The Bee Dungeon

Belissar walked back towards the Apiary farmhouse once the ceremony was done. Niobee came and flew alongside him in silence as well. Once back inside he exhaled his breath and sat down. Niobee came and landed on his finger.

“King, ok?”

Belissar made a soft smile at her.

“Yes it’s just...”

He took another deep breath and let it out slowly, glancing out the window. Thoughts of the lost passed through his mind and he felt pain in his chest once again.

“...I’m remembering a lot of things. A lot of things I try not to think about.”

Niobee looked up at him.

“Niobee help?”

Belissar smiled at her and brushed her back with one of his fingers.

Belissar thought back to the past, to the days where he would talk and talk to the little bee drinking honey off his finger, saying all the things he couldn’t tell anyone else. His heart grew warm as he remembered that said bee was Niobee all along, and she really was his friend just like he had imagined.

Niobee buzzed and Belissar found himself chuckling. The painful memories were still there...but didn’t feel as sharp anymore. Belissar shook his head and cleared his mind. In any case, there was something more he could do now to protect his friend and his bees.

Minor Purification completed! Please select a reward:

- +50 DP

- +10 Max Mana

- Monster Bee Soldier Strength Boost (Minimal)

Another choice, another reward for a battle won. This one...didn’t seem as dramatic as the last, all things considered, but Belissar didn’t mind. He’d prefer an easy battle with minimal sacrifice to massive gains, so to him it was good that the fight was smaller this time around. But the size of the rewards didn’t mean he shouldn’t put some thought into it.

“DP, mana, or a buff to the soldiers, huh? What do you think, Niobee?”

“Whatever King chooses!”

Belissar chuckled as she gave him the exact answer he was expecting, and then began to consider the choices. Fifty DP wasn’t enough to really afford anything on its own, so felt a bit underwhelming. On the other hand, at one DP a day that was fifty days worth; when viewed that way it would dramatically cut the time he needed to wait until he could afford something. Ten max mana was small compared to his current two hundred, on the other hand, it alone was enough for a monster bee queen spawner, which would mean another four hives. Finally, he could improve his soldier bees, giving them a bit of strength. It wasn’t much, but every little bit would help.

Belissar rubbed his chin. He should also consider how this all had happened. The message that first announced this battle specifically stated a minor purification was required because the ongoing purification limit was reached. The exact wording still confused Belissar, but it did shed some light on other questions he had. Ongoing purification limit reached meant that ongoing purification had been...well, ongoing. So...perhaps that was something the Tower was doing on its own, rather than an attack by the Hunger like Belissar feared?

If he focused, he could still feel the Hunger at the edges of the Tower’s influence, reaching in towards the purified land beyond. So, maybe ongoing purification meant the Tower holding it back? If so...there was apparently a limit to which the Tower could resist the Hunger, at which point Belissar was required to purify it more directly. That limit had apparently been a week, or ten days if he included the countdown time, though Belissar didn’t know yet if that was just for this time or a consistent thing.

But the important part was that the wording of all this implied that it would happen again. In fact, ongoing purification implied it would continue happening for as long as the Tower needed to resist the Hunger. Battles were going to come consistently...and if he continued to win them, so would the rewards.

That made this choice all the more important. What would best defend his bees in perpetuity? The soldier buff would obviously improve their ability to fight. The max mana would allow for more bees or more traps. But, if he were going to be facing one of these minor purifications every ten days, then he could also take the DP and try to save up for a bigger purchase. Maybe he could get a deadlier trap, or a new bee type that would let his bees fight and win with no losses at all...if he were willing to let them handle things for the time it took to get to that stage.

Belissar thought for a bit and then made his choice. At this stage, he knew that overthinking it would get him nowhere. So, if nothing he knew would inform his choice one way or another, he’d follow his gut.

Monster Bee Soldier Strength Boost (Minimum) selected.

Monster Bee Soldiers receive a slight boost to Strength!

What settled things for him this time was the memory of the soldier bees themselves. Several of them gave their lives to earn this victory and Belissar wanted to reward them for their efforts. Maybe he couldn’t make that choice every time, maybe he’d need to save up DP later or expand his mana. But today, for this first choice, it was appropriate to grant the boon to the ones who had earned it.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Belissar nodded, satisfied, and then headed off to bed.

The next day, Belissar took a bit of time to think as he munched on a bit of honeycomb. He would have to keep track of the days to confirm, but he figured he should assume that another minor purification was coming in a week or so. So, he figured he should consider how to use that time.

All in all, the defense had gone very well, and no major weaknesses had been revealed. The death of soldier bees was regrettable to Belissar but he was aware he was being a bit silly. Regular bees died all the time, sacrificing themselves was their main form of defense, he reminded himself. So, he should not let the death of a handful in the process detract from their victory. The hives of the Flower Meadow had proven capable of handling shades with their monster bee soldiers, and their numbers would only grow.

