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

recovering this core and running so close to disaster, I need to get my bearings and do a

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

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

two core shapers began to plan the return journey, scratching out maps and lines on the tunnel floor. They were sixty kilometres from the territory of the Colony in a straight line.

was necessary that they have a firm

the nest, they had no one to rely on except each other and their loyal pets. A successful expedition was one that was properly planned, this was a

will work,” Columbant said, examining the diagram closely,

“Right away.”

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

brush with death had forced Columbant to reevaluate just how durable her design really was. She’d felt that nothing would be

would do everything she could to secure a strong evolution for Garg. Elevating her to the fifth tier would do a lot for the group, allowing the softer targets like Rist and Slither to move more

status. She wasn’t far away, though there was a little work

was a long one, the rising tide of monster spawns slowing their progress significantly. Thankfully, as a consequence, Magellant had

the threshold into the Colony’s territory, they heaved a massive sigh of

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

siblings who waved and welcomed them

home! How far out

“Working hard out there?”

sure you… get

shadows, but when Columbant

on rest. Now that she was home, she had a great

two core shapers occurred when they entered the complex reserved for