Marigold – A LitRPG

Aurum - Year 1       {3 Weeaks later}

Firstly, I would like to point out that my plans with [Tainted Echo] didn't work out very well, the echo had a low chance of causing a disease to the target, but it could work in an area, and contaminate several individuals at once.

My tests on the Wappos showed that 1 in 10 Wappos got the disease, which was more like a plague. In the first few days nothing happened, but after 1 week the infected Wappo started to get hungry, very hungry. He drank a lot of water, and spent more time eating nutrients from the soil. Even so, he was becoming "wasted", losing weight and becoming dry. A few days ago he started to become aggressive, and attack other Wappo, infecting other Wappos with the mysterious disease.

We had to isolate all Wappos who were suspected of having the disease and "take care" of them, to ensure that we didn't end up with an epidemic on our hands. We left the "spreader" of the disease alive and isolated for observation, and so far he is still alive, but very weak and aggressive. Totally the opposite of the calm and lovely attitude of an average Wappo.

When I tried to infect Hilda with this mysterious disease, I ended up discovering that it wasn't that easy. Hilda received 17 contaminated echoes, but none seemed to affect her.

The Wappos were an easy target because they appeared to lack an "immune system." But Hilda was much bigger, stronger and healthier, the disease was simply crushed when it tried to infect her.

My only hope was that Hilda would have some longer time to "incubate" the disease, but even after weeks Hilda did not show a single symptom, in fact she was healthier than ever, since she was being well fed and cared for.

Not being able to contaminate her made me a little sad, I'm not going to lie, I would feel more comfortable knowing that I have something at my disposal that could kill her. I can send a whirlwind of angry bees to kill her, but she could end up killing dozens if not hundreds of my boys before she falls.

Leaving that aside, we had a new, more urgent problem.

XP.

Getting XP became a real challenge, the smaller insects that the soldiers were used to had been obliterated, all that was left were high-level enemies, and creatures that the soldiers didn't know about. Every now and then they would find an unlucky rodent or amphibian that had been left alone, and they would swarm it in the bee swarm until they killed it, but many soldiers were injured in these conflicts, and crushing your enemy with numbers didn't teach the soldiers their weaknesses and strong points, so soldiers stopped learning how to approach enemies stronger than them.

Trouble and his group still had a little success from time to time, they would fight creatures 1v1 and the Healer would heal the wounds, Hans group also managed to hunt down some targets, surrounding them and winning in a battle of attrition, but the Hans and Trouble group was too small, and we had thousands of young soldiers who were without direction. All they knew to do was attack in swarms to ensure their victory. And for that they relied on the information from [link].

If a swarm came across a living creature they sent the creature's image to the link, then would wait for a response. If it received information about the target was positive, they would flood the target with the tornado of bees, kill it, and then go on to the next target. But if the information was negative or non-existent, the swarm would run without thinking twice.

"This is a big problem, what is the combat group going to do to solve this?" Yan asked.

"Are you trying to blame us? HUM?! Just know that it's not easy to keep a fair share in such large groups and we can't give the orientation fot all of them, we need more help for that!" Trouble said, banging on the table like a gangster.

"The problem is that we are only 2 advisors for thousands of young soldiers, even if we send other advisors like [Poisoners] [Defenders] and [Sworders], it still wouldn't be enough to teach everyone proportionately, especially with the recent shortage of prey." Hans said.

"Can't we expand the ranch? We could go after more animals and focus solely on creating our own XP." Matt asked.

"No! This will compromise the integrity of the hive, if the soldiers don't acquire fighting experience, what would they do when we were under a attack! We need to keep our weapons sharpened!" Ken complained.

"B-But what if we went after g-larger creatures? We could try to l-level some specific members t-to elevate them to the position of advisors..." Levi asked.

"This is not realistic, if we evolved just a few members the majority would still be without real combat experience, they can absorb all the knowledge they want from the information club, but they will never specialize without real combat experience." Trevis said.

