Beatrice lay on the floor, Ian carefully keeping watch over her. It had been two hours since she suddenly passed out. Ian had to admit that he was a little miffed, since he had warned Beatrice about overworking after all. Maybe he should've set an example and taken more breaks, but knowing Beatrice that wouldn't have worked. She was a stubborn worker after all.

  Ian did his best to keep Beatrice comfortable, but the only thing he was able to do was flip her right-side-up to avoid damaging her wings. So he continued patiently waiting for Beatrice to wake up.

  Beatrice wasn't sure what was going on. Her mind was fuzzy, and her body felt like it had taken a vacation and left town. The only stimulation she had were the notifications that popped up sometime after her consciousness started returning.

  Congratulations! You have evolved!

  Race: Silverwood Honeybee Worker Level 2 Tier 1 -> Stunted Juvenile Silverwood Honeybee Queen (F) Level 2 Tier 1

  Congratulations! Due to your evolution, you have acquired the title Royal Pretender (D).

  Congratulations! Due to your title Royal Pretender (C), you have acquired the skill Pretender's Royal Decree (D).

  Congratulations! Due to your evolution, you have acquired the skill Lay Egg (E).

  Beatrice didn't know what exactly was going on due to her state of general incapacitation, but she knew she hated it. She didn't know why she hated it, but she wasn't really in a position to do anything at all. So she waited to be released from her mental shackles with ill patience.

  It felt like days before Beatrice started feeling her body again, and she was feeling pretty good. She was still mad, but her emotions felt a bit more stable than before her evolution. She buzzed her wings experimentally and raised herself off the floor.

  "Beatrice! What have I told you about overworking yourself? Rest isn't optional! It's essential!" Ian was clearly misunderstanding the situation terribly, which was funny and slightly annoying. It wasn't like Beatrice had the choice of not passing out.

  "I evolved" Said Beatrice, cutting to the heart of the matter. She'd much rather do that than use her sweet talk and risk ranking up her seduction skill again. She shuddered.

  Ian stopped shouting, which was a relief since it looked a bit like having a seizure. "Is this a joke?" The words could've been mocking, but Ian's motions only expressed curiosity.

  "I'm serious Ian. I unlocked some sort of horizontal hidden evolution or something like that, and now I'm a..." Beatrice had to go back and read the silly race name. "... Stunted Juvenile Silverwood Honeybee Queen now. I'll shorten it to stunted queen because the name is too damn long."

  Ian looked confused, but he got the gist of the situation. "I apologize for shouting at again. I'm sorry for being such a nincompoop."

  Beatrice raised a metaphorical eyebrow at the word 'nincompoop'. Ian's interpretive dance skill must have more instinctual knowledge than hers, and she wondered what rank it was. "It's fine Ian. I know you mean well." He didn't look cheered up, but Beatrice had a bigger reason to be upset in her opinion.

  'I have ovaries now. I know I've been calling myself Beatrice and everything, and I've even become accustomed to the name. But that's completely different than... This. Being a worker was more like being a eunuch than being a female in my mind since they had nothing to do with reproduction. But now.' Beatrice thought back to her actions over the past several days and came to a grim conclusion. 'Not only am I a girl, I'm a bitch. I'm an annoying, teasing, violent, murderous bitch!'

  Beatrice flopped to the floor in despair before realizing she needed to be standing to speak and got back up. "Kill me now." She said with a no emotion besides a hint of despair. "This is my fault you know. I took the quiz, and now I'm a sad pathetic bee. Isn't that hilarious?" She turned to Ian who was still looking confused, and more and more worried.

  "Are you sick Beatrice?" Ian walked over and started tapping her with his antennae. She didn't bother responding.

  "I'm going to go wallow in despair for a bit. It's a girl thing, so leave me alone." So saying, Beatrice walked away and flopped back to the floor by the far wall, where it was darkest.

  Beatrice managed to wallow for the rest of the day and most of the next morning. But there was something that managed to get her back into action. Honey. She didn't want to miss out on the honey, so she resumed taking shifts with Ian on buzzing duty.

  "Sorry for being a pain Ian." Beatrice apologized. "I'm just not adjusted to this life yet, and the evolution caught me off guard. I'll try to be a better friend."

