The Bee Dungeon

Belissar stood just inside the entrance to the new room. Sunlight trickled in from the entrance, illuminating a dirt tunnel about ten feet across. A Shrine of Bees stood in a small alcove off to the side, perhaps a tad shorter than before to fit within the more cramped space. Besides that, there was dirt on the ground, dirt on the walls, and dirt on the roof…and nothing else in the few feet he could see. Beyond the initial slope down from the Apiary was…pitch-black darkness.

Belissar turned to Niobee.

“Um, can you see inside?”

“Can!”

Belissar blinked at that.

“You can? You can see in the dark?”

Niobee paused before beginning a slower dance.

“Not with eyes. But can feel!”

“Ah.”

Belissar began to nod. He had figured out at this point that Niobee had a pretty deep connection to the Tower, so it only made sense she could also use the Tower sight, and see beyond what her own eyes could. He, too, could use his Tower sight and view the Dirt Tunnels as if in the light of the sun…but that somewhat defeated the purpose of coming here in person. Although…from what he could see, there was nothing but dirt. As the name and description stated.

Now that he was here, he, ah, wasn’t entirely sure what else he expected.

He ended up shrugging.

“Well, since we can’t see much ourselves anyways, might as well get to work.”

“Ok!”

He chuckled a bit at Niobee zooming around him before considering what to do next. Obviously, the Dirt Tunnels were due for both traps and resource plants, but there was just a slight problem with that…

Mana: 19/440

He had been allocating quite a lot of his mana with all the new flowers the karnuq had brought him, ending with the Ground mana flowers that were oh so expensive. He also had not been expanding his mana reserves with the daily purifications while he waited for the expansion purification. So…his available mana was quite low. He wouldn’t even be able to afford another Ground mana flower node if they were as expensive as the other rooms, though he was very much hoping they wouldn’t be. On top of that, there were the cave carrots, the cave potatoes, the burrowing stonecrop, plus whatever else the karnuq might have now if the Dirt Tunnels was suitable to grow them all. And, of course, he would need traps if he wanted to use the room for defense. Nineteen mana…was probably not enough for all of that.

Belissar decided to at least check the numbers, though.

Available Resource Plants for Dirt Tunnels:

- Basic Medicinal Mushrooms (Mana Upkeep: 3 per node)

- Basic Poisonous Mushrooms (Mana Upkeep: 3 per node)

- Cave Carrot (Mana Upkeep: 3 per node)

- Cave Potato (Mana Upkeep: 3 per node)

- Burrowing Stonecrop (Mana Upkeep: 3 per node)

- Mana Flower (Mana Upkeep: 5 per node)

- Ground Mana Flower (Mana Upkeep: 10 per node, 5 due to suitable environment)

Belissar blinked at the longer list than he expected. So, basic medicinal and poisonous mushrooms? Maybe that was supposed to be the underground equivalent of the healing herbs and poisonous flowers? Well, that was nice, though as far as he was aware mushrooms didn’t really make flowers so maybe not. Though, he did recall seeing bees land on some he saw in the forest, so maybe there was something they could gather from it? ŔаɴꝋᛒƐꞩ

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

On the other hand, he was at least happy to have confirmation that all those plants the karnuq had given him would, in fact, grow in the Dirt Tunnels. And, most of all, that Ground mana flowers were not only not as expensive, but significantly cheaper in the Dirt Tunnels. The same upkeep as a normal mana flower, even. If only he could move the Ground mana flowers from the other rooms to here…

Belissar suddenly realized that he could. He walked out of the Dirt Tunnels entrance and over to the flower patches of the Apiary, where countless bees were flying to and from the new Ground mana flowers. They all stopped as they saw him approach.

“Um, sorry, could you give me a second? I’m going to move these slightly, but they should come right back, ok?”

The bees all saluted and backed away from the Ground mana flower patch. Belissar then reclaimed it, watching as glowing light covered over the flowers and then melted back into the ground, leaving an empty patch of dirt as if nothing had ever existed.

