Chapter 166 Combine harvester
Having severed the stem of the plant the huge flower on top topples to one side, its comically oversized mouth thrashing about, trying to bite me until the final bit of energy leaked out of its body.
[You have slain level 6 Flos Fame]
[You have gained experience]
Muahahaha! After smashing through the kingdom Animalia it's time to reap Biomass from Plantae!
There are dozens of plants scattered about the tunnel engaged in this battle, some of them attacking with vines, trying to cut and control their prey so they can bring to their cavernous mouths, whilst others employ different methods of attack. Towards the back I can see a completely different looking plant. A long tube like flower head sits atop a bulbous base, the tube on top seems to be rotating as if tracking the action. All of a sudden a huge jet of liquid erupts from the flower, gushing straight at me!
LEAP!
Pushing hard with all legs I jump upwards and to the right, narrowly dodging the spray that I can see is a very familiar sort of attack. Some of the fluid splashes over the creature I'd just killed and begins to eat away at the body at a ferocious pace. That is some serious acid!
The damned plant is aiming at me again. Quickly legs, dash!
["Hold on tight back there!"] I shout at my passengers as my legs once again fire into top gear, moving so quickly they completely blur out of sight.
"Weeeeeee!" giggles Vibrant as the air pressure has her clinging onto my carapace with only a few claws, the rest of her legs dangling behind her in the air.
I thought I said hold on you moron!
Checking on my other passenger I can see that Crinis has also extended out of a few extra tentacles to let them be blown backward by the wind. At least she was sensible enough to not let go with any of her other limbs...
I can't wait until these troublemakers are too large to ride on my back. Not long now Anthony, hold on a little more!
Somehow the tube plant is able to track my movement and fires several short bursts of acid towards me as I race toward it, forcing me to zig and zag to throw of its aim. I can almost smell the fear of this aggressive vegetable as I close in, mandibles slowly opening wide!
*Splintering chomp!*
Being careful to only penetrate the plant with my ethereal mandibles and not my own physical ones I crunch down savagely on the bulging sack at the base of the plant. As I expected, the moment my jaws puncture through the soft flesh of the plant, massive gouts of acid begin to spray out everywhere as the internal pressure forces the fluid through these new outlets.
The plant sways violently like a drunk as it's precious acid leaks away but it hasn't taken any fatal damage. Aiming another shot at me, from point blank range I can almost feel the plant screaming at me "Damned meat bag! Take this!".
But I've already raced away. The usual jet of fluid doesn't materialise, instead a rather sad dribble of acid pours out of the tube. Without sufficient pressure it seems this particular flowery foe has lost its bite.
Gweheheheh.
Just like this I start to race around the cavern with my two passengers having way too much fun, disabling the plant monsters by trimming their leaves, chopping at their vines and puncturing their weak points. Tiny continues his berserk rampage, ripping plants apart with his bare hands, smashing their main bodies to pulp, even shoving his arm into the gaping mouth of one plant and pulling it inside out.
.... Disgusting. I mean, was that strictly necessary Tiny? You could have just punched it in the face, but no, pulling it inside out from its mouth. That's an image I have to live with now, thanks.
In short order we manage to cull this particular section of tunnel, handing most of the experience off to Tiny and letting Vibrant take the last hit on two of the plants to pump her levels a little bit.
Now time for the feast!
After eating meat and squishy internal organs for most of my new life I'm ready to try something new, a bit of leafy greens, essential fibre!
Starting with one of the big mouthed flowers I start to chow down on this new cuisine. Hmmmmm. Chewy, rough, extremely fibrous, almost like eating a rope... and oh! .. The internals are quite.. Squishy and..... Horrible. This is just as bad as eating centipedes. Dammit!
Come on Gandalf! When are we going to find a monster that is basically a nice pie on legs?! Or a monster that fires roasted chicken out of its face cannon? Surely there is something is this damn Dungeon that tastes good?
I should have had Tiny rob the kitchen at the castle as well as the treasury...
Tiny, Vibrant and Crinis don't seem to particularly care as they rip into the Biomass with gusto. I'm still confused at how Crinis, despite being so much smaller than me, manages to have a bigger mouth than I do...
Oh well.
[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Flos Flame, you are awarded one Biomass]
[Basic profile of the Flos Flame, unlocked]
[Flos Fame: Hunger Flower, A basic type monster of the plant kingdom, the hunger flower uses heat sensitivity to track its opponents, attack them with sharp vines and drag them to its mouth for consumption.]
[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Acidum Ollam, you are awarded one Biomass]
[Basic profile of the Acidum Ollam unlocked]
[Acidum Ollam: Acid Pot, This base plant type monster uses a powerful jet of acid to attack and defeat its foes. The main body of the creature is actually mobile, allowing it to drag itself towards the remains of its victims in order to feast.]
[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Vinea Bestia, you are awarded one Biomass]
[Basic profile of the Vinea Bestia unlocked]
[Vinea Bestia: Vine Beast, The vine beast is a curious cross of both plant and animal, being a mobile vine nest that doesn't have a distinct main body but spreads its vital organs around its network of vines. Whilst this does make the creature difficult to fight, with no central target to strike, if you can identify a key organ in one of the vines it can be defeated quickly]
...
I'm pretty sure Tiny just ripped the vines of the wall and flattened them until they stopped moving...
"What level have you reached Vibrant?" I ask the little worker, still stuffing its face with food.
To be fair, I am as well. We don't need our mouths to speak after all.
The little worker waves her antennae at me as she eats. "The voice said that Vibrant has reached level four! Am I strong yet?"
"Ah, no. Not at all"
"Boo!"
"But you'll have a chance to get stronger really soon! Once you reach level five you'll be able to evolve into a stronger monster".
"Yay!"
"But I want you to wait ok? If you wait until we can reinforce your core then you'll be able to evolve into something even stronger!"
The little ant seems to think about it for a while.
"Ok! But what should I spend my Biomass points on now that I have a +5 pheromone gland?"
I sort of shrug with my antennae, still eating. "Whatever you like, try to get every body part to +5 as quickly as you can. Just pick the mutations that seem interesting to you".
After our brief conversation, Vibrant turns silent for a time, a rare event indeed. She might be going through the menu perhaps, looking at options. I watch her carefully as I eat, hoping to see some sort of debilitating sign of mutation itch occurring but ... nothing.
Dammit!
I myself gain four Biomass, three from bonus points and one from snacking, before I stop. I don't want to fill up on this weak stuff, I need more powerful evolved monsters to eat. Crinis and Vibrant don't need to fight, so they should stuff themselves now, then again later to maximise their benefits.
Time to go deeper!
-x-X-x-
We continue to progress further into the Dungeon, ensuring we stick with the larger paths at every opportunity. Even though we walk passed dozens of smaller tunnels we ignore them all. If we want to quickly progress downwards or locate an expanse then by far the best way, according to what I've learned from my interrogation, is to stick to the larger passages. The bigger the better.
Not wanting to hand about too much and waste time I let Tiny smash his way through the various plant creatures that fill the tunnel on the way. Able to pulp these vegies with one fist the big fellow doesn't even appear to be getting tired when we start to encounter some more nasty looking creatures.
It really does give a different vibe these plant filled sections of Dungeon. Used to seeing cold stone, dark earth and waves of beast or insect type creatures its almost refreshing to have such a leafy environment. Never mind the fact that such plants would obviously normally require access to sunlight in order to survive. I presume that since they eat Biomass like everything else in the Dungeon there really isn't any need for them to photosynthesise. That being the case then, why are they still so leafy?
After an hour of pushing through the riff raff and following the many bends in the Dungeon we finally encounter some creatures that I suspect have evolved once.
Larger flowers with mouths, a bushy plant that actually rushed about on its roots as if they were legs, even a bizarre reed type creature that cast water spells at us, great jets of water blasting out of thin air.
Tiny punched all of it to heck and we even collected a core from the magic one.