"So what are we going to do? We can't let the quality of the soldiers drop like this, the overall hive levels are dropping, the new soldiers are soft as pudding, and we barely have XP produced by the farm to distribute among the production members, so imagine having to share this XP with the defense members!" Yan declared.

"Hmm.... How about a coliseum?" Miles threw it into the air.

"What? What do you mean?" Asked Carl who was feasting on some snacks.

"We can build a coliseum! We could bring in some more powerful but still containable beasts and use the coliseum as a way to teach the new soldiers first hand. We can keep the monsters weak with poisons or even a created diseases from mom." Miles elaborated.

"That.... It could work, we can ask the development club to create muzzles and chains to immobilize these creatures, and leave them at a disadvantage, then we can remove their restrictions little by little as we teach the soldiers. So when they encounter these creatures around the world they knew their strengths and weaknesses and could attack with certainty." Trevis replied.

"I think this is dangerous... Monsters shouldn't like being caged and contained, accidents can happen, or even tragedies." Hans said.

"We don't need to capture a dragon, just creatures a little stronger than us, this way the soldiers will be able to train, after all your method of "Slowly goes far" isn't working Hans, your group may even be getting powerful, but the rest of the hive is getting weaker and dumber." Ken said.

Hans wasn't happy about the jab, but didn't say anything, he seemed to agree that the colony was in decline, and that action needed to be taken.

"It could work! We can build the coliseum on the ground, inside the 2nd ring, so even if a beast escaped it would still be surrounded by soldiers and wouldn't go too far." Trouble said.

"We need to evolve, only then will we be able to hunt high-level creatures." Hans said.

"I'm sure you and your group will get there sooner or later, but the main focus of this meeting is not about what we will do for the future. The topic is what ARE we going to do NOW, immediately, to overcome the serious problem with the general low level of the soldiers and the hive." Yan said sharply.

"...Should we stop producing new members for the colony? We already have too much manpower, and it's clear that our growing number is starting to become a problem, not a solution." Trevis asked.

"Are you going crazy!? The production of new members must continue! Only then can we expand our reign and guarantee sovereignty over the region!" Shouted Ken angrily.

"I'm saying that there is a time when we must stop and ask ourselves if we don't already have enough, increasing our numbers now is not a good thing, it only increases the need for more XP, more mouths to feed, more housing, more consumption of resources. The hive is going through this instability because we are producing members non-stop, if we continue like this, food production will not be able to maintain the entire hive. Didn't you happen to hear today's broadcast? The gardening club is asking for more farmers and workers, because the production of resources is not keeping up with the production of food, more and more collectors need to be sent every day deep into the forest accompanied by inexperienced soldiers. This is not efficient, we need to stabilize ourselfes." Trevis said.

"....Fuck you Trevis!" Ken said upset.

Ken seemed to understand that Trevis was correct, everyone realized this, but Ken still didn't like the idea of having to close the nursery doors, he could focus on the infirmary, but he would have to work with the first generation of [radiantsun bee], a group which he had serious unresolved issues.

"Trevis addressed crucial points and presented valid complaints, if no one has anything to say against Trevis's sujesion, that is a REAL complaint. Then I will pass the request on to our queen mother!" Said Yan, who raised his voice when he saw Ken raising his hand in protest, and then lowering it in frustration.

'Of course, I have no problem with that, Trevis is correct, I should have realized earlier that our numbers were the main cause of problems.'

Now I stopped producing eggs, and I also stopped evolving [laying eggs], there were only 3 levels left until the maximum level and a possible evolution, but I should need thousands of members to reach these 3 levels.

"So it's official, mom has stopped producing new drones once and for all, and Ken will be in charge of the infirmary soon as all the drones present in the nursery emerge!" Yan said satisfied.

"Damn... I'm going to send those guys to the front line division, I don't care, I'm not going to hang out with those little shits." Ken said angrily.

