Chapter 21: Champions Instinct

Messia told me that she would see how the other girls were doing, and I also asked her to Go find the Chief for me. Something was bothering me, and after she left, and went over and brought cushions to sit down near them.

There were more than enough things in reach for me to scan, but I was concerned about how the Chief had acted last night. Queen or not, this was too much trust and faith to put in me, and It was starting to make me feel uncomfortable.

"Champions Instinct, this is an innate ability of the Queen System. Your mere presence calms and makes others trust you more easily. Thiamon must have had outside influence to have this level of trust already. I suspect the old Sage will have had something to do with this," Queeny explained to me after she poofed into existence.

"That is a powerful trait for me to have, isn't it? I could just walk anywhere and take over an entire colony of people," I said, scaring myself at the implications that I had just made.

"No, that is not how it works. Champions Instinct is locked to your mental state. You are right to say that it is powerful, but not in the way you think. You will need to learn to control your emotions and know when are the right times to express them. This power broadcasts your emotions over a large area, and the stronger the emotions, the great the area of effect," Queeny explained.

"How are the girls doing? Do you have an estimation for how long I have to find new genes for them?" I asked.

I had my answer to the question, but I was still going to make Thiamon come in here. I was not concerned with him seeing these things. As far as I was concerned, all of this was already mine by extension of the girls.

"They are stable, Messia already fed both of them, so they have another three hours before she will have to do it again. So far, they have absorbed almost one-third of the Royal Honey back into themselves, so I estimate only two to three more days at most. This is far faster than I assumed, but this could just be the type of evolution, and it will not be any major changes," Queeny told me.

"Good, it's a short amount of time, but that honey means that we will Bee able to get the ship buzzing faster. I also plan on pollen Thiamon into the pot with us, and that will put us at ten and ready to take on Hive Tasks," I said with a screwed-up face.

Queeny gave me a look of disappointment, and I deserved it, but now it was time to start looking around, but I wasn't about to start picking up random things.

"Can you tell me the things that I can pick up safely?" I asked, taking the girl's words of warning seriously.

"The objects within your reach are all safe. I will notify you if you attempt to pick up something that could harm you. I will inform you, or my override system will engage to prevent you from doing something dangerous," Queeny explained to me.

"That's another those things right?" I asked hopefully, and wasn't disappointed.

I have no control over many of the systems in place in the Queen system, but that is so I do not try to prevent you from doing something that I don't like," Queeny explained, and in that moment, she displayed the first signs that she was more than just some program installed into my head.

That was more than a comforting feeling, and that told me that she wasn't just some autonomous thing. I felt at ease now, this left me feeling ready to tackle the day, and I started to look around and grabbed a flat piece of shiny metal.

The piece was about two centimeters thick and ten squared. It was weird and light, but then I felt my fingers slip into it like it was a thick gel. I was alarmed at first, but queeny made no noise, and my eyes lit up as I started to scan it.

[Queen System] Activated!

[Item Scan] Completed!

[Harmon Plate]: *Requires [Metal Grafting], Harmon Plate is made up of Nanohexites, a living metal that can coat anything and make them more potent and giving them regenerative abilities.

[Metal Grafting] (Gene) Acquired!

"That should be saved and used for your wings. Even though your entire body is fragile, your wings are the most easily damaged and the hardest thing to repair. Metal Grafting will also become useful for other things in the future," Queen explained to me, and I was in agreement.

That would be a good help, and maybe they would have a way to hide away when I wasn't using them. I looked around, and just out of reach, there was a necklace with a different colored bead.

I leaned over and tried to reach for them, but when my hand was about ten centimeters away, a message popped up.

[WARNING]: Dangerous object detected proceed with caution.

My hand stopped, but it was my own doing this time, and Queeny buzzed over to me. That was a bit scary, and I wondered just what those things were, but I wasn't about to go touching them for no good reason.

"Pick it up and do not touch the orbs, only the gold chain they are on. Those are Spell Orbs, and without knowing how to control your basic Life Magic, you could activate one of them by accident," Queeny explained as I slowly reached forward.

I took ahold of the chain, but I lifted it to my eyes and slowly spun it as it lit up

[Item Scan] Completed!

[Spell Orbs]: [Tap] Vocal activation command word.

Green{Growth}: Casts Growth on Vegetation. Does not work if there is no plant life.

Red{Tinders}: Casts Tinder, and it creates a small flame that can be used to start a fire.

Yellow{Shockwave}: Casts Shockwave, and anything within five meters is stunned for 3 seconds.

Brown{Sickness}: Cast Sickness on target, and they will develop severe stomach pains for 10 seconds.

[Spell Imbuer] (Gene) Acquired!

[Fire Magic] (Gene) Acquired!

[Lightning Magic] (Gene) Acquired!

[Plague Magic] (Gene) Acquired!

What a great find and nothing was overtly dangerous, so I clipped it around my neck. It wasn't pretty, but the ability to cast spells needed no fashion.

I was just about to look for my next victim when I heard the grass door open, and I turned to see who it was.