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BD - Chapter 238 - Bee Fired Up!
🕑 Added 2025-03-03 20:05:00 +0000 UTCTamosmed was somewhat less enthusiastic upon arriving at the bog but marched through the mud to meet with the First of the Fifth’s Seventh Daughter. She was even less enthusiastic to meet him, if the stingers shaped from slime poking out from her golem hive were any indication. Belissar was able to calm her down, though, especially after explaining that Tamosmed would teach her about more advanced golems.
For today, Tamosmed just observed for a bit, smiling as he watched slime workers dredging the bottom of the bog. That was apparently something regular slimes did too, confirming that the slime bees resembled them in that regard. Afterwards, Tamosmed left to clean up, promising to meet the Seventh Daughter on drier ground later, as well as to visit the karnuq smith.
Belissar was just cleaning the mud off his own feet when he saw a queen bee flying straight towards him, distorting the air around her. The Third of the Sixth didn’t lose any speed as she pulled straight from her charge into a flying dance.
“King! Queen of All Fire wants pick blessing! What pick?”
It took Belissar a moment to process that.
***
A bit earlier in the day, as Belissar was discussing golemcraft with Tamosmed, Chief Rohsuak met with the Third of the Sixth in her home lava field. She took a deep breath of the burning, sulfurous air, letting out a breath full of sparks and smoke. The heat resonated with the God of Fire’s blessing and the Fire mana flowing through her, granting her a surge of energy that was rare these days. She was glad she had the opportunity to visit the room.
Now that the situation with both the sigmaka and the fair folk had begun to settle, Chief Rohsuak could devote herself entirely to new bee disciple. And it was well that she could, for she found this task trickier than she had first assumed. She watched as the Third of the Sixth stood right in the middle of a bonfire, occasionally pacing about with her antennae twitching. Eventually, the bee began to dance.
“What next?”
Chief Rohsuak took another deep breath as she considered the question. It turned out that her primary methods of training new disciples of fire wouldn’t work here. For a karnuq, exposing oneself directly to the flames was an act of great will, a sacrifice to the element of fire. An experience of the flames that would carve itself into their memory as well, assuming it didn’t traumatize them outright.
But for a burning bee such as the Third of the Sixth? The interior of her hive was already as hot as a flame. The burning honey that had nearly killed Metsaitti? It had been the Third of the Sixth’s hive that produced said honey to begin with, the queen herself drank it on a daily basis. The Third of the Sixth already lived, ate, and breathed fire, so what more could they do to immerse her in it?
Chief Rohsuak considered the other option, spreading the flames around. Unfortunately, that was not an option they could pull off at will. Simply making a big bonfire wasn’t enough, they had to burn something for the God of Fire to notice. But the only things around were the Tower, its purified zone, and their allies. Setting any of those ablaze wasn’t an option. So, unless Belissar would approve of them setting off on a warpath to indiscriminately burn anything they came across in the Underway, they couldn’t spread the flames until an enemy came to them.
So, what could she have a burning bee do to show her devotion to fire…
Chief Rohsuak paused, then chuckled and shook her head. She rose to her feet.
“Let’s try something different. How about you make an offering to the God of Fire and try devoting yourself to him directly?”
The Third of the Sixth immediately took off and danced about in the air.
“Ok!”
And with no further ado, she flew off back to her hive, no doubt to gather honey. Chief Rohsuak chuckled once more. The Third of the Sixth reminded her of her youth, fully content to charge off with hardly a plan at all. Which made her wonder if she was overcomplicating things in her old age. If the Third of the Sixth already lived and breathed fire…then perhaps she had no need immerse herself in the flames at all. An offering of that burning honey and devotion by one already full of fire might be all the God of Flames would require. And if not, perhaps the god himself would show the way. The God of Fire was not one to make his worship overly complicated.
So, they’d take the direct approach and see how things went from there. She took another deep breath of the hot air, creating a small flame that danced around her fingers as she made her way to room’s shrine.
The Third of the Sixth beat her there, soldier bees helping her carry an entire tray of the burning honey. She had them slowly lower it into the God of Fire’s brazier…which immediately burst into a column of flames reaching for the sky as soon as the burning honey touched it. Even the fireproof wax of the tray was consumed.
