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

downgrades? Why am I level one Gandalf?! My hard work, my accumulated experience, all the ridiculous

but when I notice that my MP has gone from zero to ten it raises my spirit 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

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

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

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

not be that bad, doesn’t it mean that I’ll be able to level back up to five and evolve again? Which also

have a second opportunity to amass skill points as an unevolved creature which could allow

level five. I won’t even look at the skills menu in case mana shaping or spell chanting has appeared

as I reach the end of the

out into the open

place

and right the walls curve away into the distance to a

but compound eyes. This means a few 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

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

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 advance my

Any clues Gandalf?

...

all his immense wisdom the grey one has been very

little extra advice would surely be helpful

left for me to do but move into this

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

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

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

alien, for the first time

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

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