Chrysalis

[Is there a particular reason why you Sophos are so loud?]

[LOUD? WE’RE TALKING MENTALLY YOU CRETIN. NOT A SOUND IS MADE!]

[Formo! You know exactly what I mean! Every time I form a mind bridge with a Sophos I’ve had my head rung like a bell! Can you tone it down a little?]

[WE ARE SIMPLY EXUBERANT, MY BOY! FULL OF BEANS!]

[I seriously doubt you eat beans, Formo.]

[WELL, NOT UNLESS IT WAS A BEAN MONSTER I SUPPOSE!]

[Just, take it down a notch, please?]

[I SHALL- ahem. I shall try. I must say young Anthony, I didn’t expect that I would see you again. Judging by your change in size, you’ve been quite productive over the course of the wave.]

[Well, once the colony got rolling, the wave was almost more help than it was harm.]

[Hmm. I wonder if you understand why that might have been the case.]

[I’m not sure what you mean.]

[No matter. Come, my boy, let us wander this way. My domicile is found near the forge.]

the Sophos community. I’m not sure what I expected, but the place is much more humble than I had assumed it would be. After my first meeting with Formo, I envisioned the Sophos to be an

lived and had been informed that most of them lived in holding areas beneath the village. I’d been a little surprised at that. I’d expected that they might treat their pets a little better, considering how much they relied on them. Tiny and Crinis have been

me is the total lack of Mana Veins here. The walls are bizarrely clear of them, light instead being provided by a series of core powered lighting installations. I was pretty darn interested in learning how the heck they did that but Formo was cagey about it when I asked.

colouring of their skin. Most of their skin was green, but some had patches of red, or blue, or even orange I saw. Other than that, their featureless faces appears the same from

don’t see a whole lot of your people around Formo. Is it a market day or something?

worked hard to ruffle the Dungeon’s feathers and it doesn’t appreciate it, not

I can tell how bitter he is

that even work? The Dungeon just up and decided your people

touch on a sore subject, old boy. We don’t much like talking about, but when the opportunity to rant about the Dungeon pops up, who

sure I

Dungeon tunnels connected to ours, we were the first to

[That’s terrible.]

adapted, thrived even! But things began to change. After hundreds of years, we were so steeped in the mana of the Dungeon that the stupid System couldn’t differentiate between us and monsters. In an instant, like a switch was flipped, we lost our

a tragedy! How the

us still alive from that time. We were nearly wiped out, I’m afraid to say, it was a close run thing. Luckily we’d relied on our pets from the outset, and they did not desert us. Now we build our settlements

fight the Dungeon? Is it a thing that you can hit? I thought it was more of a

Sophos may already know about it, or

interests of the Dungeon, once you know what it wants.

considering there was only one of her

I have. Those damn centipedes

Formo nodded his head.