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.]

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 all-powerful community of core shapers without compare.

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 sent down there as pets are discouraged in the upper levels. I’ve been assured they’ll be treated with the utmost respect, and I really have no option but to trust them. Formo

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

Most of them looked fairly similar, the real defining feature I could pick out was the mottled 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

don’t see a whole lot of your people around Formo. Is it a

us! We’ve worked hard to ruffle the Dungeon’s feathers and it doesn’t appreciate it, not a whit! So the spawn rate for Sophos is abysmally

tell how bitter he is from his

work? The Dungeon just

talking about, but when the opportunity to rant about the Dungeon pops up, who

sure I wouldn’t

it. When the Dungeon tunnels connected to ours, we were the first to come into contact with monsters and battle them. The surfacers ignored our warnings and laughed at our pleas for help. I have to

[That’s terrible.]

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 Classes, we couldn’t bear young, our levels were gone and

boggled. What a tragedy! How

are some of 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

actually fight the Dungeon? Is it a thing that you can hit?

much I should share about my conversations with a mind that seems to think it runs the show around here. The Sophos may already know about it, or they might pin me down and dissect me. They seem pretty anti-system in general to me. Probably best

the Dungeon that can be learned, even when it doesn’t want you to. It’s also possible to work against the interests of the Dungeon, once you know

eating her Biomass, considering there was only one of her the Expert Profile was unlocked straight away. I haven’t been able to bring myself

have. Those damn centipedes

Formo nodded his head.