The Bee Dungeon

“Get out of here, and don’t let me catch you around again!”

The young boy fell back as the baker swung his fist towards his face, falling back into the dirt. He didn’t know why the baker was so protective of his trash, but he wasn’t going to stay around and ask. He scrambled to his feet and ran as the baker kicked at his bottom.

He limped down the road, his stomach growling. His eyes stared blankly forward as he considered where else he could search for food. The other villagers scowled at him as he walked down the street, but he hardly noticed.

He had come to the outskirts of town before realizing that his mind had gone blank, failing to come up with even a single idea. He tripped on a rock and fell into the dirt. He lay there, not bothering to get up. It wouldn’t matter. If he couldn’t come up with an idea to find food, walking around was just a waste of energy...

And then he felt something poke his back.

“Boy, what’re you doing there, blocking my road?”

He barely turned his head to glance back. Some older woman was poking him with a stick, holding a sack over her hunched shoulder. He didn’t respond, but his stomach rumbled. The woman’s face scrunched up. She heaved a sigh.

The boy heard a thud as a sack fell to the ground right in front of his face.

“Come on, get up, will you? Help me carry that home, and I’ll give you something to eat.”

And that was the start of the boy and the old woman’s life together...

Belissar frowned at Chief Rohsuak’s proposal. On the one hand, he had been tricked into free labor by offers of instruction before and was in no hurry to repeat those experiences. But on the other hand, he very much needed to learn about the mystic arts. He was a dungeon master now, with mana flowing through his body, his bees, and his Tower. Learning how to put any of that to use would be immensely helpful. The chief was right in that he didn’t know the value of the resources at his disposal, and he couldn’t truly know until he learned what they were actually used for.

His mind was also bringing up unhelpful memories at the moment. He didn’t really want to think about that with an older woman offering to instruct him in front of him, so he tried to push them aside. Chief Rohsuak wasn’t anybody he knew, and it would likely lead to pain if he tried to equate them. So, he focused on the situation as logically as he could.

First and foremost, he needed to confirm that the bear people actually could use magic and mana or whatever. He was not going to take their word for it. Back when he was poor and helpless, he pretty much had no choice but to trust people and hope they might one day make good on their promise. But now? Now he had plenty of food and shelter that his body didn’t even require anymore, so there was no need to deal with anyone if there wasn’t a confirmed benefit. Likewise, he had a monster bee army if they tried to force the issue. So, he could afford a bit more suspicion now.

But if the bear people actually could use magic and if they would actually teach him in good faith...such a thing could dramatically improve his Tower’s defenses.

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Chief Rohsuak smiled and motioned to the bees above.

“Could you ask them to back off a bit? I wouldn’t want any of them to get hurt.”

Belissar nodded and let the soldier bees in the air to move back a bit. About half of them flew back, while the other half flew down near the ground and hovered next to him. Chief Rohsuak then took a deep breath. Belissar could feel mana surge from within her. She held her hand up into the air and a geometric pattern formed out of red light. It flashed and a ball of pure fire formed in its place and shot straight into the sky.

It then burst into a large explosion of flames, causing Belissar to stumble back and fall to the ground. The bees began to buzz and form a wall between Belissar and the bear people. Chief Rohsuak gave him a smile.

“How was that?”

Belissar squeaked out a response. That certainly fell under the magic category. The buzzing of the soldier bees shook him out of his revelry though as he watched them form up into attack squadrons. He waved them off, letting them know he was fine.

He stood up and dusted himself off. He looked Chief Rohsuak in the eyes while narrowing his own. She just kept smiling and held his gaze until he felt awkward and glanced away. He couldn’t really judge how honest she was being or not.

But she clearly knew magic. So, if she actually did teach him something like that...perhaps Belissar wouldn’t need a torch to light the Pit Traps. No, he might not even need the Pit Traps to set the shades on fire in the first place. If he could learn to do something like that, maybe the bees wouldn’t need to risk themselves at all. At the very least, he would be able to fight by their side and contribute to the defense.

He knew that he was no warrior. As much as he hated to let the bees die on his behalf, he knew it would not help them to put himself in front of a shade. The best he could do was trust in them and honor those who fell.

But that could change if he had access to magic.

Belissar decided that the risk was worth taking. He looked back at Chief Rohsuak again.

“That’s...acceptable. But...you come here to teach me. And, um, I pay you after the lessons, not before.”

Chief Rohsuak’s smile grew, and she nodded.

“Of course. Thank you, Den Master. It will be an honor. When would you like to begin?”

Belissar frowned. Part of him wanted to put it off...but when he thought about it there was no specific reason to do so. Any excuse of needing to work on his dungeon’s defenses could be countered by the benefits of learning magic for those same defenses. It was just that he was feeling uncomfortable around these people...but that wouldn’t change later. So, Belissar took a deep breath.

“Right away, if that works for you?”

Chief Rohsuak nodded and then glanced over at Metsaitti.

“Why don’t you take the others and proceed with the hunt?”

He raised an eyebrow and glanced over at the soldier bees.

“Are you sure about that?”

She smiled and nodded.

“Oh, I’ll be fine, don’t you worry about me.”

Metsaitti nodded and motioned to the others.

“Come on, let’s go.”

The others hesitated but slowly followed as Chief Rohsuak waved them off. Belissar watched them as they went. A couple of the soldier bees followed his gaze and broke off to follow them at a safe distance. He then turned to Chief Rohsuak.

“Do you mind if we sit?”

Belissar shook his head at her question and Chief Rohsuak sat down, crossing her legs on the ground. Belissar followed suit.

“Then, let’s begin. First of all, are you aware of your own mana?”

Belissar nodded. He had felt the warmth of the Tower’s mana flowing through him, as well as the mana within the honeycomb whenever he ate some. At this point, he could also feel that same warmth resting in his body at all times. Chief Rohsuak gave him a smile.

“Then you have already completed the hardest part. Are you able to move it?”

Belissar frowned at that. He hadn’t done anything of the sort. Perhaps the Tower Lords had lied about the dangers of peasants using magic...but at the same time, Belissar had still been concerned about experimenting without any knowledge, so he hadn’t attempted to interact with the mana in his body. He thought about trying now but in the end, he just shook his head. After that fire spell Chief Rohsuak had displayed, he couldn’t deny that magic was dangerous, and he had a possible teacher now.

“Got it, then that’s where we’ll start.”

Chief Rohsuak rose to her feet. Belissar tilted his head but did so as well.

“My master taught me a bunch of breathing exercises for this step, but I found that slow and frustrating. So, I found it’s better to keep your body in motion. Let me teach you a couple of tricks...”

What Belissar did not know was that Chief Rohsuak had a...unique perspective on the mystic arts. And a unique training method. One that the other bear people found....difficult. Such that even Metsaitti’s hunters feared to learn from her.

Belissar may have been hasty in agreeing to the training...

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