The Bee Dungeon-Chapter 252: A Heated Bee-bate

Belissar considered skipping the daily purification to let everyone recover, but the bee army assembled at the normal time ready to go. The army hadn’t been diminished much despite the recent casualties, ultimately Belissar conceded to their resolve. He did, however, move the battle Dirt Tunnels and Lava Field back in front.

Another turtle shade appeared and the traps did their thing. The shade fell into the first Pit Trap as usual and that was that.

And now, finally, it was time for the celebration and the meeting of queens and council. Belissar was a bit worried about the karnuq being more subdued, but today he also had a secret weapon. The bumblebee soldiers and the monster bee lancers helped him carry several stone jars, then he took his place before his assembled defenders.

“I know you’ve all been through a lot. And I know we have a lot to be concerned about lately. So tonight, I wanted to thank everyone for all they’ve done. I’ve managed to make enough mead to share with everyone, please, come and have a taste. Bees too, just tell your hive guards not to hurt your workers or soldiers if they get drunk. They’ll get better. So, let’s all celebrate tonight and remember the kind of Tower we’re trying to build, one where all the bees…and everyone else too…can be happy.”

That earned a happy dance from the bees. The karnuq couldn’t help but smile and one or two of them even cheered. The number cheering grew as Belissar began to pass out the mead, and soon the karnuq were laughing and chatting away as normal.

Belissar smiled. Even back in his old village, he always felt a bit of pride and satisfaction when he saw people enjoying his mead. It turned out he felt even better about it when it was people he actually liked and who treated him well that were enjoying his drinks.

And the bees…dipped their tongues into a shallow bowl with the mead and then began hesitantly dancing about.

“Honey…spoiled?”

Belissar nodded, walking over to brush the bees backs.

“Yes, but it’s intentional. Humans ferment it in a specific way, it’s safe as long as you don’t drink too much at once. Humans like the taste and find the effect it has on us fun, you can watch the karnuq if you want to see first.”

The bees, as usual, immediately broke out into “King is best king!” dances from his attention. Each of them took a sip, but most of them contented themselves watching the karnuq for tonight.

With the power of mead, the karnuq kept celebrating for a bit longer than usual, so Belissar and his queens and council broke away early to discuss the choices. Princess Finnakynne hadn’t joined them for the celebration and the other Circle masters had returned to the Compact today, so it was just the people from his Tower tonight.

“So, in addition to making mead for you all, I made some for the gods and fulfilled a couple of missions. We have some rewards to choose now.”

With everyone watching him in anticipation, Belissar wasted no further time and opened the God of Fire’s reward.

Please select one Fire-type perk:

- Fast-Spreading Flames (Rarity: Uncommon)

- Healing Hearth (Rarity: Uncommon)

- Chef’s Blaze (Rarity: Rare)

Belissar grinned. A rare and two uncommons! A divine reward indeed.

Fast-Spreading Flames

- Increases the speed at which flames spread, especially magical flames and flames from attacks

- Flames may spread onto nearby enemies, even if not easily flammable. Fire resistance may still prevent damage.

- Beneficial flames or flame related boosts may spread to nearby allies

Belissar glanced at the bees first, but there weren’t as many dancing this time. Well, he figured that might be the case, this was the God of Fire’s reward after all. Only the Third of the Sixth would likely interact with these perks in the first place.

He glanced at said Third of the Sixth and found her zipping about in an “Amazing, incredible!” dance. Flames licked around her wings as she flew, making her appear like a little shooting star.

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Belissar rubbed his chin. At first, he didn’t think this perk would suit his Tower. Flames spreading faster seemed like something to avoid, the last thing he wanted was a brush fire through the Flower Meadow. The one thing that might change his mind was the Third of the Sixth and her blessing. Did that blessing count as a “beneficial flame or flame related boost”? If so, would this perk let her spread her power to bees from the other hives? If it did work like that, this perk might prove surprisingly powerful.

And then there were the karnuq. Belissar distinctly remembered Chief Rohsuak using her flames to shield the other karnuq from a fire-wielding shade. If this perk applied to something like that, then it might just save the karnuq or the bee army if they faced more adversaries with fire powers. That alone made it worth considering. And what about Metsaitti’s fire wings and fire stings? Could he share either of those with the other karnuq?

