Chrysalis

“So how does it feel, Eldest?’

I turn a little to look down at Advant. I’d never really considered before, because I’d never really had to, that the position of my eyes and shape of my head blocks my vision to the ground beneath me. Unlike a human, with a handy dandy neck, I can’t exactly look down.

So when Advant approaches close to my legs and wants to chat, I actually can’t see where she is. I lower my legs on one side to change the angle and I spot her on my left.

“Oh, there you are. What do you mean by that?”

“To be a tier seven? You’re reaching levels of power that most in the Colony can only dream about.”

I feel a little uncomfortable when she puts it that way.

“What do you mean? You’ll reach this point soon enough. Bit of time, Biomass and cores are all you need and bam, you’ll be my size before you know it.”

Or bigger, considering her energy is mostly dedicated to physical growth, whereas I split mine. To my surprise, she shakes her antennae in denial.

“No, I don’t think there will be many who manage to take the leap that you have. The amount of resources required to push one of us to such a high tier is hard to justify. There are over a million members of the Colony now, each and every one of them in need of cores to fuel their evolutions. We must consider the strength of the overall family.”

a good counter to our normal swarm tactics. Having one big

me,” she sighs. “I have responsibilities as a member of the council, I can’t be hoarding resources and putting myself on the frontline all the time. Vibrant will likely be supported to make a push toward evolution, but I doubt I will ever reach tier

to say something like “if you wait long enough, you’ll surely get there eventually,” but that doesn’t really work. Sure, a monster will accumulate Biomass and experience throughout their life, but cores are a different matter. If the population of the Colony continues to grow in the manner that

one who insisted we do everything we could to boost

I say, trying to give a better answer. “I’m

the tier five soldiers,

is almost pointless. My mandibles are longer than I was tall, even before the leg thing. In short, I’m huge! The tunnels and

admit, thinking back to that period, it feels good to know

taller than me, but in terms of total mass, he’s fallen far behind me for the time being, something that appeared to hurt his feelings. At least, he was sulking up a storm when I woke up, flexing

when a little more time has passed,” I tell Advant. “For now, I’m still not used

The soldier nods.

are your plans for now,

to experience less

return to the fourth and help things get rolling down there for the moment. You’re all safe enough for the time being, even though the demons are going crazy. When you need me, send

can probably use the Mother Tree’s gate to head back, but I’ll have to rely on Brilliant

you’re going to have a harder time than I am,” I tell her, “but you’re all way better at organising this sort of defence than I am. Once we get dug in, a million demons

ongoing danger in the demon stratum continues to grow. The Colony needs to get to work preparing for the onslaught, and I need to prep myself for battle

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