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

I level 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?! Where is

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

the core which has given me, in effect, only ten MP that I can’t use. Was this really the correct

what is likely more dangerous territory than I have experienced already, those increased

help but worry I’ve made the wrong choice, the prospect of being able to use mana was just too tantalising in my

mean that I’ll be able to level back up to five and evolve again? Which also means I’ll be able to gain

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

which will need to be advanced once they reach level five. I won’t even look at the skills menu in case mana

my mind as I reach the end

out into

this place is so

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 cannot see, my eyesight isn’t good enough, even at plus four, to be able to see

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

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

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

Any clues Gandalf?

...

be surprised at this state. For all his immense wisdom the grey one has

extra advice would

left for me to do but move into this new

leaving the shelter of the small

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

my 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

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

at them to see if they react. When they don’t respond I move