Chrysalis

Delicious, delicious mutations. Horrible, horrible itch.

How could I describe the itch I experienced when I locked those three in and confirmed them with Gandalf? I’d expected it to be bad, obviously. The moment the wizened, gruff tones of the grey one faded away, I had braced myself for the worst.

It turns out, my understanding of ‘worst’ was appallingly incorrect.

I felt as if my itches had itches of their own. The first itch, unaccustomed to the sensation, took out its rage and discomfort on me, by itching ever harder. My carapace and plating cover my entire body, so this feeling covered every inch of my outside.

The moment it started, Crinis shielded me from the world, and I flung myself to the ground and engaged in a vigorous rolling session. It did not help.

I tried to use mind magic on myself, to overwhelm my senses with false impressions so I couldn’t feel it. That didn’t work either. Ultimately, I was forced to surrender to my fate, and thrash uncontrollably until it was over.

The intensity of the itch is related to the sophistication of the mutation, I’ve known that for a long time. Having my antennae sense the future was a heck of a lot more itchy than having them sense heat. These new mutations are crazy, involving powerful forces and weird dimensional stuff. It stands to reason that having my body change to house these new effects would be an intense experience.

Should have thought of that before I’d done it….

Too late now! Having dealt with that, I check my remaining Biomass and find there isn’t enough for much more significant mutating. I’d love to upgrade my Nave and Altar, but without enough to significantly boost the two of them, I’d run the risk of not properly considering them as a pair.

Better to wait and then mutate the two of them in tandem. The more I use the new Altar, the better I understand what it can do, and what I want it to do better. There’s no rush, especially when I won’t get a second shot at these mutations. The Altar is already made of a top tier material, or at least, as top tier as I can afford. It’s unlikely I’ll ever reset it.

With that done, I race over to the main nest beneath Roklu to have a word with my favourite three rock-coated people in the world. I really need to know what’s up with these funky new options.

[You’re pretty much on the right track,] Granin rumbles, scratching at his cheek with one granite covered finger. [Mana plays a part, Biomass richness plays a part. The main thing is your core. A Mythic core can sustain a more powerful and demanding body than a weaker one. Your monstrous form is constantly absorbing and draining mana in order to keep yourself… doing anything, really. Unlike a natural animal, you’re totally dependent on mana to keep yourself alive. With the abundance of energy flowing through that fancy new core of yours, you can sustain much more demanding mutations.]

why do they only show up at +35?] I demand. [I had the core already, so why couldn’t I pick them

to +35,] Granin harrumphs impatiently. [I can’t explain it any better than

Fair enough I suppose.

tall, ore covered puppy. [You’re a mythic monster now, so you should notice a significant

scratch at my head

pretty evenly with the other tier sevens I’ve run into. Though I’m not sure if any of them

they end up outpaced and defeated by monsters with more concentrated cores. If they’d had the same level of evolutions as you,

many did you fight out there?] Granin asks, curious. [I’d heard you’d smashed one when rescuing the Queen, but

[Three.]

nods, looking a touch impressed

them in

[At once.]

….

me. I look down

mean, ‘at once’?] he growls in my

Is… is there another meaning to the phrase I’m not aware of? Where

telling me that you fought three tier sevens at

[Yes.]