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

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 is my

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

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

have to advance now into what is likely more dangerous territory than I

I’ve made the wrong choice, the prospect of being able to use mana was just too tantalising

up to five and evolve again? Which also means I’ll be able to gain

an unevolved creature which could allow me to gain more levels and skill points at a

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

dust off my mind as I reach the end of the tunnel. Beyond here

breath I walk out into the open air once

place

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 good

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

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

still believe upgrading my eyes has been the correct choice for me 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 I be

Any clues Gandalf?

...

surprised at this state. For all his immense wisdom

little extra advice would

isn’t anything left for me to

shelter of the small tunnel

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

twisted trees, huge oversized mushrooms

time I really think to myself,

grasses and plants with my front claw, snipping at them to see if they react. When they don’t respond I move toward a giant

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