"We walked past it?" Grace was stunned for a moment.
Emma put down the little Forest Mouse, and it squeaked before walking in the direction they had come from.
After walking a short distance, it even looked back, as if asking, "Aren’t you coming?"
Emma said, "Follow it. It will lead us to honey."
The girls were dumbfounded. They had never seen anything so smart. This little thing was smarter than most Border Collies.
They put away the Forest Mouse Meat and followed the little Forest Mouse.
Not long after, they arrived beneath a large tree.
Little Forest Mouse: "Squeak squeak, squeak squeak squeak."
"Okay, you can go now." Emma even said to the little Forest Mouse, "Bye-bye."
"Are we there?" Grace asked.
Emma listened patiently as the little Forest Mouse squeaked for a while before translating.
"It says there’s a beehive in that large tree. There should be honey inside. It has never eaten any itself; it only heard about it from its great-grandfather."
Grace looked up. The mist shrouded everything, making it impossible to see clearly.
But she could faintly hear a buzzing sound.
Ever since she became Chief, her perception had improved significantly, allowing her to locate things by sound.
She looked at Jessica, who had already prepared several stones, aiming blindly toward the source of the sound above.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
The sound suddenly became much more intense.
"Teacher Grace, we’ve been discovered," Emma said nervously. "The Queen Bee is ordering the swarm to attack us!"
Soon, the buzzing grew louder, and a swarm of bees flew down, attacking them in groups.
Fortunately, everyone knew what mission they were undertaking and had prepared in advance.
They covered their heads with the straw clothes they had taken off, wrapping themselves tightly.
The girls swung their goblin clubs at the bees in the air, but the effect was minimal. Likewise, the bees couldn’t do much damage to them.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
"Teacher Grace, it seems the one above is ordering the stronger bees to attack," Emma shouted.
"Did you hear their leader speaking?"
"Yes! It’s a bit far, at least ten meters above us."
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
A rapid buzzing sound approached as two black bees, slightly larger than the others, rushed toward Jessica.
Boom! Boom!
They were blasted apart by two stones.
"Are they this weak?" Grace couldn’t believe her eyes. She had thought it would be a tough fight, but it turned out that one stone was enough for each bee.
Jessica shook her head. "No, it’s because my explosive stones are powerful. Ordinary bees can’t withstand a direct hit."
Another eight similarly large black bees flew down.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Teacher Jessica, there are too many. You can’t blast them all by yourself!" Emma shouted.
"Then what should we do?"
"Listen carefully. The Queen Bee’s sound is ’Buzz! Buzz!’—one note at a time, slow and steady. Attack the source of the Queen Bee’s sound. That’s where the beehive is. Shoot the beehive down."
After dealing with the eight black bees, Jessica closed her eyes and listened carefully.
Ever since receiving Ethan’s blessing, not only had her aim improved, but her senses had also become much sharper.
At this moment, the Queen Bee was frantically calling out, continuously ordering the elite black bees to protect it one after another.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
She heard it!
The sound was extremely faint, but it was enough for her to lock onto its exact position.
Jessica used all her strength, aiming precisely at the source of the sound.
The beehive was hanging from a thick branch. To make sure she destroyed it in one strike, she threw four stones simultaneously!
Bang!
Thud!
A massive beehive, along with the branch it was hanging from, was shot down, crashing onto the ground.
It was completely smashed, and the honey inside instantly flowed out.
The sweet fragrance filled the air. At that moment, everyone wanted a cup of honey water.
From the shattered beehive, a palm-sized yellow bee, the Queen Bee, emerged. It had two long antennae on its head.
Unlike the ordinary bees, the Queen Bee’s body was much tougher. Although the fall had left it dazed and injured, it had survived.
It crawled out of the shattered hive.
It was thrown into disarray by the fall. The Queen Bee swayed for a moment before finally flying steadily.
"That’s the Queen Bee!" Just as Emma spoke, Jessica raised her stones.
"Teacher Jessica, don’t kill it yet. I want to try to contract it. If I can contract it, this entire swarm of bees can be used by us."
Hearing Emma say this, Jessica immediately lowered her stones.
Emma approached the Queen Bee, extended her hand, and a faint light emanated from it.
[Contract Successful: Honey Blossom King]
[Honey Blossom King: The leader of the Honey Blossom Swarm. Honey Bees have weak combat ability but excellent teamwork and produce abundant honey.]
The Honey Blossom King had completely accepted Emma as its Master. It no longer regarded them as enemies. Instead, it happily flew through the air, rubbing against Emma’s palm.
"Master, snuggle, snuggle."
The other Honey Blossoms were stunned.
What happened to the Queen?
"Teacher Grace, I think I succeeded," Emma said, looking at the scene before her in disbelief.
This was the first time she had successfully used her Talent.
"I can see that. What do we do now?" Grace asked.
She couldn’t help but marvel. An SS-Rank Talent truly lived up to its reputation. A single successful contract had turned an enemy swarm into their allies.
Emma smiled gently and tapped the Honey Blossom King’s little head with her finger.
"From now on, your name is Daisy."
"Now command your swarm to pack up the beehive, put it on our cart, and follow us."
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
Daisy immediately issued the command. The remaining bees received the order and swarmed over to lift the hive, placing it steadily onto the cart.
Emma used her finger to wipe some honey from the hive and licked it.
"Mmm, very sweet. Everyone, come and try it."
The girls were naturally happy to try it, as they had been craving honey ever since they smelled its sweet fragrance.
"Mmm, it’s so delicious."
"It’s truly different."
Only Daisy and her bees flew to the side, looking pitifully at their Master and her companions eating the honey they had worked so hard to produce.
"Although we wasted some, there’s still a lot left in the hive. A great harvest! And we gained a team of little bees. Truly great fortune!" Emma laughed happily and returned to the Tribe with the team.
On the other side.
Ethan’s team had arrived at the location indicated by the divination. There was indeed a peculiar tree in front of them.
The trunks of the other trees were covered in moss, but this tree had a smooth trunk, presenting a stark contrast to the others.
"The divination said there is something under this tree, and it’s a three-star event, Great Fortune," Elena said languidly. She looked at Ethan beside her and asked, "What do you think is underneath?"
Ethan shook his head. "I don’t know. Let’s dig it up first."
In the team, the two girls with D-Rank Mining Talents now proved their worth.
Each took a pickaxe and activated her Talent. Their pickaxes struck the earth with remarkable precision, breaking through the hard soil far faster than ordinary people could.
After half an hour, they had dug a circle around the tree but found nothing. However, the deeper they dug, the denser and more tangled the roots became, as if they were wrapping around something.
Ethan crouched beside the pit and carefully examined the exposed roots. The more he looked, the more unusual they seemed, as though they were deliberately growing around something.
"These roots aren’t growing naturally," Ethan said quietly.
Elena walked forward and studied the exposed roots.
She paced back and forth around the pit, seemingly trying to sense something, then shook her head again.
"What’s wrong?" Ethan asked.
"I’ll try to narrow down its exact location using my Talent."
"Did you sense it?"
Elena shook her head. "The feeling is too vague. I can only roughly sense its direction."
She asked the two students who were digging to widen the circle.
Another half hour passed. More roots were exposed, but whatever they surrounded remained hidden beneath the earth.
Elena closed her eyes once more. As more of the roots were uncovered, the interference weakened, allowing her to sense the hidden object’s aura more clearly. After sensing for a while, her expression gradually became more certain. She slowly pointed beneath the large tree.
"The feeling is much stronger now. Follow the largest roots downward. Whatever we’re looking for is entangled within the main root system."