase and beckoned me to follow him.

 “you want me to follow you? Yeah, Fuck that. I've seen what you fuckers are capable of. I’m staying over here.”

The mannequin dropped to it’s knees and started making a begging motion.

I rolled my eyes. “You are gonna have to do better than that…”

The mannequin stood up. For a moment, it did nothing until, finally, it stuck both of its hands towards me.

“Are you threatening me now?”

I raised my right hand, and black null mana began to sputter from it. This was all a show, of course, I barely have enough mana to switch on a light, let alone fight, but I’m banking on it not knowing that.

The mannequin kept pointing its hands at me until, finally, a bright blue and green orb appeared.

“What the_”

Before I could react, the ball was sent flying toward me.

“Shit.”

I tried to leap away, but my body wasn’t having it. Fuck! I crossed my arms and braced for impact. The ball smacked into my arms, and I was hit with a cool sensation and the smell of the ocean and forests mixed together.

 

“Woah”

I put my hands down as I watched as parts of my body began to stitch itself back together. Soon, some of my armoured plates were healed, and my legs felt much better.

“Just what are you?!”

The mannequin pointed again down the corridor. If I want answers, I need to follow you Huh.

I flexed my muscles.

“Fine, But if any funny stuff happens, I'll fucking crush you.”

The mannequin began to cower. Good, he knows his place. I started walking towards the staircase. I wonder what I'll find down here?