The Bee Dungeon

Chapter 369 - Don't Miss the Bees for the Forest

Sehfitis shook his head after watching the bumbledryad and Heart of the Bee Forest for a while.

“So, there are demigods amongst the fair folk...and now there is a demigod born of a dungeon monster and one of the wicked kings of old’s monster hybrid experiments. Ever more, I find the gods’ perspective to be entirely different from my own.”

Loremaster Anyadre shrugged.

“In some ways, it is to be expected. The gods live up in their realms, immortal and insulated from all that goes on down here. We of the fair have always found the gods to have vastly different priorities than those of us who must deal with the material world.”

Sehfitis did not reply at first, rubbing his chin.

“It makes me wonder, though. If the Conclave’s perspective has diverged so heavily from the gods, to the point that the gods now act in direct opposition to the Tower Lords and all that I know is proving inaccurate...why have they remained silent for so long? Why have they allowed us to stray so far?”

Loremaster Anyadre glanced over at Finnakynne out of the corner of his eye.

“It is likely the gods had their own circumstances, they are no more monolithic than we are. When I review the lore of the fair and all the dealings we have had with gods and demigods...I find it is a strange paradox. In some ways, the gods are vastly different from us. In other ways...they are not any different at all.”

Belissar, meanwhile, decline to interject as Sehfitis and Loremaster Anyadre began to discuss the Conclave and Compact’s various dealings with the gods.

“Ok, if we’ve sort of figured things out...let’s give her some space to build her hive.”

Nenavann just smiled at him and then quietly began leading the investigation group away. Belissar, on the other hand, now had dealings with the gods of his own to address.

Mission: Integrate flowers into the bees’ hive of hives completed!

Reward: One cross-perk choice.

And thanks to the First of the Fifth welcoming the new bumbledryad and the Heart of the Bee Forest into the hive of hives, Belissar now had three cross-perks to decide on. He would have to move quickly, though, because Starami’s camp was starting to stir. They hadn’t begun another assault or anything, but all the rapid movement in the camp hinted that Starami would make a move soon. Fortunately, Belissar already had much of his council assembled, so he quickly began to dive into the choices, reading them all out at once so his council could consider them all together.

Select a cross-perk (Bee/Flower):

- Pollen Armor

- Stinging Flowers

- Bee Beds

Select a cross-perk (Forest/Flower):

- Blooming Canopies

- Pollen Showers

- Symbiotic Climbers

Select a cross-perk (Bee/Forest):

- Mycelium-Hive Network

- Tree-Shepherd Pollinators

- Arboreal Hives

Belissar started reading the descriptions in depth.

PollenArmor

- Bees covered in pollen receive a boost to defense, depending on the coverage and the mana-density of the pollen.

- Attributed pollen confers additional resistance to its attribute.

- Pollen that is especially mana-dense or that comes from special flowers and Flower-type monsters may have additional effects.

Belissar nearly paused as he read this one. Bees that would become tougher and harder to kill just by doing what they normally did anyways? He was greatly tempted to take this one immediately, only stopped because he still had eight more perks to review...

Stinging Flowers

- Bees may sting flowers and Flower-type monsters to transfer venom to them.

- Stung flowers will mix bee venoms with their own poisons.

- Flower-type monsters and features may use stored bee venom in their attacks and abilities.

The next perk was good too, though, especially when Belissar considered the Venom-Poison Mixtures perk he already had and his increasing numbers of flower monsters. This perk would let the venomous slime roses, for example, activate Venom-Poison Mixtures all on their own so long as a bee stung them beforehand. And if it were the toxic bees that stung them...the plants could become very deadly indeed.

Bee Beds

- Flowers provide a boost to healing and rejuvenation to bees and Bee-type monsters that rest on them.

- Bees and Bee-type monsters that spend the night resting on a flower receive a temporary minor boost to stats.

More bee healing was always tempting to Belissar, though he wasn’t sure how much use this one would be since all of his bees had homes to sleep in.

And that led him to the Forest/Flower perks...

Blooming Canopies

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- Greatly improves flower growth and bloom frequency on all trees and Tree-type monsters and features.

- Trees with mana and Tree-type monsters and features may bloom at will, regardless of season.

More flowers was never a bad thing. Come to think of it, none of his bees had evolved from tree-flowers yet, had they? Nor had new kinds of trees grown from Cross-Pollination, though Belissar figured that was because trees took a while to grow. Maybe this perk would help speed the process up?

Pollen Showers

- Greatly increases pollen production of all tree and Tree-type monsters and features

- Excess pollen drifts from trees and Tree-type monsters and features. This pollen may have additional effects depending on the mana and attributes of its source tree.

- Tree-type monsters and features can use mana to release additional pollen at will.

Belissar didn’t have to imagine what this perk did, he had already seen Tarwantrad unleash an entire forest of poisonous pollen upon the Tower Guard. If he filled a Fairy Grove with poisonous trees, like the machineel trees he had recently received, then his Tower could replicate that effect constantly without any big spells or room-wide wards...

SymbioticClimbers

- Flowering vines and Flower-Type vine monsters and features may form symbiotic relationships with trees and Tree-type monsters and features, sharing nutrients and mana.

- Both vine and tree will receive a boost to growth and nutrition and may combine nectars and pollens.

- Symbiotic vines receive a boost to vitality, mana, and regeneration based on their host tree. Symbiotic vines may regrow if damaged so long as their host tree endures.

