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

hard work, my accumulated experience, all the ridiculous good luck I’ve had? It hasn’t been easy to survive to this

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

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 ten MP that

to advance now into what is likely more dangerous territory than I have

of being able to use

to five and evolve again? Which also means

amass skill points as an unevolved creature which could allow me to gain more

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

control of my body and shaken the dust off my mind as I reach the end of the tunnel.

a deep breath I walk out into the

this place is so

left and right the walls curve away into the distance to a place I cannot see,

something I’ve been thinking more on. As an insect, I don’t have regular eyes like a 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

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 I’m essentially watching

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

Any clues Gandalf?

...

state. For all his immense wisdom the grey one has been very taciturn, or perhaps he’s just

little extra advice would surely be

me to do but move

down the slope, leaving the shelter of the small tunnel

this place, it feels

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

is just so alien, for the first time

plants with my front claw, snipping at them to see if they react. When they don’t respond I move toward a

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