The Bee Dungeon

Belissar met Chief Rohsuak the next morning, while Metsaitti’s group passed him by. He didn’t say anything to them, but he did glare at the spearman who wanted to mess with his bees. Chief Rohsuak let out a sigh.

“Tyhgak’s got more courage than sense, but Metsaitti will keep him in line.”

Belissar’s expression didn’t change.

“He’d better.”

Chief Rohsuak shook her head before taking a look at Belissar. She raised her eyebrow.

“You seem to be doing well. I expected you to be in much more pain after yesterday.”

Belissar glared at her and she just smiled.

“You grow the most when pushed past your limit.”

He sighed and then shrugged.

She looked at him for a bit and then nodded.

“Well, you do have a lot of mana. Ah! You ate mana honey as well?”

Belissar eyed her for a bit before slowly nodding. Chief Rohsuak then grinned, with a glint in her eye that made Belissar take a step back.

“That’s good to know. That’s very good to know.”

Then she began to chuckle...and Belissar felt a chill go down his spine. The training that day dramatically increased in intensity.

When it was over, he barely made it back to the farmhouse, and collapsed upon the bed, groaning.

Niobee flew around him rapidly, but he didn’t respond. She then flew out the window as fast as she could.

“Ow!”

A short while later, Belissar felt a sharp pain. He looked at his arm and his eyes widened.

“What...why?!”

A bee was stinging him. Belissar’s heart pounded in his chest. He was no stranger to being stung, the bees didn’t exactly like it when he gathered honey from their hives. But he thought that had changed after becoming a dungeon master, now that he could talk directly to them. So...what had gone wrong? What did he do that they resorted to stinging without even talking to him?

And worse...why did this little bee give her life for that purpose?

Belissar’s eyes moistened as he reached a trembling hand towards the bee. He would try to pull her stinger out without hurting her, but he knew that was a difficult task. Which made it all the worse that she had stung him. If she had just told him what was wrong, he would have stopped whatever he was doing. There was no need for her to sacrifice herself...

Then the little bee pulled out her stinger without issue, with no harm done to herself. Belissar stared at her.

And then he felt a soothing warmth spread by the stung area.

He now noticed that the bee that stung him was colored blue and had a thin, smooth stinger. It was one of the medicinal bees.

“Oh...is this how you apply the medicine? You’re trying to help me?”

The little bee danced a salute. Belissar exhaled his breath, also remembering that monster bees don’t necessarily die when they sting now that he had calmed down. He then smiled, reached over, and gently brushed the bee’s back.

“Thank you.”

More medicinal bees were hovering around him and Belissar nodded at them. He felt little pricks as they stung him, but now that he was paying attention he noticed they weren’t as bad as a normal sting. He looked around and found Niobee watching, along with the queen from the nearest hive.

“King, ok?”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Belissar smiled.

“Yes, and better, thanks to you two I’m guessing?”

Niobee wavered a bit in the air.

“King hurt, needed help.”

The queen danced her agreement. Belissar reached out his hand and the two landed on it.

“Thanks. I’ll be fine, thanks to you both.”

The two paused for a second before both beginning a happy dance. Belissar grinned and then laid back down in the bed, letting the medicinal workers do their thing...

***

The next day Chief Rohsuak brought a pair of staves. After an excruciating amount of physical training, she began to teach him how to wield a spear. Belissar raised an eyebrow at the older, hunched woman as she picked up the stave.

She twirled the spear around her with ease and then thrust it forward in a powerful stab that sent forth a small gust of wind. She then turned to Belissar and grinned.

“Oh, I’m not as frail as I look. Age is a formidable foe but I never yield without a fight.”

Belissar began to sweat. He had a feeling that the training was going to get a lot worse.

He was correct.

***

Metsaitti’s crew couldn’t help but stop and stare at the Den Master the next day. The young man had been through three days of the chief’s training...and not only did he come back, he looked no worse for wear than the first. Even Metsaitti raised an eyebrow at that.

“Have you been taking it easy on him?”

Chief Rohsuak smiled.

“No.”

Metsaitti looked to Den Master and straightened his back somewhat. He knew now he was facing a man of focus, commitment, and sheer grizzly will, whatever his appearance or demeanor might otherwise suggest. He was also unaware that Den Master was used to doing what he was told without complaint regardless of how unpleasant it was, and that it hadn’t occurred to him that he could quit.

Tyhgak the spearman, on the other hand, stared openly with his jaw wide open.

“You’re surviving the demon?! Is that the power of a Sacred Den Master?!”

Of course, everyone turned to look at Tyhgak when he shouted. The Den Master’s eyes narrowed. Tyhgak took a step back and started to sweat.

“Um, hello?”

The Den Master continued to glare.

“Don’t touch my bees.”

Tyhgak gulped. Metsaitti sighed.

“Told you he could hear you.”

Chief Rohsuak smiled as she walked up behind Tyhgak and placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Worry not, Den Master. I’ll make sure to give Tyhgak here some instruction. The demon will certainly whip him into shape.”

Tyhgak’s face paled.

***

Belissar winced as he sat on the ground. His muscles ached, and he had bruises all over. Niobee and the soldier bees nearby started to hover around him before he assured them he was fine. Chief Rohsuak, despite all the sparring, seemed no worse for wear. She smiled as she sat down in front of him.

“Now should be a good time. Let’s work on mana control.”

Belissar sat up as well as he could, fixing his eyes on Chief Rohsuak. This was what he was ultimately working for.

“As I said, I believe mana to be a part of the body, or at least heavily intertwined with it. Your body is already subconsciously moving it around, sending towards the parts in need of healing. Try to focus on it and feel it moving.”

She grinned.

“From what I’ve seen of you, it should be easy.”

Belissar nodded and focused on himself. He could indeed feel streams of mana flowing through his body, concentrating on the sorest muscles and the worst bruises. Chief Rohsuak nodded.

“Looks like you found it. Now, pay attention to how the mana is moving. Try to remember that feeling, and see if you can replicate it. It may help to move around your limbs to get a feel for how the flow changes.

She grinned.

“The more sore the limb the easier the changes will be to notice.”

Belissar winced at that but did as she suggested, moving his arm around. He winced as he felt the bruises on it once again...and then felt the mana surge slightly towards that exact area.

Chief Rohsuak nodded.

“It looks like you got it. We’ll end our time together here for today, then. Focus on remembering that feeling for the rest of the day. Once you’ve healed, try to see if you can replicate it.”

Belissar nodded and the two parted ways. This time he declined the help of the medicinal bees so that he could focus on his own mana. It certainly made the rest of the night more painful, but the Tower’s powers were as impressive as ever, and he had made a full recovery by the next morning.

As he sat up in his bed, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“Ok, here goes...”

Belissar tried to make his mana move like it had the previous day...

His eyes shot open. The mana now flooded into his arm where he once had a bruise. He tried to make it flow to the other arm and it responded immediately. It was so easy Belissar wondered why he couldn’t do it before now.

Niobee flew before him to greet him. Before she did, Belissar grinned at her.

“Niobee, I did it!”

“Did what?”

He held up his hand.

“I moved the mana!”

Niobee paused for a second, then began a rapid dance.

“King is best king! Niobee knew! King not useless drone!”

Belissar was so happy with his achievement that he didn't catch that last bit. He leapt out of his bed and ran to the entrance of the Tower.

Up until now, everything he had achieved had been through the bees or through the powers of the Tower. But now, Belissar the former peasant was moving mana around and about to learn some real magic. Now, he could truly say he had become something more than he had ever been.

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