The Bee Dungeon
Author: Icalos
Chapter 174: Flower Bee-wards
The gardener quickly put extraneous thoughts aside and focused. Now that she had a flower that might suit her purposes, she needed to ensure it grew healthy and strong. The plant was requesting additional water and her own mana agreed with that assessment. Now she needed to figure out the best way to bring it more.
But as she pondered, the shoot itself began to move. It dug itself out of the ground, revealing a bulbous, slight glowing section at the very bottom of the stem. Its roots slithered out from the ground and began to writhe and grasp like particularly uncoordinated legs. The plant continued to wave its leaves in her direction.
Well, if the plant could remove itself from the ground, then the task was simple. The gardener wrapped the plant in her legs and took off. The plant’s leaves and roots began writhing about as they rose into the air, but her grip on it was firm. Eventually it wrapped its little roots around her legs as best it could as she flew them both towards the nearest pond.
Belissar’s mind finally caught up enough for him to begin acknowledging the messages in his face.
Belissar glanced around a bit with his Tower sight before realizing he honestly had no idea where to look. The thorny rose he planted by the Bee Barracks still appeared the same, so the bees must have planted this one somewhere else.
“Hey Niobee, looks like one of the gardeners raised a monster flower of some kind? Could you check and find out which one and where they are?”
“Ok! Will!”
Belissar took a deep breath as Niobee flew off to dance with the other bees. He was certainly curious about the new monster and wanted to see it for himself. He also wanted to confirm it was a Tower monster and so not dangerous to the bees and the karnuq. But all of that would have to wait, for the new monster notification was only the first of the messages.
That monster was apparently sufficient for the God of Flower’s mission, who now also wanted to become his patron. That choice…was quite straightforward and even eased Belissar’s overwhelmed mind a bit. The God of Flowers was a perfect patron for a Tower full of bees and Belissar already knew the God of Bees approved, so he had no reason to hesitate.
As before, a wave of mana passed through him and the Tower. His vision brightened with a cascade of colors and a sweet scent lingered on the air. He tried to focus on where the mana concentrated…but found that, this time, it had concentrated in multiple places. Shrines in not just one but several of his rooms had changed.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
In all three Flower Meadows, both Orchards, the Fairy Grove, and the new Apothecary’s Hut, a giant flower sprouted from the ground by the statue of the God of Bees, blooming to reveal colorful chests in each of their centers.
As with the God of Fire, the God of Bees approved of this development. Belissar couldn’t help but grin and rub his hands together as he thought of a cross-perk between the God of Bees and the God of Flowers. Flowers were critical to his Tower, just how many of their advances had been off the back of mana flowers and cross-pollination? He greatly anticipated seeing what perks would result when the God of Bees and God of Flowers combined their powers.
But before he could check the choices, he still had one last set of messages to review.
Belissar nodded. Of course he would accept quests from such a crucial god.
Belissar nodded and started rubbing his chin. Help someone get blessed by the God of Flowers, huh? His first thought was Juosiutik given how much she worked with flowers, but she had already been blessed by the God of Bees. Though, Metsaitti had apparently received some kind of joint blessing from the God of Bees and the God of Fire, could something like that work.
But then, Belissar’s eyes opened wide as he looked over the mission once more. Tower monsters…could be blessed by the gods? He hadn’t known that was option. But if it was…the Third of the Sixth’s evolution method apparently inspired Metsaitti’s trial, which in turn inspired Beero’s own attempt. His bees were already putting themselves through something like the God of Fire’s trial…so wouldn’t they be able to take on another? If they could handle the God of Fire’s trial, surely they could take on one from the God of Flowers, a god they were far more suited for in the first place.
On the other hand, neither Beero nor the Third of the Sixth had received a blessing for their own evolutions, so maybe it worked differently for monsters. Belissar wasn’t sure, and Chief Rohsuak didn’t know much about the inner workings of Towers. Maybe Sehfitis might? Belissar would have to ask him again.
But either way, Belissar was going to try. A bee blessed by the God of Flowers…now that would be something to see.
Belissar spent the rest of the day fidgeting, far too distracted to focus on anything else. He resisted the urge to gather the queens immediately, waiting for the day’s purification. He at least was able to check up on the new monster once Niobee had finished checking with the queens and figured out which gardener was responsible.
The new monster currently looked just like a normal rose shoot save for a slightly glowing bulb in its stem. What was not normal was that the gardener bee carried it to the battle meadow’s pond…and then the shoot crawled on its own to the water’s edge before plunging its roots inside. The shoot swelled before Belissar’s eyes, growing twice its size in a few minutes before withdrawing its roots.
