By the time Saroia finally came back, there were nine Honningbies walking around the chamber. Despite them all having identical appearances of naked, honey-streaked girls with fluttering wings, Erlea didn't have difficulty keeping each one separate in her mind. There was something subtle about their appearances or personalities that were as blatant as if they wore clothes or had different accents.
Miere remained close to Erlea, her slender body nestled close to Erlea's flanks and one arm slipped around her waist. Their breasts caressed each other, a sensation that felt good every time skin caressed along Erlea's hard nipples or along the sensitive part between her inner thighs.
Saroia strode down the corridor. “Well, it looks like that are all the chambers ready to crack tonight. Are you girls ready to get tested?”
“Tested?” asked one of the girls.
Saroia gestured down the corridor opposite to herself with her good arm. Mutely, the girls obeyed to the silent order and started down.
Erlea was near the middle and walked with her hand firmly clasped with Miere's. Her bare feet were more sure now that she had a chance to walk around and she found it easy to traverse the slightly slick surface of the waxy floor.
“While you are all Honningbies, each one of you have different skills, talents, and powers. Some of you have Transform, which will help you create the hives and shape our tools. A small portion may even have Healing.”
Erlea glanced at Miere who blushed. She squeezed her friend's hand before they continued down the hallway.
“If we are lucky, at least one of you will have Energy Blast or Barrier. We lost a few guards in the last week and having someone to defend the hive would make me feel a lot safer.”
“Defend from what?”
“Mostly goblins, giant rats, and rabid bunnies these days. It's a low level region so there are a lot of beginning adventures slaughtering them left and right.”
Erlea wasn't entirely sure what Saroia was talking about but didn't want to ask questions. She wondered if she would have Transform or Healing, that seemed to be the more interesting power that the older Honningbie listed. Being thrown into a fight was much scarier and she didn't think she could be useful to anyone if she was defending with her life.
With Saroia's guidance, the small swarm of Honningbies traveled through the twisting corridors until they came up to a large chamber. Like the rest of the hive that Erlea had seen, the walls of the chamber were waxy hexagonal chambers but these were hollowed out and fitted with shelves and cabinets. The center of the chamber had a wide, cleared-out space down the middle ending with a scorched wall of firm hexagons. Tables and chairs littered the rest of the space, many of which had piles of supplies on them.
A sign was posted at the entrance, the hexagon-shaped letters spelling out “Testing.”
“Um, excuse me?” she started to ask.
“Yes, Erlea?”
“Why can I read?”
Saroia smiled. “Good question. Everyone in this world is born will a full set of knowledge and skills. We also grow quickly, for most monsters it a matter of hours before the region refreshes with a new set. For breeders like us, it is a week or so.”
“How long until we're full grown?” came another question.
“Days, end of the week you should look like me.” Saroia tapped her much larger breasts and wider hips.
Erlea noticed that she had the same tightly pressed lips between her legs. They looked impenetrable as her own but then she remembered how she responded to Miere's grabbing of her wings. The flush and helplessness still haunted her, she wanted it and feared it the same time.
Saroia took the lead and guided the swarm to the center of the chamber. There were perches to sit down, tall enough that fresh wings wouldn't touch the ground. She gestured for them to sit and they did.
“This is testing…” She looked around. “Where is Bille?”
One of the tables shifted. Erlea gasped as a woman stood up. Unlike the Honningbies, Billie was far different than anything she had seen before. There was no pale skin or honey hair. Instead, the woman was shorter and bulkier, with hard shells protecting much of her body. The only places where the carapace didn't protect revealed muscular dark skin. She was humanoid, just like Erlea, but looked far more dangerous.
When Billie stood up, her bare stomach flexed and Erlea felt a flutter of heat racing through her. “Right here, boss. Just waiting for you to get the grubs.”
Saroia's eyes narrowed. “Bees.”
