The Bee Dungeon

“One, two, three...”

Belissar counted once. He counted twice. He counted thrice. He counted with his fingers. He counted with his toes. He counted with the dirt. He counted with some stones. He frowned.

No matter how many times or by what method he counted, he came up with the same answer.

There were three monster bee queens hovering before him. Despite there being four monster bee queen spawners. Belissar would admit he wasn’t the greatest at math, but he figured those numbers should add up, like they did every other day before this.

With no other way to resolve this conundrum, he focused on one of the monster bee queen spawners. The one that hadn’t seemed to work today.

Monster Bee Queen Spawner

Monsters: Monster Bee Queen

Cooldown: 0/24 hours

Current Monsters Spawned: 4/4

It seemed this was, again, something he could’ve learned ahead of time if he had known to check. Apparently, the spawners could only have so many monsters spawned at a time. And this particular spawner had reached its maximum.

Belissar furrowed his brow as he rubbed his chin. That certainly changed things. He would need to think carefully now about which spawners to make, if the ultimate number of monsters was fixed.

Belissar thought carefully for a couple more minutes before sighing and shrugging. In the end...he didn’t really know what exactly that change meant for him, any more than he knew anything else about running a Tower. So, again, he was left with little choice but to go with his gut feeling.

Mana: 81/200

He went ahead and doubled the number of monster bee queen spawners. He figured that the monster bee queens could eventually spawn monster bee soldiers on their own, so it was probably better to focus on those. Maybe. But at the very least, he wouldn’t use up all of his mana right away. If another purification countdown started and his hives didn’t have any soldiers yet, he’d at least have the option of spawning some directly. He also wanted to save some of his mana in general, in case more options appeared. He didn’t know if these choices were permanent, after all...

Remove Monster Bee Queen Spawner? Note that mana will remain reserved while spawned monsters remain, amount reserved is proportional to the fraction of maximum monsters currently spawned.

Belissar paused again. Well, that answered that, apparently monster spawners weren’t permanent after all. Belissar let out another sigh. It was good that he was learning more...but every bit he learned just made him more aware of how much he didn’t know.

At the very least, this bit of information didn’t change his decisions. It boosted his confidence knowing he could adjust the spawners if he needed to, though.

With that in mind, he walked over to the beehives, frowning again as he saw their basket shapes. He focused on one as he got closer.

Apiary Beehive

Occupant: None

Current Product: Honeycomb

Base Production Rate: 1 honeycomb per 24 hours

The beehive had a large hole on the bottom, and a large hexagonal honeycomb got pushed out to rest on the tree trunk. Belissar blinked and picked it up. He observed it from every angle, and even sniffed it. As far as he could tell, it was honeycomb, purely honey storage free from any eggs or larva. Belissar tilted his head, and then glanced inside the beehive hole. He heard buzzing, yet he couldn’t actually see any bees inside of it.

“Ok, this is kind of weird. So, these beehives just...make honeycomb? Without any bees?”

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Belissar shook his head. It just didn’t seem right. But then again...he was standing in the outside daylight despite being indoors. He supposed a Tower of the Gods didn’t have to play by the rules.

He glanced over as the new monster bee queens flew over to him. They hovered around the beehives, observing them. Belissar shrugged.

“What do you think? I’m sorry they aren’t the nicest but...do you want to use them?”

The nearest monster bee queen danced a salute and then flew into the hive. Belissar watched as the Beehive’s information changed.

Apiary Beehive

Occupant: Monster Bee Queen

Current Product: Mana Honeycomb

Base Production Rate: 1 honeycomb per 24 hours

Slight boost to monster bee growth rate

Belissar tilted his head. He was a little disappointed the base production rate didn’t improve, but he supposed the queen didn’t have any workers yet, so maybe that would change. The slight boost to the bees’ growth rate was something he knew from the Apiary’s description, so not a surprise.

What was a surprise was the current product.

“Mana...honeycomb?”

