For some time now, between the blackened branches and smoggy sky, three things began to stick out. With Ben’s enhanced visual prowess, the first thing that he noticed at the forest’s edge was the wall.

Just beyond the ridge of trees, a towering gray slate interfered with the horizon. Smooth and tall, the stone wall of Yiwi was a sight to behold. A classic otherworldly fantasy city! Needing a big wall to protect from forest monsters. Despite deciding to build the city on the border of a dangerous forest.

Brilliant.

I had to admit, though. It did look cool. Instead of the ancient or classical feeling of typical stone walls, these had an artificial smoothness to them. In fact, there were parts that even seemed to reflect some light. Maybe some metal was used in the wall itself?

According to the humans’ knowledge of Yiwi’s wall, yes. None of them really knew (or I guess cared) about the composition of their city’s wall, providing it kept them and the people safe. Fair enough. But they did know that the wall was actually mostly metal. So was the smooth gray rock not actually… rock?

Well, another standout feature of the wall was its shape. Not how it looked from above; in that regard, it was just a bumpy oval as far as most human knew, except for the side facing away from the forest, which extended to surround the river for some distance. No, the most interesting feature was the wall’s height. The further away from the forest, the lower the wall went.

But who cared about that?! Ben’s superior vision had let him see the wall, which got him all excited for some reason. Maybe because it could be directly compared to our own hive’s wall? But no, as the resident otherworlder, there was something else I noticed instantly.

The stupidly gigantic propellor.

Ominously overlooking the city, casting a huge shadow and turning slowly, a massive horizontal fan…turbine… thing topped the city like a fucking propellor atop a kid’s propellor hat. Like from cartoons.

Hold on. The wall’s tapering height… the oval shape with a section jutting out… and a bit propellor on top? Yiwi was just one big propeller hat!

What I was seeing was the Yiwi Rotor, something of a trademark for the city. What the humans knew about the Rotor fell mainly into two categories: the Rotor as a background constant and point of pride, and its functionality. They all knew it was integral to Yiwi’s history, something to do with the city’s founder. And that it had once been much smaller, subsequently destroyed, and rebuilt.

As for its functionality? The key could be found in their Mind Locks.

[Mind Locks:

* Life (5%)

* {Knowledge} (~25%)

* {Combat} (~60%)

* {Profession} (~65%)

* Yiwi (5%)

* {Misc.} (80%)

]

Observing Yelah’s Locks, one stuck out as odd. Yiwi was a Lock not labeled under any other category like Misc, took a cool 5% Mind draw, and had no sub-locks. So what was it? Well, I had the B-boxes (that were still activated) to thank for giving me an idea. When I thought of the Rotor, that Lock came into my consciousness. And so…

[Yiwi:

Rotor tax. Citizen + mercenary charge = 5%

]

Oh. Well, I was expecting a bit more than that. What the hell, man?

“Why even bother? Just inspect their knowledge on the Lock. Or on the Rotor itself.”

But where’s the fun in that?! Looking through the menus to learn more information on some obscure, eye-catching factoids? That was the best! Well, despite its brevity, the description actually said quite a bit. So, every citizen and mercenary in Yiwi had to pay taxes, but rather than with money, they paid with Mind.

“They do pay monetary taxe-“

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Wow, no monetary taxes. To the city. As Queen was spoiling, people do pay monetary taxes to their resident kingdom, Somuia. But we’re talking about the Rotor! Let’s focus up!

So, the Rotor wasn’t wind powered? What was the point of its design, then? Maybe it was too big? Heavy? Was the city founder stupid?

So, people in Yiwi paid a Mind tax of 5% for the Rotor to work, and they presumably got some benefit from it. Enough that the rest of the city’s administrative responsibilities and amenities and services and so on didn’t need money to function. I was interested in seeing what exactly those benefits might be.

“…Just think of them.”

No way! You’re telling me you would rather think of whatever cool fantasy nonsense might be powered by a giant horizontal propellor than experience them yourself?

“Yes.”

Wow. Party pooper. Look, I’m trying to be positive here. We can’t even experience the stuff anyway, stuck in quarantine. But at least we could experience it vicariously through the Link. Speaking of, there was one more thing that we had noticed. Unlike the wall and the Rotor, this wasn’t something I noticed through Ben’s eyesight. It wasn’t something I noticed through Ben at all. While Ben allowed me to see incredible detail from far away, seeing a hint of what lay beyond the gloomy destroyed forest, he wasn’t particularly Mind-sensitive. Poor guy.

No. By seeing the world through Beckham’s eyes, or Mind, the third thing became painfully clear.

Yiwi was scary as fuck.

The city with thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of human Minds was like a beacon of pure pressure. What was it? Did just the 5% constant Mind usage for the Yiwi tax do that? Beckham wasn’t being physically repelled (yet), but he could easily feel an astounding amount of Mind like a massive waterfall hitting him in the face. To me, who could see the city in ominous, shadowy detail, and who could simultaneously feel the crushing force of Minds?

