Chrysalis

All right! I’m juiced! I’m jacked! I’m fully powered up and ready to go! New Skills to grind, new fusions to chase down and new mutations to get the hang of. By the time the itching finishes running its course and I can get up onto my legs again, the Gravity Mana Gland is already kicking into gear, filling up its vast new reservoirs. Feels good!

Even more impressive are my dangerous and snappy looking mandibles! They didn’t extend as far as I expected, but they certainly are longer, a happy median that I can accept. Aside from the length, they look… well… more savage, I suppose. More choppy and definitely spikier, I should have a much easier time punching through hardened defences with these bad boys.

I’m convinced the power of the mandibles has a direct effect on the strength of my bite Skills as well, so the Void Chomp should be even stronger now, which could be… a bit much. But what I really can’t wait to test out is my new injection mutation. I have to do a lot of grinding and practice before I’ll be able to use it properly, but I’m pumped up for the challenge!

Looking over my Skills, I’ve made a lot of progress, but there’s just so many levels to get, hundreds and hundreds of them before I can meaningfully rank up my key abilities. I’m starting to understand what Granin meant when he said there were fusions that would take decades. A rank seven fusion would be… quite the project.

For now, I need to get back out to the front and into the fight! I’ve got new stuff to test and an entire Dungeon full of monsters to test it on! If they insist on running headlong toward the Colony, then the least they can do is take part in a little experimentation!

With a spring in my step, I make my way down through the nest and into the lower levels. Apparently, things have been a fair bit calmer on the surface of the island lately, which is good. The Colony has been able to concentrate their efforts down below, which has, along with the reinforcements pouring through the gate, really helped take the pressure off.

I heard some ants are even getting a day off from the frontlines! Outrageous! At least, they would think so.

My three compatriots are still down here fighting, but I don’t want to take their experience away, nor do I want to barge in and interrupt Solant as she’s generalling, so I head down another tunnel, my mandibles clacking with anticipation.

When I reach the front, I let the general know I’ll be taking over the tunnel for a little while and push my way past the defenders, apologising to the troops as I go.

me. Sorry about that.

out

back to

you been resting,

“Need some more torpor?”

snap my mandibles at them jokingly. “Why don’t you slackers head

reach the front of the line, I dash forward, blasting back the weird mud creature the ants were busy fighting

a spider, at least in the number of limbs, but the details are difficult to make out given it is covered in a constantly dripping coating of mud. Perhaps it’s even some form of elemental and there’s nothing inside there? Or is it just producing a new layer of the coating

and fire a blast of my

POW! POW! POW!

Holy smokes! That stings!

acid, but I didn’t expect it to be quite so accurate! Launching the hyper-concentrated acid from the launch-zone is… uncomfortable, but impactful! The creature recoils as the weighty blobs of near-solid acid slam into it with tremendous force, penetrating

POW! POW! POW!

to mutate my Nozzle to better

In retaliation, the mysterious beast charges forward,

am allowed to be that