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

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

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 were able to absorb it and hasten the

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

what is likely more dangerous territory than I have experienced

worry I’ve made the wrong choice, the prospect of being able to use

that I’ll be able to level back up to five

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

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

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

a deep breath I walk out into the open air once

place

and right the walls curve away into the distance to a place I cannot see, my eyesight isn’t good enough, even

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

of my vision, especially over a distance. It probably also explains why I’ve been able

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.

Any clues Gandalf?

...

immense wisdom the

would surely be

for me to do but move into this new

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

describe this place, it feels like a fully

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 me everywhere I turn. The whole ... forest ...

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

front claw, snipping at them to see if they react. When they don’t respond I move toward a giant mushroom. These things

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