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.”

to our normal swarm tactics. Having one big shot to take it down fast is

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

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 it has, then the demand for this precious resource will only continue to grow. If the Colony

we do everything we could

a better answer. “I’m not

my evolutions, this is by far the largest increase in size I’ve had. Other than the tier five soldiers, almost everyone around me can walk straight under my carapace without me even having to

pointless. My mandibles are longer than I was tall, even before the leg thing. In short, I’m huge! The tunnels and caverns I roamed through in the first stratum are forever off limits to me now, there’s just no way I

feels good to know I could

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 quietly in

more time has passed,” I tell Advant.

The soldier nods.

are your plans for

love to experience less

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 word and I’ll pop in to

the Mother Tree’s gate to head back, but I’ll have to

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 won’t be enough to break

but the ongoing danger in the demon stratum continues to grow. The Colony needs to get

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