LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 1 - A Special Queen (1)
I was a player who played this crazy game quite diligently in my own way.
I actively browsed communities, gathered information, and achieved countless achievements that were proof of being a veteran player.
And although it wasn’t a particularly great talent, I drew and uploaded pictures with a certain affection.
-Ah, that crazy bug freak is here again.
However, what I focused on wasn’t the common races or players that other players typically used.
It was the Black Death Worms, a type of monster that appears in [Demon Realm], one of the playable civilizations.
The Black Death Worms were monsters that couldn’t be played.
But I was interested in them.
Not because I had a strange taste as others misunderstood, but because they were the most common low-level monsters in the demon realm civilization I mainly played.
The more I played the game, the more I saw them to the point of boredom, and it was closer to growing fond of them in reverse.
Above all, other fan arts were drawn more splendidly, better, and more frequently by many people besides me.
I didn’t think they were cool either, with their appearance of giant insects covered in black exoskeletons.
So when I drew pictures of them, I always chose the queen leading the horde as the subject, and I anthropomorphized that queen to be as beautiful as possible, like a human.
A mere mob with little importance, swarming in numbers. An extra in the game with no particular backstory other than being designed based on Earth insects like ants.
That must have been their clear identity.
[You are the queen of the Black Death Worm horde]
[Lead your forces to victory in the game]
However, my showing interest in them and drawing pictures of them was never meant to become one with them.
It absolutely, definitely, and even more so, did not mean I wanted to become a queen and lay their eggs.
* * *
“Ah, no…! No!!!”
The moment I realized what had happened to me.
I fainted again just 1 minute after waking up in a damp and gloomy cave.
It was impossible. It shouldn’t have happened.
As I fainted, I firmly believed this was a dream.
I thought I was trying to play the game even in my dreams because I had played that crazy game so much. Indeed, it seems games deserve to be regulated as drugs.
I tried to go back to sleep, believing that when I regained consciousness, I would be in my studio apartment, on my bed.
“Ugh, uah…”
But before long, I felt a strong presence and had to forcibly wake up from my fainted state.
What I saw with my barely open eyes was still the scenery of a cold and gloomy cave.
And a giant… insect rummaging through my unconscious body.
“Hu, huaaaaak!!!!”
I screamed and thrashed about wildly at the sight of the giant insect trying to mount my body lying on the ground.
It’s a grotesque and horrible insect that looks like a beetle.
About the size of a small car, its entire body covered in black exoskeleton, with legs longer than a spider’s, which was different from a beetle.
“—…”
Fortunately, or unfortunately, when I panicked and thrashed about wildly, it stopped moving and just stood still, staring at me.
‘This crazy bug.’
Why? As I quickly retreated backward, I could read its thoughts.
It was a beast-level instinct, too simple to properly understand by human standards, but it could be called a thought nonetheless.
And the moment I read that thought, an intense feeling of disgust washed over me.
Right now, it had only one thought, or rather, instinct. It was acting solely for that purpose.
That is, it wanted to mate with me and reproduce.
“Get lost, don’t you get lost!”
When I sat down and expressed anger with all my sincerity, it seemed unable to refuse that order and slowly retreated.
No matter how chosen a male it was, it had no choice but to obey my orders.
Because I was the queen, the ruler and center and core of the horde.
‘What on earth…’
Although I had barely escaped the crisis, my mind was in utter chaos.
Information and knowledge were all mixed up, and I felt like I might lose myself.
[Prosper your forces]
Amidst all this, a system message with a familiar UI flickered before my eyes.
Rather, seeing that calmed me down quickly.
It was an element that could instantly make me understand and explain what situation I had fallen into overnight, and what kind of world this was now.
“I am…”
I blankly looked down at my trembling hands.
Hands so pale they were almost white, with long, slender fingers and flawless beauty.
Naturally, my gaze moved from my hands to my entire body. My naked body, that is.
It was a perfect body, as beautifully sculpted as my hands.
The only thing covering that naked body was the brilliant silver hair flowing from my head.
