Chapter 230: A Trial of Bees

    Belissar hummed as he finished hammering the final nail in a new beehouse. The karnuq’s smith continue to hone his craft and had made a hammer and nails among other tools, so Belissar continued to improve his beehouses. He turned to the waiting hive and waved his hands from them to the house.

    “There you go, what do you think?”

    The new stingless queen stared at the box before releasing her pheromones.

    “New flower tender...is giving magical palace?”

    Belissar smiled and nodded.

    “Yes. Check it out and let me know if there’s any adjustments you’d like, and then I’ll turn it into a feature.”

    The stingless queen just stood still for a bit before starting to tremble. She glanced at one of the Orchard workers nearby, only moving once the other bee danced an encouragement. She slowly, hesitantly hovered over to the hive and began to check inside. When he asked Tarwantrad about how stingless bees built their hives, it sounded like they were remarkably similar to the butcher bees, so he had used that design for the stingless bees’ new home.

    The stingless bee slowly crawled out.

    “Is...great. Perfect. Great thanks to new flower tender.”

    Belissar smiled at her as he brought up the feature menu.

    “Glad you like it. Just let me know if there’s anything you’d like to change.”

    A moment later, the Tower’s mana flooded into the beehouse and upgraded it to the magical feature. The stingless queen’s hive began to fly inside and started building. Workers from the other Orchard hives soon began to arrive and observe the new construction.

    Belissar grinned. There had been a lot going on lately with all the visitors from the Compact and the negotiations with the sigmaka, so it was wonderful to spend some time making new beehouses for new queens, the butcher bees and this new stingless bee both. This was ultimately what his Tower was all about.

    And now that the beehouse was completed and the stingless queen taken care of, he gave his attention to the message that appeared during the construction.

    Mission: Share a monster bee queen with a dungeon patronized by the God of Flowers completed!

    Reward: Rare Bee-type Perk Choice

    Belissar, as usual, would wait for the post-purification gathering to open the perk choice, so he didn’t bother thinking too much about it. Instead, he used the moment to consider his Tower as a whole, where he was and where he was headed.

    Dungeon Status:

    Rooms: 19/24@@@@

    Floors: 6

    Niobee stopped buzzing and stood still for a bit, her antennae occasionally pulsing with soft light. After a bit, she slowly began to dance.

    “Sigmaka have nectar? Can give?”

    Belissar’s eyes widened a bit.

    “Ah, the aphid honeydew, right? We never did get a regular supply, did we?”

    He furrowed his brow.

    “So...we just have them bring honeydew to the hives? That’d help the bees but...it doesn’t seem like much of trial?”

    He glanced Chief Rohsuak and found her humming to herself once more. After a bit, she glanced up at him.

    “Actually, it might. The act of bringing along honeydew may seem simple...but that would depend on where you have them drop it off.”

    Belissar tilted his head.

    “Where? I mean, just at the shrine at the entrance, right? Otherwise, they’d have to carry it with them further in and they’d get attacked by remnants while...”

    Belissar’s eyes slowly began to widen again.

    “They’d have to fight their way through. All while trying to protect the honeydew to give to the hives at the end...like how bees have to return to the hive with their nectar...”

    Chief Rohsuak smiled at him.

    “Indeed. It would be quite the trial. Combat while burdened, all to perform a service to the bees.”

    Belissar slowly began to nod.

    “That...sounds like something the God of Bees might approve of. Ah, wait! We should go ask Velebee!”

    Chief Rohsuak chuckled as she agreed. Belissar headed over to Velebee’s hive along with her to see what the God of Bees thought of the idea. Velebee began glowing and dancing almost immediately.

    “Queen of All Bees says likes!”

    And with that, Belissar had his trial for the sigmaka.