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

am I level one Gandalf?! My hard work, my accumulated experience, all the ridiculous good luck I’ve had? It hasn’t

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

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 I can’t use. Was this really

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

I’ve made the wrong choice, the prospect of

that I’ll be able to level back up to five and evolve again?

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

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

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

breath I walk out into the

this place is so

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

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

over a distance. It probably also explains why I’ve been able to avoid having anything sneak up

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 excited to see what will happen when a mutation

Any clues Gandalf?

...

all his immense

little extra advice would surely be

stalling. There isn’t anything left for me to

down the slope, leaving the shelter of the small tunnel and exposing myself to the open air of this

enough word to describe this place, it feels

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

first time I really

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 height of an adult

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