Eventually, the sound of flames and grunting stopped, leaving silence hanging on the air. All the karnuq held their breath and kept their eyes fixed on the hut. And then…finally, they heard a knock at the door. One of the karnuq cracked the door open and handed Metsaitti his clothes.
A moment later, Metsaitti stepped out the door, a bit singed in places but no worse for wear overall. Chief Rohsuak exhaled her breath and smiled, holding up her hand to stop the karnuq from swarming him.
“So…how did it go? Do we have a new champion of fire?”
Metsaitti rubbed the back of his head.
“Well, not exactly…”
Flames burst from Metsaitti’s body and concentrated at the back of his shoulders. They curled down and around before heading back into his body. Chief Rohsuak raised an amused eyebrow while all the other karnuq watched with wide eyes.
Metsaitti now appeared to have a set of bee wings forged from flames. He made a sheepish smile.
“I…had some help.”
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Belissar, too, exhaled his breath as he confirmed that Metsaitti survived. He turned to Niobee and smiled.
“Thank you for helping him, Niobee. Really, what would I do without you?”
“King is best king! Workers’ job to help!”
Belissar chuckled and held out his hand. Niobee landed on it and he began to brush her back, causing her to lightly buzz her wings.
“Still, I appreciate all that work you do.”
With that, Belissar finally turned to acknowledge the messages from the Tower.
Offer to improve dungeon bond with sworn defender Metsaitti?
Offer accepted, dungeon bond improved.
Sworn defender Metsaitti now has limited access to dungeon mana. Sworn defender will now be sustained by mana and restored to optimal condition where possible. Sworn defender gains increased resistance to hazardous dungeon features.
Sword defender Metsaitti now requires 5 mana upkeep.
Belissar rubbed his chin. So that’s what had happened, and why Niobee had needed his permission. Now that he focused on it, he could feel a stronger mana link to Metsaitti, about on par with the daughter queens. He looked closely and saw some of the wrinkles and gray furs Metsaitti had starting to fade.
He apparently was also spending mana on Metsaitti now, but Belissar considered him well worth the price. This was the man who took on the Tower Guard captain, saving countless soldier bees from death. What was a bit of mana to keep him around?
And, as it turned out, an improved dungeon bond was not the only thing Metsaitti gained…
A sworn defender’s blessing has been upgraded into a combination blessing by two of your patrons.
Gained 10 DP.
If Belissar was reading this correctly…not only had Metsaitti passed his trial and gained a new blessing, but apparently both the God of Bees and God of Fire had worked to bless him. The God of Fire was obvious but he wondered how the God of Bees had gotten involved? He glanced at Niobee. Maybe because she had helped?
In any case, it made Belissar happy that the two gods had gotten to work together on this…as well as the fact that one of the strongest karnuq had grown even stronger.
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After Metsaitti’s ordeal, the clan decided to hold off on any more attempts for the day, and so dispersed back to their own tasks…including Juosiutik. She nearly skipped back to her hut as she carried a piece of honeycomb in a ceramic jar. It had been wonderful reviewing all her old recipes with her new powers and new sources of ingredients…but that was only the beginning. Her blessing title was honey herbalist, so she knew that her path lay in unlocking the potential of the ingredient none of her ancestors had every worked with before. Not even her mother.
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And now, she had access to one of the new kinds of honey, one that was not and could not have been made by any mundane bees. A magical honey with overtly mystical properties. The potions she could potentially brew with something like that would go beyond just slightly more potent medicine. This was where she would truly begin to explore her blessing.
But that exploration would have to wait just a bit, as Juosiutik came to stop just before her house. Hovering outside her door were bees…and not just the usual communer that allowed connected her with the First of the Fifth and her Third Daughter. No, this time the communer was accompanied by another worker and several of the soldier bees…who were holding an entire tray of bluish-green honey. Juosiutik walked forward in a daze, barely remembering to speak.
“Hello. Um, what’s going on?”
The communer immediately responded with a dance.
“Queen mother reports method was a success. Wishes to thank dangerous one for assistance.”
Juosiutik’s eyes widened.
