The Bee Dungeon

The karnuq were making a bit of commotion around the small one after she prayed at the Shrine of Bees and Belissar gave her more honey, but he ignored them. He was busy reviewing all the latest messages once more.

A challenger has been fully blessed.

Gained 20 DP.

A challenger has selected a blessing unique to your patron.

Gained additional 10 DP.

Tribute received. Your patron grants you this portion:

- Ground Mana Flower x1

Ground Mana Flower absorbed.

Sufficient samples gathered. Ground Mana Flower now available.

He couldn’t help but grin, and even laugh a bit. Another challenger had been fully blessed, granting him a nice haul of DP as well as progress on that particular mission. But all that paled in comparison to the treasure said challenger had brought him in the process. Mana flowers were his bees’ favorite and now he had a new type. Better yet, it specifically mentioned Ground mana, the same time that featured in the digger bee descriptions. Maybe, with this, he wouldn’t have to pick that option in the future, for his bees might come up with a similar bee type all their own.

Belissar immediately went to add a few…

Available Resource Plants for Flower Meadow:

-Ground Mana Flower (10 per node, 20 due to unsuitable environment)

He went completely still, just staring in silence at the message for a while. Then he checked the Apiary and the Orchard…and found the same numbers for them as well.

Twenty mana. The price of a monster bee queen spawner before he had the Blessing of Bees. Scratching out some math in the dirt revealed that one ground mana flower node could pay for four of the regular mana flower nodes.

That was…a tad bit expensive. A ground mana flower node would represent the single most expensive thing in his dungeon.

But, after only a brief moment of hesitation, Belissar concluded it was worth the cost. He went ahead and added one ground mana flower node to each of his three rooms.

Mana: 24/440

And in one fell swoop, he was nearly out of available mana. He was right to tell the karnuq he couldn’t make one for them just yet. He technically had enough mana to afford one more, but only barely. And, if he did so, he would not have enough mana to add a new room once he could afford one from the DP shop, which was only a few days away at this point. Plus, whatever resource plants, traps, or monster spawners he might want to add to said room.

But enough of that. His bees now had a brand new flower. Belissar set his tower sight on the different nodes and grinned, waiting to see how they would react…

The First of the Fifth was currently pacing around in a circle.

This was fine. She heard the news of the might fortress the King had built for the Flower Meadow queens and received the news with…joy. Yes. Joy. Nothing else.

Because, of course, the King loved all bees. So, it only made sense for him to ensure all bees had a home. To collaborate with the queens like he hadn’t done for any of the Apiary queens…and to spend weeks lovingly working on the designs and the construction…and to collaborate with the hives that they could work by his side…then transforming the whole thing into a magical construction on par…or perhaps even greater…than the magical palace she had received.

Yes, this was fine. The King loved all bees, so she would too. Therefore, she would celebrate the boon the others had received. Yes. This was just a sign of the King’s favor for all bees, and therefore his favor for her as well. See, afterwards, he went and upgraded the Apiary hives! Her palace’s walls were now made of dry and precisely cut wood, far less vulnerable to rot and decay! She was still part of the bees the King loved!

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And she was becoming like him too! Like the King, she had also lavished great gifts upon the bees. She gave every queen their own mana flower to support their growth! The flowers with nectar so hot it nearly burned? She let another queen gather that and gain favor with the new workers raised on it! The brand new flower that resulted from the cross-pollinating gathering she tasked her workers with? She gave that to the Second of the Sixth, who had subsequently did something never before seen, and changed herself with it!

Yes, this was fine.

Well, the last one was. The Second of the Sixth transforming herself was certainly impressive…but in hindsight, the First of the Fifth would never have done so herself. The Second of the Sixth could now raise medicinal workers and produce healing herb honey off of the nectar of any flower, no longer requiring specialized nectars to produce specialized products. But there was a downside to that. It meant that any honey the Second of the Sixth produced became medicinal, regardless of what flower the nectar came from. So, in other words, she was now incapable of producing any other type. That would have been an altogether unacceptable situation for the First of the Fifth, as it would shut down all of her attempts to experiment with, categorize, and improve her various honey types.

