POBee 385.1 - You Bee-quire More Mana |
By that point, the day was growing long and there was much to do tomorrow. King dismissed his council and went to sleep for the night, tired after all the recent events. Niobee watched him fall asleep and sent more of the Tower’s mana through his body, speeding up his recovery.
Niobee didn’t reduce her activity though. She rarely needed to nowadays and she still had important work to do tonight. She was connected to the Tower, its mana constantly flowing through her. Whenever King brought up preview images to make decisions, Niobee saw them too.
So, she had seen the Thriae. A human bee hybrid, one that could bridge the gap between human and hive! One that could be a hive for both King and the hive of hives! One that was apparently already loyal to King, already part of the hive of hives even though she didn’t exist yet! She even danced a salute to Niobee too, though Niobee let King talk to her for both of them.
The most important part, though, was that Niobee now had an example and a path. So, Niobee called upon all the mana of the Tower she had access to, concentrating on herself. She had kept her body small enough to fit on King’s head, not letting it grow like it wanted to. Now, she took all the mana and potential growth that had stored up and concentrated it on herself.
Her body glowed as mana flooded through her, so bright she left King’s hive so she wouldn’t wake him. Her vision was flooded with light until she couldn’t see anything but bright white all around her. The mana spun around her, forming a cocoon of power and magic. And then…
…nothing happened.
Niobee immediately realized the problem: there was not enough mana to complete the change, not even if she gathered all the mana she could access. The Tower needed to grow before she could evolve so dramatically. Additionally, she did not understand the Thriae, she had no instincts guiding her along that evolution. She didn’t know how to evolve into one even if she had the mana for it.
So, more work would be needed before she could become a hive for King. Even though there were more humans now, those humans used to be hive burners, so Niobee didn’t trust them. King needed a hive that would protect him, not hurt him, and one that would connect him to the hive of hives.
She could not become that hive tonight, but she now had a path. Niobee now knew what she was working towards and had already asked bumble helper for help. Bumble helper should be able to help her understand the human part of the Thriae so that the evolution could shape her body as necessary. King would keep growing the Tower and the mana available to her, so that would come in time as well.
So, Niobee let the mana go back to the Tower and flew back to King’s side, settling in for the night. All while keeping a close watch on everything within the Tower for any hint of the mana she needed…
The queens of the hive of hives gathered in the Beecity even after King dismissed them. They still had a major decision to make, one they needed to make before the next time they needed to defend the hive. The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter started off the dance.
“Which bees should make immortal?”
The Firstborn hesitated, her wings buzzing as she forced herself to dance a painful reply.
“…none. Can’t. Hive doesn’t have enough mana.”
The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter expected as much. The new instincts King had granted her informed her just how much mana it took to create an immortal. The Firstborn’s hive didn’t have enough. Her own hive didn’t have enough, she and the Fourth of the Seventh’s joint hive taken together barely had enough. The instincts also warned her that, even if a hive had enough, it was dangerous to create an immortal if the hive could barely afford it. If that immortal then died and needed to revive, the hive could find itself rapidly drained of mana, then of honey…and even of life. The entire hive tied itself to each immortal it made, those bees would live and die with their hive…and their hive with them, if they weren’t careful.
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So, right now, the only hive in the King’s realm that could safely afford an immortal…was her queen mother’s. That was only possible due to her complete and total focus on honey-making: all the extra workers and honeypots and stores of swirled honey increased the overall ambient mana within her hive beyond any other. But her queen mother’s hive was using that ambient mana to imbue more mana into swirled honey and take some of the burden off the honeypots, if they created an immortal they might not be able to maintain their honey’s quantity or quality. That would be an unacceptable outcome that would slow the entire hive of hive’s growth.
So, no single hive could practically create an immortal at the moment. King’s gift would go unused until they could grow.
If it were up to a single hive, that was.
“Hive of hives will help. If combine hive mana, can do.”
