The Bee Dungeon

The bee came to a world of complete darkness, and cold. At first, she wondered if she had made it. Last she remembered, she had been surrounded by blazing heat, so hot her chitin had burned. But now, it was cool, so cool she nearly shivered.

But shivering simply told her that her body was still alive and capable of motion, so move she did. She found a wall blocking her way and started to pick at it. As she did, mandibles pierced through from the other side and the light began to stream in. Her loyal children removed the cap over her cell and she was free to leave.

And so the Third of the Sixth emerged from her cell, her formerly yellow color now including reds and oranges. She shivered in the cool air of her original hive, even as her mana attempted to heat up her surroundings. But the cold didn’t stop her from breaking out into a happy dance.

She had done it. She had survived. She had evolved. She had fulfilled the King and the hive of hives’ request.

She had become a burning monster bee queen.

She flared her mana as she danced, and a red glow appeared around her body for a second. The workers tending to her backed away at the sudden surge of heat, save for the burning workers who instead drew closer and flared their mana as well.

It felt pleasantly warm.

***

Belissar was just getting started for the day when a much awaited message appeared.

Reward: One Fire-type room feature choice.

The God of Fire offers a minor blessing.

A non-patron god, the God of Fire, offers his blessing! The God of Fire will be added to the Shrine in some rooms. Accept?

Belissar smiled and bowed his head.

“Yes and thank you.”

The moment he spoke the word, a wave of mana surged through the Tower and his body. This time, the mana was blazing hot and the world took on a red tinge for a short moment. Then it left as suddenly as it came, leaving Belissar feeling a bit cold.

Minor Blessing of Fire applied.

Effects:

- Fire-related options slightly more frequent.

- Some special fire-related options are unlocked and may now appear

- Fire monster upgrades and evolutions are now slightly cheaper and easier to unlock

- Fire and fire-type attacks deal slightly more damage

Additionally, Belissar could feel one of the Shrines change. He turned his sight to the second floor Flower Meadow, where the karnuq lived. The Shrine there still centered on the God of Bees’ statue, but now also included a small brazier to its side, with a small red banner with a yellow-orange flame drawn on it. The flickering flames illuminated the statue of the God of Bees, the changing lights almost making it seem as if the smaller bees all over her were actually moving.

The blessing itself was a bit muted compared to the Blessing of Bees but it did specify that it was a minor blessing. Belissar was content with that, however, because the minor blessing also didn’t include any restrictions for non-fire monsters or features. He had been slightly worried about that, but figured the God of Bees wouldn’t have led him astray when accepting the quest.

And speaking of his original patron…

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Mission: Earn the blessing of a secondary patron completed!

Reward: One cross-perk choice!

Belissar blinked at the reward message. The message was split in half, the first half colored the golden yellow he knew and loved, while the other half was colored bright red. And judging from the words themselves, he guessed that mean that the God of Bees and God of Fire had collaborated on that.

And so, Belissar knew what to do. First, he got up, picked up a tray of mana honeycomb, and walked over to the Third of the Sixth’s hive. He found her just leaving her original beehouse, she began happily saluting once she saw him. He gave her a wide grin.

“Great work, Third of the Sixth, and congratulations on your evolution. Here, I wanted to give you something to celebrate with.”

She broke out into a happy dance and began glowing red here or there as Belissar placed the tray by her hive. He also proceeded with his other gift for the new queen and created a full Fire mana flower node by her new beehouse to go along with the flame radish node he had moved. Notably, the flame radish node couldn’t be placed in the Dirt Tunnels itself, but the Fire mana flowers could. They were still extra expensive, but with a couple days of purifications he had expanded his mana enough to afford it. It was worth the expense, now that he had a queen who could make full use of them.

The Third of the Sixth began to fly even faster, dropping all choreographed dances to just zip around him in a circle like the bumblebee queens. Belissar chuckled.

“I’m glad you like it, please enjoy. Now, um, if you don’t mind, do you happen to have enough of the burning honey that I could take some?”

The Third of the Sixth stopped her zipping just long enough to perform a salute dance before resuming. Belissar chuckled as he climbed down towards her new hive. Sweat began to drip down his brow as the temperature rose substantially…but just when it was about to cross the line from uncomfortable to painful it suddenly stopped. Belissar tilted his head. He was somehow aware that temperature was still rising even though his body didn’t feel any hotter. But he shrugged and figured it was just a Tower thing before pressing on.

He got to the new beehive, which had a glowing slot in the stone block covering the entrance. Belissar tapped it and, as he hoped, a tray of honeycomb slid right out. He was very much glad for the magic of the beehouse features, as moving the entire stone door to retrieve honey might have been…difficult.

Instead, he could pick the tray right up. A very thin layer of stone lined the bright red honeycomb. It was hot to the touch but not painfully so, and just slightly heavier than the normal trays. Belissar could only thank the Tower mana and the gods for that.

After picking up the tray, Belissar made his way down to the second floor’s Flower Meadow, and found Chief Rohsuak already at the new shrine, bowing to the brazier and the God of Fire’s banner. She smiled as she saw him approach.

“You’ve had recent dealings with my patron, I assume?”

Belissar nodded.

“After you defeated that turtle-shade, he gave me a mission. It was just completed today thanks to the bees.”

Chief Rohsuak smiled, a flicker of flames appearing to dance within her eyes.

“In that case, I must thank you and them. It has been a long time since I’ve been to a shrine of the God of Fire. It was…surprising.”

She held up her hand and a flame appeared, rolling across her fingers. She chuckled.

“There might even be an ember or two left for the Blazing Berserker after all.”

She then backed away so Belissar could come before the Shrine. He took two trays of honey, the burning mana honey tray, and a regular mana honey one since he only had one of the burning trays, and split each in half. He put one half of each into the wax chest and bowed to the God of Bees’ statue.

“Thank you again, for everything.”

Then he turned to the God of Fire’s banner…and frowned a bit. There was no chest, so Belissar wondered how he could offer anything to the God of Fire. Maybe everything went through the God of Bees’ chest?

He then heard Chief Rohsuak clear her throat.

“Forgive me if I’m interrupting but…are you perhaps wondering how to make an offering to the God of Fire?”

Belissar nodded.

“Ah, yes.”

She chuckled slightly.

“I did too, my first time around.”

She then pointed to the brazier.

“He likes to do everything through fire, you see.”

Belissar’s eyes widened as he nodded, and then dropped the two trays into the brazier.

“Thank you for your blessing. I’ll, um, do my best with it?”

The fire surged up for a moment, bathing Belissar in a wave of heat. Then it died down, and both the trays had vanished.

The God of Bees’ statue then shone with light for a moment as the brazier’s fire grew once again. Belissar stood still for a moment before bowing his head.

When he was finished, he turned to find Chief Rohsuak waiting for him. She saluted to him as he approached.

“Sacred Den Master Belissar…I was serious, you know? You have no idea how much this means to me, I never thought I would ever find another shrine for the God of Fire again. So, if there’s anything I can do to thank you, or the bees responsible for this, please, let me know.”

Belissar was about to tell her it was alright, as the God of Fire had already rewarded them for this, when he saw her eyes. They were glistening, and moisture had started to build even as Chief Rohsuak made the brightest smile he had ever seen on her. So, instead, he paused, and rubbed his chin for a moment before nodding.

“Ah…so, one of my queens recently evolved with Fire mana. Maybe you could speak with her, and see if there’s anything you can teach her about it?”

Chief Rohsuak’s smile grew even wider, and she nodded several times.

“It would be my honor and pleasure, Sacred Den Master.”

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