After convincing Liliana, Draven finally relaxed and sat cross-legged on a dry rock.

  He placed the swollen, plump queen bee in front of him. The queen's round body remained motionless, like a big lump of soft jelly ready to burst at any moment.

  Draven closed his eyes and sank his consciousness inward, quickly entering his familiar mental space.

  The contract aura still hovered there, but this time, it enveloped not his former battle beast, but the newly and forcibly contracted Violet Carpenter Bee queen.

  The aura spun silently, radiating rings of golden waves, like some kind of mechanism waiting to be triggered. Draven stared at it, feeling a bit uneasy.

  To break the contract, he would have to mentally touch the aura. Once contact was made, he would automatically understand the abilities matched to this magical beast.

  Normally, this was an important way to boost combat power, but the queen's most outstanding feature wasn't destructive strength— it was an astonishing reproductive ability.

  He didn't want such a talent. If I suddenly gained the ability to lay eggs, how terrifying would that be? He twitched his lips in discomfort.

  What he didn't know was that far to the south, there was already a child of his.

  The pegasus-led escort team had safely brought Sylvia back to the Elven Kingdom in less than half a month.

  Deep inside the palace, Sylvia walked alone through familiar corridors toward the throne hall. As she stepped into the magnificent golden chamber, the elderly Elf King, Sigurd, sat on the throne, looking at her with a weary expression.

  When his gaze fell on the slight swelling of Sylvia's belly, his eyes grew complex.

  "Sylvia…" His voice was hoarse, as if weighed down by a night of heavy disappointment.

  Sigurd slowly sat down, like an ordinary old father worn down by his daughter's disobedience. He had lost his usual majesty, leaving only helplessness and age.

  Sylvia lowered her head, knelt gently before her father, and held his hand in hers. Her tone was soft but firm:"Father, this is my own choice. If the palace cannot accept him, I am willing to return to be by his side."

  Those words struck Sigurd's chest like a heavy hammer. His face instantly paled, but he couldn't utter a single rebuttal.

  He knew who Sylvia meant— the leader of the demi-human werewolves. This name had become taboo at elven noble banquets.

  A demi-human, a half-blood child— destined never to be accepted by noble elven society. But what could he do? Send her away? What if the Blood Elves caught her…

  Sigurd closed his eyes, pressed his lips tightly, and finally uttered one sentence:"Sylvia, go visit your teacher in the tower. His health isn't good."

  He had already made up his mind. At least before the child was born, he wanted her out of the palace's sight and away from gossip.

  High elves have a long gestation period. Perhaps by the time the child is born, that damned werewolf would already have died in some battle.

  But what about the child? Sigurd's eyes flickered as he watched her leave. Would the kingdom accept a mixed-blood heir? The answer was almost certainly no. Elves care about bloodline above all else.

  In the empty throne hall, the Elf King finally stopped hiding his emotions. He muttered curses under his breath, coarse words replacing his former elegance.

  ...

  Back in the mental space, Draven finally made up his mind. He took a deep breath and carefully touched the aura surrounding the queen bee with his spiritual energy.

  A gentle yet strange sensation immediately flooded his mind, as if wrapped in a warm breeze. There was none of the expected disgust, nor any terrifying records related to reproduction.

  He slowly opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.

  The queen flapped her wings twice, attempting to fly toward the cave entrance. But her huge body was weighed down by the unlaid eggs inside, unable to move.

  "Liliana, hurry and contract it, or once this thing sends a signal, those worker bees outside will swarm," Draven warned.

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  Liliana was already eager. Hearing his prompt, she immediately activated the beast ring. A gentle light enveloped the queen's body. The contract ritual took less than a minute, and the queen began to glow, officially becoming hers.

  At that moment, a roar of buzzing bees came from outside the cave.

  Liliana immediately ordered the queen mentally to soothe the hive and tell them to stay put. Sure enough, the previously restless swarm quieted instantly, and the wing-flapping slowed significantly.

  With the contract complete, a smile appeared on Liliana's face.

  Draven rubbed his temples and suddenly sensed a new ability within his body. He checked it out:"Soothing."

  A skill that calms and stabilizes emotions in others. He was momentarily stunned, then scowled in disdain.

  This is so boring. What, am I supposed to yell"calm down" during a fight and have the enemies stop and chat with me?

  Draven didn't care much and didn't take this skill seriously.

  After Liliana successfully contracted with the queen bee, the next step was the harvest. In theory, they could simply take the hive away since the storage ring had enough capacity. But in practice, problems arose.

  The hive wasn't just honey—there were a large number of bee pupae as well. The pupae were delicate and easily crushed. If they were roughly stuffed into the storage ring, there was a high chance they'd be crushed and ruined. These were not ordinary pupae—they were seeds that could hatch magical bees.

