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

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

rising in my heart as I survey my new status, but when I notice that my MP has 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

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 really

territory than I have experienced already, those increased stats

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

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

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

want to 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 the skills

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

I walk out into

this place

seventy meters high, so high 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

is something I’ve been thinking more on. As an insect, 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 are able to

so frustrated by 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

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

Any clues Gandalf?

...

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

little extra advice would

anything left for me to do but move into

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

this place, it feels like

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

time I really think to myself, this

them to see if they react. When they don’t respond