Noigakkuq frowned. She sniffed out of habit before hissing and clutching her nose. A bright green bee buzzed around her but she shook her head.
She was currently surrounded by trees, bushes, and flowers. On the surface, she stood in a perfectly peaceful and idyllic forest. There weren’t even any game trails, tracks, or decaying remains that would hint at deadly predators. She was at no risk of bodily harm.
And yet, Noigakkuq was in a worse position than she had ever found herself, in her opinion. Because, as she had no choice but to admit, she was lost. The karnuq hunters were currently training in the Tower Keeper’s new defense rooms on both the Tower Keeper and Chief Rohsuak’s insistence. Once they had learned how to traverse and fight in the forest and the lava flats, they would be permitted to challenge the Tower once again, and earn additional favor in the sight of their patron gods. Noigakkuq was very much vindicated to be included among the hunters this time, as an equal participant. So, she was all too eager to start challenging and to grow even stronger than she already had.
As such, she had volunteered to screen the body of the hunters, intent on using her innate mana sniffing to speed up the process. After all, this was a mere forest. She could understand the lava fields, but a forest wasn’t dangerous because of the trees. As long as there were no predators here, it shouldn’t have taken the karnuq any time at all to acclimate. So, she ignored the bees buzzing around her and set off into the brush.
She very quickly learned how wrong she had been, the very first moment she took a sniff. She had been immediately blindsided by a dozen overwhelming scents all at once, and only then did she realize that this forest was absolutely drenched in mana. Worse still, the mana was not all ubiquitous like it was in the rot cap field, every time she sniffed here she was subjected to countless different, seemingly random scents all mixing together into an explosion that assaulted her senses.
Her mana sniffing, the one power she had to her name for most of her life, was entirely useless in this forest. Forget keeping track of the karnuq and locating incoming enemies, every sniff left her incapacitated for a moment.
She clenched her teeth before turning back to return to the group. She walked…and she walked…and she walked…and she walked. Until now, when she realized that, somehow, in the handful of moments between leaving the group and taking her first sniff of the air, that she had lost contact with them entirely.
And now, she had no idea where she was.
“There you are.”
Noigakkuq spun around. Her heart leapt in relief before she scowled.
“Go away, Tyhgak. I don’t need your help.”
He tilted his head.
“Really? The bees said you were lost.”
She growled.
“I said I’m fine! I can find my back, no help required!”
Tyhgak took a step back.
“Uh, really? The bees said…”
“I don’t care what the bees said! I know exactly where I am!”
Tyhgak gulped.
“Right…well, could you lead the way back, then? We need you back with the group.”
Noigakkuq let out an exasperated sigh.
“Why? For my useless nose? Don’t patronize me, Tyhgak.”
But Tyhgak shook his head.
“No, it’s not that. Metsaitti wants you back because you and him are the only two blessed by the God of Bees. We apparently need to work with the bees to travel and fight in this room, so he was hoping you could help.”
Noigakkuq paused at that. She slowly glanced at the bee that had been buzzing around her this whole time. Her face fell as she glanced back down at her hand, stirring up the mana flowing through her.
Right. She had been blessed by the God of Bees. She even had a unique blessing from that god. The power she had acquired had been granted to her by the God of Bees…for service to the Tower and the bees within.
And here she had gone, ignoring that power while treating the bees like the patronizing members of the clan. She slowly looked back up at the bee, dancing about in the air.
“Karnuq know where going?”
She took a deep breath before speaking in a tiny voice, barely a whisper.
“…no. Could you…show me where the others are?”
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The bee began zipping about.
“Can! This way!”
The bee not only began flying off in the complete opposite direction Noigakkuq had been heading, she also began to glow slightly, releasing a bit of pheromones. Noigakkuq’s eyes widened as a familiar scent graced her nose, smelling of honey and the power that now flowed through her veins. As long as she didn’t take any big whiffs, it was enough that she could follow even through the powerful scents surrounding her.
She hung her head once more.
“…let’s go.”
Tyhgak tilted his head but nodded and followed along. Noigakkuq sighed again. Tyhgak didn’t deserve her ire. He had acknowledged her power and accomplishments, after all. In retrospect, he had always treated her more sincerely than the others…if only because he wasn’t smart enough to act insincerely. She very quietly whispered to him.
“…sorry. And thanks for coming for me.”
If he heard her, he didn’t react.
And so, the bees began to teach the karnuq how to fight in the Fairy Grove, a process that took much longer than any of the karnuq expected.
