After several hours of weary defence at the escape tunnel entrance, I�m relieved when Tiny awakes. His wounds are mostly healed and the fire in his eyes rekindled. So exhausted I can barely form the thoughts, I tell him to defend the entrance until I wake up and retreat farther into the tunnel where I collapse flat on my face.

Torpor comes over me like a warm embrace and a thick blanket.

Without closing my eyes, my thoughts grow slower until they shift and sink, becoming molasses, until they barely move at all. This is the rest of ant-kind!

When I awake several hours later, I feel much refreshed. The heavy exhaustion that smothered me before has mostly been lifted. The rest, combined with a hearty feed, has closed over almost all of my wounds.

There�s another pleasant surprise awaiting me in the form of a dark coloured gem. The core of the Jellymaw I defeated. The colony must have fished it out of the remaining Biomass and left it here for me to deal with since I was one who defeated it.

How thoughtful! Truly the workers are the best of siblings.

I�m tempted to absorb the core immediately, but I decide to deal with it later. Instead, I bury it in the wall alongside the other cores I brought to the escape tunnel.

As quickly as I can, I hustle back to the front lines.

Tiny is cheerfully standing as part of the wall of defenders, workers crawling all over him. The poor ape is covered in wounds once again, demonstrating that the wave has not let up at all while I slept.

Indeed, the room before us is still filled with monsters furiously battling!

[Got enough energy for one more offensive?] I ask my ape companion.

Tiny eyeballs me and nods, a big smile breaking out on his face.

Of course he does. He likes fighting almost as much as he likes food.

With Tiny helping, I activate the Gravity Domain and we work together to clear the room once more. When that task is done, I lead the workers out to collect as much of the Biomass as we can, securing the food supply for the colony. Under my instructions, Tiny drags a chunk of food inside the tunnel and stuffs his face before falling asleep, resting while I take my turn to defend.

Just like this we begin our long watch. Every few hours we would swap and rest, with the other taking the mantle to stand against the endless spawns of monsters. On my second watch, I took the initiative to push out as much excess dirt as possible whenever there was a break in the fighting. That done, I�d muster the workforce to move back up the tunnel and leave me to protect the entrance. Then it was back to collecting the dirt shifted by the queen and her dig team at the other end, transporting it out to the queen�s chamber and piling it up, partially covering the entrance.

In this way we�ve been able to close over at least part of the tunnel entrance, and at the same time, make a little more room in the escape tunnel.

I didn�t want to close the entrance over completely. The monsters spawning from the Dungeon are a threat to us, but at the same time were our only source of food. Whenever I awoke from my rest, my Gravity Magic Gland would be charged enough to maintain the Gravity Domain until almost every monster in the chamber was killed. Providing the colony, Tiny and myself the sustenance we needed in order to keep healing and fighting.

There was a cost though. Despite my best efforts, despite Tiny exhausting his strength to the limit every time he woke up, we weren�t able to protect every worker on the front lines. Sometimes a strong monster would spawn in the chamber, lashing out with Mana or claws before I could react. Monsters fighting would lose their sense of direction and battle their way directly into the midst of the ants. Those monsters would always be quickly subdued, but sometimes an unlucky worker or two would get sliced before we could save them.

Those losses hurt. I didn�t look at these workers as tools or monsters different from myself. They had their own childlike intelligence. I accepted them as members of my family and wanted to save them all if I could.

We had grown quite tough at the front line. A number of my brethren had successfully evolved from hatchlings to workers as time passed. Once when attempting to scout with my Mana Sensing, I was able to discover that some of the mature workers had in fact condensed a core! A milestone well worthy of celebration!

The seemingly endless grind was giving benefits to some members of the colony, even as it wore away at our nerves.

After four cycles of resting and fighting the first major shift occurred.

Luckily it was me on duty when it happened. Toward the end of my watch, tired and battered from the constant brawl, I�d almost not noticed the signs. I was so used to staring at the battles directly in front of me, sensing for heat sources coming from the walls or from the tunnel above us, I�d almost forgotten about what had worried me the most at first.

The tunnel below.

Mostly blocked off in the first hours of digging the escape tunnel, I haven�t explored the passage leading down into the Dungeon; too nervous about what I might run into. I had grown accustomed to not really worrying about what was happening down there. So much so, that when the sound of fighting from beneath me shifted, I didn�t know what to make of it.

