The Bee Dungeon

Chapter 77: Sneaky Bee-livery

Chapter 77: Sneaky Bee-livery

All hostiles defeated. Purification successful.

Minor+ Purification completed! Please select a reward:

- +75 DP

- +15 Max Mana

- Monster Bee Sprayer Resistance Boost (Minimal+)

The bees finished up the day’s purification with ease. Belissar then considered the rewards. Normally he’d just default to more mana unless there was an especially enticing perk or feature, since at this point he already had enough mana for the next expansion purification. More mana was always helpful and he’d get a head start on the expansion after the next one, but it also felt a bit…unnecessary.

So, he took a moment to consider the other options. Seventy-five DP would help him reach his DP shop goal sooner…but it was less than what the karnuq were giving him at this point, so was it really worth a full purification reward? On the other hand, a boost for his bees was always welcome. He wasn’t entirely sure what resistance did…

Resistance: Governs the entity’s ability to resist magic, negative statuses, and non-physical effects.

That was helpful. So, resistance was like defense, but for magic? Well, that decided it then.

Monster Bee Sprayers receive a slight boost to Resistance!

So far, the most dangerous attacks to his bees were magical. Well, he wasn’t entirely sure about that, but he assumed that the bird-shade’s lightning and the wolf-shade’s mist were some sort of magical attack. It was absolutely worth a reward choice to shore up his bees’ defenses against such dangers.

And more generally, Belissar figured he’d focus on perks and features while he waited, unless he specifically needed more mana. It was a good opportunity to boost the strength of his bees in preparation for the fight to come.

With that settled, Belissar celebrated the bees’ victory and then made his way back to the Apiary farmhouse. Before anything else, he took one of the jars he had received from the karnuq and took it out to the pond, filling it partially. He then made his way back into the farmhouse and walked over to the big jars holding the extra honeycomb trays he had accumulated from the Apiary bees’ daily production. He poured the honey from one of the trays into the jar, then swirled it about to mix it up.

Yes, it was time to get started on the mead-making again. For now though, he was keeping it basic with just mana honey and water. Since the honey was notably different from what he was used to, he wanted to get a baseline before he iterated on any of his previous recipes.

Now that that was done, he thought a bit on possible challenges for the karnuq before heading off to bed…

Belissar awoke just before the break of dawn. He had not awoken naturally, but rather by a pressure upon his mind. The Tower’s mana flowed into him, waking him up fully as he focused upon the pressure. He quickly determined the cause: someone had entered the dungeon in the wee hours of the morning. His tower sight turned to the entrance…

A small karnuq crept into the entrance. They were covered in dirt and mud and Belissar couldn’t make out their features very well, but he knew that this wasn’t a karnuq he knew. This karnuq was smaller than any he had ever seen so far, barely taller than him…possibly even the same height or less.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

He narrowed his eyes. He had no idea what they were doing here at this time of day, and without any of their fellows. And that set him on edge. Still, the karnuq as a whole hadn’t done anything to harm him, the bees, or the Tower thus far, so he only kept watch for now.

The karnuq held some sort of glowing crystal, lighting up their immediate surroundings. They crept around until they found the Shrine of Bees. Their eyes narrowed and Belissar frowned.

They stepped over to the Shrine…and then opened the wax chest. They reached into a pouch tied to their waist and pulled something out, placing it inside. They stared up at the Shrine of Bees and said something that, once again, Belissar couldn’t hear. The Shrine of Bees and the chest glowed lightly in response.

Challenger blessed.

Gained 10 DP.

Tribute received. Your patron grants you this portion:

- Ground Mana Flower x1

Belissar’s eyes widened. He was no longer suspicious of the karnuq’s intentions. Well, that wasn’t necessarily true, as it was still suspicious that they were creeping around at night and alone, but he was at least no longer suspicious of what they were doing in his Tower. The God of Bees seemed to approve and to be honest, if they were bringing him new mana flowers, then he didn’t particularly care what they were up to.

The karnuq’s eyes widened and they looked down at their hands. They started to giggle, their laughter growing until they were full on cackling. They spoke and this time, Belissar’s tower senses worked. They spoke with a high-pitched, feminine voice. So, a girl, most likely?

“We have a deal then. Wait for me, Sacred Den and your god. Promise me your power and there’s more where that came from.”

Belissar watched as the karnuq left, still giggling as she crept away. He then shrugged and got up. If she was secretly bringing him ground mana flowers…then he could only wish her luck!

The day was about to begin and with the Tower magic he was fully rested, so he decided to start on his day. He had spent a while thinking of different challenges he could make and, after sleeping on it, he thought he had an idea.

He took a tray of mana honeycomb and walked off towards the Flower Meadow. He soon arrived at his destination, off to the center of one of the side walls away from either entrance or the Bee Barracks. There, he placed the honeycomb down out in the open.

He then surrounded the honeycomb with Pit Traps.

Well, it was a simple idea, but bees flew to get their honey, right? So, if he surrounded some honey with Pit Traps, it would be hard for normal people to get it unless they could fly like bees, right?

…the idea sounded better last night, before Belissar had actually implemented it. But he shrugged and left it there. He guessed he’d at least see if it worked as a ‘challenge’ and if not he’d adjust it later.

He then paused and rubbed his chin. The challenge did give him an idea, though. His bee magic so far let him make honey like a bee and make wax like a bee. Presumably, it would do bee-ish things in general.

So…wouldn’t it be possible to fly like a bee using his magic?

Belissar stirred up his mana and sent it out of his body, thinking about bee wings and buzzing about in the air. A honeycomb pattern of light began to form around his back…but it quickly began to slow down before finishing even a single hexagon. Belissar began to grunt and groan as the mana grew harder and harder to move.

Then, suddenly, he gasped and lurched forward. The mana suddenly stopped flowing out of his body. The light shuddered and then dispersed in a bright flash of light. He fell to the ground, his face covered in sweat and his head pounding.

“Ugh, ok, guess wings are too hard for now.”

It seemed he wouldn’t be joining the bees in the skies anytime soon. A moment later, Niobee came rushing over to him with medicinal bees in tow. And since the sun was only beginning to rise, Belissar decided to take a moment before resuming the rest of his day…

Belissar spent the next day learning potions with Juosiutik, building another beehouse, and watching the next purification. He got a minimum+ Vitality boost for his soldier bees this time.

He went to bed, but woke up before the sun rose. He apparently could just…decide how long to sleep and the Tower mana would wake him up. That was incredibly convenient. He then gathered together some healing herb mana honey and mad mana honey and turned his attention towards the entrance.

He thought about it and realized he could help the sneaky karnuq. She was giving him a treasure considered priceless by both the karnuq and his bees, so it would absolutely be appropriate to give her some mana honey in exchange, or so he thought. He wasn’t sure what she was doing or where she was getting the flowers, but he figured healing herb honey would always be valuable for its medicinal properties. Mad mana honey, on the other hand, could help if she was doing something dangerous. She said something about power and that was just about the strongest weapon he had that he could share, in any case.

So, he made his way to the Flower Meadow and then waited. And waited. And waited…

Eventually the sun rose and Belissar frowned. He guessed she wasn’t coming tonight, then? Belissar shrugged and took the honeycomb back. The flowers were supposed to be rare, after all, so maybe it would take her a bit to find one? He guessed he would just have to wait until the next time she came by, then…