Chrysalis

“Wuff, wuff, wuff.”

I don’t know why, but these new pets the shapers have designed seem to have such a positive outlook on life. There’s a gleam of simple joy in their eyes as they wibble and wobble about the place, soaking up vile goop and emitting their mist.

After evolving, they’re a bit bigger, but not by as much as I expected. It makes sense on reflection, what would they need Might for? Or toughness? They have one job, and all their evolutionary energy can go into that.

“Why did you make these guys so cheerful?” I ask Bella as my comrades continue to go to war against the enraged fifth stratum beasts in the background.

“Do they… need your help?” she replies, looking nervously over my shoulder.

“I’m sure they’re fine.”

“There seems to be a lot of screaming….”

“That’s the slugs.”

I do check before I reply, of course I do, but I snatch my senses away as quickly as I can. Even still, I continue to hear Crinis raving in my mind.

[FILTH! YOU DARE CONTAMINATE THE MASTER’S AIR! I WILL RIP UNTIL YOU CAN BE RIPPED NO MORE!]

Shudder.

“Well… we didn’t, really. I don’t think we spent any time shaping their personalities at all. Perhaps it’s come about as a result of their function?”

“What, as cleaners?”

She shrugs helplessly with her antennae.

explain it. For whatever reason,

gleefully wibbling into whatever pile of foul, noxious slime they can find and

efficiency has really gone up,” I

flinches as another explosion goes off, probably closer than we would have liked. Invidia hisses with

Solant… and you… took them out.

is the mist more potent

of the fifth, the mist is… difficult to describe. Wherever it touches the poisonous gas, the two just seem to… cancel each other out. As it rises into the air and reaches the strings of mucus attached to the ceiling and walls, it eats away at them until they

for them would be how much cleansing mist they can produce per unit of slime consumed. If they aren’t ahead of that curve, then they need to absorb more slime than they can produce mist. Since the slime is self-propagating, they need to be making much more mist than they are eating

ahead of that curve

another evolution before they are just ahead of breaking

Huh…

be summoning an endless buffet of experience for my pets, which is fabulous! I can’t wait to see what their Levels are like once this rampage is done. Fingers crossed they’ll be getting close

they really are going crazy over there. The shockwaves from the continuous explosions, punches and the shrieks of Crinis’ victims are absolutely deafening.

going to

course. N-not at

than happy to let me, remaining behind with the small team

ooze to find that things

appear to be almost literally holding back the tide against a tsunami of sludge, slime, frogs and slugs. The tunnel is

you tell me it was getting this

FIGHT!] Tiny roars,

experience. It ssssshall be minessssss,] Invidia

[DIEEEEEEEE!] Crinis screams.

getting a bit greedy. That’s fine, we can

for me. I’ll help out, and I’ll do my best to make

and fight, a forest of tendrils lashing out at the monsters ahead