He had to wait for it to grow a bit more before he could decide how it would fit into his Tower, but it would be one to keep an eye on, that was for sure.
He barely paid attention to the day’s purification as, of course, it was another turtle shade of all things. He tapped his foot repeatedly as they waited for the turtle to slowly, ponderously, slothfully crawl its way to the nearest pit trap and fall inside. He all but tossed the purification reward message aside with scarcely a look, just taking the mana so he could move on.
And then, finally, after as short a celebration as he felt comfortable with, Belissar gathered the queens and the karnuq leaders. He grinned as he watched them.
“We have a new patron god, and some rewards from her to decide on.”
Metsaitti’s eyes widened while Chief Rohsuak smiled, and the bees began a celebratory dance. Belissar chuckled as finally,
, he opened up the rewards.
It took a great deal of self-control not to select the option with bee in the name, but Belissar figured he should at least read the descriptions.
The description did not assist with his self-control. A flower that was specifically good for bees, that produced a lot of sugar-rich nectar? Belissar had
invested in honeypots to boost honey production, this flower could apparently assist with that at practically zero cost. The First of the Fifth was already starting to fly in circles.
Only by the promise of an uncommon option did Belissar move on to the next one.
Belissar frowned and crossed his arms. More traps were good, necessary even. A deadly, toxic flower would fit well within his Tower. But…apparently this flower was toxic even to pollinators, such as his bees. That alone gave him pause, for what was the point of a flower his bees couldn’t forage from?
Still, a poisonous flower such as this could very improve the battle meadow’s defenses. And the description didn’t say that
pollinators could forage from it, so maybe there was a type of bee that could? They could gather from the poisonous herbs without issue, and the First of the Fifth’s Third Daughter had recently raised an antidote bee. If they could utilize this flower, he imagined the bees raised on it would be quite useful for the bee army. Worst came to worst, even if the bees couldn’t use this flower, Juosiutik probably could. Though, she did already have access to the death cap mushrooms, so perhaps that was redundant.
It was something to think about. For now, there was one more option to check, though this one seemed quite mundane.
And it was…but that didn’t mean he could discard it. The humble clover wouldn’t poison shades and probably wouldn’t result in new monster bee types…but apparently it improved soil quality. Boosting the growth of other plants, now that was a benefit worth considering.
Belissar rubbed his chin. He thought this choice would be easy…but apparently it would not.
And he hadn’t even checked the cross-perk yet.
But as she pondered, the shoot itself began to move. It dug itself out of the ground, revealing a bulbous, slight glowing section at the very bottom of the stem. Its roots slithered out from the ground and began to writhe and grasp like particularly uncoordinated legs. The plant continued to wave its leaves in her direction.
Well, if the plant could remove itself from the ground, then the task was simple. The gardener wrapped the plant in her legs and took off. The plant’s leaves and roots began writhing about as they rose into the air, but her grip on it was firm. Eventually it wrapped its little roots around her legs as best it could as she flew them both towards the nearest pond.
Belissar’s mind finally caught up enough for him to begin acknowledging the messages in his face.
Belissar glanced around a bit with his Tower sight before realizing he honestly had no idea where to look. The thorny rose he planted by the Bee Barracks still appeared the same, so the bees must have planted this one somewhere else.
“Hey Niobee, looks like one of the gardeners raised a monster flower of some kind? Could you check and find out which one and where they are?”
“Ok! Will!”
Belissar took a deep breath as Niobee flew off to dance with the other bees. He was certainly curious about the new monster and wanted to see it for himself. He also wanted to confirm it was a Tower monster and so not dangerous to the bees and the karnuq. But all of that would have to wait, for the new monster notification was only the first of the messages.
That monster was apparently sufficient for the God of Flower’s mission, who now also wanted to become his patron. That choice…was quite straightforward and even eased Belissar’s overwhelmed mind a bit. The God of Flowers was a perfect patron for a Tower full of bees and Belissar already knew the God of Bees approved, so he had no reason to hesitate.
As before, a wave of mana passed through him and the Tower. His vision brightened with a cascade of colors and a sweet scent lingered on the air. He tried to focus on where the mana concentrated…but found that, this time, it had concentrated in multiple places. Shrines in not just one but several of his rooms had changed.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
In all three Flower Meadows, both Orchards, the Fairy Grove, and the new Apothecary’s Hut, a giant flower sprouted from the ground by the statue of the God of Bees, blooming to reveal colorful chests in each of their centers.
