Chapter 194: Chapter 167: The Mage Awakens

In the southwest corner of Cold Fir Territory, rows of orderly bee hives stood staggered under the sun.

“The terrain here is quite good, sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, and near the creek,” Louis squinted as he surveyed the surroundings, his tone revealing a hint of satisfaction.

Beside him, a knight draped in a deep red cloak stood respectfully, occasionally flipping through a record board he carried.

He was the commander in charge of the experiment with the bee swarm.

“The hives are made of Red-striped Fir as you instructed,” the Beekeeper Knight reported, “The inner layer is coated with Ice Pattern Stone powder to suitably insulate against the cold.”

Louis nodded gently, walked to one of the hives, crouched down, and traced his fingers over the wooden surface, carefully feeling the temperature of the grain.

“Very good. And the mist device?”

“It’s already installed.” The Beekeeper Knight paused, walked over, and pressed the switch on the back of the hive.

With a light “click,” a small bottle popped out from the bottle mouth, and mist began to gently emit.

The mist, as fine as threads, shimmered slightly in the sunlight, carrying a subtle plant fragrance.

This was a specially formulated calming mist.

Extracted from “Frost Leaf Vine,” “Night Snow Moss,” and a small amount of “Dark Silver Leaf.”

It was designed specifically to suppress the Cyan-striped Bee’s tendency towards explosively volatile behavior.

“The misting frequency is set to every four hours,” the Beekeeper Knight pointed to the set of dials at the top of the hive, “The interval at night is shortened to three hours, and following your last suggestion, an automatic sensing array has been added.”

Louis smiled appreciatively.

He walked a few more steps forward and looked up at the somewhat peculiar “covers” atop the hives.

These were not ordinary planks, but rather a kind of transparent animal hide treated from cold-region beasts, both flexible and slightly elastic.

The knights had used it to form a domed ceiling, giving the hives the appearance of being enclosed in a warm miniature greenhouse.

Sunlight poured down through the semi-transparent hide, bathing the hives and even dyeing the mist on the ground with a layer of gentle warmth.

“This way, they won’t be too agitated at night,” Louis said calmly.

Of course, it wasn’t smooth sailing from the start.

The first batch of moved Cyan-striped Bees displayed not adaptation, but agitation in the new environment.

On the first nightfall, the buzzing within one of the hives suddenly intensified, as if something was struggling frantically at the brink of repression.

The walls of the hive were violently struck, the lid bulged several times, and some bees even pierced through the ventilation holes, screeching as they rushed into the cold night.

“The swarm is escaping!” the patrolling knight shouted, bursting forth with Fighting Energy, sealing the hive entrance with a cold light that cut through the night.

Louis arrived upon hearing the news, only to see faint blue glows flicker and vanish in the air—the remnants of the Cyan-striped Bees’ self-destruction.

“The self-destruction rate is higher than expected.” He frowned, looking at the hive scarred by scorch marks.

Calm, as if not facing a group of near out-of-control dangerous creatures, but rather unraveling a complex puzzle.

“Seal the hive, record. Increase the mist spraying,” he ordered, “Tell the Alchemy Apprentices to deepen the proportions of ’Frost Leaf Vine’ and ’Night Snow Moss’ by another percent, and increase ’Dark Silver Leaf’ to the stability limit.”

“Yes!”

The spraying frequency of the fogging bottles was also forced to adjust from every three hours to every two hours.

The dense mist, thick enough to almost condense into droplets, spread around the hives, undispersed by the night wind, visible in the moonlight as a faint silver haze.

However, the core of the swarm’s agitation was not just environmental discomfort.

It was the Queen Bee.

“The Queen Bee refuses to build a hive…” the Beekeeper Knight reported in a low voice, “They seem to still have a strong attachment to the pheromone scent of the old hive.”

Once the Queen Bee refuses to settle, the entire swarm falls into disorder.

Group chaos, self-destruction, is only a matter of time.

Louis stood at the edge of the slope, silently watching a solitary bee fall in the night, feeling quite pained, as it was all money, after all.

The next morning, he personally drafted a new layout for the arrangement of the hives.

“Cancel the original flat arrangement, change everything to a stepped formation, arranged low in the southeast, high in the northwest, with each hive’s distance mimicking the hanging height of natural hives in the gorge.”

He explained while sketching on the blueprint, “Hollow out the internal structure to mimic the recessed cavity-type hive chambers on rock walls, add residual Queen Bee pheromone solution.”

This was a new attempt to simulate the natural hanging hive structure of South Forest Gorge.

The hives were no longer cold, mechanical rows of tools, but constructed homes mimicking nature.

The accompanying Alchemy Apprentices were worn-out, their eyes red from exhaustion.

The knights, on the other hand, formed groups of three to take turns keeping watch, recording data three times a day:

Number of bees, Queen Bee activity, honey collection frequency, nighttime activities.

Days later, the wind on Fog Pine Slope no longer dispersed the gentle humming sound around the hives.

Three hives of Cyan-striped Bees had stabilized in building their nests.

The fogging devices still regularly misted the calming essence, and the knights continued their night watch shifts.

But the initial oppressive tension had gradually faded away.

The movement range of the Queen Bees was marked, their status recorded, their behavior predictable.

The once greatest uncertainty was now under control.