"They made a mistake ages ago, and you're still left with this pettiness." Hans said.

"Pettiness?! They looked me in the face and said THEY could do a BETTER job than ME, I've been doing this since I was born, and they still thought they could come and take over my job!" Ken complained.

"Stop tantruming, they will continue in the infirmary as the Healers' assistants, if you have something against them, resolve it by talking." Yan said.

"No?! I'm the leader of the care club, I'm the one who decides where they go or don't go, you can't tell me where I should send them!" Ken said mocking Yan.

Ken didn't like Yan, which was a surprise, because even if the members of the hive didn't like each other they would always collaborate, but Ken seemed like an exception, he does whatever he wants, and tells anyone he doesn't like to go to hell, and his current target was Yan.

Ken didn't like how Yan reacted to his "authority" as my representative and tried to lead everyone, he thought Yan was trying to "show who's boss" or give a "I'm 2nd in command here! Obey!", while other more common members simply did what Yan asked, the members of the inner circle didn't care to give him a face, but Ken always made a point of starting a fight.

"I'm trying to teach you how to work productively, don't make things complicated for selfish reasons!" Yan said while maintaining a stoic expression.

"Ha! Teach me? What are you going to teach me, BABY, when you emerged I was already evolving, you still have the green edges and you're trying to boss me around! See if you get your bearings. I only obey mom, and Steve, not her shadow that stands around playing boss." Ken said mockingly.

"You! How dare you, this decision was given to me by the Queen Mother herself! I'm just trying to get you to work the right way, don't try to make me look like an arrogant little shit!" Yan complained, losing his composure.

'THERE IS! You are a-"

'You guys are losing focus, Ken will go to the infirmary, and work together with the members of the infirmary.'

"But Mom! I -" Ken swore.

"Didn't you listen to mommy!? Stop making a scene, and do what-"

'And you Yan, don't go around giving orders as if they were my words, I'm tired of having to witness your conflicts with the inner circle, this is the last warning, just serve as my eyes, and ears, and leave the work of give orders to Steve, if you doesn't do it I'll find someone who will. Did a make myself clear?'

'-M-Mom! I was just-'

'YOU. GOT IT?'

'...Yes, forgave me for my inappropriateness.' replied Yan, visibly upset.

"So we will do this, we will start the coliseum project, the construction club will be responsible for making the coliseum, we will send the combat club to get the beasts, and the development club to create containments for the monsters, any questions?" Steve asked.

Spells.

What are they? If you asked someone they would probably say things like "a spell is the result of an incantation". But the spells in this world felt different, I didn't need to recite any text to create the [Tainted Touch] spell, just feed a [Spell] with Mp and that was it.

Now if I were to re-create it from scratch, without the help of the system I would need to guide the mana, "tell" her what to do, I didn't need words, just thoughts and intentions, it took a lot of concentration, practice and trial and error to produce a "worse" version of the spell.

More like, how the system says what was a spell and what wasn't? Is the "voice" magic that bards have considered a spell? They can use their voices to grant buffs, so wouldn't it be something like a strengthening spell? But even then they don't have the [Spell] tab.

The reason? It appears to be because the buffs were the result of a [skill] that allowed them to use their voices to create a magical phenomenon. So what is the difference between a spell and a skill that produces a magical effect?

Is it because the skills needed a sort kinde of "Mendium"? Skills used by the bard's, use they voice and mana to produce a magical effect, while spells only needed to be fueled with Mp.

But that wouldn't explain why my [skill], [Radiant Renewal] isn't a spell, the skill only uses Mp to grant a bonus, but it's still considered a skill. I can even level it up.

Perhaps the difference here is that [Radiant Renewal], cannot be "regulated" the cost is always fixed at 1 Mp, while spells can use more or less energy. And if I can't level up spells how do I improve them? Would I need to develop a new spell from scratch to replace the old one?

