Chrysalis

The Queen was in her chamber much the same as she had been over a day ago, covered in workers and resting peacefully. She hasn't had any reason to go out and fight lately so I hope she's enjoying a period of relaxation.

Considering the measly supply of Biomass that the workers have been extracting from the surface there hasn't even been much laying to do. I'm not sure if Queen ants can get bored but perhaps she might be feeling that things have become a little dull?

[Bored?] she responds when I ask her, sounding for all the world like she didn't even understand the word, [why would I be bored?]

[Well, there isn't much to do at the moment?]

[Foolish child] she chides me, [the colony is not under threat and you have provided food and a great hope for our family. I am content, as we should all be]

How is this giant ant monster always so positive?! Such a good mother!

Before I can get too emotional I need to focus on the present.

[So you've received the Biomass we sent up?]

[Yes. The children have been working as hard as they can. They found it and brought it to me]

[awesome]

I stare hard at the Queen for a moment, trying to judge whether she's upgraded herself as we discussed. Rather than accuse my own my own mother of lying, which would be rather tactless, I try a different angle.

[Is it ok if I check on your core? There may be more that I can do to improve our chances]

[of course child]

She answers without hesitation. I seriously doubt that she's even capable of doubting her own children. I wonder if all the ant Queens are like this?

antennae forward I activate the core surgery skill and spin my mind up into overdrive to handle the flood of information that nearly knocks me off my six

neglected my advice in order to produce more young. I believe

upgrades to

increases the efficiency of the organ to produce

Biomass Recoding Gland +5, the recoding process utilises less deconstructed mass to encode the

production Gland +5, Gives a bonus +2 to all stats for each egg

Fantastic!

the organs carefully, I estimate

year once the colony gets rolling. My dream scenario would have the Queen producing about a million ants a year, so an extra 10% would represent an increase of 100,000 workers. Not a small number at

thing that really grabs my attention is the +2 to all stats in the egg production gland. +2 might not seem like much but it's enough to make my mind boggle!

create one as opposed to a hatchling worker, I would guess that for each Croca Beast that was hatched would be able to make eight worker ants,

can make use of

to be getting this boost from the Queen I make a few minor adjustments, bending my mind to its limits to enforce them. I trim down

ants will be produced more cheaply than before but still be a little stronger in the end. Win-win!

my mind from the Queen's core I immediately congratulate her on the wise choices she

fantastic! The two efficiency upgrades will mean more workers and the +2 to all stats was

[Are we ready to lay the first

Hold on a

Queen is pumped up to get back to growing the colony and the promises I've made about the next generation are clearly exciting for her but she needs

way! Not yet!] I say

tell she

another +2 to all stats to stack with the existing advancement that will absolutely insane. Game breaking even. I'm not

moment.

surely get you to +10!

you child] she