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?

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

young. I believe that she considers producing young as her primary responsibility and the best way to serve the family as a whole, so it's only natural that she would prioritise it over everything else, but in a pleasant shock she has constrained

I can plainly see the upgrades to the

of the organ to produce more deconstructed Biomass

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

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

Fantastic!

the organs carefully,

year once the colony gets rolling. My dream scenario would have the Queen

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! That's a huge deal! The ants will be so weak that +2 to their physical stats

and how much Biomass would be needed to create one as opposed to a hatchling worker, I would guess that for each Croca Beast

fact… I can

worker is going 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 on the workers a little, basically shaving one point from each stat and giving clear paths for

of this trade-off is that the ants will be produced more cheaply than before but still be a little

core I immediately

upgrades will mean more workers and

sounds genuinely pleased to be praised in this way. [Are we ready

Hold on a

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

tell she

+10 for sure. If it's possible to get another +2 to all stats to stack with the existing advancement that will absolutely insane. Game

a moment. I can almost

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

child] she