Bee furnace (1)

A cave…

Well, what was I expecting…

<Numerically, cave type dungeons do still make up the vast majority. Random dungeon assignment almost always ends in a cave type. Rarely, as you've seen before, there are forest types. Beyond those two, it takes luck to get anything different.>

I guess these standard dungeons aren't so bad. Caves do present a direct advantage for monsters as we can see better in dim places and prepare ambushes. And speaking of ambushes!

"Jake, now that I have helped you gain a combat skill I hope you are ready to build some traps until you get that skill too."

"Why do you sound so different? Are you trying to pose as someone else?"

Jake doesn't find my admittedly a bit overblown enthusiasm contagious. While that does make me sad, I am surprised to find him gathering a pile of stalactites.

"What's gotten into you? Did you suddenly get some motivation?"

"I guess I felt bad for giving you such a hard time. You were right, I was kinda running away from all this. Deep down I felt regretful about taking the deal. Honestly, I still do…"

"But?"

"When you asked me why I had accepted that deal in the first place I remembered. I wanted to stop being the weakling I was. And while I still feel like running away, I have decided to gather my courage and try a bit harder."

Wow, looks like my work is already half done. I smile proudly at my disciples reformation and gesture for him to continue.

"Well then, go forth and build some traps!"

"…"

"What?"

"About that… digging a hole as large as the previous one will take forever since the cave floor is made of rock. I gathered the stalactites first to give myself time to come up with a solution but I'm kinda stuck."

True, having him dig pits into the rocky floor is a waste of time. Guess I'll help out a little. With my earth magic at level 6 I don't even need to form a symbol to make a small pit in the ground. All I need to do is to send some magic into the ground through my legs and will the hole to appear.

<Have you been secretly practicing? You became a symbolic elementalist! You're not supposed to be able to just ditch the runes. After your first brute force success you have to hone your ability to transition for countless times!>

Well, but these aren't even real spells… I just use magic. With spells I might still have to practice like you said but this much isn't difficult.

<Did you really just do that? You partially overcame a mental block by just believing that small magic wasn't counted? You have to write a thesis on that! This is groundbreaking magic theory! You just found a way around in be of the biggest obstacles mages face in their early days!>

Cool your jets. It doesn't work on spells so it's just good for low level stuff.

<And that's how you learn to do it for high level stuff! Every time you use magic without runes you get that feeling of not being constrained. That same feeling will become the key to unlocking spells without runes.>

Guess I got real lucky.

<Again…>

Well, it was time for my luck to turn around.

"I'm done. How'd I do?"

Ah, while I was busy getting told how great I am, Jake has managed to finish the pitfall. It looks remarkably similar to the last one. Just a totally not conspicuous flooring made of bee wax.

"Did you make any changes compared to last time?"

"Glad you asked! I actually made the edges a lot thicker so they can support a human's weight for a while. This way they'll only fall once they step further in."

"That's a good idea. Now, what do you think is the biggest weakness your trap cure has?"

"There's only one. After it is triggered I'm out of options."

"A valid point but isn't there something else? Something that might go wrong before the trap is triggered?"

"I'm drawing blanks here."

"What color is the cave wall?"

"Grey? Oh, the trap isn't hidden at all, huh. I am so accustomed to how hive walls look that I completely overlooked the difference in texture and color. Do I have to camouflage it?"

"That's certainly a possibility. But I doubt it would be worth the effort. Why don't you just normalize it?"

Jake looks at me like I'm an idiot.

"How would I normalize give walls in a cave type dungeon? Should I found a newspaper and spread fake news about hive walls in dungeons? Might take a while to get results and I'm not exactly rich enough to found a newspaper."

"Sigh. Jake, just make a few fake ones around and the real one will instantly be less conspicuous. Also, make a small hive with some honey inside. That will make most adventurers think this is normal."

Jake slaps his head with one of his arms. Or are those considered legs?

Then, he gets to work. I help him a little by using earth magic to created indentations for the hive walls. That way, they look just like the inlaid hive wall concealing the actual trap. With a dozen fakes, the real one doesn't look out of place at all.

Next, Jake begins to build the hive itself though he tells me that it's much smaller than the real one since there is no queen. It's really just a small room for him to stay in along with a honey depository.

I feel like Jake's honey itself holds a large number of possibilities. However, I don't want to give him too many things to focus on at once. That heat skill and trap making should be enough to keep him busy for the foreseeable future.

I'll talk to him about the possibilities of developing his honey once he has gained some mastery over the other two.

Now, was this enough to teach Jake the trap making skill? Let's take a look.