The Bane Queen

Sitting on the rug, as I hold the red gourd, inside of it was the captured bee. On my other hand which was swollen were 2 ether stones. Carefully placing it inside so as to not let the bee escape and also not harm it in the process.

Completing the step, I proceeded to the next. Opening the manual's page where a mantra was written. I deeply breathed, familiarising it using my whispers. Closing my eyes and chanting it over and over.

The gourd started warming, it's not scalding but mild enough that I can bear it. The bee flew back and forth inside the gourd feeling nervous. A minute later it started to calm down.

Proceeding to the next process, I bit the tip of my tongue. Blood began flowing out of my mouth. Placing the gourd right next to my mouth and spit my lifeblood on its surface.

My chanting continues, and the once bloody wet gourd started to dry. Like my lifeblood seeps inside it, converging unto the bee's body. Three passageways inside my soul opened and started sucking ether around me. Again, I pulled out another ether stone, this time it was 5.

My soul sucked the ether inside the 5 ether stones. Ether flowed through my swollen hands to the bee's body. A vague connection slowly condensed, my essence turned to a small round mineral inside the bee. Its features slowly change and its size increases to the size of my thumb.

The feeling like it was an extension limb freaked me out, the bee freaked out too. But this is the process required to tame the bee and become loyal to you.

The refining continued, as I need to condense ether inside me like the bee. The 3 passageways greedily sucked ether, slowly but surely. A microscopic pebble appeared where the ether was being compressed.

Steadily the tiny pebble expanded to the size of an ether stone then its growth stopped. This is the 1st step of the Bane Queen's Gourd and also the world of cultivation, the Germinal phase of the Fetal Soul.

My skin produced dirt, covering the surface. The dirt smells awful like that of a rotting corpse. Covering my nose, I placed the gourd on the bed rushing inside the bathroom. This needs an abrupt cleaning and washing of my clothes too, I don't want to be called a walking dead.

That took my time but now the smell is all gone. My clothes and underwear were cleaned thoroughly and now hung outside the window.

Wearing a new pair of clothes, I sniffed some areas of my body just to be sure. When every corner was checked and my confidence regained again, I went back to Marco and Sheen.

The two were now drinking beer on wooden cups. Cheering it and gulping the beer in one go. When Marco put his cup down, he saw me approaching them.

"Lorenzo! How was it?" he asked.

I went back to my chair and sat on it before replying. "It was a success."

"Then you should drink to celebrate," said Marco as he was about to call the waiter.

"No, I'm fine. I don't want to drink again." I stopped Marco.

"You're no fun. Kill joy as ever." Marco said dejectedly.

Sheen, who was drunk was about to open his mouth. But I interrupted him as I cleared my throat.

"Ahem, now that we are at the first step, the Germinal phase. I would like to suggest we start to charge people who were in debt with me." I said.

Their usual giddiness was gone, as their gaze looked serious.

"I know where their spot is. From the information I collected, they are a group of 5. Two of them were famous in the adventure guild as the rising stars. The mohawk guy is called Riggs, the massive one is Bowyer, the one me and Marco beat up is called Glen, and the rest are small fries." Sheen elaborated.

Marco added, "Also those 2 are separately Etherial and Olympiad, like Lorenzo, they are single route cultivators. The other three were still at the foundation building. All and all we can match them."

"I see. Thank you guys for waiting." I thanked them.

"We could have decimated them a long time ago if you didn't stop us," Marco said.

Scratching the back of my ears I replied, "I'm just selfishly petty. I hope you two don't mind."

"That's why I choose you as my henchman. Hahahahaha" said Marco patting my shoulder.

"So what is the setup?" Sheen asked.

Thinking about strategies that will increase our chance of beating them, I expressed my opinion. "I want you to face the Bowyer guy, Marco will face Riggs, and me for the small fries. What do you say?"

"Interesting!" Marco exclaimed. "If you can defeat the three. It will become 3 vs 2, to our advantage. But how will you face those three?"

"Let's wait for a couple of days. All my bees will hatch at that time. Then I'll tell you how." I said to Marco with confidence.

"Fine, we'll wait. We will also not take any missions in these 5 days." Marco replied.

And after reaching an agreement, they continued being drunk and back to drinking beer. They even forced me to drink which I denied. Because unfortunately, I have a lower tolerance for alcohol, so I avoided it. Ever since I was get got drunk and started to feel the world spin along with me, I never laid my hands again on any alcoholic beverages.

We went back to our rooms to sleep. Where do these guys pull this strength to climb back to their rooms drunk, when I can't even move a muscle when I'm that intoxicated?

Back to my room, my eyes won't cooperate. My hands were shaking and my ears getting warm. I can finally fight back against those who did me dirty.

Slowly but surely, I'll weed them out of this world. I sat right back and meditated. Holding the gourd, I assisted the now Bane Queen, with a small amount of ether to help her with her birthing.

The Bane Queen is the name of the bee-turned-queen. She births 3 types of bees at the Fetal Soul level, Worker bee, Neurotic bee, and Baleful bee.

Worker bees can do basic scouting with how fast they communicate with one another, they also collect pollen that can make Spirit Honey.

Spirit Honey helps considerably in your cultivation but the worker bees take 1 year to completely make it.

Neurotic bees' stings can paralyze enemies and the Baleful bees explode whenever I willed it.

Every day I would assist the Bane Queen as she laid eggs. The first one to break out of the eggs was the Worker bees. And I readily let them out to try how they work.

I asked them to collect some pollen and start the Spirit Honey production. Whenever they go out and enter the gourd, I received their reports about what is happening outside. If I want to instantly know their surroundings and happenings around them, I need to reach much higher cultivation.

On the third day, the Baleful and Neurotic bees started hatching. They are single-use, so I need to sparingly use them. The egg production of the Bane Queen takes time right now, so I'll need to remember to reserve some.

The fifth day, the day I requested finally came. Just like the manual stated, the Bane Queen can only produce 30 bees. Specifically, 15 worker bees, 10 neurotic bees, and 5 baleful bees were the Bane Queen's limit.

I looked at Marco and Sheen, gripping my still-shaking hands. "I'm fully prepared, let's head out."