Post-apocalyptic world with Bees

Chapter 8

A world where the enemy could come at any time and it would be completely natural.

In such a situation, what would be the strongest form of defense?

Quantity?

Physical strength?

A specialty that’s not easily accessible to others?

Reconnaissance ability through abundant supplies and high speed?

The truth is, they’re all necessary.

There are a lot of them, and each one has its own specialties, such as physical strength and poison.

At the same time, a well-stocked supply system and the ability to scout would make for an impenetrable force.

However, in the early days, it was impossible to choose everything.

He could only choose one characteristic.

Through the scouting bees that were born, Sung-hyuk realized that the path chosen by the Rubigem queen bee was the right one.

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[Rubigem Scouting Bee (★+)]

* Possessed Skills: Gathering (Lv.1), Poisonous Sting (Lv.1), Flight (Lv.2), Agile Movement (Lv.1), Reconnaissance (Lv.2)

* Honey Storage: 0 / 6

* Health : 35(+5) Mana : 65(+20)

* Attack : 4(+1) Defense : 2 Resistance: 0

* Description: A ★+-ranked Rubigem scout bee that lives in the dimension ‘Deltarian’. They are very fast, and their size is small compared to other bees. As a result, the amount of honey they can collect at once is quite small.

※ A swarm that belongs to a queen bee with an owner. Depending on the owner’s level, their stats will be partially buffed.

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On the surface, it’s all about speed, and the amount of honey it collects is ridiculously small compared to worker bees.

However, the Rubigem scouting bee’s specialty is not its honey availability, but its literal “scouting”.

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[Reconnaissance (Lv.2)]

* Category: Skill

* Mana cost: 15

* Effect (active): Attempts to detect and scout for vegetation or enemies within a 300 meter radius around you (cooldown 5 minutes).

* Descriptions : Detects nearby food, objects, and enemy threats through its antennae. No matter how far away, the scouted information is visualized and transmitted to the owner. As your level increases, you will be able to detect a larger radius.

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The scout’s ability to detect threats from unknown enemies ahead of time, while also discovering flowers that could be important sources of honey.

Moreover, the Rubigem scout bee is not the only higher-level individual derived from this evolution of the queen bee.

*Buzzz!* *Weing-* *Buzzz!*

Unlike other scout bees, which have become smaller in size in order to specialize in scouting, but have a much larger body size and developed hind legs.

And the Rubigem honeycomb bee, is a new species with large pollen containers that are visible to the naked eye.

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[Rubigem Honeycomb Bee (★+)]

* Possesses Skills: Foraging (Lv.3), Poisonous Sting (Lv.1), Flight (Lv.1), Abundant Pollen Container (Lv.2)

* Honey storage: 0 / 150(+50)

* Health : 150(+35) Mana : 35(+5)

* Attack : 6(+2) Defense : 10(+3) Resistance : 3

* Description: A ★+-ranked Rubigem honeycomb bee that lives in the dimension ‘Deltarian’. They are slow, but large compared to many other bees. Its well-developed pollen tubes allow it to carry large amounts of nectar at a time.

※ A swarm that belongs to a queen bee with an owner. Depending on the owner’s level, their stats will be partially buffed.

[Abundant Pollen Container (Lv.2)]

* Category: Skill

* Mana cost: 0

* Effect (passive): Increases your honey stash by 50.

* Description: A large Pollen Container that increases your honey storage. As your level increases, you can collect more and more honey.

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Despite their distinctive appearance and name, Rubigem honeycomb bees have one advantage over their worker counterparts: they store a lot of honey.

“Mmm. You look pretty cute too, little one, would you like to go for a run with your friends?”

*Buzzz* *Buzzzz*

As the description clearly says ‘slow’,¹ the speed was quite slow even compared to the standard worker bee.

“Well, it’s something that can’t be helped since he’s so big.”

It’s unfortunate that they’re a lower-probability species and slower than worker bees in the allegorical process, but the benefits of honeycomb bees outweigh the drawbacks.

Aside from that, she was the highest-ranked bee in terms of health and defense at the moment, with the exception of the queen bee.

“Then I will keep you in mind for my research and the Queen’s safety. My friends.”

*Buzz!* *Bzzztt!*

*Weing–!* *Buzzz!*

The newest member of the family in a group of worker bees that somehow always looked the same.

Sung-hyuk heartily welcomed the scout bees and honeycomb bees, who would become elite at scouting and collecting honey, respectively.

* * * * *

[Message sent to honeybee player].

[Message sent to honeybee player].

[Message sent to honeybee player].

.
.
.
.

“It’s not easy to recruit, after all.”

