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

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

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

in order to condense the core which has given me, in effect, only ten

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

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

up to five

this is actually better. I’ll have a second opportunity to amass skill points as an unevolved creature which could allow me to gain

won’t even look at the skills menu in case mana shaping or spell chanting has

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

out into the

this place is so

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

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

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 avoid having anything sneak up on

evolve at +5 I’m very excited to see what

Any clues Gandalf?

...

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

advice would surely be

me

leaving the shelter of the small tunnel

it feels like a fully enclosed world, like a

as far into the distance as I can. Strange twisted trees, huge

first time I really think to myself,

When they don’t respond I move toward a giant

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