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

work, my accumulated experience, all the ridiculous good luck I’ve had?

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

to my stats in order to condense the core which has given me, in effect, only ten MP that I can’t use.

is likely more dangerous territory than I have experienced

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

be able to level back up to five and evolve

which could allow me to

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

I reach the end of the tunnel. Beyond here lies the vast underground space I

breath I walk out

place is

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

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

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

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 I be

Any clues Gandalf?

...

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

extra advice would surely be

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

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

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

far into the distance as I can. Strange twisted trees, huge oversized mushrooms and a carpet of plant-life underneath face me everywhere

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

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