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

Gandalf?! My hard work, 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

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 suffused with mana they

upgrade to my stats in order to condense the core which has given me, in effect,

advance now into what is likely more dangerous territory than I have experienced already, those increased stats would have

prospect of being able to use mana was just too tantalising in my

level one may not 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

actually better. I’ll have a second opportunity to amass skill points as an unevolved creature which

skill point 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

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 is

it. One slip and I would certainly plummet to my own death. To my left and right the walls curve away into

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 at in great detail, my eyes are able to look in many directions at once, but

frustrated by the blurry nature of my vision, especially over a distance. It probably also explains why I’ve been able to avoid having

choice for me and they’ll probably be the first body part I mutate to +5. Since skills can evolve at +5 I’m

Any clues Gandalf?

...

be surprised at this state. For all his immense

extra advice would surely be helpful

for me to do but move

of the small tunnel and exposing myself to the

enough word to describe this place, it feels like a fully enclosed world, like

way through the 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 ... forest ... pulses

the first time I really think to myself,

and plants with my front claw, snipping at them to see if they react. When they