“Yeah, yeah. Bees.” Billie staggered toward the center. Her fingers were long and bare, the dark skin almost the reverse of the gathered swarm of Honningbies' pale skins. As she walked, the carapace moved differently, giving a flash of chocolate breast or the shadowed spaces between her legs. Erlea wondered if she had a tight opening just like herself.
Saroia turned to the swarm. “This is Billie. She's a Kever who has been hired to protect the hive. She will help be helping with the testing process.”
Billie grunted and looked around. Her wide brown eyes caught Erlea and Erlea flinched. The beetle woman chuckled and reached up. Her hand melted for a moment and then reformed into a short dagger which she proceeded to use to pick her nose.
Saroia rolled her eyes. “We are going to test for the five basic powers a Honningbie has: Transform, Healing, Energy Blast, and Barrier. The test might be a bit scary, but I promise you—”
Erlea fluttered her wings. “Excuse me, Saroia?”
“Yes?”
“You said five powers?”
Saroia hesitated for a moment. “There is also Killing Attacks—ranged and hand-to-hand—but that's rare even among young bees like you. There are also Summon, Gadgets, and a few other specialties that none of you will have.”
“Guess there is more than five,” said Billie with a smirk.
Erlea grinned and looked away, her wings fluttering.
Saroia took a deep breath. “We'll test you for the four,” she spat out the word, “powers and that will determine who will finish your training before you are put on duty at the end of the week.”
The older woman pointed to one of the young Honningbie. “Come on, Lazia, let's start with you.”
The nervous bee girl got off her seat and walked to where Saroia and Billie moved to the end of the cleared out space.
“Okay, let's start with the combat abilities. I want you to make a fist with your right hand.”
Around Erlea, the other bee girls mimicked the movement as they watched in fascination. Erlea glanced down to see that she was doing the same, balling her hand into a fist. As she stared, she felt a flickering of power rising up inside her. She wanted to stretch out her hand and push at it, to release the energies that gathered.
“Now, do you feel energy gathering?”
“Y-Yes,” whimpered the girl.
“Good, that's Energy Blast. Just concentrate on it and then aim down the aisle. See those metal hexagons? Point at there and try to punch the air toward it.”
Lazia obeyed and there was a spark of light that streaked across the chamber to hit the far plate with a loud “ping” noise. She gasped and dropped her hand. “I did it!”
One of the Honningbie on opposite side of Erlea let out a flash of light on her own. It slammed into the waxy floor with a burst of heat and a splash of scorched honey. She screamed and stumbled back, falling off her stool with an inarticulate shriek.
Saroia held up her hand. “Don't do it yourself! Wait until we can do it safely.”
A hum of embarrassed Honningbies filled the room. Erlea relaxed her hand, she was almost going to do the same thing.
Billie smirked. She stretched out her hand and the limb reformed into a sword for a moment. She shook her weapon hand a few times before it broke apart back into long, dark fingers.
Erlea blushed and relaxed her grip.
“So, Idolis has Energy Blast also. Maybe 1d6?”
“Got it,” said the beetle woman without doing anything else.
Saroia turned back to Lazia. “Good, now let's see if you can form a barrier.”
“How do I do that?”
Billie's grin grew harsher.
Erlea tensed, her muscles tightening as she started to lift him up her hand.
“Look at Billie.”
Confused, Lazia turned.
Billie's hand snapped out, the fingers stretching into a shimmering sword. The blade sparked with light as it came down in an arc directly toward her head.
Lazia screamed out, which redoubled as a red line appeared across her breasts. Then, as everyone stared, droplets of blood oozed out from the cut.
The beetle woman stood back. “No barrier.”
Saroia pulled Lazia into a hug. “Don't worry.”
“It… hurts.”
Miere reached out, her hand glowing softly with the light green energies.
Saroia didn't seem to notice as she spoke firmly to Lazia. “Can you heal? You'll have this urge to touch it.”
