I Became a Hive Mind in the Game

“??????”
Upon opening my eyes and seeing the dense forest, I should have been unable to gather my thoughts due to the shock of just connecting to the device and the haziness of my consciousness… but?
‘…What’s this.’
To my own surprise, I am currently in an extremely rational and calm state of mind.
If I had to describe the level, I feel as if I’m reading a text describing myself, with not even a hint of agitation in my heart.
“First, I need to get up—”
So I concluded that I needed to objectively analyze the current situation and assess my condition, and tried to stretch out my arm, but…
Squirm.
‘…What is this?’
What extended in front of me was not my arm, but a tentacle that felt like a milky-white pudding.
‘Am I in the game? Was I forcibly connected due to an error?’
Amidst all sorts of questions that caused confusion, naturally, the first hypothesis that came to my mind was that I had been forcibly connected into the game.
The reason for this judgment is precisely the tentacle I’m looking at now and the body it’s extending from.
‘This is that, right?’
This tentacle and body belong to the Baby Hive, the mascot monster of the game. The mushroom-like head with an eyeball in the middle, and the tentacles extending from below prove it.
But even so, there are still a few things I can’t understand.
The fact that I’m connected to a game I didn’t even log into. The fact that I’ve become a character I didn’t choose or customize in detail. And…
“…The activation of psychic powers in a form that wasn’t predetermined, which is impossible with modern technology.”
Using psychic powers without setting a trigger in advance is a technology that doesn’t even exist in the first place. If it were possible, it would be a completely banned technology that reads thoughts without consent.
Well, this could be considered over-interpretation. But there’s a decisive reason why I came to recognize this as reality.
It was because of the strange sensation I felt in my head? when using psychic powers, which can only be described as something indescribable seeping out.
If I really had to compare it, it was like something coming out of my brain, licking the inside of my skull, and then slipping out through my arm—a sensation absolutely impossible in reality, which gave me an uncanny sense of reality.
“—Gah! Ugh!”
And the moment I internally recognized this as reality, all sorts of knowledge flowed into and engraved itself in my mind, accompanied by a terrible headache.
Instincts as a living being, how to develop supernatural abilities—psychic powers, my identity, and even how I can become stronger.
I suffered in pain, rolling around in a body whose structure I ‘didn’t know’, and only after the knowledge was absorbed and the headache subsided could I deeply understand my true identity.
I am a Baby Hive.
An embryo of the Hive Queen, responsible for the quantity of monsters threatening humanity.

※ ※ ※

After realizing this fact, I—the Baby Hive—began to assess the surrounding environment and look for a suitable hiding place.
According to the setting of Project Monster, even though it looks like a peaceful forest on the outside, almost all natural environments are actually inhabited by monsters that have become indigenous.
Also, these monsters naturally live by eating each other, which is why I, a fragile Baby Hive, am looking for a place to hide now, as I could be killed and become a snack if I encounter the wrong one.
‘…This terrain seems familiar somehow.’
But after quietly wandering around the forest for about 10 minutes, I strangely felt like I had seen the structure of this forest somewhere before.
Wondering where I might have seen it, I was floating around analyzing the surroundings carefully when I suddenly discovered a rock embedded in the ground with some kind of pattern engraved on it.
And this rock was very familiar to me.
‘Wait a minute… Isn’t this the one from that hunting ground?’
It was the rock located in the hunting ground—whose name I can’t remember—used for quickly leveling up from level 40 to 60.
‘Ah, that’s right!’
After realizing this and looking around again, I saw many familiar terrains. The valley used for mob gathering, the red light trees that were gathering items, and even the cave in the middle of the cliff where the field boss used to spawn.
There was no doubt. This forest was the hunting ground where I used to stay when playing the 3rd installment.
‘If the 4th installment is 10 years after the 1st… and the 5th had a reboot. Then is this the future?’
While trying to somehow deduce the current time, I could think of a way to find out the time period for certain, albeit a bit risky.
It was to check for the existence of the notoriously violent field boss by giving some stimulation to its nest over there.
‘First, from a bit of a distance…’
After calculating the output and position of my psychic power, I hid my small body in the bushes, picked up a small stone from the ground, and threw it with all my might towards the cliff.
The target was the cave where the boss spawns. The stone fragment flew powerfully and fell in front of the cave, albeit a bit anticlimactically—
‘It’s not here. Then, is it really the future?’
Surprisingly, nothing happened at all.
In the latter part of the 5th installment, there was an event that felt like a global gathering of monsters. At that time, the local boss “Burning Autochthon” appeared as a mini-boss, and after that, named monsters that were exterminated in the event story were deleted in an update.
Of course, the developers were heavily criticized for the update and the boss deletion itself was rolled back, but there was only one thing I needed to know here.
That is, in the 5th installment, story-wise, the boss of this place had died, turning it into a vacant area.
And that means that currently, that cave is probably empty, and considering the situation of the cave where there used to be a mine in the game, that place is probably the optimal location for settlement.
Huh? What if another monster has occupied that cave, you ask?
…Neither my psychic powers nor my sensing abilities detect any life forms in that cave, and there was no reaction to the stone I threw, so I can only hope that no one is there.

※ ※ ※

‘Phew, no one’s here…’
After carefully entering the cave by levitating myself with psychic power, fortunately, there was nothing inside except for the nearly crumbling molted skin left by the “Burning Autochthon”.
Judging from the strong scent of the Autochthon emanating from this molted skin, it’s predicted that this scent probably prevented other monsters from approaching this place.
And the moment I recognized that this place was safe, I felt the tension in my body completely release.
After being on edge all day, now that some peace of mind had arrived, I naturally felt my strength draining and fatigue setting in.
…Let’s rest for a bit.
So I decided to take a short break and move again later, releasing my psychic power and immediately lying down on the cave floor.
And while lying down like this, recovering my fallen physical and mental strength, I suddenly thought that if I used the knowledge about myself that exists in my mind right now, I might be able to create something like a status window.
‘That’s an incredibly silly idea.’
But this might not be a good choice. Unless it’s a game system, the status window I create will inevitably consume my psychic energy, which means that even if intuitive information recognition is possible, my combat power might decrease…
‘That’s exactly why I should do it right now.’
Originally, the Baby Hive itself is not a combat unit, and such a status window can function like a kind of programming tool or software, so I think it’s rather good.
Therefore, I immediately started processing the various knowledge and information injected into my mind into a status window… and strangely enough, it started to fit perfectly.
Even though I was only trying to recreate the interface used in the game, the methods of evolution existing in my mind were virtually identical to those systems in the game.
[You have acquired the skill ‘Status Window (A)’.]
[You have acquired the skill ‘Guidance Message (A)’.]
[The two skills are integrated into Comprehensive Interface (S).]
As a result, I was able to create the status window and guidance messages much more easily than I initially thought would be difficult to develop, and at the same time, I could check my current status window.

Name :: ???
Age :: 0 years (0 months 0 days)
Race :: Baby Hive
Grade :: 10
Level :: 1

Abilities
Strength :: 5
Agility :: 5
Vitality :: 10
Intelligence :: 10
Resistance :: 10
Energy :: 50
Leadership :: 50

Traits (5/???)
Monster Gene (EX), Predator (E), Composure (A), Hive Mind (E), Versatile Psychic User (E)

Skills (3/???)
Comprehensive Interface (S), Psychokinesis (E), Split Thinking (E)

‘Hmm… Just as expected.’
And my current status shown on that status window was, except for the Composure trait, an extremely ordinary and standard Baby Hive status.