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

one 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?!

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

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

more dangerous territory than I have experienced already,

choice, the prospect of being able to use mana was just too tantalising

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 the precious skill points

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

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

full control of my body and shaken the dust off my mind as I reach the end of the tunnel. Beyond here lies the vast underground

deep breath I walk out into the open air once

this place is so

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

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

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 I’m

still believe upgrading 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

Any clues Gandalf?

...

his immense wisdom the grey one

little extra advice would

me to do but move

the shelter of the small tunnel and exposing myself to the open air

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

I can. Strange twisted trees, huge oversized mushrooms and a carpet of plant-life underneath face me everywhere I turn. The whole ... forest ... pulses

scene is just so alien, for the first time I really think to myself, this is absolutely another

see if they react. When they don’t respond I move toward a giant mushroom. These