Chapter 178
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 178
Chapter Title: The Polished Diamond
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To be honest, bats aren't exactly the most familiar creatures to humankind.
It makes sense. Unlike people, whose lives are largely dictated by the daylight hours, most bats are nocturnal, sleeping during the day and active at night.
Besides, even if the world has gone to hell, our obsession with appearances remains unchanged.
Compared to cute and dependable dogs or cats, the looks of a bat are, to put it mildly, hideous.
Of course, some smaller fruit bats are quite adorable, but they’re just one of a few among countless species—hardly enough to make a difference.
‘And the disease problem can’t be ignored either.’
Was that all?
When people think of bats, viruses are often the first thing that comes to mind.
Along with rats, they are a notorious duo, infamous as a source of plagues.
You could call it prejudice, and it’s not like bats choose to carry all those antibodies, but what can you do?
That’s just how the world works.
‘Come to think of it, does that make them cousins to the Dig tribe?’
For some reason, if you stuck wings on the Digs, they could easily be mistaken for bats.
But just because they looked similar, I had no intention of carelessly lumping them into the same species.
After all, if you really thought about it, weren't honeybees quite similar to hornets, aside from the size difference?
In fact, if someone unfamiliar with them saw Deundeun-i or Teunteun-i, it wouldn't be strange at all for them to mistake them for giant hornets.
Well, not that I would ever accept that.
To Seong-hyeok, honeybees were precious, adorable creatures, while hornets were pests that needed to be squashed. The difference in his attitude was immense.
And so, Seong-hyeok put his preconceptions aside and faced the little boy and his bats.
“Jjiru! Jjirururu! Jjirurung!”
Jjirrrrrrr!
Jjiru and the bats explained passionately, their hands and feet wiggling.
Although we were hit by a language barrier, Seong-hyeok, who could understand Honeybee Language, grasped the general meaning.
“So, the more they eat, the stronger the bats get?”
“Jjirurung!”
Unlike Seong-hyeok, who grew stronger by consuming processed honey products, this was a unique class focused entirely on strengthening his familiars.
Normally, this would be the standard, and a Honeybee Guardian with the power to go toe-to-toe with a dragon would be the anomaly. But setting that aside, the bat boy was a decent find.
“The fact that bats can also help flowers bloom is new to me.”
It was as if to say that lookism and prejudice were wrong.
The beneficial effect of bats on nature.
It came down to their unique method of pollination.
Just as honeybees pollinate through natural fertilization with flowers, bats consume fruit and then spread the seeds through their droppings.
This was especially true for fruit bats, which primarily eat fruit, but even carnivorous bats were mostly omnivores and wouldn't pass up a good piece of fruit.
No, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they welcomed it.
Wheeeeing~
Wiiiing~
Those who have tasted the fruits borne from the honeybees’ natural pollination know their flavor best.
Now that the bats had experienced the rich taste of the plump, juicy fruits, what reason would they have to eat a passing honeybee?
Bzzzzzz~
Jjirrrrrrr~
A symbiotic relationship where the bees consumed honey and the bats ate fruit, protecting the ecosystem from respawning monsters and wildlife.
For a moment, he watched with satisfaction as they fluttered their wings and got along harmoniously.
“You all need to get along.”
Puk—!
Spotting a few carnivorous bats drooling as they stared at the honeybees, Seong-hyeok mercilessly jabbed them with his bee sting.
“……”
Unlike the healthy bee sting of the past, this was the true taste of a venom focused more on lethal poison.
It wasn't enough to kill them, but the warning would surely be seared into their bodies.
“You’d better manage your bats well. If they ever eat a honeybee, I won’t let it end with just this.”
“……Jji, jjiruu.”
When it came to his honeybees.
Especially when their lives were on the line, Seong-hyeok offered no forgiveness.
Jjiru shrank back under the murderous intent radiating from the level 71 player.
But since he hadn’t crossed the line yet, Seong-hyeok had no intention of dwelling on it further.
‘He should have gotten the message.’
If the bats had been a threat to the honeybees from the start, he wouldn't have let them live in the first place.
After a good lashing of the whip, it was time for a shower of carrots.
“You. Become one of our residents.”
“Jjiru!”
Seong-hyeok easily reeled him in with his secret weapon: Yeon Su-hee’s special honey beef jerky.
* * * * *
“Jji, jjiruuu……”
Abandoned in a cave for unknown reasons right after he was born, Jjiru.
Is there any need to describe what it must have been like for a little boy, who couldn't even remember his parents' faces, to survive with only bats for company?
From rotten fruit to insects.
Sometimes, even the severely decomposed carcasses of animals, swarming with all sorts of things.
Having never received proper nutrition, his insides were always a wreck, leaving him naturally emaciated. For a boy like him, the Korean bee farm was a whole new world.
“Tsk, damn it all. How can a boy be so scrawny? Hurry up and shovel this down!”
“I made some noodles. How do they taste?”
“Do you know kimchi?”
For a boy whose daily life consisted of starvation and being ignored, the attention from the residents was a gift.
It was surprising enough to be approached by people instead of bats for the first time in his life, but what shocked Jjiru even more was the food.
“Jji, jjirurururu—!!!”
An expression of pure bliss was etched onto his face.