Still, the First of the Fifth could now see the benefits of her new approach. She would never have taken the path the Second of the Sixth had, but it was good that someone had. Had she kept the mana-infused healing herb for herself, all that would have resulted was a slightly improved healing herb honey. But now, instead, the First of the Fifth would not have to worry about mass-producing healing herb honey the next time a major battle came around. The Second of the Sixth could do so with far greater ease than any other queen, leaving the First of the Fifth free to focus on her preferred quality of honey.

And most of all, the King was greatly pleased with the Second of the Sixth’s transformation. Thus, why the First of the Fifth donated a similar flower that appeared in the poison flower patch to yet another queen, not even sampling its nectar for herself.

This was fine. The First of the Fifth continued to repeat that to herself as she paced around endlessly.

That is, until she felt the stirrings of mana shifting through the entire realm. It was a subtle thing, further away from her senses than normal. As if it were traveling beneath the ground instead of through the air.

The First of the Fifth perked up and crawled outside. What she found…was not nearly as subtle as she first thought. A patch of the ground near the prime gathering area was glowing bright.

Which meant she was about to receive new flowers.

But even the First of the Fifth was not prepared for what appeared when the glow faded. A third patch of mana flowers now appeared…but this one was entirely different from the other two. Instead of the blue and clear glow of the regular flowers, these ones were pure brown from stem to petal, blending in with the dirt beneath them. Their stems and leaves hung low while their roots spread wide, clinging tight to the ground. And whereas the other mana flowers left their mana drift through the air in aimless puffs of mist, these ones directed their mana down. She see the sparkle of mana traveling through their roots and into the dirt around them, solidifying and strengthening it.

This…this was something altogether different. Not the base mana flowers, which held mana but little else, doing little with it besides accumulation. Not the specialized but mundane flowers that produced interesting but normal compounds. No, this was more akin to the flame radish flowers, gathering and transforming mana into a new form that could act upon the world all by itself…but to a far greater degree than even those.

The First of the Fifth was halfway to organizing foragers and guards to stake her claim on the new flower when she paused. And then she began to tremble.

The King…loved…all bees. Which meant he made this for…

She slowly, ever so slowly, forced herself to begin dancing.

“…forget previous order. Go to Apiary queens, tell to gather by new flower.”

The workers seemed confused but moved to carry out her command. The First of the Fifth then turned to the new flower patch and stared at it, trembling the entire time.

Yes…this was…fine…

The Second of the Sixth couldn’t help but buzz her wings loud as she flew over to the gathering area…and saw the brand-new flowers.

There it was. The First of the Fifth’s plot had finally been revealed. This new patch of flowers was more unique and powerful than any the Second of the Sixth had ever seen…and it was just the latest of a whole slew of new flower types, on top of the number of mana flowers doubling. There were so many new flowers, in fact, that no one hive was large enough to monopolize them all. Not even the First of the Fifth's.

So, what had she done? She had parceled out the existing flowers one by one, pretending she was being charitable so that each hive would be pacified. And now, once the greatest prize of all appeared, she would swoop in and snatch it all for herself.

And all the other Apiary queens, having accepted the previous favors, would be entirely unable to complain. Including the Second of the Sixth. It was beyond frustrating…but she had been played.

The First of the Fifth slowly flew over to the new patch and pointed to one of the flowers.

“This one, mine.”

The Second of the Sixth buzzed her wings again. Yes, she knew! They all knew that! Was the First of the Fifth not satisfied in merely staking her claim?! Did she want to go through and claim every last flower, one by one, just to rub it in?! Did she…

The First of the Fifth then, even more slowly, flew to the next flower. She trembled as she danced.

“This one, First of the Sixth’s.”

The Second of the Sixth froze, as did all the other Apiary queens.

“This one, First of the Seventh’s.”

The Second of the Sixth slowly descended to the ground and landed on a flower, remaining completely still as the First of the Fifth continued. One by one, she called out each queen, assigning them a flower.

“This one, Second of the Sixth’s.”

Including her.

Just what…was going on?

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