Every now and again I continue to flick on my mana sense to inspect the creatures growing within the walls. They are clearly still there and growing. Every now and again we see a plant monster push its way out of the wall and fly at us in a rage.
What's curious is that the regular plant type monsters we find don't seem to attack each other much. I can only presume they feed on something else that comes this way that just isn't present at this moment in time.
Constantly doing this has thankfully levelled my mana sense up to level 5. With every level the range and sensitivity of that strange sense becomes sharper and more useful.
Eventually we reach a wide tunnel space filled with greenery and vegetation, large plant monsters dotting every surface with other more mobile creatures wandering about seeking prey. I can see some fairly nasty looking individuals in here, this might be good enough.
Quickly checking my Tunnel Map I can see that we stuck to the plan and roughly descended down beneath were the colony has settled. In terms of lateral distance we have moved about one kilometre despite rushing into the Dungeon for two hours.
This is the spot.
[Ok! Tiny, this is the next feast zone. I hope you're hungry]
Tiny nods his head rapidly as he stares at the monsters before him. You'd think he hadn't eaten in days.
[Tiny ready to eat!]
[Go get 'em!]
Unleashing a fearsome bellow, Tiny leaps forward with shocking speed, raising both fists over his head and bringing them down with a tremendous crash! That's one mashed vegie…
Time for this ant to get into the fight! I've been getting bored watching Tiny smash his way through the Dungeon with ease. Charging up my mandibles with gravitational mana I try to test their effectiveness on a large, dark purple flower on the opposite side of the tunnel.
YOINK!
…
Or not?
The creature is pulled from the wall and clearly distressed but it's many roots cling tenaciously to the rock and soil. Even that might not have been enough had the plant not lashed out with its vines and grabbed hold of any rock pillar it could reach to hold itself in place.
I cut off the flow of mana to my mandibles and release the pressure on the plant. Looks they can hold on tight enough to stop me pulling them out of the ground…
Let's try something else then.
I quickly begin to fashion a gravity bolt in my mind. Constructing the mind bending shape with threads of mana at a much faster speed than I could manage originally. Behold the effect of my daily practice! Every moment I get the spare time I've been practicing my shaping skills, becoming more and more familiar with these basic spell shapes. How many thousands of Gravity Bolts have I constructed, only to let the shape dissipate and start over again? Not even I can tell you!
The practice is paying off though. Although I still need to focus and push my mind to manipulate the mana, the extensive training has made the process more reflexive and faster. Where it may have taken me a minute or more the first time I used the spell I can now slam one together in about six seconds!
Gravity Bolt!
Targeting the same plant on the wall I fire off the gravity bolt and keenly await the result of this experiment. I've been wanting to see something like this for a while now, a creature able to resist my gravity to some extent.
The gravity spell strikes home easily since, after all, a plant can't dodge too effectively. Once the magic takes effect the purple flower, which is rooted in the wall roughly halfway up, begins to feel the powerful force dragging it towards the tunnel floor.
Once more the plant digs in, literally! Every root and vine, every available fibre is tasked with keeping the flower firmly attached to the wall but even so the struggle is real! If plants could sweat this tunnel would be underwater by now.
Still, the flower manages to hold on, leaves and petals drooping with exhaustion yet somehow emitting a triumphant feeling, the plant creature has held on against my spell.
Good!
Time to bust out the big guns.
I've been thinking on the forceful mana skill for a while now. Is its purpose really only to create devastating bomb spells? The skill description says that it is used to compact mana, so thinking logically, that compacted mana ought to be able to be used in any way that mana can be used right?
Time to test!
Once more I quickly construct a bolt spell. Shimmering inside me and pictured within my mind the spell is a three dimensional shape of dizzying intricacy build wholly from gravitational mana. Now the tricky bit.
Slowly I begin to draw out more mana from my gravity gland, the deep purple energy responds to the direction of my will and begins to drift towards the construct. This time however I don't simply pour it in, filling up the shape.
I begin to condense it.
Shoving the mana against itself and pressing it down I squeeze it into the construct and then pack more in after it, compressing the mana as much as I can. My mind begins to shake with the effort of controlling the fluctuating energy as it roils and shudders within me.
Gritting my mandibles I double down on my control, both brains straining to the limit.
This spell is literally being formed within my body remember. If it explodes or something…..
Let's not think about it.
Carefully I continue to condense and force the mana into the construct. Over time the shape I had built seems to be straining, struggling to contain the sheer density of the mana within it. Easy now Anthony! If it pops, you likely will too!
On the other side of the tunnel, forty metres away, the purple flower is slowly recovering from the fright it had earlier, blissfully unaware of the nearby ant straining to test a new spell on it.
Rest up flower… once this spell is ready I want to see exactly how well you can hold up!
If I manage to finish it….
The mental strain is doubled since I'm not even sure if this is going to work. I'm handling the mana with every bit of care I can possibly manage whilst simultaneously crunching it with my mind.
Slowly…. Carefully…. Condense it!
Done!
Finally the spell is fully charged with condensed mana! Beholding the unstable looking, shuddering construct with my mind I can't help but shiver. That was clooooose. A little more and the construct wouldn't have been able to hold.
Not willing to wait around I quickly aim my spell at the flower and unleash it!
The gravity bolt streaks through the air! It doesn't look much different than the normal version of the spell so far, perhaps a little darker in the shade of purple…
The bolt strikes home against the flower and the magic field takes shape.
The plant seems to sense what is about to happen and once again digs in with its roots.
Then the force takes hold.
RRRRRRRRRIIIIPP!!!
In one second the plant is torn out of the ground, vines and roots flailing madly, even tearing the rocks it had gripped straight out of the ceiling! They crash to the ground with a boom!
Against the floor of the tunnel the flower is being savagely compressed as the crushing force of gravity presses down on it like the foot of a titan.
I can't believe how well it worked.
Good stuff!
-x-X-x-
[You have slain level 13 Venenum Flos Caligo]
...
Seriously?
The spell was not only powerful enough to rip the plant monster from the wall, it also crushed it to death on the floor of the cavern?!
Forceful mana is no joke!
By compressing the mana used to fuel the spell it completely supercharged it! What would happen if were to do the same for the Javelin... or the Domain?!
My mind is boggling! It's boggling right out of my head Gandalf! If it boggles even a little bit more it's going to join my eyeballs on the floor!
My control is still lacking though. It took over a minute for me to carefully charge the spell, almost as long as it would take to make a charged gravity bomb. Hopefully with practice I'll be able to get quicker at forming the charged spells.
....
As impressed as I am with the effects of this spell, I can see Tiny is currently battling on his own, getting drenched in acid and what appear to be poisonous fumes whilst I diddle about playing with magic.
Mind you, he seems happy. Roaring at the top of his lungs, fists crackling with electricity as he lashes out with wild abandon even as the wounds pile up on his body. I swear, with his unquenchable thirst for battle and reckless fighting style this ape is like a protagonist from a generic novel.
Chill out big guy! I'm coming to help!
Once again, dash!
"Weeeeee!"
It is SO hard to keep my mind focused on fighting with that going on!
[Dash has reached level 2]
Weeeeeee!
....
Level ups bring me a lot of joy... don't judge me!
Rushing forward I engage in the vicious melee that is swirling around my giant ape pet. The plant type monsters we are engaging now and significantly more threatening than those we encountered earlier.
The purple flowers are shooting blasts of pollen or gas that I suspect may cause some sort of poison effect, I'm not too game to find out so every time it's aimed at me I dash the heck out of there. Sizing up the creatures firing at us from range I decide to present the commercial district and allow them to sample my wares.
POW! POW! POW!
Blast after blast of acid is fired off, immediately gumming up the pestering plants and eating into their fibrous bodies. Take that you flowery foes! In all I fire off six shots of acid, nearly emptying my tank but it's worth it if it keeps those poisonous flowers off our back.