He must have liked it a great deal, as he clutched the bowl with both hands and literally devoured its contents, looking as if he might eat the bowl itself.
“Look at him. He eats with such gusto.”
“Here, try some of this too.”
As if he had a vacuum cleaner in his stomach, Jjiru’s mouth sucked in food without pause.
He stuffed it in so relentlessly, without even a moment to savor the taste, that one might worry he would choke. But then, with a gulp, he patted his bulging belly.
“Jjiru, jjirrrrung.”
“Alright. Come by whenever you’re hungry.”
“I’ll pack you some snacks too, so you can have them when you’re feeling peckish.”
A hearty meal from Lee Yeon-bun, who was gruff but always took care of others, and Yeon Su-hee, a master chef.
As the saying goes, sitting makes you want to lie down, and lying down makes you want to sleep.
Just as a wave of drowsiness began to wash over him, Jjiru noticed his surroundings.
Wiiiing~
Wheeeeng~
The swarm of honeybees, working diligently at their tasks, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Even mealtime, essential for human survival, was unnecessary for the honeybees.
Brrrrr~
It made sense. For a honeybee, work was simultaneously the process of gathering nectar from flowers.
Therefore, honeybees had no need for separate breaks or rest.
A life lived for work, and died for work.
While a person would have collapsed from exhaustion or complained, the honeybees just kept moving forward, their bottoms wiggling busily.
“My goodness, watching these bees makes my body itch. I’d better get to work.”
“Hey, Mr. Jeong! I’ll bet I harvest more than you today.”
“Heh heh. You talk big for someone who doesn’t know his place. No matter how much you struggle, you’re still in the palm of my hand.”
Could it be described as a kind of contagious spirit?
Drawing strength from the hardworking bees beside them, the residents rose one by one and set off to work.
No one told them to, yet they went to their workplaces on their own.
When everyone without exception was in motion, one simply couldn't lie around alone.
Besides, wasn't Jjiru the newcomer here?
“Jjiru, jjirururu!”
As if to prove he was worth the feast he had just devoured.
He scurried about, looking for something he could do. Before long, Jjiru realized what he could do.
And he understood why Seong-hyeok had brought him to Korea instead of leaving him in Africa.
“Jjirrrr……”
Fourteen years old.
In Korea, he would be just starting middle school.
But Jjiru had lived a life incomparable to others his age, building his own legacy.
Jjirrrrrrr~
Fourteen years of a life dedicated solely to bats, built without help from anyone else.
To Jjiru, the bats were his parents, his children, his siblings.
He was human only in body.
Having grown up watching bats, his thoughts and way of life were that of a bat. Jjiru was already a bat himself.
Jjirrrrrrr~
Jjirrrrrrrrrrr~
That was why he could understand the bats’ reactions.
What they wanted was obvious.
(It’s feeding time!)
The bee farm, cultivated through the efforts of the honeybees, the World Tree, and countless residents.
No, this place, now a great forest, was even more lush and abundant than Africa.
With an environment that respawned mountains of sweet-smelling fruit and powerful monsters, could there be a better place to feast?
“Jjirrrrrrr—!!!”
[The effect of Hunting Night is now active.]
[The effect of the Bloody Red Moon is now active.]
[A deep darkness temporarily descends upon the area.]
[The thick scent of blood from the red moon excites the vampire bats.]
With Jjiru’s skill came darkness and a red moon.
Changing the surrounding environment could potentially harm allies as well as enemies, but things were different here.
Wing~ Wiiing~
Bzzzzzz—!!!
The honeybees, present everywhere on the bee farm.
Their nine-colored abdomens glowed in the dark like little stars guiding the way, so for the residents, it was just another day under the honey stars.
[Within the darkness, the instincts of allied bats are unleashed. All stats increase by 200%, and movement speed increases by 350%.]
[Stimulated by the scent of blood, the total blood-sucking capacity of vampire bats increases by 5 times, and their absorption speed is amplified by 10 times.]
Thus, the power of high-return with no risk was applied.
Like winged warriors cloaked in shadow, the dark wings swooped down from the sky.
It was a different kind of body slam from the honeybees, but the result was quite a spectacle.
“This is beyond my imagination.”
The monsters that had swarmed the area just moments ago were annihilated.
In contrast, the bats were completely unharmed.
Slurp, sluuuurp—
Crunch, craaack—
Without a single casualty, the bats feasted on the monster carcasses.
Among them was even a group of fruit bats, indulging in the fruits of the World Tree instead of the monsters!
“This is pretty good.”
Just as he had expected, this was a raw gem that could truly shine if polished well.
Just as a smile began to form on Seong-hyeok’s lips as he watched,
Woong— Woooong—
A flash of light erupted from a fruit bat that had been deliciously devouring a fruit from the World Tree.
The outcome of this clearly extraordinary state was beyond imagination.
Jjirrrrrrr~
A white species, an albino, which often symbolizes good fortune and appears in special creatures.
The fruit bat’s black form transformed, becoming as white as freshly fallen snow.
“……”
It meant only one thing.
The evolution of a familiar, something Seong-hyeok was also familiar with through his Queen Bees.
“Jjiru, jjirururu!”
He had picked up a talent thinking it was a nugget of gold.
But it wasn’t a raw gem.
It was a diamond, already perfectly cut and polished.