IMPERIUM INSECTUM

I hate every decision ive made in my life up to this point.

<AGHHHHHHHAAAAA! WHAT THE HELL!>

<Almost there, mother. Its almos->

<STOP TALKING AND YANK IT OUT ALREADY!>

Another colossal contraction rocked my body. The warriors were nearly able to hold me down as my body convulsed.

<Gyaaaaghaaaaaaaa!>

Pain resistance increased to HIGH

<Almost just one more- GOT IT>

My body flopped into a Relief shot through me as the colossal lavae left me. Every fibre of my being had been exhausted by this little one. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: there is a reason the system says I can't impregnate humans with these. No human could survive carrying it, let alone birthing it

<Mother. Here>

Sally gently held the humongous larvae in her hands as she passed him towards me. The larvae squirmed in my hands from left to right.

<Poor thing, he's quite stressed, isn’t he? > I gently held his large body close to mine. Soon, his squirming stopped, and he calmed down. Just as I thought, just being around me calms them down drastically.

<awwww>

My head snapped to Sally and Penn, who were standing watching.

<you look so cute. Holding him, Sally said. Penn didn’t say much except to write notes in her notebook frantically.

The larvae suddenly squirmed again. causing me to nearly drop him. He was a large boy, about the size of a 10-year-old, and weighing just the same.

<Its amazing that it fits inside you> Penn said. I agreed with her that the size of him was immense, but despite that, I didn’t care, he was my child, size be dammed he’s mine.

<Mother, may we have the young one? He is bound to be hungry> I looked to the side to see 2 nurses eagerly waiting. My maternal instincts wanted to refuse, but I managed to push it aside and give it to them, and before I knew it, he was gone.

<Where are they taking him>

<For now, he will be with the others, but by this time tomorrow, he will be in the staging area. He will grow much bigger than that. I look forward to it.> I tried to stand up, but my body instantly gave up.

<mother…..>

<I know Sally. I know.> She came to my side and helped me up and toward my bed. Even I didn’t need to be told to rest.

<you need to recover. If I see you wandering around the hive->

<Yes. Mother. I understand.> I mocked. She's been like this a lot for the past few days. She does know I am in charge, right? I could order her to stop, but it's more fun to play along.

Sally glared at me as she told me once again, “To be on my best behaviour, " like I'm not always on my best behaviour, TSK.

Once I was left alone, I pulled my bed sheets up and attempted to rest. Minutes went by; however, nothing, not even a wink of tiredness, I tossed and turned for god knows how long before giving up.

<I need to do something.>

I slowly slipped out of my bed.

<Woah> I cried. My legs were still jelly after giving birth to that big one. I'll have to take my time. I slowly shuffled my way out of the room into the hatchery. The moment I stepped out, the nurses instantly locked onto me.

<Mother? Is everything okay, big sis sally said.>

<SHHHHH. Don’t tell her I’m here. Can you bring me the tunneler? I want to see him.>

The worker nodded before scurrying away. before quickly coming back with 3 other nurses.

<Does mother want to help nurse this one?> one of them asked. I chuckled. It has been a while since I nursed one of my own. I took him out of their hands. He’s a heavy boy, isn’t he?

<ill take him, don’t worry, I'll return him to the staging area.> The nurses nodded, before leaving me with him. he squirmed slightly in my hands as I held him.

<There there, I'm here, I'm here.> I took a step forward, but then I remembered Sally. She will probably yell at me if she sees me anywhere outside my room.

I headed back into my room. Thankfully, the place I want to go has a second entrance, thanks to azuura. When he built the core room, he was smart enough to put a second access shaft that led to my room. I walked over to a nearby wall and gently tapped it. Soon it cracked open, revealing a shaft big enough to fit me.

< Are you ready for a little flight, little one?>

All of a sudden, an intrusive wave of excitement echoed into my mind. I looked down at the larvae in my arms. It came from him. He’s developing quickly if he can already communicate.

I gave him a reassuring pat on his nose as my wings unfurled as I stepped into the abyss. Immediately, my wings buzzed as I slowed my descent to a steady fall.

Eventually, we reached the bottom, where I was met with the orange beating heart of the hive. I stepped into the core room and took a deep breath; the earthy, wax-like smell hit my nostrils. I love it. I took another step and then another. The core thrummed as I approached. This thing has been beating away for the best part of 3 days. I’ve been a bit hesitant to use it, as just creating it was awful enough, but seeing how I have nothing else to do. I might as well.

