Chrysalis

At this moment, with my head filled with the glorious victory of the new super-ant race, I notice something a little odd.

There is a dull ache coming right from my core.

What the heck is with that? What on Pangera makes your core hurt? Do I have core-itis? Flu of the core? Seasonal Core swelling?

I’m unusually disturbed by this inexplicable pain. Once formed, the core is attached to a monsters life force. If anything where to happen to it I’m not sure how long I’d last!

Focusing intently on this feeling I try to analyse it. When I carefully sense the area around my core the issue becomes clearer, there is more going on than meets the eye. Almost like a lung that is slowly leaking, as time passes my core is slowly draining energy out into the air. Almost as if when my body tries to draw in mana there isn’t anything there and then I ’exhale’ mana out.

I’m losing mana!

As time passes the loss becomes more noticeable until I was stuck with this pain that I can now feel. It’s literally my core gasping for air! I need mana! Whilst the pain is completely debilitating now it’s only going to get worse the more energy I leak.

I suddenly realise that this must have been what was inflicting the Queen! Weakened and in pain by the lack of mana she had literally been bleeding her life out into the air until I had finally noticed something was wrong.

I can’t help but get a little emotional.

Dammit Mother! Just how self-sacrificing can you be!? Just because I’d said the colony would be safe on the surface you were willing to bleed mana from your core until you died?! Why is it the best Mother I’ve ever had is a giant ant?

Well now I feel like garbage. Not only because my core is increasingly pained but the guilt of unknowingly causing such suffering to a dear parent. I’ll make it up to you Queen! You’ll be the mother of the most successful ant colony in the history of the entire .. Wherever we are!

I’m not really sure if this is the same universe as the one I was born it, come to think of it. Something to ask Gandalf if I ever see him again.

Well now that I know about this problem, what am I going to do about it? The fact that it took a few days for the problem to grow this severe means I’m not completely unable to operate on the surface, I’ll just have to take frequent trips underground. Actually, is this the reason that Tiny has relocated himself underground? It’s possible that his core has also advanced to the point where he can’t sustain himself on the surface level of mana.

Sighing to myself I grasp my bag of unworked on cores in my mandibles and make my way down to where Tiny is currently sitting munching on some low level plants that leapt out of the walls and into his waiting hands.

as I descend past the surface level and into the Dungeon proper I can feel a sense of relief. As the light emitted by the mana veins washes over me and my feet begin drinking energy in a steady flow the pain in my core begins to ease. I can feel myself getting a little more energetic and alert as I stop leeching out my life

really hit home at something that Gandalf said. When he told me I might join him one day he suggested I might have a choice but to go further down. Is this what he meant? Every time I condense my core and evolve I’ll have a higher requirement for mana, forcing me to live deeper and deeper in the Dungeon?

I feel about this. Obviously evolving is the best thing in the universe I should keep doing it, but then aren’t I basically imprisoning

....

Think about it

my policy and I’ll

silvery hair taking on a distinct blue shade in the reflected light of the Dungeon. I pass him the bag and then take some time to hollow out a chamber for us to use, shoving the loose soil further down the tunnel. Once that’s done I ask Tiny to keep watch for me and rest a little before resuming my core grinding. I don’t want to rush over and start working on the Queen’s core straight away with Core Surgery at level 1. If I can push a few more levels out of it then I’ll

Back to grinding!

and my other brains aren’t much better. Despite my improved mental power, grinding through so many cores in such a short time has pushed me right up to the wall. This kind of speed would have been completely impossible before my evolution so there is that to celebrate. I have to say

has one hundred cores lying

hundred cores over the last few days, perfecting my skill at making nuanced changes to monsters and grinding that precious xp to get to this point. How long would it have taken me to amass all of these

level of evolution as I am so it takes fifty cores for him to

has reached max capacity for your

Hue hue hue hue.

we need now is the special cores but there is no

If you give it enough time would you get used to it enough that you could

his head a glares at me with his dark

....

Never mind!

think I’ll be able to raise the skill any higher for the short term, so I take good nap, getting Tiny to defend me from the spawning monsters and making sure he feeds the

I wake up I’m fully refreshed. Time to head over to the

come face to face with Mother once again. The giant ant is quite placid at

Mother, how are

my head. "I am well little one. The colony has been safe here, you

to this sort of praise. If

I beam, "I’m glad