Yiwi stood like a shadowy fortress, enveloped in a terrifying dark aura.

“Wow. I can actually see the perceived image you are creating in your head. It is…surprisingly accurate, in a way.”

“Yelah. How much longer to the city?”

“From where we are, it shouldn’t be more than an hour. Why?”

“Just excited. Oh, and Toh has been on his way for a bit. Do you think it’s fine for you to wait for him to enter the city?”

She looked upset by that. Ah, of course. The thing that made her the most upset at the moment was the state of her friends. Vlugh seemed to be sleeping a bit better, but Rette was in no shape to wait for medical attention. Encountering Toh’s group and their more robust medical supplies had sure been a boon for her, but that wasn’t reassuring for me in particular.

Namely, I wanted to get at least Ben’s group into the city walls as soon as possible.

“I wanna see inside! The wall is cool looking!”

“That wall has protected us for a long time. Squirrels aren’t the only thing that lived in this forest, you know. Of all things, our monster-proof protections are attracting a monster.”

“Hey! Do you think I’m a monster? Thanks!”

Oh, Ben. Not what she meant.

“Fine. Get your friends some medical attention. But don’t be too quick to report to the company. I want to be more cautious around them.”

Yelah nodded, but she didn’t know my true intentions. Sure, I wasn’t lying about being more cautious around the mercenary companies. But what I really wanted was an excuse for Yelah’s group to meet with a high-ranking executive. Of course, with a Linker Bee in tow. Unfortunately, the Linker Bees, Gathering Drones, and Bert were only just getting ready to make the journey. Ultimately, all of this meant more work for me. Who would be directing the Linker Bees? Who would be making sure Bella could maintain communication with her drones and lackey? Who would be monitoring the entire operation?!

This bee.

“More like this bee. Or maybe the B-boxes. All you want to do is imagine Yiwi standing menacingly in the distance and see a big propeller spin.”

Well. Well well. Well three times. Eh, I can’t think of an argument. You’re pretty much spot on. Regardless, I was starting to think getting sick was something of a boon at this crucial juncture. For me, at least. I could focus on making sure all the moving parts of the operation fit together properly.

Speaking of, I was going to tell Toh to speed things up. I doubted his crew would be surprised to see their boss coming along with the two goons he sent our way, but I still didn’t want him to dally too long. But in that case, he would have to show up alongside them to ease the minds of the others. So, he was being bottlenecked somewhat by said goons.

Let’s see. The main force, along with Toh’s team, would arrive outside Yiwi’s walls within the hour. Maybe less, because after our discussion, Yelah got stressed out. Or rather, she was acting stressed out. Yup, she was leveraging her genuine anxieties and Grehn’s imposing figure to make the group go faster. Good on her!

So, less than an hour for arrival. Toh’s trio, on the other hand, would take much longer. Combining the lack of monsters with the small, lightly equipped group meant that they would reach Yiwi fairly quickly as well, though not in less than a day. And our cavalry, or final group of bees, might actually take less time than Toh’s group. With a limited need to stop and tireless determination, the mostly mindless army of bees would make the journey feel short.

Huh. Bert… was using Mind to move around. And… the drones were also alternating between flying and floating?! How was that possible?

“I think Beatrice is to blame. From what I can tell, she has made it a policy for any bees to understand the mechanics of using Mind to fly using the minimum amount of effort possible. She has found the process to be extremely energy and food efficient. As for the drones and Linkers… Ah.”

“Pick it up, little buddies! Move to the music! Now float… and fly! Float… and fly!”

“Sniff… those poor drones. Aren’t you hurting them by carrying them around like that?”

“Nonsense, Bert-bro! Look, I think they like it.”

Becky?! What was she doing there?

“Beatrice again. Seems she was nervous about losing stability, so she sent Becky along with Bert. Which means we are investing even more crucial resources into this operation every day.”

I hope Beatrice knew what she was doing. Well, to be fair, she probably knew better than I did. But it was still crazy to think. Becky and Beckham were the only bees with Mind sensitivity anywhere near Beck, and the only bees as enthused about the Link. Sure, this would be an invaluable experience and so on, but geez. So many important bees leaving the hive.

“This is the reality of any hive. Having so many bees within the hive doing tasks other than creating food or constructing the hive is already unusual. I think this will ultimately be worth it.”

Classic Beatrice. Well, it was hard to argue the cost-benefit analyses with the likes of her.

With Yiwi growing closer, I couldn’t focus on this preparatory stuff anymore. Once Yelah entered those gates, there was no turning back. Either the humans would find us out, swear revenge, and destroy us. Or they would bow.

Of course, my thoughts were immediately interrupted by the wax door thing swinging open. Beatrice was visible from the doorway, along with another bee. Beau, that one protégé of Belle’s that enjoyed tinkering with the weird forest litter. Beau floated into our room, and the door slammed shut behind her.

“Apologies for the interruption, Mother. Beau here has also fallen ill. Please continue monitoring the operation.”

Ah, shit.