Marigold – A LitRPG

So there really is some kind of evolution! I just didn't expect it to be at Level 5, so am I one level away from evolving?!

Leaving that aside I give several pulls on the link with Hans to signal that "I really really need to talk to you now!", and after a few minutes Hans returned accompanied by the soldiers.

"Hans! you can evolve! And you gave me the right to make the choice?! Why did you do that?"

"Mom, I just thought you could choose the option that suits your taste better."

"All right, wait, we have to think a little..."

Is this evolution only in class? It doesn't seem to be able to change the [Species] but then how do you change the species? Do we need to raise more levels? Or find some kind of ancestral treasure capable of changing my lineage?!

Now about Hans, [Knight] seems like a class made for him, his personality is of a knight, and with that class he would turn in a knight, both in body and mind. But by choosing [Knight] I would be turning Hans into a stationary troop, who can't get away from me. Not a problem for me, I already need a defender for the nest anyway, so a knight in a shining armor would definitely be welcome!

[Warrior] is off the list for me, that might suit the new soldiers personality, but it doesn't suit Hans at all.

[Shielder] is another tempting option, Hans has always been the "protector" and with that class he can literally becomes the tank of the group, with Hans experience and his calm attitude he could serve as a very good tank while commanding the soldiers and letting them do all the damage.

[Sworder] seems... Weird? A bee with a sword? And in the place of the hands? Would that mean that one of the pairs of hands would become swords? Like a Beedrill? It doesn't seem very easy to live with it, so I discart it.

And the [Lancer] class looks like another very promising one, the ability to break the Stinger and use it as a spear looks incredible! There is no limitation that says he can only break the Stinger in battles, so he could make several of these spear stingers and everyone would have a sturdy and sharp weapon. But to produce these spears must be necessary a large amount of nutrients... or maybe not? After all, these lancer should be able to make new Spears during a battle if they end up losing or breaking their current spear, so the disadvantage shouldn't be the nutritional value to create new spears, but rather a big cooldown before being able to create another... or maybe the other way around? The interval for creating such Spears is short, but does it spend a lot of energy?.

"Hans, don't you have any preferences? I like [Knight], but I need your opinion, after all it is you who are evolving..."

"Hmm, I also like how a Knight sounds, and I could stay at home and protect the workers, but the new soldiers need me... I can't leave them without guidance and help, so I'd like something like [Shield] or [Lancer]!"

Yeah, Hans never needed a [Class] to be a knight he was already one, and I think he really wants to help the new soldiers, Hans seems cold and distant, but that's only when I'm talking to him, when he's with the workers or other soldiers he's very sociable, a little stiff, but sociable.

'So what? [Lancer] or [Shield]? I think I'll stick with Lancer... I don't like the idea of leaving the task of doing damage with the new soldiers, they are reliable of course, but because they are [hot heads] they may end up doing some idiocy and leaving Hans in hand, at least as [Lancer] Hans can defend himself."

"All right! I choose [Lancer]!"

When I made the choice out loud nothing happened for some time, I even thought I needed to wait a really long time, but then Hans suddenly started to get dizzy.

"Hans?! What is it? How are you feeling?"

"I-I feel... T-tired and heavy... I..."

Before Hans could finish speaking he fainted, but the soldiers near him reacted quickly and caught him before he fell out of the air.

"What do we do now, mother?"

"Take him inside! He needs to rest, I think?"

"All right!"

Soon the soldiers took Hans away and I was a little nervous, of course evolution wouldn't be just picking an option and magically turning you into what you chose, it seems Hans needs to go through a changes before that, I don't know how to feel, on one hand I knew this was coming, but on the other hand I expected Hans to start shining and then a happy little song would start playing when evolution ended.

'Does it hurt? I'm at Level 4, so will I evolve soon? If evolution changes the [Class] then what the hell am I going to turn into?! An empress Bee? Or an egg factory?!'

There wasn't much I could do now, but I was still worried about Hans. I asked the workers to prepare more food just in case, after all, if I remember correctly, all this history of evolution always makes you very hungry.