The Firstborn stopped buzzing her wings and immediately focused on the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter.
“Hive of hives can? Amazing, incredible!”
The First of the Second, though, did not join the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter’s dance yet.
“Can really? New bee needs hive’s mana, can’t use different hive’s mana? Even hive of hives?”
The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter danced an acknowledgement.
“Can’t, not yet, but…”
She turned to the Fourth of the Seventh…and didn’t even need to dance. The Fourth of the Seventh happily flew over to her. The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter and Fourth of the Seventh began dancing in sync.
“If join hive of hives mana, then can.”
The First of the Second’s antennae twitched.
“First of the Fifth’s First Daughter and Fourth of the Seventh’s hive mana…almost the same. Might…work? But two hives still not enough?”
The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter couldn’t help a happy dance.
“Fourth of the Seventh amazing, incredible! Communers helped both hives, drones blending mana. Mana grew together.”
The Fourth of the Seventh responded by zipping around in a “First of the Fifth’s First Daughter, amazing, incredible!” dance. The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter wanted to join her, but she had to finish her dance to the hive of hives first.
“Now lots of hives live in Beecity, one big hive. If have more communers and more drones blending mana, hives’ mana will join. Will form big joint hive, closer hive of hives. Then, can use Beecity mana make immortals.”
The First of the Second’s antennae twitched one more…then she broke out into a rapid dance.
“Could…work! Amazing, incredible!”
The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter danced a confirmation.
“Yes, hive of hives needs work first. Need more communers and drones, need blend mana of all hives more. Need bigger hives and more hives, need more mana. Need keep growing.”
All of the queens danced a salute. The hive of hives would come together and work as one until it could utilize King’s gift. After which, the entire hive of hives would fight together as one, the mana of all hives working together to defeat King’s enemies. As the hive of hives should.
The digging monster bee assassin found herself before the Queen of All Bees. And as she crawled over the Queen of All Bees to synchronize with her mana and pheromones, the Queen of All Bees danced.
“What want?”
The digging monster bee assassin paused. For all her life, she had never asked that question. She had always just followed her instincts and her queen mother’s will. But now…her instincts weren’t telling her anything and her queen mother wasn’t here to instruct her. She had thought the Queen of All Bees would tell her what to do, but now the Queen of All Bees was asking her.
She had no idea what to do.
Since she didn’t respond, the Queen of All Bees started to dance again. The digging monster bee assassin thought the Queen of All Bees was going to tell her what to do now, but she didn’t. Instead, the Queen of All Bees faded from the assassin’s perception, replaced by different types of bees.
The digging monster bee assassin saw new kinds of assassin bees. Assassin bees that could fly really fast, stinging enemies before they could respond. Assassin bees that were nearly impossible to sense, stinging enemies before they knew the bee was there. A bigger digging assassin bee that made traps in the ground, making enemies fall towards them for easy stinging. Even a bee-lizard thing that was as strong as a monster bee knight, if not stronger, and that could spray clouds of deadly venom! There was some new mana in the assassin bee’s body that wanted that one, but it wasn’t her queen mother’s mana so she ignored it.
The digging monster bee assassin waited for instructions or instincts, but neither came. She…would have to figure this one out herself. She would have to decide what she…wanted.
And what she wanted was to continue her job, especially her latest one. She felt her queen mother’s pride and joy every time she stung an enemy. The King himself thanked her for stinging the big lizard, making sure that no other bees had to fight it. It was her own special way of contributing to the hive, the hive of hives, and the King. It was what let her defeat entire invasions on her own, to her queen mother and the King’s delight.
If there was anything she wanted…it was stronger venom. The big lizard thing had taken a lot of stings to kill and could have hurt other bees before it died. She wanted to make that any more big lizard things that invaded the hive wouldn’t get the chance.
The Queen of All Bees appeared again and danced an acknowledgement. The digging monster bee assassin then fell asleep, to return back to her hive the next time she awoke…