Chrysalis

The effect of the gravity bomb is far beyond my expectations. That was only forty percent of the gland being charged! What would one hundred percent look like? I shudder to imagine. To be honest I’m not even sure if I would be able to control that much energy. The gravity bomb I just fired had almost escaped my grasp, even after my upgraded mental capacity.

Just goes to show how difficult magic is to perform in this world, even with my heavy investment to upgrade my mental capacity it isn’t necessarily going to be enough to take me all the way to the end of the magic road. In future evolutions I may need to further invest in expanding my sub-brain and increasing my will stat.

For now the results are certainly good enough.

[You have gained experience]

[You have gained experience]

The voice of Gandalf continues to echo in chorus in my mind dozens of times, announcing the same message.

[You have reached level 2]

Even after smashing all of those of claw centipedes I only gained enough experience for one level. The penalty for defeating creatures a whole two evolutions below me is being displayed.

In the aftermath of the gravity bomb there is an eerie silence for a moment. Tiny and I begin to descend the tree in order to survey the damage more closely. As grow closer to the mound several centipedes begin to crawl out from deep within their nest, clearly protected from the blast by their position below the ground level.

These guys are seriously mad, claws snatching at the air and mandibles viciously chomping in a clear display of their rage. Tiny and I are quite delighted to see them and happily hurl ourselves upon the foes, ready to do battle.

I’m especially glad to see these centipedes survive as they are perfect for training a new skill I’ve wanted to level up for some time.

My Exo-skeleton defense skill!

This particular purchase was part of my effort to tank up, buffing my defense to the point I wouldn’t have to fear little beasties like these guys, but I haven’t had a good opportunity to test it and gain experience in it yet.

This handy skill doesn’t actually improve my carapace in any physical way, what it does do is give me insights and instincts to help make best use out of my external skeleton. I can feel the skill at work in my mind as I close in on the claw centipedes and deliberately allow them to strike towards my body. Seeing the angle of the attack I almost subconsciously shift the position of my body to present a greater slope to the enemy, blunting the impact and reducing the surface the clawed beastie can grab hold of.

Gweheheheh. Behold my skillful maneuvers!

Ouch!

claw centipede has approached from the side and

my skills

I allow several of the skittering monsters to approach me and attack whilst I stand there and take it like an ant! I try to react as fast as I can, adjusting my position

little damage has actually been taken. My diamond carapace and improved toughness is showing itself to be more than capable of blunting the attacks of these monsters, my double, core

has reached level

improve ones’ defensive skills, tanking blows from weak enemies! This is the ultimate wisdom of humanity on

of the ugly monsters have surrounded me now, battering me on all

defense has reached

Bwahahaha!

Wait, Tiny nooo!

ape companion has gleefully rushed over, impressive fists crackling will blue

stunned and staring, Tiny turns his bat face towards me, beaming

Well done buddy. Well

his little bat ears and leaps into eating scooping up

... gross.

outside of the mound I manage to find a small, tennis ball sized lump which I cannot really describe. When I try and pick it up I find that it is seriously

the compressed remains of the gravity bomb?! Did it really manage to squish all

a truly terrifying

car

really eat this ball, it would appear to be a rather disgusting cocktail, three parts dirt, one part crushed centipede. There is probably a couple of points of Biomass mashed into here, it’s a shame to see them go to waste but a stomach

will probably

where were

mound as well as that strange convergence of energy at the deepest recesses of

perhaps crushed by the gravity bomb... Whilst the second is deep in the mound, close

glimpse of the inside of the centipedes home. It appears as if the outer layer of the mound covers a large hollow

narrow hole that extends deeper still. Right in the bottom I can see an extremely bright source of concentrated mana. The mana is so thick I can visibly see it swirling in place, leaking out of the dirt and hovering

the heck

attempting to hide itself by curling it’s body together beneath the mana. This centipede appears to have a slight blue tinge to its carapace, and is slightly smaller than the normal claw centipede. This must

that

buddy! Nobody