Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

"Okay, let's hear it first. Bloodhero, please don't tell me we must prepare for an attack in the near future…"

Bloodhero stared at me silently.

"What? Well, where's that report?"

"Father, you said to not tell you. Do you need time to mentally prepare before I speak?"

I groaned.

"They are that close? How many?"

"Three of them, Father! I have the scout's report all written," Bloodhero pulled out a wax tablet and offered it to me. "From what I think, although these giants still seem far away, with their speed, they could cross this distance in a day if they want to."

I took the report and read it, tearing through the poor grammar.

The education standards had to rise at some point…

According to the report, the Beemarine Excellia was one of the bees who tried (and sometimes succeeded) to hitch rides on dragon backs. Thanks to their new protective equipment, they could see better while in flight.

As I knew (I was the one who suggested it, after all), the riders have also been trying to steer the dragons by shouting their names and throwing snacks, although with much lesser degree of success so far.

Also, the Beemarines who have been picked for dragon riding were ones who already had some experience with patrolling borders and orienting in the wilds.

Thanks to all this, Excellia had noticed a group of green giants while flying on Woe's back, and began throwing her stash of dried meat in their direction. Thankfully, the dragon seemed curious about the giants too, because it landed nearby and let the scout examine both the dragons and their surroundings for a while.

The details about the giants' appearances weren't on the report, because Excellia focused on their location. She remembered the landmarks and the sun's position and determined where she and the giants were.

Then Woe flew away before she could find anything else, and several hours later, Excellia was returned to Hive Supremo.

I passed the report back to Bloodhero and went to mark the place on the wall map.

It was two days of flight away from the nearest border of the Bee Empire. Dangerously close.

I scowled at it.

"What are the chances that the green giants will just walk past us even if they see the Bee Empire's borders, Bloodhero?" Ambrosia asked. "Most beasts prefer easier prey than bees."

"I don't know, Queen Ambrosia. The minds of beasts are unique, all of them, but usually small. Except that green giants can also smith from metal and use clothing, don't they? It's vile." Bloodhero shuddered.

My Advisers nodded, showing similar degrees of disturbance.

"Knowledge invites a search for more knowledge," Researchina said heavily. "The more smart a creature is, the more it wants to find everything about the world. I'm sure that the same way I want to find more about the green giants, they will want to find more about us."

"Definitely," Tabletina supported. "They will want to cut the entire Empire open to see how it works. We can't let them even *start* being curious. Better to attack them now with enough force to cut *them* open instead."

Yeah, no shit!

Several months ago I would've been excited to meet other intelligent life in this world, but now I fully agreed with my Advisers.

If a random modern man stumbled upon a bunch of strangely behaving and intelligent bees, chances were fifty-fifty on whether he would harm them.

I estimated these giants to be somewhere more medieval. And a medieval person would *definitely* prefer to eliminate anything strange and potentially dangerous.

"So there were only 3 of them, right?" I glanced at Bloodhero, who nodded. "This means they were most likely gatherers, hunters, or just travelers. Send more scouts after them—even if the giants have already left their place, the scouts will have to track them. All the way to their settlement, if that's where they are going."

Bloodhero saluted.

"I already sent a hundred Commandos! They are ready to survive independently until their mission is complete. But what should we do military-wise?"

I frowned.

A good gene could be an answer to our problems, but they won't bear fruit in time.

Unless…

'Since I have new genes, I can update my morphotype now. This means that every new bee with this morphotype will have a new set of genes. If I pump all the gene points into "Faster Development", then perhaps I will be able to get something ready in time.' Stay connected through My Virtual Library Empire

Ambrosia looked at me and said, echoing my thoughts,

"Maybe there are genes that can help us out? I remember a 'Venom Spray' upgrade—that would've been helpful. Our venom might be the best thing we have against beasts of this size."

I nodded, and the gene-picking began.

While the Advisers offered their suggestions, I cursed the system and its gambling mechanics in advance, expecting it to betray me with bad luck again.

This way, I was softening the soreness of losing all my attribute points for some trash beforehand. But if I actually got something nice, it would be a wonderful surprise!

Since most attacking genes were in strength, that's what the Council silently agreed on.

〔For improving strength, you have a choice of next genes: 'Throwing Elbows', 'Detachable Stinger I', and 'Increased Venom Potency I'.〕

〔Throwing Elbows: increases the distance of throws by 100%.〕

〔Detachable Stinger I: allows stingers of bees to be detached from the body without a trauma. Lost stingers don't regrow.〕

〔Increased Venom Potency I: increases damage of venom by 50%.〕

Before development level 5, the choice would've been clear. But when the morphotype feature arrived, things changed.

'The "Detachable Stinger" has tiers and leads to "Shootable Stinger". What do the other tiers of that gene do? Give us more stingers, or let stingers regrow? Or what if I take the venom boost gene and put 10 gene points into it? Will it give me 500% damage boost? Will it make a single sting deadly enough to kill even a giant? But against smaller targets, especially ones that have armor, like hornets, throwing is still way more effective than stinging!'

The decision was hard at first glance. But when I thought again about the dangers we had to face, and also, what profits we could reap from this… The answer was obvious.