'It would be very nice if these [Collector] bees had already hatched, it's very difficult to maintain a constant production with only workers, of course it's not problematic for me, I do almost nothing, they are the ones who do the heavy work, but I still feel bad for-'

"Mom..."

WHAT THE FUCK?!?!

"AHHHH! Oh my heart! It's just you Trevy... You really needed to scary the shit out of me like that?!"

"I-I'm sorry... it wans't my intention, I just wanted to say that I managed to find a large group of flowers that seem to be very nutritious, and some signs of a passing group..."

The Great tracker had come from behind me and stood still just waiting for me to notice it, more when I noticed it my heart almost came out of my mouth! Seriously! Who wouldn't be startled by someone almost twice your height mysteriously appearing on your back!

"What do you mean, a passing group?! Have you seen them?"

"I found no humans, only remains of a camp that was recently used... I would say about 3 days ago, and then they headed north into the plains."

"Do you know their goal? Why are they here?"

"I.. I have no idea mom... I'm sorry if it's not what you expected, but I'm a [tracker] not a spy... My skills focus on finding things and preventing a given target from escaping, I am not skilled with investigations and gathering information..."

If you think it's bad, do it better

Basically that's what he told me, he just embellished the words so as not to be offensive, well he thinks that's what wins when I ask too much, the [Class] seem to limit people a lot, a human being could be good at many things, but the [Class] made you very good only at what you do, or maybe it's just Trevis ' lack of experience, after all the boy has 1 day of life, there is no way you ask someone so young to know what to do, and at that point the [Class] are very good, I don't need to raise a small larva for a long time until it develops a talent, I can already make them born with this talent, but are humans like that too? Are they limited by [Class] or is it something just from the monsters?

"Okay, this already helps a lot, if you can find this group of mysterious beings and tell me where they are it would already be very important, but now you can rest, Hans is going through an evolution and I think everyone better be around..."

"I understand, if this is your request I will rest a little"

"One more thing!"

"Yes?"

"Why didn't you send me a report via [Link]? Wouldn't it be a lot quicker than coming back just to talk to me in person?"

"I... I don't know how to use the link... h-he's very confusing and I can't do anything about it, I just know it's there, but I can't interact with him..."

Finally someone in this colony who is worse than me in the use of the link! But that's not a good thing... The most helpful guy, and able to gather crucial information can't send me a direct message? Is this because of your class or because of natural talent? If the [trackers] are an evolution of the [Scouts] shouldn't they be good with using the link?

"All right, no problem at all, when I can, I'll create some [beacons] and hopefully they can do that kind of work for us"

"Yes mother!"

After leaving Trevy I go to the tree where the soldiers left Hans and when I get to the place all the soldiers and nurses are around what seems to be a butterfly chrysalis, only with shades of yellow and brown. And on the ground was a very familiar exoskeleton that clearly was Hans, but in his back was a big torn place, and all his body was just a hollow shell.

"That's Hans!? What happened in those 5 minutes I was gone?!"

"Mom! A few minutes ago Hans started having some spasms, and then this happened!"

"He's just going through an evolution! It's no big deal, help me put him aside."

"Ken, do you know about evolution? What do you know about it?"

"Huh? I don't think a really know anything useful, except that it's very dangerous to leave Hans exposed in this transitional stage."

"Mother, what should we do with Hans body?.."

"I already told you bunch of imbeciles! Just throw that shit away! It's just a shell, it's not Hans body! His body is right here!"

"You're really going to tell me that this is not his body!? There's his face, there's his hands, and you tell me it's not him!"

"I already said! That's just a empty shell! What's really matters is right here!"

Can bees do that? He basically left the body and left behind a body identical to him but with a hollow interior, was that something common? Or just when we are evolving? Could we leave a shell behind and walk away with a soft body like Dr. Zoidberg from futurama?

"Boys! Put the husk aside, Ken, Are you sure we can throw that away? What if Hans needs to go back to the shell later?!"

"Mom! This is biodegradable! This old thing is already started rotting when Hans came out, this thing is just a pile of garbage! Hans will emerge with a new, and better shell!"

