A few hours after the formal audience, Ren was given a tour of the hive by Veskar and the bee princess, accompanied by Elaria. They walked through the organic corridors made of wax and resin, softly illuminated by natural bioluminescent substances. Though the place was alien, Ren couldn’t help but admire the structure’s order and biological sophistication—like living architecture, constantly growing in harmony with the instincts of its inhabitants.
Despite the occasional smile in response to the bee princess’s innocent chatter and Elaria’s curious questions, Ren’s mind remained entangled in the last conversation he’d heard in the queen’s hall. Queen lanithe IX’s words still echoed in his head, stirring a new worry he couldn’t ignore.
---
「This is only my speculation,」 Queen lanithe IX had said at the ti, her voice deep and soft, like the hum of wind. 「But from the observations and stories passed down by ancient spirits who once encountered other heroes... such a massive summoning can only point to one thing: a war among the gods.」
Ren had stood frozen. "A war... between gods?"
「This world does not wholly belong to us,」 the queen continued, her compound eyes staring at the far wall of the hall as if gazing into sothing unseen. 「It is like a giant ga board. Gods and goddesses from beyond cast their pawns into this realm—heroes, kings, monsters, even natural disasters. All are part of a strategy, a gamble for sothing... sothing even we do not fully understand.」
Ren clenched his fists, turning his face away, a mix of anger and disgust rising in his chest. "So that summoning... was just adding more pawns to the board?"
The queen had nodded slowly, and for the first ti, her voice sounded genuinely weary.「That is why I hesitate to dig deeper. This world is too beautiful to be used as soone else’s wager. If I knew my existence was re entertainnt for eternal beings, I’m not sure I would still want to fight. But for that very reason, we must protect this world... in our own way.」
She continued, this ti more firmly.「And now, groups have begun seeking divine-grade artifacts. Primordial Stones, Sky Weapons, Dinsional Keys—whether for personal gain or to please the gods... one thing is certain: this world is changing. And perhaps, it will never be the sa again.」
---
(Honestly, nothing pisses off more than being played...) Ren thought as he followed Veskar through the hive’s spiraling, warm corridors. (Especially when you realize everything is soone else’s ga, and we’re just chess pieces. But luckily, I’m still free... bound to no one. As for that mysterious group... sothing tells we haven’t seen the last of them.)
The wax tunnel eventually opened into a larger chamber, its ceiling arched like a honeycomb do. A soft glow radiated from the walls, but one brighter point of light imdiately caught Ren’s attention. He glanced to the side of the room and ca to an abrupt stop, his eyes narrowing.
"Hey, Veskar," he said, pointing toward the blue glow shining through a resin formation. "Do you guys produce that too?"
Veskar followed his gaze and instantly recognized the object. "Ah... no. That crystal forms naturally in the deeper parts of the hive. We don’t know how exactly, but it grows like fungus on decaying tree bark. Just much, much slower."
Elaria stepped closer to Ren, her eyes widening. "A magic crystal..." she whispered in awe. She touched the stone’s surface carefully, and it pulsed with a soft thrum. "This is incredibly high quality! Pure... almost completely untainted by elental interference."
Ren snorted lightly, equal parts impressed and annoyed. "Out there, nations go to war over a sliver of this stuff. And you guys... just think of it as a glowing rock?"
"To us, it really is just part of the hive’s natural cycle," Veskar replied casually. "We don’t use magic the sa way you do. Communication, defense, reproduction—it’s all done through biological channels, not mana streams."
Ren nodded slowly, his gaze still fixed on the blue crystal. "In that case, you don’t mind if I take a small piece, do you?"
Veskar gave a calm nod. "Go ahead. Just don’t damage the core structure. We don’t know what might happen if its growth pattern is disturbed."
Ren pulled a pen-sized tool from his belt and touched its tip to the crystal’s side. With a soft click, the device extracted a coin-sized shard into a sealed compartnt.
"It’s been a while since I’ve seen a crystal this beautiful," he murmured. "This could rival a class-seven mana core in purity."
Elaria looked at him, curiosity glowing in her eyes. "What would you use it for?"
