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

downgrades? Why am 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

as I survey my new status, 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 that I can’t use. Was

more dangerous territory than I have experienced already, those increased stats would have been

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

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

is actually better. I’ll have a second opportunity to amass skill points as an unevolved creature which could allow me to gain more levels and skill points at a faster pace than evolving

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

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

a deep breath I walk out into the open air

this place is

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 the walls curve away into the distance to a place I cannot see, my eyesight isn’t

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

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

+5. Since skills can evolve at +5 I’m very excited to see what will happen when a mutation reaches that level. Will I

Any clues Gandalf?

...

For all his immense wisdom the grey one has been very taciturn, or perhaps he’s just

advice would surely be helpful

left for me

the shelter of the small tunnel and exposing myself to the open air of

describe this place, it feels like a fully enclosed world, like a biome

I descend, picking 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

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

claw, snipping at them to see if they react. When they don’t respond