Suddenly I feel myself being bombarded by savage lashes! What the heck?! In my peripheral vision I can see that the vines I'd seen lying on the ground and creeping up the tunnel walls have come alive, whipping through the air so quickly all they leave are blurred afterimages as the strike me over and over!
That stings dammit!
My Diamond carapace is extremely tough, able to absorb most of the impact with only slivers of my HP being drained, but the pain of having the continuous impacts roll through my body is still there.
Stupid Vine Beast! Turning to face my new opponent I notice this isn't the same tangle of vines we'd run into before. The individual vines are thicker, more dextrous and amongst the web of vines I can see several thick clusters where numerous vines have tangled together in thick clumps.
I brighten up seeing this. I must be facing an evolved Vine Beast here. Excellent! This should yield a decent amount of Biomass!
Posturing left and right I start constructing a Gravity Bolt which I fire off in a matter of seconds. I targeted one of the vine clumps hoping to see how debilitated the creature becomes when they are affected.
To my surprise the plant monster blocks the spell, thwipping several vines in the way to disperse the magic before it can strike home. Interesting!
The struck vines immediately succumb to the gravitational pull, slumping to the ground despite their best efforts. The rest of the creature seems curiously unaffected though, the gravity pulling down on only those vines that were struck by the spell.
Hmmm.
There are still dozens of vines thrashing through the air, lashing out frequently to batter my carapace. Even Vibrant is forced to be vigilant and shift left and right to avoid getting clapped by a vine. I certainly don't want to have this promising worker get squished on top of my scalp! I'll have to do this a little more directly.
Dash!
Revving up my speed I rush forward and spread my mandibles wide.
As the vines whip towards me I cut them with my chomp!
Slice! Slice!
Julienne veges, like a pro!
A rain of sliced vines fall around me but still they keep coming!
I can keep going!
Slice! Slice! Slice!
As the vines keep coming I keep chomping! The ethereal mandibles slashing through the vines at record speed until I arrive beneath one of the clumps. Rearing back with my head I unleash my longer range bite.
*Shattering Bite!*
CRUNCH!
The mandibles smash shut, grinding the knot of twisting vines to paste. As I do so a number of the connected vines fall limp, falling to the floor drained of their strength.
Interesting, perhaps each of these dispersed clumps is in control of a number of vines. This monster having its vitals spread across the network of vines make it rather a pain in the butt to deal with quickly.
I continue to slash my way through the endless vines, crunching each clump as I reach it until the entire creature finally falls still.
[You have slain level 8 Vinea Trames]
Finally!
Puffing, I feel exhausted. Constantly using the advanced bite skills is super draining on my stamina. So much effort for a creature so much weaker than me!
At least I gained a level on both skills.
What's Tiny doing?
Turning my head I see Tiny is holding a plant in one hand that he has uprooted whilst punching it fiercely with his other hand. Around him is a veritable farmers market of deceased plant monsters. Looking more closely I think the plant he's holding is already dead, which he should know, since he would have heard the announcement...
He's just punching it.....
[I think it's dead there big guy]
He turns to look at me before slamming his fist into the very deceased plant one more time.
[Annoying] he grunts.
[The poison effect?] I ask.
He just grunts.
[You going to be ok with that?] I wonder. Does he need healing?
[Ok, I fix myself] he affirms.
Fair enough. He must have some way of healing himself by now. Good purchase Tiny!
Since he's cleaned up most of the monsters we settle down to eat.
NOM NOM NOM.
The crunching sounds of four monsters filling themselves to stuffed echoes through the tunnels of the Dungeon.
I don't stop eating until every stomach is so full I can barely walk, my gigantic shopping district dragging on the floor behind me. Tiny is in similar condition, looking comically round with a massive distended belly.
I gained 10 Biomass from that feast, plus three for new species! It feels so good to finally get some points!
And I don't plan on stopping here! With Tiny's reluctant help I excavate a small chamber out of the side of the tunnel, digging in a slightly diagonally upwards direction. Once I've created enough space I seal the entrance and the four of us settle in to sleep off our meal. When we wake up I'm going back in there again!
-x-X-x-
HOOPAH!
I snap to alertness hours later, ready for action. Vibrant and Crinis are still slumbering whilst riding on my back, the little ant using the ball like JellyMaw as a pillow.
Before resting be had dug into the wall to create a resting chamber. I'd estimated how far the veins of light would be able to travel whilst we rested and made sure we had a bit of buffer. I didn't want dumb plant monsters spawning on our heads while re rested from eating dumb plant monsters. I wouldn't have been able to take the irony.
I have a huge wealth of Biomass saved up at the moment, more than I've ever had before but I don't want to spend it yet, I'll pile up as much as I can before heading back to the surface. This is a long term pre evolution feast fest bonanza! There aint no brakes on this eating train!
While I'm at it I'll pump my pets full of Biomass at the same time. Tiny will be ready to evolve soon so he need as much Biomass as I do, whereas Crinis just needs to keep on growing until she's ready to fight.
Vibrant on the other hand is getting a prime opportunity to supercharge her growth, she'll be swimming in Biomass points by the time we're done down here, getting all of her organs to +5 should be a piece of cake!
The second part of our mission here is to create a path back to the surface, a staircase if you will. I don't want to have to follow winding tunnels hither and thither every time I want to come down into the Dungeon. If the colony is going to settle here long term then a shortcut to the deeper Dungeon is absolutely in order. After I evolve I'll have to go even deeper than this to get a decent amount of Biomass. At that time the shortcut will have to be extended downwards.
["Time to get up you slugs!"] I shout at my lazy crew.
As usual, Tiny requires a few extra pokes until he's ready to get up. He waves me away, even reaching over with one massive hand to push me as he tries to cover his eyes.
Teenage rebellion?!
["There'll be food..."]
The apes' eyes snap open like lightning and he leaps to his feet, purposefully flexing his fingers, looking every inch alert and ready for action.
Damn ape! Have you no shame at all?!
Vibrant jumps into action quickly.
"Morning Senior! Are we eating again today? Will there be dashing?!" she asks.
"There absolutely will be dashing!" I declare, I won't miss a chance to train my skills.
"Yaaaaaay!" Vibrant cheers, even Crinis extends a few tentacles into the air and wiggles them happily.
What is this scene? Are we on a family vacation or about to engage in slaughter and gruesome feasting? Or is it both....
Who cares!
Onwards!
Descending back down our newly dug tunnel we do indeed encounter a few newly spawned plant creatures which we destroy as an appetiser, feeding the last hits to Vibrant. Then we step out into the main tunnel once again.
Chaos!
Fighting!
We haven't even started yet?!
This is very different to the scenes we saw yesterday! Everything was surprisingly chill with the plants until we started to rumble with them, but here are engaged in what looks like all-out war!
Up and down the tunnel there are plant monsters doing ferocious battle with other creatures that we hadn't seen before.
At first glance they appear to be like heavily muscled pigs or boars. On closer examination there is something strange about their hides. They seem to glisten, or shimmer in the light. It's almost as if they're ... metallic? Are these metal pigs?
Indeed, all around us the plants are engaged in a fight to the death with these pigs who tear at them with fierce tusks or charge them into the ground before ripping into their plant fibres with their teeth.
On my right, further back and surrounded by plants I can see a giant pig, the mega pig! Easily twice the size of its smaller pig brethren this specimen is obscenely muscular, almost grotesquely bulging with mass beneath its thick, gleaming hide.
Well if these guys have metallic properties to their skin... electricity ought to go right through them right?
[Tiny, go punch up that giant thing over there. I'll take care of the plants and small fry].
He acknowledges my instructions with a nod and grunt combo, unusually communicative for him in a fight. I can only presume he agrees with these instructions. Bearing his fangs he trundles forward, building up momentum gradually until he's flying at full speed, the ground trembling beneath the impact of his massive fists.
