Free Web NovelChapter 31: Chapter 31: Purple Crystal Bee Swarm
"You... you!" Andre’s mouth hung open. He watched as the Forest Water Python opened its own mouth, and for a moment, he had no idea what to ask.
"You can find the answers to your questions in the center."
The Forest Water Python sensed the shift in Andre’s emotions. A faint, spicy scent began to emanate from him—the kind of pheromone humans secrete when they are agitated.
While humans could barely detect this pheromone, to the Forest Water Python, the spicy scent coming from Andre was particularly distinct.
And so, it offered an answer that was not really an answer at all.
’The center?’ Andre’s expression grew grim.
The parchment scroll detailing the mission had included a rough map of the Magical Beasts’ power distribution.
The outskirts of the Secret Realm teemed with the most Magical Beasts, but they were also the weakest. The center of the Secret Realm, however, had the fewest but strongest Magical Beasts.
The Forest Water Python before him was located in the middle-to-outer region of the Secret Realm, still a significant distance from the center.
Yet even at this distance, the Forest Water Python was on the verge of becoming an Official Wizard.
This gave him a glimpse of just how powerful the Magical Beasts in the center of the Secret Realm must be.
If it weren’t for the environmental restrictions in the Secret Realm making it incredibly difficult for them to break through, the realm would likely be overrun by behemoths.
"You are a descendant of the Lord. Nothing will harm you!"
After speaking, the Forest Water Python turned and left, giving Andre no chance to refuse.
"Wait, it’s just leaving? I haven’t even agreed yet! What about your child?"
Andre shouted hastily as he watched the Magical Beast depart.
But no matter how he called out, the Forest Water Python showed no sign of turning back.
"You’re just going to hand your child over to a stranger? Aren’t you afraid I’ll lose it?"
Seeing the Forest Water Python about to disappear into the trees, Andre played his last card. He hoped his words would make the creature turn back for the sake of its child.
But the Forest Water Python seemed resolute, completely ignoring the child it had entrusted to Andre. No matter how much he yelled, it just kept going.
Seeing that the Forest Water Python had truly gone, Andre quickly activated his Eye of Truth and gave chase, trying to track its movements.
But no matter how he pursued or scanned the area, he couldn’t spot that familiar splash of blue.
This made Andre realize that the Forest Water Python had truly entrusted its child to him and then washed its hands of the matter.
"How am I supposed to get this thing out of here?"
Andre returned and stared at the massive Snake Egg before him, his brow furrowed with worry.
The Snake Egg was over two meters tall, making it even taller than him.
He couldn’t carry it in his arms, nor hoist it onto his back. It was simply too big.
’What a burden to get saddled with out of nowhere!’
Andre looked at the Snake Egg and scratched his head in resignation.
He didn’t have any books on Magical Beasts with him, so he had no way of telling what kind of mutation this last Snake Egg from the Forest Water Python had undergone. freewēbnoveℓ.com
’Sigh, I guess I’ll have to use the item my teacher prepared.’
Andre took out a Beast Hide Bag. It looked crude, but was actually quite intricate; the hide was covered in dense Witchcraft Curse Seals.
These Curse Seals combined to form a unique Witchcraft.
"Get in there!" Andre channeled his Magic Power, activating the Servant Bag, and placed the Snake Egg inside it.
Radak had prepared this Servant Bag specifically for him, hoping that Andre would be able to find an Earth Elemental Bear cub in the Secret Realm and bring it out.
If Andre brought back an Earth Elemental Bear cub, Radak could perform a Witchcraft, borrowing the cub’s Power to increase Andre’s chances of successfully forming a Magic Heart to over seventy percent.
And now, not only had he failed to find an Earth Elemental Bear cub, but a Forest Water Python had foisted a Snake Egg on him, and it was now occupying one of only two slots in the Servant Bag!
The Forest Water Python had completely derailed the plan Radak had laid out for him.
’Generally speaking, the hatching conditions for Magical Beasts aren’t particularly demanding. So why can’t this snake get out of its egg? Could it be a dud?’
’But if it were a dud, wouldn’t the Forest Water Python have been able to tell?’
After stowing the Snake Egg, Andre also collected the Dragon Breath Grass and pressed onward.
Though he’d gained a burden, he’d also acquired a stalk of Dragon Breath Grass. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a loss—he might have even come out ahead.
And so, stopping and starting, Andre began his trek toward the center of the Secret Realm.
Along the way, just as the Forest Water Python had said, the Magical Beasts at the High Level Wizard Apprentice stage acted as if he didn’t exist, completely ignoring him.
Only some insectoid creatures, like the relatively mindless Scythe Centipedes, would attack him.
「Three days later.」
Andre ambled into a mountain ravine, where he detected a Witchcraft signal.
’Selena?’ Andre stopped in his tracks when he saw the person casting the Witchcraft.
"Andre?" Selena was shocked to see him. But when she saw what was in his hand, her eyes widened. The sweet aroma wafted into her nose, and her mouth began to water uncontrollably.
"Wh-where did you get that?"
Selena asked, swallowing hard as she stared at the item in Andre’s hand.
"Here, have some. I gathered it myself."
Andre broke off a small piece of it and handed it to Selena.
"You gathered it yourself?" Selena took the piece, but she froze before she could take a bite, registering what Andre had just said.
"You mean you collected this Purple Crystal Golden Honey from a Purple Crystal Bee Swarm? How is that possible?"
Selena stared, looking at Andre as if he were some kind of monster.
The Purple Crystal Bee Queen and her Bee Guards are Magical Beasts at the High Level Wizard Apprentice stage, while the ordinary worker bees are at the Elementary Wizard Apprentice stage.
But that wasn’t what made the Purple Crystal Bee Swarm so feared.
The truly terrifying thing about the Purple Crystal Bee Swarm was its sheer numbers. A moderately sized swarm could easily number in the thousands. A large one could have tens of thousands.
Once a swarm of Purple Crystal Bees exceeded ten thousand, even an Official Wizard would have to give them a wide berth.
The kind of Purple Crystal Golden Honey Andre had given her could only be harvested from the Honeycomb of a Purple Crystal Bee Swarm numbering over ten thousand.
And now, Andre was claiming he’d collected this honey himself?
This stunned Selena. It also gave her a completely new perspective on Andre, her classmate who rarely left the Wizard Inheritance Hall.
"I used smoke to drive them off and took some."
Andre didn’t tell her the whole truth. He hadn’t just ’taken some’. The Honeycomb had twenty-two layers, and he’d taken four of them. Each layer was 1.7 meters in diameter and 15 centimeters thick.
Each layer weighed several hundred kilograms, and even that was him showing restraint.
Otherwise, the Purple Crystal Bee Queen would have wanted him to take even more.
Who could blame her? Andre was a descendant of the Lord. Giving him a little honey was nothing, especially since the Honeycomb he’d taken it from was the smallest of the three.