The Third of the Sixth wasted no time beginning to dance, Chief Rohsuak somehow unable to decipher her steps as the bee spoke with the gods. Given the huge column of fire next to her, though, Chief Rohsuak couldn’t imagine it going poorly. She was not overly surprised when that column grew too bright to look at.
When the flames calmed down enough for her to open her eyes, she saw the Third of the Sixth glowing red. The bee queen flew to her and zipped about in the air.
“It worked! Queen of All Fire asked to join Hive of All Fire! Thanks karnuq queen! Need to go ask King what pick!”
Chief Rohsuak didn’t even have a chance to respond before the bee zipped off towards the nearest exit. She chuckled and shook her head.
The Third of the Sixth was quite the suitable apprentice for the Blazing Berserker, that was for sure…
***
And so, the Third of the Sixth zipped off to find Belissar. Belissar’s mind finally caught up with the situation and he smiled.
“Congratulations, I’m happy for you.”
The Third of the Sixth zipped about in a “King best king!” dance, giving Belissar a chance to think on the options she described.
“So…blessing of the pyromancer, the hearth tender, the blazing berserker…or the queen of fire, was it?”
According to the karnuq, normally a god offered a collection of suitable generic blessings that could be acquired from nearly any of them. If the devotee was exception suited as a champion for the god in question, they might also offer one of their own unique blessings, once drawing directly on their power. Juosiutik’s honey herbalist, Hirkolos’s bee-fender, and Frelis’s floral druid were all the latter option.
The God of Fire had apparently offered the Third of the Sixth four fire-related blessings. He was apparently quite enthusiastic about the Third of the Sixth drawing on his power. Belissar…couldn’t help but agree.
He looked up at the Third of the Sixth. He knew which one he liked, but unlike Frelis the Third of the Sixth was a queen. She was much more independent than a worker was, so he hoped she might be able to decide on her own.
“What do you think of them?”
The Third of the Sixth barely slowed down as she danced her reply.
“Amazing! Incredible! Can be like Beero! No tiny lightnings, though. Or can make more honey! Not as much as First of the Fifth, though. Or can fight like karnuq queen! But…am queen? Not supposed to fight!”
The Third of the Sixth paused for a moment.
“How karnuq queen fight? Why workers let?”
Belissar had to pause at that question.
“Hm, you see, karnuq are different. The…queen, as you call her, isn’t the only karnuq who can have kids. All karnuq woman can…I think. Well, until they get too old…if they’re the same as humans that is.”
The Third of the Sixth hovered still in the air before bursting into a dance.
“All karnuq queens?! Then…where workers?! Who work?! Who fight?!”
Thus followed a very confusing discussion where Belissar tried to explain some of the differences in the division of labor and reproductive strategy between karnuq and bees. Not made easier by the fact that Belissar himself was no expert on any of that…and was assuming that the karnuq were the same as humans. Or, at least, assuming they were closer to humans than bees. He decided to let Chief Rohsuak clear up any misunderstandings if it turned out he was wrong on that point.
By the end, the Third of the Sixth was swaying about, clearly confused. Niobee tried to intervene but she had apparently also gotten confused. Belissar decided to try and bring things back onto easier topics, like the blessings of the gods.
“Ahem…you can just think of it like this. Karnuq…hives have more than one queen, so it’s fine if some of them do dangerous things.”
The Third of the Sixth immediately began zipping about.
“Oh! Like Fourth of the Seventh and First of the Fifth’s First Daughter’s hive!”
Belissar decided to just nod along.
“Sure…I think. Um, in any case…what about the last option?”
The Third of the Sixth picked up even more speed.
“Amazing! Incredible! Give fire to workers, soldiers!”
Belissar smiled.
“That does sound amazing.”
The Third of the Sixth stopped immediately.
“King likes?”
Belissar blinked and had to hold back a sigh. He had apparently expressed too much opinion.
“I…think they’re all great. But yes, I do like that one. A queen of fire sounds good for a queen, right?”
The Third of the Sixth resumed her full speed dance.
“Ok! Will pick!”
Before Belissar could say anything more, the Third of the Sixth began to glow as she was wrapped with white hot mana, and a message from the Tower appeared before him.
Mission: Help one bee queen receive a full blessing from the God of Fire completed!
Reward: One rare monster choice
Belissar could only smile helplessly and shrug. Well, the Third of the Sixth, the God of Fire, and the God of Bees were clearly all happy about that choice, so he may as well accept it.
