Marigold – A LitRPG

If before I thought that the Bee instincts were mixing too much in me, now I'm sure, I needed a lot of "Bee" thoughts to make this jam, but still workes somehow? But the amount of royal jelly is just ridiculous, I spent all the honey I had on my chest and got only a small yellow drop, but these effects really seem to pay their price. I thought royal jelly would be able to "Change" normal castes into unique drones, like turning an operator into a queen, but since the description doesn't say anything about it, it looks like this jelly is a super baby food.

Looks like i had set too much expectations for this jelly, and even if this managed to turn an worker into a queen, I think first I would still need a female worker.

The feeling of creating this royal jelly doesn't pay off, I felt like a washing machine that has a lot of dirty laundry beating inside. And the conversion rate from honey to Royal Jelly seemed like 10 to 1, of course the effects were really too good to ignore but I don't think I have the physical and mental strength to produce that for every larva that's born.

"Mom, is there something wrong with you? I feel a uncomfortable jolt in the link..."

"Yeah, we feel like you're were nauseous!"

Huh? Did I send something through the link?

How i did that?! I kind of just "pushed all the buttons " while I was creating jam and something ended up working?

"I... I gained a new ability to create food, and I ended up creating royal jelly."

"Royal jelly? What's that?"

"Royal Jelly?! This is super important!"

"How can this be important Carl ? It's just jelly, isn't it?"

"Of course not, I'm sure we should feed the babies exclusively with royal jelly!"

"The babies? What the fuck are you talking about airhead? Why should we feed the Cubs that?"

"I just know okay!? And I'm sure about it!"

"Mom What do you think?"

"Well... Carl may be right, jelly seems to be a super nutritious food that workers only on larvae, but this can also be a kind of "medicine" for normal bees."

"What?! Carl really know what he is talking about?!"

"I didn't tell you!?"

"This jelly that I created seems to be able to cut the growth time of the larvae in half, which seems useful, but I don't know its nutritional value, and how much of this jelly each larva would need to satisfy itself."

"But what is the difference between feeding a larva with ordinary honey and Royal Jelly? Is it just a matter of speeding up the process or  this make something else?"

Ken seemed to take any maggot-related matter very seriously, and he really wanted to know if this royal jelly was the best food for the little ones.

"So cutting the time in half is already a big bonus, but I also think it's possible to achieve the (well nourished) effect much more easily if we use royal jelly instead of honey."

"That would be incredible! So we could increase the overall quality of the hive! Do you think you can produce a decent amount of this royal jelly until the eggs hatch? "

What? Produce more of that shit?

"I really don't know if I can Ken... The cost of production is very high, besides the fact that the production process itself is very difficult, and also even this small drop demanded a lot from me physically and mentally."

"B-but... couldn't you produce just a little? Even if it's just a little bit? Enough for just one dose for each drone?"

"Maybe, but don't you think is better for us to try to focus on a single drone and see if we can get a unique effect out of it?"

"I don't know mom, isn't feeding a single drone all the royal jelly just favouritism?"

"No! It's just an experiment, so we could say what's the difference between a drone powered exclusively with honey, and one powered exclusively with royal jelly!"

"If you say Mom, but then which of the drones we shoud feed with the royal jelly? A soldier? Or one of the collectors? So we could directly compare the difference between their peers."

"I would like to use try to feed the scout, He seems to be very useful, and if we can increase his quality, then why not?"

"B-But then we wouldn't have other drones of the same type to compare it to..."

"It wouldn't be a problem, we could just compare the overall quality."

"...All right, should we create a special Tank Just for this jam?"

"It would be nice, it doesn't have to be big, but it would be nice if it was much more protected and resistant than normal tanks, and can you tell me how long until the new drones Hatch?"

"Good.. 5 days for the soldiers, 7 days for the collectors, and 2 days for the Scout."

"7 days for collectors? Why do they take so long?"

"I have no idea!"

"Okay, in the meantime I will try to create more royal jelly, in the meantime you can continue the construction"

"All right!"

"Come on guys, I want the walls to be up by the end of the day."

"W-we don't need to r-rush, the work needs to be done with quality, not agility!"

"We can do both!"

After the boys left, I stared at the small drop of jelly, the effect I got was due to my desires at the time of making it? Or was it just common jelly effects? The description says it was made with "Love", Love isn't a real ingredient right?! If feelings could interfere with the end result of a product then would artisans need to be at both physical and mental peak to produce powerful items?

Producing jam was horrible, but it wasn't painful, and with my experience with creating Honey I knew that as I created more and more of this jam soon the feeling of discomfort would disappear, but still I would need astronomical amounts of honey to get a significant amount of jam.

I needed to test if Royal Jelly could really be influenced by my intentions, when I first tried to create jelly I wanted something "unique for bees, able to nourish and care" and I got what I wanted, so if I really focused on creating jellies with different effects would I just get it?

Now with my chest full of honey again and with a goal in mind, I try to focus on a jelly capable of empowering those who eat it, not just bees but anything that eats it, after a while focusing on the jelly, I could feel the trampling coming.

