The Bee Dungeon

Chapter 108: Bee-hold Rock and Stone!

Chapter 108: Bee-hold Rock and Stone!

Belissar had a thought. If stone was unlocked for building his beehouses…then would he be able to change existing beehouses into stone? He could both turn mundane beehouses into Tower features, and likewise could turn regular Tower beehives into beehouses, so it seemed like it would be possible. He tried to focus in on one of the Apiary beehouses, hoping some sort of Tower message might appear.

And indeed, the normal description menu appeared, with an option for upgrades. Belissar went ahead and focused on that and a new menu appeared.

Belissar’s Beehouse Upgrades:

- Expand to Bee Apartment (Cost: 100 DP or 25 if materials provided)

- Expand to Bee Barracks (Cost: 100 DP or 25 if materials provided)

- Change material to stone (Cost: 50 DP or 12 if materials provided)

- Boost honeycomb production (Cost: 25 DP)

- Boost growth for inhabitants (Cost: 25 DP)

Belissar’s eyes widened. He had expected the material option. He had not expected the other four. He could not only change a beehouse into stone, but he could apparently expand the beehouses into apartments or barracks, or boost their effects, though all at the cost of DP. Not much DP compared to the DP shop options…but back when he upgraded regular beehives into beehouses each upgrade and each expenditure of DP only affected one hive. So, it made sense, as he'd be spending DP to upgrade a single feature instead of saving up for new features, rooms, or monsters that could aid his Tower as a whole. And, well, his recent experience with buying feature choices taught him that a lot of DP could suddenly become very little once he started spending it freely.

So, he held off on the urge to immediately upgrade the beehouse he was looking at and tried to think about it. If he upgraded each and every beehouse that would be…a lot. He knew better than to try and figure out those numbers, so he just left it at “a lot.” And, as much as he wanted the best beehouses for his bees…spending all his DP on the beehouse buffs was probably a bad idea. More bees and more honey were both helpful, but he did need to keep expanding his Tower’s options. New bee types and new features were probably more helpful in that regard, and generally helped his bees as well.

Perhaps if he consolidated the beehouses into Bee Apartments it might be worth it. But well, he didn’t want to force the bees to live together if they didn’t want to. They’d listen to him if he asked, but that was precisely why he wasn’t going to ask. He’d bring it up if they suggested it though.

In any case, he set aside those ideas and focused on his original one. So, he could upgrade beehouses to stone. He wondered if that’d apply to other features…

Bee Barracks Upgrades:

- Swap to Bee Apartment (Cost: 25 DP)

- Change material to stone (Cost: 200 DP or 50 if materials provided)

- Boost growth for inhabitants (Cost: 50 DP)

- Boost coordination for inhabitants (Cost: 50 DP)

And it turned out that he could, though the cost was increasing. That made sense, as the Bee Barracks was noticeably larger than the beehouses. But still, multiple hundreds of DP was getting up there, so it would certainly be worth gathering the materials.

Which meant, Belissar would have to coordinate with the karnuq once more. He…decided to give them a break today and ask them tomorrow. He certainly wasn’t tired of interacting with them, or anything.

The rest of the day passed without issue, as Belissar gave his bees a break from the usual purification. The next day, he made his way to the karnuq once more. Chief Rohsuak had fortunately started to recover, though she still seemed quite fatigued. She insisted she was fine, though, so neither Belissar nor the other karnuq said anything. Belissar thus concluded an arrangement for the karnuq to deliver some stone to the Bee Barracks on a daily basis in exchange for some mana honeycomb.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

It turned out that Muuraqi had received the Blessing of the Mason, so the process would go even faster than before. It would still take a few days though, as the Bee Barracks was large and the karnuq wanted to begin some stone constructions for themselves as well. It turned out Muuraqi had been a bit inspired by Belissar’s own works. Given that his stone work consisted of putting a block of stone in front of a hole in the ground, Belissar wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

The problem came when it was time for the next purification that day. Belissar frowned and hummed to himself. Niobee flew before him.

“King, ok?”

He rubbed his chin.

