Chrysalis

It takes a while for the vicious itch to fade. The coordination cortex is like an octopus that sits between my sub brains and the main mind so as it mutates and changes my entire brain zone lights up with itching. It’s intolerable!

But finally gone!

The process finishes and I find my pet monsters looking at me funny. Look! Just because you lot can take the sensation of mutating like its nothing doesn’t mean I can! I’m sensitive!

...maybe.

At any rate, keep digging!

It takes only a few hours of vigorous work to finally connect the new section of the shortcut to the old, meaning the travel time from the surface down to the marsh will be as short as an hour if there aren’t monsters spawning in there or an hour and half if there are. It’s a crude tunnel that zig-zags back and forth on a fairly steep grade, barely large enough to squeeze Tiny through. When he evolves again we are going to have to put in a lot of work expanding all of these passages for the big lug. To celebrate this momentous achievement, I’ve decided that we’ll all pitch in and collect a feast for ourselves and then another feast that we can take up to the Queen.

I place Crinis on defence duty at the shortcut entrance to make sure nothing sneaks out of the expanse and then Tiny, Vibrant and myself start roaming the tunnels looking for Biomass. Crinis isn’t really built to be an offensive hunter, at least not yet, so placing her in position where she can deploy her tentacles thinly like a spiders web to detect intruders and snatch them up is the best use of her talents. Tiny and I are more than capable of dealing with the monsters that spawn out of the walls here.

Sadly we don’t find many. Since the monsters are drawn by that mysterious pressure to run into the marsh expanse upon spawning they can’t build their numbers and get caught up fighting each other in the tunnels. Asides from a few stragglers and slow moving plant types the pickins’ are pretty darn slim.

[Master! Return to my location I think something is happening] Crinis suddenly speaks in my mind.

[We are on the way Crinis. What’s going on?] I mean... something could be happening but how the heck would she know? If a fireworks display was going on around her she’d have no idea.

[I can feel vibrations in the tunnel floor, and they keep getting stronger. I think something is approaching] she explains.

Ohhhhh. Makes a lot of sense really. She does have quite a responsive sense of touch, she kind of has to since it’s the only sense that she has... She’ll have to wait until evolution before she’ll be able to take advantage to some of the changes I made to her core.

full speed to the entrance

to tell what was causing the vibrations I could see perfectly well what was happening. Another horde of monsters was piling

guys! Action stations! Prepare to dive! Crinis, engage feast mode!"] I holler

the thin sensing tendrils she had laid out and reforms her tentacles into the thick, monster crushing engines of destruction

not enjoyed feeling so subdued by the pressure emanating from the center of the expanse, he’s not the kind of monster who wants to shy away from a

suicidal ape. I’d welcomed the change, personally I

has a chance to work his frustrations out on a massive

reached Crinis, Tiny bowls into them with his formidable mass, sending monsters flying, slamming

the expanse and engage! Tiny ran past you to fight so you need

[Oh!.. Uh.. Understood master!]

limbs come into contact with the edges of the horde that are already starting to wrap around Tiny and attack his vulnerable back. Those monsters rather suddenly find themselves

them all Crinis... we need enough for all

Sorry master! I

fine to eat, just don’t

[Ok!]

the evolution menu out of hand but I’m really starting to see the value in them. If I can hold more food or process it more efficiently then my Biomass

I need to deal with

him in increasingly intense waves and

so I start feeding it double time and weaving together

The water cannon!

and running and suddenly a massive torrent of water blasts out from just above my head, cannoning into

for some