Chapter 380: Sacred Bee-ings |
The First Bumblebee Queen zipped around the Queen of All Bees.
She got to visit the Hive of All Bees, so she was happy!
She got to meet the Queen of All Bees and little older sisters that came before her, so she was happy!
And now the Queen of All Bees asked her what she wanted! The First Bumble Queen already knew!
Her daughters were always happy because they were bigger than their other sisters! They could carry the other bees around when they were hurt, they could help carry big things, they could watch over and play with the little bear-King things, and they could protect their little bee sisters from enemies! And bumble helper loved to ride on them and help groom their hairs too! So, what would make all her children happiest was if they were even bigger!
The Queen of All Bees acknowledged her, making her even more happy as she drifted off to sleep…
Belissar awoke the next day and took his time going through his morning routine. He and his allies would gather again to finish their discussions on the loot and the monster corpses, but Belissar wanted to take a moment to check on the bees now that the fight was over. He walked through the Beecity, smiling and greeting all the bees that buzzed around him before carrying on with their own work. He examined the trays, checking the brood for disease or parasites. To be honest, he had never seen a single unhealthy monster bee or a single parasite in all his time in the Tower and even if there was a problem he could have instantly found out with his connection to the hive of hives, but he enjoyed the process of observing the bees with his own eyes. Healing worker bees from the Second of the Sixth’s hive crawled across cells filled with eggs and growing bees, tapping their antennae to send little pulses of mana into each cell, making sure each one was growing up perfectly healthy.
Belissar nodded to himself. This was what he was fighting for, this is what he wanted to protect. This is what he, the bees, and their allies had managed to protect, even from the Tower Lord who once ruled his life. That was something he could be proud of.
He turned to go and prepare for the meeting, now fully resolved to do all that he could to keep protecting his bees. But…it turned out the bees had other ideas.
Giant Monster Bumblebee Queen now available!
That message was welcome news for Belissar. The bumblebees had proven an amazing and incredible part of the hive of hives, he was overjoyed that one of their queens had evolved. He sent his Tower sight over to the First Bumblebee Queen’s nest to find Finnakynne squealing in delight.
“Beely Beely Beely! You have to see this! She’s…she’s…PERFECT!”
Finnakynne jumped through the nest and dove into the fuzz of a giant bumblebee queen that had literally grown right out of her wax pot. She was already the largest bee Belissar had ever seen, her head resting at the height of a human’s chest…and she was still growing as he watched. She and her workers scrambled to start digging away at the walls of their nest, expanding it before the queen outgrew it. Belissar used his Tower abilities to assist them while he focused in on the newly evolved queen.
Giant Monster Bumblebee Queen
Vitality: Above Average
Strength: Average
Speed: Average
Magic: Below Average
Defense: Average
Resistance: Small
Special: Above Average
Notable Skills: Poison Sting, Brood Mother, Gigantification
Evolves From: Monster Bumblebee Queen
Stolen story; please report.
Spawner Upkeep: 60 (30 with Blessing of Bees)
Description: A monster bumblebee that has evolved to focus on growing larger. Able to grow larger than even an adult human, a giant monster bumblebee has the bulk and strength to contend with her hive’s enemies directly, no matter how large. And if a giant monster bumblebee ever finds itself outmatched, she can use gigantification to grow even larger and stronger.
A hive of giant monster bumblebees is a force to be reckoned with, but it requires the resources to match. An exceptional quantity of flowers, flowers with high mana density, or unusually large flowers are necessary to sustain such a hive.
This one is a queen and capable of raising a hive of giant monster bumblebees, though she may raise workers of smaller sizes depending on the size of the flowers around her hive. As an evolved monster bumblebee queen, she also has a superior ability to raise evolved bee types and can lay other monster bumblebee types in her evolution lineage. She is particularly capable at raising bumblebee types capable of growing to exceptional sizes.
Belissar broke out into a massive grin. This was going to be absolutely amazing, bumblebees the size of people or even bigger! And their physical abilities had tipped over to average or above, meaning he would have bees that were much individually stronger and tougher than ever before. After what Finnakynne and the bumblebees achieved in this last battle, he couldn’t wait to see what the giants could do.
