Chapter 215: Blooming Bee-cisions

    Now that the choice of bee monsters was settled, Belissar quickly moved on to the next one before he could regret his decisions.

    Please select a perk:

    - Concentrated Nectar (Rarity: Uncommon)

    - Rapid Bloom (Rarity: Uncommon)

    - Enhanced Seed Dispersal (Rarity: Uncommon)

    Belissar smiled. Just from the names, he had high hopes for some of these perks.

    Concentrated Nectar

    - Small increase to nectar nutrients and mana content

    - Small increase to potency of all compounds produced by flowers, including alchemical reagents and toxins

    - Small increase in nectar attractiveness to pollinators

    The First of the Fifth immediately began fidgeting, much to Belissar’s amusement. He gave her a warm smile.

    “Sounds like this would be good for honey, huh?”

    She immediately burst into a flying dance.

    “Yes! Would! Amazing, incredible!”

    Belissar chuckled. The flower perks were starting off strong. Not only was this perk perfect for honey-making, it would also improve toxic flowers...several of which Belissar had recently received. It helped the bees and flowers both.

    There were still two more perks to review, though, so Belissar set it aside for now.

    Rapid Bloom

    - Small increase in flowering plant growth rate

    - Small increase in flower growth and bloom speed

    - Small decrease in requirements for plants to flower

    Belissar was about to gloss over this one, as unlike the first it didn’t directly impact the bees. But he realized that was an error as he thought over it again. After all, this perk meant more flowers, more quickly. More flowers meant more nectar, so it was indeed helpful to the bees. Not to mention it would directly assist the gardeners in spreading his existing flowers around...as well as any new ones he received from the Circle or Tarwantrad’s flower nursery. It would also help with cross-pollination and acquiring even more types of flowers. In that regard, this one had as much to recommend it as the first. It just depended on if they preferred better nectar from existing flowers, or more flowers overall in terms of both numbers and diversity.

    He turned and found the Apiary bees dancing off with one another on those very priorities. The First of the Fifth was stumbling about in circles.

    “Better nectar...could concentrate and improve mana density...but...more flowers...new nectar types...could experiment and cross-pollinate for better nectar...”

    Belissar smiled as he shrugged. Guess he’d have to give them a bit more time to decide which one they liked more. That is, assuming the last one didn’t end up supplanting them both...

    Enhanced Seed Dispersal

    - Small increase to effectiveness of all seed dispersal methods. Flying seeds fly further, sticky seeds stick longer, etc.

    - Small increase to likelihood seeds will land in a suitable location and germinate. Small increase to seeds’ ability to adjust course towards suitable locations. Seeds that do not actively move may gain a small ability to do so.

    - Features and monsters that use seeds for other purposes also receive small increases in effectiveness to those purposes.

    Tarwantrad rushed up and nodded as rapidly as she could.

    “Yes! I promise! I will bring you my own bees and many flowers too!”

    The First of the Fifth saluted immediately.

    “As King commands! Will raise new queens right away! Claim new flowers for hive of hives!”

    Belissar stood there blinking for a second. He had thought it would take some convincing, but the First of the Fifth was more enthusiastic about the idea than he expected. Well, if the bees didn’t complain, neither would he. As much as he was worried about sending bees away, he knew he could trust Tarwantrad to take care of them, and the God of Bees herself wished for this. There was no longer any reason to delay.

    And that brought him to the next order of business.

    “Thank you, First of the Fifth. Next, the God of Bees wants a bee queen to be blessed by the God of Fire...”

    He was about to turn and ask the Third of the Sixth, given that she was already training in fire stuff with Chief Rohsuak, but he found her already dancing to Chief Rohsuak.

    “Queen of All Fire...karnuq queen follows?”

    Chief Rohsuak smiled and nodded.

    “Yes.”

    The Third of the Sixth then turned to Belissar.

    “King and Queen of All Bees want bee to join Hive of All Fire?”

    Belissar slowly nodded.

    “Yes...”

    He was going to clarify that only if the bee in question wanted to do so, but the Third of the Sixth began dancing first.

    “I can?”

    Belissar paused for a second but smiled once he processed the question.

    “Of course. I’d be grateful if you did.”

    The Third of the Sixth immediately began zipping about, heating up the area.

    “Ok! Will!”

    She then began zipping around Chief Rohsuak.

    “Can teach how to join Hive of All Fire?!”

    Chief Rohsuak chuckled before letting sparks light in her eyes.

    “It would be my pleasure.”

    Belissar couldn’t help but grin. He had been a bit worried about asking the Third of the Sixth to do this...but she clearly wanted it herself. Now that he knew that, Belissar would be happy to help her achieve it.

    It had been a long day of surprises and worries, but it had all worked out in the end. And his Tower and his bees would be all the better for it...