  Draven was helpless and had to choose the most troublesome but safest method.

  "Let the queen bee call the swarm back to the hive," he ordered, rolling up his sleeves and stretching his wrists.

  Liliana obediently nodded, closed her eyes, and communicated with the queen bee. Moments later, a buzzing sound arose as the Violet Carpenter Bees that had been scattered across the hillside began to converge toward the cave entrance, flowing like a living current, precise and swift in returning home.

  Taking advantage of the hive being stable and still, Draven gripped hard with both arms and forcibly broke off the huge hive—three or four meters wide and covered on the surface with pupae and honey—from the cliff wall. A rich, sweet aroma immediately spread out, and thick golden liquid slowly dripped down the edges of the hive.

  Even he couldn't help but swallow his saliva at this moment.

  The uneasy buzzing of the swarm rang in his ears, and Draven's muscles tensed. After all, being surrounded by such a large group of stinging bees that could make a druid cry out in pain was not exactly relaxing.

  Fortunately, the queen bee didn't let him down. The swarm only buzzed around him without any intention to attack.

  "Liliana, mount up."

  Liliana happily jumped onto the Nightmare Horse, her cheeks flushed with excitement. Draven summoned Ragnar, and while holding the massive hive, climbed on.

  The whole scene looked like a burly man carrying a giant jar of candy, delivering gifts to children.

  Even more amusingly, Liliana was nonstop the whole way.

  She was like a child who had just received their first magical pet gift, excited beyond control. Occasionally, she directed the bees through the queen bee to perform formation flying, even making the bees form a heart shape. Draven frowned constantly, the buzzing in his ears more annoying than magical noise.

  "If you keep playing, I'll eat all the honey in one go and see if you still want to play."

  Finally, the outline of the village appeared at the horizon.

  Draven pondered for a moment and decided to place the hive near the Flower and Fruit Mountain area. There, the sunlight was abundant and the plants plentiful—ideal for the bees to forage, and safe because it was far from the village.

  "Pick a sunny slope and dig a deep hole," he instructed, pointing in a direction. Liliana immediately rolled up her sleeves and got to work.

  In her bear form, she quickly dug a hole taller than a person. Draven carefully placed the hive inside, making sure the ventilation was good.

  After the initial setup, he asked Liliana to communicate with the queen bee, strictly ordering the swarm not to attack villagers, especially children.

  "You can't even handle getting stung yourself, let alone others," Draven teased with a glance.

  Liliana nodded earnestly.

  With everything settled, the two of them each held a large chunk of golden honeycomb and took a bite. Their mouths instantly filled with a rich sweetness, as if their entire tongues were coated in syrup.

  Just as they stepped out of the cave entrance, a commotion sounded ahead.

  Draven frowned slightly, releasing his spiritual senses, then raised an eyebrow with a playful smile.

  "Looks like it's pretty lively over by the pens."

  Sure enough, walking over, they saw Viola standing in front of the sheepfold, hair disheveled and helplessly watching the chaotic goats and wild deer inside.

  "Sis Viola! Honey for you!" Liliana called out sweetly, holding up the hive.

  But Viola didn't even look—her face was almost shattered by the noise of the sheep. Exhausted, she brightened when she saw Draven return.

  Apparently, shortly after Draven left, she had brought Eyebrow-Patterned King Serpent and a few female servants to the pens.

  They made the snake spit out the prey it had caught over the past few days—more than thirty goats and over ten wild deer.

  At first, everything went smoothly; the prey was unconscious and behaved like toys. The servants quickly cleaned them up and placed them in the two separate pens.

  But when the animals woke up, trouble started.

  The wild deer only struggled and wailed non-stop, but the goats seemed possessed, running wildly and crazily, breaking several horns and even knocking one goat unconscious!

  "None of my goats have ever been this crazy!" Viola cried, holding her head in despair."These can't be raised at all!"

  At that moment, Draven lazily walked up to the pens and said lightly,"Move aside, I'll try."

  He closed his eyes and activated his newly gained soothe skill. An invisible aura quietly released, making the air feel a little softer.

  After a moment, the restless goats and deer inside the pens gradually calmed down—no more screaming, no more wild running—like they'd been brainwashed, quietly standing and grazing.

  Viola's eyes widened as if she had seen magic."What's that?"

  "A pretty useless new skill, but turns out it's quite handy now." Draven shrugged with a smile.

  He casually took off his shirt and handed it to one of the servants."Hang this on the pen door, keep the scent to help stabilize their moods."

  "You really treat yourself like a sheep-whisperer?" Viola couldn't help but tease.

  Draven chuckled,"What do you know? Art comes from life."

  Looking at the now-quiet herd, he felt secretly pleased. It seemed that even some seemingly useless abilities had their moments to shine.