As he charges electricity ripples along his arms and shoulders, gathering in intensity like a storm. Finally he bursts through the crowd of plants cornering the massive boar and roars his challenge, smashing out with one mighty fist. Electrical energy flashes through that fist and lights up the piggy like a Christmas tree. The victim bellows in pain, thrashing wildly with its body and throwing the ape back with a titanic crash.
Holy moly!
I do NOT want to be caught in the middle of that... Still, it seems my hypothesis on the metallic skin being weak against Tiny rang true. I think I saw that monsters' skeleton.
Those two big bruisers can go at it, my job is serve the greens on the side. Dashing madly about with my cheering hangers' on clinging to my back. I fire acid at the annoying ones and move quickly to snip apart the most dangerous plants. Any pigs I come across are ground into mince by the relentless application of my infused mandibles and shattering bite, metallic skin or no.
Their defence is quite hefty I have to admit but these particular pigs either haven't mutated it or need to further evolve before it matches up to the Earth Bear Tyrant. I do get smashed in the side at one point by a charging pig but the diamond carapace holds firm!
Idiot pig! Out of metal or diamond which do you think was going to be superior!?
Muahahahaha!
As I clean out the smaller creatures Tiny continues to dominate the big pig, smashing it about with his powerful lightning fists. Each time he connects a ringing boom bursts out like a thunderclap, telling of the immense force behind each swing.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The pig is reeling at this point. Staggering from side to side, desperately swinging its head to try and gouge Tiny with a tusk, but it isn't going to happen. The ape smartly backs of a touch as he watches his prey intently with his bat eyes. Finally he seems to sense weakness and opens his mouth wide to unleash his sonic scream!
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Holy crap! That is only getting louder!
With my firm will I hold on but all around me plants and pigs are drooping to the ground, stunned by the shattering noise! On my head Vibrant has gone completely limp, flopping like a wet towel, even Crinis is looking more like melted jelly than her usual self.
The pig was taken completely by surprise, the point blank sonic attack has blasted it senseless momentarily and Tiny takes advantage by winding up a massive two handed hammer. Leaping into the air to unleash the full weight of his frame the ape collects a ferocious amount of lightning in his fists, causing them to glow so brightly I can barely stand to look at them.
BOOOOOOM!
Both hands collapse like a falling mountain on the head of the unfortunate pig, the discharged electricity rippling through its body and roasting it from the inside.
I'm determined not to get my hopes up. This Dungeon will surely find a way to make even roast pig taste disgusting.
With their leader the rest of the pigs and the battered plants aren't able to resist us for long. Within twenty minutes we are once again seated, feasting without rest, without remorse!
OM NOM NOM NOM!
I gain another eight Biomass from this meal, plus one for the new species. My wealth is amassing! Not to mention a few skill level ups I achieved in the fight!
[Dash has reached level 3]
[Shattering Bite has reached Level 6]
With plenty of energy left since we only recently woke up the gang is set to digging the shortcut again, carving a more direct path back to the colony through the Dungeon. After several hours of dirt shifting labour we rest once more.
-x-X-x-
Our field trip lasts for four more days before we finally complete our shortcut tunnel and return to the surface. I was able to utilise my Tunnel Map to avoid crossing over any existing tunnels, though we did draw close a few times. With accurate planning and tunnel engineering we were able to break through only a few kilometres from the site of the anthill. Now the journey that took us several hours through twisting and turning passages has been reduced to a twenty minute jaunt.
I mean, we'll have to fight our way through anything that begins to spawn in there but we would have to do that no matter which way we went.
I am pleased! Very pleased with this result!
After eating my fill over and over again an unprecedented amount Biomass has been stored! I may have developed some kind of permanent stomach pain but it was worth it! I haven't got nearly enough to upgrade every single part of my body to +10 but that'll take ages. I'm just not sure I can wait that long.... Evolution is beckoning to me! Like the song of the Siren it tugs at my soul every moment I'm awake!
The Mind Ant has been a fantastic species but I feel as if I'm pushing at the boundaries of what I can do, I need to take the next step! Push my stats to a higher limit! Then I'll really be able to flex my magical skills to the maximum!
Although my ultimate goal is be an all-rounder, with powerful physical skills as well as magical prowess, I feel as if I'm right on the edge of being able to use magic the way I want to. With a boost to my Cunning and Willpower, some extra juice in my sub-brain, the currently daunting and impractical task of transforming mana could be shifted within reach. With some practice, I might be able to master a few transformations and then I could cast fire or water spells to round out my complement of offensive magic.
Then I could double back and pour my resources into physical strength on the subsequent evolutions. It shouldn't take too long for my body to catch up with my mind. After all, if the pattern holds true then the next evolution will require me to reach level 40 and buff my core to 200 mp.
My crew track our way back to the seemingly even larger anthill and its contingent of defender ants. The colony is getting back into a regular groove it seems, with trails leading off into the surrounding territory and workers scurrying back with food in their mandibles. I'm not too worried the workers will be challenged by the surface level monsters, unless there are some very old beasts lying about unseen I haven't noticed anything capable of tackling a swarm of workers up here.
Descending into the colony I find the Queen is happily recuperated, resting in the warm glow of the Dungeon light. As monsters spawn in her chamber they are instantly covered in a pack of manic workers, protecting their Queen as well as supplying the much needed Biomass.
Curiously I don't notice too much new brood in the nest. Those that we had before have mostly hatched, bringing our numbers back to over a thousand but it seems that since then there haven't been many new ants born. Perhaps the Queen was on break whilst she was healing up?
Never mind, I'm sure it'll kick into high gear again after we settle in. Once I've trained my skills I might even be able to finally activate my long held plans for ant supremacy!
Taking the gang back into our own little chamber we add the cores we were able to harvest on our field trip to the established hoard. Compared to what we stole from the Queen it's a drop in the ocean but another fifteen cores is always welcome!
As Tiny retrieves that sack of cores from the wall my eyes light up with the precious gleam and glitter of the small spherical gems. Wealth! Precious wealth! If I'm a dragon then this is my hoard!
"Senior, why are you drooling?" Vibrant asks.
Gah! I hastily wipe my mouth on a foreleg and attempt to regain my dignity as the senior ant. Did Tiny see that?
The ape is standing in front of me with a curiously blank look on his face as he holds the sack open. Pretending he noticed nothing eh.... Good work Tiny! Now you won't have to be smacked in the head with cores!
Quickly estimating I think we have around four hundred cores on hand. With these I'll have to make sure my pets and Vibrant get the perfect evolutions they deserve as well as train my Core Engineering skill to the peak.
Before that though, time to consider what to spend all of my Biomass on!
Through repeated cycles of eating, digging and resting I have amassed 72 Biomass!
It sounds like a lot but when I consider how much is needed to get every organ to +10 it isn't nearly enough.
My mandibles are at +8 already, so they'll be the first thing upgraded. I still don't know exactly what will happen once an organ reaches +10 but I'm hoping for another mutation advancement. Perhaps I'll have the same menu as before, or perhaps new more potent options?
Time to find out!
Excitedly I ring up Gandalf and get this show on the road.
[Would you like to upgrade Mandibles to +10? This will cost 19 Biomass]
[Yes!]
[At this level you can choose a mutation advancement. Please select from the menu]
YASSSSSS!
The now familiar long list of options appears in my mind and I instantly start scrolling through looking at the available choices.
Hmmm.
Yes, I see.
Indeed!
It seems as if the list of options is basically what I though. There are the same options I had before, a few new ones and several related to the Infused Mandibles I chose before. A familiar headache starts to develop, just what to chooooose?!?!
To start with I try and pick out a few choices that I like.
The Vampiric mandibles are still here, draining life from my foes and healing myself as I bite sounds awesome. Except I already have the healing gland, what worries me more than not having enough healing is not being able to break through the defence.
Berserk Mandibles which increase the damage the more I bite the target also seems good but I'm worried about spending that much time chomping on one monster, this doesn't seem useful in a swarm situation.
Let's check on some of the Infused mandibles upgrades.
