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

My hard work, my accumulated experience, all the ridiculous good luck I’ve had? It hasn’t been easy to

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. By drinking the water which was somehow suffused with mana

about though, I’ve sacrificed a significant upgrade to my stats in order to condense the core which has given me, in effect, only ten MP that I can’t use.

more dangerous territory than I have experienced already,

of being able to use mana

level back up to five and evolve again? Which

better. I’ll have a second opportunity to amass skill points as an unevolved creature which could allow me to gain more levels and skill points at a faster

level five. I won’t even look at the skills menu in case mana shaping or spell chanting has

of my body and shaken the dust off my mind as I reach the end of the tunnel. Beyond here

a deep breath I walk out

this place is so

even seventy 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

more to the point I can’t since

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

mutate to +5. Since skills can evolve at +5 I’m very excited to see what will happen when

Any clues Gandalf?

...

surprised at this state. For all his immense wisdom the grey one

little extra advice would surely be

me to do but move into this

the shelter of the small

isn’t even a large enough word to describe this place, it feels like a fully enclosed world, like a biome or

rocks I strain my eyes to see as far into the distance as I can. Strange twisted trees, huge oversized mushrooms and a carpet of plant-life underneath face me everywhere I turn. The whole

time I really think to myself,

the grasses and plants with my front claw, snipping at them to see if they react. When they don’t respond I move toward a giant mushroom.

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