Chapter 98: Chapter 98

“Chief, we found something. Partiokinik figured we should ask you to check it out.”

Chief Rohsuak raised an eyebrow at the scout’s report. The clan had more hunters than just Metsaitti and the group he took into the Sacred Den. However, most of the hunters were currently guarding the camp, keeping an eye on the Underway entrance, or else scouting out their new home. Metsaitti took only the youngest bunch, those with the greatest potential for growth…and whose absence would hinder the clan least. It seems that now, those scouts had found something.

She slowly rose to her feet and nodded.

And so she made her way through the forest, along a small trail the hunters had cut. It was slow going; the hunters had cut as little as they could to minimize signs of their presence, so she constantly had to push branches out of her way. She could feel scratches accumulating here and there.

And yet…she was all smiles. Few remained who remembered it but Chief Rohsuak was not always one for calm leadership from behind. It was rare that she had the opportunity to leave her duties and brave the unknown. Though, a dull ache in her knees reminded her of why she generally restrained herself.

Still, for all the little aches and pains she couldn’t help but beam as she came out into a small clearing where crumbling stone ruins stood. She could still feel the thrum of mana lurking within the humble walls. She dropped her smile and turned to the hunters.

“You were wise to call me, this place is magic. Please, do not approach or touch anything.”

The hunters nodded and spread out to keep watch. Chief Rohsuak slowly made her way towards the ruins, stretching her senses to keep track of the mana. Her caution mostly seemed unnecessary as she made it to the ruins’ walls without incident. The mana, while apparent, was quite faint, and she couldn’t detect any particular pattern to its flow.

He shook his head and then walked over to the frame, where two vertical beams stood upright.

“Ok, can you girls bring it over here? We need to bring it to the top of these two.”

The bees did as asked. It took a bit of finagling to get the beam into the grooves, but the smaller bees were even more capable of small adjustments than a person would be, and so they got it in.

Belissar then realized he would still need to get up there to add the stabilizing wax. He knew he could ask the bees for help with that too but as far as he knew he would need worker bees rather than soldiers for that task. Asking the soldier bees cut down on their training, but that wasn’t too worrying since they could handle purifications no problem. Asking the worker bees, on the other hand, would cut down on honey production for the hives, so Belissar wanted to avoid that if possible.

As such, he was about to start building a staircase or a ladder when he suddenly had an idea. He got the beams up there with the help of his bees, perhaps like a dungeon master might. So…perhaps there were other ways his dungeon master abilities might help here? In fact, he realized there was a very easy way they could do so.

He switched to Tower sight and located one of his trees, selecting it. He moved the transparent image right next to the beehouse in progress and confirmed. He watched as light began to cover the tree and then move to the new location. A moment later, the tree was now standing in front of him…and right next to the newly installed beams.

He grabbed onto the branches and within moments found himself next to the beams, close enough to work his magic. He smiled to himself.

Being a dungeon master wasn’t half bad, at times.

All hostiles defeated. Purification successful.

Belissar smiled. Another day, another victory without sacrifice. Between the sprayers and the bees’ growing skill, minor+ purifications were handled with ease. The purifications were now swapping between single birds or double wolves at random but nothing else at the moment, and the bees had perfected their strategies for each case.

And, of course, a week of successful purifications meant a week of rewards.

Minor+ Purification completed! Please select a reward:

- Small Pond (Rarity: Common, Type: Water)

Belissar’s smile widened at that. Today bore unexpected fruit. For the first time of all the options he had seen, something water related was offered. Belissar went ahead and selected the option.

It was a bit more expensive than the usual feature at five mana, but he could add one to any of his rooms. But that was not a problem considering the Tower’s current state:

Floors: 1 (Rooms: 2/2), 2 (Rooms: 1/2)

Available Monster Types: Monster Bee Queen, Monster Bee Soldier, Monster Bee Sprayer

Available Room Types: Flower Meadow, Apiary, Orchard

Available Room Features: Pit Trap, Sticky Honey Trap, Basic Resource Plants, Beehive, Bee Memorial (Limit Reached)

Dungeon Perks: Bee Breeder, Cross-Pollination, Monster Bee Soldier Strength Boost (Minimal), Monster Bee Soldier Speed Boost (Minimal), Monster Bee Worker Speed Boost (Miminal+), Monster Bee Queen Mana Boost (Minimal+)

Dungeon Master: Belissar

Dungeon Conduit: Niobee

Blessing: Blessing of Bees

Current Missions: Help ten challengers receive full blessings, House all bees