Potent Infused Mandibles, increases the speed of mana flow into the mandibles? I guess this will help me wind up for a big chomp faster but I'm not sure that is really needed badly right now.
Efficient Infused mandibles. Provides a greater effect for less mana, increasing efficiency in mana consumption. This is ok but it doesn't really excite me. Since I will have more uses for my mana shortly, an increase in efficiency sounds great, but I want something a little more offensive...
Frustrated I continue to scroll through the options, looking for something that meets my needs. My focus for my mandibles is to simply to have the most powerful bite that I can. It's my bottom line, when all the fancy skills and magic are stripped away, what I want is the most damage I can get with my face hands.
So in the end I come back to the most basic of all of the upgrades.
Savage Mandibles. Increases the size and density of the mandibles to directly increase penetrating power and compression force.
Bigger, badder mandibles. Nothing more, nothing less. Combined with infusion, my offensive bite will receive a huge boost.
[Do you wish to confirm your choice?]
Gimme!
.....
ARRGH!
MY BEAUTIFUL FACE!!!!!
GAAAAAAAH!
The itching continues for a good long while and this time I can actually see my own mandibles changing shape during the process. They being longer, more vicious looking and heavier. To compensate for the increased weight the muscle density in my face is also shifted as part of the mutation, causing even more itching to consume me.
After flailing around on the ground for five minutes the feeling finally fades away and scrabble back onto my legs, try to retain my dignified pose before once again hitting up the menu for more mutations.
As much as I hate the feeling, I have to mutate! Mutate or die! I didn't spend those days eating dumb plants because I needed a fibre boost.
Now I have a single body part at +10 and all of the rest at +5. I don't have nearly enough to upgrade everything. To take one body part from +5 to +10 will cost me 40 Biomass and I only have 53 left. That means I'll be able to take one more part to max level and one more to +7.
...
I have to admit... I'm quite disappointed by that. I spent all of that time trying to fill myself with food, eating until I was practically a bouncy ball rolling around on the floor and it only gets me this far!? Two body parts at +10?!?!
I'm very tempted to go back down into the Dungeon for another few days to pile up more Biomass. I haven't been able to get nearly enough!
A small part of me regrets not eating those humans when I had the chance. I wouldn't be in this position if I hadn't gained all of those levels without eating anything at the same time! Still .... Eating humans is not quite right with me.
Sighing internally I'll just have to power forward as is. The urge to evolve is strong within me. I'll just have to make sure I dedicate a significant chunk of time to bringing my mutations up afterwards. Tiny and I will need to go much deeper and expand our shortcut into the lower reaches.
Perhaps after evolving we'll be able to press into the boundary of the second strata!
The Queen told me how the surface people have roughly divided the Dungeon into layers. The top layer goes about one fifty kilometres down and is called the first strata or the layer of beasts. By far the smallest of the strata and containing the weakest monsters, the first strata is populated mostly by beast type monsters, mutated and powerful versions of animals found on the surface living normally. Lions, tigers, pigs, centipedes and also plant types. Ants are rarely found I was told and mostly right at the edge, between 45 and 50 kilometres down.
The second Strata is much larger and known as the layer of nightmares. The Queen was a little less forthcoming with information about this layer, either because she didn't know it or was trying to hide it. Apparently this layer extends from 30 kilometres to over 200 down. The Queen wasn't able to tell me exactly how far down it went.
Apparently this layer is filled with strange shadow creatures that defy nature and reality. They can employ bizarre mind bending magic and some of the most powerful species are able to utilise space in strange ways, leaping into their own shadow to strike out of your own.
This meshes with what I saw during the wave. As the mana in the walls intensified the creatures spawned were strange shadow beasts, even Crinis was spawned at that time and she is clearly not a monster based on a normal animal or plant in any way.
When I learned that she was likely to be a strong monster from the second strata I was extremely excited to see what she would be capable of in the future after evolving a few times. She's surely going to be mighty!
About the third strata the Queen couldn't tell me much at all, not even how deep it is. All she could say was that it is called the layer of demons and in this area of the world nobody knows much about it. In older, more established and powerful empires they are able to delve that far but the Queen claimed to have never met anyone who had been there.
I'd be interested to hear what Formo had to say if I can ever get in touch with the Sophos again. Surely those people would have gone super deep in the Dungeon.
Enough thinking! Time for action!
I think I'll upgrade my carapace to +10. Perhaps a bit boring, I get that, but having upgraded my mandibles, the carapace seems to be the next most important choice. With my attack boosted, I next want to buff my defence.
[Do you wish to upgrade Carapace to +10? This will cost 40 Biomass]
Hit me!
[At this level you can choose a mutation advancement, please select from the menu]
Gimme dat menu!
Lemme see here. Self-healing carapace is nice, flexi-carapace is dumb, aerodynamic carapace is back I see.
Much like with my mandibles, I'm not after anything too flashy here. My carapace is for defence, to absorb damage and make me an unkillable, unstoppable ant monster. That is all!
Let's look at options that directly increase my defence capabilities.
The self-healing carapace regenerates itself over time. This could be handy since the Diamond carapace is already hard to crack, any damage caused to it closing itself over would be nice for sure.
There are heaps of elemental resistance carapace options but I reject them out of hand. The element specific road has been sealed by me long ago.
Are there any upgrades to Diamond carapace options?
Aha!
Hardened Diamond Carapace. Solidifies the carapace and increases resistance to physical damage.
Reflective Diamond Carapace. Can reflect some magical attacks.
Dark Diamond Carapace. Can increase stealth abilities by absorbing light?! Man that sounds rad as heck!
But to be honest, the hardened Diamond Carapace sings to my heart the loudest. A straight up boost to my defence. I'll take it!
While I'm at it I'll upgrade my eyes to +7, better vision hasn't let me down in the past.
[Do you wish to upgrade Diamond Carapace to +10 and Eyes to +7? This will cost 53 Biomass]
Here is comes.
HIT ME!
.....
OH GOD!
BACK TO FLOOR I GO!
Eyes has always been extremely bad in the itch department, your actual eyeballs changing size is a special sort of unpleasant but combined with the carapace, which obviously extends over my whole body, this is torture.
TORURE I SAY GANDALF!
GAH!
I wriggle on the floor for another five minutes whilst my pets sit idly on the side. At least Crinis can't see me... Vibrant is actually reaching out with her antennae to poke me every now and again! How rude!
Finally it fades and my Biomass spend for the time being is over.
...
Thanks goodness!
Time to move on to core reinforcement!
-x-X-x-
As I start to move over to the collection of cores in Tiny's hands I notice something sending a shiny reflection onto the walls of the chamber. What the heck is that? It's looking like a mini disco ball descended in the room!
I almost turn my head to see if there is anything suspended from the roof before remembering I don't have to turn my head to look up anymore. It's only then that I realise the reflection is actually coming from me! More specifically from my carapace. What the heck is going on!
On closer inspection of my usually smooth and glittering Diamond carapace I notice that something has changed in my last mutation. When I selected hardened Diamond carapace I hadn't quite expected this sort of effect.
The small glittering points in my carapace have expanded, growing out over the surface of the carapace slightly. Each little point has only grown a small amount but the cumulative effect is significant. In essence, I now have a small diamond covering at points all over my carapace! I mean, I look fabulous, but just how high is the value of my skeleton going to get if I keep going down this path?!
If I continue to harden the Diamond Carapace in future will I eventually just be completely covered in diamond, a shiny and reflective crystal ant?!
....
That sounds awesome...
I might end up with monster hunters from all over the globe coming to take by extremely valuable business district back to the surface but damn if I won't look good doing it!
Enough, I can worry about this another time, for now I need to focus on the process of evolving. As Vibrant bounces around the room making a pest of herself and my pets patiently wait, I start to focus my mind and activate my engineering skill, one core at a time. After exhausting my will on one core I rest for five minutes before moving onto the next. Truly this is some of the most draining mental exertion I can imagine.
