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

hard work, my accumulated experience, all the ridiculous good luck

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.

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

into what is likely more dangerous territory than

of being able to use mana was just too tantalising in my

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

I’ll have a second opportunity to amass skill points as an unevolved creature which could allow me to

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

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

deep breath I walk out into

this place

is sixty, maybe even seventy meters high, so high I absolutely refuse to climb on it. One slip and I would certainly plummet to my own death. To my left and right

more on. As an insect, I don’t have regular eyes like a human, 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 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, but the

especially over a distance. It probably also explains why I’ve been able to avoid having anything sneak up on me, since I’m essentially watching

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

Any clues Gandalf?

...

For all his immense wisdom the grey one has been very taciturn, or perhaps

little extra advice would surely be helpful

There isn’t anything left for me to do but move into this

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

a large enough word to describe this place, it feels like

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 ... pulses with the now familiar ambient

is just so 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.