Chrysalis

After dropping Sarah and Jim with Florence, I rush back out to the storage area I'm told we stashed our haul from the outpost in. I'm feeling a touch buoyed by the run-in I had with Sarah and Jim. I'm not sure how much they'll be able to help out, but like I told them, every little bit helps. I doubt it would ever happen, but having Sarah on the front lines, a monster who's supposedly strong enough to rip me up would make an incredible ally. It would take a lot to get there, considering her aversion to violence, but I'm sure she'll be able to contribute no matter what.

When I finally make it to the chamber, I find a wide, low ceilinged chamber filled with precious loot. My siblings have been busy in here, categorising and stacking all of the goods in neat shelves that they’ve shaped out of stone. Probably another innovation that they stole from the humans. At the time I arrive, Coolant is there, picking through the various magical materials and items. Ellie is also there, making a meticulous inventory of the many, many cores we brought back.

I crawl over and drop Garralosh's core with a massive THUD. Ellie's antennae begin to quiver uncontrollably the moment she notices it.

[Eldest! That core?! Are you here to donate it?]

[Ah, no. This one's for me, unfortunately.]

[Are you going to make a pet with it? Surely you will!?]

[You know what core this is, right?]

[Of course I know! I still can't believe you never let us study it, but it's an amazing chance to create an incredibly strong pet.]

I shouldn't be surprised that the core shaper would be interested in the most potent core the Colony has gotten its mandibles on, but I kind of hoped they'd have gotten over it by now?

[No, I won't. I'll be absorbing this core after I've maxed out my current limit. That's why I came here, have you finished categorising the cores yet? I want to take the more useless ones and absorb them.]

A lot of these cores are of real interest to us. Unknown monsters that we haven't come across before, new organs that we haven't experimented with, there's a dizzying

had lying around. I just need

second,] she says and starts

and wander over to where

I greet her, [did we actually get anything

head with one

of stuff that we haven't seen before. I assume that it's useful, otherwise why would the Shapers have been storing it? But since we've never come across this stuff before, we don't know what we can

stuff

various things on

are yet to be certain of their purpose. Over here, I've collected a series

Fascinating!

progress on that front?]

mages and enchanters

Moly. That would be a game changer. Because they surely have ways to scry monsters. Did we have

of mana infused ores and metals. It seems to be something

a separate shelf behind the first, laden with chunks of glittering ore. Flipping on my mana-sense, I can feel the pure energy of the

do with these?] I ask

Coolant shrugs.

thought at the moment is to try and determine what affinities these materials have and then pass them over to