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.

plan now?” Magellant asked. “You want to head back to

planned to stay out longer, but after recovering this core and running so close to disaster, I need to get my bearings and do

a problem. We’ve got a long way to go before we get home, I’ll be able to hit my Biomass targets as long

be the price of cutting the expedition short, then that was all well and

the territory of the Colony in a straight line. Naturally, the Dungeon didn’t work in straight lines. They’d have to move much

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

had no one to rely on except each other and their loyal pets. A successful expedition

Columbant said, examining the

“Right away.”

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. She’d felt that nothing would be able to threaten

tier would do a lot for the group, allowing the softer

away, though there was a little work to be

tide of monster spawns slowing their progress significantly. Thankfully, as a consequence, Magellant had no issues collecting the Biomass she’d wanted for

crossed the threshold into the Colony’s territory, they heaved

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

across siblings who waved and welcomed them

How far out did you

“Working hard out there?”

you… get some

one had seemingly come from the shadows, but when Columbant turned to look,

was home, she had a great deal of torpor to

the two core shapers occurred when they entered the complex reserved