Chrysalis

Another expanse conquered, the great web has been brought low. Vibrant and I lead our group back out into a new section of tunnel as we prepare to launch the next leg of our advance party scouting. The first item on our list of jobs is to retrace our steps, filling in our Tunnel maps and checking that nothing has passed us by during our battle. After climbing through the Dungeon, we reconnect to the point we entered the expanse and find a group of three scouts sneaking about on the roof.

With a quick salute, they report that no changes have been reported to the main nest at this stage. The scouting and expansion mission goes on in all directions around the main nest. The two new nests are under construction, new Queens almost ready to move in. Sounds like great progress is being made on all fronts! There's some news regarding Leeroy and a new squad being sent to fight and level up in the second strata, which is a bit surprising.

A squad with Leeroy in charge? Sounds like a bad DC movie with a band of mildly super-powered criminals banding together. I hope the generals have some idea what they're doing. If I get up there and Leeroy has managed to get herself killed, I'm going to be super annoyed. I've spent a lot of effort keeping that ant alive and I refuse to let all of it go to waste! I'll make a sensible damn member of the council out of her yet.

With all of the news being positive, we pass our update to the scouts so they can return it to the Colony and resume our mission. The time for the next meeting of the council isn't far away and we probably should head back, but since there isn't any major news, I feel comfortable extending our search to the nearby tunnels. Levelling up is one of our objectives, checking for signs of an approaching force is the other! Plenty of the first has been done, but not much of the second.

In terms of powering up Vibrant's squad, we've been an unmitigated success. Every last one of them has reached tier four and are well on the way to maxing out their mutations. There were even plenty of cores to soak up in there, meaning that a lot of them have solidly reinforced their internal gems.

I'm becoming certain that a larger core does more than simply increase the maximum amount of mana that can be stored. The more sensitive my mana sight becomes, the clearer I can detect the flow of mana in my fellow monsters and it's clear that larger cores equate to more mana moving throughout their bodies. It's difficult to examine myself, but my pets are clearly circulating a great deal more energy throughout themselves.

and practice my elemental magic, the group spreads

affinity (IV) has reached level

Blue Fire magic affinity (V), cost 1 sp. Enables those who possess skill access to more advanced manipulations of the greater flame.

precious few seconds. This is the first of my basic elemental magics to reach rank five, a cause for celebration! Although I can't dwell on it for long. I can almost feel my sub-brains sigh wearily as they whip up a new construct, releasing the fire mana converter they've been holding for several days now. Water next, I

elemental Skills for weeks! I mean, that's rapid progress compared to what most would be capable of, due to my Vestibule and multiple brains setup, but it's getting more than a little tiresome. At least fire is done.

The scouts think they might have found something!

I do finally catch up after ten minutes of solid running, I find the scouts have indeed managed to find something interesting. In a wider tunnel, already cleaned out by Vibrant's squad, we find clear signs of civilisation. Built into the wall appears to be some

but that certainly doesn't mean that they couldn't exist. How else would soft humans get around down here? At least the Golgari have the common

you thinking, Vibrant?" I ask

wouldn't we? Right?! Don't you want to know what

do you think is going to be -