At first it was just a faint scraping sound mixed in with all the rest of the noise. I�d hardly registered it at first. My mind, weary from the hours of vigilance, only made a mental note of it before focusing on more immediate threats.

It only grew louder with time.

Eventually, the scraping was becoming more and more clear, a consistent backdrop to the more insistent sounds ringing out in front of me. Then the sounds echoing from the chambers below changed, the ringing of combat replaced by the harsh shrieking of crazed monsters and a rather ominous chewing.

It took a little while for my tired brain to click as to what exactly that meant.

The monsters from below are rising up!

The second shock struck me at exactly the same time. From my peripheral vision, a twinkling light beams at just the wrong angle, catching my attention, just as I�m worried about the noise from below.

What I see makes my blood run cold.

The veins of Mana that are the energy source of this Dungeon were starting to grow into the escape tunnel! As I stare at these new veins, my worry only grows larger.

Not only have the veins started growing, they�re extending fast enough I can actually see them move. It�s slow for sure, but visible!

This cannot be good�

This stupid wave. Just how threatening does it have to get? I�m already a wrecked heap. A heap, I say!

Now the veins are extending into the escape tunnel, which will surely cause monsters to spawn right under our feet. In addition, we have to deal with these unknown threats from below. It�s enough to drive an ant crazy.

Ok, think, Anthony, what are you going to do?

Stay and fight? Against what! We have no idea what sort of horror is going to ascend that tunnel, eager to eviscerate our most sensitive zones. There is absolutely no way we stay here and battle it out against whatever is coming up. One of the first things I learned in this Dungeon was not to pick a fight you aren�t sure you can win.

Run?

Run where? The tunnel isn�t complete. All we can do is crowd into a dead end. They don�t call �em life ends for a reason!

Only one choice remains� Hide!

�Quick! We need to cover up the entrance and seal this tunnel!� I shout to the workers around me.

The workers rapidly respond to my call to action, as they usually do. This is a family that can be relied on in a pinch.

A hundred workers leap into action, shovelling and hauling dirt with their mandibles to close off the remaining open section of the tunnel entrance.

From beneath us, bloodcurdling screams and the wild gnashing of teeth grinding away at the bones of still living foes echo endlessly. Certainly providing ample motivation to my own digging efforts.

What the heck is going on down there? Actually, I�m not sure I want to know.

It sounds like the monsters are experiencing a kind of existential terror I wasn�t sure the beasts had the capacity to express.

I�ve always had an urge to investigate, to explore the deeper layers just to know, just to see what it was like down there and what sort of creatures inhabited that space.

The ghastly sounds echoing from below have somewhat cured me of that feeling. To the surface, my fellow ants�and Tiny! Maybe we can find a mountain to climb when we get up there. Just to be higher up�

As we pile the dirt high, the gradual progress of the Mana veins continues to extend their baleful reach farther into the escape tunnel. The speed is still slow, perhaps only as much as thirty centimetres an hour, but just seeing them visibly growing is unsettling.

Is the Mana concentration still rising? Is that why they�re moving in this way? There is still too much I don�t understand.

Bah! Don�t think about it. Just dig!

I repeatedly urge the workers to move faster. Dirt flies and ants crawl all over each other in their eagerness to complete the task they�ve been given.

As the horrific noises from below continue to increase in volume, we seal off the escape tunnel, plunging ourselves into near darkness.

I�m still not satisfied. The muffled noises and vibrations passing through the loosely packed soil are enough motivation for me to continue stacking dirt against the entrance. I want to get some width between me and that room!

�Keep stacking that dirt, fellow workers. Start bringing it from the other end of the tunnel!�

I continue to exhort my fellow workers to keep piling dirt, trying to put enough earth between us and the horrors that will soon enter that chamber, that I�ll feel comfortable we are safe.

After ten minutes of constant hauling, the roars of monstrous combat receded. We managed to pack the dirt far enough back, that even the gradually extending tendrils of the Mana veins on the wall had been covered over. Any monsters that spawn in those walls will claw themselves out only to find they are still encased in dirt!

If they manage to dig themselves out into the tunnel, they�ll be easy pickings for the watchful ants.

The colony has entered a strange state now, completely sealed within a dirt cylinder. As the rest of the Dungeon is plunged into blood and madness, these ants and I exist in a separate, isolated container.

The worries I have are air and food. Though I�m not exactly sure how much air monstrous ants require in this world. Monsters live up to 10,000 kilometres under the surface in this world after all.