Now I fully accepted it. I had been possessed into the game.
And not just that, but as the queen of the Black Death Worms that I had drawn fan art of.
The fact that I had been possessed into a woman’s body I had never seen before, rather than my original male gender? That wasn’t even important.
Because I wasn’t even human now.
Only my outward appearance was that of the beautiful human woman I had designed, but my inner nature was the same as that horrible insect in front of me now.
I couldn’t even hope to go back home anymore.
I just hoped to survive safely.
[Perform the tutorial]
“Wh-what?”
Meanwhile, the system message wanted me to proceed with the game like this.
But I didn’t understand those words.
“What am I supposed to do?”
It was a question I asked because I truly didn’t know.
Tutorial, of course I had done it more than once or twice. So I was confident.
I was confident that I had played pretty much every civilization with pretty much every race.
But now I had been possessed as the queen of the Black Death Worms. The Black Death Worms were part of the mobs that couldn’t be played at all.
Of course I didn’t know what to do for the tutorial when playing as this race.
「1. Directly mate with a male to reproduce」
「2. Further develop evolution factors」
“??!”
Familiar options appeared. They were options that assisted the player and helped progress the game.
It was the first time seeing them appear before my eyes like this instead of on a monitor.
“What are evolution factors…?”
After recoiling at the first option, I muttered without realizing.
The second option, which I essentially had to choose, was one I couldn’t understand even after reading it.
[Evolution factors are the trait development page possessed by Black Death Worms]
“Ah…!”
Surprisingly, as if answering my words, it resolved my curiosity.
The trait development page was a function that had to be used essentially when cultivating a race.
The goal of the game was to make those I was cultivating the strongest in various aspects by developing and evolving various types of traits.
Those traits were the key to achieving that goal.
There was no reason to hesitate once I knew that.
I didn’t expect to open that trait page in the body of a Black Death Worm, but I naturally chose option 2.
「Available Trait Points: 5」
「Selectable Routes: 1. Consciousness Enhancement 2. Physical Enhancement 3. Reproduction Enhancement」
A window similar to the game appeared before my eyes.
It was like a tech tree for the Black Death Worms, mere mobs that no one had ever seen before.
Here, I could find ways to gradually strengthen the race.
“But why give me 5 points?”
[This is a reward for the first play of the race]
Originally, you’re supposed to get 1 point at the start.
But when I questioned the 5 points that had been deposited, the system message properly informed me again.
First play reward for the race, a reward I had never heard of before.
‘If I choose wrong here, it’s really over.’
I swallowed dry saliva without realizing.
These unexpected 5 points from the first reward. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it was certain that this was as good as my life savings.
“Reproduction Enhancement.”
If I fundamentally think about why I’m cornered in this nest like this, the priority was to avoid being violated by those horrible insects.
I need to change the instinct of those ignorant, horny bastards who try to insert their reproductive organs regardless of their female having a completely different appearance.
So naturally, the first place to invest a point was in Reproduction Enhancement.
To escape from the one-dimensional and barbaric reproduction where the male sprays seeds into the female’s body, and the female who receives the seeds makes eggs and lays them.
「Reproduction Enhancement 1-1」
“Damn it…”
The problem was that it was still a bit far from the stage I wanted.
The moment I invested in the trait, I could understand Reproduction Enhancement stage 1, which was me laying a large number of eggs first and the male spraying seeds on top of them.
「Reproduction Enhancement 1-2」
I invested in the next stage, gritting my teeth.
I wondered if this was really evolution, but it seemed a little more evolved in the Black Death Worm way. Now I didn’t lay eggs. I received seeds from the male, produced fertilized bodies, and injected them into the body of a living host.
「Reproduction Enhancement 2」
‘Ah, finally.’
After spending 3 points to move to stage 2, I got the result I wanted.
A case where I don’t have to be violated or get pregnant with my own body.
[External uterus production initiated]
“Urgh, uweeeek!”
At the same time, with the sudden rise of nausea, I couldn’t control myself and ended up vomiting a handful of black, viscous liquid onto the nest floor.