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

experience, all the ridiculous good luck I’ve had? It hasn’t been easy to survive to

for me

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 I can’t use. Was this

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

can’t help but worry I’ve made the wrong choice, the prospect of being able to use mana was just too tantalising in

one may not be that bad, doesn’t it mean that I’ll be able to level back up to five and evolve

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

need to be advanced once they reach level five. 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!

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

walk out into

this place is

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 see the ends

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

also

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 I be able to advance my mutations into some

Any clues Gandalf?

...

well. I shouldn’t be surprised at this state. For all his immense wisdom the

advice would surely

isn’t anything left for me to do but

of the small tunnel and exposing myself

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

as I can. Strange twisted trees, huge oversized mushrooms and a carpet of plant-life underneath face me everywhere I turn. The whole ... forest

so alien, for the first time

react. When they don’t respond I move toward a giant mushroom. These things are easily twice the height of an

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