Chrysalis

Chapter 24

I don’t know how much time had passed before I regain consciousness. The light slowly returns to my eyes and sensation to my limbs.

Deep inside my thorax (the middle bit) a hot, boiling feeling is slowly fading away, drawing in a dense ball of heat. Probably my new core.

Groggily I get my legs underneath me and start slowly moving through the tunnel again. No matter how weak I feel, I cannot stay here to rest, pursuers could be dropping down the shaft to investigate even now. I have to move.

Gradually my muddled thoughts begin to straighten themselves and my coordination slowly returns. As I navigate my way across the rocky tunnel I check my status.

Name: Anthony

Level: 1 (core)

Might: 15

Toughness: 12

Cunning: 25

Will: 18

HP: 30

MP: 10

Skills: Digging level 4; Improved Acid Shot Level 1; Grip Level 4; Bite Level 4; Advanced Stealth Level 1; Tunnel Sense Level 3;

Mutations: Eyes +4, Antennae +2, Acid +3, Legs +1

Species: Hatchling Ant Worker (Formica)

Skill points: 1

Biomass: 0

I level one Gandalf?! My hard work, my accumulated experience, all the ridiculous good luck

it raises my spirit a bit. Looks like my hunch was correct and the monster core is the vital ingredient to mastering magic for me and my fellow creatures down here. This could explain why so many monsters were drawn to the pool in the first cavern I was in.

to condense the core

have to advance now into what is likely more dangerous territory than

help but worry I’ve made the wrong choice, the prospect of

mean that I’ll be able to level back up to five and evolve again? Which also means I’ll be

as an unevolved creature which could allow me to gain more

available right now but I don’t want to spend it yet. I have several skills at level four which will need to be advanced once they reach level five. I won’t even look at the skills menu in case mana shaping or spell chanting has appeared in the list. I may not

regained full control of my body and shaken the dust off my mind as I reach the end of the tunnel. Beyond here lies the vast underground space I

breath I walk out into the

this place

meters high, so high I absolutely refuse to climb on it. One slip and I would certainly plummet to my own death. To my left and right the walls curve away into the distance to a place I cannot see, my eyesight isn’t good enough, even at plus four, to be able to see the ends

I don’t have regular eyes like a human, but compound eyes. This means a few things, firstly, my eyes don’t need to be wet, so I don’t have to blink, more to the point I can’t since I have no eyelids. Secondly, my eyes don’t have one point of focus, unlike a human who can see the

I’ve been so frustrated by the blurry nature of my vision, especially over a distance. It probably also

I mutate to +5. Since skills can evolve at +5 I’m very excited to see what will happen when a mutation reaches that level. Will I be able to advance

Any clues Gandalf?

...

his immense wisdom the grey one has been very taciturn, or

little extra advice would surely be

me to do but move

small tunnel and exposing myself to the open

describe this place, it feels like a

I can. Strange twisted trees, huge oversized mushrooms and a carpet of plant-life underneath face me everywhere I

scene is just so alien, for the first time I really think to myself, this

if they react. When they don’t respond I move toward a giant mushroom. These things

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