Mana. Magical power. The fuel that granted the Tower Guard powers beyond mortal men. Belissar had heard stories of it but had never encountered it before. No one in his village had. After all, it was a power reserved only for the Tower Guard, granted to them by their lords for the defense of humanity.

It was also stated to be highly dangerous in the wrong hands. It was said a peasant who tried to dabble in such a power could blow apart their entire village, or set themselves on fire, or turn themselves into a frog, or other such horrors. That was why any use of mana was to be reported to the local Tower Lord immediately.

So, of course, Belissar had never heard of bees using it. Much less somehow putting it into honey? What would that even look like? Some kind of magical honey? Would it make him explode? Would it turn him into a bee?

Then, Belissar’s eyes widened as he had a thought.

If the monster bee queen entering the beehive made it produce mana honeycomb...then didn’t that mean it was the monster bees who made mana honey? Didn’t their description say something about them gathering mana?

Monster Bee Queen

Description: A honey bee queen that has accumulated enough mana to become something more. Mostly similar to her mundane cousins, but more aggressive, and has slightly magical venom. This one is a queen, and capable of building a hive of monster bees.

Oh. It did.Belissar frowned and his eyes trembled. Didn’t that mean...the honey the monster bee queens had offered to him was mana honey?!

He quickly felt his stomach, searching for anything wrong. But everything was as it should be and as far as he could tell, he hadn’t turned into anything...unnatural.

...ignoring for a moment the part about him being a Tower Lord who didn’t seem to need to eat or drink or even sleep unless he felt like it...

He thought over the moment when he had eaten the honey and furrowed his brow. He couldn’t think of anything strange, besides that sense of warmth filling him that was a lot like the warmth he felt from the Tower itself...

He paused, his eyes going even wider.Wait...was that heat he felt...mana?!

That would....actually make a lot of sense once Belissar thought about it. If the Tower Guards received mana from the Tower Lords...then it just made sense that the Tower itself would have mana in it, right?

And...it would also make sense for the Tower Lord to have mana too. Belissar looked at his hands as he felt the warmth that had suffused his body since the Tower was bound to him.

“I...have mana now?”

His first instinct was to report it to the local Tower Guard before remembering that he was, in fact, a Tower Lord now. He focused on the mana, narrowing his eyes and furrowing his brow as he concentrated.

A few minutes later, he shrugged. Well, that was all incredible to think about...but he still didn’t actually know how to use mana or whatever. Not to mention the potential dangers of doing so haphazardly, even if he did figure it out. Maybe the mana honey would make a shade explode if they ate it or something. But beyond that, this revelation didn’t seem to change much. Mostly because Belissar didn’t know how it could actually change things.

He sighed.

“Is there, like, a guide for Tower Lords or something?”

But no one responded to his words, and no strange words appeared before his eyes. He sighed again. The one time he wished there was something there...

But it seemed he was still on his own as he dabbled in these powers he didn’t comprehend. He could only hope it wouldn’t explode in his face...possibly literally...

Shocking revelations about his powers and bees aside, Belissar did still have some work to do. He walked back to the Flower Meadow and to the hives on the trees by the door to the Apiary. The monster bee queens came out of their hives and flew before him, dancing in a salute pattern. Belissar nodded.

“So, we only have about nine of the beehives in the Apiary. You girls were first, so do you want to move there? You could also just move your hives to the trees there if you don’t like the houses.”

The monster bee queens remained still for a moment, before starting a slow refusal pattern. Belissar frowned.

“Are you sure? I know your hives are set up already but...don’t you want to move further back? It could be dangerous to keep your hives here.”

The monster bee queens picked up speed. Belissar frowned. They seemed quite resolute in their decision to remain here, indicating that they wished to defend the gateway. Belissar didn’t want them to...but it wouldn’t actually help to have more rooms if he moved all the bees to the end of the Tower. At the end of the day, they were supposed to be the Tower’s defenders. Belissar would just have to hope that his newest defenses would hold next time...

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