There were occasional small disturbances, but no more instances of self-destruction.

“They’ve really settled down.” A knight sighed softly, watching the cyan-striped bees crawl slowly between the hives, barely believing the calm before his eyes.

During daylight, the swarm was already able to fly out on its own and start collecting honey.

Some time later, inside a special hive.

The specially designed honey collector slowly opened, and a faint, mild fragrance accompanied by light mist drifted out.

This was the first batch of Fighting Qi Honey collected.

The color was a soft pale golden hue, and as it poured onto the silver spoon, it shimmered faintly, as if it possessed a spirit, gently undulating with the airflow.

“Smells good.” Louis personally took the honey collection key, dipped a fingertip into a drop.

Louis tasted the honey, sweet with a hint of bitterness, a coolness that later turned into a warmth within.

It was a subtle yet real acceleration in the flow of Fighting Qi, like a breeze brushing past the core of Fighting Qi, bringing a slight uplift.

“Not rich enough yet.” Louis opened his eyes, calmly evaluating, “But it’s already qualified.”

After confirming that the trial breeding base at the edge of the Cold Fir Territory could successfully tame the Cangwen Bee Swarm, Louis felt somewhat happy, but it was not yet time to relax.

“Important resources must be transported back to the Red Tide Territory, where there is adequate protection and resource assurance.”

The Red Tide Territory is not only his foundational domain but also the core of military power.

Assets as important as the Cangwen Bee Swarm could only be trusted in the Red Tide Territory.

To ensure the safety of the swarm, Louis personally oversaw the preparation of a special transportation plan.

The carriage used for transportation was modified into a “Fog-Locked Box,” a sealed hive capable of controlling temperature and humidity.

Equipped with a magic distillation device, it could slowly release a low-temperature aromatic mist formulated from Frost Leaf Vine, continuously and steadily suppressing the swarm’s agitation.

And now, affairs in the Cold Fir Territory were gradually getting on track.

The Cold Berries processing workshop was completed and ready to start trial production of the first batch of fruit paste, and Mountain Plum seeds were taking root and sprouting on the mountainside.

The salting workshop for Frozen Scale Fish emitted a salty fragrance daily.

Cold Gravel Stone and Red-striped Fir were being continuously loaded onto transport carts and sent across the land.

Meanwhile, the three trial-bred Cangwen Bee hives were loaded onto carriages, ready to head to the Red Tide Territory.

Everything was coming to fruition as planned.

“Time to go back.”

Behind him, a reinforced sealed carriage was parked in a dark alley, the compartment surrounded by multiple Fighting Qi Barriers, containing the three precious Cangwen Bee Swarms inside.

In another carriage, Lei Xi’er lay quietly on a stretcher padded with soft animal skins and herbal packs, his face still pale, with dark marks vaguely remaining on the wounds.

He hasn’t awakened yet, but Louis didn’t hesitate: “Take him along, back to the Red Tide Territory.”

After all, the main objective of this journey was him, so how could he leave him in the Cold Fir Territory?

But to avoid unnecessary commotion and gratitude from the people of the Cold Fir Territory, Louis chose to leave quietly.

Thus in the dead of night, an unremarkable convoy quietly set off, following the mountain path away.

After traveling for three whole days, the Earth Tower City of the Red Tide Territory finally unfolded at the edge of the horizon, as if welcoming the long-lost returning master.

At that moment, Louis lifted the curtain from inside the carriage, watching the familiar city gate slowly open, like an old friend waiting in silence for his return.

“…Finally back.”

He leaned against the soft cushion in the carriage, still holding an open notebook in his hand, but his gaze had long fallen from the pages, sinking deep into his thoughts.

There was still so much waiting for him, each thing capable of exhausting a lord’s sleep.

Just then, the urgent sound of hooves approached.

“Report—Lord!” A young knight’s figure appeared by the carriage window, breathless yet unable to suppress excitement: “The one… the injured person you rescued from the cave, he just woke up!”

Louis’s eyes flickered sharply, then he quickly got up.

At the back of the convoy, a small medical carriage was moving slowly, lined inside with clean animal skins.

Louis lifted the curtain and immediately saw the mage.

Lei Xi’er lay there quietly, face pale, forehead covered in cold sweat, lips slightly purple.

His eyes were half-open, but his gaze still seemed a bit dazed.

“Where is this…”

He looked at the decorations hanging from the top of the carriage, hesitantly beginning to speak, his voice hoarse to the point of being nearly inaudible.

“You’re awake.” Louis crouched down to meet his gaze, his voice low and gentle, “I am Louis Calvin, a Viscount, I saved you by chance in a cave.”

Lei Xi’er’s eyes trembled slightly, as if he recalled something.

“Thank you, Lord Louis.” he said softly, with gratitude.

“My name is… Lei Xi’er.” He paused for a moment, as if searching through the broken fragments of his memory, “I’m sorry, my mind is a bit confused right now.”

Then Lei Xi’er suddenly bit his lip, a complex emotion surfacing on his face.

As if he remembered something, or was struggling to avoid recalling it.

“Thank you.” Lei Xi’er said softly, his voice shaking but clear, “No matter who you are, no matter what, I owe you my life.”

The wind outside the window fluttered the curtains, sunlight dappling between them.

Louis slowly spoke, “Can you tell me, what exactly happened?”

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