How the Sophos are able to work on a single core for weeks on end I have no idea, I can barely last more than ten minutes on one before my mental energy is flat lining. While I'm at it, I do make sure to try and focus on practicing finer changes rather than brute forcing larger shifts in stats. Maybe taking a leg from here and moving it to there, making the mouth wider, general changes to the monsters physical shape rather than just it's statistics.
This kind of editing takes even more mental energy but I must have experience in this field if my grand project is going to be a reality.
I make sure that I'm not messing with any potentially interesting or powerful cores before I begin my editing process. It wouldn't do to overwrite a potentially promising pet with some garbage after I've put an extra pair of legs on its head.
After several hours I've created a small pile of cores that are ready for consumption! I take a quick break since the next part is even harder.
Stretch it out Anthony, just enjoy the breeze and concentrate man! Who's the worker? YOU the worker!
OK! Let's do this.
After flexing and stretching my ant self out in truly strange and puzzling ways I am sufficiently mentally psyched for the upcoming challenge.
Approaching two small cores on the floor with the utmost seriousness I tap each one with a single antennae and then press together both physically and mentally.
HRRRRRRRNNNNNGGGG!
Like pressing two rocks together the cores refuse to budge. To make the impossible possible a sheer dominant force of will is required and I strain with every ounce of my being!
Come on you little bugger! Get in there!
Gradually the two cores begin to blur together, melding and blending their energies in wild and chaotic ways. Actually being able to control the result of this fusion is still a dream within a dream for me, successfully merging the cores is still the best I can do.
Hold on Anthony! You have the power!
I grit my mandibles tightly as I press with my mind forcefully against the cores until the fusion is finally complete.
PHEW!
Holy moly! That's hard!
....
Ok that's one!
....
DAMMIT!
After a rest I throw myself back into the fusion until I finally get the notification.
[Compatible special core detected, do you want to absorb or reconstitute the monster?]
Finally! I'm a broken heap of an ant on the floor but the core is finally finished!
"Vibrant!" I call.
"Hi-hi!" she answers, bouncing into view energetically.
Hanging around while I grind away on skills is mind numbingly boring for the little ant and she's been poking about and literally running up the walls. Crinis is the one to suffer the most as the small worker pokes her, rolls her around and gets the little ball to climb onto her back before they go out adventuring.
She seems absolutely delighted to be called upon.
Despite being so tired, a feeling of selfish glee is washing over me. Yes, be happy whilst you can little worker, once this is done you'll be big enough to no longer hitch free rides on me and strong enough to fight for your own food.
My days of freedom will return!
Muahahahahaaaaa!
"Now you've reached maximum level, right?"
"Yup!"
"and your core is maxed out, right?"
"Yup!"
"Excellent! After absorbing this core you'll be ready to evolve into an especially powerful ant!"
The little worker practically vibrates with enthusiasm. "Really?!" she cries.
"Absolutely! The only problem is that it's going to hurt like hell!" I cheer.
....
"Okay!" she bubbles with barely diminished enthusiasm. There really isn't anything that will keep her down for long.
Skittering closer she reaches out to the core and begins the absorption process. Much like when it was Tiny's turn, she becomes increasingly agitated as the process continues, the powerful energy within the core streaming into her body, reinforcing her core and infusing it with the potent energies that will supercharge her evolution.
Almost unconsciously I reach out with an antenna to stroke the suffering little worker and pat her on the head, trying to soothe her. Perhaps she notices or perhaps she gets a better handle on the feeling but she visibly relaxes under my ministrations.
...
I don't really want them to suffer, ok!? This is what's best for them! With more powerful evolutions they'll be able to overcome their fate and carve out their own path in life.
...
As a proud parent this is the best I can do!!!
*sniff*
Finally the process is done and Vibrant collapses in relief.
"You can evolve now little one" I say gently.
She nods, exhausted and crawls over to a corner of the chamber where she seems to fall asleep.
I'll be interested to watch her evolution happen, what changes will she undergo?
Tiny watches her go with an odd look on his face.
That's right buddy, you're next!
-x-X-x-
Tiny's bat face starts to exude more and more anxiety as I watch him intently.
[Tiny]
[....]
[Tiny!]
[..... What?]
[Time to max out that core champ! Get over here]
....
With reluctance painted over every inch of his body, Tiny lumbers to his feet and then resentfully ambles his way towards me from where he had slumped himself against the wall as I worked.
Using an antenna I flick one core at his feet and then stare at him.
He stares back.
....
Slowly I reach down to pick up the core with my mandibles and something flashes within the apes eyes. Was it understanding? Wisdom? Or was it heart rending fear? I shall never know. What I do know is that Tiny reaches down and snatches up the core before I can grasp it in my jaws.
A moment later he shows me the empty palm in which the core had been held.
[Good boy].
He needs to make sure he eats all his food.
With flicks of my antenna I continue to roll him cores I've modified until I run out and have to craft a few more. Every now and again I make sure to check in on Vibrant as she undergoes evolution. I kind of expect to see flashing lights or a glow or something but evolution doesn't seem to work like that here. At least nothing is happening so far, the little worker is still lying flat, seemingly unconscious, without any physical changes taking place.
[Core Engineering has reached level 5]
Nice! Every little bit of help I can get makes a difference!
I continue grinding my way through the cores but I have to take frequent and longer breaks in order to maintain the effort. It won't be long until I can't continue anymore and will need to take a break to rest.
This is massively draining work.
After consuming more cores Tiny finally raises his hand and pushes the last core back to me, indicating that he is full.
Finally!
I'm wrecked. My head is pounding with serious pain. I'll have to take a nap before trying to form the special core, Tiny will have a minor reprieve.
[Take a nap big guy. We'll finish it tomorrow and then you can evolve]
Tiny nods happily, clearly pleased at this turn of events. Ungrateful! No appreciation for how hard I'm working...
I scuttle wearily over to check on Vibrant and see if there have been any major changes during her evolution.
...
Still nothing. Maybe she's still fiddling around in the menus? I can't be sure.
Certainly the first time I evolved I have no idea how much time passed as I fiddled about with the options and scrolled through the lists of options which are certainly extremely wide. I guess this could be taken as confirmation that Vibrant is intelligent enough to trigger the manual evolution.
Something Tiny will possibly never reach.
Grumbling internally about my lovable apes' dim witted ways I slowly drift into torpor.
...
MANAMANA!
I'm up!
Springing awake I flash into action, immediately moving to check on Vibrant. Antennae wiggling this way and that I eagerly check to see if there have been any developments whilst I was resting. What's she got? Wings? Extra head? Doubled in size? Tripled in size?!
...
Nothing?
Resting on the ground, still perfectly still for possibly the first time in her life, Vibrant continues to appear to be resting peacefully.
Why is nothing happening?! She should be getting larger if nothing else! If she wakes up the same size as before I'm going to be super annoyed...
I shuffle over to my barely dinted pile of cores.
I literally emptied out the treasury of a kingdom to amass these cores. A small kingdom without a whole lot of wealth but still!
This is going to take us a long way.
If my plans come together then this pile of cores could change the world...
That's enough day dreaming, back to work.
Time to fuse these cores!
Get PUMPED!
I spend five minutes mentally hyping myself like a weightlifter about to perform the gold medal lift at the Olympics. When the correct mindset has been achieved I begin the arduous task of core fusion.
.....
HRRRRRRRNNNGGGH!
A while later, once again exhausted and shaking mentally I pick up the intensely sparkling and oversized core in my mandibles and carry it to the sleeping Tiny.
[Get up you slug!]
Prodding him viciously with my legs I shout at him repeatedly but to no effect. He doesn't want to get up. I suspect he knows what may be coming and is trying to avoid it as long as possible.
Perhaps this is a sign of him developing a little wisdom, trying to lay this cunning plan... unfortunately I don't think it will have the result he was hoping for. Does he really think I'm just going to give up and walk away after breaking my mind in half trying to make this core for him?!
