Setting up the new room didn’t take that long in the grand scheme of things, so Belissar had plenty of time to resume his magic practice from yesterday. He sat just outside the Apiary farmhouse and ate a spoonful of swirled honey, focusing his attention on the mana within it. He then formed a spell drone and a honey-forming spell pattern. As before, he had the spell drone fly to the spell pattern and gently reach out to it with as thin a strand of mana as possible. He closed his eyes as the mana made contact, watching with his Tower sight instead.
The mana connected…and did not immediately explode or destabilize. Belissar smiled, but quickly refocused; this was only the first step. He had the drone start to dance, following the steps the First of the Fifth’s honeyswirler workers used. He watched the mana within the honeycomb pattern swirl about as the spell drone danced about and tugged on it.
The spell drone completed his dance…and neither spell drone nor spell pattern broke. The mana within the honey pattern locked into place as it finished swirling, stabilizing into a new pattern. Belissar cracked open one of his eyes…
A drop of honey dripped from the pattern. Both of Belissar’s eyes slammed open as he rushed to catch the drop with a finger. He slowly lifted it to his mouth and gently extended his tongue.
His face lit up as the honey spread sweetness and warmth through his mouth…in exactly the manner of the swirled honey.
Belissar grinned, threw his hands up, and let out a shout. It had worked! Even after getting the spell drone and spell pattern’s mana to connect, he had expected many more failures to come while trying to swirl the honey. But, as it turned out, the First of the Fifth had already done the work for him. He had managed an immediate success just by following her honey-swirling process.
Niobee responded to his outburst by zipping about.
“Here, Niobee, have a taste!”
Belissar spent a minute just watching Niobee lap up the honey before recalling his original purpose. Now he knew he could manipulate his spell honey while the cast was in progress; the next step would be to form a core instead of swirled honey. But now, at least, he knew what to try. He just needed to get his spell bees to replicate the core formation process and he’d be golden.
But then, Belissar began to rub his chin. He suddenly had another idea. He had formed a spell drone and successfully learned how to use it to connect to and manipulate another spell. But…weren’t drones the ones connecting the mana of different hives? That being the case, couldn’t Belissar use a spell drone to link his mana with one of the queens? If he did that, a queen could use his mana to form a core directly, using the instincts imparted to her by the Tower. He’d be able to help form a core without needing to learn the full process…and the core formed would represent a collaboration between him and the queen in question.
Belissar smiled. He had a feeling the bees would like that even better than if he made the core all on his own. That being the case, he decided to wait for the Fourth of the Seventh to return so he could attempt that method, since today she had resumed scouting the Tower’s exterior.
He still had some time and mana left, so Belissar began training again…but this time, he started to form combat spell bees. He thought of his outburst towards Juosiutik; the memory of losing his temper and lashing out at her made him feel uncomfortable, but it also revealed that his magical powers had grown. If he could hone and control that sort of power, it could prove useful. Well, he hadn’t directly participated in any fights for a while since he knew it would make the bees feel bad, but he thought it would be best to be prepared. Especially now that he knew that Tower Keepers could potentially revive even if killed…
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
So, Belissar stirred up his mana and tried to see if he could make it buzz like it did back then…
The King was not the only one testing new powers today. The Firstborn flew amidst the Fairy Grove’s canopy once again. She had specifically requested that the King let her handle today’s purification, so he had moved this room to the front. She watched as a small salamander formed, covered in black flames. It would do.
“Fire invader, can handle. Can fight?”
She was participating in the battle, but it was not her turn to command. She had insisted that today’s queen, the Second of the Third, take control of the army. She would participate solely as a warrior and squad leader, so she waited for the Second of the Third’s approval.
The Firstborn danced a quick salute and then began her dive. She didn’t even need to tell her squad, they immediately sensed her intent and followed after her. They had to split up, unable to maintain their formation with all the branches in the way…but it couldn’t be helped. They were, after all, much larger than the usual soldier bee, or any bee her hive had fielded yet.
The first monster bee knights, already evolved thanks to the First of the Fifth’s powerful honey. Their presence was the reason the soldier bee army and its queens had agreed to let the Firstborn confront another shade directly. The knights were actually larger than the small shade they were confronting today, their stingers would end such a shade immediately and, unlike the lancers, they wouldn’t even need the speed of a dive to pull off a sting. Defensively, the lancers had survived a dive against the full-size salamander shade, so there was no fear the tougher chitin of the knights would hold up against a small one.
As such, neither the Firstborn nor the knights themselves were concerned that their formation was scattered by the trees. Any one of them could handle themselves if they ended up face to face with the shade, even if alone. The hive of hives finally had bees that could confront some of their enemies on even terms. They had taken an important step in their mission of protecting the King and the hive of hives.
The Firstborn’s mana stirred in response to her thoughts. A power she had not been aware of surged into her wings, pushing them to beat faster and propel her forward. It spread to the monster bee knights around her, pulling them along as well. Together, they dove through the canopy, united in their desire to become the King’s strength.
The Firstborn burst past one final set of leaves and saw her target directly. The salamander glanced up and began to growl…but the Firstborn was faster. With a burst of mana, her wings pushed a gust of wind behind her and she crossed the final stretch in a blur. She barely had time to refocus her mana on her stinger and swing her abdomen forward.
Her mana coated stinger stabbed right into the shade’s head and kept going, impaling the entire monster. A cloud of black mist surrounded her stinger as the monster faded. The knights landed all around her, glancing about for any further enemies. She apologized to them in her head, they would not get to test their might today.
Because hers was now enough to protect the King, and to fulfill her oath with her own stinger. Her mana flared once more as she danced a salute.
Belissar had a grin on his face, even as he crossed his arms to think. He had never seen a single bee just overpower a shade like the Firstborn did today. Even the lancers had to work with each other and with the other bees to ensure their powerful dives could hit, the Firstborn in comparison could now dive from a short enough distance that the small shade couldn’t dodge her in time. The bees were growing strong.
And that is why he considered today’s reward.
Small Purification completed! Please select a reward:
- Monster Bee Queen Speed Boost (Minimal+)
He had learned at this point that there was always DP and max mana options and one random option. The small purification rewards could include common features in that option, so most of the time they got choices like Dirt Trails or Snare Traps that weren’t particularly necessary or else very small stat boosts that only targeted one specific bee type, thus why he almost always chose the mana. Everything required mana and the daily purifications were the most consistent way to get more.
But today he was reconsidering. The bees were now powerful enough to face shades directly and they would only grow more powerful with time, and he currently had three hundred spare mana available. Though he knew that mana could vanish surprisingly quickly, today it made more sense to strengthen the bees, even if just by a small amount.
And whereas before speed wouldn’t really help the queens that much, the Firstborn and the Fourth of the Seventh now would very much appreciate it.
Belissar went ahead and chose the monster bee queen speed boost without further pondering. He smiled as he moved to help set up for the victory celebration, now able to add his own swirled honey to the big pot of herbal infusion.
The bees were growing stronger…and soon, they’d be selecting another from the God of Bees’ reward to join the hive of hives. He couldn’t wait.