Chrysalis

“It’s all yours,” Magellant said magnanimously.

“Are you sure?” Columbant replied, antennae flicking with indecision.

“Of course. You and your team did the bulk of the work, I only arrived to provide cleanup at the end.”

“Then I will claim it with gratitude. You have my thanks.”

With one swift movement, she scooped up the powerful core sitting on the stone between them and tucked it into the pouch slung around her carapace. All of a sudden, the bag felt far more burdensome than before as the dense core settled amongst so many weaker ones, but it wasn’t unwelcome.

The serpent had been a powerful monster, with a strong core. She would study it carefully when she had the time, documenting everything she could find for the core shaper records. After that would come the brain-bending work of altering the core, attempting to engineer an even more perfect creation.

If all went well, she might have found her fourth pet! She’d need to buy the Skill to increase the number she could have first, though.

“I can’t thank you enough for arriving when you did. The situation was hopeless.”

“I noticed that the tunnels were far more dangerous than expected and thought it would be best for us to meet up early. I’m glad your trail hasn’t faded, otherwise I might never have found you.”

“It’s a bit embarrassing, but I made the poor decision to flee trouble by going deeper into the Dungeon. A foolish mistake, I know.”

Ranging from the Colony as they did, there were basic principles that they all strove to follow. The most fundamental of all: deeper is more dangerous, not less. No matter how inviting and safe that tunnel might appear, or how much pressure you were under, you didn’t go deeper unless you were fully prepared.

Feeling the pinch from heavier than expected fighting, Columbant had taken one turn that she should never have considered and ended up in an even worse predicament as a result.

now?” Magellant asked. “You want to

and running so close to disaster, I need to

way to go before we get home, I’ll be able to hit my Biomass

to be the price of cutting the expedition short, then that was

They were sixty kilometres from the territory of the Colony in a straight line. Naturally, the Dungeon didn’t work in straight lines. They’d have to move much farther than that before

drew close to the position they held, huddled against the wall. It was necessary that they have a firm agreement

they had no one to rely on except each other and their loyal pets.

said, examining the diagram closely, “are

“Right away.”

up, everyone, we’re heading home,] Columbant said

to her feet, the healing process nearly complete after a day of repeated treatments and several large meals. The brush with death had forced Columbant to reevaluate just how durable her design really was.

fifth tier would do a lot for the

checked on Garg’s status. She wasn’t far away, though there was a little work to be done on

consequence, Magellant had no issues collecting the Biomass she’d

the threshold into the Colony’s territory, they

was an exhausting process, ranging out so far from the colony, but the instant they crossed the boundary and sensed the familiar pheromones against their antennae, all their stress melted away. The random monster attacks ceased; within the well regulated lands of

came across siblings who waved

How far out did you

“Working hard out there?”

you…

but

rest. Now that she was home, she had

the two core shapers occurred when they entered the complex reserved for their