"All right... Boys, throw it away! Near the roots of the tree please."

"Are you sure?"

"Have holy patience! I've said it a million times you bunch of idiots with 1 day of life! Throw that shit away!"

"Y-Yes boys, I'm sure... you can do what Ken said."

The soldiers carried the shell with some reluctance, But Ken seemed to be right, if what Hans was doing now was a metamorphosis, then the "Shell" was just garbage now. It's not like a shell of a mollusk, it's more like the shell of a crab, once it comes out it's just a piece of garbage, or a easy meal for someone.

I tried to analyze that... "thing" that was Hans and I realized it had nothing to do with Hans.

 

 

1 day? it's a lot faster than I thought... he will emerge some time after the Scouts, Ken seems to be right, he is very weak in this state!

"Take care of him Ken, if possible create a separate space, and leave plenty of food prepared for Hans!"

"Of course, no problems!"

"When will the new scouts be born? Do you think I can raise a few more eggs? I wanted to do some [Beacons] and [Royal cooks], even if it's in a low number.."

"We have 10 units available mom! We cleaned the ones that were used and made some more in the space we had, but if we want to expand our production more we will need a bigger nursery!"

"Do you think one of the rooms in the new building the workers are doing would work out?"

"Honestly? No, I would rather have a big building, that served only as a nursery, not just a big room"

"B-but wouldn't a room help for now?"

"Not really much, as far I could see the largest room in the building could serve as a nursery for 50 new production units, but an entire building like that could yield more than 300 production units!"

"50 + 30 that we have here is already a good number no?"

"Yes, but it would be a big hassle to walk from one nursery to the next, so I would prefer the nursery to be located in a single location, then this place could serve as your throne room or whatever, it could even become your crazy laboratory..."

Ken was right, running back and forth to take care of 2 small nurseries would be very taxing for the body, and I could really use this place as a laboratory... The whole space is large and well ventilated, it's right in the "heart " of the hive so it would be protected at any time while I make my potions, and if I could remove the honey tank and the breeding units that occupied 80% of the room I could turn this here into a pretty cool thing!

'If I could drill a few holes in the wall I could use it as shelves and I could create little "windows" to slow the flow of air, windows too small for someone to get in, but big enough to let the air flow, I could also bring the fire flowers in here and even try to grow them in the walls by making some bigger holes.'

But I had no way to pierce the wood.

'Damn it! Now those [saws] bees look very useful Forget it, i already lost them!'

"Let's see what we do Ken, it is very likely that when the construction of the building is finished we will move the nursery to the largest room there, then it is only a matter of time until you get a bigger place!"

"All right then, what else could I do, right? Complaining didn't solve it at all..."

You ungrateful little shit...

"I will be laying 2 eggs from [Beacons] and 2 from [Royal cooks], please keep up the good work, and let me know when the [Scouts] have been emerging"

"Sure!"

After laying the eggs, I was surprised to see that the [royal cooks] only needed 3 days to hatch, and even more surprised to see that the [Beacon] needed 15 days just to hatch! I don't know what the math is, but it seems that the higher the use of the units, the longer the production time, but the bees [Royal Cook] looked super useful and hatched quickly, so was the math wrong? Or did this have another motive? Maybe these Cook bees are useless weaklings? The kind that can't do anything but cook, so why are they fast? But [gatherers] also seemed not to be stronger or have a 'essential' use, and they were still slow to hatch, so is it some kind of balance between (ultility) and (power)?

As soon as I finished laying the eggs Ken and the other nurses took the eggs and put them in the rearing Combs, after it was all over I went outside to talk to My Little Engineer Levi!

"Levi~~"

"M-Mom? How can I help you?"

"I wanted to know how the situation is around here. When do you think you're going to finish it all?"

"W-Well, by tomorrow everything should be complete... I've already put in a few workers to create honey tanks, and most are finishing the larger rooms and the floor!"

"That's great why don't you show me?"

"Sure!"