He would have to feed them now, but that wouldn’t be a problem. The flowers in the bumblebee meadow had already grown unusually large and the hive of hives would deliver additional mana honey if the bumblebees needed anything more.
He was just walking over to go see the big bumblebee for himself when he got another message…one that made him stop dead in his tracks.
A sworn defender has evolved!
New perk received: Keeper of the Sacred Bees.
The Blessing of Bees grows stronger.
Belissar stared at the messages. He had experienced enough divine matters at this point to keep his jaw from hanging open, but he was still frozen for a good minute as he wrapped his head around what he was reading. He did not know he could receive perks outside of reward choices, but there one was. And now he was apparently a keeper of…sacred bees.
He almost glossed over the first message given the shock of the latter two, but as he worked to make sense of it all he realized that one was strange as well. A sworn defender had evolved, not a monster, and he hadn’t unlocked any new spawners from the evolution. As far as he knew, humans didn’t evolve…unless the beastkin counted? They were humans once, weren’t they? Or was it one of his beastkin defenders? The bees were obviously the most likely choice for an evolution but they were all monsters rather than sworn defenders…
Then it clicked. He did, in fact, have bees that were sworn defenders, not monsters. And those bees also happened to be tied to divine matters.
He threw his Tower sight over to the apiary just outside of the karnuq settlement as fast as he could. Lo and behold, Velebee’s beehouse was glowing with golden light. He looked inside to find Velebee herself crawling out of a cell, now the size of a fully grown monster bee queen. Her shape and colors were still the same as a normally honeybees, except that now her hairs shown with golden light. Her eyes were like dark pools of water in the night, carrying greater depths that pulled him in. Her wings beat softly and gracefully, shimmering in the light from her body.
As Belissar stared, even the Tower found itself short on words.
Sacred Honeybee Queen
Description: A honeybee queen that has been blessed by the God of Bees. The divine power of her patron flows through her.
Belissar stared for a moment longer before making a decision.
“Chief Rohsuak, could you attend the meeting for me? I think I need to spend today with the bees.”
The God of Light crossed her arms as the God of Bees made her way into the Realm of Light.
“God of Bees, I know you were not there when the gods agreed on the rules for World One, but I’m sure you were aware of the major ones. We cannot risk direct expressions of our power there as we cannot be certain the corruption won’t affect them. So, tell me, why have you created a new sacred beast?”
The God of Bees, however, danced the negative.
“Didn’t.”
The God of Light raised an eyebrow.
“You didn’t? Then where did the new sacred honeybees in Belissar’s dungeon come from?”
The God of Bees happily spun around.
“Oracle of Bees evolved!”
The God of Light hummed to herself as she examined the new sacred bees in greater detail.
“I see. She was on the verge of evolving to a monster bee already, but then she started channeling your authority as your Oracle, so that changed the direction of her evolution?”
The God of Light then narrowed her eyes.
“But what of her hive? They should not have been affected by your authority unless you extended it to them.”
The God of Bees buzzed her wings.
“Hive is one. If queen changes, hive changes.”
The God of Light stared the God of Bees down for a moment, then held her head and sighed.
“…fine, I suppose a honeybee hive is more like a single large organism in a way. Very well, oracles are permitted and we made no restrictions on who or what could be designated one. Since you did not interfere, I will permit it. However, as with other existing expressions of divine power, they must remain bound to a dungeon, even if it means your oracle must remain there from now on, understood?”
The God of Bees danced a salute, before proceeding into a rapid happy dance.
“Ok! Belissar best dungeon master, will protect oracle and oracle’s hive!”
The God of Light cracked a small smile at that, even as she shook her head and waved to let the other god go. After the God of Bees had left, the God of Light turned and examined Belissar’s dungeon once more. She began to rub her chin.
“A lot has happened in this young dungeon, hasn’t it? Perhaps there is something even I might learn from…”
She began to focus on one room in particular, where a great many different peoples were currently meeting…