And soon I had spit out another minuscule bubble of royal jelly, but the effect wasn't quite what I wanted

 

 

I really created something that could strengthen someone, but 5% is very little, and it remains exclusive to bees, and the quality and bonus have dropped, but those 5% bonus are cumulative or permanent bonus? If I kept feeding the larvae large amounts of this "strong" jelly would I be able to grant a 10, 20, 30 or even 50% bonus if i keep feeding a lavae or is just the 5% bonus permanently after the first dose?

This royal jelly seems very mysterious, when I created honey, no matter what intention or purpose I put into its production the end result wouldn't change, but this royal jelly seems to be directly influenced for what purpose it was created.

Could I create a jelly capable of transforming bees then?

If I set the right intention, and provided a clear purpose, would the jelly be able to do what I want?

Deciding to try I take more honey and try again, with these new possibilities I decided that the discomfort to create jelly was nothing compared to its uses.

When creating this new batch of jelly I focused on the very concept of metamorphosis, like butterflys and caterpillars, how a creature could break them selfs apart and remake into new things, and in the end I felt the worst headache of my life, followed by the worst nausea I could imagine.

"W-WhA-tT's  g-GOiNg o-On!?!?!"

I had never felt pain when i was creating resources before, but this time I felt pain, real pain, as if my skull was going to crack and my chest burst, I felt like I was dying and I couldn't breathe.

In the midst of despair and pain i felt like I was shifting into something or breaking in peaces, I could hear screams and noises and soon everything began to go dark, and in a few moments I completely lost consciousness.

---

"Mom! Mom! Wake up! Mom?!"

"Hu-Hum my head... Hans? What happened?..."

"I-I don't know, I wanted to ask you what happened, one moment everything was fine and the next I felt a great pain coming through the link, I needed a lot of effort not to faint and I ran back home, when I arrived at the entrance, the workers were all passed out and you too... All I could do was bring everyone inside..."

"What?! h-how did this happened... I was making jam and then-"

Jelly

That's it, I must have overloaded the jelly? But how do you overload a jam?! Was that excruciating headache because I tried to create something that doesn't exist? That was very dangerous! In addition to the jelly causing me a lot of pain, this pain was still transmitted to everyone, this time I was lucky that everyone was in the safety of our home, but what if Hans was in the middle of a fight? Or the boys flying across the field? They would probably end up dead!

"H-HAns forgive me! Please forgive me! I-I fucked everything up again! I almost killed everyone..."

"What-what happened, mom? Wasn't it an enemy attack? How is this your fault?"

"I-I was trying to create something new and it seems like something went very wrong..."

"But how did you get hurt?!"

"I-I don't know? I'm not physically hurt, but my head still hurts as fuck.."

 

 

What effect is this? Mental exhaustion? When did I use the power of the mind? Do I have mind power? So the effects of the jelly didn't come from my cravings, but from spending mental power?! But how would I know that! I don't have any mental power bars! And I can't even tell you what that is?!?

"Mom! What happened?!"

"I-It looks like I had caused a mental breakdown? Or something like that..."

"How did you do it?!?!"

"I was trying to create a super special jelly...."

"Jelly?"

"Yes, I discovered that I can create jelly with my new skill, and the effects of the jelly seem to follow my desires, so I tried to create something super awesome... But I didn't know there was a limit..."

"Mom! Don't try dangerous things like that again please!"

"I-I'm sorry Hans, I'm a failure as Queen... I only live by putting you in danger.. I'm sorry."

"STOP APOLOGIZING!"

"Hans?!"

"I will always follow your orders mom! I will support you in your choices! But I can't take it anymore to hear you apologizing and lamenting for things that have already happened! I don't need your excuses, but if you want to redeem yourself so badly, stop whining and react! Instead of feeling useless and guilt-ridden, focus on something productive! Be it your strange potions or the development of the hive, but stop looking at the past and feeling sorry for yourself!"

"I-I'm sorry-"

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!"

Hans had never spoken to me like that! He always seemed like a gentle and noble Knight, but now he was reminding me of myself when I was human. Hans is right.. I just keep feeling sorry for myself, and thinking about the "What if I had" I've always been pessimistic, but now that I'm a bee I seem to be... depressive, was that because of [Concerned player]? Or was it just me burying myself? Was I really was so anoying that even Hans was already sick of me?

I think I felt sorry for myself.

Not in a good way on top of that, I was lamenting the past, crying in the present, and fearing of the future, my human self would be ashamed of what I had become.... When I was human I was completely self-sufficient, I could take very good care of myself, I could always do it without difficulties, but now I was just a shadow of what I once was, just a pathetic woman who can only cry.

When I became a bee I didn't know what to do, or how to react, I could no longer be self sufficient as I was as a human, and as time went on, i made more and more mistakes instead of learning from them as I always did, I kept making more and more dumb mistakes.

