Chapter 17: Tiger Bee Faction
[Tiger Bee Milk] is a restorative item. Though its recovery speed is slow, the amount restored is astonishing. Drinking some before battle is quite good.
[Natural Propolis] is needed for detoxification. As for [Nature's Blessing], this item is of high value. Consuming 100 grams in one go grants +3 Stamina, 4500 Health Points, and 1000 Mana Points.
The Bee Queen was practically a tycoon, directly offering 2231 grams of [Nature's Blessing], enough for 22 uses. Bubu Wang's earlier reconnaissance had revealed that the stock of [Nature's Blessing] was just over 2000 grams. In other words, the Bee Queen gave up all of her [Nature's Blessing]—unexpectedly straightforward.
As for [Stinger Bee Venom], this was the first time Su Xiao had seen such an item; Bubu Wang hadn't discovered it before.
[You have obtained Stinger Bee Venom (62 grams).]
Origin: Primordial Continent (Unique)
Quality: Holy Spirit Rank
Type: Permanent Enhancement Item (Naturally purified bee venom)
Effect: After injecting this bee venom, Base Nerve Reflex Speed +1.
Note: This item can be injected up to three times, with each dose being 10 grams (requires extreme precision).
Note: First injection requires 100 True Stamina, second requires 150 True Stamina, third requires 180 True Stamina (if Stamina does not meet the prerequisite, there is a 73.5% chance of permanently reducing True Stamina by 5–10 points).
Rating: 999 points (Holy Spirit Rank items are rated 700–1000 points).
...
"That's all I have."
As she spoke, the Bee Queen tilted her head, playing with a nearby Tiger Eye Bee. The way she turned her head was clearly the act of someone pure-hearted lying, afraid to meet the other's gaze.
"These are quite good."
"Really?"
The Bee Queen looked puzzled. She actually didn't think these items were of much value, even though her neighbor (Rain Throat) often risked death to steal them.
"So, Ape Heart is mine?"
"Besides these, your Tiger Eye Bee swarm needs to do something for me."
"No."
The Bee Queen refused outright without a second thought.
"I am not the master of the swarm, so I can't command them to fight. They only protect me out of instinct."
As she spoke, the Bee Queen tilted her head again. Such an honest way of lying was normal; the Bee Queen rarely interacted with the intelligent beings of the Wild Thicket Forest. As for the Rain Throat tribe's records of her as a cruel queen, that was entirely their own fabrication. They often tried to steal the Tiger Eye Bee's produce from the hive, and after too many got stung to death, the Bee Queen became the scapegoat.
For this kind of extreme homebody, Su Xiao still had ways to deal with her. Negotiations began.
A few minutes later, negotiations failed. Su Xiao's brows were tightly furrowed. The Bee Queen was as stubborn as a mule, firmly insisting on staying home, refusing to go out, and refusing to let the Tiger Eye Bees fight.
"My swarm can't fight for you. Other swarms... barely acceptable."
As soon as the Bee Queen finished speaking, several hundred Tiger Eye Bees carried over a pitch-black hive. This hive was about a meter in diameter, its surface sealed with an amber-like gelatinous substance.
"They're very unfriendly. They want to eat me, so I locked them up."
The Bee Queen pushed with her hand, and her psychic force sent the black hive floating in front of Su Xiao.
A crystal layer climbed onto Su Xiao's hand as he pressed one palm against the black hive. Inside, a vast amount of life energy was detected—at least tens of thousands of them. A species of pitch-black venomous bees was sleeping within this hive. Once the amber surface was removed, tens of thousands of hungry venomous bees would burst out.
"You should throw it far away. Throwing it into the Rain Throat tribe would be best."
The Bee Queen spoke with hatred. On her neck, a shallow scar could be seen. This area had no carapace and was a fatal spot.
"Is this enough?"
"Yes."
Su Xiao tossed the Ape Heart to the Bee Queen. She caught it with both hands and walked into her bee cocoon. Through a momentary gap that appeared in the cocoon, Su Xiao saw many books piled inside. The cover of one read:
'Second Era Alchemy: Poisons and Potions—Knowledge Source: Void, Compiler: Elf, Stretch.'
Seeing the title on the book's cover, along with the knowledge source and the compiler's identity as an Elf, Su Xiao immediately thought of many things.
Long ago, the Elf race lived on this continent. They had somehow established contact with the Void, and the ones they contacted were the alchemists of the Void's Second Era Alchemical Civilization.
The two sides had clearly exchanged knowledge. In fact, the ancient Elves' method of burning the World Tree might have been obtained from the Second Era alchemists. As thanks, the ancient Elves gave the alchemists unique Elven knowledge.
The hundreds of ancient books inside the bee cocoon were likely collected by the Bee Queen through her Tiger Eye Bee swarm. She didn't feel bored staying home in the cocoon all day because she was reading these books.
More importantly, the Bee Queen's appearance was too similar to humans. If she shed her carapace, claiming she was human wouldn't arouse suspicion. The Bee Queen's evolutionary direction had been influenced by the ancient Elven knowledge she possessed.
Judging by the dust on the book 'Second Era Alchemy: Poisons and Potions,' the Bee Queen clearly had no interest in it, probably because she couldn't understand it. A row of small teeth marks on the book's cover indicated that she had once studied this book for a long time but couldn't even understand the first line of the first page. She recognized the ancient Elven characters, but when they were strung together, they became foreign, angering her enough to bite the book.
"Wait."
"What?"
The Bee Queen turned to look at Su Xiao.
"Those books."
"No books. My treasures, I won't give them to you."
The Bee Queen pulled with both hands, sealing the bee cocoon shut.
"..."
Su Xiao directly gave up on negotiations. He had negotiated with all kinds of old schemers before, but compared to them, the Bee Queen was harder to deal with because she was too stubborn.
Su Xiao was certain that the most valuable thing in the hive was not the Tiger Bee's produce, but those ancient Elven books.
"If you can get me Black Scales, I... I can give you one, at most one."
The Bee Queen's voice came from inside the cocoon. The next moment, a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[Prompt: You have triggered a side mission, Afra's Wish.]
[Main Mission: Afra's Wish.]
Difficulty Level: Lv.65 ~ Lv.68
Mission Info: Obtain Black Scales.
Mission Time Limit: 9 natural days.
Mission Reward: Choose one ancient Elven book from Afra's bee cocoon.
Mission Penalty: Due to the characteristics of this world, side missions have no penalty.
...
[Prompt: You have joined the Tiger Bee Faction.]
[Current Faction Reputation: 2410/2500 (Friendly).]
[Due to the Hunter's Charm Attribute being too low, only 0.2 points, reputation gains from joining certain factions will be heavily affected.]
[Checking... Check complete. The Tiger Bee Faction is a Chaotic Evil faction. The Hunter's reputation gain rate will increase by 480%.]
[Prompt: Afra is one of the Bee Queens (Neutral). There are three Bee Queens in total.]
[The controller of the Tiger Bee Faction is: Tiger Bee Lord · Tamisha (Chaotic Evil).]
[Within the Tiger Bee Faction, only Tiger Bee Lord · Tamisha is a Overlord creature.]
...
Seeing these prompts, Su Xiao roughly understood the situation of the Tiger Bee Faction. It was a larger force than expected, and Bee Queen Afra was clearly the embarrassing one within the faction, which was why she had been driven out.
Afra was very happy about this. Every time she saw Tiger Bee Lord · Tamisha, she would tremble in fear. Being semi-exiled allowed her to be a homebody without limits. With her stubborn-as-a-donkey personality, it was no wonder Tiger Bee Lord · Tamisha had kicked her out.