NOVEL NEXT Ch 26
Chapter 26
In a wild natural setting, the forest is shrouded in darkness.
But at Sung-hyuk’s apiary, the place is brightly lit, and the bees glide through the illumination, finding flowers and collecting nectar even in the dark.
It’s a marvelous sight for bees, which are usually nocturnal.
But not so surprising is the nature of their biology, Rubigem and Peridot.
Both are species of bees that live in a different dimension than Earth, in the realm of Deltarian and Poisonous Greem.
Furthermore, darkness is not a problem for Sung-hyuk as he expands his territory.
The reason?
“For some reason, it doesn’t look like a normal hive, but rather a natural street light.”
One of Sung-hyuk’s most beneficial purchases on the marketplace is Gilite plywood.
Not one, not two, but six hives with the specialty of emitting light were placed side by side on the farm, constantly emitting light, so that the bees could continue their activities without encountering significant visual obstruction.
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[Guardian’s Oversized Gilite Bloodstone Plywood Beehive (★★★-)]
* Category: Other
* A radius of 13(+2)KM around it grants ‘Guardian’s Light Spirit’s Protection’ to all friendly objects and objects.
※ Guardian’s Light Spirit’s Protection: Fatigue disappears and you gain 15(+2)% immunity to vision blocking effects. For natural vegetation where the object can grow, its growth rate is accelerated by 43(+6)%.
[Guardian’s Oversized Gilite Plywood Beehive (★★+)]
[Guardian’s Oversized Gilite Rurium Plywood Beehive (★★★-)]
….
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“This isn’t quite painful to the eyes, but I wouldn’t be comfortable expanding it any further than this.”
Needless to say, allowing this much light through isn’t always considered beneficial.
When there was only one Gilite Plywood Beehive, it didn’t matter because the light intensity wasn’t that strong.
But now there are six of them in total.
With these lights radiating out in all directions, it was almost like a billboard screaming “I AM HERE!”.
In fact, there were a few cases where monsters were attracted to the lights, albeit in small groups.
“For now, I just need to do my best to minimize the damage to the bees.”
From the very beginning, battles with monsters pouring out incessantly in this chaotic world were inevitable.
Tuntun and Lily.
The command of two corps commander bees, the utilization of items such as bee venom bombs, and bee zombies.
While focusing on reducing the damage to the bees as much as possible, Sung-hyuk pops royal jelly pills and propolis film into his mouth as soon as the ‘Bee Processed Product Lover’ cooldown rolls around, and gulps down a mouthful of Galehound Bee Venom Honey Tea.
Precious permanent stat boosting consumables that others can’t afford and therefore never even dream of acquiring.
But for Sung-hyuk, who can produce and process them himself, he has no hesitation in consuming them, as he can always get his hands on them by simply harvesting them from the bees.
“Huuu…, good.”
Rubigem and Peridot.
The sweet and tangy flavors of these two healthy foods are so delicious that Sung-hyuk’s stats shoot through the roof as he eats four of them a day, every day.
And the result,
[You have met certain awakening conditions -> Pure Spirit stat over 100, excluding the effects of items].
His Spirit Stat finally breaks the 100 threshold for the second time, after his Endurance.
As Sung-hyuk had suspected, the concept was that once a certain amount of each stat is reached, the conditions for the Hidden Piece as a Bee Guardian are unlocked.
[The Bee Guardian’s stats become stronger, increasing the total mana of all bees in the colony and the leveling speed of their skills].
[The effects of this feat will increase the amount of mana and the rate at which skills level up as your Spirit stat increases].
“This is pretty good.”
Mana and Skills may not seem like they’d be very useful to an average individual like a worker bee, but for those at the higher end of the spectrum, like the elite bees, it’s a real boon.
With more mana, they’ll be able to use their skills more often, and their skills will level up faster, so it’s like putting wings on a tiger’s back.
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* Strength : 39 Agility : 111(+25) Endurance : 173 Control : 32(+10) Spirit : 101
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“I guess I’ll just have to get all my stats over 100 quickly for this thing, huh?”
Hidden Piece.
In order to unlock the power of Bee Guardian, he’ll need to break 100 in Strength, Agility, and Control, following his Endurance and Spirit stats.
Of these, Agility is, unsurprisingly, the fastest to reach.
If he go by “pure” stats, excluding the effects of equipped items, the total number of stats he’ll need is about 14.
This will require one of two things: either Sung-hyuk gains three levels or he succeeds in creating an artifact that permanently increases his Agility.
“I don’t know if it’s because my skill level is still low, or if I need to add another ingredient, but this is really tricky.”
In fact, after royal jelly pills and propolis films, Sung-hyuk also relied on his skills and knowledge to create cosmetics and pure powders.
Despite trying all sorts of different processing methods, the results are sadly disappointing.
No, there was one thing that worked.
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[Guardian’s Peridot Releaser Bee Venom Propolis Cosmetics (★★★+)]
* Duration: 10 days (The toxic effect will be neutralized at the end of the period.)
* Classification: Consumables
* When used, in addition to the effects of skin beautification and immunity enhancement, ” Guardian’s Peridot Releaser Bee Venom Propolis Cosmetics” is applied to the user, and Control is permanently increased by 1. Used to date 0 / 1
* Guardian’s Peridot Releaser Bee Venom Propolis Cosmetic: Gain 55(+8)% immunity to all types of penalty effects for 60 minutes, and 16(+3) Control for 60 minutes (1 less durability, 60 minute cooldown).