If seen by someone who doesn’t know him, his obsession is almost stalkerish.

However, in a situation where no response was received, let alone progress, Green Bean lost his bearings.

“Dalsu, let’s just forget about the honeybee, from the looks of it, it’s a job that’s unique to the lifestyle class, and if we sent that many messages and got no response, that’s the end of the story, and on top of that, it’s possible he’s already in the group, right?”

“Well, Jongsu, I think you’re right, I should probably give up on this one. As far as unique jobs go, you and I are the only ones here.”

To put it bluntly, it’s not that we don’t understand the Honeybee player’s position at all.

If someone messaged you and demanded to know the location of your home, you’d be understandably reluctant.

This is a world where force overwhelmingly reigns supreme over law.

Even as they speak, there are probably wicked people out there, free of the shackles of the law, slaughtering and harassing people as their hearts desire.

‘It’s frustrating. With monsters on the loose, I can’t believe they’d do something as silly as a fratricide.’

Unique nickname Green Bean.

Player Dalsu absolutely hated the villains who were killing people in the current ‘apocalypse’-like situation.

No, regardless of that, he was originally merciless towards those who behaved evilly.

In fact, his values of justice were so strongly instilled in him from an early age that he was a police officer before the world began to change because of the system.

Well, even so, Dalsu’s rank wasn’t very high.

A series of actions that put the target in prison, regardless of whether they have any background, as long as they have solid evidence.

But the results were disastrous.

Those who were guilty were simply let off, and the punishment for the perpetrators was a slap on the wrist compared to the weeping victims of those who took advantage of laws such as the damned Juvenile Law.²

‘What kind of bullshit… rehabilitation through words? Growing sprouts?³ It’s all bullshit. Beasts are not worth persuading with words. Only strong punishment is best.’

Because of this, Dalsu almost has to take his uniform off, let alone get promoted, several times, but he doesn’t regret his actions at all.

‘I’d rather live a little poorer and be a hundred times more comfortable than to have a lot of money and turn my back on the victims.’

His sense of righteousness.

It has unexpectedly given Dalsu unexpected power in the end.

★★★★.

Judge of the People, a unique class with a rank equivalent to 4 stars.

When he saw the job specialization in front of him, he realized there was hope in the midst of the apocalypse.

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[Class Specialization – Judge of the People].

* Wicked Judge: When dealing with an evil player, all abilities increase threefold.

* Righteous Harvest: Increases the amount of loot you receive when you successfully hunt down an evil target player by 5x.

* People’s Trust: Gain the trust of the target player you are protecting, increasing all stats. However, this effect will not be applied if the player dies or loses trust. All stats increase by 1 per player (max stack 24 -> stack value increases by 3 per level).

* ???
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The job specialization of “Judge of the People” is strictly about protecting the weak and punishing the wicked.

As soon as he gained this power, Dalsu, along with a few of his followers, formed a group and called upon as many shelters as possible.

It didn’t matter much if they were children or the elderly, the powerless, the ‘weak’.

In fact, to him, they were all the better for it.

For those who weren’t ‘weak’ already formed their own cliques, and it was quite difficult to get others to agree to join them.

Moreover, the weaker they were, the more inclined they were to trust the strong with their lives in an apocalyptic world.

“I don’t know how to repay you for this favor.”

“Thank you very much, officer.”

“You saved my life, Officer.”

[Judge of the People Class Specialization, triggers People’s Trust].

[Player Lee Sooyung sends you Trust, increases all stats by 1].

[Player Oh Chunpal sends you Trust. All stats are increased by 1].

[Player Kim Chulbae sends you Trust. Increase all stats by 1].

······.

The trust that comes with being just a little bit good, like in this situation.

Because of this, Dalsu has been able to use his superior stats to hunt down incoming monsters, and he’s been the first to go out and gather food and build shelter.

And, of course, that’s not the end of Dalsu’s plan.

* Wicked Judge: When dealing with an evil player, all abilities increase threefold.

* Righteous Harvest: Increases the amount of loot you receive when you successfully hunt down an evil target player by 5x.

As the Judge of the People, his class specializations, Wicked Judge and Righteous Harvest, illustrate this.

The best way to maximize Dalsu’s unique class is not by hunting monsters, but by hunting fellow players.

Not just any players, but scumbags and evil people who don’t care who they kill.

‘If you want to attract scum, you have to throw prey at it.’

Was it because of his experience working in a job where he had to deal with a lot of trash?

Whether he liked it or not, Dalsu was pretty good at reading people’s minds, so he used it.

A community board that seems like it was made for this.

【Green Bean: We have set up a shelter near the Yeouido Station supermarket. We have plenty of food and many children and elderly people, so if you need help, feel free to visit us!】

The lure is there.