Food on the other hand� The colony has a voracious appetite, the need for sustenance is constant. Without being able to charge out and secure Biomass every few hours, we will eventually starve to death.

Exactly how long will Tiny last without food?

I�ll leave him asleep for now, if I can put off letting him know then I will�

After a period helping the digging, with the sounds rippling out from the queen�s chamber growing more and more muted, until the slightest of vibrations were felt, I decide to head to the front of the tunnel to check on our progress.

The queen and her dedicated cohort of workers have been furiously ripping into the soil and rock the entire time Tiny and I have been occupied with the defence. Her massive mandibles rip huge chunks out of the solid ground as she cheerfully encourages the workers around her to put forth their efforts. A lot of progress has been made! According to my Tunnel Map, which has reached Level two, the tunnel still has a long way to go before we reach the surface.

The smaller workers at this end of the tunnel are still vibrating with enthusiasm, fawning over their mother and vigorously transporting the loose soil farther back in the tunnel.

Have they taken a rest up here?

The escape tunnel has now become like a moving pocket of air within the solid ground, the dirt removed from the front is transported to the back and compressed as best as possible.

Quite an odd situation to say the least.

Taking my place next to the queen, I begin to furiously attack the soil, sending a blizzard of loose earth flying to shower the ants behind me, who gather it up enthusiastically before carrying it away.

Despite no longer having to fight monsters, I feel like the pressure of the wave has increased rather than decreased. The expansion of the Mana veins and the movement of monsters from below has really rattled me.

Firstly, the monsters from below. Why are they moving? It stands to reason they�re rising because they have been displaced by even stronger monsters from beneath them. Is there a possibility this upward migration will continue until those more powerful creatures rise to this level? Would even the surface be safe if that were to happen!

Secondly, the speed at which the Mana veins are moving. I can only think this is caused by the Mana at this level growing in intensity. If that intensity continues to rise during the wave, then what exactly are conditions going to be like after a week?

I estimate the wave has only been underway for a day and a bit at this point�

Casting aside my worries, I begin to periodically activate my Mana Sensing skill as we dig. The best chance of finding food is for us to pass by another tunnel and dig toward it, performing a raid on the monsters there to secure Biomass for the colony.

We have moved far past my previous Dungeon exploration, and my Tunnel Map is completely blank in this area of the Dungeon. The escape tunnel appears as a clean line pushing into unknown territory when I view the map in my mind.

The best chance of finding a tunnel is if I can detect the core of a powerful monster or perhaps sense the Mana flooding through the Mana veins.

I just hope it doesn�t take too long.

Donnelan was exhausted. The young fire mage had been repeatedly wrung dry over the last twenty-four hours. Expelling every ounce of mental effort until his mind felt as if it were on fire and blood started leaking out of his eyes.

Blood. Right out of his eyes!

When he�d turned to the centurion in charge of his section to indicate the distress he was in, all he received was a cold snort of contempt and five minutes to rest. He�d spent his five minutes with his head in a bucket of ice water in the med tent. Then he climbed back up the wall to finish the last thirty minutes of his shift.

This was the first time Donnelan had been involved in defending against a wave. He wasn�t sure if what he�d seen was normal or not, but what he witnessed in the last day had shaken his impression of the Dungeon forever.

The Legion was strict, really strict, on the management of the Dungeon. The mercenaries had a nickname for the Legion�s rules. They called them the Stone Law, unbreakable and as crushing as a mountain.

In the past, Donnelan held some sympathy for their viewpoint. The Dungeon was dangerous to be sure, though it wasn�t that bad. Idiots just got themselves killed while exploring. But idiots could kill themselves shaving. Was there really such a need to regulate them?

The mage didn�t feel that way now. When the light returned, the Legion had been in full force on the wall of their temporary fort. Officers strode up and down like angry demons, checking equipment and snapping angry hand signals to any Legionary found wanting in their preparations.

When the monsters started bursting out of the soil, tearing out of walls and even dropping from the roof, Donnelan was sure he was in the midst of a vision of hell. Brutal combat erupted everywhere. The stench of blood and the shrieks of monsters flooded his senses until he wanted to puke. Several trainees had. Throwing up right over the edge of the wall. The Centurions turned a blind eye to the reaction of their younger soldiers, some of them had been in the exact same position once.

The endless waves of monsters crashed into each other like a roaring sea before converging on the fort in a fury. None of the Legionaries could explain it. Once the monsters drew close enough to the fort, they seemed attracted to it irresistibly, suicidally charging in an attempt to scale the walls or burst their way through.

