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.

of ants! Of course things are

have noticed something about the interaction because she reached out to me over

you talk to each other?] she

Letting the humans know more about the colony could be a risk but also a sign of trust. It's not as if they could overhear what we say to each other, so I don't really see the risk in it… Perhaps

was pretty basic at first but has grown more complex lately. We can talk pretty much as

if you include the development of

did they say?]

the colony and she told me it's

moment before throwing back her head and

colony of ants!] she chortled,

Exactly!

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 the anthill in

name

It's HUGE.

High as a hill and just as wide, with a strong palisade around

they went about their various tasks. Burlier looking soldier ants patrolled

All this dirt must have come from somewhere, which means the excavation below ground should be

get some

flopped to the ground the moment I'd finished speaking, exhausted to the bone. I wasn't even five metres away before he

Slacker.

chance. I felt that there would be precious little time to rest over the next few days, what with the impending doom marching south to kill all of

back. The footing would seem treacherous and uneven to a human but to the ants it was like a broad highway, my claws gripped into the wood

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

the top so that I could enter through the main opening. I wanted to get the broadest sense of the