Hua Mi manipulated a group of forest swift bees with his thoughts, and before long, he began to feel his focus waver, finding it challenging to concentrate.
His mind felt shattered, as if he had been solving advanced math problems for hours, causing a decrease in his control over the bee swarm.
The tangible result was that the bee formation gradually became disorganized, no longer marching in disciplined order. Hua Mi had to stop periodically to reorganize them.
"I'm losing my concentration... It's quite exhausting to control the bee swarm continuously."
Before this, he had only given the bees simple commands, so the effects were not very noticeable. However, as time went on, especially after the recent battle with the monsters, his energy was greatly depleted.
"I've miscalculated. It seems there are many challenges to overcome in realizing my plan to cultivate bees in this parallel world."
Whether it was searching for new sources of nectar, breeding new bee species, or building a greenhouse, none of it was as straightforward as it sounded.
At this moment, he truly understood that the beginning of any endeavor was always the most difficult.
Back when he first entered the beekeeping industry, he had directly inherited his grandfather's business, with established channels and resources. He hadn't experienced the early stages of building from scratch.
Now, as he looked around, there were problems that needed solutions everywhere, and it was overwhelming.
"I'm still far from getting everything on track."
Considering his depleting energy, Hua Mi came up with a solution. He had the bee swarm take a break on his backpack. His survival backpack instantly turned into a fear of bees' paradise.
He chose this command because it was simpler compared to direct control, and it consumed less energy to maintain.
"I'm so clever," Hua Mi self-affirmed with a sense of pride.
However, he felt that his energy was running out too quickly. While he could continue exploring, he had to consider leaving some room for the return journey. Losing control of the bee swarm due to fatigue could result in losing the entire swarm.
If he could find nectar-rich flowers or other valuable resources ahead, it would be great. But the probability of that was quite low, and risking the loss of an entire bee swarm for a likely fruitless exploration didn't seem like a smart trade-off.
"I shouldn't rush things in the early stages. I need to take it slow. Besides, I have to take care of the bee colonies back home, and I can't leave them for too long."
He decided to explore the areas ahead later.
During the upcoming rainy season and winter, if there were no nectar sources, he would accept it. After working tirelessly for half a month, he believed that allowing the bees to rest for a while wouldn't hurt.
Balancing work and rest was crucial for a longer, more productive life.
This time, he could focus on cultivating new bee species and preparing for the construction of the greenhouse during the honey harvest lull.
Moreover, the honey produced by the moonflower fields he had observed was abundant. With his estimates, conservatively, his 30-plus bee colonies could eventually produce around 500 bottles of moonflower honey (calculated at 500g net weight per bottle). It would be enough to sustain him for a while.
So, Hua Mi, due to his lack of experience, ventured only a few miles in one direction. Eventually, he decided to turn back, considering his excessive energy consumption.
He successfully returned to his small cabin.
However, due to his extreme fatigue, he fell asleep immediately.
He slept through the night and woke up with a slight feeling of emptiness. Staring at the simple and modest wooden cabin ceiling, he pondered about life for a while.
"Even though I didn't accomplish anything today, I still worked hard."
Hua Mi sighed and got up, consuming a few spoonfuls of honey to replenish his energy. The bees had already returned to their hives as it was getting dark, so he went outside to bring the beehives into the cabin.
Soon, the cabin was filled with forty beehives, with two placed in the front.
These hives contained the bees used in mutation experiments.
Calculating the time, the bees inside would soon emerge from their cocoons.
"Come on, let me see your potential."
With so many experimental bees, Hua Mi couldn't believe that not a single one of them had developed a useful trait.
After some time...
"Damn it! Only one of them!"
Hua Mi couldn't help but curse.
To be honest, it was quite disappointing.
Out of over 16,000 bees, only one had evolved a beneficial trait. The probability was indeed too low.
The rest either died, were deformed, or had no significant changes in their attributes. Clearly, they were all failed cases.
"Is it because I'm too unlucky, or is it the mutation agent itself that's the problem?"
Hua Mi started to doubt his life. It was quite frustrating.
The only successful bee had evolved a rather remarkable ability. In simple terms, it could harden specific parts of its body.
It was indeed amazing, but it didn't seem to have much practical use.
This trait didn't improve honey harvesting efficiency, and it actually slowed the bee down. In terms of combat capability, the improvement didn't seem very significant either.
After some simple tests, it was evident that the hardened body parts had impressive toughness. After hardening, they looked like they had crystallized and could easily pierce through the hard wood of the cabin.
However, the limitations of the size of the stingers meant it wasn't a game-changing weapon.
Furthermore, full-body hardening significantly reduced mobility.
It was worth noting that the stingers of this new bee species, once hardened, didn't detach like those of regular bees. The ability to harden the body should enhance their resilience to harsh environments, and from this perspective, the bee's survival rate would increase.
"Moreover, if I manage to breed a group of them, all with hardened bodies standing in front of me, it would be like having a shield. They should be able to withstand most attacks. Stinging outward would be like a thorny shield, and it could even have a counterattack."
Hua Mi's thoughts continued to expand. If he had a sufficient number of these bees, he could have them harden their bodies and cover him like armor.
Of course, it might look a bit unusual...
All in all, it had some usefulness. While it didn't improve honey production, it increased his safety in this world.
When it came to evaluating bee species, in addition to attributes like lifespan, reproductive capability, and productivity, he might also need to consider combat capability.
Combat ability typically involved a combination of attributes such as attack, defense, and speed, similar to how games assessed characters.
He hadn't decided the specifics yet and planned to think it through later when he returned. He wanted to record this new bee species in his notes.
"First, let's make a copy of it."
Hua Mi duplicated the template of the armored bee.
He also needed to deal with those bees that had failed to evolve. This was an essential task, as any contamination of the gene pool could be disastrous.
The method of disposal was straightforward. He would give them a humane end by burying them in the flower fields. Bees were not without compassion; turning into spring soil would protect the flowers.
As for the small number of bees that hadn't shown any noticeable changes, he would redistribute them among various bee colonies, allowing them to return to their happy life of production.
"Wait a minute, this bee..."
While assigning one of the bees to a colony, Hua Mi sensed something unusual.
Upon closer inspection, he discovered that this bee had also evolved a new trait, but its external manifestation was not clear, which is why he hadn't noticed it before.
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