Chrysalis

Biomass has been spent, food has been dispensed, traps are taken care of and Tiny is happily sleeping off his food coma.

The time is ripe!

There is something so exciting and freeing about being able to become a completely new creature via evolution. A human changes over their lifetime also, going from baby to toddler to child to teen to adult but the process is so slow that the change doesn’t always feel meaningful. Only in hindsight can you appreciate the different stages of your life.

I didn’t even make it to adult in my life as a human! After more than ten years!

I’ve not even been in my new world of Pangera for a single year and I’ve already reached my second evolution. If I were to line it up with the stages of human life, then I’ve been a baby monster, currently I’m a toddler monster and I shall promote myself to child monster!

Considering how weak the ant species is individually, these analogies actually feel pretty accurate to me.

Ok, no more stalling Anthony, time to go for it!

[Would you like to use the Evolution menu?]

I would!

[Congratulations on reaching the maximum level for your current species. Evolution will allow you change your form and increase your stats as a monster.

Warning: evolving will make securing XP and Biomass more difficult as fewer rewards are given for preying on creatures less evolved than yourself.

A special core has been detected, by advancing your core beyond normal limits special options may be available.

Your evolution options are as follows:

- Juvenile Queen (formica)

- Soldier (formica)

- Monster Worker Ant

- (Special) Command ant (formica)

- (Special) Mind ant (formica)]

What the heck!? So many choices?! I only had two last time, and one of those involved changing my species! Ok.... Let’s slow down and not prejudge. Take the options one by one and let Gandalf explain each one.

[Juvenile Queen (formica). A young queen of the formica species, this evolution includes wings and an egg laying organ allowing the new Queen to begin her own colony.]

Queen like stuff. Just one problem... one little query that I have... I’m a boy! Why the heck do I have

Wait.

known this for ages. All

I’M A FEMALE ANT!

DAMMIT GANDALF!

Taking someone who was a boy and stuffing them into a female monster body?! Is this your hobby? You lousy bearded buffoon! May your robes

Grrrrr...

Male ants basically mate with a Queen and then crawl away to die, acting like disposable fertilisation machines who are then frequently eaten by the colony. In this world I’m not even sure male ants exist at all. The queen seems to be doing just fine without mating, laying eggs at a steady rate. I’m not really sure monsters in this

all that important to

inside the colony laying eggs all the time. I mean... I may be moving away from my humanity but laying eggs out of the business

Next option.

larger, more combat oriented worker, this evolution includes

free body upgrades but instead a significant boost to the might stat all of which is dumped into size. With all of the energy in my core I could probably take my might score up another ten

interesting but

becoming a generic Monster worker ant, this selection allows two free body part choices

would lose my species, but this time I would get two free choices of body part. Is this because my species would change but generally everything else

solitary monster life. I guess I would still have Tiny with me but I’m reluctant to take this choice. I like staying with the colony, it’s almost like having a family, something

place with other creatures in it who won’t attack me is a nice

I’ll take this

the real juice. Let’s see if the

commander. With this evolution comes a +5 bonus to might and a choice of aura gland which would be tuned to affect nearby monsters of the same

evolutionary path of commander ant eh? The might bonus is nice but I’d get a free aura effect

the colony all of the workers

One to go.

a new evolutionary chain, a formica mind ant. This evolution grants a +5 bonus to

Ohhhhhhhhh baby.

for me to upgrade last time so a free boost is pretty damn attractive. Not to mention the magic affinity gland, would that let me produce one kind of force naturally? Like how Tiny can make

billing. I definitely plan to choose one of the special options, they both give me options that are extremely tempting and hard to come by, with the added bonus of not removing my formica species tag,

which one

an incredible ant general, leading

affinity to boot. I could be spitting fireballs

Gah!

This is hard!

when I’m with the rest of the workforce, whereas the mind ant will be more suited

affinity organ for healing magic... making her the ideal support mage. I could do something similar possibly,

I just can’t decide!