Chrysalis

"Get down from there you little varmint!" I yell.

"What even is this thing?" she yells back, still scurrying about on top of the gate as she pokes and prods with her antennae inspecting every nook and cranny.

"It's some sort of spatial gateway that allows instantaneous travel across vast distances and we are trying to learn how it works so we can link our nests together. Now get your butt off of there before you break something!"

Reluctantly, she starts to climb down, still excitedly examining whatever she can.

"You can practically feel the power rolling off of that thing," she exclaims when she finally reaches where I'm waiting at the bottom. "It's incredible! Why doesn't it work?"

Her question catches me mid-thwack and I pause before regretfully retracting my antennae.

"A big part of the reason is that no ant has managed to unlock the Spatial Mana specialisation Skill. Upon learning that skill, and then on ranking it up, knowledge of how to create and utilise spatial mana constructs will be granted by the System and by studying those we are far more likely to be able to understand how these things work and then build our own."

She looks confused.

"We didn't build this?" she points at the gate with one claw.

"Of course not. If we could already build them, how would we not know how to get them working? Obviously this gate was made by others and we are trying to unlock its secrets. It isn't enough to learn how to operate it. We need to learn how to construct our own and operate those. Only then will we be able to establish a gate network throughout our territory and connect our nests."

"Why is it so important to connect the nests?" the hatchling asks.

stepping forward from beside me to address

without running the risk of being unable to support each other. It will be like every nest, no matter how far, will be no more than a few steps away from every other

can work out how they

I chip in,

"I bet it's not

This hatchling…

do it. I don't want to hear boasting without results to back it up," I poke her with an antenna. "There's a hundred ants

pretty annoyed at this annoying hatchling

my antenna off angrily. "I'll be able to do it

the gate and you can take a look at it Eldest," the manager

That'll be cool,

then with gathering speed, the matrix starts to draw in mana at a prodigious rate, pulling in the energy from the air until the entire gateway is shining brightly to my mana sense. The more energy that gets packed in, the gateway seems to hum as it gradually lights up from within, illuminated by the sheer power of the mana

turns off and the gate continues to release that sub-harmonic hum that rattles my mandibles but without anywhere for the energy to go, it simply leaks it back out into the air at a slow

at how much mana it

One of the current hypothesis is that the reason no ant has been offered the

theory actually, it would

make sure I max out my core as soon as possible and see what happens," I assure her. "Who

denied that Skill for the same reason. Only time will tell. Once I’ve mastered Mind Magic to the point I need it, I'll be able

it? The power! The energy! How does it work? How did it

her questions, but tough luck for

of your business and nobody knows.