A Beekeeper in a Magical World

In the language of the Elven race, pronouns weren't based on gender but on ethnicity.

You can think of it this way: if you're an Elf, they refer to you as "he," and if you belong to any non-Elven race, they call you "it."

The latter is obviously less prestigious.

"These are a highly civilized yet inherently arrogant race."

Hua Mi assessed in his mind.

According to Xiao Zi, Elves were a single-gender species that closely resembled human females in appearance. However, they weren't asexual. Elves could mate with individuals of any race and gender and give birth to offspring. What was even more remarkable was that, regardless of the other parent's species, the child would always be an Elf, with at most minor features that hinted at the other parent's characteristics.

"Such strong genetics..."

Hua Mi's worldview was once again challenged by this magical world.

"The wanted criminal, is he also of the Elven race?"

He had Elven characteristics in his appearance, but there was something different about him.

"Not a mainstream Elf, but a Berserker Elf."

"Berserker Elf..."

The name itself sounded fierce.

"They were created by the Elves during the Second Abyss Invasion, as a species modeled after themselves, to combat the Abyss creatures."

Hua Mi now had a better understanding of the relationship between the two. In simple terms, Berserker Elves were a subservient species created by the mainstream Elves, often referred to as "tools." And they were war tools, created specifically for warfare.

"But after the war, the Elves found it difficult to control the Berserker Elves. They were naturally rebellious and prone to violence, always inclined to solve problems through force, which went against the noble and elegant ways of the Elves. Now, the Berserker Elves have broken free from the mainstream Elves and become arch-enemies..."

This lavender-haired pseudo-Elf seemed quite interested in the gossip between these races, and she couldn't stop talking.

Hua Mi, on the other hand, had little interest in the historical complexities between the Elves and the Berserkers. It sounded as boring as a history lesson. But one thing he was curious about: "What exactly is the Abyss Invasion?"

Xiao Zi replied, "I'm not sure. It seems like everyone keeps a tight lid on information about the Abyss."

"You haven't experienced it?"

"The Second Abyss Invasion happened almost a thousand years ago, and I hadn't been born yet."

Well, at least she wasn't an ancient fairy.

That wanted Berserker criminal was now somewhere in the Black Forest. Although the forest was vast, the chances of encountering him were low. Still, it was better to be prepared.

...

Night fell.

The new bee species resulting from the hybridization of Forest Swift Bees and Ironclad Bees were about to emerge from their cocoons.

Hua Mi paced in front of the bee box, eagerly awaiting their arrival, like a father outside a maternity ward.

Finally, the new bee species crawled out of the cocoon.

They seemed to be slightly smaller in size, more agile, and faster than the regular Chinese honeybees, just as Hua Mi had anticipated.

Hua Mi immediately established a mental connection to examine their attributes.

The results were somewhat different from what he expected. There were advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage was that, as he had anticipated, they had inherited the hardening ability of the Ironclad Bees and the speed of the Forest Swift Bees. Moreover, their speed exceeded even that of the regular bees, reaching up to three times the speed!

However, there was a significant drawback—they had no honey sacs.

In other words, their honey-collecting ability was zero.

They were now purely combat bees.

But their incredible speed meant that they could quickly gather to protect the hive, and from that perspective, they were still worth cultivating.

Hua Mi controlled them to harden.

Their hardness was almost the same as that of the Ironclad Bees. It looked like a crystalline substance covering their bodies, although that wasn't entirely accurate. It was more like a magical force creating a protective shield on their bodies, which appeared crystalline due to light refraction.

Their wing sections were exceptionally developed, and even in their fully hardened state, they could fly at twice the speed of regular bees.

"Since they are a hybrid of Forest Swift Bees and Ironclad Bees, I'll call them Ironclad Swift Bees."

As usual, Hua Mi replicated the template of this new bee species.

Now he had templates for four different bee species: Forest Swift Bees, Ironclad Bees, Agony Bees, and Ironclad Swift Bees.

First, Ironclad Swift Bees couldn't replace Forest Swift Bees. Although they were faster, they lacked honey sacs, so they couldn't collect nectar.

As for Ironclad Bees, in terms of combat value, Ironclad Swift Bees could completely replace them. However, Ironclad Bees had an advantage in that they possessed both combat and collecting abilities, though their collecting ability wasn't as high as that of regular bees; it stood at 0.7.

So, in a way, Ironclad Bees were like soldiers during wartime and engaged in production tasks during peacetime.

Hua Mi could have some Ironclad Swift Bees, but their numbers shouldn't be too high.

He had six spare colonies of regular Chinese honeybees. Hua Mi selected one of them and injected the Ironclad Swift Bee template into it.

After his mental strength had improved, this process was a piece of cake for him.

As usual, he recorded this new bee species in his notes.

[Ironclad Swift Bee]

A hybrid of Forest Swift Bees and Ironclad Bees, inheriting the hardening ability of Ironclad Bees and the speed of Forest Swift Bees, but lacking a honey sac. They are slightly smaller than regular Chinese honeybees, with thicker, larger wings, black stripes all over their bodies, diffraction patterns on their backs, shorter antennae, weakened sense of smell, incomplete development of single eye, and reduced vision...

[Lifespan: 1]

[Reproductive Ability: 1]

[Productivity: 0]

Lifespan and reproductive ability were sufficient to ensure the natural continuation of the population. From the perspective of the bee colony, a simple value of 1 was assigned.

In reality, Ironclad Swift Bees had a slightly shorter lifespan than regular bees but higher reproductive ability.

However, there was no need to be too precise; this wasn't a research paper, and rounding the values made it more intuitive and easier to understand.

Furthermore, since Ironclad Swift Bees lacked honey sacs, their honey-collecting ability was undoubtedly 0.

In terms of combat:

[Attack: 1.5]

[Defense: 6]

[Life Force: 2]

[Speed: 2.5]

The overall combat ability was rated at 5. This was a significant improvement over Ironclad Bees and Agony Bees, both of which had a rating of 3.

So, the second round of hybridization and evolution had been successful.

"By the way, these Ironclad Swift Bees are still in a state suitable for mating, so they should be able to undergo a second round of hybridization, right?"

Hua Mi attempted to connect the Agony Bee template to one of the Ironclad Swift Bees, and it worked.

Since he already had the Ironclad Swift Bee template, another bee colony had obtained the template and was cocooning, so he could boldly use this ready-made individual for the experiment.

Hua Mi began to attempt the hybridization of Agony Bees and Ironclad Swift Bees.

The result revealed that the difficulty of the second round of hybridization far exceeded that of the first. The repulsive force between the two species increased significantly.

If the first round was considered normal difficulty, then the second round was expert-level difficulty.

Hua Mi expended a lot of mental energy to finally get them to fuse.

Just as the newly emerged Ironclad Swift Bee was about to exit the box, it turned around and crawled back inside.

Hua Mi was almost mentally exhausted, and after tidying up, he returned home without even drinking honey water, collapsing into deep slumber.