Chapter 45: Time to Bee Brave
And so, time passed. Belissar still hadn’t managed to control his mana outside of his body yet, but today his lack of progress did not cross his mind. No, today, Belissar had other things to consider, for he had just finished the latest purification. He selected another ten mana, bringing his numbers to the current values:
Mana: 132/300
With this latest increase, he had reached his goal. He could now conduct an expansion purification.
Attempt expansion purification? Estimated purification strength: small.
Belissar hesitated at that. He did not know how strong a small purification would be, but he couldn’t imagine it would be weaker than the minor purifications. It could be as strong as the initial purification...or stronger, for he didn’t know what the intial purification was classified as. His bees were both capable and numerous at this point and his traps all stocked and prepared, but they had only been tested by the weaker shades thus far. He still didn’t know if they could handle the shade from the initial purification as easily as they did its smaller kin.
And if the next purification was stronger than that...then sacrifice would be inevitable, and victory would not be guaranteed at all. Belissar would almost certainly have to watch his bees fall and could end up losing everything he had built so far. He had been so focused on reaching this point that he hadn’t truly considered the risks involved.
He got up from his chair and gathered some honeycomb. He made his way to the Shrine of Bees in the Flower Meadow. He placed the honeycomb in the chest and then knelt in front of the statue of the God of Bees. Niobee followed along quietly, as she always did.
“Do you have any guidance for me? I...don’t want to see my bees get hurt again.”
He felt a slight warmth and opened his eyes. The Shrine was glowing slightly. The glow then faded, which allowed Belissar to catch a glimpse of another light. He turned to the side and saw the nearby Bee Memorial. Both the beehouse at its center and the pillars surrounding it glowed faintly.