Chrysalis

I'm no longer shocked by how fast the Colony can work. I mean, I've seen it all by this point, surely. Even if they can't shock me, they can get pretty damn close! In the twenty four hours after the initial battle with the termites, the area in which we fought has been transformed. A simple wall was only the stopgap measure, now we have defence in depth! Layers of walls, spiked pits filled with acid, surprise attack tunnels, the works.

The new walls are more than a little better. Compressed stone reinforced with Smithant’s finest steel frames, enchanted to harden the metal even further, each wall covered in crenelations and cheeky sniper windows to allow mages to unleash their firepower from range. If the termites want to run headfirst into this then they really are blind. Gweheheheh.

The issue we have is the sheer amount of ground we have to cover.

"How much of the rock has been compressed in your area?" Cobalt asks.

She's been doing the rounds, getting a sense of how far along the fortification is.

"Not even twenty percent, I'm afraid," the site foreman lets her know.

Not even twenty percent?! My brains are fried over here!

"You're a long way ahead of the other teams," Cobalt lets her know wryly.

"Well, I think we both know why that is."

I mean, I don't want to take all the credit, after all, there's a lot of hardworking mages here putting in all thei- … Oi. Why are you staring so admiringly at Invidia? He's not getting nearly as much done as I am! If you wanted to blow up the area then, sure, he'd be your guy, but I'm out here busting my brains to squish this rock!

Sheesh.

joking Eldest," Cobalt laughs,

don't even know what you're talking about. Who

Smooth. Covered

help is appreciated here, Eldest,

eye the

this network set up, the

achieve the job in the timeframes we want. So far, we've managed to cover the most direct paths the enemy could take to access the roots. That should help funnel them into our fortifications. The rest is

"That increases our risk."

shrugs. "By moving you around to

sigh

my mind constructs fall apart and for the first time in hours my brains relax. Compressing stone might be simple to do, mana wise, but it takes a hell of a lot of willpower. You're basically grabbing hold of the stone in a hand full of mana and squishing it, using the mana to heal the fractures as they occur and bond the rock tighter together. It's immensely draining, monotonous work and I'm well and truly over it. Seriously though,

excited to see what sort of magic I can get my hands

the winding work tunnels that twist their way around the Mother Tree's massive main roots. As we travel I idly dip my attention into the Vestibule to see what my fellow

pull your soul out and stuff it back into your body myself if I have to. The soldiers are helping to coordinate the

is that I don't see Vibrant anywhere. And I've just realised a large crew of scouts has assembled near the

caught onto

long has Vibrant been missing?"