Author’s Note:
Wait, non-bee queens only raise queens and drones…and only, like, one a year? That’s…real silly, isn’t it? Who does the work then? Who protects the hive? We know drones don’t do anything so don’t tell us the queens have to work and fight!
Non-bees are confusing, huh? The God of Fire must be so relieved to finally have a bee amongst his hive, now!
Anyways!
What will the Third of the Sixth do with her new blessing? Has she chosen wisely? Will she solve the God of Fire’s egregious lack of bees? Tune in next time, to find out!
Comments
TheLostGolem
I was thinking inferno bees? Magma bees sound pretty good as well.
Darius Sanguna
Idea for a new type of bee that came to me while reading: Brewerbees, they can raise all sorts of yeasts, magical and otherwise, and other beneficial microbes in their honey. Their honey is much more runny (less viscous) due to it being more watery (so the yeast can actually survive and multiply) and as a consequnce of that they have to build their comb horizontally and only one sided. Further, their wax is immune to rot, so anything coated in it, if sterilized beforehand if it is perishable, will keep indefinitely. Naturally they can use other types of honey and wax to mix with theirs to optimize environments for whatever yeast/microbes they're raising and individual bees can also elementally specialize to become better tenders and be more comfortable in elementally charged environments. (Especially important for stuff like fire or poison and such) They also have a high tolerance for alcohol and are generally extremely resistant to disease. Idk if they might be solitary or a hive species, but if they're a hive species their hives would be sprawling to accomodate the many different environments without them clashing. Fairly certain there are at least some species of irl bee that do make alcohol, so they might be the monster variant of that. Alternatively they're an evolutionary path for one of the more alchemically inclined queen, or do we have one queen that helps Belissar with his brewing or is particularly interested in it? [In case you're interested how I came to this from this chapter: Because it was related to the god of fire, I started thinking about him not getting any mead and how he had to give Belissar special yeast to get some in the future, so I started thinking about how neat it would be if they could make their own specialty yeasts and such. And from there it isn't far to include stuff other than yeast, given how big a part fermentation is in food preservation. With that type of bee I can see the Karnuq becoming involved with making all sorts of fermented food, like rabbit salami to start with (yeah salami is fermented) but eventually getting into stuff like fire mana kimchi and earth mana cheese and what not. Alrighty I have rambled enough lol so I'll end it here.]
Book-Wyrm
Oh yea boi, magma bees here we come
AEgamer1
Their drones actually do stuff too! But, uh, the Third of the Sixth didn't know that. Oh, Niobee probably should've by now, come to think of it.
AEgamer1
Nah, it's helpful when I start to edit so keep it up haha
Durphymcbob
Yeah could easily describe kurnuq to themas solitary bees, that build their hives next to each other and then elder is the most respected everyone speaks to.
phantom
Just asking in case author. but uh.. you do remember that Carpenter 'Bees' don't have queens either?
phantom
"Who does the work then? Who protects the hive? We know drones don’t do anything so don’t tell us the queens have to work and fight! Non-bees are confusing, huh? The God of Fire must be so relieved to finally have a bee amongst his hive, now!" "amongst his hive" Hive of fire.. led by a drone?
Fernando Oliveira
Thanks for the chapter. Loved it. Taosmed is going to help the blacksmith and 3rd of 6th has gained the blessing, queen of fire. Awesome. I wonder how it works. She said it lets her give her workers and soldiers fire. Which I thought they already had as burning bees. Maybe it lets her empower them remotely? Can't wait to see what happens next. And belissar has a new monster choice to make too!
fanfan8000
Typo? If the Third of the Sixth already lived and breathed fire…then perhaps she had no need (to) immerse herself in the flames at all. they might also offer one of their own unique blessings, once(ones) drawing directly on their power. -once is the wrong word here. Don't really know how to explain it though. -FYI if you find this annoying and want me to stop just tell me. Also I will mess up at times and say something is wrong when it could be completely ok.
Durphymcbob
Thanks for the Chapter! THe Queen of FIre! She seems to be able to give her Hive more fire damage, very interesting, It does make since for Queen's and royalty to get more commander/leader/wide range buff, realited blessings. VERY interested to see what this can do. and maybe see the God fo fire reaction to his new little eternal swarm of embers that is 3rd of the 6th and her Hive.
Black Esper
A blessed queen indeed. May her reign of Fire bee warm!
