Is this really a Game?!

"How did you know?" Reign asked the queen who smiled at him.

"I have been visited many times by the people that hunt in these caves, and I have heard many of tales about you, not to mention the times you and your comrades visited me, even then, when my intelligence was just starting to develop, I was able to sense the vast power in all of you, and the aura of a lord inside of you."

"The system has also informed me of your existence right after I had finished my evolution, so it was an easy thing for me to recognize you." The queen said before the system suddenly activated with a notification.

Ding!

[ A monster inside your territory, the ant queen M'azgara has evolved and awoken as an intelligent species. ]

[ The player has three choices to make, be warned, however, that the choice you make will make the relationship between you and the ant colony in your territory a fixed one as there will be no turning back after it. ]

[ The three choices are the following: ]

[ Choice number 1: ]

The player can sever all relationships between the territory and the ant colony, which will make all the ants, including the queen, hostile creatures living inside the territory, there will be no rest before one of you is gone.

[ Choice number 2: ]

The player can decide to keep the relationship with the ants a symbiotic one, just like it has been until now. The queen and her elite troops will be neutral or friendly toward the players, while the rest of the ants will be hostile, allowing the players inside the territory to continue hunting the ants in order to quickly increase their levels.

[ Choice number 3: ]

The player can create an alliance or he can integrate the ants into the territory, resulting in all the ants being friendly toward all the players and other species that belong to the territory. The player can further construct special portals that the ants can use, sending them anywhere he likes.

Reign gulped slightly upon seeing the three choices.

The ants were a valuable resource that the territory had as they allowed the players to increase their levels fairly quickly.

With how they have been using the ants, they were able to completely control where the ants were, resulting in the players creating maps of the underground tunnels and caves and writing what level of ants were in which caves. That has dramatically decreased the chances of the players stumbling upon stronger ants, and the casualties had been reduced by a lot.

Reign could allow the players to continue doing so, only that now, there would be more powerful ants present as well. Reign was actually a bit confused as to how the queen would now lay the eggs, and how many she could even lay.

By choosing the second option, nothing would truly change, other than the fact that the queen would be friendly with them and they could further decide where she would send her ants, and how many of what level she could create, of course, the latter options were mere speculations by Reign, although he believed it was probably true.

The first option was a definite no. Killing the queen and all of her ants would not do much for Reign and the others. Right now, he could sense the power of the queen, and after using his [ Inspect ] skills, he was able to learn that she was a peak Tier III being, which was an incredible increase considering the fact that she was a peak Tier II monster before her evolution.

Reign actually didn't even know how she was able to become a peak Tier III being right after finishing her evolution. But one thing he did notice and was immediately interested in was her ability.

[ Brood Mother ]

This ability allows the queen of the ants to create ants, the number and power of the ants created depends on the nutrition of the queen. The more food she had consumed or used for the creation ( consuming and using is different, of course ) of the ants, the more powerful ants she could create. The queen can also give characteristics of the beings she had consumed to some of the ants, creating elite ants that are more powerful than the others. With her incredible spirit, the queen has a connection, and ultimate control over the ants, being able to give them orders or to even kill them with a mere thought as they existed as mere servants to her.

With the incredible ability that the queen had, Reign now knew that his thoughts were correct, the queen could indeed control the ants as she wished. The ability to give them characteristics of the beings she had consumed was already shown to Reign back when he had fought against the Antoid, a humanoid ant of great power.

'Why does this remind me of a certain race in a certain manga?' Reign thought before shaking his head slightly and removing those thoughts. Ants that can evolve like this is a normal trope, definitely not one that has been used very proficiently by someone else in the past ...

'The third option, however, is a tempting one.' Reign thought as he looked at the third option available to him.

The queen, Wolf, and Greenie were all looking at Reign, waiting patiently to hear what he was going to say. They all understood that the reason for his current silence was definitely because the system had given him something he needed to think about.

"My lord, if I may." The queen suddenly interrupted Reign's thoughts.

"Ah, yes?"

"My lord doesn't need to make an immediate decision, even though you and your people could have killed me a long time ago, you chose to spare me and even feed me, although I know that there was use in doing so, it was still the mercy of you and your kind that has allowed me to live until now, whatever choice you make, I will follow, even if you command me to take my own life right now." The queen said seriously as Reign and the others had confused expressions on their faces.

The queen, even though she had a humanoid appearance right now, was definitely not human, nor was there a need for her to actually show such loyalty to Reign. All of them were confused by her actions, but Reign could see that she was actually being honest right now.

Even if she wasn't, and this was a sort of trick she was playing, it would be a meaningless one if Reign decided to kill her, with her strength of a peak Tier III being, she was nowhere near powerful enough to go against any of them.

Reign nodded at her as the queen bowed gracefully at him before going back and waiting a couple of meters away. He explained to Greenie and Wolf what the system had told him, and what choices he had.

"Hmmm, having her as an ally would definitely not be a bad thing, with the ability to create a portal for her ants, we could actually attack a larger force without sacrificing any of our people, slowly allowing the ants to chip at the enemy before sending out the big guns," Wolf said as he immediately thought of how they could utilize the ants to fight against powerful enemies.

Even though they were confident in their strength, going against incredibly large forces was still tough. Most enemies in their realm right now possessed means to empower themselves in their territory, whether it was in the way the giant turtle they once faced, or with a formation or array, attacking the base of an enemy was a tough job that could not be underestimated.

If they could plant a portal near an enemy base and send out hundreds if not thousands of ants toward them, then they could slowly chip away at their strength, although the enemy would also become more powerful by killing the ants, the benefits would be immense.

Of course, the problem was the fact that not only were the ants used as a means to increase the levels of the players, but having them as allies was a bit weird. Even though most people were not affected by the sudden attack of the ants many months ago, some still remembered it, and some had even lost their friends in that attack, or inside the caves.

Even without that, who would want an army of ants to be next to them?

They didn't look aesthetically pleasing at all and most people would even get scared by looking at them. No matter what choice Reign made right now, it was one that would stick with them till the very end, so he needed to choose wisely.