This one was a little harder for Belissar to imagine, but Tarwantrad noticed his lack of reaction and filled him in on its potential. She told him to imagine a monster tree that could walk around, but with his flower monsters growing on them. It could have venomous slime roses on its arms, whipping out to attack enemies from above. Or it could keep nightshade summoners up in its canopy, safe from harm as they unleashed spell wasp after spell wasp upon their foes. Belissar had to admit that sounded strong...if he had any Tree monsters, that was. Tarwantrad had a few, though not that many since they took a while to grow compared to other Flower-type monsters, so it may take a while before Belissar could make any use of this perk.

And now came the Bee/Forest perks...

Mycelium-Hive Network

- Bees and Bee-type monsters and features may contact the mycelium network and communicate with the forest.

- Bees, Bee-type monsters, the forest, and all lifeforms connected to the mycelium network may exchange resources, mana, and information with one another.

Belissar turned to Tarwantrad for this one. He vaguely remembered that mycelium had something to do with the mushrooms she gave him but didn’t recall the specifics and the perk itself sounded vague. Tarwantrad, on the other hand, was bouncing up and down as she reminded him that mycelium was like mushroom roots...that wrapped around and connected the roots of every plant in a forest. That meant that...this perk would directly connect the hive of hives to entire forests!

Which...may have been more impressive until Belissar remembered the hive of hives had already connected to the Heart of the Bee Forest, which presumably would also connect with the mycelium. So his bees might already be able to do the same thing...

Tree-Shepherd Pollinators

- Bees and Bee-type monsters promote mana growth and awareness within trees while foraging.

- Bees and Bee-type monsters improve tree growth and health while foraging.

- Bees and Bee-type monsters can guide and request trees while foraging.

Belissar again relied on Tarwantrad for this one. She pointed out that the first aspect of the perk would likely allow his bees to evolve Tree monsters on their own, which would be quite useful if he took the Symbiotic Climbers perk. It would, however, likely take a long time to pay off, given that none of his trees had even cross-pollinated yet.

Arboreal Hives

- Trees and Tree-type monsters and features may form cavities that act as natural hive spaces. Such cavities are compatible with Beehive and Bee Nest features, or equivalent features.

- Bees and Bee-type monsters that form hives within trees receive a boost to productivity and brood growth and will receive a small boost to all stats when defending their home tree.

- Trees with beehives receive a boost to overall growth, flower growth, and production of nectar and pollen.

This one was far easier for Belissar to comprehend. One of his new bumblebees had even settled in a tree hive just like this perk described! There was the slight issue that most of his bees now lived in the Beecity...but the perk did say equivalent feature. Could he make a Beecity in a tree if the tree was big enough? He glanced at Tarwantrad to ask her...but she just smiled and asked him if he remembered Viryaskog. Belissar’s eyes widened...he had indeed seen the green elves build homes within giant trees.

So...this perk promised him new beehouses so long as he grew new trees to hold them, and even a new Beecity if he could get any of the giant ones. Before he even asked her, Tarwantrad grinned and reminded him he had already made a deal with the green elves that included help growing plants.

Now that he had finished reading all the perks, Belissar turned it to the hive of hives to get their opinion. The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter asked all the queens as usual and quickly reported the hive of hives’ conclusions.

Pollen Armor was the clear winner of the Bee/Flower perks in the hive of hives’ opinion. Frelis reminded them that the venomous slime roses could already absorb new poisons, so she would see if she could give bee venom to the rose somehow. The Captain Karpakynne and the digging monster bee assassin had already shown there were ways to achieve it with the pixie’s lance, so the hive of hives was confident Frelis could figure it out. Resting on flowers, on the other hand, wasn’t particularly necessary, better to have the bees rest in the Beecity where the Second of the Sixth’s hive could tend them. Pollen Armor, on the other hand, directly assisted the bees and could be implemented immediately. Additionally, the Third of the Sixth pointed out they had plenty of pollen from fire radishes and Fire mana flowers...maybe that would help the bees resist the Tower Guards’ fire breaths next time.

For the Forest/Flower perks, the hive of hives liked Blooming Canopies best, as Belissar guessed they would. Nothing could beat more flowers as far as the bees were concerned. Belissar did like the idea of filling a forest with poisonous pollen...but Tarwantrad could already do that with the wards. And while Tarwantrad couldn’t help him with every battle, especially the purifications...Beero was already studying wards and Frelis was working on exploring her blessing from the God of Flowers, seeing if she could learn some sort of flower magic. It was possible the bees could do something like Tarwantrad had done one day...especially if they had many more flowers to help them grow. Symbiotic Climbers was then ruled out simply because it would take too long to implement. Tarwantrad did offer to trade him a Tree monster directly...but that would mean only having one monster that could make use of the perk until more could grow, so it didn’t completely solve the problem.

Finally came the Bee/Forest perk. The hive of hives...liked all of them, as it turned out. Mycelium-Hive Network would let them add forests to the hive of hives while Tree-Shepherd Pollinators would help the gardners work with trees. They were actually least keen on Arboreal Hives until Belissar tilted his head and asked them about the giant tree Beecity idea, after which the hive of hives found the perk amazing and incredible. Most amazing and incredible, even, because their king was already thinking of using it to make new hives.

That, plus the knowledge that Frelis, the gardeners, and the new bumbledryad would be working on connecting to and tending to plants, made the choice for Belissar. He was now committed to making giant tree beehives, one way or another.

Besides Tarwantrad, most of his council didn’t have much more to say, seeing as these perks would mostly be for his monsters both bee and flower. As such, once the hive of hives had made their preferences clear, Belissar quickly finalized the decision.

Pollen Armor selected.

Blooming Canopies selected.

Arboreal Hives selected.

And so, Belissar finished up his business from the gods...

New mission received...

...or so he thought.