Instead, I carefully grasp the precious core in mandibles and climb up onto the wall above the 'slumbering' ape.
Then I raise the core high...
[WAKE]
BAM!
[UP!]
BAM!
.....
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
I slam the core down on his head savagely! To be honest, after the first two hits he clearly started moving and raising his hands to protect his head. The rest of the hits where simply my display of affection. This is a teaching moment for Tiny and I don't intend to waste this opportunity. I spoil him if anything...
Rubbing his head and giving me a resentful look that I completely ignore as I climb down off the wall and drop the special core in front of him.
Perhaps lured by the potent core that will increase his evolutionary potential and strength or maybe it's the death stare I'm giving him but Tiny finally reaches forward and touches the core lightly, kicking off the absorption.
During the entire process I watch him like a hawk, lest he decide halfway through to bail out on me. I'm not sure what I expect, that he'll suddenly fling the core in my face and leap out of the nest screaming 'freeeeedom!' but nothing of the sort occurs. His face twists painfully as the core dramatically increases the pressure inside him but he stoically perseveres to the end.
He'd better, a newborn little worker was able to handle it, it'd be ridiculous if he couldn't manage it himself.
Eventually the core vanishes and Tiny has fully reinforced his core, ready to advance with a new, special evolution.
[Well done Tiny. Go and evolve, you'll wake up stronger than ever before].
The ape nods tiredly and slumps against the wall, quickly closing his eyes and appearing to drift off.
...
As my first pet I'm very attached to Tiny. I know he wants to battle and eat until he's satisfied, without evolving in the best possible way each time I just don't think he'd have the strength to keep doing it. Strong as he is, he's a monster from the first, and weakest, of the layers in the Dungeon. If we face monsters from the depths, just how well would he hold up?
By doing this over and over again, I hope to change his destiny.
....
Speaking of which, it's my turn next...
-x-X-x-
I have to say I'm quite excited to finally be able to evolve again. I know I should wait and pile on the Biomass but I simply can't contain my excitement.
So I'm weak! Sue me!
Everyone has to have a weakness and perhaps this is mine. Rather than shovelling my face full of monsters' sticky insides, as delightful as that sounds, I would rather be taking a brief nap and then waking up a whole new being.
It involves the consumption of less guts, for one thing.
I can't help but get excited for the possible options that may be present to me when I evolve. The mind ant species has been good to me, dramatically increasing my strength and propelling me further along the path of magic. As great as it's been, I feel like I need one more push in order to achieve a proper mastery of magic. If I have an option that will further enhance my mind I'll be hard pressed to turn it down.
Before any of that though, I have to form the special core.
LET'S DO THIS!
.....
GAWD ALMIGHTY!
MAH BRAIN!
[Core Engineering has reached level 6]
Worth!
After all of my effort I'm finally done! In front of me sits a new shiny special core, the announcement from Gandalf still ringing in my ears.
[Compatible special core detected ...]
Yasssss!
This mental torture is finally over! Despite being as mentally fatigued as I am I eagerly begin the absorption process immediately. Not even a microsecond passes before the truly uncomfortable squeezing feeling erupts in my guts.
NOPE!
I remember this feeling! It sucks!
As if my intestine were slowly swelling with gas but there was nowhere for it to go, the tightness swells until it turns into pain. Then it swells some more and turns into even more pain.
Yeeouch!
Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to do this immediately after wearing myself down, grinding my own brain against the stone to produce these cores. But it's too late to complain about it now, I'll just have to push through and endure.
Grit those mandibles Anthony, show what an ant you are! Do the workers complain? No! Will you complain? Only sometimes!
Every second only intensified the pain so I try and distract myself in any way possible. The first thing I try to do is look around the room for something to catch my eye, but everyone in the room is sleeping or something like it!
Tiny is openly snoring in front of me. I'm not even sure if he's evolving or decided to take a nap first. Vibrant is still posed, perfectly still, on the floor in the corner, still nothing going on there. Crinis is bobbling in the middle of the room on the floor. I'm not sure exactly when she wobbled over there but I may as well pick her up again.
[Crinis, over here] I stutter, mental teeth still clenched against the pain.
I extend a leg out and Crinis latches on with a few tentacles, swiftly making her own may onto my back where she wibbles a bit a settles into a seemingly comfortable nook between my body segments.
[Any idea how close you are to reaching fully grown?] I ask, desperate for distractions.
[.....] nothing.
Perhaps if I wasn't stuck with the least talkative of my gang this might have gone better.
[You know Crinis, I would be really grateful if you would talk to me a little at the moment] I encourage her.
[.... I don't know master] she answers quietly.
I sense that she's a little disappointed that she isn't useful yet. I'm completely not fussed however. I was lugging Tiny around for ages before he was able to be useful. In many ways he still isn't useful...
[Not to worry Crinis, it won't be long and you'll be back to shredding monsters, you'll see]
I can still vividly remember the sight of her mature form ripping monsters apart and eating them whole. I don't think I'll ever forget it actually...
[I hope so master] she replies.
[There now. It's nice to hear you talking a bit little one. You don't have to be so quiet you know?] I urge her.
[...]
[... well, maybe work on it in future. I'll be evolving soon Crinis, so don't worry if there isn't any movement for a bit or I don't respond when you try to talk to me] not that it's likely...
[You'll be evolving master?] the little blob asks.
[Yup! Looking forward to it. Everyone else is evolving at the moment, Tiny and Vibrant have already started, I'll be last]
[oh....] she sounds a bit deflated.
[I promise you Crinis, soon as you're ready we'll get you in the Dungeon and once you're grown, getting you to evolve will be our priority! Not to worry, I have big plans for you!]
[Thank you master] she replies, sounding a little happier.
Who would though a tentacled blob of death would be this sensitive?! It's nice though, so much more respectful than the other two...
DAMN IT HURTS!
....
Finally the core has finished being absorbed and my time has come! The season of triumph!
I can't help but have a good feeling about this evolution. The Mind Ant was the first steps on a brand new path of evolution and the next step will only be more potent, I can feel it already.
Damnit I can't handle this anymore! Feels like my core is cracking!
[Ok then Crinis, I'm going in!]
[Ok master. Enjoy]
Just so polite!
[You have reached maximum level for your current level of evolution]
[Would you like to use the Evolution menu?]
Yes!
My mind immediately is swept into the menu and glittering before me are the new options for my next form. Let's see, let's see!
[Mind Worker (formica). This evolution includes a +10 bonus to Might and a +5 bonus to Cunning. Aura glands related to worker cooperation are discounted for this evolution].
Ok the first option! A normal evolution that gives some bonus stats, and what's this? A discount on aura glands? Hmmmmmm. Interesting. I looked through the aura glands and there are a whole lot that relate to increased coordination or work speed for particular types of allies. Presumably this option will discount these. It's also worth noting that the stat bonuses are quite considerable this time. +15 in total? And +5 to cunning?! I needed a special evolution to get that last time!
This only makes me more eager to see what the special evolutions will give!
[Advanced Soldier (formica). This evolution includes a +10 bonus to Might and a +10 bonus to Toughness. One free health related organ. Defensive carapace upgrades are discounted]
Ok. Dispensing with the Mind Ant path, this normal evolution puts me back on the soldier track, skipping over basic and straight to advanced. The bonuses here are truly juicy, +20 stats? Admittedly they are the 'cheapest' stats in terms of energy, but still...
A free health related organ? That could refer to a number that I've seen, perhaps there are also new options that relate to Hp in some way? Maybe something that increases total Hp or redundant organs like a second heart? Curious. Oooo, the next option is a special evolution!
