POBee 208.1 - Bee-hold the Queen!
As Belissar, the karnuq, and the bees all tucked in for the night, the flowers all across the Tower swayed in the calm nighttime breeze. The alfalfa Belissar had nted glowed with a faint green light as they condensed and processed all the sunlight and mana they had absorbed that day, passing it down into their roots. Mana and nutrients seeped out into the ground, enriching all of the nearby soil before being consumed by hungry seeds nted nearby.
Some of the nutrients and mana also seeped into the greenwood mushroom mycelium entwined with the alfalfa’s roots. Pulses of green light surged underneath the surface of the soil as the mycelium imed its meal…and then passed the remainder to other roots it had reached.
Seeds sprouted, shoots grew, flowers budded and prepared to bloom as the levels of Nature mana rose within the soil. Purple and golden mana drifted through the air and condensed into the flowers that had bloomed, which began to drip nectar that shimmered in the moonlight.
And in the bumblebee meadow, in the midst of all this mana passing through the soil, a single shoot with two leaves broke through the dirt. The mana that passed through its roots, stem, and leaves took on a slightly golden hint to its green color before passing back into the soil below…
The First of the Fifth stoodpletely still as she attempted toprehend the sight in front of her.
“How?”
Her ever diligent workers answered her rhetorical question.
“More flowers! Flowers gave more nectar! Nectar has more mana!”
The First of the Fifth knew that thanks to hermuners but thanked the worker for the report nheless. It seemed that the King’s ns hade to fruition and were now revealed to her. The gardeners had been diligently nting more and more of each kind of flower. Then the King had added new kinds of flowers: the alfalfa that made all others grow better as well as the bee balm which naturally produced more and better nectar. Then he added the mushrooms the flower one gave him, which were spreading the alfalfa’s effects throughout the rooms, nourishing existing flowers while causing all the newly nted seeds to sprout and bloom far faster than predicted. And now, he had applied thebined powers of the Queen of All Bees and Queen of All Flowers so that each and every flower produced more, more nutritious, and more mana-dense nectar than ever before.The foragers had returned from their first trip of the day in record time,den with enough nectar for an entire day’s worth of honey. When the First of the Fifth then factored in the better nutrition of the nectar and the honeypot bees’ processing abilities, the resulting prediction for today’s honey yield was <em>staggering</em>.
They could bring the newest queens up to functional hives all in one go, give the Flower Meadow queens more than enough mana to fuel all the new evolutions the King had granted them, make another attempt at raising hybridized princesses, and still have more than enough to devote workers to making wax golems.
And still have more than enough after all that for her to conduct her experiments in the art of honey making.
The First of the Fifth snapped out of her fugue and immediately began dancing to the nearestmuner. Today would be a busy day indeed.
The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter barely registered her queen mother’smuner dancing nearby. Yes, she had vaguely noticed a massive increase in honey production this morning, but that was the least of her concerns at the moment. She and the Fourth of the Seventh’smuner were currently pacing in front of a massive capped cell. The brood tenders assured her it would be soon and she could feel the upant’s mana within, but still she could not help but worry.
Then, a tiny crack formed on the cap. The First Daughter and themuner immediately rushed over to help open the cap.
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Finally, the Fourth of the Seventh stuck her head out of the cell and climbed out, her evolution safelypleted. The First Daughter and themuner both crawled all over the Fourth of the Seventh before she had evenpletely emerged. They knew all had been going well, but after the Third of the Sixth’s evolving experience they couldn’t help but worry. Now, finally, they knew the Fourth of the Seventh was ok.
It was only then that First Daughter realized she had crawled on top of the Fourth of the Seventh’s torso…which was nowrge enough to hold even her form with ease. She now took a good look at her fellow queen.
The Fourth of the Seventh was now the size of ancer. The First Daughter buzzed her wings in surprise. None of the other queens who evolved off of special honey types had changed size, so this was unusual. The Fourth of the Seventh’s wings had grown evenrger than her body and wider as well, the First Daughter felt a slight breeze whenever the wings so much as twitched. Her eyes were equally massive, and her antennae had grown long as well, now as fuzzy as themuner’s. The First Daughter saw the air distort from the dense mana pouring off those antennae.
But all of that could wait. The important thing was, the Fourth of the Seventh was back, and fully evolved. The First Daughter gave herself to a happy dance, brushing against those big fuzzy antennae with her own. The Fourth of the Seventh soon began to dance as well, carrying the First Daughter around on her back.
Belissar was just getting his morning started when the Tower began to prompt him.
<em>A monster has evolved!</em>
<em>Nomadic Monster Bee Queen is now avable!</em>
Belissar blinked.
“Huh?”
<em>Nomadic Monster Bee Queen</em>
<em>Vitality: Small</em>
<em>Strength: Minor</em>
<em>Speed: Above Average</em>
<em>Magic: Small</em>
<em>Defense: Minimal</em>
<em>Resistance: Small</em>
<em>Special: Above Average</em>
<em>Notable Skills: Poison Sting, Brood Mother, Store Eggs, Generate Wind, Command Remote Offspring</em>
<em>Spawner Upkeep: 40 (20 with Blessing of Bees)</em>
<em>Evolves From: Monster Bee Queen</em>
<em>Description: An evolved Air attributed monster bee queen that ranges wide and far to manage multiple hives simultaneously. Arge wingspan andmand of the wind enable fast, far, and efficient flight, while highly sensitive antennae can sense and respond to her offspring’s mana from astounding distances. The queen’s body is optimized for a nomadic lifestyle, including superior vision to scan her surroundings, arger size for better endurance, and the ability to store eggs toy all at once whenever she visits one of her hives.</em>
<em>As an evolved monster bee queen, the nomadic monster bee queen also has a superior ability to raise evolved bee types and cany monster bee types in her evolution lineage in addition to nomadic monster bees.</em>
Belissar’s confusionsted only a moment, as he remembered the Fourth of the Seventh was busy evolving. A quick check with his tower sight confirmed she was the one who had evolved…and unlocked the first new queen type that came with its own spawner.
He smiled and sent her his congrattions, earning a “King best king!” dance from the happy queen. Then…he went about his day as previously nned.
The new queen was great, and the Tower seemed to imply it was a step up from the other queen types that had evolved thus far, but Belissar didn’t feel the need for a new spawner just yet. These queens were specialized in traveling, scouting, and managing multiple hives, and so far, only the Fourth of the Seventh was doing such things. The spawner was just a bit too expensive, and there was always a chance the Fourth of the Seventh could either raise new nomadic queens herself or help existing queens evolve if more were needed.
But now that he knew there were more advanced versions of the queens, he’d certainly be on the lookout for anymore.
At that moment, every queen in the Tower paused, most notably the First of the Fifth. Her First Daughter had been unusually distracted, and slow in responding despite the sheer magnitude of the opportunities unlocked by the boosted honey production. The First of the Fifth was about to check in on her when a wave of mana blew through the Tower like a gust of wind. The drones in her hive twisted the mana with her own, revealing it carried a message along with it.
<em>“Hi! Can hear?”</em>
The Fourth of the Seventh’s mana was now perceptible all the way in the Apiary, passing through the shortcut there. Her First Daughter soon began to spread a confirmation through the Orchard’smuner exchange.
The Fourth of the Seventh had evolved. And not as the Second of the Sixth or Third of the Sixth or Fourth of the Eighth had, merely taking on an attribute from honey. No, the Fourth of the Seventh had be a new kind of queen, as different from the rest of them as ancer was from a soldier, or a gardener from a worker. She was the first to achieve what they were all striving for.
For the second time that morning, the First of the Fifth received news that changed everything.