Tears rolling down her cheeks, Lazia shook her head.
Saroia started to say something but then noticed Miere. There was another Honningbie reaching out with the same glow. She smiled and beckoned. “Come on, Miere.”
Miere slipped off her chair and walked across. Her nude body shimmered in the yellowed light as she pressed her palm against Lazia's cut. Almost instantly, the glow slid along the cut and the wound sealed up.
Saroia nodded. “Miere has Healing, a strong talent. Maybe 2d6 too.”
“Got it, boss.”
“Stay here, Miere. Lazia, one last test.” Saroia picked up a sphere of wax. “Take this.”
Lazia did.
“What do you feel?”
“It's waxy and heavy.”
“Does it feel liquid?”
Lazia sniffed and shook her head.
“Probably no Transform. Thank you, Lazia. Miere?”
Miere took the wax in her hand. She gasped as she stroked it.
“What do you feel?”
“It's…” Miere's voice trailed off for a second. “It feels like squishy. Like it wants to fall apart.”
“Good. Can you imagine it in the shape of a cup?”
Erlea watched as her friend concentrated for a moment. Then, to her surprise, the wax began to flow into a delicate cup shape with a flared stem.
“Very nice. You have Transform in addition to Healing. That is a very useful set of powers. How much—”
Miere reached up and the wax shifted again, this time stretching out into a spear. The honey brown faded into a gray-color. When she set down the spear, it rang out.
“—you have Major Transform,” finished Saroia with a gasp of her own. Her wings fluttered and she stroked Miere's arm. “You are definitely getting special training for sure.”
Miere blushed and looked over at Erlea. She smiled.
Erlea relaxed her hands, wishing she could touch the wax and have it shape with nothing more than a thought. She wondered if she was jealous for her friend. Miere had reshaped her wings, now the touch was obviously part of her Major Transform powers.
Saroia gave Miere a tight, one-armed hug. “Good girl. Now, let's test for Energy Blast and Barrier.”
Miere had neither, but she was able to heal Billie's wound quickly. When they finished the test, she was beaming from the compliments. Nervously, she rushed over to Erlea, gave her a tight hug, and then sat down on her chair. Her hand remained in Erlea's.
“Erlea?”
Erlea's heart beat faster. She slipped free of the other bee girl and hurried over despite her nervousness.
Saroia held her a waxy ball. “What do you feel?”
As much as Erlea wished it wasn't true, there was nothing. No liquid sense, no feeling of it moving. She tried to wish it to obey but it remained solid in her grip. She sighed and handed it back with a bowed head.
“It's okay, not everyone has Transform. Billie?”
Erlea gasped and spun around as Billie launched forward with her sword hand. Before the sound came up, Erlea threw her hands up in front of her and a shimmering yellow field burst into existence. It was translucent with a faint pattern of a honeycomb.
Billie's sword crashed against it. The hexagons on the shield flared brightly before the sword slid down to jam into the waxy floor. She spun back and then grinned. “Yes! Its a strong one!” Her hand transformed into a thicker sword. With a surge forward, she jumped up and brought it down into a two-handed blow.
Erlea screamed in shock and fear. With her other hand, she punched the air toward Billie. A burst of energy exploded from her knuckles. It streaked into the shield and through it with only a ripple of power. The blast slammed into Billie's shoulder, shattering carapace and tearing into the dark flesh. A gout of blood sprayed high into the air as the attack stripped away skin and exposed bone.
When the blood sprayed the stunned Honningbies sitting on the other side, they screamed out themselves.
“Fuck! This is fantastic!” yelled Billie as her sword slammed into the barrier. There was a flicker of power but the energy held. She spun and attacked again. Her movements were fast and powerful, Erlea could feel her spherical barrier cracking under the force. The beetle woman continued to attack with an insane look in her eyes despite the bloody wound in her shoulder and blood spraying everywhere.
