Marigold – A LitRPG

It was very little, for sure, especially considering that I had dozens of bees working on it. But I think it's because I only receive a small portion; as far I know, I should get something like 1/4 of all the XP they earn. So even though it's not very good for me, but it's still something.

Even with this small amount of Xp, I seemed to be the person who was evolving the most in this hive, looks like receiving a small xp tax from several members is much better than earning a large amount of Xp at once from a battle, my growth was slow for sure, but it was constant. And more importantly, I had never fought anyone, and yet I was already almost at Level 6, the workers barely had Level 2, while the soldiers had to risk their lives for the high Xp they earned.

Another thing I noticed was that the soldiers were... Cruel. Really cruel. There's some creatures like aphids and small larvae trying to feed on the flowers like us. They were too small and weak to even be a threat for the workers, of course, if many attacked, it would be deadly, but a single lonely aphid wouldn't bother a worker bee.

And yet, the soldiers massacred any creature that wasn't a bee. It seemed quite cruel to me. Sure, there's the aspect of competing for food and territory, but killing even the offspring of these insects seemed really cruel. And when I asked about it, their responses were:

"Huh? Mom! They're enemies! Whether they're weak or strong doesn't matter! They're all enemies!"

Hans supported the soldiers viewer point, and the workers too. It seemed like everyone was very kind to each other, but that was only if you were one of my children; anything else was a deadly treath and dangerous enemy.

"Mom! Look, the collectors are hatching!"

"Oops, got distracted again, thanks Ken."

From the large silk cocoons emerged two large bees that simply looked like chubby bees, but wider and shorter, and they seemed to be sleepy for some reason.

"Hmmmm, hungry...."

"Hello! Welcome to the world! I am your mother!"

"Mom.... Hungry...."

What's wrong with these guys? They sound like lazy talkers.

Wow, these guys seem to be good for nothing other than collecting materials and sleeping. They can't do literally anything else! They have low energy and always would be tired. But that [Dreamy Daze] trait, what the hell is that shit?!! What now?! Schizophrenic bees?! They do not need to sleep is very 'stolen' they can function 24 hours a day, but hallucinate during work... What the fuck!

"Hello~~ How are you guys?"

"Hungry.... Ugh..."

"Ken, bring them some food, please?"

"What?! Can't they walk on their own? Why do I have to go get food for these lazy ones!?"

"T-They're not lazy... They just seem not to be good at anything else other than their main job. They're not like you, who are good at a little bit of everything."

"UGH! Fine! Hey, you two! Go get food for the collectors! Now!"

Shameless boy... He complained and then just sent other people in his place...

After a while, the other two nurses brought food, and the collectors started eating happily. I have to admit, the collectors are far the cutest of my childrens. They don't have muscles or chitin armor like the soldiers, they're not slender like the workers, not small like the scouts, and not intimidating like Hans. They look like a bee plushie – round and soft, with nothing that says "I'm threatening, get away bitch." They're more like, "Do you want a hug?"

"Delicious... Mmmmm"

"Mom... What do we need to do...?"

"OH, hehe, eat a little more, cuties~~ You can work later."

"What the hell, what a shameless favoritism at daylight is this?!"

"What?! It's not favoritism; I'm just letting them prepare themselves!"

"Prepare my ass! You sent all the scouts away as soon as they hatched, but now you're drooling over these lazy ones!"

"Ugh..."

"Alright, boys, I want you to help Matt collect nectar to make honey. Can you both do that?"

"Ohh... Sure, Mom! No problem..."

"Talk to Steve; he'll tell you where to go. Steve is at the main entrance, guiding the workers. Feel free to eat whenever you're hungry and ask anything!"

"Yes... let's go, brother..."

"Hmmm"

The two little plushie collectors 'left' the room, moving at such a slow speed that they seemed to be just floating through the air.

The collectors were adorable, for sure, but the scouts seemed to be more useful. In the last two days, they bombarded me with information . like where are the best flowers, special resources, dangerous zones, and strange creatures. With that, I figured out how [Memorial Memory] works. The scouts could mark information they found important, and then it became information that went into a 'folder' in my mind. And i could access the folder at any time and know all the essential information.

But there was still a big problem with that. The more information the scouts sent me, the harder it became to remember all information. Like a folder full of files, you're absolutely sure that the information is somewhere there in the middle, but there's are so many files that you can't find a specific one easily. Unless you remember exactly the date or the 'name' of the file. But storing this information was also problematic for me; it was like creating a folder with all the important files and then creating a sub-folder with the 'really important files.' The problem is that the more information enters, the harder it becomes to say what is important and what is not, and soon you end up with 'important files, very important files, super important files, mega important files, super mega important files.' It was just too much information!

I seriously need a 'mental secretary' bee. I can't keep all this information at once. Possessing all the knowledge in the world is useless when you can't process it in uselful information.

The cooking bees had hatched and would soon emerge with the help of the fast-growth royal jelly, and now I just had to wait for the [Beacons] and the new collectors. That's left me with about 40 creation combs ready to be used and three ansious nurse bees.

"Mom! Produce more Soldier! We need to ensure the safety of our home!! And the colony always needs more members!"

"I know, I wanted to wait for the royal cooks to be born to see their utility and if it would be necessary to create more of them before using the avaliable space."

"Create more at once! Stop being so picky with it! Or create more workers! We always need more workers!"

"W-Well, I wanted to wait until I unlocked a bee option specialized in construction, but I guess you're right. I won't unlock more options without laying eggs."

"That's it! Hurry up!"

"What enthusiasm is this, guys? You look like a bunch of withdrawal addicts..."

"'W-we Sorry Mom.. We're just worried about the hive. We need to increase our numbers urgently. I know you think we're okay... But.. We're not doing so well."

"What the hell? Why didn't you say it before?! What the hell is happening, Ken?!"

"Mom... We are insects... We are in the middle of a verdant and resourceful Plain, do you really think we are the only ones who want this place? I heard from Hans, that every day it gets more and more difficult to protect all of us, the insects that exist around our house are beginning to lose their 'fear of the unknown' and seeing that we are not a threat to them... Now that Hans has evolved, I think we may have bought ourselves some time, but without more soldiers it's just a matter of time until a creature much stronger than all of us put together comes to us... The scouts saw many animals and powerful creatures that roam around, and as insects we are easy prey for them... We need to win in numbers!"

'Ken's right... Just because it looks like we're okay doesn't mean we're actually really okay. A hive of bees with less than 50 members was not really a 'colony', I didn't need to focus exactly on the numbers of members, I could focus on the quality of each member. To raise a bunche of 'elite' bees, but for that I would need a lot, a lot of food, the more powerful a [class] is, the greater its nutrient consumption. So focusing on quality now was the same as asking to starve, I needed troops capable of producing food to do that, I don't know if the [royal cooks] can handle the job, but probably not, these royal cooks should be focused on 'quality' and not 'quantity'.'