The Bee Dungeon

After making her delivery to the Firstborn, the First of the Fifth then gathered up another batch of honey and made her way to the third floor Flower Meadow where the new queen lived. She found a handful of the large and fuzzy bees now gathering nectar from the nearby flowers. While smaller than their queen, the workers were still quite large and round compared to her own, moving more ponderously about. The First of the Fifth wondered how in the King’s name the new hives would produce any quantity of honey given the speeds they were working and the number of workers active. The math didn’t seem to add up to her.

But, well, that was why she was here.

The new queen was also foraging, along with a second one that had like emerged from the spawner just today. The First of the Fifth approached them.

“I’m the First of the Fifth. Welcome to King’s hive of hives.”

The two queens looked at her for moment before the first began flying in a circle around her once again. The second slowly took off and began to follow her peer. The First of the Fifth resisted the urge to buzz.

Well, the King’s mana informed her that this was a display of happiness, which she supposed would do. These bees seemed a bit…slower, in many ways. She may have to teach them how to dance, it seemed.

“Here, brought honey. Hive of hives helps each other. Please use to grow hives quickly.”

The new queens stopped and watched as the First of the Fifth’s workers dropped off cells full of golden honey just in front of that hole in the ground the first queen called home. The first queen suddenly began zipping around in the air, flying circles around the First of the Fifth as fast as she could.

“…you’re welcome.”

“Where are you building your hive? We have some for you as well.”

The second queen froze, and then began to zip circles around the First of the Fifth as well. Her antennae began to twitch. While she appreciated the gratitude, she’d much prefer this second queen actually answer the question so she could drop off the honey and they could all get back to work…

It took…a bit longer than expected, but the First of the Fifth made her delivery and then returned home. Her communers alerted her to a bit of a situation with the foragers that required her attention, so she made her way over.

Soon, she saw it with her own eyes. A new flower. And not just any flower…a new mana flower. A treasure unlike any other.

But there was a problem. The temperature grew dramatically as she drew closer to the flower, to the point that she had to stop before she could touch the new flower. Her workers, smaller and more vulnerable to temperature than herself, couldn’t even get that far. Only the burning workers raised on the honey of the flame radishes could manage to gather from this new flower, and she had only a handful of those.

One of them finished gathering and flew to her, saluting. The First of the Fifth asked her to bring the nectar closer so she could inspect it and the worker did.

The First of the Fifth hovered for a bit with her antennae twitching. She then drooped a bit as she finished calculating. She would not be able to put the honey from this flower into production.

The nectar from the flame radishes alone already raised the temperature of its surroundings at an alarming rate. Anything more than a single cell or two spread out through the hive required the special, fire-proof wax that only the burning workers could make. Even then, anything more than a few of those cells put together still raised the temperature of the overall hive. The First of the Fifth had to limit production before the rising temperatures started to impact the function of the hive, and the production of other honey types.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The nectar from the new mana flower had an even denser concentration of Fire mana than that of the flame radishes, with a corresponding increase to the heat it was putting out. Even if she had her burning workers work overtime to construct additional fireproof cells, she would not be able to fill an entire tray with this nectar without harming the rest of her hive. It seemed that a specialized hive would be necessary to make more than a few drops of honey from this flower.

Well, it was now the plan of the King to do just that, but the First of the Fifth had hoped she could test the honey herself as well. But there was nothing for it.

She considered her options before quickly deciding.

“Send word to the Third of the Sixth. I request her presence.”

The Third of the Sixth was the only other queen to raise burning workers so far, so she was best positioned to specialize in the new honey type. Not only that…the Third of the Sixth had been supremely motivated ever since the King had given her a magical palace of her own, since she had been born just a moment too late to claim one of the originals. She had made dramatic strides in catching up to the other queens, so the First of the Fifth had high hopes for her productivity.

She gave one final look at the new mana flower that was frustratingly just out of her reach, and then turned away to await the other queen’s arrival.

The Fourth of the Seventh danced around her hive in no particular fashion. Her communer’s mana was streaming into her own. When she focused on it, she was suddenly transported to a field full of flowers…and with towering figures shaped like the King but with significantly more fur.

She could do it! She could see what her workers saw even while she was back at home! This was amazing!

She exclaimed as much to her communer but her communer reminded her to pay attention. Not only would this be the first test of scouting with the support of a communer, this was also a task assigned to them by the Conduit herself. Observing the karnuq gave them a low-risk scouting mission still within the King’s realm…but it was an important one and therefore one that still required focus and excellent execution. The Fourth of the Seventh calmed herself a bit and focused her attention.

The karnuq were an impressive sight. The Fourth of the Seventh didn’t think anything could be bigger than the King, and yet they were. They were even a little intimidating, as something about their appearance touched something in her instincts. But they belonged to the King now, so she ignored that and continued watching them.

The first two karnuq they found were just standing by the entrance of the second floor, leaning against a tree. Maybe sentries for their hive? The Fourth of the Seventh wasn’t sure why else they wouldn’t be working now, so probably.

Further in, she found karnuq workers gathering food for their hive. Unlike her own workers, they didn’t extract the nectar directly, instead gathering entire plants. Like the King did with the flowers for the ropes! Maybe they were going to try and weave the stems like he did?

She focused closer on them. Through the communer, the scouts themselves followed her line of sight and flew closer to give her a better view. She flapped her wings a bit as she confirmed. Like the King, these karnuq were wearing woven stems, so it seemed her guess was probably correct.

And then, the Fourth of the Seventh froze. Her vision snapped onto one thing in particular and the scouts turned to face it.

There was a protrusion on the karnuq workers that the Fourth of the Seventh had thought held their stingers. But on closer look…the protrusions weren’t a part of their body. Some were made out of what appeared to be dried skin, which had been the reason for the Fourth of the Seventh’s mistake. But some were also made out of the woven stems, which was what clued her in now.

These protrusions had openings at the top. Whenever the karnuq workers picked up a plant, they placed it into that opening. The scouts flying closer could see the protrusions filled with many plants. The karnuq could thus continue to gather while carrying many plants…all the while their limbs remained completely free.

The Fourth of the Seventh thought to this morning, as she watched the First of the Fifth’s hive carrying honey to the Flower Meadow. And then she thought of the ropes the King had made for the Apiary soldiers that enabled them to carry his big fire sticks.

She turned to her communer.

“Have idea. Can call soldiers?”

The communer saluted.

“Already did.”

A moment later, the Fourth of the Seventh’s soldiers arrived, along with the soldiers the First of the Fifth had loaned to her. All the soldiers that had helped the King make his ropes.

The Fourth of the Seventh began to explain her idea and the soldiers gave her their full attention. Even the Fourth of the Seventh’s communer watched intently as, once again, her queen came up with an idea she never would have thought of…

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!