  Ian just walked over and tapped her antennae with his. "You're a fine friend Beatrice. Neither of us are perfect, indeed nothing is perfect in this world from what I've seen. But some things come close, and having you as a friend is one of them."

  Beatrice would've teared up if bees had tear glands, but she clean her antennae, which was almost like rubbing her eyes.

  Things quickly went back to normal for the rest of the day. As long as Beatrice just ignored her stat page, it was like nothing had even changed. And her mood really improved when she got a new notification.

  Congratulations! Due to your efforts and experience, you have acquired the skill Novice Honey Production (F).

  Did that mean the honey was done? Beatrice looked at the transparent golden liquid and took a little sip. Oh yeah, that's the stuff. Maybe she was blowing everything out of proportion. Everything is better with some sweets. Now if only she had some phyllo dough, she could make some baklava.

  "Ian! Come try the honey!" Beatrice shouted.

  Ian walked over from whatever he'd been doing and reached down to try some honey. He didn't have a long slurpy tongue like a worker bee, so he got honey on his mandibles.

  "It's delicious! I haven't had honey in what feels like forever. Thank you Beatrice." Ian's tone becoming unwantedly serious with his gratitude.

  "Hold still for a second." Beatrice almost forgot why she'd gone through the effort of making honey in the first place. She focused on her skill and tried to control her mana. Beatrice and Ian both stood like that for half a minute, until the honey on Ian's mandibles began to ripple slowly and viscously. It slowly coalesced into a floating ball of honey, about a teaspoon's worth by Beatrice's estimation.

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  Beatrice tried moving and shifting the honey, but it moves slowly and thickly, because honey. But on the bright side, it was easy to hold together in a ball. Probably a lot easier than water, air, or especially fire. After messing around for a bit she felt her mana running low, like a fire she didn't know was inside of her was pouring from her body, leaving it cold and empty. It was less uncomfortable than it sounded, but she still didn't want to run empty.

  "Open up." Beatrice said to Ian. And he was just in time when the honey shot into his mouth. "Waste not, want not"

  Beatrice practiced her not-really-meditation while she waited for her mana to refill. She also tried working on pulling in mana somehow, which either didn't do anything, or which increased mana regeneration by less than a percentage. Not that she could tell the difference.

  "Okay Ian. Find me something to kill." Beatrice said with the bee equivalent of evil menace. Ian looked at her in a way that practically shouted 'not again.' with a little frowny face for emphasis.

  It didn't take too much convincing before Ian agreed to help Beatrice find the first victim of her honey powers. She didn't even have to sweet talk him with Sweet Honeybee Dancing, which was a relief to her. Ian would've been relieved too if he knew she was considering it.

  And so Beatrice flew after Ian between the monolithic trees of the Silverwood Forest. The day was getting late, but they still had an hour or two of daylight.

  Beatrice was wondering where they were headed when Ian flew down and landed on a bush next to a big pond that looked more like a puddle next to the giant shrub. She had a glob of honey on her back that she kept in place with a little honey manipulation, so she was ready to kill some monsters. She already had a few ideas for introducing them to the sweet (very sweet) embrace of death.

  Ian walked to the edge of a leaf and gestured downwards. "That looks like a good first enemy, don't you think?"

  Beatrice walked to stand beside him and followed the leg he was pointing with. "That's a worm Ian." She said dryly. "Find me something that breaths through a mouth and nose, not something long that breaths through it's whole body."

  Ian hesitated, then motioned for Beatrice to follow and took off again. Soon they were landing on another bush and Ian pointed down at a small herd of deer, grazing on the giant grass. "Most of the deer are low enough in level, and they prefer to run instead of fighting. Just be careful of the tier two deer since they'll fight most likely. They're the big ones." Ian explained carefully.

  Beatrice flew down to a leaf that was within a ten yards of what was obviously a tier two doe at nearly twice the size of the average tier one deer, and Ian started making frantic signs of negation at her. Beatrice ignored him and walked down the branch to within ten feet of the doe, and focused. She managed to get the whole glob of honey into the air, but she was using up mana quickly. Beatrice slowly floated the honey from behind and above the deer's head, then she scratched the branch to make a scraping sound. The deer looked up suddenly, just in time for the glob of honey to smack it in the mouth.

