Chrysalis

There is so much information contained within this core. It's hard to describe exactly how my mind perceives it. I feel as if there is a massive filing cabinet full of data, numbers and values under my antennae, but I can't open all of the drawers.

I can sense that there are things I don't have access to, things beneath the surface that my current level of skill won't allow me to influence, but this is a big development! Using this skill, it would possible to custom design your own monsters! Tweaking every body part and stat, potentially even their behaviour!

Eagerly I give it a try. I'll do something simple to start with… I'll take the instructions regarding the statistics and I'll shift them slightly, swapping points from might to toughness. Simple.

How hard can this be? Let's try it!

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRUNNNNNNGGGGAAAFLOOEY!!!

Are you kidding me!?

As soon as I attempt to exert my mind and change the instructions I can feel powerful resistance against my will. The information recorded in the core does NOT want to change. Only by a supreme effort of mind was I able to shift it ever so slightly and then grip the change tight in my mind, refusing to let it return back to what it was before.

After holding my change in place for a few seconds it gradually settled and became stable, the new normal for this monster core.

Holy munching mandibles that was difficult!

To be honest, if I handed upgraded my will and cunning I'm not even sure that I would have been able to do it at all. Clearly the path of core manipulation is just as draining as that of magic, requiring extremely potent mental resources in order to use these skills effectively.

it up and hopefully upgrading it at level five will reveal more secrets and uses for me. Besides, it would be a waste not to try and

Heh.

CRASH!

of the noise I see that there are several workers already ahead of me, rushing towards the scent of prey. The hatchling workers look even smaller to me now after my size increase, little adorable things that can scuttle about

that long ago, desperately trying to scrape xp

guys! Together we shall

up for transport. More and more workers appear once the message gets out and there is a solid crowd of them chomping on the Biomass before long. I manage to snag a chunk and give it to Tiny before returning to the rabbit core and burying it in the wall again. I want to see if I can keep making changes

sooner have I finished burying the core when I am disturbed by yet another crashing sound.

particular prey is sensationally unlucky, falling into the pitfall at a time when the traps are swarming with workers, many of them working over the centipede

rolling at the bottom of the pit, attempting to release itself from all of the vines and branches. I wince as many of them are snapped by the creature's struggle. I'm going to

fury of the

monster is put out of its misery. For some reason the traps seem quite popular at the moment. Before the ants can start their messy work of transporting the Biomass I quickly activate mana detection skill to see if there is

manage to secure another slice of Biomass for Tiny and sneak a few mouthfuls myself. I don't gain any points

my pitfall traps and start to reset them, covering over the opening with layers of branches vines and vegetation until they blend fairly well

something almost as soon as I crawl out of the dirt and into the open. There is a freaking

the snarling, furious impacts of battle can be heard in almost every direction. Where the hell are all of these guys coming

more important that the colony keep a low profile. Even if they are enormous for ants and even if there are hundreds of them, the colony does not have the strength to fight off a never ending horde of much larger and stronger

trap plan is working well for

attracted by the calls to battle and food trails, I'm not really needed to help them win the individual battles

their own. The only problem I can imagine is if the workers start to climb out of the pitfalls and