* Description: ★★★+-rated Peridot Releaser Bee Venom Propolis Cosmetic with the Guardian’s keyword applied to it. The combination of Peridot Propolis and Rubigem Releaser Bee Venom improves elasticity and skin beauty. It also provides a permanent stat boost, limited to one per player. However, the toxicity has not yet been properly neutralized, so side effects such as skin problems are likely to occur when used.
* Durability: 6 / 6(+2) – Cannot be repaired.
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Much like the Peridot Bee’s Galehound Venom, which he got from TunTun, the Rubigem Bee’s Releaser Venom was obtained from Lily.
When he first got it, he immediately tried to make Reliever Bee Venom Honey Tea, only to realize that it didn’t work.
It didn’t provide any permanent stats.
It was a great loss of ingredients.
Of course, in terms of the effect alone, it was better than bee venom honey tea made from ordinary bees, but for Sung-hyuk, the most important thing was a processed product with a permanent stat increase.
Eventually, after a few more trials, he came up with the Releaser Bee Venom Propolis Cosmetic.
For the first time, an item that permanently increases one’s stats through application rather than consumption.
The Control value of 1 may seem small when compared to the 3-Star(★★★) tier of the same item, which increases Strength by 1 and Endurance by 2, but it’s important to consider that Propolis Cosmetics is not a one-time use item.
“Being able to use it six times is a huge advantage.”
Even though it’s said to grant only one permanent stat boost, if someone were to buy one and split it between six people, it would be worth 6 control stats in a single instance, so it could be sold for a pretty good price.
And most importantly, even if the world has gone to hell itself, the beauty of a person is still very much in the eye of the beholder.
Physical attractiveness still exists.
Of course, in such a world, skin care products that are harder to come by will continue to be popular among both men and women.
“Besides, this is a natural cosmetic product.”
Natural cosmetics are made from propolis and bee venom that Sung-hyuk, a bee guardian, personally collected and processed.
In any case, since it was made from bee venom, there was a chance that skin problems would occur, but it was all right because the side effects would disappear after a period of time when the toxicity was completely neutralized.
“Not that I should care about such things in the first place.”
*Squirt!*
*Pat!* *Pat!* *Pat!*
Sung-hyuk’s hand squeezed out a small amount and applied it to his hands and face, not caring at all whether the toxicity was neutralized or not.
There’s a slight tingling sensation, but it’s more of a cooling sensation than pain, like putting an ice pack on one’s body.
[Trigger Bee Guardian’s class specialization, Bee Venom Immunity].
[Grants full immunity to the harmful effects of bees’ venom].
“It’s only limited to bees, but it’s nice to be immune to their poison.”
Being able to consume or use items made from bee venom without having to worry about the side effects.
It might not seem like a big deal to others, but to Sung-hyuk, who has to use the ‘Bee Processed Product Lover’ specialization every six hours on a regular basis, it’s like eating delicious honey.
“Now that I’ve taken care of this, it’s time to get back to work.”
A wealth of healthy food, stamina, skin beauty, permanent stats, and more.
Getting everything that could possibly be taken care of and proceeding to work.
But not long after he starts his beekeeping and processing, a notification rings in Sung-hyuk’s ear.
[Rubigem Scout Bee (★★+) is conducting reconnaissance].
The scouting bee’s reconnaissance report rings out as usual.
However, the reason why Sung-hyuk stopped working on that bit was because what they found wasn’t a bunch of flowers or natural vegetation.
[Discovered a player!]
[I have found a player!]
[Monster encountered!]
….
“It’s a human, huh?”
For the first time since the introduction of the chaotic world, they saw four people.
Judging by the images sent by the scouting bees, they are a man and a woman, two of each.
[Person ?Level ( Not Evil)]
[Person ?Level (Not Evil)]
….
Is it normal for the first player that he encounter to be displayed like this?
Their level and name unidentified, their status simply labeled as not evil.
But that’s not what’s important right now.
[Spreading Mycorrhizal Fungus Stinger Level 18 (★★★-)] – Field Boss Monster
Not only the discovery of the players, but also the discovery of a Monster that was flagged along with them.
Although there was only one lone creature, the “Field Boss Monster” label is not something to be underestimated simply because it is alone.
The Lich Belmorn was by no means a weakling by itself.
Despite being of a lower level than him, it’s quite fast, and its toxic spores are powerful enough to rot and turn nearby trees and plants to mush.
“…. These people are coming this way.”
To be honest, he didn’t want to take any chances with these strangers.
Although he gave TunTun and Lily each a candle and a bee venom bomb, he knew that if there was a battle with the Field Boss, there would most likely be casualties among the bees.
However, could it be the lights from the shining Gilite plywood beehives?
They’re coming from the direction of the area where the bees have been collecting nectar with their heads stuck in the flowers for a while now.
Naturally, the vigilant bees are ready to deal with any intruder, be it human or a monster.
“Tsk. I can’t help it.”
They might be killed by monsters, or if the people in question might be evil.
Not only did he not want to see his bees harm people, but field boss monsters are both a danger and, ironically, an opportunity.
Lich Belmorn brought with him a huge amount of experience and item drops.
And most importantly, the Dark Essence, which had a huge impact on the evolution of the Rubigem Queen Bee.
Something he had to face at some point as he continued to expand his territory, albeit as a consequence.
In order to deal with the field boss monster, Sung-hyuk called the queens to give them straight orders.