"Plenty," Ren replied briefly, with a faint smile. (This is way better than that mid-tier ant hive crystal I found a while back. If my calculations are right, even a tiny piece could fuel my Arc reactor... maybe even supercharge it.)
Standing a bit straighter, he asked with a confident tone, "By the way, do you all know what the core of my power has been this whole ti?"
Elaria shook her head slightly, still eyeing the shard in Ren’s hand. Veskar, his expression stiff but attentive, finally answered, "That glowing thing in your chest. In the middle of your armor, right?"
Ren pointed two fingers at Veskar and grinned. "One hundred points for Veskar! Right on the mark."
He then gave a light tap to his left chest, as if pointing to the spot where the Arc Reactor was usually embedded in his armor. "I call it the Arc Reactor. It’s a kind of core engine... the main power source for my armor. The first version was created in my world—in a very advanced place, by a truly brilliant human."
Elaria and Veskar exchanged confused looks. "Brilliant... like a royal mage?" Elaria asked hesitantly.
"Sothing like that," Ren replied, then tried to simplify the explanation. "Imagine a small orb that constantly glows and generates imnse power. In your world, maybe it takes twenty mages to channel mana to make armor fly and fire weapons. But with the Arc Reactor, one apple-sized device can do it all."
Veskar nodded slowly, trying to process the concept. "So it’s like... an artificial heart?"
"More or less," Ren said, pointing at the magic crystal from earlier. "The problem is, the original fuel for this reactor was extrely toxic. If it leaked, it would gradually destroy my body. I managed to replace it with a safer material... but it burns out way faster. Luckily, this magic crystal... might be the fix."
Elaria still looked a bit puzzled, but eventually offered a small smile. "I don’t understand all the details... but I know one thing. That device saved our lives."
Ren grinned wider. "And now, with just a shard of this crystal... my armor can stay active for five full hours without rest. That’s more than enough to flatten at least one bandit town."
Veskar glanced down a separate tunnel in the hive. "If that’s the case... you should be careful. So parts of the deeper hive hold larger magic crystals. But not all of them are stable. So can... explode."
Ren raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Explode? Sounds like my kind of place."
Elaria imdiately pinched his arm. "Don’t say things like that! I don’t want you blowing up!"
Ren just laughed. "If I do explode, at least I’ll go out in style."
---
After touring most of the hive and receiving various valuable items—such as royal wax, pure magic crystals, and honey nectar—Ren felt like an ancient trader returning from a long voyage. There were so many items it was impossible to carry them all himself, so several transport wasps—large, saddle-equipped insects—were prepared to ferry the goods back to the Elf Kingdom.
Not long after, an envoy from the queen summoned him once more to the grand hall. Alongside Elaria, Ren walked through the wax-lined corridors that still felt unfamiliar, the air lightly scented with sweetness.
When they arrived, they found Queen lanithe IX and her daughter speaking in their native humming language, the signature thod of hornet communication. But the mont Ren and Elaria stepped in, the conversation stopped. A thin veil of silence settled over the room like mist.
Ren took a quiet breath, then gave a slight bow—more of a lazy dip than a formal gesture. "Greetings, Your Majesty."
Elaria, beside him, gave a much more graceful and respectful bow. "Greetings from the Kingdom of Alfheimr, in gratitude for your esteed invitation."
Queen lanithe IX stared at Ren in silence, her large head moving slowly as she spoke.「I’ve heard you plan to journey to the Penal plains?」
Ren nodded once. "Yeah, that’s right... I’m taking a few passengers there," he replied, not ntioning Alfred and his family—feeling it wasn’t important in a setting this formal.
The queen continued, her voice calm but firm.「And what do you plan to do there?」
"I’m also planning a trip to the Tibetan mountains after that," Ren said. "Just exploring... and maybe looking for a way back to my own world."
The queen paused, thoughtful, then gave a slight nod.「So you are an adventurer... or rather, a world-wanderer.」
Ren gave a small shrug. "You could say that."
