NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32: Chapter 32 Scarlet Queen Bee
Hawk assisted Elios in the mini hospital to prepare the equipment that was needed to operate on the arriving patient while they kept in touch with Vulture to check on the vitals of the patient. Kisha wanted to go and help them do the preparation to receive the patient but was shoved out of the hospital to do her own thing.
Getting bored of waiting, she sat at the bench and continued her conversation with 008 that was cut off earlier.
Kisha relaxed her body, rested her right leg over her left leg, and asked. "So, now that we have time, was the thing you found earlier related to the notification?"
"You asked me to find an item that will be able to track so I did." After 008 said this, it pulled the newly bought item out of its inventory. And a huge cocoon that was a little bigger than Kisha's face appeared out of thin air, it was just floating in there.
As if time had stopped, Kisha remained stationary until there was a subtle movement inside the cocoon and then a crack appeared and it slowly got bigger. When the crack was a finger long and two knuckles wide, a thick insect leg that was as thick as a child's finger slowly crawled out of the cocoon and then a palm-sized Bee emerged and steadily opened its 4-5 inches wings.
Kisha was shocked, the bee emerged a few inches away from her face and it was so big that it gave her a shiver. She subconsciously leaned back on the bench to keep some distance. The bee was just flying steadily in front of her, just staring at her, instead of the usual yellow and black stripes this Queen bee had an intense scarlet and black stripes and it had a big stinger the size of a fingernail.
Even though Kisha was not afraid of insects, however, this size was still enough to make her hair stand on end and make her a little nervous.
"Why is it staring at me?" Kisha asked 008 without taking her eyes away from the Queen bee.
"It was waiting for you to complete the contract so you can establish your connection with it as its master."
"Contract?" Kisha was confused and had never heard of this before. "Where did you even find this?"
"Host, I found this from the Murim world and a contract is to form of bond between the master and contracted beast but for newborns, it is a form of imprint as recognition of their parents. And for this Scarlet Queen bee, it's the latter."
"Wait, what?!" Her eyes turned into a saucer, she did not know if she would be astonished for having a big insect following her or if she would be amazed that the bee would treat her as a parent. "Is the Murim world different from the World of Immortals where you bought the territory pack and the immortal pills?"
"They are both from the higher realm but the World of Immortals is still a grade higher than the Murim, we could say that the World of Immortals is the end goal of everyone from the Murim World."
"If there are grades in realms, does that mean that there are worlds the same as Earth that are only a few grades higher?"
"Yes, although both worlds belonged to the lower realm, it is still separated by grade. And it is classified through resources. And since Earth is the youngest world, the resources we could gather here are still few and scarce."
The person and the system have their own thoughts, having enough of being ignored, the Scarlet Queen Bee flapped its wings to make a sound to catch Kisha's attention but Kisha was so engrossed in her own thoughts that the Bee had to do the motion multiple of times before it was noticed.
It even pointed its stinger at Kisha to show its dissatisfaction with its owner for not completing the contract right away.
"How do I complete the imprint?" Kisha asked.
"The imprint has been completed, and the Scarlet Queen Bee has recognized you as its parent but if you want to be able to communicate with it, you have to form a contract with the Scarlet Queen Bee. So it will be your contracted beast."
Kisha's interest was piqued. "What would be the benefit of contracting a beast?"
"In Murim World, they treat their contract beast as their companion and a battle helper. The stronger your contracted beast is, the stronger your overall battle score and the good thing is, if the master has good constitution and abilities, the more beasts they can control." 008 paused and continued after a while. "The only problem is, the higher the beast's grade and level, the prouder they are because at that point they have already formed a consciousness similar to humans, also the purer their bloodline, the prouder the beast will be. They could already understand human language and speak. And because of it, they would either not submit to humans or they would be very picky."
"That sounds troublesome." Kisha said indifferently as she monitored the bee's every action. "Show me its status window."
