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

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

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

though, I’ve sacrificed a significant upgrade to my stats in order to condense the core which has given me, in effect, only ten

more dangerous territory than

can’t help but worry I’ve made the wrong choice, the prospect of

that bad, doesn’t it mean that I’ll be able to level back up to five and evolve again? Which also means I’ll be able

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

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

the dust off my mind as I reach the end of the tunnel. Beyond here lies the vast underground space I

I walk out into the open

this place

my own death. To my left and

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 one place they are directly looking

probably also explains why I’ve been

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

Any clues Gandalf?

...

For all his immense wisdom the grey

advice would

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

I more down the slope, leaving the shelter of the small tunnel and exposing

large enough word to describe this place, it feels like a

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 ... forest ... pulses with the now familiar ambient

alien, for the first time I really think to myself,

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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