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!

has approached from the side and bitten me!

my skills need

I stand there and take it like an ant! I try to react as fast as I can, adjusting my position

more than capable of blunting the attacks of these monsters, my double, core boosted

defense has

tanking blows from weak enemies! This is the ultimate wisdom of humanity on display

monsters have surrounded me now, battering me on all sides as I continue to make small adjustments in

has reached

Bwahahaha!

Wait, Tiny nooo!

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

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

done buddy.

into eating scooping up handfuls of monster and cramming it into

... gross.

to see what I can find. After searching around the outside of the mound I manage to

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

a truly terrifying level of compression

like having a car crusher launched from my

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 full of dirt wasn’t really what I had in mind

will probably

where were those

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

the cores has simply vanished, perhaps crushed by the

It appears as if the outer layer of the mound covers a large hollow space on the inside, a space that extends several meters underground. These mounds contain even more space that I’d assumed! No wonder

the mound the open space converges again into a 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

the heck

hide itself by curling it’s body together beneath the mana. This centipede appears to have a slight

win in a fight against something that could obliterate the nest in one hit? Thought your only chance to survive

buddy! Nobody slips past this