Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire - Chapter 82

Chapter 82: Encyclopedia Botanica
〔Archives〕

Brainpower requirement: 250

Allows training archivists.

Active archivists are considered administrators.

Brainpower: +10% to total amount per 1 thousand affected scientists.

Logistics: +10 per 1 affected administrator.

〔〕〔〕〔〕

Another technology that gave me administrators.

I realized that I’d better implement it quickly, as well as feudalism, because my empire’s logistics was way too low compared to its other stats.

And now that I was controlling not 1 hive, not 2, but 22—it showed!

At the moment, here was almost no trade with my subjugated hives, because their population was still mostly composed of dumb, sick bees. But in the future, managing them promised to be hell without good logistics.

In my original expansion plans, I was going to focus on logistics while my little princesses reared their first broods. However, a pandemic threw a wrench into my plans.

Researchina worked quickly—the first archive was built in a single day, and 5 Researcher Bees were made archivists. I thought about giving them a fitting title, but… 10 extra intelligence—what other title they might need?

In the meantime, Researchina’s subordinates cataloged most of the gathered plant samples.

And I was doing useful things, too! I met with Pollenia and while we bonded with her over a cup of nectar and a jar of meat-on-sticks, I explained to my little princess how feudalism worked.

<Congratulations! You’ve implemented an ‘Archives’ technology in your colony. You gain 10 development points.>

<Congratulations! You’ve implemented a ‘Feudal Government’ technology in your colony. You gain 10 development points.>

20 development points and a nice boost of 60 logistics. My other Queens had to learn the principles of feudalism, too—but I was going to send them personal teachers for it. Later.

***

Finally, the actual research could begin.

The science! The medicine! The dangerous consequences!

Before everything began, I poked through the haystack myself. Sadly, my system wasn’t showing statuses of plants, and I couldn’t recognize any of them. At most, they looked familiar, but the only plants I knew decently well were ones that survived in modern cities.

Was pigeon a plant?

“Researchina, the first test must be for lethal poisons. Roots, leaves and stems of the plants should be treated as separate samples. Let the volunteers eat a small amount of unknown samples—a single pinch. Keep the uneaten ones.”

“I understand, Father.”

Most of the plants passed the first poison test—they did absolutely nothing. Bees couldn’t digest the plant matter, but in small amounts, it didn’t even cause indigestion.

Unless, of course, the plant was poisonous.

A dozen volunteers became sick after the test, and the plants were noted as poisonous. Thankfully, after vomiting a bit, all the volunteers were fine. I was sure that their venom resistance genes helped a lot to mitigate the symptoms.

To make sure there were no slow poisons, I made the Researchers wait a day before the second test began. They spent it cataloging the results.

The ‘Encyclopedia Botanica’ of this world was going to be the size of three trucks and written on wax tablets.

“The second test, Researchina, is for the immediate effects. Some of them might be positive… But I wouldn’t bet on it. Either way, the volunteering girls should eat a higher dose of the samples than the last time.”

In this round, 36 more bees had mild poisoning, but a few described different effects.

“I don’t know… But I feel… A bit sleepy. More peaceful?” one of the volunteers described her sensations to the dutifully cataloging it Researcher Bee.

Meanwhile, several meters away, a volunteer bee was on the verge of sobbing.

“And I almost shat myself, right on the floor! I’m not a larva to shit myself! Father even invented outhouses, and I almost shat myseeeelf!”

“Uh… Sister, you are acting irrational… I will just write the effect down.” A Researcher Bee began writing, but then noticed me hovering around. “Father! I’m writing down ‘excessive shitting’ as an effect of sample S1049.”

“Noooooo! Don’t! Father, please, don’t listen to her!”

I coughed in my fist.

“Write that down as a ‘laxative effect’, uh, Researcher Seeknow. Laxative means, well, excessive shitting.”

“Noted, Father.”

“Faaaaather!”

I patted the sad volunteer on the head.

“C’mon… It’s better than dying from a terribly poisonous thing. Remember, this might be useful for the hive one day! If a bee gets constipated, for example. Believe me, it’s awful!”

To my relief, the volunteer calmed down at this.

Most other effects weren’t as dramatic. Plant medicines were, after all, terribly unrefined. I longed for a chemical laboratory and qualified biologists, but what I had instead was Early Bronze Age technology.

But several potentially useful plants were already identified after the second round of tests.

<Congratulations! You’ve unlocked ‘Medicinal Plants’ technology!>

〔Medicinal Plants〕

Brainpower requirement: 200

Allows making primitive plant medicines and poisons.

Wellness: +0,2% per 1 thousand affected populace.

Resilience: +0,2 per 1 thousand affected populace.

〔〕〔〕〔〕

Not only did I unlock this technology, there was some good news from the quarantine village—B20-20 has healed! Even the younger sick bees felt better now, showing the first signs of recovery.

When I examined her personally, her health was full. She had no signs of the Paleness, but I still ordered her to stay in the quarantine village for now—but as a service personnel instead of a patient.

This was an outstanding event! A victory for the Bee Empire against the evil forces of illnesses!

Or it would’ve been, if 5 more Forager Bees weren’t put into quarantine while B20-20 healed.

I fed them all my blood, but I knew I was dealing with the symptoms, not the origin.

Meanwhile, although the ‘Medicinal Plants’ technology was unlocked, the tests to identify plants that might help against Paleness still went on.

In another week, 133 Forager Bees were spotted with Paleness and sent to the quarantine village. Even more there were sick pupae: 694 girls were born weak and frail, to my and Ambrosia’s distress.

The population of subjugated hives was still slowly deteriorating as well.

And there was still no solution in sight. But at least…

<Congratulations! You’ve implemented a ‘Medicinal Plants’ technology in your colony. You gain 10 development points.>

I opened my colony’s status and wondered about what else I can do.