Chapter 191: Chapter 191
The next morning, Belissar set out to set up a Fairy Grove. First, he considered where to place it. The empty rooms were currently on the second floor, which at the moment only held the Orchard since he had moved the karnuq and Apiary floors up a step each, but he could always rearrange the rooms as necessary. There was an argument for placing the Fairy Grove ahead of the battle meadow so that an invading shade would have to face its unpredictable effects before reaching the bee army. On the other hand, a major reason Belissar chose the Fairy Grove was the promise of new flowers and new bees, in which case it would be better to keep it closer to the Apiary and the bees working there.
Hypothetically, he could always set up two Fairy Groves, as he had the room slots open. However, the Fairy Grove was the most expensive room he had by far, even more so than the Lava Field. He was not comfortable spending that much mana to set up two when he still didn’t know exactly what they did.
And since he didn’t know exactly what they did, he decided not to overthink it. He went ahead and placed a Fairy Grove off to the side of the Orchard for now. He’d think about moving it elsewhere once they had figured out how it actually fit into his Tower. He also didn’t bother adjusting anything about the room, since he knew he didn’t know enough to know what, if anything, he should change.
“I’m placing the new room by the Orchard. I’m, um, still not sure about where it’s going to go in the end but…there’s a chance we’ll use it to defend and we still aren’t sure what will happen with it. So…maybe we shouldn’t set up any hives there for a bit, until we know how the room works.”
Belissar then jumped a bit and waved his hands around.
“Ah, the bees are welcome to visit and forage though! They should, in fact!”
Niobee took it in stride with a salute dance.
“Ok! Will tell queens!”
After finding his bearings and taking a deep breath to gather himself, Belissar once again set off towards the closest fairy circle, using his Tower sight to stay on course. Eventually, they arrived. Right in between three trees, obscured by bushes on all sides, was a ring of darkened grass about as wide as Belissar was tall. An easy thing to miss if he hadn’t been specifically looking for it.
At least, physically speaking. But in terms of mana…Belissar’s eyes widened at the sight before him. The flows of mana through the forest all coalesced at this point, forming a twisting and chaotic whirlpool within the circle. Mana generally appeared to Belissar as a colored light. The most common mana in the air was a light blue, the mana near the flowers took on a green tone. The Ground mana flower made it brown, while the Lava Field and Fire mana flowers were filled with red. Belissar’s own mana matched that of his bees: a bright and orderly yellow.
The mana in the circle was a shimmering rainbow, different patches and streams of the mana within it all constantly changing colors independently of one another, creating a dazzingly display of light and motion to Belissar’s eyes. Occasionally, a stream of the mana would shoot out from the mass, either flowing back into one of the larger rivers of mana in the forest, or into something in the surroundings. Most often the ground, but sometimes the bushes and the trees as well.
“Well, I guess that’s where all the mana went…”
Belissar turned to see how his bees were responding. The workers were hovering and buzzing around the circle, though remaining at a distance from it.
“What do you all think?”
One of the workers flew over to Niobee and danced a bit.
“Says dangerous, but lots of mana. Wants to see if flowers nearby.”
Belissar nodded, and then paused and rubbed his chin, for he had a thought.
“Niobee, could you ask a gardener to come here?”
He was about to start placing mana flowers and the like, but then thought he should ask a gardener. Not only could the gardeners tell him which of the flowers might like it here best, they could also help spread the flowers themselves. Which might actually be a better option given the purpose of this room. Belissar had not chosen the room to fill it with mana flowers, but to see if flowers raised here might develop differently. On that count…maybe it would be better to plant seeds and let them grow the normal way instead of relying on the resource nodes that magically grew the plants in an instant?
A while later, Niobee guided one the gardeners to the circle. Belissar turned to her.
“Could you check this place out and tell me which flowers you think would like it here?”
The gardener saluted as quickly as she could and then took off. She flew around the circle. She landed on the grass, she dug a bit into the dirt, she flew through the air several times. She even flew into the circle at one point, her antennae twitching every which way.
After a bit, she came before Belissar and began dancing her results.
Belissar tilted his head.
“Any? All the flowers would like it here?”
The gardener paused, her dance slowing down a bit.
“Area strange…but good. Lots of mana, lots of types. Flowers will drink and grow.”