  The deer didn't immediately panic, which is why Beatrice chose a second tier deer in the first place. It gave her precious time to shove the honey into it's mouth, and into it's windpipe. At first the tasty honey was welcome, but the deer began panicking when it became unable to breath. Beatrice didn't let up, forcing the honey into the deer's lungs. The deer probably could've coughed up some water, but the honey was too thick and the deer's fate was sealed.

  Beatrice stood on her branch and watched in horror as the deer desperately tried to breath, and eventually fell to it's knees. she watched as the deer fell to it's side and lay still. It took half a minute more before she got the notification.

  You have killed a Greater Black-tailed Doe Level 3 Tier 2.

  Congratulations! You have reached Level 5.

  Congratulations! For killing an enemy a full tier higher than your own, you have acquired the title Underdog (D).

  Beatrice quickly distributed her free stat points between agility, intelligence, and wisdom. Five for agility, and the rest to somewhat equalize intelligence and wisdom. She felt her perception of her mana clarify and was able to pull the honey from the lungs of the poor beast. The other deer in the area didn't notice the commotion, since the tier two deer were given more space to themselves.

  Despite planning on killing another deer, Beatrice hesitated to kill one in the same fashion. It was definitely quieter than using a gun, or even a knife probably, but it was also gross. She resolved to finish off one more deer before calling it a night and picked her next target.

  Her next target was almost identical to the first, and she used the same exact method to kill it as well. She watched it writhe on the ground as it slowly died.

  You have killed a Greater Black-tailed Doe Level 4 Tier 2.

  Congratulations! You have reached Level 7.

  Beatrice was disgusted, and she almost felt sick at what she'd done. But dead was dead, and it wasn't really worse than tearing into them with tooth an claw. Beatrice didn't bother collecting the honey from the deer's lungs, because that would be nasty. And she had some spare honey in her honey stomach. Unfortunately she didn't have a use for the body so it would go to waste.

  Beatrice went to distribute he free stat point and noticed that she had sixteen instead of the expected fourteen. She was getting another stat point from somewhere, and looking over her stat points she suspected it was from her race evolution. She put the free points into intelligence, wisdom, and endurance. Now her status looked like this.

  Race: Stunted Juvenile Silverwood Honeybee Queen Level 7 Tier 1

  Strength:10

  Agility:25

  Endurance:15

  Vitality:10

  Intelligence:31

  Wisdom:32

  Charisma:43

  Free Stat Points:

  Skills: Honey Manipulation (C), Sweet Seduction (C), Sweet Honeybee Dancing (C), Pretender's Royal Decree (D), Aura of Authority (E), Sacrificial Strike (E), Lay Egg (E), Swarm (F), Novice Wax Construction (F), Novice Honey Production (F), Novice Soothing Buzzing (F)

  Mutations: Suicidal Stinger (F), Venom Gland (F), Maneuverable wings (F), Ovaries (F)

  Equipment: Cape of Authority (E)

  Titles: Reincarnator (A), Kin-Slayer (C), Royal Pretender (C), Survivor (D), Underdog (D), Pariah (E)

  Looking at the new additions to her status was satisfying to Beatrice. If she ignored a couple items, which she did. She even forgot about the deer murder for a moment.

  Ian flew over and landed next to her. "We should head back now." he said, looking unbothered by what Beatrice had done. Ian's calm helped her calm down as well, and she nodded in agreement.

  The flight back was uneventful aside from a huge silver moth twice Ian's size trying to nab him, but they avoided the moth with a bee's trademark maneuverability and made it safely home an hour before nightfall.

  "Good night Ian." Beatrice said drowsily, walking over to the honeycomb and laying down.

  "Have a good night dear Beatrice. I look forward to another interesting day tomorrow."

  Ian was still shocked at Beatrice's nerve, at how she dared to hunt a tier higher than herself. He could tell that she'd surpass him in no time at this rate, and he didn't know what else he could do except to steel his nerve and go hunting himself. He was inspired by watching her fight using her wits, and not at all in the suicidal fashion of other honeybees.

  After he was certain Beatrice was asleep, Ian gathered a bundle of silver wood twigs and splinters the size of one of his front legs. He had plenty of spare wood from his carpentry practice, which meant plenty of materials for what he planned to do. He had no intention of losing his place as Beatrice's guide and protector due to his own weakness.

  Once he was ready, he flew off into the night clutching his supplies with his legs, with only the moonlight to guide him.