Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire - Chapter 50

Chapter 50: What ambrosia really is
I opened my mouth, but Ambrosia cut me off with a frown and a raised hand.

“Daughter, you should choose your own name. You are a Queen, after all.”

“My name is B9284!” a Nurse Bee piped in.

“B10385!”

“B666666. I came up with it myself!”

I zeroed on the Nurse Bee in question.

Even though I gave bees numbers instead of names, I wasn’t here to name *every* single bee. I was glad they were coming up with names themselves, even if this one was kinda satanic. Good for her that there was no religion in this hive!

“That’s a nice name, B666666.”

The Nurse Bee smiled happily.

“Thank you, Father! It’s six sixes, because our honeycomb cells have six sides. I can’t wait to be a Builder Bee and make them!”

I raised my eyebrows. That bee was unusual—she could go far.

The young Queen folded her arms over her chest.

“I don’t want a name with numbers. But I don’t know how to make names. All the words I know are already names for something else. Even yours, Mother!”

Ambrosia shook her head.

“It’s *my* name if I say so. But it’s also food, if you talk about food.” She shook her head. “I can come up with a name for you, if you are really lost…”

“Mmm! Mmmmm! MMMMMM!”

“Nectus?” Ambrosia glanced at me. “Why are you making these sounds?”

“I have a name! I’ve been thinking about it for a long time.” My eyes shone as I stared at my little princess’s grumpy face. “Pollenia! Or just Polly for short. Pollenia Stingprince! Or Stingprincess, if you like.”

Ambrosia shook her head.

“Pollenia… That’s the same name as mine,” she said. “Ambrosia is made from pollen, after all.”

The gears of my mind ground to a halt.

“No way… No way… All this time?!” I pulled on my hair. “I was eating *bee bread* all this time?”

“You were eating ambrosia. Where do you think I took my name from? Stupid.”

I waved my arms in despair.

“Stupid, indeed! I can’t believe I was eating *bee spit* all this time! They told me it was just pollen! I just didn’t want to think about anything elseeee!”

I actually believed that in this world, bees ate pollen raw instead of making ambrosia, or so-called “bee bread” from it.

Bee bread was just packed pollen fermented with enzymes from bee saliva. Most bees couldn’t digest raw pollen—it was like eating raw oatmeal. But I thought things were different in this world!

Now my innocence was irrevocably lost. Never again I was going to eat pollen…

“Father, why are you whining? I like this name!” my daughter Queen suddenly said. She nodded to herself. “Pollenia. Like Ambrosia, but Pollenia. Without the second word. I want this to be my name!”

〔Queen Bee〕 〔Ally〕 〔Progeny〕

〔Name〕: Pollenia

I exhaled and let go of my angst.

“Congratulations on getting a name, Pollenia! Now, there’s only one small thing left to do—a gene transfer.”

Ambrosia became rigid as a statue. Her facetious eyes bore into me with an intensity I’ve never seen before.

“A *gene transfer*? You were *against* this idea earlier, Nectus.”

My eyes widened. I felt as if a bucket of ice water fell over my head.

“Shit! No, no, no, that’s not what I meant! Not the incest thing! I meant *vertical* gene transfer! Please, don’t think about me this way, I would never—and I thought *you* were for it, anyway! How can you blame me now, Amby?!”

Ambrosia’s shoulder relaxed. She spun away from me; I swore she was blushing.

“Yes, I… don’t know what came over me, Nectus. Must be your head-illness.” She straightened again and leveled me with a calmer look. “But what did you mean if not incest?”

“Incest?” Pollenia cringed. “What are you two talking about? I won’t do anything like this!”

“No incest, *nothing*! But, look—if you drink some of my blood, you will become much stronger than you were, and your future children will be stronger, too.”

I raised my palm and paused. Bee claws were sharper and tougher than human nails, but piercing skin with them would still take much effort and pain. Same went for the knife spikes on my bone helmet/crown.

“Someone, bring me a stone knife, please. And an empty jug.”

“Will do in a moment, Father!” a Nurse Bee said, flying off.

A minute later, she returned with a curious Craftsman Bee in tow and the items I needed.

“Here!”

“Thanks, girls.”

I put my hand on top of the jug.

“Ambrosia, Pollenia, look.”

I clenched my teeth, closed my eyes, and made a sharp cut over my palm.

〔You deal 1 damage.〕

“Ouch!”

Several bees around us gasped.

“Ah, Father!”

“What are you doing?!”

Blood from the cut fell into the jug. I bit my lip and stoically ignored all questions until the flow of blood from my palm stopped bleeding.

It took very little time—the jug had barely half a glass worth of blood inside. That ‘Faster Regeneration II’ gene was proving its worth.

“Here.” I gave the blood to Pollenia. “Drink until you feel yourself stronger, then give me the rest.”

“Alright, Father.”

Pollenia scrunched her face over the jug, but drank obediently. A couple gulps in, she shoved the jug back at me.

<Vertical Gene Transfer had successfully transferred 4 genes that were missing from the target’s genome.>

“The blood suddenly began tasting better—but it was still disgusting! Nurses, give me some actual drinks!” Pollenia demanded.

While she drank nectar, I glanced inside the jug. There was about a half left.

‘So 1 health point to upgrade two bees? Vertical Gene Transfer can easily suck me dry.’

I looked around and gave the jug to B666666.

“You can drink the rest and grow stronger. Maybe you will become Chief Builder one day? Someone has to implement the rank-based hierarchy among non-specialized bees.”

B666666 clutched the jug to her chest, blushing at me.

“Thank you very much, Father. I will make you proud!”

I smiled at her.

“Would be nice. I wish I had blood to spare for all of your sisters…”

I turned back to Pollenia, who was sipping on nectar from another jug.

“From now on, you will learn how to rule your hive by watching and helping us. So which would you like to learn first—how to make work camps with your Father, or how to write and count with your Mother?”