Chrysalis

It's time to get down to work and we have a long laundry list of things to do.

When Crinis revives, I put her on guard duty and take Tiny topside. The first order of business is to lend our muscle to the villagers as they struggle to make space for the growing number of refugees.

With Tiny's significant physical prowess we were able to fell trees and clear a wider area for the villagers to use. My own expertise in digging is also put to good use, flattening out terrain, digging foundations for a few larger buildings and my supreme +15 mandibles are tested for the first time cutting stone.

Turns out there's a decent layer of usable stone a few kilometres from the village. After clearing the dirt around the area I charged my mandibles will mana and utilised the incredible sharpness to cut out blocks that were then transported on rollers to be used in some more advanced construction.

Despite working fairly feverishly, I did notice the Morrelia had taken up the role of drill instructor, she had cleared a space outside the village as a rudimentary training court and was absolutely shredding the hide off a surprising number of grinning villagers.

Looking at the smiling faces of those men and women only reinforced my impression of these people further.

These villagers are crazy.

No matter how hard she drilled them, running laps, practicing sword strokes, spear practice, physical exercise, they enthusiastically threw themselves into it with seemingly boundless positivity until they fell over. At that point, another group of villagers would arrive, drag the victims into the shade, give them some water, and then jump into the training themselves.

When I approached a frazzled looking Enid about the puzzling behaviour, she was happy to explain it.

[This is a chance for them to change their lives. Most of these people were farmers, labourers, servers or cooks before they were forced to flee. With classes like that, they have little agency in being able to control their own destiny. Simple people like us are reliant on the more martial classes to protect us and as such we are always dependant.]

towards

they have an opportunity to step up and protect themselves, their families and strike back at the monsters who took their homes. Of course they

me, a complicated look on her

you. There are weapons, metals, a smith has arrived and Beyn has been freely sharing his knowledge of classes and skills. Out of nowhere we have a monstrously strong trainer and you have agreed to assist them in levelling them. This is an opportunity that no one here could have dreamed

look askance at her for

buy into Beyns' rubbish are you? I am certainly not a divine messenger of

near white hair back

miracles at the rate you have been,

started treating me like that I'd

made her

keep any regard I develop for you to

[You better.]

talking with her, I kept a closer eye on the villagers and it was true that they did seem to have a large amount of pep in their step, and not only those training with Morrelia. All of them were working

and certainly lost family members

I had cleared enough space, and provided enough raw materials to keep them going for a while yet. Those with construction related

she was up to. Turns out her little retinue of workers had swelled to nearly ten and they were madly dashing about above and below ground, rustling up food. They'd kept the grubs so fat they positively gleamed with chubby health and the Queen was already considering the next

been lain the other day, workers already obsessing over them, and now

we had enough time to get the new ants up to speed and properly trained before another wave of hatchlings

street, the nest raided, workers slaughtered, chased from their nest and it's only now that we have achieved the stability to grow the ant colony