Belissar then swapped to his Tower sight and thought about adding a new Dirt Tunnel entrance, opening up a hole right where the Ground mana flower patch had been. He then put a new Ground mana flower node right by that entrance, illuminated by the sun and visible from above, then returned to his normal sight. He looked around at the bees and nodded.

“Thanks for waiting, you can go back to gathering now.”

The bees saluted and then dove into the new hole in the ground. Fortunately, there was enough sunlight for them to work with, so they resumed gathering from the new Ground mana flowers same as before. Belissar nodded with a smile as he checked his mana.

Mana: 34/440

Success. He had reclaimed a significant proportion of his mana while still leaving the Apiary bees with access to the new flower. He briefly considered whether he could that for the Flower Meadow and Orchard patches as well…but they were a bit too far away from the Dirt Tunnels, as the bees would need to fly at least the full length of the Orchard to reach it. But that was fine, as he probably had enough mana to work with now.

He went ahead and added one of each of the Dirt Tunnel resource nodes. He found he couldn’t actually place them directly in the sunlight streaming from above, so he placed them to the sides of the room, where they would be shaded from the light but still visible enough for the bees to see them. He even added the two mushrooms for good measure, just to see if there was anything the bees could do with them.

Mana: 19/440

When he was done, he found he was back where he started. It seemed all those resource nodes cost exactly the same amount he had saved by moving the Ground mana flowers, so that was convenient. And that gave him a decent amount of mana left for traps, seeing as both the Pit Traps and the Sticky Honey Traps only costed one mana…or would they? Belissar frowned as he recalled the Sticky Honey Traps were as cheap as they were because the bees were refilling them with their own honey. But these traps would be located deep inside the tunnels where the bees would have trouble reaching. He would have to consider how much the Sticky Honey traps would cost if the bees couldn’t reach them.

In the end, Belissar shrugged and added two Sticky Honey Traps and a single Pit Trap by the original entrance. He put one Sticky Honey Trap in the roof, and the other in the Pit Trap itself. He figured he’d wait to add anything deeper in until his bees had a way to actually reach it.

Mana: 12/440

He’d get a bit of his mana back once the bees started filling the Sticky Honey Traps themselves, but even then his mana was almost depleted. He’d done all he wanted to for the Dirt Tunnels at the moment, though that could change if the Ground mana flowers resulted in a subterranean bee of some sort…or if he wanted to make nodes in the Dirt Tunnels for the karnuq to gather from, not to mention if they gave him new plants as a result. Still, at this point it was worth considering whether he should go back to expanding his mana from the daily purifications. The only question was…should he attempt the expansion purification before or after that?

On the one hand, everything he had been waiting for was now finished. The Bee Barracks’ main structure was completed and the Flower Meadow queens had finished moving inside. The new queens had been born and now had enough workers to contribute to their hives, though they were not yet large enough to begin laying soldiers. The Dirt Tunnels were ready and could be placed in front of the Flower Meadow as an additional obstacle to any flying shades. The sprayers were fully integrated into the army, new bee types were growing, and some basic anti-fire measures had been taken. And the benefits of a successful expansion had already proven quite dramatic. He had just filled his final room slots, now seemed like an excellent time to acquire new floors and room slots.

On the other hand, there was still value in waiting. With extra time, the new Flower Meadow queens would start producing soldiers and dramatically expand the size of the army. The Bee Barracks main structure was complete, but he could still add defenses to the exterior, such as a perimeter palisade. He also had only the Orchard grove beehouse to design and build before he could complete another mission from the God of Bees. The new bee types would spread if he waited, and who knows how helpful burning soldiers or sprayers might be? And, again, if the Ground mana flowers resulted in a bee type that could operate underground, he could consider using the entirety of the Dirt Tunnels as a battleground instead of just the entrance.

So, what was the right choice? Expand now and gain even more rooms, monsters, and resources, but at the possible cost of losing bees that he might not if he waited? Or take the slow path, letting the bees explore the fullest extent of the resources he now had before exposing them to any more danger, but delaying his Tower’s growth as a result?

But, just then, Belissar noticed something that would delay this decision. Something that made his heart stop and his blood run cold.

Despite a lack of any purification notices, he felt the Hunger creeping along the Tower’s mana once more.

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