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

accumulated experience, all the ridiculous good luck I’ve had? It hasn’t

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 drinking the water which was somehow suffused with mana they were

order to condense the core which has given me, in effect, only ten MP

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

can’t help but worry I’ve made the wrong choice, the prospect of

doesn’t it mean that I’ll be able to level back up to five and evolve again? Which also means I’ll be able to gain more of the precious skill points

points as an unevolved creature which could allow me to gain more levels and skill points at a faster pace than evolving would

be advanced once they reach level five. I won’t even look at the skills menu in case mana shaping or spell

control of my body and shaken the dust off my mind as I reach the end of the tunnel. Beyond here lies the vast underground space I

out into the open

place

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 of the

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

of my vision, especially over a distance. It probably also explains why I’ve been able

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?

...

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

extra advice would surely be

me to

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

place, it feels like a fully

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

alien, for the first time I really think to

my front claw, snipping at them to see if they react. When they don’t respond I move toward a giant mushroom. These things are easily twice the height