That would certainly explain why he had a swarm chasing him and I have to stop him from running off again. Luckily, he obeys me and stays by my side while I look around and come up with a plan. This swarm is too spread out to use the same tactic, I need a way to get them to group up more.

Maximus going after another flower would group them up, but there is no way he would get away unharmed. I quickly realize that I am overthinking things and that the answer is actually simple. I pick up a small stone from the ground and throw it at the hive, when it hits the swarm goes insane.

They clump up together around the hive and another thrown stone has them charge me. They charge me in one large mass and I am able to get them all with a single cast of lightning field. As they start dying, more bees come swarming out of the hive to join them in charging at me.

With a threat to the hive, every bee other than those caring for the queen should join the swarm. At least, that’s how bees worked on earth, so I am guessing that these will be similar. Of course, there were never bees this large on earth, each is the size of a human fist.

Despite their size, they are acting just like the bees I know of so far, which helps make this easy. The rest of the bees will simply follow the pheromone trail into the lightning field and die. All I have to do is stand here and wait, as long as I keep the field active anyway.

As soon as the last of the bees outside the hive are dead, I move to the hive and cut it open. I do not want to use the lightning field on the hive because it might damage the honey. So, I open the hive until I can see the queen and her workers and kill them with small blades.

5,611 Eldritch Bees defeated! 56,110 Soul Exp gained!

1 Eldritch Queen defeated! 50,000 Soul Exp gained!

Loot: 2,861 Soul Coins, 3 Healing Potions, 2 Soul Crystals!

The lower portions of the hive do have honey in them, but I am not sure how I can take it with me. A quick taste shows that it is absolutely delicious and it sends a warm shiver through me. I had planned to take it with me, but once I have a taste I just can’t stop eating it.

I only stop stuffing my face long enough to put away the flowers that Maximus brings me. Before I know it, I am scraping and licking pieces of the hive for the last drops of honey. I feel a sense of disappointment as I lick up the last drop, but the warm feeling doesn’t fade, it grows stronger.

*DING*

Soul Hp +1,000, Soul Exp +100,000!

I remember that Everburn told me that he gained a class from eating something. I didn’t expect that eating some delicious honey could give me additional benefits. It looks like I should keep an eye open for things to eat as I explore these worlds.

Of course, eating random things in soul form could be dangerous, but when has that ever stopped me? For now, I need to be getting back, it will be morning soon from what I can tell. I make my way back to the door, only stopping a couple of times for Maximus to fetch more flowers.

When I exit into the hallway I stop long enough to mark the door and change the arrival location. As soon as that is done, I exit the hallway and find that Mercy is just waking up. It looks like I just barely made it in time to greet her with a kiss as she opens her eyes.

She is still somewhat worn out from last night, so we keep it to kissing and cuddling. After a while of that, we leave the cabin and join the other rulers for breakfast. We will cross the border today, but we are on the opposite side of the kingdom from the capital.

After today, it should take another two days before the caravan reaches the capital. That means that I have another three days to spend with Mercy before Lin joins us. At that point, there will be a few things I need to do and time with her will be harder to find.

With that in mind, when the caravan moves out I ride in the carriage with Mercy. I spend the time cuddling with her and chatting about anything and everything. I even end up telling her about my inability to sleep recently and my worries about it.

Her answer to that is to jokingly ask me if I have tried sleeping on a pile of gold. I laugh in response, but it sticks in my head and I decide that I will give it a try later. I’ve never noticed Everburn sleeping on gold, but it won’t hurt to give it a try, at most Mercy will get a laugh out of it.

We cross the border not long after lunch and when we stop for the night it is at a medium sized city. However, I set up the cabin outside of the city and Mercy happily joins me. We have a nice private dinner, we have our fun, and then I open a soulscape for the others.

After the soulscape, with Mercy sound asleep, I create a bowl in the floor and pour all my gold into it. Then I return to normal form and curl up on the gold, I end up being surprised at how comfortable it feels. I close my eyes, just enjoying the feel, and the next thing I know Mercy is shaking me awake.

Not only did I fall asleep, but it appears that I slept through the remainder of the night. The sun is up and has been for at least an hour and Mercy starts laughing at me when I move. That is because when I move the gold I was sleeping on is revealed to her.

I quickly shapeshift to human form and put the gold away in my pouch while she pokes fun at me. I start a round of fun as the only viable way to get her to stop teasing me about the gold. Unfortunately, while it works, it only works as long as the fun lasts, once it is done the teasing resumes.

It turns out that we are actually the last ones ready for once, the rest of the caravan is waiting for us. As such, to keep them from waiting longer, we climb into the carriage and get moving. Once we are underway, we cuddle up and eat some breakfast which Leylisha joins us for.

Luckily, Leylisha isn’t like the other girls and she doesn’t even ask why we were so late to leave. She just eats breakfast with us and then goes back to riding up top to keep Lizzy company. As soon as she is gone, Mercy immediately starts teasing me about sleeping like a dragon.

My attempt to tease her back by threatening to eat her doesn’t go exactly as planned. However, I am not unhappy at all as to where my comment ends up leading. When we are finished, we cuddle together on the coach and watch the scenery roll by.