Molting the Mortal Coil

He’d cleaned up most of the mess at the bottom of the canyon, but now it was all inside the storage ring and there was plenty of organizing to do. The most he could do inside the ring was moving things around so he couldn’t really put the shelves back together, but he was free to sort through the mess. He hadn’t had the chance to go through everything yet, having only done a cursory sweep when he first got the ring. Those three months in the ancestor’s tomb were spent studying the true Insect Immortal Index.

The Silverbee continued its flight while Sage sorted the large pile, having just stacked up the whole mess when cleaning up the canyon bottom. As he picked things up, he’d sort it to new piles and as he did he started to learn just what sorts of things were in this collection he had been gifted. For the most part, he realized the pill cabinet was a good indicator of the objects in this storage ring. It seemed set up for a new cultivator specifically, like the Great Ancestor had planned for just this sort of thing.

Books. Tons of them, and they were all introductory books and they seemed aimed towards the many ‘side jobs’ that cultivators had. Reading the titles he sorted them into stacks based on each profession. Alchemists, the pill refiners. Blacksmiths, the ones that forge weapons and tools. Formation Masters, they create and work with array formations. Weavers and Tailors, create textiles and other soft goods. Chefs, that work with Spirit Plants, Spirit Animals, and Demonic Beasts to cook their parts into special foods. Minstrels, that use their voice or instruments infused with qi to affect people.

Those were the main paths, there was also another book that listed a bunch of supporting professions. Like Farmers, Miners, Butchers, Scribes, Hunters, Tamers, and many others. Mostly consisting of a handful of specialized techniques rather than things that whole sects and clans would dedicate themselves too like the main professions. For example an Alchemy Sect would also have Farmers among their disciples to rapidly grow Spirit Plants for their pill making.

To go along with all the introductory books, there were piles of related materials. Looking up a couple they were all somewhat low level, and many of them seemed to overlap between professions so there wasn’t quite as many types of material piles as there was profession book stacks. There was also a big pile for the smashed up shelving and cabinets as well as the most interesting stack: things he could not identify. There was a handful of small tool like objects, which weren’t strange on their own but he was sure some of them had special uses. Others were just unnatural or unusual. Metal ores fused with crystals, glowing orbs, a puddle of purple liquid in a box, and a hand that was moving on its own. The hand was interesting, it seemed armored with some sort of dark silvery metal yet the hand inside was made of a deep blue water like liquid. Seems like there’s some mysteries to uncover in here.

His investigations ended at that point as he felt the Silverbee had finally arrived at its home hive. It was based inside an old dead tree, easily four or five feet wide, that had been fully hollowed out and remodeled to the bee’s liking. Bigger and stronger than the others, the Silverbee actually had a hard time fitting through the entrance. After entering, Sage was looking around at the inside of the hive. It looked quite similar to a honeybee hive from his earth, but it was much larger. The wax and honeycombs had a metallic silver tone instead of the usual golden hue.

Admiring the scenery, Sage found it quite beautiful... until he noticed trouble. There was a high pitched sound, sort of like that sound on the emergency broadcast but less annoying and more musical. It went on for about two seconds then started coming in short toots. The Silverbee knew what this was and that meant so did Sage, a challenge! The Silverbee had been forcibly matured into a queen bee and the reigning Queen was not happy. Learning bee culture directly from the linked bee, Sage realized that bees only had multiple queens when they were going to establish new colonies. At all other times, there could be only a single queen!

Sage was surprised, it seems there was going to be a battle. Somewhat concerned, it was too late to back out now. If he exited the Silverbee he’d be in the middle of a whole hive full of bees. He wasn’t too worried about his Silverbee battling the original queen, he was just hoping the whole hive didn’t get involved. Sage’s Silverbee started to make the same challenging noises back at the Queen. I sure hope this works!

The two pipped back and forth for a bit before the Queen finally came into the Silverbee’s view. Crawling around the edge of a silver honeycomb and the two queens locked gazes. I guess I just have to hold on and enjoy the ride. The original Queen skittered towards the Silverbee, the two dashing forward and locking into combat, looking like they were wrestling as they each tried to gain advantage. Their stingers poised behind them and striking back and forth, each of them actually taking a couple stings.

Unfortunately, for the native Queen, the battle was over quickly. Sage’s Silverbee had been matured to a higher quality of Spirit Insect than the native bee and its venom was much stronger. The Silverbee also had a much tougher exoskeleton and only half of the original Queen’s stings were successful in penetrating it. With the battle over, the Silverbee began to emit different scent signals, establishing itself as the new ruler. Wow, and just like that, I’ve got a whole Silverbee colony.

Surprised at the simplicity of things, Sage had the Silverbee fly back out of the hive and land on a large branch of the tree. Very carefully, he exited the Silverbee’s internal space and with its help he drew in the whole beehive into his own internal space. Some damage being done, but they would repair it in time. Sage’s dantian and meridians now getting partially filled with Silverbees. After finding a good spot in the shade, he let the new Queen have some time to head inside and make sure everything was under control. Taking the opportunity to learn more about how the bees operated and what his Silverbee Queen did to control and organize them all.

Pulling out a material identifying book, Sage looked up the effects of the Moon Honey and smiled with satisfaction. Even happy enough to talk to himself, “Seems I chose right. This stuff is a treasure, I just have to figure out how to grow moon flowers now.”

Moon Honey. It looks like translucent mercury. A silver honey that is refined by the Silver Leaf Honeybee. They collect the nectar of Spirit Plants that bloom under the moonlight, most notably the Silver Leaf Flower. Moon Honey is very malleable and changeable, and besides being used in many pill formulas and magic tools, it has its own special unique property. It can absorb the qualities of any qi it remains in contact with for a long period. Leave it near a volcano and it will slowly transform to contain a fire based qi. The other major property is the ease of use, merely consuming it will transfer over the qi just like a pill requiring no refining, much more convenient than a Spirit Stone or Spirit Jade.

Sage already had the true version of Qi Feeding, so he didn’t really need the Moon Honey to infuse elemental, or other special, qi into his Spirit Insects. The main reason he was so excited is with the Moon Honey being within his meridians he had many ideas on how it might be used. Would there be a way for him to change his Qi into different elements whenever he liked? Hah, probably just a pipe dream… but one worth exploring. When I saw the power of the true Merge I had so many ideas. I can’t wait to try them all out. The power of a whole colony working inside the meridians has got to be amazing, I just have to figure out how to use them properly.