Well, definitely not the bees from the packages they had just purchased.
Sure enough, just as stated in the manual Luca was currently reading cover to cover with terrifying dedication, unlike a Nuc that usually ca with drawn honeycomb fras or at least a partially functioning colony with so stored pollen and honey, what they had purchased were Packages of Bees.
As in a bunch of them inside screened transport boxes.
With only a can of early-stage support feed included per package.
And they had bought three of those.
"!!!"
As such, they imdiately had to hurry and prepare food for the bees.
After all, Luca could only imagine how difficult this entire experience must’ve been for them. Not only were they suddenly thrown into a completely unfamiliar environnt, but they were probably hungry too!
Safe to say, even if the bees themselves appeared relatively calm inside their transport containers, the anxious beginner beekeeper had already decided that they were enduring terrible hardships.
Unfortunately, this ant their group had to scramble around preparing sugar water before anything else.
However, just as Luca was preparing to strictly follow the manual’s recomnded recipe, Elder Pao Xi unexpectedly asked a question that made everyone pause.
"Would you be anable to using freshly collected nectar instead?"
That imdiately got everyone staring at the relaxed Elder.
Because...well...technically?
The manual clearly ntioned that bees naturally sought nectar and pollen for food. So logically speaking, fresh nectar should absolutely work.
The real issue was just one tiny detail.
How exactly were they supposed to gather enough nectar in such a short amount of ti?
After all, it wasn’t like they could manually squeeze flowers one by one while already pressed for ti.
But apparently, Elder Pao Xi had never once considered collecting it normally to begin with.
After all, what exactly was the point of cultivating for an unimaginable number of years if one couldn’t even convince flowers to donate a bit of nectar?
And so, the group traveled deeper into the greenery until they found a large patch of vibrant wildflowers swaying gently beneath the sunlight.
Then Elder Pao Xi stepped forward calmly.
The Elder positioned himself right in the middle of the blossoms before slowly closing his eyes.
A profound stillness imdiately descended over the area.
The cadets standing near the edge of the flower patch suddenly felt a dense wave of spiritual energy spread outward from the Elder. The very air seed to grow heavier with power, so palpable that even Ollie—who was normally far less sensitive to such things—instinctively straightened on the spot.
Then the flowers began to move.
Tiny shimring droplets slowly rose from the blossoms one by one, sparkling beneath the light like miniature stars being plucked from the petals themselves.
The flowers tipped gently as if willingly offering up their nectar.
"!!!"
The scene looked downright magical.
Once enough of the tiny droplets floated into the air, Elder Pao Xi finally opened his eyes again.
Then, with a subtle motion of his hand, the scattered nectar gathered together smoothly into three glowing spheres of liquid suspended in midair.
The cadets could only stare with widened eyes.
It looked absurdly cool.
The effortless display of high-level cultivation completely stunned the younger generation, especially when Elder Pao Xi himself remained perfectly calm throughout the entire process, as though gathering flower nectar with spiritual energy was an entirely ordinary thing to do.
Without any wasted movent, the Elder smoothly divided the floating nectar into three prepared jars.
Now, one might wonder why Elder Pao Xi even bothered going through all this instead of simply using the far easier sugar-water substitute. After all, water mixed with simple sugars would’ve already been enough to do the job, so why take the more tedious route instead?
Well, that was because he was curious.
Specifically, he wanted to see the effects of nectar heavily infused with spiritual energy.
And since it was sothing he could accomplish anyway, then why not experint a little for the sake of potentially obtaining higher-quality honey in the future?
Unfortunately—or perhaps fortunately—Elder Pao Xi probably should’ve also considered the possibility of creating the strangest honeybees the Empire of Solaris could ever encounter.
__
However, before the eventual rise of the Queens of the Three Kingdoms, they first had to calm down one hyperventilating Oliver Mylor.
"Waaaah! Brother! NOOOO!"
The horrified blonde practically clutched at Luca like a man monts away from being publicly executed.
"It may not look like it, but I swear I don’t normally just laze around eating and flirting!" Ollie cried out in panic.
Then he paused.
"Okay, maybe today that had been the case," he admitted with visible sha. "But I swear I’ll work hard for the rest of the day! I’ll even install all the hives myself!"
"Huh?"
Luca blinked in confusion, still holding the beekeeping manual in his hands.
"Brother, what’s wrong?"
The future beekeeper had rely been enthusiastically reading portions of the manual aloud monts earlier before Ollie suddenly started spiritually collapsing beside him.
"What you said earlier—!" the mop accused dramatically.
"Oh, this?" Luca looked down innocently at the open page. "Are you talking about the drone bees doing nothing?"
"!!!"
"The manual says the males don’t really contribute to the family," Luca continued honestly, completely unaware that he was repeatedly landing critical hits.
"They can’t collect nectar or pollen and can’t even feed themselves properly, so the worker bees have to do it for them."
Every sentence struck Ollie like a perfectly aid arrow.
Bullseye.
Bullseye.
Bullseye again.
The blonde visibly looked like he was taking emotional damage because, unfortunately, the comparison sounded alarmingly familiar for multiple reasons.
anwhile, Luca simply continued reading with pure educational enthusiasm.
"But apparently, if they manage to squeeze out of their cells successfully and end up being fast enough, then they can at least try mating with queens from other hives."
"???"
Kyle imdiately covered his face.
Jax choked sowhere nearby.
Even Xavier looked away briefly as though protecting the little chipmunk from realizing what he was accidentally doing.
Unfortunately for everyone, Luca was still not done.
"Wow!" Luca gasped while reading further. "It says here that when honey reserves start running low, the freeloaders get evicted by the worker bees. Dead or alive!"
"!!!"
Ollie looked like his soul briefly left his body.
The mop stared into the distance with the expression of soone witnessing his own future unfold before his eyes.
Unfortunately, the educational massacre continued.
"Although," Luca added thoughtfully while flipping the page, "those that actually fulfill their roles apparently don’t fare much better."
The already wounded mop slowly turned toward him in horror.
"Once a Queen Bee reaches around seven days old," Luca explained innocently, "she goes on mating flights. She flies around a hundred feet into the sky toward these drone congregation areas where all the males wait."
"The fastest and strongest drones get chosen," he continued seriously, fully imrsed in bee biology. "Then she mates with around fifteen to twenty of them so she’ll have enough sperm stored for her entire lifeti."
To their credit, the towering cadets managed to maintain the sa expressions they used on the battlefield.
However, that hadn’t been everything, as Luca cheerfully delivered the finishing blow.
"But right after mating," Luca continued with complete educational sincerity, suddenly making a sharp pulling motion with both hands like he was violently tearing sothing apart, "their endophallus gets ripped straight out of their abdominal cavity—like rrriiip!—and then they just fall dead onto the ground!"
"!!!"
The future beekeeper demonstrated the horrifying process with alarming enthusiasm, his gloved hands tracing the tragic final monts of the poor drone bee in vivid detail.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Oliver Mylor—recently turned Nox—who had passionately participated in every single activity his good brother had just ntioned, looked absolutely mortified.
The blonde slowly lted onto the ground while clutching his chest dramatically.
"Brother..." he whispered weakly. "I swear from now on... no more eating and mating!"
"???"
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