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Belissar spent the rest of the day making beehouses for the new queens. For the shining bee house he left the roof open so that the sun could shine down on the hive directly, while placing the house away from any of the bee apartments or trees that might block the sun. It was slightly uncomfortable for Belissar to leave the hive exposed, but the weather was always pleasant in the Apiary so he put his discomfort aside. If anything did happen, he could always add a roof later.
The blinding queen and gravity queen both got subterranean beehouses once Belissar enlisted Muuraqi and the karnuq’s help for stone doors. The gravity queen had hers built into the open cavern, while the blinding queen’s was built in a dark tunnel near the shadow vines she evolved from.
Both the slime bee and the swimming bee got regular beehouses placed by the Apiary’s Pond, as close as they could get to the edge while still remaining on solid ground. Belissar wasn’t at all confident about the slime bee’s home, but the slime queen happily stuffed her slime hive inside the wooden box, the slime now filling in the gaps between the frames. Belissar could only shrug, if she was happy then that was enough.
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The day passed. Belissar held a small memorial after the day’s purification; no bees had been hurt in the actual fight but apparently some of the queens had raised new children and some drones had sacrificed themselves accordingly. The next day, Niobee once again led Belissar to the First of the Fifth’s Bee Apartment, where he found the Third of the Sixth and the Fourth of the Fifth, the first burning and digging queens respectively.
Along with two smaller queens he didn’t recognize.
“Good morning, you have something to show me again?”
The First of the Fifth confirmed with a happy dance before dancing to the other two queens. The Third of the Sixth flew forward first.
“King! Raised new daughter, mated with Fourth of the Fifth’s drone. Evolved into something else!”
Belissar’s eyes widened slightly.
“Wow, that’s amazing.”
To be honest, he had somewhat forgotten about that aspect of the Bee Hybridizing perk. He had mostly selected it for its ability to speed up worker and soldier evolutions, and had expected most of the new evolutions to come from new honey types as they had before. And now, he had a new queen flying towards his hand who had not evolved from a special honey at all.
The new queen had a dark grey body with a few red highlights. Specks of grey dust seemed to waft off of her each time she beat her wings. Both she and the specks were warm to the touch.
Ash Monster Bee Queen
Vitality: Minimal
Strength: Minimal
Speed: Average
Magic: Minimal+
Defense: Minimal
Resistance: Minimal+
Special: Above Average
Notable Skills: Burning Poison Sting, Ash Spreading, Heat Resistance, Brood Mother, Command Offspring
Description: A burning monster bee modified by Ground type mana. In addition to the usual burning monster bee abilities, this bee generates hot ash that spreads whenever it flies. Swarms of ash bees can create ash clouds that can burn, blind, and suffocate enemies. The ash can also provide a nutritious fertilizer in areas the bees forage, as well as strengthening the wax they produce. This one is a queen that lays ash variant offspring by default.
Belissar grinned. A new bee that could operate in the Lava Fields, that had a new type of attack no other bee did, and that apparently could help fertilize soil? A valuable addition to the Tower indeed.
“What sort of beehouse would you like? And would you prefer to live in the Lava Field or one of the other rooms?”
The ash bee took a bit of time to respond, but eventually managed a hesitant dance.
“Want to live by queen mother, hive like hers.”
Well, that was easy enough. Belissar confirmed as much and the queen returned to her mother so that the next one could take her turn on his palm. She was squat and had the large mandibles of the digging bees, though there were red streaks on her mandibles and head.
Thermal Mining Monster Bee Queen
Vitality: Minimal+
Strength: Minimal+
Speed: Below Average+
Magic: Minimal+
Defense: Minimal+
Resistance: Minimal+
Special: Above Average
Notable Skills: Thermal Mining, Poison Sting, Heat Resistance, Brood Mother, Command Offspring
Description: A digging monster bee modified by Fire type mana. In addition to the usual digging monster bee abilities, this bee heats up and vibrates its mandibles to soften and dig through materials, allowing it to easily dig through much tougher materials than the regular digging bees. As small parts of the material may be melted or broken off in this process, it has some ability to gather these materials and incorporate them into its wax to build surprisingly tough hives. This ability may also be used in combat, though it takes time and may not have as much impact on armor as on raw materials. This bee is a queen that lays thermal mining variant offspring by default.
Belissar tilted his head. Did heating up rocks make them easier to dig through? Apparently so, if this bee was anything to go by. Well, he wasn’t entirely sure how to make use of that, but the description said it could be used against shades, so he looked forward to seeing what these bees could do.
To seeing what all the new bees could do, in fact.