“I’m just wondering if we should even do a purification tonight. Every time we’ve faced a new shade in an expansion, that kind of shade started showing up in the daily purifications, though smaller and weaker. So…I’m a bit worried about what might happen if another turtle appears. Chief Rohsuak won’t be able to help us today if we can’t handle it…”

Niobee didn’t respond right away, so Belissar continued pondering. He turned his gaze to find Niobee drooping a bit.

“Sorry, bees will work harder…”

His face softened and he held out his hand for her to land on.

“You’re doing great. In fact, I have an idea. I think we can just set the field on fire if another turtle shows up. Maybe we have the Apiary soldiers drop their flame radishes right on the flowers, and then I can make some mana honey to light it…”

Niobee slowly began to dance.

“Ok…should tell them?”

Belissar smiled and nodded.

“Yes, thank you Niobee. Keep up the good work.”

Niobee took off with a bit more pep in her wings. Belissar made a light sigh. On the one hand, he hated to see his bees feeling down about anything. On the other hand, that was no reason to expose them to a danger they couldn’t handle. He’d just have to hope the plan would work if they got a turtle tonight.

Once Niobee had relayed the possible plan to the Apiary’s soldiers, Belissar went ahead and triggered another minor+ purification.

It turned out they got one of the fast cats so all his worries and plans were for naught. But well, at least they had an idea if they ever did get one of those shades…and maybe they’d come up with something new in the meantime.

And so, a handful of days passed. The Third of the Sixth crawled over to a corner of her first hive. She still could scarcely believe how far she had come. Once, she had been the queen born a second too late to receive even one of the King’s magical palaces. Now, she had two, one of which was a brand-new design made especially for her. One made of immovable rock that no predator could break.

All she had to do now was fulfill her end of the bargain. This palace had been built specifically with the expectation that she and her hive would evolve soon. The First of the Fifth had granted her exclusive access to the flame radish flower patch, including the new mana flower that sprouted among them, and the King himself had moved that patch next to her hive. All eyes in the Apiary were on her, including the King’s.

And that’s why her current pace was unacceptable.

It turned out that her evolution was more complicated than the other queens. With medicinal or maddening honey, all a queen had to do was obtain sufficient quantity of honey with high enough mana density to fuel her evolution, and a stable enough hive to last a couple days without her. But this honey, this honey was different. Its hot temperature required the King himself to design an entirely new hive for her, and its temperature grew along with its mana density. Therefore, the Third of the Sixth had discovered that burning honey with high enough mana density to fuel her evolution…was too hot for her to even consume, much less submerge herself in.

But she would not accept failure. The King had saw fit to bless her with a magical palace, and now a second. The First of the Fifth had pledged her support, that arrogant queen offering her own honey as a gift to help support her hive while she evolved. The Conduit stopped by daily to check on her.

No, she would not fail.

So, she began to drink the burning honey, as much as she could stomach without seriously harming herself. It was a slow…and painful process, one that brought her egg-laying to a halt as she consumed perhaps a bit more than was healthy for her. But, each and every day the pain was a bit muted and she could drink a bit more. She could even sense her mana begin to change, and the air of her original hive began to feel chilly. So, she pressed on.

And now, today, she was going to attempt to drink the honey of the Fire mana flower once again. The air grew hot even as she approached the single bright red cell. Her wings beat subconsciously as her antennae folded back and away from the heat. It took all of her will to extend her proboscis even as it burned…a feeling that only grew worse as she finally made contact with the honey. Her proboscis screamed inside and out as fire raged up and into her body.

The pain was nearly unbearable. But only nearly.

She…could stomach the honey. And while her proboscis was in serious pain…it was not so bad that she couldn’t endure it.

And that meant that it was time. Wisdom and instinct said to wait. If she attempted the evolution now, it would be risky and dangerous, not to mention painful. There was a chance she failed with serious repercussions.

But she would not make the King wait a single day longer. She gave the order for a cell prepared for her evolution in the new time. She would pass through the flame. And she would emerge from it stronger than ever, if she proved worthy of the boons bestowed upon her.

She gathered herself even as the honey raged through her stomach and began to beat her wings. She left her original hive, that hive that she had longed for all her life and flew to her destiny.