The more he thought about it, the more this perk seemed like a solid first choice. And yet, there were still two to go.

Healing Hearth

- Hearths, campfires, and other warmth-providing fires now boost healing within range of their warmth.

- Healing effect improves if target is relaxed

- Healing effect scales with proximity to the flame. Direct contact with flame provides no additional effect, flames act as normal in that case.

Now this was a good one that Belissar could immediately understand. Any perk that would boost healing was immensely tempting after all the recent injuries the bees and karnuq had suffered. Likewise, a fire-related perk that didn’t involve burning things down was perfectly safe to implement in his Tower.

Belissar did, however, notice a slight concern when he thought about it. At present, the majority of their healing was provided by the Second of the Sixth’s hive…and bees didn’t use hearths. Not including the burning bees, his monster bees still avoided getting too close to any fires, including campfires, and didn’t like the smoke either. Belissar was thus concerned the bees might not benefit from this one as much. He wasn’t about to light a fire inside a non-burning hive, after all.

It would definitely help the karnuq…but even then, only if it didn’t make it harder for the Second of the Sixth’s hive to do their thing. It was the Second of the Sixth, after all, who kept the critically wounded karnuq alive through the night. And given she was going to try and evolve soon…it might be better to prioritize her comfort when tending to the wounded.

Still, Belissar couldn’t discount extra healing. Even if only the karnuq could use it, having extra healing for them could take some pressure off of the Second of the Sixth’s hive. The only question was if those benefits outweighed the other two perks.

And he still had one more left…the rare one at that.

Chef’s Blaze

- Food cooked with heat provides temporary boosts to stats when consumed. Effect improves with magical heat sources and fuels.

- Magical or magic-absorbing ingredients may make a small fraction of the boost permanent.

- Boosts any beneficial magical effects provided by the ingredients.

- Cooking with heat enhances taste. Note that the effect is particularly strong on spicy ingredients. Use with caution.

- Effects scale with consumer’s enjoyment. Note that this applies negatively as well if the meal is poorly cooked.

- Effects apply to beverages if processed with heat. Effects apply to other consumables processed by heat that are not intended primarily for nutrition, but at diminished efficiency.

Belissar liked this one. Apparently, with this perk, cooking and eating would make everyone stronger. And the part about magic ingredients making people permanently stronger? Chief Rohsuak had already told him the mana honey was priceless specifically because it could boost people’s mana reserves. So, if they took this perk and started cooking everything with mana honey?

Everyone would grow stronger with each and every meal. Belissar himself noticed his mana and physical strength had grown considerably since he became a Tower Keeper. He wasn’t sure if that was from being a Tower Keeper or from eating mana honey everyday…but if it was the latter and he applied that effect to everyone in the Tower, then his defenders might surpass any Tower Guard the Tower Lords could throw at him.

The one caveat was, as with the previous perk, the bees may not benefit as much, seeing as they didn’t cook. Maybe he could teach them to do so? Alternatively, maybe the God of Bees would have her own cooking perk that would be better suited to them. Belissar knew, from experience, that cooking honey could turn it bitter, so trying to teach them to cook with fire may not work out so well. He did wonder, though, what exactly the butcher bees did with their meat and if cooking might work for them.

So, those were the choices, each powerful but with some questions that wouldn’t be answered until he chose them. Flames that spread faster that might apply to the God of Fire’s blessings. Healing fires that might make things uncomfortable for the healing bees. Or growth through cooking, but only cooking with fire which the bees didn’t do.

Belissar crossed his arms, frowning with a puzzled look. He grunted and he groaned. He hemmed and he hawed. If only he could answer some of the questions he had before making the choice…

Then, his eyes shot wide open as he realized a very simple solution. He realized that…he didn’t have to make this choice right now. And if he didn’t, there was a way to answer at least one of the questions. He turned and looked at everyone.

“Before we decide on this…how about we see if we can cook food for the bees?”

The bees, not having much opinion on the fire-related perks, all immediately began salute and “King is best king!” dances in response. Chief Rohsuak smiled and nodded. Hirkolos smiled for once as well, glancing at Paisijik, the first karnuq beekeeper. They both turned to Belissar and saluted.

“We’ll do as you say, Tower Keeper.”

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Belissar smiled at them all and nodded.

“Great, then let’s do that before making this choice. Instead…let’s check out the God of Flower’s reward.”