Erlea punched the air again, firing another blast into the beetle woman. The attack was easier, she didn't have to punch nearly as hard before the energy launched itself.
This time, Billie caught it with a sudden shield in her other hand and the explosion burst back. The heat flash melted the floor underneath them but stopped at the edge of Erlea's shield.
Billie attacked again, hammering down. Her feet slopped through the melted wax as she struck fast and hard.
“Stop!” yelled Saroia but the beetle girl wasn't listening.
Staggering back, Erlea tried to get a clear of the weapon. Her barrier followed her. The bottom traced along the ridges of the floor preventing even a gap between the energy and the wax. She needed to get away from the attacking warrior. With a surge, she lunched herself up into the air and beat her wings powerfully to hover. Air swirled around her and passed through the shield as she flew out of range of the beetle.
Billie looked up with an insane grin that bared teeth. “Strategy? Thank you!” She crouched down and leaped. She covered the distance between them in an instance.
Erlea punched the air, firing bolt after bolt into Billie. Most of them struck, shattering carapace, and spraying blood everywhere. Shocking white edges of ragged bones were exposed but somehow the fighter didn't even slow down.
Billie refused to give up. She jumped off Erlea's shield, but instead of going down, she flew up into the air. Her good foot and arm gripped the roof of the chamber before she surged back down. A massive hammer formed in her hand, the head twice her size.
Erlea tried to shoot it but Billie was moving too fast.
The hammer exploded against the barrier. The honeycomb pattern grew bright but then crumbled apart.
Before Erlea could respond, the massive head shattered the barrier and it caught her hip. With a sickening crunch of bone, she was thrown down with powerful force, crushing her wings as she was slammed into the half-melted wax.
Billie landed over her, the heels of her boots punching into the wax on either side. She was excited, a flush coursing through her body as she lifted the hammer high above her head.
Daze, Erlea could only stare at the killing weapon.
“Billie” screamed Saroia. A flash of light slammed into the side of the fighter, heat and lightning crackling loudly as the blast deafened Erlea.
Billie, on the other hand, didn't even flinch. She swung down. Her weapon blurred and then it was a narrow dagger. The tip punched into Erlea's shoulder with a sharp burst of agony.
The young bee girl screamed out in pain.
Billie, panting and grinning, stood up.
Another of Saroia's energy blasts slammed into her. She flinched slightly and stepped off. Waving away the acrid smoke that hung around her, she peered down at Erlea. “Can you heal that?”
Sobbing in pain, Erlea tried to summon healing energy like she saw Miere do. Nothing came. She sobbed and slumped back, her body soaked with sweat, honey, and melted wax.
“Billie, what were you doing?”
The beetle woman looked at Saroia. “RKA, I'd say three DCs, give or take. Barrier has at least ten PD and three ED. The shield is mobile but fixed in shape. I say it is centered on her and probably guess it is zero range. She can fly with it and shoot through it, so one-way.” The insane look was completely gone, leaving only being a satisfied smile. “No Healing though.”
Miere rushed over and landed on the ground. Her wings fluttered as she spread her hands out and the healing energies began to seep into Erlea brutalized body.
Saroia glared. “Thank you.”
Billie shook her hands and then her form blurred, the carapace growing and then shrinking. As it did, the broken bones snapped back into place and the skin knitted over the bleeding wounds. She seem unbothered by the incredible damage done to her body. “No problem, boss. Keep her, she's the best you're going to see in a long time.”
“Thank you, however I will decide that,” came the terse reply. “Anyone who hasn't been tested come over here and try to heal Erlea. Miere, hold off so we can see if anyone else can heal.”
Miere resisted until Saroia pried her free.
“Trust me, Miere, I'll let you finish the healing. Don't worry, your friend is a hunter. She's going out to kill monsters.”
Erlea didn't know if she was happy or sad. Only that there were countless hands pressing against her naked and bloody body. She closed her eyes and sank into the warmth of healing magic.