In the end, Belissar couldn’t think of anything he specifically needed to do to prepare for the next minor purification, besides ensure the Flower Meadow hives were taken care of. He did notice the Apiary hives donating honey to them during the preparations, so he may need to check on them. The soldier bees didn’t seem to do much nectar gathering, after all.

Belissar himself returned to his task from before the minor purification was announced. The God of Bees had given him a mission, after all, and he was one beehouse away from completing it. And now that he had confirmed his defenses were solid, he had no reason not to finish up.

Belissar watched as the final Apiary beehive converted to one of his own.

Mission: Upgrade all Apiary Beehives to Belissar’s Beehouses completed!

Reward: One room feature choice

Select Room Feature:

- Basic Resource Plants (Rarity: Common, Type: Nature, Resource)

- Beehive (Rarity: Uncommon, Type: Bee, Resource, Monster Nest)

- Hidden Wax Cell (Rarity: Common, Type: Bee, Trap)

He smiled as the queen of that hive began a dance of gratitude and joy.

“Enjoy.”

She repeated her happy dance and then climbed into the beehouse to resume her work. Belissar then walked back through the Apiary, gathering some mana honeycomb trays from the other beehouses. The lids of the houses would pop up slightly whenever one was ready, when Belissar would lift the lid the tray would slide itself up and a rectangular piece of honeycomb would pop right out. Belissar didn’t know exactly how all that worked, he knew for sure that his roughly constructed trays didn’t slide that easily. And he also knew that normal bees would not be producing this much honey.

The Tower of the Gods was powerful indeed.

Which is why he thought carefully about the choice before him as he gathered the honeycomb. He reviewed each option in turn, hoping for more information.

Basic Resource Plants

- Type: Nature, Resource

- Mana Upkeep: Depends on resource selected

- Description: A spot where resource producing plants can be easily grown and harvested. Compatible plants will depend on the Room. Existing compatible plants may be converted to nodes.

Belissar hummed as he read it over. He was a bit worried that the description didn’t specify what kind of plants or resources he would get. In fact, that would apparently change based on what room he placed it in...though he wasn’t certain that the Flower Meadow and the Apiary would be much different given they had very similar plants to begin with. But depending on what he got...plant-based resources could be very useful. If he got something appropriate for textiles, he could fix his tunic or make a new one. If he got more wood then he could expand his construction efforts and prepare more firepits. Medicinal herbs would be a priority as well...though he wasn’t sure if Tower Lords or monster bees actually got sick. Fruit and vegetables...wouldn’t change much beyond adding variety to his diet, given that he didn’t seem to actually need food after becoming a Tower Lord. However, they would at minimum add more flowering plants for his bees to gather from. No matter what plants he received, he knew it wouldn’t be a loss.

Still, there were two more options to consider.

Beehive

- Type: Bee, Resource, Monster Nest

- Mana Upkeep: 5 per hive (2 due to Blessing of Bees)

- Description: A hive where bees and bee monsters may build their colonies. Produces honeycomb at a steady rate, and boosts productivity and growth of any bees dwelling inside.

Belissar furrowed his brow. It seemed by all accounts to be the same basket hives as he found in the Apiary, so Belissar knew what to expect and how useful they would be. The Apiary had nine beehouses at present, while he had eight monster bee queen spawners that would spawn four monster bee queens each, so the other queens would certainly be happy if he had some more. The question was how did it work with the Apiary? At present, Belissar couldn’t actually change the number of beehives, so would this choice allow for that? He guessed that it would, it didn’t seem a useful choice if not.

Well, assuming it was, there were clear reasons to take this choice. But...it wasn’t as clear cut as the choice might seem. Belissar could build beehouses himself, after all, and was planning to do so for the other queens as time permitted, so he tried to focus on what the Tower option would provide on top of that. Which was the magical daily production of honeycomb, and the boost to productivity and growth. The growth was a bit subtle at the moment, while the productivity just meant more honey. That could help with more Sticky Honey Traps, but Belissar hadn’t even seen one of those in action yet.

He shook his head and moved on to the final choice.

Hidden Wax Cell

- Type: Bee, Trap

- Mana Upkeep: 1 per cell (0.5 due to Blessing of Bees)

- Description: A camouflaged cell a monster bee may ambush foes from. Can resize to fit larger monster bee species.

This was the more direct combat option. Belissar tried to imagine what it might look like. Perhaps soldier bees stinging a shade’s feet while their sisters buzzed above it? That could be useful, though it seemed a bit straight forward. Besides, couldn’t the monster bee soldiers wait inside one of the pit traps? Or couldn’t he dig them some holes to do the same thing? Well, it was a cheaper option in terms of mana upkeep, so perhaps that was by design.

Belissar continued to look over the options as he carried the honeycomb inside the farmhouse...

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