Hints that there are a lot of “old people” and “children” that are relatively easy to hunt, and a “supermarket” and “food” that are easy to find.

Some might call it ugly and hypocritical to use them as bait in the name of protecting the weak.

However, Dalsu was not given the opportunity of a unique four-star job by chance.

“I will be posting to attract survivors to this place. Some of them will be our allies, but others will be our enemies, so if anyone wishes, now is the time to leave this shelter. If nothing else, we’ll make sure you have food.”

Before putting this bait plan into full swing.

Dalsu gathered the people of the shelter and told them what he felt.

If any of them disagreed with him, he would not stop them from leaving at any time.

But that wasn’t the end of Dalsu’s discussion.

*Thud!*

The three-tiered(★★★) baton symbolizes Dalsu’s status as a police officer.

As it hits the ground, Dalsu’s eyes begin to show determination.

“However, if you will trust me, and try to do the bare minimum within this shelter, I will guarantee you the utmost protection for the survival of everyone, even at the cost of my own life.”

Not a loud voice, not a long speech, but Dalsu’s words are sincere.

This naturally leads to the activation of Dalsu’s skills.

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[People’s Staff (Lv.3)]

* Classification: Skill

* Mana Cost: 0

* Effect (Passive): Increases the morale and respect of those who trust you.

* Description: Increases the morale and respect of those who trust you. As you level up, you draw a greater amount of morale and respect.

※ Note: This effect does not apply if the target is at a higher level than you or if you lose their trust.

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[People’s Staff], a skill that played a large role in Dalsu’s inclusion of the weak.

Perhaps due to the passive nature of the skill’s effect, none of the weaker members of the group left in response to Dalsu’s statement.

“If you can’t trust a man like Dalsu, who can you trust? At my age, I don’t know how long I’ll live, but as a farmer, I’ll do my best to support you.”

“I wouldn’t have survived anyway if it weren’t for Uncle Dalsu.”

“You’ve been fighting for us all this time. We haven’t forgotten.”

[You are trusted by a large number of people].

No, rather than declining the image of Dalsu, it continues to rise in trust like a stock in a rocket.

“Brother Dalsu. There’s a group of gangs approaching!”

“I have a [Hawk’s Eye] on them, and they seem to have a lot of weapons and the signs of someone who is doing a lot of evil.

“Okay, alright, I understand.”

Moreover, it’s a popular pretense that arrives at the right time.

The fact that they came to the grocery store in large groups, not just one or two, is enough to tell even a three-year-old child that they don’t have good intentions.

Add to that the fact that some of their colleagues had scouting skills, and it wasn’t hard to figure out that they were evil.

“Hey, it sounds like there’s a lot of them, do you want us to join in?”

“No, only Jongsu is coming, and the rest of you just need to stand in the back and wait for us. Make sure the kids and the elderly don’t get hurt. Tell them I’ll be hungry after the battle, so I’ll need them to prepare lunch and clean up afterward.”

“Preparing meals is one thing, but cleaning up the corpses is quite a task, isn’t it?”

“As I’ve said time and time again, it’s not a good habit to be solely reliant on protecting the weak. To survive in this shitty world, you have to adapt, even if you don’t like it.”

“Yes, sir, I understand.”

It’s never good to be the weak one.

In a world overrun with scum, one must learn to live with it.

Luckily, some of the jobs in this apocalypse are designed to help the less fortunate survive, such as farmers, fishermen, cooks, and packers.

There are a lot of different jobs, so having a lot of people is an advantage.

[Triggers Judge of the People’s Class Specialization, Wicked Judge].

[Temporarily triples the amount of stats you have while dealing with the Wicked].

And just as they had their roles, so too did Dalsu have his.

*Vrooom–!* *Vrooom–!*

“Whoa. I swear, even in this day and age, the eagle is the cure-all for bastards.”

“I agree. Brother Dalsu.”

That is, to feed the wicked, who have already crossed the line and are beyond rehabilitation, as much of his lethal 3-star baton as he could muster.

** ** **

TL/N:

1. Flight Lvl Skill is lower compared to the other Rubigem Bees

2. South Korean Juvenile Law – Offenders aged 10 to 13—criminal minors—can legally only be tried with the Juvenile Act, and those under the age of 10 cannot face any legal consequences. Back then it was up to Age 14 to be convicted but the government revised it to Age 13 or below.

3. Kids are often called sprouts.

4. The symbol of the Korean National Police (KNP), which was newly created on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of their founding, takes the shape of Steller’s sea eagle flying up to the sky while holding the rose of Sharon.