Chapter 454: Chapter 454

The fair folk all scrambled about. Wardmaster Varilold immediately began arranging another scouting mission with the Royal Pixie Guard, while Nenavann and Queen Vanieskon rushed back to the Compact.

But…that didn’t have much to do with Belissar at this particular moment. Niobee had already informed the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter what was going on and she subsequently informed the bee army and the Fourth of the Seventh. The bees in question got in contact with Wardmaster Varilold via the First Daughter’s communers to offer support from the hive of hives’ scouts and soldiers for the mission. Belissar…wasn’t really needed to coordinate.

So, since the fair folk could contact him at any time if they needed him, he decided to be useful…elsewhere. And the most useful thing he could think of to do was check on the mead as he had originally intended. He headed back to the Apiary’s farmhouse and checked on the mead for the God of Water.

He smiled. The mead seemed to have fermented this time. It took a bit longer than normal…but he was indeed holding a jar of mead. Fortunately, it seemed he wouldn’t need any special water or anything. He took the jar of completed mead to the nearest shrine.

And then he frowned. How exactly was he supposed to offer mead to a god that wasn’t one of his patrons yet? There were no chests or containers at his shrine for the God of Water…and he doubted he could just use another god’s for the task. He suddenly wished Nenavann hadn’t left so quickly, if only he had someone else who knew about the God of Water, or just offering to the gods in general…

His eyes widened as he remembered he did! Belissar made his way over to the outskirts of the karnuq settlement, where the karnuq had built homes for the two humans next to the prison holding the one still incarcerated. He knocked on Sehfitis’s door, the old man promptly let him in.

“Tower Keeper, welcome. How may I assist you?”

Belissar held up the jar of mead.

“I want to offer this to the God of Water, but I don’t have any place in the shrines for him. You know about offering stuff to the gods, right?”

Sehfitis began to grin.

“That I do, Tower Keeper! Indeed, knowing such rituals is precisely the duty of an augur! The God of Water, one of the great elemental gods, is one of the first we learn. Just give me a chance to grab my things…”

Belissar waited while Sehfitis packed a satchel full of tools and supplies, grabbed a bucket, and then stepped outside.

“For the God of Water, we will need a body of water. Just enough to submerge whatever you’re offering, the village’s pond will do.”

Belissar followed along as Sehfitis walked towards the pond in the karnuq village. The karnuq greeted them both as they walked along, Belissar was pleased to see Sehfitis greet them back without any hesitation or displeasure. It seemed the old human was no longer uncomfortable around the beastkin.

They soon arrived and Sehfitis got to work. He began to carve grooves in the dirt, forming a circular pattern on the ground not entirely dissimilar from the wards the fair folk used. He channeled a bit of mana into the pattern, then took the bucket and scooped out some water. He gently poured it into the pattern. To Belissar’s surprise, the water pooled in the grooves and did not soak into the dirt.

Sehfitis then closed his eyes and began to speak in a soft whisper. The water in the pattern glowed with blue light.

“We are ready, Tower Keeper. I have reached out to the God of Water, though I cannot know if he will respond. You may attempt to give your offering now, he will take it if he chooses to favor you.”

Belissar glanced around.

Sehfitis pointed the pond.

“For the God of Water, let the water take it.”

Belissar nodded and stepped towards the pond. He knelt down and put the jar in, letting it go once it was fully submerged.

“God of Water, I offer this to you. I hope you like it, thank you for reaching out to me.”

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He had barely finished the words when the entire pond began to glow and spin. A whirlpool formed in the center. The water rushed and roared for about a minute, then settled down as if nothing had occurred.

Mission: Offer mead made from Water-type honey to the God of Water completed!

Reward: Rare Water-Type Room choice.

The God of Water offers a minor blessing.

A non-patron god, the God of Water, offers his blessing! The God of Water will be added to the Shrine in some rooms. Accept?

Sehfitis stared with wide eyes.

“…congratulations, Tower Keeper. It appears the God of Water has favored you indeed.”

“Not just that, he’s offered a blessing.”

