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 accumulated experience, all the ridiculous good luck I’ve had? It hasn’t been easy to survive to this point you know?! Where is my

that my MP has gone from zero to ten 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. By drinking the water which was somehow suffused with mana they were able to absorb it and hasten the formation

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. Was this really

more dangerous territory than I have experienced already, those increased stats would have been super

worry I’ve made the wrong choice, the prospect of being able to use mana was just too tantalising in my

to five and evolve again?

second opportunity to amass skill points as an unevolved creature which could allow me to gain more levels and skill points at a

I won’t even look at the skills menu in case mana shaping or spell chanting has appeared in the list. I may not be able to resist the temptation! Be disciplined Anthony! Don’t let your

shaken the dust off my mind as I reach the

I walk out

place

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

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

my vision, especially over a distance. It probably also explains why I’ve been able to

my eyes has been the correct choice for me and they’ll probably be the first body part 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

Any clues Gandalf?

...

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

advice would surely

isn’t anything left for me to do but move into this new

the small tunnel and exposing myself to the open air

it feels like a fully enclosed

see as far into the distance as I can. Strange twisted trees, huge oversized mushrooms

just so alien, for the first time I really

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. These things are easily twice the

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