[Scarlet Queen Bee (Mythic Grade)]
Level 0
Strength: 30
Stamina: 22
Defense: 16
Agility: 45
Mental Capacity: 29
Charm: 20
Leadership: 34
Skills: Stinger strike, Modify
Description: A beast from ancient times that gave birth to Scarlet Bees that produces the scarlet honey that could strengthen one's constitution and command thousands of its kind. Due to the honey's miraculous effect on the martial arts practitioner and beast, it was hunted until none was left and was erased from the history of Murim.
Kisha was surprised to see its grade and description, but it also proved how problematic this beast would be. Luckily they live from different worlds or else she would be the target of everyone.
Hmmm. But wait, it shows 'Mythic Grade' just now. Kisha stared at the status window for a very long time before she snapped out of it. Rather, she was pricked by the Queen Bee.
Due to being ignored for a long time, the Scarlet Queen Bee became restless and just decided to prick Kisha using its stinger to complete the blood contract. An intricate Array formed under Kisha's seat and a blinding golden light flashed from the array, soon the array floated in the air and split into two and entered Kisha's head and the Scarlet Queen Bee.
A light and sweet voice of a girl resounded in her head and said. "Master."
Kisha felt amazed by the Queen Bee's voice and when she compared it to how it looked, she somehow felt complicated. She tried to adjust her thoughts and feelings. "Why don't I call you Bell instead? Your voice sounds light and nice, like the sound of a ringing bell in a spring wind, it is soothing."
"I love it, Master! Thank you!" Bell flew around Kisha, creating a buzzing sound. This constant buzzing is irritating Kisha. "Alright, alright. Don't be too excited and stay still."
Bell stopped flying and rested on Kisha's shoulder which made her very apprehensive, she felt her scalp tingles and butterflies fluttered in her stomach. She was too conscious of Bell's presence on her shoulder and her skin was feeling itchy.
"Hmm. Bell?" Kisha's broken voice sounds very uncomfortable.
Before Kisha could say anything, Bell already changed her size to a thumb size Queen Bee which is more acceptable for Kisha. Seeing Bell become a little smaller, she felt her uneasiness calm down. She could accept this size even though it's still a little bigger than a normal Bee, but for her, this is normal because in the apocalypse, animals, insects, and plant types will mutate and most insects will become bigger so seeing a thumb-sized bee is normal.
"Then let us get into business, 008 did you buy Bell's egg because of the description that states it can control thousands of its kind?"
"Precisely host, you know me the best!"
"But is the meaning of 'its kind' specified as Scarlet bees or bees as the majority? If it is the latter then it is good for us, but if it is the former, that means we still need to wait for Bell to give birth to more bees before we can send out some drones."
008 turned silent as it realized the problem, it is true that if it is the former then they can't immediately ask Bell for help and still need to look for other items to assist them later. it was getting nervous because 008 spent 200,000 points to buy Bell and was only left with 375, 000 points, it hadn't told Kisha about his spending and was afraid to divulge it so it was planning to keep it a secret for a very long time.
If 008 had a physical body, it would be sweating buckets now.
Bell's sweet voice interrupted their conversation. "Master, if there are normal bees nearby, I can communicate with them and ask them for help but my influence on them will be limited, however, I believe that it is enough to use as an information-gathering tool. We just need to be in a close proximity for me to receive their message."
008 felt relieved after hearing Bell's words and a huge boulder was lifted from its chest.
"Then Bell, do you know the exact range we need to keep so we will not lose contact with the bees?"
"I can only communicate with them with the proximity of 250M as I am still weak. If it is Scarlet Bees then I can send them for 500M away from me." Bell explained as she tried to move her antenna to detect bees nearby.
Kisha was still having some doubts because she did not know if the bees would have the capability to understand the basic instructions or how to describe what they saw or gathered. So she told Bell her doubts and worries.
"I understand your concern, Master, it is indeed hard for the regular bees to describe what they see or to distinguish complicated things like intricate facial features but it is not impossible, and in five days time, I'll have already laid my first hundred eggs and will hatch within the time frame but the Scarlet Bees would still be too young and needs to be nurse so we can't use them yet but in the future, I can also project in your head the information they will send to me, so you'll have a visuals."
Awestruck, Kisha looked at Bell on her shoulder. "Sounds like a nice plan. I'll leave this in your hands Bell."
"Don't worry Master. I'll do my best!"