Chrysalis

Flush with the glow of a hard won victory, Tiny and I are unusually not looking forward to the next reward, the Biomass.

Unfortunately, whatever was blocking our sight ended with the defeat of the last monster, clearing our vision to take in a truly wonderful scene.

The monsters practically exploded when bitten and the remains are scattered over the tunnel floor in a truly unpleasant image. Something this abstract would have to be a Picasso? The spattered goop certainly leaves a strong impression.

Sharing an unwilling look with Tiny we both begin to pick over the tunnel floor reluctantly, looking for something that looks like edible Biomass.

[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Tenebris Serpere, you are awarded one Biomass]

[Basic profile of the Tenebris Serpere unlocked]

[Tenebris Serpere: Dark Crawler, Produced in the Monster Forges of the Troglodyte engineering guilds, these creatures are tailor made for reconnaissance and stealth missions, deploying an arsenal of shadow magic for offensive and defensive purposes]

Uh...

WhatyousayGandalf?

What am I reading here? Produced? Monster Forges? Troglodyte Guilds?

What the heck was all o that?!

So these, truly unpleasant to eat creatures were created? By... Troglodytes?

I’ve never heard of a Troglodyte. What is that?

Well. Focusing back on this fight, the Xp from these creatures was perfectly acceptable. Two whole levels! Once for each! Not to mention the three cores that were able to secure as a result of this battle! Such rewards are almost unprecedented!

Surely this cannot be an omen of something bad about to happen!

...

Ok, nothing terrible so far.

I won’t count it out yet.

After splitting the Biomass with Tiny I gain a further four points, leaving my total on nine. Enough to take my legs from +2 to +4 and enhance my Gravity gland to +1 with one point spare.

I quickly confirm those upgrades with Gandalf while I distract myself from the unpleasant itch by rounding up the monster cores we’ve gained. Three small, round gem-like stones sit on the dirt in front of us. Apparently these monsters were engineered or created outright by a kind of people called the Troglodytes?

is anything special

cores, I activate the core mechanic skill and begin to study the information contained inside. There is still much that I can’t see in there, but what I can see is quite shocking. These monsters have almost no toughness at all, and very little might, the energy is instead diverted into Cunning, to make them more intelligent and towards magical proficiency,

makes sense if you consider them as designed

Interesting.

values a little, just divert a touch of energy over to toughness and I find that it is impossible. When I attempt to make the change I feel as if I’m lifting

rabbit core, it was nowhere near this hard! Perhaps the more a core has been engineered and changed the harder it becomes to make additional changes?

can’t practice on these cores, I

to reinforce your core or reconstitute

Reinforce that sucka!

each, which is interesting. For the

sees I’ve pushed the core towards him he stares blankly at it for a moment before pushing it back to

...

I wanted I use my mandibles to push it right up to him

looks at the

He looks at me.

He sits down.

looks back

picks up the core

...

cheeky ape! That hit me right

pick up the core in my mandibles and rush at him. He seems stunned to see my charge but

Whack! Bash!

moron! Don’t give me any

a reproachful expression, clearly not happy with my violent treatment. I gift you a core and this is how you react?! I had to beat you up

next time I pass

has only evolved once, from those small apes to his larger gorilla form. If he’s going to follow me around then he needs to be as strong as possible, so it’s worth it

rewards distributed I start to think about whether I should investigate further into this tunnel or retreat for the time being when I feel

heck

start to wave vaguely in the air in front

I think this is....

Air pressure?

A wind? From the

get wind underground if..

....

massive heat signature

of the wizardly one, get the heck out of here

Turning my head slightly as I