The Bee Dungeon

Belissar smiled as the First of the Fifth and her two daughters came over to help with the golem construction, though it turned out they couldn’t do much with the actual construction. The bees’ instincts indicated that they should complete the Fourth of the Seventh’s golem solely using wax from breeze or nomadic bees. The slime queen, the First of the Fifth’s Seventh Daughter apparently, could build wax golems incredibly quickly but only with her own wax, which was actually a kind of solidified honey slime. Belissar wasn’t sure if or how it was different from regular beeswax, but it was certainly heavier than the breeze wax so they decided it would be best not to mix it in.

As such, construction was limited to Belissar’s spell bees and however many breeze and nomadic bees the Fourth of the Seventh’s hive had raised. Still, the Seventh Daughter was happy to share about her own construction, noting how using her slime honey naturally imbued the wax with her mana. Belissar took that to heart and started having the spell bees merge into the wax as they placed it.

Belissar could only work on the golem for a short time each day before he started running out of mana, however, so the work came to an end fairly quickly. Belissar glanced at the queens with him and nodded to himself. This would be a good opportunity to start on a new project.

“Hey, Fourth of the Seventh, First of the Fifth, could you come here for a moment? I want to show you something.”

The two queens danced immediately salutes and flew to his side. He looked up at the grove overhead and the Bee Apartment up in its canopy. He focused on the apartment in particular and the Tower responded to his will.

Bee Apartment Upgrades:

- Swap to Bee Barracks (Cost: 25 DP)n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

- Expand Size (Cost: 100 DP or 25 if materials provided)

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

- Boost growth for inhabitants (Cost: 50 DP)

- Boost productivity for inhabitants (Cost: 50 DP)

- Boost coordination for inhabitants (Cost: 50 DP)

Now that he had acquired butcher bees for the Death room, Belissar turned his attention to the room feature upgrades. Since the Tower had plenty of new options and many of the hives had consolidated into apartments, he felt that now was a good time to spend his DP on existing features. He read out the upgrade list for the two queens after explaining what was going on.

“So, I was thinking we start with one upgrade for each apartment, barracks, house, or nest to see how strong they are and make sure we can upgrade everyone’s. I’d like each dwelling to decide which upgrade would be most useful to them. Could you two let the other queens know and ask them to start thinking about what their home needs? Ah, that includes you both as well.”

Belissar waited with a smile as the Fourth of the Seventh began zipping around him while the First of the Fifth froze solid, and then both joined in a “King is best king!” dance. He knew that was coming, so he simply enjoyed their joy until they calmed down enough to confirm. A moment later, both queens were off and soon the tower’s communers were spreading word to all the hives.

Belissar himself made his way to the battle meadow. He explained the situation to the Firstborn, Beero, and the other queens there before checking on the Firstborn’s Bee Barracks. As he expected, the available upgrades weren’t the same as for the Bee Apartment, so he read out their options for them.

Bee Barracks Upgrades:

- Swap to Bee Apartment (Cost: 25 DP)

- Expand Size (Cost: 100 DP or 25 if materials provided)

- Change material to wood (Cost: 100 DP or 25 if materials provided)

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- Boost growth for inhabitants (Cost: 50 DP)

- Boost coordination for inhabitants (Cost: 50 DP)

- Boost structural integrity (Cost: 50 DP)

Belissar gave the queens some space as they began a dance off on the various upgrades, only to find Beero swaying about in the air.

“Beero? Is something the matter.”

Beero’s wings picked up at being addressed.

“King…Beero too?”

Belissar smiled at her.

“Of course, we consider you one of the queens too.”

However, Beero did not break out into the expected “King is best king!” dance. Belissar blinked as, instead, Beero danced a salute.

“Will try best.”

Belissar gave her nod.

“Thanks, Beero. You’re already doing great.”

After a bit, the battle meadow queens made their decisions and the Firstborn flew over to relay them.

“King, have decided. Want growth boost, replenish losses and raise evolved soldiers faster.”

Belissar smiled and selected the upgrade. He then turned to Beero, who reluctantly began her dance.

“Want coordination. Need help to lead hive of fallen.”

Belissar upgraded her hive as well. As the mana of the Tower surged through both barracks, the bees broke out into the “Amazing, incredible!” and “King is best king!” dances.

Belissar stepped out into the Orchard only to find both the Fourth of the Seventh and the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter zipping circles around him. While he certainly understood their joy, neither of them were actually conveying their choice to him. It ended up being one of the Fourth of the Seventh’s communer who did so.

“King…queens want coordination.”

Belissar made an amused smile as he completed the upgrade, which only caused the two queens to pick up speed.

After that, Belissar made his way over to the carpenter bees and checked on their nest blocks.

Belissar’s Nest Block Upgrades:

- Expand Size (Cost: 100 DP or 25 if materials provided)

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

- Boost growth for inhabitants (Cost: 25 DP)

There weren’t as many upgrades available for this one, so the decision was straightforward. With Niobee’s help, Belissar determined the carpenter bees liked the growth boost. He had made four of the nest blocks for the carpenter bees and upgraded them all. The carpenters present zipped around him happily.

Belissar had a bit of a surprise when he checked the chromatic bees’ home in the Fairy Grove next to the Orchard.

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)

- Boost Wild Mana absorption (Cost: 25 DP)

- Reduce Wild Mana absorption (Cost: 25 DP)

Belissar shrugged and let the queen, the Fourth of the Seventh’s Second Daughter, know about the extra options. He could only guess that it had to do with the fairy circle and the chromatic evolution. He tried to focus in on the option.

Wild Mana Absorption

- Beehouse will be more permeable to wild mana

- Inhabitants will absorb more wild mana

- Wild mana may cause unpredictable effects or mutations

That…seemed roughly in line with what Belissar had thought? For now, he read out the description.

The Second Daughter zipped about just like her mother.

“That one! Get to see new things in own home! Amazing, incredible!”

Belissar chuckled. He was slightly worried about the whole unpredictable effects thing, but who was he to deny the bees what they wanted? Besides, the Fairy Grove had been nothing but helpful for him, so he decided to put aside his suspicions.

Belissar then went about and upgraded every bee’s home in the Tower. The First of the Fifth picked coordination, while most of the others like the Third of the Sixth and Fourth of the Eighth picked growth. The First of the Fifth’s Seventh Daughter surprised him by selecting honeycomb production, maybe to help with her honey slime?

The bumblebees picked growth, no surprise due to the Bee Nests’ limited selection. Belissar smiled as the big, fuzzy bees rubbed against him. He was just walking out of the bumblebee meadow when he paused and tilted his head. He wasn’t sure, but he could swear that the flowers seemed bigger than usual.

But his task was not complete so he shrugged and moved on, arriving at the karnuq floor. Velebee came out to greet him, swaying about as Belissar explained his purpose.

“Hive-Builder…improving hives? Velebee’s too?”

Belissar nodded with a smile.

“Of course! You’re one of my queens too.”

Velebee danced around happily until Niobee helped her figure out what to pick. She ended up selecting growth.

Then, finally, Belissar came to the karnuq’s hives. The First of the Ninth danced before him.

“Honeycomb production!”

Belissar blinked. Now that was a surprise.

“You need more honey?”

The First of the Ninth danced the negative.

“Hive-Tender gives mana, helps brood grow! Want to give more honey so will have more mana!”

Belissar slowly began to smile. It looked like Paisijik’s Blessing of the Beekeeper wasn’t just for gathering honey.

And so, Belissar upgraded each and every bee home in the Tower.