Chapter 88: Bee-organizing the Rooms

Chapter 88: Bee-organizing the Rooms

The next day, Belissar got to work. He moved the original Dirt Tunnels back up to the second floor so that the Apiary hives could gather from the subterranean plants and mushrooms, then spent the rest of the day working on the Orchard tree hive. He and the squad of soldier bees helping him managed to build a relatively flat platform across the tree branches, with a beam frame reaching down to the ground to provide additional support and a basic ladder for Belissar.

Then, came the moment of truth. Belissar held his breath as he selected a beehouse feature and tried to move it on top of the platform...

The transparent beehouse did not turn red. Belissar grinned as he clenched his hand into a fist.

“Yes! Looks like it works.”

“King is best king!”

Niobee led the soldier bees and the curious workers from the Orchard hives in a celebratory dance. Belissar would be ready to begin construction on the actual beehouse now, though he held off. It was just about time for the daily purification, so the beehouse would have to wait until tomorrow. Belissar made his way to the Flower Meadow where the soldier bee army was already gathering. After confirming they were ready, he opened up the purification menu.

Please select a purification strength:

- Minor (Cooldown: 14 hours)

- Minor+ (Cooldown: 22 hours)

Belissar tilted his head at that.

“No new ones?”

Niobee flew in front of him.

“King, something wrong?”

Belissar shook his head.

“Last time we did an expansion, we got access to tougher daily purifications. It looks like this time we didn’t, though I think those cooldowns are a bit shorter now. I wonder why?”

Niobee wavered in the air.

“Sorry, don’t know.”

Belissar chuckled and shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s a Tower of the Gods after all. Let’s just focus on what we do know and go with the normal purification then. Is the army ready?”

The queen in command for the day saluted him and confirmed. Belissar nodded and selected the minor+ purification.

Mana: 7/455

Belissar rubbed his chin. The new rooms alone had drained most of his available mana, so he wouldn’t be able to do much with them just yet. He went ahead and enabled the free flower types he had available for the Flower Meadow just for variety, but otherwise left them alone. At the bare minimum, he needed to add a pond or two at five mana a piece so the karnuq would have sources of water, so they wouldn’t be fully ready today.

He could move features between rooms, he found, and in fact planned to move all the resource nodes he made for the karnuq up to their new home once they moved in. However, that wouldn’t work for the ponds because he wanted one in every room in case of fires, so cannibalizing from the existing rooms wasn’t an option. Besides, it would only take a day to get enough mana for the ponds and the karnuq were right outside the Tower where he could help them in case of an emergency, so Belissar figured it would be fine to wait. He turned to Niobee.

“Ok, the second floor is built, though there’s not much in those rooms yet. That’s going to be where the karnuq live. The bees can still visit and use the flowers there and even move there if they’re comfortable living around the karnuq, but they should be aware that the karnuq will be free to gather whatever resources are on that floor. Can you let them know?”

“Ok!”

Niobee landed by the First of the Fifth and began to dance with her, so Belissar left them to it. Because, now that the new rooms were built and his mana was spent, it was time for the other task of the day. The one he was looking forward to.

Now that the Orchard grove had a platform that could hold a beehouse, it was time to ensure the last of his queens had a home built by him. And to complete one of the missions from the God of Bees in the process. He walked down to the Orchard with a spring in his step.

Meanwhile, the Conduit gathered the First of the Fifth and the Firstborn once again. She passed along the King’s decrees on the second floor...and then the queens and the Conduit began to discuss. The First of the Fifth was still somewhat in a daze from her earlier discussion with the King, who wanted her to live closer to his core and stand between him and the outsiders but managed to watch the Conduit’s dance enough to respond.

“So, King doesn’t want bees to claim second floor?”

The Conduit took a moment before starting a slow and unsteady dance.

“Not...exactly. Think King is worried about bees. Karnuq will take good flowers on second floor, so bees there might have less. Might also want to take honey from hives on second floor.”

The First of the Fifth buzzed her wings at the thought of anyone other than the King taking her honey. Fortunately, she would not be subjected to such a travesty with her now guaranteed proximity to the King, but it bore considering. Previously, she may have been tempted to raise another queen so that the new territory could be claimed by her children. And while she was no longer as concerned about territorial claims, it was only natural to want to see any unclaimed resources put to good use in service of the King and of bees. But now? Would she be willing to see a child of hers subjected to the treatment the Conduit warned of? To surrender flowers...or even honey...to these newcomers of uncertain trustworthiness?

No, no she would not.

The Firstborn replied while she was deep in thought.

“Then...could just send some workers? Gather from flowers if can, but not make hive. Can gather a bit without getting in the way, and can keep an eye on newcomers?”

The Conduit’s dance grew a bit more steady.

“Good idea. Queens cooperate, both send less workers?”

The First of the Fifth danced her confirmation. In this case, the gathered nectar would be secondary and not at all guaranteed, so it made sense to share the burden between the queens, especially those who did not need to worry about sustaining their hives like herself. And keeping an eye on these newcomers was a task of great importance.

And so, the queens agreed to adopt a wait and see approach to the second floor. They would take the measure of the karnuq before any queen would make their home among them...