I walked to the base of the beating core and looked upwards at it. The golden waxy veins pulsed with an orange energy I couldn’t explain. I looked down at my arms, the tunneler was squirming away in my arms. Suddenly, I was hit with waves of excitement and curiosity.

<You wanna see what it can do? me too>

I opened up my system and selected Hive Core.

HIVE CORE INTERFACE
Hive materials		Current bonuses and activated skills
ORGANICS: 10T Production 2T/Month: consumption 1 T/Month INORGANICS: 0T Production 0T/Month: consumption 0t/Month BREEDING STOCK: 44		Improved recovery Reduced stamina drain Improved construction speed
Special unit creation	Territory bonuses		Hive skills

I had a look at the menu; there was a lot to unpack, but thankfully, a lot of it I could figure out on my own. However, I had a few questions. I focused on the menu, causing several menus to appear.

Hive materials These are the resources that are currently being used and produced in the hive. Organics: Anything that can be used as biomass is classified as organics. Organics are used to feed the hive and as a resource when unlocking special units, territory bonuses and skills. Inorganics: raw metals, processed metals and minerals. These are materials that cannot be consumed by the hive but can be used in other ways, such as creating special units and acquiring bonuses and skills. Breeding stock: How much breeding stock is currently in the hive:

Current bonuses and skill Territory bonuses: Bonuses that are active to you and the hive when you are in a territory you own. For territory to be classed as owned, it needs to have been held for 24 hours and not be contested. Hive skills: Similar to the skills you have, but they apply to the hive in general. they provide Current skills and bonuses Improved recovery: Injuries sustained in and outside the hive recover 25% faster in the hive territory. Reduced stamina drain: All inhabitants of the hive use 25% less stamina at all times in the hive territory Improved construction speed: Workers now work 25% faster in the hive territory

Special unit creation Special units are some of the strongest units the hive can make. Special units require more than biomass to make but may require a good amount of any of the 3 resources to make, and may ask for an unlisted resource. Currently available special units: Brood mother: A unit capable of producing and incubating select eggs that the queen can produce. Alternatively, the brood mother can be impregnated by the queen to help produce the bigger units. Resources: Organics 0.5T/ inorganics 0.25T/ 1 Breeding stock Female) Seed-Bearers: Seed beares are a special unit that can extract semen from males and convert it into a growth accelerant Resources: Organics 0.5T/ inorganics 0.25T/ 1 Breeding stock male

I read over the menus again and again, boy howdy, was there a lot to unpack here. But I get the gist of it. collect resources, spend them on upgrades and units. This new system, however, changes heavily how I planned to move forward. Prior to this, I planned to expand outward in a circle around me, but now I'm realising that expanding to claim valuable inorganic sources and using them to snowball might be better. But that leaves me with another problem: where the hell will I find inorganics?! I let out a sigh. Why do I get this as soon as the mole man escapes.... He would have been perfect no matter.

<I guess tracking him down has moved up my list of priorities….> I swiped away the nemus and focused on my skills and bonuses. Let's see what's available.

Available Territory bonuses Gestation speed increases 1 : Shorten the gestation period by 2 days for all units whilst on your territory Resources: Organics 5T/ inorganics 3T Food Production increases 1: All biomass produced in the hive now grows 25% faster Resources: Organics 7T/ inorganics 1T Breeding stock recovery 1: Breeding stock now recovers faster after giving birth. Resources: Organics 3T/ inorganics 6T

Available skills Hive memory: When a hive unit perishes, any memories it had are passed into the hive core and distributed among the hive. Resources: Organics 5T/ inorganics 10T Passive expansion. The hive core periodically expands into uncontested territory on its own, in the form of tunnels. Resources: Organics 20T/ inorganics 10T Territory terraformation The hive core will terraform all claimed territory into one that suits the hive. providing food and defences for the hive. Resources: Organics 10T/ inorganics 4T

My jaw dropped. These are better than my own damn skills. And they don’t cost me points to get aswell! Dammit, if only I had inorganics! I want everything here! I kissed my teeth as I closed all the menus. Seeing this has made it even more imperative that I deal with these spiders the sooner they are out of the way, the sooner I can actually set the ball-

<MOTHER!>

My spine shook as I turned around to see an angry maid.

<ah, Sally… I was just->

<What are you doing outside your bed?>

Hahaha, I'm in danger, aren't I?