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.

exactly sure what I want to do with it, but levelling it up and hopefully upgrading it at level five will reveal more secrets and uses for me. Besides,

Heh.

CRASH!

hello! It seems some prey has decided to drop in! Dashing towards the source 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

that long ago, desperately trying to scrape xp and Biomass

to worry little guys!

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

am disturbed by yet another crashing sound. Another

workers, many of them working over the centipede and others just milling about, attracted by the pheromone

guest is a wolf-dragon, writhing and rolling at the bottom of the pit, attempting to release itself from all of the

fury of

to swarm the beast, I simply join in the tide and land a few pleasing chomps before 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

myself. I don't gain any points from it but it's

up my pitfall traps and start to reset them, covering over the opening with layers

the dirt and into the open. There is a freaking ton of monsters about. Like,

beasts are everywhere around me, their low growls rumbling through the air and the snarling, furious impacts of

so many enemies in the area I feel it's even more important that the colony keep a low profile. Even if they are enormous for ants and even

plan is working well for the

attracted by the calls to battle and food trails, I'm not really needed

the situation on their own. The only problem I can imagine is if the workers start to climb out of the pitfalls and explore the forest above, potentially attracting monsters that will