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.

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

Heh.

CRASH!

see that there are several workers already ahead of me, rushing towards the scent of prey. The hatchling workers look even smaller

ago, desperately trying to scrape xp and Biomass for myself out of the hostile caves by

worry little guys!

large centipede which is quickly covered in acid and carved 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.

have I finished burying the core when I am disturbed

time when the traps are swarming with workers, many of them working over the centipede

can see that our new guest is a wolf-dragon, writhing and 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 fury

the traps seem quite popular

for Tiny and sneak a few mouthfuls myself. I don't gain any points from it

over the opening with layers of branches vines and

out of the dirt and into the

low growls rumbling through the air and the snarling, furious impacts of battle can be heard in almost every direction. Where the hell are all of these

pause my work and descend into my pitfalls and out of sight when groups of monsters or particularly large individuals pass through. With 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 if there are hundreds of them, the colony does not have the strength to fight off a never ending horde of much larger

is working well for the moment, no need to

better than I'd anticipated. With a steady stream of workers scrabbling around the trap network, attracted by the calls

can imagine is if the workers start to climb out of the pitfalls and explore