But then came the X of the matter, why is [Life Echo] a skill? I can use more or less mana, like a spell, I just need mana, like a spell. And he has no restrictions or a medium. So why the hell was echoes considered a [skill] and not a [spell]?

The system doesn't help me at all, with no tips, no technical support and no assistants. He just threw me here and said "deal with it now", everything was like taking steps in the dark, and any mistake was irreparable, I couldn't "undo" a skill, or "go back" in an evolution. I can only move forward, if I make any wrong choice it will be irreparable, the only thing I had full control over in my status were the [Spells].

I could replace them and learn new spells, the [Spells] tab was a shortcut, a way to save spells and use them with more speed and power, but in exchange I lost the mana manipulation experience.

The system doesn't seem to want me to develop spells, or at least makes this task unnecessarily complicated for some reason. He basically says "Oh! Are you having trouble casting a spell? Don't worry! Use this shortcut and DON'T try to use the spells from scratch, okay?"

This left me with a flea behind my ear, why the system made spell creation so complicated and restricted? When it could simply let us create several spells at once and save them in [spells] table.

It smells like fish, there's something wrong with it, they don't put restrictions on something unless that thing is dangerous or "unstable" and if even the system is trying so hard to make the use of spells so complicated it's because there's something there.

But there is also the possibility that I have so many restrictions to create spells because of my [Specie], the system must not want a bee, or a monster to be able to use spells at will. Or maybe there is some negative effect when you have too many spells.

Whatever it was, it piqued my curiosity, and now the magic club was trying to create magic scrolls. The point of doinf this? Simple, if the system didn't let me store the spells in the [spells] tab then I would look for other ways to have my colection of spells.

The scrolls were made from a special silk, which was harder and stronger than regular silk, taking on a cardboard texture when made into rolls, and the magic club members were trying everything. Creating magic circles, writing magic words, injecting mana, runes, writing with ink while poring mana, anything to be able to create a magic scroll, but nothing seemed to work.

Writing a bunch of random drawings on fabric didn't make us experts in spells, it just made us look like a bunch of idiots. The idea of infusing the ink with mana was ingenious, but trying to infuse regular mana into the ink was useless, the mana simply didn't mix with the ink like water and oil, trying to infuse mana into the parchment also didn't help, it only caused the parchment to torn aparte, or litary meltt away.

"I believe the answer lies in ink. If we could create mana-charged ink, it's likely that we would be able to create scrolls." Analyzed Isaac.

"But how? We can't even figure out how to contain common mana stored in mana batteries, we are far from infusing items with mana!" Claimed an alchemist.

"How about living mana? We can try infusing the ink with mom's mana!" said a spell caster.

"Probably not, Mom's living mana only reacts with living things, or things that were once alive, like wood and plants, trying to infuse Mom's mana with ink won't get us anywhere."

"What about [Drops of Life]? Wouldn't alchemists be able to mix it with ink?" Albert asked.

Everyone looked at the group of alchemists, they thought for a few moments and gave an answer.

"....It's possible, we can't mix 2 substances that have nothing fundamentally similar to each other, but the 2 liquids are natural products, and liquid substances. So it should be possible to create a homogeneous and stable substance."

When some workers brought a jar of ink and some essence of life, the alchemists began to drink it all. As they cleaned their ink-stained mouths with the help of a handkerchief, we could see a black substance trying to mix with the golden liquid inside their chest, then all the contents in the alchemist's chest began to mix quickly, as if it were in a blender, and we could see a dark gray substance forming on their chests.

Soon all the alchemists spat out a dark gray substance that seemed to be filled with glitter, and began to walk away from the jar, visibly sick from the creation process.

Baeon

 Hello everyone, I come to announce that I will be going on a Hiatus (this time it's for real), it could last a few weeks, and during this period of time I will focus on correcting the errors in the initial chapters, and creating a decent stock of chapters. Until then I brought you a complete art of Mc. Along with a map of the world, I am very grateful to everyone who has read the story so far, and I will post more chapters soon as possible.