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

Oh ho! I would not have been surprised if she had neglected my advice in order to produce more young.

me I can plainly see the upgrades

Organ +5, increases the efficiency of the organ to produce more deconstructed Biomass per point of Biomass

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

Gives a bonus +2 to all stats for each egg

Fantastic!

studying the organs carefully, I estimate that

if the Queen 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 10% would represent

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! That's a huge deal! The ants will be so

Beast that

fact… I can make use

that every 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

ants will be produced more cheaply than before but still be a little stronger

mind from the Queen's core I immediately congratulate her

fantastic! The two efficiency upgrades will mean more workers

we ready to lay the first generation of new workers? How many are needed?

there! Hold on

made about the next generation are clearly exciting for her

yet!] I say

can tell she is genuinely

all we are going to get that egg production gland to +10 for sure. If it's possible to get another +2 to all stats to stack with the existing advancement that will

Queen is silent for a moment. I can almost feel her

get you to +10! I'll make sure the

child] she says