Sehfitis’s eyes widened further. Belissar went ahead and accepted the blessing, since the God of Water seemed to have coordinated with his other patrons. A burst of blue, soothing mana spread throughout the Tower, causing the karnuq to pause and look around. Belissar checked on the Bog where the bees lived, guessing the God of Water would set up in his only Water room.

And indeed, Belissar now found a small, glowing whirlpool had formed in the swamp next to the Bog’s Shrine. He went ahead and checked on the details of the blessing as well.

Minor Blessing of Water applied.

- Water-related options slightly more frequent.

- Some special water-related options are unlocked and may now appear

- Water monster upgrades and evolutions are now slightly cheaper and easier to unlock

- Water-related effects and attacks are slightly more effective

Belissar was excited for this one. The Bog and the swimming and slime bees operating in it had already proven themselves in the last expansion. And…he’d soon have an entirely new Water room for them, a rare one at that. Though…he should probably ask Nenavann to help him evaluate the options when he chose that one, he apparently didn’t know much about water in general if those ocean things were anything to go by.

Belissar visited the nexus door again and asked Wardmaster Varilold if she could pass on a message to Nenavann. She readily agreed, so Belissar decided he’d wait for Nenavann before addressing the Water room choice.

Belissar then returned to the Apiary farmhouse and considered what to do next. While he was on the topic of gods and blessings, he decided to consider the other missions he had. The God of Fire’s mission was still in the hands of the Third of the Sixth and Chief Rohsuak…or was it? He was asking for Nenavann for help on water, couldn’t he also ask Urubran for help with fire-related matters? Belissar decided it was worth asking at least and that he’d ask Tarwantrad to get in contact with Urubran next time he saw her. He considered asking the wardmaster again…but he didn’t want to distract her too much from her work on the wards. A pending rare room choice was one thing, but just asking for advice could wait.

Next, he considered the God of Flowers’ mission…and realized there was nothing stopping him from attempting it that very day. He was about to ask Niobee for help with coordinating the bees again…but then he recalled the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter’s evolution and recent efforts. So, instead, he sent her a Tower message directly.

“Hi, First of the Fifth’s First Daughter, could I ask you something?”

A wave of mana burst towards him immediately.

“King! Yes! Will help however can!”

Belissar smiled as he got to business.

“I wanted to see if the slime rose monster Frelis raised can handle a purification, so I’d like to try the weakest purification today. We’ll probably move the Flower Meadow first, and I’ll ask the bee army not to fight right away, depending on what shade we get. Could you let the other bees know? Ah, maybe ask Frelis if there’s anything we need to do for the rose monster first?”

“Ok! Will tell hive of hives!”

“Thanks, First Daughter!”

Belissar could see the First Daughter happily dance around over in her hive with his Tower Sight.

Belissar chuckled as he felt the First Daughter’s mana flow through the Tower once more. He could even hear her speak to the other queens if he wanted to, but decided to just let her do her thing. He instead thought to himself if there was anything else he could do to help prepare for purification.

At first, nothing came to mind. After all, they would be fighting a weaker shade than normal, rather than a stronger one. He had never seen the flower monster fight, either, so he wouldn’t know how to help it unless Frelis had any ideas.

He thought a bit more. Come to think of it, he realized they had never tried a weaker purification before. Nothing stopped them from doing so, but they only did one purification a day, so it just made sense to take the one with a twenty-four hour cooldown…

Belissar blinked. Did they…only have to do one purification a day? The weakest purification had a short enough cooldown to do several, didn’t it? So…was there any reason to do only one if they were doing the weakest one anyways?

Belissar recalled the original thoughts he had after the expansion that made small+ purifications available daily. The biggest obstacle he had thought of then was the sigmaka, if he did purifications earlier in the day there might be sigmaka challengers around who could get hurt by a shade. But couldn’t he just…warn them? In fact, he should probably let them know that the fair folk would try to negotiate with them soon, so he already had a reason to talk with them.

With his mind made up, he went off to go talk with Chief Rohsuak to see what the sigmaka would say…