Chrysalis

The Queen seemed quite taken with her new pet. After giving a little advice regarding skills such as Pet Communication, Pet Growth among others. The Queen eventually decided to take the communication skill, the growth skill and the skill that allowed her to view the status of Aphy, the aphid Queen.

Those decisions made sense, since she wouldn't be able to communicate with her new pet without spending a skill on it. Mind magic is not on the horizon for the Queen and Aphy does not have a pheromone gland. Helping her pet grow more rapidly at the cost of a single skill point also seemed worth the investment to the Queen. Particularly when considering the potential benefit of producing aphid cattle as fast as possible.

Finally, after I shared my thoughts that the status viewing skill would eventually lead to being able to manipulate the status directly, possibly also guide evolutions, the Queen decided to pick up this skill as well. I think that was the correct choice. Aphy isn't all that smart and has no chance of being able to access the custom evolution process, not to mention spending her skill points and Biomass points in sensible ways. If the Queen can take over those duties then Aphy will have a much brighter future.

By the time I leave, the Queen was looking down fondly on her new pet as the green shelled miniature aphid Queen turned this way and that, skittering around the chamber under her masters' watchful eyes.

The workers seemed willing to accommodate Aphy without complaint also, making room for the little bug and steering it away from trouble when she got too close to dangerous parts of the walls.

All in all, I'm extremely pleased at how this project has gone! The Queen is happy to have her own little pet and Aphy will produce a host of aphids that the colony can tame and use as our own herd animals. We'll care for them, protect them, bring them to food, and in return they shall reward us with precious Biomass! Gweheheheh. It's perfect.

Burning my minds to a crisp in order to produce that engineered core was totally worth it, and the process helped to reveal some of the technical aspects of combining cores in a non-hodgepodge manner. The practice of lifting one one line of information at a time and layering it over the data within the other core, like transplanting a painting onto another, one brush stroke at a time, felt like the correct method to approach this process. It also helped me to glimpse the pure artistry of the Sophos.

I firmly believe that their fantastical pets are created by taking pieces of one monster and combining it with pieces of another. I originally though that perhaps they had monstrous willpower, able to force hundreds of changes to a core with ease, but now I suspect that they possess monstrous willpower, and they demonstrate godly skill when combining cores, taking pieces from two separate, disparate painting and combining them to create a coherent picture that is completely new.

My mind filled with thoughts of Formo and his brethren, I descend beneath the Queens chamber, past the off shooting tunnels that lead to the farming complex and into my own personal space. Within I find the twenty hatchlings already assembled, their various shapes and sizes filling the small room. Another ant has also made an appearance I see.

'Hi-hi! How are you Senior!"

a while. What happened to

was a grub has now grown into a powerful member of the

torpor, of course! Can't be go, go, GO, all the

since before you were born! I'm

hang on a

Vibrant. Are you larger? Not to mention, somewhat more aggressive looking? Did you

Vibrant cheered

the first hurdles. Now she's just as evolved as I am! That can't be right! I'm going to have to get busy is order

the inferior ant! They need to continue to look up to me,

are shifting about uneasily as Vibrant continues to dominate the space

you all

well,

hatchlings" Mendant the healer

me Mendant. It was I who taught you from the

I continue to treat them as if they were fresh out of their cocoons. I can't really help it, they've only been out of their cocoons for only a week and a bit! If they were humans they'd

of you about a few things that I regrettably neglected to mention when I was teaching you. This may happen again, by the way, since it's possible I forgot to mention a heap of

sink toward the floor in despair, a dense feeling of frustration rose into the air. Sorry guys, I'm not perfect!

few ground rules and all that jazz. Rule one that I would like to propose is this: No killing and eating the humans in the village. Are there any questions