Chrysalis

By the time we came within reach of the colony's scent trails I'd managed to level external mana manipulation twice, and we were completely exhausted. Tiny was stumbling with every step, the poor guy was the heaviest of all of us by quite the margin and the hard running had worn him down. Stamina had levelled again for me at least, but only the once, proving just what kind of ridiculous effort was required to get that skill to level up.

Crinis had declined to evolve on the journey itself, preferring to use the time riding on my back to contemplate her skills, Biomass spend and the direction she wanted to take in her all-important evolution. When I could spare it, I turned my own thoughts to the possible upcoming evolution. I had no idea how the colony would be able to bring down a monster like Garralosh but if I was to do my bit, then I needed to be as strong as possible. Getting six levels in a short amount of time would be difficult without any higher tier monsters to chomp on but it wasn't impossible.

The first scent trail I came upon tingled against my antennae as the pheromones registered on my sense of smell.

"Biomass source in this direction has been exhausted. >:)"

More scent-mojis!

Looks like the colony has been raiding towards the north in search of surface monsters to fuel the colony's growth. They must have been successful if they managed to wipe them out. Hopefully the workforce was ready to begin to hunt in the Dungeon, if they hadn't already. Vibrant had been taking her personal posse of workers down there for a while now, but the full time raids needed to start en masse. We didn't have much time and the colony needs to grow as much as possible.

Morrelia and I discussed briefly how much time it would take for Garralosh to arrive at the village and she gave us a week. Maybe a little more. It was a heap of time, and precious little at the same time.

We slowed a pace a little, this close to the finish line. The scent trails became thicker and more frequent the closer we got until we started to run into small patrols of workers.

"Hello Eldest!" they greeted me, "work hard!"

I'm always working hard dammit!

"How are things with the colony?" I called to them as we passed by.

"Busy!" one of them called back.

Wise guy.

a colony of ants!

about the interaction because she reached out to

talk to

don't really see the risk in it… Perhaps I've just grown to trust Morrelia a little more over our time together, which is possibly what she wanted out of this expedition. At any

basic at first but has grown more complex lately. We can

include the

they say?] she asked

with the colony

me for a moment before throwing back her head

colony of ants!] she chortled,

Exactly!

minutes later we parted ways, Morrelia to head to the village and myself toward the colony. The workers were thicker now, bustling here and there and it wasn't long before the saw

in the name of

It's HUGE.

a hill and just as wide, with a strong palisade around the outside formed

poking in and out constantly as they went about their various tasks. Burlier looking soldier ants patrolled the hill here and there, antennae

in my absence? All this dirt must have come from somewhere, which means the excavation below ground should be spectacular. It appears that scout wasn't joking when she said things

make yourself comfortable and get some rest. You

moment I'd finished speaking, exhausted to the

Slacker.

love to throw myself down the ground and nap but I have serious business to take care of before I'd get the chance. I felt that there would be precious little time to rest over the next few days, what

next to each at intervals around the colony and I hustled over the closest one with Crinis still riding on my back. The footing would seem treacherous and uneven to a human but to the

reach the main entrance at the top. Scent trails were thick on the ground here, scouting paths, hunting paths, even resource collection paths had been laid out

could enter through the main opening. I wanted to get the broadest sense of the changes and I was less likely to get