I had never entered the building, it seems a great negligence, but I kind of only arrived when everything was ready, since my presence hindered more than it helped, when I was around the workers tried themselves... "show" and did the job elegantly, rather than quickly and accurately.

As soon as I entered the new building the first thing I noticed was its color... A brownish yellow that covered all the walls and floor, the whole place was made with hard wax bricks, and then the surface was allfixed with common wax, the building was not divided like a common house, which had doors and corridors, the building had only a large corridor in a straight line that divided the building in 2, so from the floor to the top there were several rooms made on each side of the walls, and the largest room was right in the middle of the building.

The shape was strange when you look with human eyes, the rooms had no doors, only entrances and exits that connected all together, and to leave a room an worker only had to leave the room and fly to another room or to the exit.

I think it was very efficient for bee, we does not need stairs since we can only fly to where we need, and it was very easy to move around here, the place also only had 2 exits, one at each end of the "corridor", so it would not be easy to invade the place, since even if an enemy entered he would only end up running into a lot of bees.

"That place is amazing Levi, congratulations!"

"T-Thank you, but it was all thanks to the help and collaboration of all workers!"

"Didn't I say you'd be a good leader? You just need to talk to them!"

"I-I don't talk to them..."

"What do you mean?"

"I-I send all orders through the link... it's easier to talk like that... when I talk through the link I don't get nervous."

Levi is like one of those bosses who are ruthless by message but turn yellow when talking face to face?

"All right Levi... If this way is working for you then feel free to use, I wanted to ask you what would be the next step after finishing this building?"

"W-Well, we would start creating new smaller rooms like bedrooms and hallways, but if you need our services we can postpone them..."

"Hallways? Why hallways?"

"T-to confuse invaders... Creating corridors that lead nowhere, or that are long could buy time during an invasion, we can also use empty rooms as traps or create escape routes..."

This does not look like a bee hive... It looks like an anthill... But taking into account that the boys use my knowledge they must think that creating these things can be effective.

"Can't we focus on resistance instead? Create stronger exterior walls and only 1 exit and entrance? I don't like the idea of getting lost in my own house..."

"O-of course we can mom! If you want a system of big rooms like what we have done so far, we can only prioritize the growth of the number of rooms, while reinforcing the external side!"

"I prefer that, I wouldn't want to need the help of a guide every time I want to get into the House..."

"S-so it's decided, do you need anything more mom?"

"Yes! Do you think you can focus on my lab when you're done with all this? I wanted them to move the nursery to a big room in this new building and clean up everything inside the tree to serve as the new lab."

"I-it's possible... but we're not good at woodwork, so we could only build things in the space we already have, and we couldn't expand until we got someone who could break Wood easily."

"I understand, if you could just create several pots and jars for me, and build a stove with the fire flower it would already be of great help!"

"T-that's pretty easy!"

Levi was certainly a good engineer, he knew what he could do with the resources and spaces he has, and can change plans quickly according to my will, it is a pity that they can not pierce the tree to increase the space inside, I mean, it is not that they cannot, just that it would take a very long time, after all anyone can tear off a very small piece of a tree, but without a saw it would take a lifetime to cut it

---

 

I'm nervous, the scouts will soon emerge, and soon after they saw the first larvae of [collectors] and then Hans, I had a lot scheduled for today, I need to go back to jelly production, as well as produce more food for the hive, and I also need these guys to finish emerging so that the workers can start moving the nursery, the workers suggested plucking the combs from the ground with the cocoons, the larvae and eggs, but Ken almost dig a hole in the workers heads with his cold gaze.

"What do you think Trevis? They're kind of an early-evolution version of you, do you have any idea of their uses?"

"No, I think they are just ordinary Scouts..."

Scouts hmm? I can use this to map every corner of this forest, unlike Trevis these guys seem to be able to use the link with a good mastery.

While I was thinking, the first Scouts began to emerge, and I can only say that they are very cute! They're like even smaller versions of the workers, and they're slim's even for a Bee.

Taking advantage of the fact that they were still emerging I analyzed one of them to try to discover their abilities.

 

 

That's it.... Interesting?