As with the God of Fire, the God of Bees approved of this development. Belissar couldn’t help but grin and rub his hands together as he thought of a cross-perk between the God of Bees and the God of Flowers. Flowers were critical to his Tower, just how many of their advances had been off the back of mana flowers and cross-pollination? He greatly anticipated seeing what perks would result when the God of Bees and God of Flowers combined their powers.
But before he could check the choices, he still had one last set of messages to review.
Belissar nodded. Of course he would accept quests from such a crucial god.
Belissar nodded and started rubbing his chin. Help someone get blessed by the God of Flowers, huh? His first thought was Juosiutik given how much she worked with flowers, but she had already been blessed by the God of Bees. Though, Metsaitti had apparently received some kind of joint blessing from the God of Bees and the God of Fire, could something like that work.
But then, Belissar’s eyes opened wide as he looked over the mission once more. Tower monsters…could be blessed by the gods? He hadn’t known that was option. But if it was…the Third of the Sixth’s evolution method apparently inspired Metsaitti’s trial, which in turn inspired Beero’s own attempt. His bees were already putting themselves through something like the God of Fire’s trial…so wouldn’t they be able to take on another? If they could handle the God of Fire’s trial, surely they could take on one from the God of Flowers, a god they were far more suited for in the first place.
On the other hand, neither Beero nor the Third of the Sixth had received a blessing for their own evolutions, so maybe it worked differently for monsters. Belissar wasn’t sure, and Chief Rohsuak didn’t know much about the inner workings of Towers. Maybe Sehfitis might? Belissar would have to ask him again.
But either way, Belissar was going to try. A bee blessed by the God of Flowers…now that would be something to see.
Belissar spent the rest of the day fidgeting, far too distracted to focus on anything else. He resisted the urge to gather the queens immediately, waiting for the day’s purification. He at least was able to check up on the new monster once Niobee had finished checking with the queens and figured out which gardener was responsible.
The new monster currently looked just like a normal rose shoot save for a slightly glowing bulb in its stem. What was not normal was that the gardener bee carried it to the battle meadow’s pond…and then the shoot crawled on its own to the water’s edge before plunging its roots inside. The shoot swelled before Belissar’s eyes, growing twice its size in a few minutes before withdrawing its roots.
He had to wait for it to grow a bit more before he could decide how it would fit into his Tower, but it would be one to keep an eye on, that was for sure.
He barely paid attention to the day’s purification as, of course, it was another turtle shade of all things. He tapped his foot repeatedly as they waited for the turtle to slowly, ponderously, slothfully crawl its way to the nearest pit trap and fall inside. He all but tossed the purification reward message aside with scarcely a look, just taking the mana so he could move on.
And then, finally, after as short a celebration as he felt comfortable with, Belissar gathered the queens and the karnuq leaders. He grinned as he watched them.
“We have a new patron god, and some rewards from her to decide on.”
Metsaitti’s eyes widened while Chief Rohsuak smiled, and the bees began a celebratory dance. Belissar chuckled as finally,
, he opened up the rewards.
It took a great deal of self-control not to select the option with bee in the name, but Belissar figured he should at least read the descriptions.
The description did not assist with his self-control. A flower that was specifically good for bees, that produced a lot of sugar-rich nectar? Belissar had
invested in honeypots to boost honey production, this flower could apparently assist with that at practically zero cost. The First of the Fifth was already starting to fly in circles.
Only by the promise of an uncommon option did Belissar move on to the next one.
Belissar frowned and crossed his arms. More traps were good, necessary even. A deadly, toxic flower would fit well within his Tower. But…apparently this flower was toxic even to pollinators, such as his bees. That alone gave him pause, for what was the point of a flower his bees couldn’t forage from?
Still, a poisonous flower such as this could very improve the battle meadow’s defenses. And the description didn’t say that
pollinators could forage from it, so maybe there was a type of bee that could? They could gather from the poisonous herbs without issue, and the First of the Fifth’s Third Daughter had recently raised an antidote bee. If they could utilize this flower, he imagined the bees raised on it would be quite useful for the bee army. Worst came to worst, even if the bees couldn’t use this flower, Juosiutik probably could. Though, she did already have access to the death cap mushrooms, so perhaps that was redundant.
It was something to think about. For now, there was one more option to check, though this one seemed quite mundane.
And it was…but that didn’t mean he could discard it. The humble clover wouldn’t poison shades and probably wouldn’t result in new monster bee types…but apparently it improved soil quality. Boosting the growth of other plants, now that was a benefit worth considering.
Belissar rubbed his chin. He thought this choice would be easy…but apparently it would not.
And he hadn’t even checked the cross-perk yet.