POBee 78.3 - For the Love of Bees

POBee 78.3 - For the Love of Bees

The karnuq were making a bit of commotion around the small one after she prayed at the Shrine of Bees and Belissar gave her more honey, but he ignored them. He was busy reviewing all the latest messages once more.

A challenger has been fully blessed.

Gained 20 DP.

A challenger has selected a blessing unique to your patron.

Gained additional 10 DP.

Tribute received. Your patron grants you this portion:

- Ground Mana Flower x1

Ground Mana Flower absorbed.

Sufficient samples gathered. Ground Mana Flower now available.

Current applications: Flower Meadow, Apiary, Orchard*. (*=Resource Node only)

He couldn’t help but grin, and even laugh a bit. Another challenger had been fully blessed, granting him a nice haul of DP as well as progress on that particular mission. But all that paled in comparison to the treasure said challenger had brought him in the process. Mana flowers were his bees’ favorite and now he had a new type. Better yet, it specifically mentioned Ground mana, the same time that featured in the digger bee descriptions. Maybe, with this, he wouldn’t have to pick that option in the future, for his bees might come up with a similar bee type all their own.

Belissar immediately went to add a few...

Available Resource Plants for Flower Meadow:

-Ground Mana Flower (10 per node, 20 due to unsuitable environment)

He went completely still, just staring in silence at the message for a while. Then he checked the Apiary and the Orchard...and found the same numbers for them as well.

Twenty mana. The price of a monster bee queen spawner before he had the Blessing of Bees. Scratching out some math in the dirt revealed that one ground mana flower node could pay for four of the regular mana flower nodes.

That was...a tad bit expensive. A ground mana flower node would represent the single most expensive thing in his dungeon.

But, after only a brief moment of hesitation, Belissar concluded it was worth the cost. He went ahead and added one ground mana flower node to each of his three rooms.

Mana: 24/440

And in one fell swoop, he was nearly out of available mana. He was right to tell the karnuq he couldn’t make one for them just yet. He technically had enough mana to afford one more, but only barely. And, if he did so, he would not have enough mana to add a new room once he could afford one from the DP shop, which was only a few days away at this point. Plus, whatever resource plants, traps, or monster spawners he might want to add to said room.

She slowly, ever so slowly, forced herself to begin dancing.

“...forget previous order. Go to Apiary queens, tell to gather by new flower.”

The workers seemed confused but moved to carry out her command. The First of the Fifth then turned to the new flower patch and stared at it, trembling the entire time.

Yes...this was...fine...

The Second of the Sixth couldn’t help but buzz her wings loud as she flew over to the gathering area...and saw the brand-new flowers.

There it was. The First of the Fifth’s plot had finally been revealed. This new patch of flowers was more unique and powerful than any the Second of the Sixth had ever seen...and it was just the latest of a whole slew of new flower types, on top of the number of mana flowers doubling. There were so many new flowers, in fact, that no one hive was large enough to monopolize them all. Not even the First of the Fifth's.

So, what had she done? She had parceled out the existing flowers one by one, pretending she was being charitable so that each hive would be pacified. And now, once the greatest prize of all appeared, she would swoop in and snatch it all for herself.

And all the other Apiary queens, having accepted the previous favors, would be entirely unable to complain. Including the Second of the Sixth. It was beyond frustrating...but she had been played.

The First of the Fifth slowly flew over to the new patch and pointed to one of the flowers.

“This one, mine.”

The Second of the Sixth buzzed her wings again. Yes, she knew! They all knew that! Was the First of the Fifth not satisfied in merely staking her claim?! Did she want to go through and claim every last flower, one by one, just to rub it in?! Did she...

The First of the Fifth then, even more slowly, flew to the next flower. She trembled as she danced.

“This one, First of the Sixth’s.”

The Second of the Sixth froze, as did all the other Apiary queens.

“This one, First of the Seventh’s.”

The Second of the Sixth slowly descended to the ground and landed on a flower, remaining completely still as the First of the Fifth continued. One by one, she called out each queen, assigning them a flower.

“This one, Second of the Sixth’s.”

Including her.

Just what...was going on?