Chrysalis

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

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

I survey my new status, but when I notice 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

the core which has given me, in effect, only ten

than I

made the wrong choice, the prospect of being able to use mana was

be 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 to gain more of the precious skill points as

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 pace than evolving would

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 be able to resist

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

deep breath I walk out

this place is

sixty, maybe 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 into the distance to a place I cannot see, my eyesight isn’t good enough, even at plus four, to be able

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

explains why I’ve been so frustrated by the blurry nature of my vision, especially over a distance. It probably also explains why I’ve been able to avoid having anything sneak up on me, since

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

Any clues Gandalf?

...

I shouldn’t be surprised at this state. For all his immense wisdom the grey one has been very

little extra advice would surely

stalling. There isn’t anything left for me to do but

slowly I more down the slope, leaving the shelter of the small tunnel

large enough word to describe this place, it

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

just so alien, for the first time I really

they react. When they don’t respond I move toward a giant mushroom. These things are easily twice the height of an adult