The Primal Hunter

Jake was taken aback at the Queen’s intense stare but even more so by how she addressed him.

”Sire?” Jake asked with confusion. No, wait, she had just been born, right? How did she even know how to talk? Why did she look like a fully mature woman? Why did she also give him the vibes of a fully grown adult with some innate sense of manners?

”Is that not what you are?” the Hive Queen asked as she moved her limbs, stretching as if asleep for a long time. ”Through your power, I was allowed to awaken and become who I am now. As the reason for my current existence, is it an inaccurate assessment to refer to you as my sire?”

Jake was about to answer but kept his mouth closed. ”It is just that the word comes with some implications I am not sure are entirely on point.”

He tried to keep his eyes locked on hers to not stare too much, and she seemed to notice.

”Excuse my indecency; I failed to consider your cultural norms,” the Queen said as a yellow silken dress was summoned out of thin air and covered her body. ”I did not mean to cause Sire any discomfort.”

”Just… you can just call me Jake,” he said, shaking his head. Saying this, he got a sense of deja vu from how many times before he had this kind of conversation. He never freaking got people to just use his damn name. They always defaulted to using something like Chosen, Lord Thayne, or even something horrible like Mas-

”Very well, Jake,” the Queen nodded in agreement.

Wait… just like that? Jake questioned his own sanity. That easy? Really? He finally got his bearings to also Identify the Queen and did not find the name overly flashy... but something was definitely off.

[Vespernat Hive Queen – lvl 200]

Vespernat. Vesper. Jake knew what that meant, as a sense of horror overtook his mind.

He had made a bloody wasp and not a bee! A wasp! Jake questioned how much he had fucked up. No one liked wasps. Wasps were the asshole counterparts to bees, only bringing misery and suffering while not giving any of that sweet honey or even being good pollinators.

”Say… do you remember your prior race? The one you had in D-grade as an egg,” Jake asked, unsure how things worked as he wanted to figure out how something like this could have happened.

The Hive Queen nodded in confirmation. ”Pollendust Bee Queen, I believe it was.”

”And now you are a wasp, correct?” Jake asked.

”Yes,” she confirmed.

Damn.

”As the Origin of the bee species, is that not only to be expected?” the Hive Queen asked, a bit confused at seeing Jake failing to hide his disappointment.

Wait… really? he questioned himself. Jake had to admit he had no idea where bees actually came from historically. Not now and not before the system had arrived. He did know that bees and wasps had stuff in common, but they were definitely not the same thing. Maybe the system had changed how things worked, or maybe Jake just didn’t know enough about the genealogy of bees.

”Could you give me some insight into what exactly a Vespernat Hive Queen is and how you ended up as one from being a Pollendust Bee Queen?” Jake asked, knowing he was maybe overstepping a little. ”Only if you feel like it, of course.”

over time to become less combat-focused and instead dedicated their skills to the cultivation of nature and supplying their hives with resources. Often these bees will be seen working closely with other species and not be solitary hives, finding protection from those more capable of combat. While powerful bee variants do exist, they are all lesser to

nodded

Queen as my first daughter to better harness materials, but I need to know if that

if it is up to you?” Jake

for my birth. Debt has been made, and expectations of a return are only natural. So tell me, Jake. Why did

on the bee ritual and wanted to create this Bee Queen – now Wasp

had wanted a bee to help tend to his garden back on Earth… a garden that he had now mostly neglected, and Rick had thoroughly handled what gardening was being done in the big underground cavern. He had acquired the Bee Queen

to get, and even if he did want to cultivate his own garden, it would take a

had expected upon buying the container,

at some point. The objective had shifted from being about the result to the process itself. It hadn’t been about the Queen at all but about actually being able to spawn her and

of him, patiently waiting for an answer. He decided to not bullshit

continued working on the ritual. My goal moved from what a Bee Queen could help me with and became how I could use my abilities to help birth a variant as powerful as possible,” Jake answered genuinely. ”So, if I am being honest, then I

do something, and he had done it. He wasn’t the kind of person to think that the Hive Queen owed him for being involved in one of his own selfish goals. Even if he did want her to do something for him, his own code of conduct wouldn’t allow him to demand it. He never gave her a

his mind, the Hive Queen was the same as Sandy or Sylphie.

uncertain what exactly you mean?” the Hive Queen asked with confusion. ”If it is desired, I could help cultivate a garden. I

end, all debts are already paid, and we don’t

that, but I do not,” the Hive Queen shook her head. ”You have sired my Path and allowed me to evolve into what I am now. Both parties have to agree if a debt exists or not, and in my view,

when I don’t think one is owed? How can you

want anything here and now, but something in the future,” the

ask, but where are we? My awareness of the outside world was limited while within

a dead topic and shifted the conversation, something Jake was

Primordials,” the

of things? Were you sealed inside the egg or

and of many things in the multiverse. As a True Royal of the Ectognamorph race, my

sense that something like a Hive Queen was born with a lot of it. He was just surprised that she held not only knowledge of her own skills and heritage but of the multiverse

me what a True Royal is?” he

most important structures. It is not simply a preference but of conceptual power. Within a singular hive, the drones bow to their commanders, the commanders bow to their Hive Queen, and the Hive Queens bow to the oldest Queen, often their own mother. This is not a question of loyalty or trust; it

play into that?” Jake asked, already knowing

there as her superior

he had underestimated what a

may ask, Jake, had you considered a name for me before my birth?” the

Beelinda, Beeatrice, or perhaps Beella,” Jake said, cracking a joke. Jokes that would have Miranda threaten to

Hive Queen

by you turning into

before turning a bit more serious. ”If nothing

yourself!” Jake readily