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

experience, all the ridiculous good luck I’ve had?

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

sacrificed a significant upgrade to my stats in order to condense the core which has given me, in effect, only ten MP that

more dangerous territory than I have experienced already, those increased stats

made the wrong choice, the prospect of being able to

back up to five and evolve

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

one 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 spell chanting has appeared in the list. I may not be able to resist the temptation! Be disciplined Anthony! Don’t let

I reach the end

deep breath I walk out into the open

this place

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

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

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

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 excited to see what will happen when a mutation reaches that level. Will I be able to

Any clues Gandalf?

...

shouldn’t be surprised at this state. For all his immense

advice would surely

left for me to do but move into this

I more down the slope, leaving the shelter of the small tunnel and exposing

describe this place, it feels like a fully

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 now

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

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

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