“Wait, do you mean the potion honey or the potion bees? And which recipe did you use?”
The communer danced and the worker bee accompanying her flew in front of Juosiutik. Juosiutik could tell they were one of the rumored medicinal bees…or so she thought.
“Potion bees. Used pollen from other plant instead of mixing nectars, worker grew up with compounds from both.”
Juosiutik’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the worker bee, trying to remember every detail about it.
“And which plants did you use?!”
“Healing herbs and snakebane.”
Juosiutik grinned.
“So…some sort of antidote bee? One who could make some kind of antidote honey from any flower’s nectar?”
The communer danced the confirmation.
“That’s amazing. Oh, I’ll have to tell Noigakkuq before she starts drinking the poison honey, if we can mass produce antidote potion now we can make sure she’ll survive no matter what happens.”
But before Juosiutik could run off, the communer flew before her.
“Queen wants to give reward now.”
Juosiutik paused, and then slowly turned her head. Her eyes slowly widened further and further as she looked over the soldiers…and their cargo.
“Wait…that means…that tray of honey?”
“Queen is giving.”
“To…me?”
“Yes.”
Juosiutik slowly turned to the communer and then bowed her head.
“This…is…incredible!”
Before jumping up again and starting to run around the tray.
“This is the healing herb honey, right?! This is amazing, there are so many recipes I could try to integrate this into. This…this is going to revolutionize the clan’s medicine once I figure it out!”
She spun around to face the communer once more.
“You’ve no idea how much this is going to help! Please, let me know if there’s anything I can do to thank you!”
“Queen mother says already have. Will be trying to raise more bees, though. Wants to know if have more recipe ideas.”
Juosiutik made a grin as wide as her entire face.
“Oh, I have plenty! So…if I understand this correctly, the baby bees eat pollen as well as honey and that’s how you got around the dilution issue. Let me see what my mom’s notes say about pollen…”
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Beero completed yet another comb pattern made of lightning, willing the spell to complete. The comb flashed, and then a small chunk of propolis with tiny-lightnings zipping over it plopped onto the ground.
The wounded soldiers had the stinger spell down at this point, and the first generation of them were now teaching their newest comrades the steps. But Beero knew they had a long way to go. They had but one spell. The karnuq queen appeared capable of manipulating fire at will, while the invaders had used many different types of spells in their assault.
Beero, thus, was working on expanding their repertoire and figuring out new ways to use their lightning. The King had created wax and propolis before, so that was what Beero tried next.
It…wasn’t going as well. Wax and propolis did not come to her as easily as stinging foes, so even when she completed the right pattern it didn’t always trigger properly. And even when it did trigger…this was the result. A bit of propolis or wax that would drop useless on the ground. And unlike the King’s version, the wax and propolis she made with mana would vanish a short time later. As it was, Beero couldn’t see a way to use this in either battle or work.
But she would find a way, as she had before, no matter how much time or work it took.
At this point, the wounded soldiers were all running low on mana, so they stopped their practice to have a meal…as well as meet with a new addition to the Memorial bees. The only one among their number who was not wounded at all…a communer assigned to them by the Firstborn herself. Now that they had proven themselves a potent combat asset, Beero’s queen mother wanted the ability to speak with them at anytime…and vice versa.
Beero happily buzzed both her remaining wings and her lightning replacements. Every time she saw the communer was a reminder that they had once again found their place in the hive of hives. So, she stepped forward as the wounded soldiers gathered and began to drink the honeycomb that had been left for them.
“Any news from hive of hives?”
The communer danced the affirmative.
“Gardeners say new flowers will soon bloom. First of the Fifth’s Third Daughter has raised new bee type. Karnuq got fire wings.”
Beero stumbled.
“R-Repeat last one.”
“Karnuq got fire wings.”
Beero spread out her wings and pointed the lightning pair towards the communer as she danced.
“Wings…made of fire? Like this one, but with fire?”
The communer danced a quick mana-dance and waited a bit before replying.
“Yes, scouts confirm.”
Beero froze solid as her mind raced. Their method of mana manipulation worked…on things other than lightning?