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?

and spin my mind up into overdrive to handle the flood of information that nearly knocks me

my advice in order to produce more young. I believe that she considers producing young as her primary responsibility and the best way to serve the family as a whole,

upgrades to the three egg production organs than she

organ to produce more deconstructed

utilises less deconstructed mass to

Gives a bonus

Fantastic!

first two upgrades were exactly the sort of thing I spoke to the Queen about. After studying the organs carefully, I estimate that these two

will be producing ten eggs per year once the colony gets rolling. My dream scenario would have the Queen producing about a million ants a year, so an extra

egg production gland. +2 might not seem like much but it's enough to make my mind boggle! That's a huge deal! The ants will be so weak that +2 to their physical stats is going to be significant enough but +2 to the mental

hatchling worker, I would guess that for each Croca Beast that was hatched would be able to make eight worker ants, perhaps more. An extra two stats on one Croca won't make that much difference but for eight workers? The difference

can make

Queen I make a few minor adjustments, bending my mind to its limits to enforce them. I trim down on the workers a little, basically shaving

produced more cheaply than before but still be a little stronger in the end. Win-win! However there is a chance we can

I immediately congratulate her on the

more workers and the +2 to all stats was

way. [Are we ready to lay

Hold on a

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 to hold

Not yet!] I

Why?] I can tell she is genuinely

sure. If it's possible to get another +2 to all stats to stack with the existing advancement that

for a moment. I

get you to +10! I'll make sure the workers bring every bit of it here for you,

you child] she says