Chapter 351: The Lesson

“RIA!”

Kael shouted as he reappeared in his room. He was about to scan the entire room but then—

“Father.”

Imperia, who was sitting on top of his leg, called out, calming him down. The little Ant then jumped on his shoulder and began patting his head.

“Are you alright…?”

She questioned.

That question woke up Kael from his trance. He recalled how the ‘battle’ ended. The last thing in his mind was how those giant beetles fell on top of Imperia’s Chamber, and all he could do was lie on the ground with those ferocious beetles chewing his limbs at a pace his regeneration could not keep up with.

“I… failed…”

Kael muttered, lowering his head since he couldn’t protect his daughter.

“It is alright, Father.

We weren’t expecting to clear the Trial in the first attempt.”

Imperia spoke, continuing to rub Kael’s head while her antennae swayed gently.

Kael nodded lightly.

That was true. Considering just how absurdly powerful Imperia was, he already knew her Trial would be extremely difficult. Also, he had never once been able to clear a Trial on the first attempt, so he wasn’t very hopeful from the beginning.

This was more of a scouting attempt, an attempt where they would understand their surroundings, assess the conditions, and figure out what the Trial was actually about and how difficult it was.

He was prepared for a loss. What affected him the most was the fact that he was told to protect his daughter and failed.

It was a feeling he did not like.

“Was the Trial that difficult? You seem down.”

Suddenly, Lavinia crouched next to the father-daughter pair and questioned carefully. She was currently in the middle of making breakfast.

Honestly, she hadn’t even begun the preparations. After all, Kael returned much earlier than she was expecting. Lavinia planned to have breakfast prepared before he appeared. She wanted him to have a warm meal after working so hard.

And since he was usually gone for more than two hours whenever he went to Everveil with Vitaria, she expected him and Imperia to return at a similar time, but the two were back within just a few minutes.

She had barely woken up right now.

Even the rest of Kael’s children, other than Igni, who woke up after hearing Kael’s shout and came here, were asleep.

“I do not know.”

Imperia shook her head.

“Hmm?”

Lavinia frowned at that answer. Even Igni seemed slightly confused.

“I could not see what was happening.”

The little Ant explained. Her explanation, however, confused the Princess and the dragon even further.

Imperia then finally began explaining everything that happened. As for the moments she couldn’t see after she entered the Brood Chamber, Kael began adding the details.

He needed to talk to Imperia about the Trial anyway. At the beginning, he thought he would need to complete this Mission on his own. He thought that his Imperia was so perfect that she did not need any training, only he needed to put in work.

However, he had underestimated how incompetent he was.

His Imperia was perfect, yes, but he was far worse. He needed Imperia to teach him how to get used to the Swarmlink before he could even think of winning this battle. Honestly, even now, his head felt somewhat heavy. Usually, everything that happens inside the separate dimension stays inside and no sort of injury persists after he returns, but this…

His mind still could not forget that stinging pain. Heck, the pain was so overwhelming that even when he was overwhelmed by those giant beetles and they began tearing and chewing on him limb by limb, the only thing he could think about was this pain in his head. When his head was torn off by one of the beetles, for a moment he felt relief that the pain finally ended.

This was how overwhelming it was.

Kael had no clue how he was supposed to fight in such a state. Just recalling that scene made his head ache again. So much that he instinctively moved and grabbed his head, his eyebrows furrowing.

“Kael?”

“Father?”

Lavinia and the children called in worry. Kael slowly raised his hand,

“I am fine, don’t worry. This is just a lingering pain.”

He spoke, trying to keep his eyes open.

“Father…”

Imperia muttered. She wanted to help her father, but she did not know what to say.

“Ria, do you get all that information as well…?”

Kael couldn’t help but question. He was still in pain, but he could not hold back his curiosity. Imperia tilted her head at his question, confused.

Kael tried to word it better,

“The Swarmlink, it told me everything about all the Ants present there. Their movements, their emotions, their positions… everything.

