A Beekeeper in a Magical World

Chapter 7: The Unexpected Guest

Hua Mi continued his transformation of the forest bees.

This time, he successfully transformed thirteen bee swarms in one go, leaving only seven swarms yet to be transformed.

It was evident that he had become much more skilled at this.

"My spiritual power seems to have strengthened. It looks like this can be improved too," Hua Mi thought.

He had a feeling that, although he could currently only control one bee swarm at a time, he was on the verge of being able to control two swarms simultaneously.

After completing the transformation, Hua Mi took a few sips of honey, rested for a while, and then selected 500 bees as experimental subjects. After they consumed the mutagen, each of them returned to their hives to enter the pupation state.

The success rate was low, but the mutation process was quick, and the results would be available shortly. It didn't consume much time.

Once he finished this, Hua Mi returned to the house to continue cleaning.

Yesterday, he had only done some initial cleaning, making it look a bit more comfortable.

Today, he wanted to be more thorough, restoring the small wooden house to a habitable state.

Normally, he lived at his family's estate, but in case of any sudden situations that required him to stay here, he wanted the place to be ready for him.

Hua Mi had a lot of experience with thorough cleaning. The ancestral estate, along with the vast flower fields behind it, was quite extensive, and since he ran the business alone and didn't hire any assistants, he did all the work himself. This included everything, and he had become quite skilled at it.

Cleaning wasn't difficult; as long as he had hands, he could do it. However, doing it efficiently and saving time required following a certain process.

Hua Mi followed the steps he had devised, thoroughly cleaning every nook and cranny of the house, making the entire wooden cabin look brand new.

He also cleared the weeds in the backyard.

As for the underground alchemical chamber, he decided not to clean it for the time being. After all, there was no immediate need for it.

Finally, he spread the bedding he had brought with him on the wooden bed, giving the entire small wooden house a homely atmosphere. Beds were indeed the essence of any place; they provided a sense of security.

"Next is the question of exploration," Hua Mi said.

When the bees were out for honey collection, it was mostly automated, leaving him with a lot of free time.

Once the equipment he ordered online arrived, he planned to explore the forest, become familiar with the environment, and search for new sources of nectar-bearing flowers.

He intended to turn this place into his beekeeping base.

But there was one issue he had to consider.

To establish a beekeeping site, he would need to expand and clear the surrounding trees. While the trees here were not as densely packed as in a rainforest, not clearing them would likely affect flower growth.

The Moon Dream Flowers were an exception because they had the ability to absorb moonlight essence at night, making them self-sufficient. Other flowers without this capability would be adversely affected.

These trees were generally taller and larger than those on Earth, making clearing them a more challenging task.

He could only create a wormhole large enough for one person to pass through; bringing over some large machinery was likely impossible. Furthermore, he had to consider whether making too much noise might attract dangerous wild creatures.

In this magical world, even a casual encounter with a magical beast could be deadly.

Hua Mi had read in his alchemical notes that the Black Forest contained many dangerous magical creatures, with dozens of them mentioned in the book. The actual number was probably even higher.

"All the more reason to focus on breeding combat bees with magical abilities. It would provide peace of mind," Hua Mi thought.

Staring at the sea of Moon Dream Flowers in front of him, he suddenly had an idea: why not experiment with whether these flowers could thrive on Earth?

So, he carefully dug up one Moon Dream Flower, opened a wormhole, and intended to plant it in his family's flower field.

However, he was perplexed.

He passed through, but the flower he was holding disappeared into thin air.

Hua Mi tried again immediately, but the same thing happened.

"Strange, I'm sure I've tested this before, and both living and non-living objects could pass..." he muttered to himself.

After a moment of contemplation, Hua Mi realized that he had only brought bees through the wormhole from the very beginning. He hadn't tried bringing any other living creatures. So, claiming that living creatures could pass through was inaccurate.

It seemed that only bees could traverse between the two worlds, possibly due to some mysterious restriction linked to the blue bee's bestowed abilities.

Hua Mi experimented with several other living creatures, both plant and animal, to find that only bees could make the journey, whether they were departing from Earth or his current location.

"All right, let's drop the idea of transplanting flowers and get back to the main topic," he decided.

"I need to contact the seller and order ten more bee swarms."

Two of them would be used for mutation experiments, and the remaining eight would serve as backups.

The cost of purchasing a bee swarm wasn't high, and the number of bee swarms a beekeeper owned depended mainly on how well they sold honey. If honey sales were poor, it wouldn't make sense to keep too many bee swarms.

"By the way, should I try using Italian bees for one of the experimental swarms?" Hua Mi wondered.

Different species of common honeybees might have different success rates for mutations. Italian bees were known for their strong honey-collecting abilities, making them suitable for migratory beekeeping. Chinese bees, on the other hand, were more resilient and well-suited for stationary beekeeping.

After some consideration, Hua Mi decided not to buy Italian bees for the time being and instead opted for Chinese bees. One reason was to avoid introducing a different species into the swarm, which could lead to infighting and potentially affect reproduction, even with his control over the bees. Additionally, Italian bees and Chinese bees, despite both belonging to the Apis genus, had reproductive barriers, so it was reasonable to assume that any mutations based on Chinese bees and Italian bees would also have such barriers.

So, he placed an order for ten more bee swarms that day from the trusted seller he'd been dealing with, avoiding any potential quality issues.

Now, he just had to wait for the bee swarms to be delivered.

A day passed quickly.

It was a coincidence that a day in this world was roughly equivalent to a day on Earth.

Currently, it was spring on Earth, with longer days and shorter nights.

However, in this world, there were no distinct seasons. According to his alchemical notes, a year in this world was divided into five periods: "Wind Moon," "Fire Moon," "Water Moon," "Ice Period," and "Chaos Period." Except for the "Ice Period" and "Chaos Period," each of the other three periods was further divided into "Beginning," "Progress," "Peak," and "Decline" stages.

For example, it was currently the "Water Peak Moon," with shorter nights and longer days.

To avoid disrupting his daily routine, Hua Mi decided to follow Earth time as closely as possible.

However, today, he stayed up for a while, waiting for the results of the more than 500 experimental bees to emerge before heading out.

The results were disappointing. None of the more than 500 bees had successfully evolved.

"What a gamble you are, playing with probabilities like this," Hua Mi muttered, deciding to temporarily halt the experiments. Continuing like this would deplete his resources, even with a substantial foundation. He would wait for the ten bee swarms to arrive before resuming.

The following day, the equipment he had ordered online arrived, and Hua Mi moved it to the small wooden house.

After transforming the remaining seven bee swarms, he was in the midst of adjusting a compound bow according to the instruction manual when he heard a commotion in the yard outside.

He immediately sent out his consciousness to sense the bee swarms and found that the worker bees had ceased collecting honey and were assuming defensive positions.

As if facing a formidable enemy!