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 few heavyweights,” I suggest, “that big burny demon was a good counter to our normal swarm tactics.

I don’t think that will be me,” she sighs. “I have responsibilities as a member of the council, I can’t be hoarding resources and putting myself

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 decides they would rather direct that resource to bringing up new members as opposed to investing at the top end… it's

do everything we could to

hard to describe,” I say, trying to give a better answer. “I’m not used to being this

five soldiers, almost everyone around me can

huge! The tunnels and caverns I roamed through in the first stratum are forever off limits to me now,

feels good to know

in terms of total mass, he’s fallen far behind me for the time being, something that appeared to hurt his feelings. At

to give you a better answer when a little more time has passed,” I tell Advant. “For now,

The soldier nods.

what are your plans for

to experience less

moment. You’re all safe enough for the

I’ll have to rely

“but you’re all way better at organising this sort of defence than

returned to friendly territory, the short term emergency has been resolved, but the ongoing danger in the demon stratum continues to grow. The Colony needs to get to work preparing for the onslaught,

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