The 1st mistake? It was believing that I could survive only with the help of Hans, at that time I thought Hans was extremely powerful, so I could live quietly with his protection, and then Hans ended up almost dying because of me, then when we got a good place to live I insisted on the mistake that I could live with low numbers, I sent Hans to dangerous adventures unaccompanied and I was completely exposed and alone, then I failed to enter into a tactical understanding with the workers and Hans, and again I delayed all of us, and now I had conducted a crazy experiment that could have just killed everyone, and all I can do is apologize.

"I-I'm very stupid, aren't I Hans?"

"No mom! You were just unlucky and didn't handle the situation well!"

"Ha ha, "unlucky" I was unlucky? The only difficulty I ever had was when you got hurt, everything else was always calm and prosperous, and I still didn't make any progress!"

"M-Mom I'm sorry if I hurt your fellings, I don't know why I said that-"

"You just told The Truth Hans, some people need a slap in the face to wake up, and looks like i needed more than just a slap!"

Getting up with difficulty and a big pain in the head I walk up to the boys and see them passed out with expressions of pain on their faces, the day seemed to be coming to an end, so I must have stayed for 6-7 hours passed out.

"What are you going to do?"

"React! I won't stand here waiting for my salvation fall from heaven! Help me move the boys to a corner, I will close the entrance so nothing can get inside, then tomorrow we will begin a intensive reinforcement in the House."

"But the workers are already working at maximum capacity!"

"Then i will produce more of them! I can't let us get sovunerable like that!"

"But!-"

"Be quiet! Were is the hard shell Hans from before?! Now I'm not into the "everything will be fine" talk, I need a "let's all die because you're an idiot!".

"..."

While I was going to get some honey to seal the entrance until dawn, I could feel that there was already something in my chest, and it wasn't honey, it was the jelly from before!

'Wasn't it a failure?!'

Running up to some shells and spitting out the contents I could see that even though I almost killed everyone I still get something from this whole situation.

 

 

It's a success! I really did it!

Of course a jelly that can cause mutations is useful! Well, if they are good mutations of course, I hope tha feeding a larva with this don't end up creating a bee with cancer or tumors, if that happened I wouldn't have the guts to face the others.

Leaving the drop of jelly aside, and filling my chest with honey, I run to the entrance and use only ordinary wax to close the hole, until now I had kept everything open and didn't seem to have problems, after all the bees lived with the open doors, but the difference is that ordinary bees had thousands of members, and no predator was crazy enough to enter through the front door and think that he would come out unharmed.

When I finished closing everything, the place became much darker, I could still see a little because of the light that still entered through the semi-transparent wax, but soon the day would be over.

"Hans help me put the boys in the corner."

"Yes mother!"

"Hans, i... Thank you, I really needed a little reality shock to wake up, I was very naive until today, but I promise that from now on I will think about the colony as a whole before making any decisions."

"I... Thank you mom, and I ask again for forgiveness for having burst out with you, I just felt a lot of anger at the time and ended up saying horrible things to you..."

"Look at you, when I think you're creating a little bit of attitude you come and apologize to me? Stop it! I'm not going to grieve anymore, and you don't ask for more forgiveness for things like that."

"...All right!"

"Thats it Hans! Tomorrow I will try to create more workers and make more royal jelly, this time I will try to make one that is focused only on accelerating the growth of the units."

"Isn't creating this jelly dangerous? It's because of her that we're in this situation..."

"Of course it is, but not if I use it carefully, I can say that the reason I caused this widespread mental breakdown, was because I burned too much of this "Mental Energy" at once, if I use it in small amounts and in a moderate way, I will definitely know the correct time to stop."

"And your potions mother ? Aren't you going to continue with them?"

"No! Not for now, if I already had a colony established I could be totally focused on them, but now the colony needs my full attention, I mean, she needed it before, but now I'm going to give her the attention she needs, hells if I already had the hive established I could have them do the most amazing, well-prepared Lab with all things a bee can do! I could get an endless stream of resources, and even some assistants to help me, I could even send them bring several other [Burning bloons] to use as extra ovens!"

"A-aren't you very excited about the idea mom? You never liked the idea of a colony..."

"Yeah, because I was looking at it with the wrong eyes, I was so worried about losing my old self with all this that I didn't even stop to think that I might end up kiling myself with all this stubbornness!"

"Are you really okay mom? You look... different"

"I am, it's not like raising eggs is really difficult, and that way we can ensure our safety."

I felt good, as if my mind is working better now, before I always had a little voice that contradicted all i do, honestly I can't say if that little voice was my human self, or my bee self, but after this mental breakdown, the 2 of us had mixed even more, it can no longer be undone and there is no more "Hana the human" and "The Bee", the mental breakdown threw the 2 of us in a blender and pressed the turbo button. Now there is only "Hana the monster bee", My thoughts are much clearer and more objective, and I think they are in balance, not totally crazy like a bee, and they not negative as those of a human in my situation.

I have already become something new, something different from what I was before, of course, it was only mentally, but it was still totally new.