[Special Evolution: Magic Soldier + 15 bonus to Might, +10 bonus to Toughness,+ 5 bonus to Cunning. One free Health related organ, Defensive carapace upgrades are discounted]
Wowsers! Look at those stat bonuses! Clearly this path is to enable a turn to a more fighty oriented build but still wants to advance magical capacity slightly. I tell you what, that is fair tempting I have to say. If I was satisfied with my magic progress at the point I'd be even more swayed by this. The huge jump in stats alone is tempting!
[Special Evolution: Ant Sage +10 bonus to Cunning, +5 Bonus to Willpower. One free magic affinity gland and an energy conversion gland]
You WHAT?! Another free magic affinity gland PLUS an energy conversion gland!? I can well imagine what that gland is for too, it'll be for increasing the transformation rate of energy from normal MP to specialised MP inside the glands. This is juicy. This is double juicy!
What a massive increase in magical prowess, this might be enough to push me over the top into complete mage skills! I'm salivating, holy moly! The next option will have to be freakin' good to compete with this!
[Special Evolution: Dispersed Mind Ant. +10 bonus to Cunning, +10 bonus to willpower. This evolution includes a free Coordination Cortex and a free Sub-Brain]
...
Dispersed Mind Ant? +20 to mental stats AND a free sub-brain? The sub-brain is probably another five Cunning worth of brain matter on its own! With this level of mental boost the things I've been hoping to achieve, mana transformation, working on the cores, all of these could be realised in one fell swoop!
Not to mention this ... Coordination Cortex? I'm intrigued by the possibilities of this name. What is exactly will this new organ do?
The only two options I'm looking at are Ant Sage or Dispersed Mind Ant. These choices will both further enhance my magical and mental strength to the point where I'll be satisfied. These two options will bring my current goals closer!
The Ant Sage will allow me to choose another magical affinity gland and it isn't as if I'm not tempted by this. There are so many options I could choose that would make a real difference to my magical flexibility. I could straight up choose the mind magic gland, or take something else crazy like the space or time gland. Not to mention the gland that'll increase the efficiency of the mana conversion, making my glands even more effective!
Combined with the bottomless gravitational gland it might be enough to almost have infinite gravitational mana! Or close enough to it! With my huge reserves, if I were to add a faster recovery speed, it would take ages for me to actually run out!
I would become a spell slinging powerhouse!
The Dispersed Mind Ant on the other hand... those juicy stats, that extra brain! This is power of a different sort. With a mind that strong, with an extra sub brain on board to help handle the laborious tasks of moving and shaping mana I'll be able to cast in combat even more effectively. If the brains are strong enough then maybe they'll enable me to quickly transform mana during a fight! Even if I could only succeed in the more basic transformations like fire and water, it'll dramatically increase my spell casting options!
And the cortex, I'm not sure exactly what it does but I can only imagine positive things. Let's see what Gandalf has to say about it.
[Coordination Cortex. An organ designed to control and coordinate the efforts of multiple sub brains, increasing their efficiency when handling tasks separately or working together]
Oho! This organ is specifically designed to help manage multiple sub brains?! So that means that I won't even have to direct them with own main mind, further freeing it for other things! Perhaps I wouldn't even have unlocked this evolution if I hadn't crafted myself a Sub-Brain during my last evolution. This is good stuff.
Also key here is the Will upgrade. Will can be considered the force of the mind and it has many effects, like making mana easier to move as well as providing defence against mental attacks, something I suspect will become more prevalent the deeper we go into the Dungeon.
I'm going for it! The Dispersed Mind Ant it is!
Having made that selection I enter the next layer of the evolution menu. My core has more than double the energy of the last evolution to spend and I'm going to cash in! First I check in on my two sub brains and as I suspected the new freebie isn't quite as beefy as the one I crafted myself. I decide to spend a chunk of energy building them both up and ensuring they are equally capable. I hit the wall numerous times already with what my sub brain could handle so I want it to be a bit more capable.
Now that I have the Coordination Cortex, I'll be able to task both brains with a single job and the cortex will do the heavy lifting of coordinating the efforts, which means I don't need to make the sub brains strong enough to handle the big jobs on their own, just good enough so that they can handle it when they work together.
I end up with spending most of the free +10 Cunning on shaping up the sub brains with the remainder spend on my own mind. I draw on a little of surplus energy to give my main mind a further boost for a total of +13 gained on my Cunning.
The Will increase I similarly spread around my three brains, increasing the capacity of each and spend a little extra pumping the main brain for a total of +12 to will.
Just going this far my mental capacity has received a MASSIVE boost. Cunning has gone from 32 to 45 and Will from 22 to 34!
I still have plenty of energy left!
Like a kid in a candy store I can't help but flick through the options available. There are certainly a ton of new organs and body parts available. I'm tempted by the wings, I mean, REALLY tempted by the wings but as cool as it would be I'm not certain it'll be super useful inside the Dungeon.
Idly I flick through to try and find an option that'll help me adjust my gender but there doesn't seem to be that particular item in the list at this point.
...
Maybe next time...
I have two ways I can go right now. I could spend the remainder of my energy on buffing my physical stats like I did last time or I could try and find an affordable organ I can purchase with the remainder of the energy stored in my core.
There are so many options! I could get an extra set of legs? NOPE. The correct number of legs is clearly six, eight would make me an arachnid and that is simply no go. I don't really need more eyes or anything.
I could get a venom gland added to my bite, or I could get a sting in my business zone to inject venom. There are quite a few ants with stingers that I know of, fire ants probably the most common of those. This is due to ants actually being an evolution of the wasp family.
I think I'll skip the stinger for now, my back zone is clearly dangerous enough already.
The aura glands are still too expensive for me as tasty as they are. Those will have to wait until further down the line.
I think I might take a look at things that might enhance my already potent defence, there has to be some interesting glands or organs that can help me out in this department. For the short term future I will be using magic as my primary offense, the whole point of choosing this path was achieve that end, so I'm not too concerned about raising my physical offense for the time being.
So let's see what we can see. I already have the healing gland that gives me the burst of healing I want but there are still a ton of other options, such as purchasing secondary hearts and such to increase survivability. Since I'm an invertebrate, with my skeleton on the outside, I don't think the back-up organs are that necessary for me. For a soft, spongy creature those parts are quite vulnerable and may need to be protected but not me.
What I need is something that will increase my outer defence even further. I can purchase a second healing gland but I'll pass on that. Let's see, there has to be something here....
Aha!
This looks tasty!
[Inner Carapace Plating: Designed to support an exo-skeleton from within, this additional set of bone plating will increase the flexibility and thickness of a carapace]
Muahaha!
Nice!
Examining the option more closely it seems less like 'plating' and more like a web of criss crossing carapace wires underneath my outer skeleton. That's probably why it's cheap enough for me to afford!
Rather than use the energy I have remaining on a small stat boost to my physical properties I spend it modifying my Inner Plating to add more wires around my head to marginally increase the defensive boost around my precious brain.
When it's all said and done my final status will look like this:
Name: Anthony
Level: 1 (core)
Might: 41
Toughness: 29
Cunning: 44
Will: 35
HP: 50/50
MP: 110/110
Skills: Excavation Level 7; Improved Acid Shot Level 6; Advanced Grip Level 2; Shattering Bite Level 6; Advanced Stealth Level 5; Splintering Chomp Level 2; Tunnel Map Level 3; Mana Transformation Level 1; Forceful Mana Level 4; External Mana Manipulation Level 2; Mana Sensing Level 5; Core Engineer Level 5; Advanced Exo-Skeleton Defence level 5; Pet Communication Level 2; Dash Level 4;
Mutations: Focused Eyes +7, Infrared Antennae +5, Restrictive Acid +5, Absorption Legs +5, Infused Mandibles +10, Diamond Carapace +5, Limb Regeneration Gland +5, Pheromone Language Gland +5, Deep Gravity Magic Gland +5, Coordination Cortex, Inner Carapace Plating;
Species: Dispersed Mind Ant (Formica)
Skill points: 12
Biomass: 0
Pleased with what I see I confirm my choices and my mind falls instantly down into a deep void filled with black.
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