The information was so vast that I think it overwhelmed my mind…

Do you receive the same information all the time?”

He asked. After all, after the addition of new Ants in the West, Imperia too had more than a hundred thousand ants under her command. What’s worse, unlike the ants under his command, who stayed still, awaiting his orders—

All of Imperia’s Ants had specific tasks that they were supposed to carry out, meaning their movements, emotions, and positions changed all the time, increasing the amount of information she received by multiple folds.

And Imperia,

“Is that not normal…?”

She tilted her head in confusion.

“I am their Mother, it is obvious that I should know about my children all the time, is it not? I even know their condition, their age. I know about the injured, I know about the healthy, the newborns, the old. It is all important since I need to move them accordingly.”

“You… you do that on your own…? All the time…?”

Kael could not believe it.

“Well, I do have the Queens to help me out.”

The Ant answered, acknowledging her daughters’ existence.

“As lacking as they are, they are good queens who take care of their children. With some instructions, they do exceptionally well.”

The Mother praised, but then—

“Of course, since the colony size is significantly small right now, I do not actually require their help currently. I can manage everyone on my own, but I let them do it as a form of training for the future when our colony grows.”

“You can… manage a hundred thousand ants on your own…?”

“I can manage more than 10 million individual ants on my own. More if I use other methods. My mind does not get overwhelmed by the information regarding my children; they are like an extension of myself.”

Imperia revealed.

She wasn’t trying to brag or anything like it. She was stating a simple truth.

And Kael…

“10 million…”

He just blinked.

Just thinking about what that sort of influx of information would do to his mind made him feel dizzy. His headache became even worse.

However, he didn’t fail to notice something Imperia said,

“What are these other methods you are talking about?”

He questioned.

If Imperia can raise the number of ants she can control using this, he should be able to use these methods as well, shouldn’t he?

“Queens.”

Imperia answered, and seeing Kael’s confusion, she started explaining.

“As I said before, I do not manage the Ants on my own. I let the Queens do it. I connected with the colony back in Genesis Hive as well. There were multiple types of Ants there, but those types did not have Queens.

So you appoint one.”

“I can… just appoint one?”

“Of course, since you have my Power, you are their Mother, or in your case, their Grandfather.

They will do anything you tell them to.”

Imperia answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and Kael slowly nodded.

He had felt it as well.

The Ants awaited his orders. He felt like even if he ordered them to rush to their deaths, they would do it.

“What do I do after making a Queen? Do I let the Queen command?”

He questioned.

That would indeed be easier, but…

Imperia shook her head.

“The Queens are untrained. Even if you appoint a Queen, she will be a relatively new Queen. She would not know how to command her Ants. Even if you give her directions, there will be times when she will not be able to complete your orders, and in some cases, that could be fatal.”

“So what do I do?”

Kael questioned.

“You make more Queens.”

Imperia answered.

“You usually train the Queens till they get better, but that cannot be done in this case since everything would be reset after we return.”

Kael nodded at that.

“So instead of one Queen, have multiple.”

Kael tilted his head, as if asking ‘we can do that?’ and Imperia chuckled,

“You can appoint one Queen, you can appoint hundreds.

Take the burden away from the Queens, place it on your shoulders. Appoint hundreds of Queens, each with simpler, much less complex tasks—tasks that they can complete.”

“So what you are trying to say is that instead of controlling all ants individually, I make Queens, let them command the Ants beneath them, while I just command the Queens.

This way, if one Queen is commanding even a thousand ants, the load on my brain would be reduced a thousand times.”

Kael muttered and—

“That is correct.”

Imperia nodded.

“Of course, how you choose the Queens and what Ants you put under their command is important as well.

You can do this by focusing on their emotions, their abilities and…”

Just like that, the lecture began.

Lavinia, who had absolutely no clue what was happening, left them alone and continued her breakfast preparations. Igni, after making sure his father was alright, returned to sleep a little more.

And Imperia…

She finally got some time alone with her Father~

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep