POBee 225.1 - Don't Fall Bee-hind
The Firstborn pulled up into the sky, gathering her mana around her stinger. She dove down as the soldiers had taught her. She pulled up shortly before the target, one of the karnuq’s iron slabs, and curled her body to thrust her abdomen forward. Her mana flared and molded over her stinger before shooting forward, striking the slab.
She had done it. She had mastered the mana stinger technique displayed by karnuq blessed by the Queen of All Bees.
She knew it was not enough.
Dance had reached the Firstborn of great events, first the Fourth of the Seventh and now the First of the Fifth had both evolved. Two of the queens that lead portions of the hive of hives had evolved into new forms more powerful than anyone had ever seen before. The Firstborn rejoiced, for their evolutions were well-deserve and promised great benefit for the hive of hives as a whole. Yet…she could not help but feel certain expectations now turning her way. She could not help but notice her fellow barracks queens spending more and more time watching her training, or the increasing number of scouts from the rest of the hive of hives checking in on her.
Still, the Firstborn put such things aside and focused. The hive of hives was not a competition. She would evolve if and when she evolved; ultimately, her goal was to protect the King and the hive of hives. She could do that evolved or not, so she focused her thoughts on better fulfilling that mission.
But for both the sake of protecting the hive of hives and possibly evolving, she knew that this mana stinger technique was not enough. For the karnuq, who lacked stingers entirely, the technique gave them a powerful attack and brought them closer to the Queen of All Bees. For the Firstborn, it merely built on what she already had. The technique certainly boosted the damage she could do, but it alone was not enough for her to join the battle. She was still too slow and vulnerable, a powerful sting meant nothing if she couldn’t get close enough to deliver it.
Her thoughts turned to the hive of hives and the Fourth of the Seventh. She thought of the reports on the Fourth of the Seventh’s new capabilities, how she could generate wind from her wings to boost her own speed.
The Firstborn wondered if she could do something similar. She beat her wings and tried to concentrate her mana within them. She knew that Beero had used her wings to help channel her magic stings, so she knew it should be possible. Likewise, mana could replicate a stinger or create honey, so the Firstborn thought it should also be possible to do something with the wings.
She beat her wings again and the air hummed, a light gust blowing about. She danced about once. It hadn’t done anything yet, but it was proof of concept. She would work on that from now on and determine if she could boost her speed enough to match her soldiers.