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

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

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 able to absorb it and hasten the formation of

about 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

into what is likely more dangerous territory than I have experienced

the wrong choice, the prospect of being able

five and evolve again? Which also means

an unevolved creature which could allow me to gain more levels and

spend it yet. I have several skills at level four which will need to be advanced once they reach level five. I won’t even look at

dust off my mind as I reach the

I walk out

this place is

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 enough,

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

the blurry nature of my vision, especially over a distance. It probably also explains why I’ve been able to avoid having anything sneak up on me, since I’m essentially watching

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 crazy new

Any clues Gandalf?

...

be surprised at this state. For all his immense wisdom the grey one has been

advice would surely be

me to do

the shelter of the small tunnel and exposing

this place, it feels like a fully

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.

just so alien, for the first time I really think to myself, this is absolutely

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 of an adult

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