Then the queen turned to her side, gazing at her small daughter who stood quietly beside her.「In that case... would you take Lolita with you?」
Ren froze. This was the first ti he’d heard the bee princess’s real na, and it felt completely mismatched—too sweet for soone who could break through the heart of a battlefield.
"Sorry, but I don’t think I’m the right one to be her guardian," Ren said carefully. "After what she’s been through—and what almost happened... I think it would cause more problems than good."
The little princess imdiately puffed up her cheeks in a pout, looking like a honey jar left too long in the sun.
The queen chuckled softly, her tone almost warm.「Hmm... you’re right. I’m sorry, Lolita. You won’t be going.」
Lolita looked down, let out a tiny sigh, then hugged her own tail, sulking.
The queen returned her gaze to Ren, her tone formal once again.「In that case... if you cannot accept her company, then at least accept a gift from our kingdom.」
"A gift?" Ren looked at her warily.
「Veskar. Present him with the Primordial Rune Stone.」
The room went completely still. Without a word, Veskar thrust his hand into his own chest. A faint cracking sound followed, and a pulse of deep blue light erged from within his body. From it, Veskar drew out a glowing shard—a crystal that seed alive, pulsing like a heart.
Ren and Elaria both recoiled in shock.
"Wait—wait a second!" Ren blurted, stepping forward instinctively. "Isn’t that... extrely valuable? Isn’t that a sacred heirloom of your people?!"
Veskar remained calm, though his breathing grew slightly heavy as he handed the stone to the queen. Insectoid blood dripped slowly, but his face showed only pride.
Queen lanithe IX stared at the still-glowing stone, then slowly shifted her gaze toward Ren, her expression unwavering.「The Primordial Rune Stone is a remnant left behind by the ancient gods during the creation of this world... and incredibly dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands.」
Ren furrowed his brow, his breath catching. "Then why give it to ? I’m not part of this kingdom... I’m not even from this world."
The queen did not answer imdiately. She drew a deep breath, then spoke with a heavy yet steady tone.「Because I believe... you will be drawn to this world’s destiny. Whether you want it or not.」
Ren raised an eyebrow, heart pounding. "And how can you be so sure about soone like ?"
The queen’s gaze hardened—not with hostility, but with conviction, like a mother who had lost much and now saw a glimr of hope in a stranger. lanithe IX nodded slightly, her antennae swaying gently with her words.「Because only a fool rejects power... and survives. And only the truly strong choose to reject it—until they understand the weight of its responsibility.」
She gestured to Veskar, now kneeling silently beside her.「That was the sa trait found in the first hero—my ancestor’s legacy. A man from another world who arrived alone and turned down every gift... except those he felt he had earned through effort.」
Ren stood still. His hand, previously relaxed, now curled into a fist at his side.
「My ancestor once said, ’True strength doesn’t co from blood or fate. It is born from small choices—the decision to help, even when no one is watching.’」
A heavy silence filled the grand hall. Lolita simply looked up at her mother with a small, admiring smile, while Elaria glanced away briefly, perhaps out of shyness... or perhaps sothing else.
「You chose to walk away from those who summoned you, to reject your fate as a pawn. And now, unknowingly... you’ve begun to walk the path of a hero. That is why we believe the Primordial Rune Stone is safer in your hands than locked away in a forgotten vault.」
Ren swallowed hard. The weight of those words was too real to ignore—but too honest to deny.
"I still don’t think I can accept this. It’s too much."
Ren had always followed a personal creed: Take it if it’s earned. Take it if it prevents harm.
He would accept rewards when he knew he had worked for them. He would steal from others if it ant hurting bad people—like when he looted bandits after wiping them out, or hacked into a superpower’s AI system to claim what would eventually beco Ultro, his Panther companion.
Slowly, he reached out and accepted the stone from Veskar’s still-bowed hands.
The Primordial Rune Stone felt warm in his palm—and within its deep blue glow, it was as if countless voices... and countless fates... whispered from within.
"I’ll... hold onto it. But I won’t promise to use it. Not until I truly know what I’m ant to do."
The queen smiled, her wings humming gently.「That is more than enough.」
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