CH823 Completed Metamorphosis – The Hive Queen
***
Alex nodded to himself.
He was extremely pleased that the Nest Queen had evolved towards an external incubation system.
Through his connection to the hive, he could sense that the grey eggs were drone gene cores, each containing the genetic blueprint personally written by the Nest Queen for an individual drone.
Once a gene core had been laid, responsibility for nurturing the developing drone shifted from the Nest Queen to the hive as a whole.
The vulture bee drones ventured outside to hunt before converting the carcasses of their prey, together with the ambient mana permeating the caverns, into carrion honey, which served as a universal food and energy source for the hive.
It not only sustained the mature drones, but also formed the cocoon required to nurture and eventually hatch new drones from the gene cores laid by their queen.
