The Island of Wonder

The next day, Nicole went to the Queen’s castle. There, as instructed, she gave the pass to the same Bee that was watching over the doorway to the throne room. She got the directions and immediately followed them down the corridors and floors.

Ugh, this is a fucking labyrinth. They should consider making and giving out maps.

Nicole had been wandering the halls for over fifteen minutes already.

This should be it.

She lightly knocked on the door before going in.

The fuck?

The sight made her freeze and stare – under the back wall of a wide room, in one straight line, stood beds. Each was occupied by one female Bee and at least one male, sometimes more. All of them were naked, indulged in sex. The whole room was filled with all kinds of sounds, from moans to sloppy kisses and spanks. Nicole sighed and immediately left.

Is this some kind of fucking curse?? Ugh… Not here. I hope. Not sure I am ready to be THIS open for now.

After half an hour, Nicole decided to try again. Opening the door, she saw something more promising. The big square room was filled with tables with papers, colorful rocks and crystals, and strange mechanisms, all in a state of chaos. The Bees there were at least somewhat clothed – still rather skimpy, but that was nothing new for the locals.

Nicole coughed to clear her throat and maybe get their attention. "Hello, I don’t know if you got notified, but by the Queen’s order I am here to assist you guys."

Most of the Bees ignored her, but she was quickly approached by an older-looking one, his short hair completely gray.

"I suppose you are Nicole, the Human. Also know as the Bone Witch."

Here it comes again… Even here they call me like that. "Yes, yes, it’s me." Nicole nodded.

"Good. I am Mizirim, one of the top scientists in all of the Hive, if I may say so. Her Majesty herself ordered me to personally supervise you, girl."

"Okay. So, what now? Is there any plan, or am I just supposed to pour onto you everything I think could be useful?"

The man turned away, and Nicole followed him to one of the tables. Mizirim took a stack of empty papers.

"Four weeks is both a lot and not much. First of all, I have been told you have some unique abilities. To create things out of nowhere and turn your flesh white and hard. Let’s start with the first one."

"Wait, wouldn’t it make sense to ask me about the new weapon I showed to the Queen?"

Mizirim nodded. "Right. But I am not the one competent enough to look at it alone. We have to wait for one more person to show up, someone who specializes in weapons."

Nicole shrugged. "As you wish." She licked her lips before starting to explain and demonstrate the first part of her ability—the fact that she needs to absorb the materials first, that she can see and sense them in her mind in a kind of storage, and about the limitations. All that time, the man was writing it all down, paper by paper filled. Then the time came for the transformation part. It took less time, as it seemed rather straightforward.

Nicole turned back from bone to skin.

"Aaand… I think that’s all."

It took a minute for Mizirim to finish writing. He sat back in the chair.

"Fascinating. Never heard of anything like that. Do you have children? We need to see if it can be passed down to your children."

"What?! No, I don’t. And I don’t want to in any near future! Don’t even try asking me to have a kid just to test it."

"Calm down, those are just questions. Next, you said that it first happened when you almost died. And that, by the words of witnesses, this bone armor was different, with a mask and sharper features. Do you have any ideas why it’s like this now?"

She shook her head. "Nope. Back then I was just trying to survive and it just happened. When I turn by will now, it’s like this."

"Hm… Alright, let’s do some tests."

Mizirim and Nicole moved to a room next to the previous one. It was bigger and more spacious. As they entered, the man touched a potted plant that stood in the corner. Immediately, a thick vine spurted out of the floor. Nicole noticed that on the stone floor, between the stones, there was damp earth with roots visible here and there.

The scientist made her punch the vine, first normally and then in different forms. The results were the same as during Nicole’s own tests earlier – the bone fists had the best outcome, one punch enough to leave a big bruise. Additionally, her knuckles were sharp enough to cut through the vine’s outer layer.

When Nicole thought they were done, Mizirim made her absorb new materials—mostly crystals, strange rocks, and minerals. It took hours, but Nicole went through all of them. Most of the crystals were too fragile, and she was afraid that her arm would just break if she punched. Then the rest was either too heavy for real battle use or too soft. Only one material stood out – blue porcelain. Nicole had to absorb a vase to get it, the item so beautiful that she almost felt bad about destroying it.

"The blue porcelain is made out of special clay taken from wild sea beasts – Brinetooth Crabs. But it’s so rare and expensive that this is all we have." Mizirim sighed. "I hope this will be enough."

As Nicole tried to transform, only her wrist changed, not enough material for anything else. Her hand was now blue, with deep-blue lines all around it and smooth, like the vase she had just absorbed. It seemed delicate, as if she were a porcelain doll. Nicole slowly curled a fist, almost forgetting to breathe with how perfect her new hand seemed.

"W-wow." All words seemed to disappear from her mind as she couldn’t tear her gaze off it.

"Hey, you okay?"

Mizirim touched her, and Nicole suddenly felt like waking up from a dream.

