Chrysalis

Exploration of the Dungeon has been the task of all the civilised races who make their homes above the ground ever since the first opening was made known to us.

However a unified approach and the free sharing of information has proven impossible to facilitate. Each kingdom, church, organisation or private army or noble house than has devoted resources into plumbing the depths and secrets beneath our feet has withheld their own slice of information from the common perception. Hoarding slivers of information like family treasures.

There Is much information that has been publicly confirmed, however, enough that all citizens have a reasonable awareness of the world below, the dangers and opportunities that can be found there.

Some the key information regards the various Strata, the levels, defined by both their depth and the concentration of mana found there.

The First Strata is generally accepted to lie from the surface to five kilometres deep. It is frequently referred to as the Strata of Beasts, since most of the monsters found there are exaggerated, terrible hybrids of creatures that have long existed on the surface.

As for the lower Strata, the second and below, information is much harder to corroborate.

From the ’Knowledge of the people, a series of essays’ by the Magio Scholar Tarius.

I manage to pass a fairly profitable day in this manner.

During the quiet moments I manage to construct a third pitfall trap and add it my expanding network, excavating another tunnel to connect it all together and gaining another level of excavate as my reward.

My fairly crude traps have proven surprisingly capable, netting a consistent flow of prey that I have been able to finish off quickly and conceal within my tunnels, feeding the majority of the Biomass to Tiny and taking a little for myself.

Over the last day I managed to take four Biomass for myself, which I’ve stockpiled for the time being. I could take two upgrades to pheromones immediately but I don’t particularly see the need. It isn’t as if I’m cooperating with the colony at the moment so the pheromones won’t help achieve anything.

I did start to feel a little guilty about leaving the colony to its own devices for this long. After digging out the third trap I decided to start the arduous process of connecting my small network of pitfall traps to the main nest by way of a rather long underground tunnel.

This particular project will take a long time to actually complete, particularly since I have to return to the traps to check on the situation every now and again, as well as making frequent, ever longer trips to transport the dirt and rock I’ve dug back to the surface.

find a space

area they tend to scatter the dirt and pound it into the ground, concealing my work to

and then sleeping immediately. Every time

is an important time for any monster. Perhaps Tiny is now in his teenage size, all he

can continue to feed him up at this pace he’ll be able to display some strength in combat fairly

crucial level ten. Every time I finish off a monster now I await the pronouncement of Gandalf with all of my soul but he

patience is required but it’s so hard when the

more, let the feeling of ant-zen wash over me and take away my

to the colony. Gradually I

There is only the

CRASH!

PREY! GETTEM!

sprint towards my traps. So eager am I that I reach my next victim in merely

and tearing apart the branches that have fallen around

next to the ant hill this one is larger and more brutish, it’s fur is thinner and patchy, almost as if the creature were sick. The

the face of my prey, a more beastly and hideous face I haven’t seen yet. A fetid, diseased pallor, fluid leaking from each eye and missing teeth are the first impression I get and further glimpses don’t

filling the air and washing into the tunnel. I almost feel

Wait a second...

AM in pain! I’m losing health just by being

being nearby? I’ve

I’m going to lose,

POW! POW!

the back-zone to my prey, eyeball it over my shoulder and unleash two blasts of the restrictive acid, catching the monster across the chest

monster I’m concerned I may