The Bee Dungeon

After the day’s purification, Belissar considered whether or not to make another DP store purchase. He was just shy of five thousand DP at this point and his DP income had even started to increase further now that the sigmaka had started sending challengers. Ultimately, though, he decided to hold off.

He didn’t feel the need to purchase more monsters, features, or room types at this stage until the bees had finished adjusting to the latest additions. On the other hand, if he waited a bit longer he could start affording some of the more expensive options he had previously discounted. In just a day he could purchase either an extra room slot or additional mana, allowing him to implement even more options. If he waited for his DP to hit ten thousand, he could also purchase a perk choice, which could strengthen his Tower without requiring additional mana from him or effort from his bees.

So, he decided to wait until either a need arose, his bees finished up with all of their current efforts, or he hit enough DP to afford anything in the shop. With no other further business, the day came to a close with the usual small celebration.

Tamosmed arrived at the Tower first thing the next morning. Belissar greeted him and found out he was here for their first exchange. Since he’d be here for a while, Belissar then went to finish his normal morning routine before meeting up again with Tamosmed.

“So, what would you like me to help with first, Belissar?”

Belissar hummed to himself. There was actually quite a bit Tamosmed could help with, now that he thought about it.

“Well, the karnuq have a blacksmith who’s still learning, so he could use your help. The thermal mining bees have been making wax with metal, maybe you could take a look and give them advice on mining? I was also having trouble finding a suitable room for mithril…”

Tamosmed stepped forward and leaned into Belissar’s face.

“I’m sorry, did you say thermal mining bees? Bees that are…mining metals and building hives with it?!”

“Yes?”

Tamosmed’s face contorted several times before he caught himself and took a deep breath.

“Ok. I’m going to assume that you just forgot to mention those last time. I’ll admit I was a bit intense when it came to the slime bees, so I’ll forgive you for not mentioning the others. Now, to avoid missing anything else, why don’t you continue giving me the overview?”

Belissar stopped himself from gulping and did so.

“Right…like I said, mithril’s really expensive and I don’t have a good room for it so I was hoping you could help with that. Additionally, the bees and I have been building some beeswax golems, so maybe you could give us some advice on them? We’re just about done with the one I was helping with if you could take a look. Other than that…I think that’s it for metal and golem stuff? I guess you could take a look at the slime bees and see how they’re doing?”

Tamosmed nodded quickly and soon began to grin.

“Huh, you had more than I expected. I have a feeling this will be a greatly profitable partnership, Belissar. Since you asked, how about we take a look at your golems first?”

Belissar nodded and led Tamosmed over to the Orchard, where the Fourth of the Seventh’s golem was nearly completed. Tamosmed observed the golem as Belissar created some spell bees to demonstrate the process.

“We’re just about done with construction, then apparently we’ll have to create the core and spread mana through it?”

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Tamosmed nodded, then stood silently in thought for a bit before speaking.

“A non-humanoid form is complex for a beginner, but I’m guessing bees are a shape you know well?”

Tamosmed continued after Belissar confirmed.

“It should be fine then, especially since it sounds like you got it from a bee-related dungeon option. You might have trouble commanding it yourself, but your bees shouldn’t. May I have a sample of the material?”

Tamosmed held out his hand. Belissar had some spell bees land on it and create some of the breeze bee wax they were using. Tamosmed held the wax up to his eyes. He squeezed it with his fingers, channeled his mana with it, and eventually took out a knife to slice off a piece. He then grunted and frowned.

“Lightweight material, trading durability for better mobility even more than usual for a golem made of wax. I’m guessing you were hoping this one would fly?”

Belissar nodded and Tamosmed shook his head.

“Won’t be able to without enchantments. Even with a material this light, a golem won’t be able to beat the wings fast enough. The material is certainly suitable for channeling Air mana but a basic golem like the one you showed me before can’t channel external mana. You’d need an external source of Air magic.”

Belissar frowned at first, but as he thought about it he had an idea.

“Would the bees work for that? The Fourth of the Seventh…the queen I made this one for, is pretty big and can make gusts of wind with her wings. I’ve seen her help propel other bees along before.”

Tamosmed stopped and rubbed his chin. He slowly began to nod.

“Hm…I’d have to see exactly what she can do but that might work…”

At this point, the Fourth of the Seventh’s workers that had been helping with construction began to fly between Belissar and Tamosmed. Workers that had since evolved to either breeze or nomadic variants.

“King, can help! Like queen now!”

Belissar smiled.

“Why don’t you show him what you can do?”

“Ok!”

The Fourth of the Seventh’s workers began to buzz as they beat their wings faster, causing a gust to pick up. Tamosmed’s hair began to sway about and the black elf hummed.

“That could work, maybe if there are bigger types of this kind of bee? The golem should be capable of gliding with how light it’ll be, so if you have bees riding it to provide the wind, it should be doable. Hm…I’d recommending enlarging the wings in that case. You’ll want them to catch the wind.”

Belissar and the bees followed along as Tamosmed began to observe the wings more closely and made specific recommendations on size and shape. Fortunately, since they hadn’t made the core yet, they could still adjust the wings as recommended.

“Thanks Tamosmed. I’m glad you caught that before we finished.”

Tamosmed shook his head.

“This is nothing. Once you and your bees have some more experience with normal golems, I’ll start teaching you the tricks for more advanced features. You’ll have to start learning enchanting too, once you can carve magic into your golems you’ll open a whole world of possibilities.”

He then glared at Belissar.

“Now, show me those mining bees!”

Belissar led Tamosmed to the thermal mining bee hive. Tamosmed said nothing, just stared in silence as he went around observing. He watched the workers as they bit off little chunks of ore with heat and vibration. He watched them carry them back to the honeypots, who processed the chunks in their abdomens. He watched the workers take the resulting products and mold them into additional wax comb to add to the growing trays. He, like Belissar, poked the comb. Finally, he slowly turned around to face Belissar.

“Is it possible to cross-breed the different types of bees?”

Belissar nodded.

“That’s where these came from, actually. They’re digging monster bees crossed with burning monster bees.”

Tamosmed slowly began to smile…and then he started cackling. He made a full blown laughter for a bit. When it finally died down, he marched over to Belissar and clasped both hands on Belissar’s shoulders.

“Belissar, you have to try and cross them with the slime bees!”

Belissar jumped at the sudden contact.

“I’ll…uh…try?”

Tamosmed looked him in the eyes.

“See that you do.”

Only for Niobee to take off and hover in between their faces, waving her stinger towards Tamosmed. Tamosmed quickly released Belissar and held up his hands as he backed away.

“Meant no harm, sorry bad habit of mine. It’s just…if this works, Belissar, if we could create slime bees that can mine and forge metal in an instant, we could create entire armies of battle-ready golems in an instant. And slimes…not only do they grow and reproduce quickly but they can absorb and feed on all sorts of stuff and turn it into more of themselves, so if your slime bees work similarly we could raise as many of them as we need to make as many golems as we need. Even if your slime bees have to feed on flowers specifically, that alone would mean us growing golem armies with easily grown flower fields. The armies we could build could save your dungeon and my people both, no matter what forces the other humans or even the Hunger could throw at us. I can’t help but get excited at that possibility.”

Belissar blinked as he imagined an army of golems standing between his bees and the Tower Guard. He slowly began to smile.

“Well…that is exciting. No, that could really help us, so I understand.”

Tamosmed grinned.

“Good man, I’m glad you get it. That being the case, mind showing me the slime bees again? We’ve got to figure out how they work, and what they need to grow…”