"W-what? What do you want?"

"Huh? Girl, you just stared at your hand for whole five minutes. I thought you were listening, but it seems you didn’t. I was saying how the blue porcelain has unique effects, like making liquids cleaner, and if pressed to an open wound, it seems to make it heal slightly faster."

"O-okay." Nicole was still in a daze. "Do you think it’s safe to try the punching test?"

"Yes, yes. Don’t worry about it, the porcelain should be strong enough."

Nicole gave the thick vine a hit. Her wrist seemed to stay normal, but the damage wasn’t much different from stone or any light metal.

"Well, nothing new here." Mizirim sighed.

Nicole just stood in place, her eyes drawn to her wrist. The man had to snap his fingers in front of her to make her focus.

"It seems you are tired, hm? Have you ever noticed if using your abilities wears you down?"

"Not really, at least not much. And I am not tired, i-it’s okay!"

The scientist chuckled. "No, it’s clearly not. You should go rest for today. No need to load everything back from your storage, since we will continue tomorrow anyway. Oh, right, here."

He handed her a coin, the promised Fang for the day of work. The coin itself was reddish gold, with myriads of straight and thin white lines glistening across the whole surface if held under the right angle and light. Two crossed fangs were imprinted on both sides.

"Just one more thing." Nicole stopped in the middle of turning away and faced the man again. "My friend is an alchemist and she would love to come here and study. Can I bring her with me tomorrow?"

"Sure, as long as she won’t be distracting others too much."

It took Nicole a while to track back to the castle entrance, but luckily she didn’t barge into any wrong doors anymore. As she walked down the street, her mind was processing the events of the day.

The healing porcelain? That’s something new. It’s sad they have so little of it, I can’t get a whole transformation and later ask for some for myself. A weapon out of it would probably look so cool…

Have I really zoned out like that? It sometimes happened to me earlier, but not this strongly. It seems I am really more tired than I realize.

Remembering Merik’s words about the Fang’s worth, the first thing Nicole did at the inn was exchange it for one hundred Tears. The coins were similar but smaller, with a single teardrop image. In the room, she found out that Iloe and Soi were gone. With no one to distract her, Nicole booted up Tora and started learning how to make some things from Earth.

Half of the next day, Nicole spent finishing testing her ability with the materials. Iloe, whom she brought with her, was tasked with watching other scientists and writing down anything she deemed useful. Meanwhile, as Nicole wanted to show Mizirim her new invention, a tall Bee man in armor entered the lab and approached the two.

"Miz, you asked me to come yesterday. I had a few things to take care of, came as fast as I could." The man said.

"Right, don’t worry. This is Nicole, and she supposedly has made a new kind of weapon. I need you to put it to a real test." Mizirim turned to Nicole. "This is my friend, he often helps assess military inventions."

Back again in the testing room with vines, Nicole took the crossbow out of the sheath and loaded it up. Taking a second to aim, she pressed the trigger, and the bolt pierced the vine and bounced off the stone wall behind it, falling on the floor.

"What do you say?" Nicole smirked.

"Hm." The warrior Bee continued to look at the weapon in her hands. "Give it to me to try."

They swapped places. Nicole showed how to load the ammunition and shoot. The man was strong enough to easily hold it in one of his four strong hands. Nicole handed him a few wooden bolts. Load, shoot, reload, shoot.

The man nodded. "Not bad. But from what I can see, it’s not as versatile as regular bows. You can’t really shoot it in an arc to attack from above. If the enemy has shields or walls, it will be useless."

"Right. But I think each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Plus, bows need training to be useful. Meanwhile, you have already mastered the crossbow." Nicole parried the critique.

"Another question is – how expensive is it to make those? Resources and trained people to craft them."

"Right. I made it myself and can show it. Teach whoever gets to make them. And I thought that the Hive is wealthy and smart enough to invest in its army, even if it may cost a little."

"Her Majesty will be the one to decide if it’s worth it. But you are right, you will have to teach us. The faster the better, so soldiers can start training with those crossbows."

Nicole turned to Mizirim.

"You are the boss here. Do we leave our science for now?"

The older man nodded. "Yes. You can go for the day."

Nicole notified Iloe and left the lab. Teaching turned out to be harder than she thought. She was placed in a room with a big group of Bees of different ages. These were military craftsmen, usually tasked with repairing and taking care of the Bee tribe’s military.

It took her several days of going back and forth from the lab to her disciples to make sure everyone was able to make a perfect copy of Nicole’s work. There, she also made sure to talk to Mizirim’s friend about letting Soi train with the regular soldiers, as the catgirl wanted.

The first week passed fast. Nicole was leaving the lab when Mizirim stopped her.

"Nicole, Her Majesty said she wants to see the results of our work tomorrow. Personally, I am intrigued by your inventions, but the Queen said she wants to see everything herself."

Hmhm~ She wants a show?