It hadn�t taken long for the fort to be surrounded by so many monsters it looked like an island under assault by the endless tides.

The only reason the monsters didn�t spawn directly under their feet was due to the deployment of an ancient Legion artefact at the centre of the camp that suppressed monster spawning. This was yet another Legion secret Donnelan had been exposed to over the course of this expedition. He wasn�t sure how much more they could possibly hide up their sleeves.

It was shocking to him he could be a trainee alongside these people for five years and not a whisper of any of these secrets had ever reached his ears. Nothing!

�How are you holding up, Don?� an exhausted voice asked.

Donnelan looked up to see Mirryn, face covered in dust and dried ichor, approaching his position in the rest area. She slumped against a tent post, seemingly devoid of energy.

Mirryn had been working just as hard as he had. Pushing her archery skills to the limit to damage long-range monsters, as well as plugging any gaps when the beasts managed to climb the walls and threaten the mages.

In the background, the roar of monsters and the din of regular explosions rocked the fort as mages continued to bombard the beasts with every ounce of magic they could grasp. Donnelan had never felt Mana so thick in his life. Every mage felt as if their spells were super charged in these conditions. Their fire hotter, storms larger and ice colder than ever before.

The same was also true for the monsters, of course. Hence all the noise.

The constant din was starting to get into a few trainees heads. Donnelan had seen another archer�nice guy, they called him �Fingers� due to his extremely dexterous digits�collapse in a quivering heap right in the middle of the rest area after fourteen hours of the wave, screaming for the noise to stop.

Two medics knocked him out with a rune and tumbled him into a bed where he�d been ever since.

It was almost enough to cause Donnelan to wonder if he should start shrieking himself. Maybe then he�d get some sleep.

�I�ve never been better, Mir,� Donnelan drawled. �I�m practically on vacation.�

Mirryn chuckled, her eyes shut and head leaned back against the post. �I heard about the eye thing. Really only five minutes?�

�Really,� Donnelan affirmed.

His friend could only shake her head in disbelief, too spent for any greater reaction. �I may have some good news for you though.�

�Oh?�

�Apparently, the trainees are going to be given a twenty-four-hour break before our next shift.�

Donnelan was so shocked he sat up too fast and was rewarded with a cramp in his leg.

�Ouch!� he wailed.

It took a few minutes to straighten out the limb and stretch it until the pain faded, during which Mirryn continuously chuckled painfully.

�How are they giving us a rest? Don�t they need us up there? I don�t see any sign of the fighting dying down�� Donnelan muttered doubtingly.

Mirryn snorted. �If anything, it�s getting worse. You know that as well as I do. I have no idea what the brass are planning, but I was passed this news by the Tribune ten minutes ago. I swear it!�

The young fire mage could only shake his head. How were they going to hold the defences if so many soldiers took a break?

In the centre of the camp, the senior officers had gathered together, hundreds of years of collective Dungeon experience amassed in one place.

Despite the horrific din that battered the eardrums of everyone inside the camp, the officers were unruffled. They stroked their beads or thumbed their chins while they exchanged grumbling words about the state of the young soldiers these days.

There was a stirring amongst them. They turned to their left as a unit, conversation falling away. Moments later, Titus emerged from with his command tent, dark plates of armour strapped to his ageing, yet still bulky, frame.

As he approached his old friends and comrades Titus freely smiled, clapping them on their shoulders, sharing a laugh and a warm nod with each. Despite the howling battle occurring not one hundred metres away, the commander appeared more relaxed than he had in some time.

Quite a few of his officers noticed the change.

�Almost feels like home now doesn�t it, Commander?� grinned a grizzled centurion.

Titus looked at the dazzlingly shining forest and drew the air deep into his lungs, drawing the rich Mana into his system.

�Almost, Margnus. About another ten percent and it�ll be just about there.�

The others also breathed deeply, nodding their agreement. Not just the commander, but the rest of these veterans were similarly looking refreshed and moving more easily than they had in years.

Margnus glanced back at the tent Titus had emerged from. �Any luck waking her up, Commander? I�d love to see her in action again after all this time.�

Titus just shook his head. �It�s going to take a lot more than ten percent to get that old battle axe going, you know that.� Titus laughed. �Still, I think if we can shake out our old bones then the soldiers should be able to rest easy for a day. What do you say, fellows?�

The men and women who made up the officers of the Legion Liria branch surface headquarters laughed and hefted their weapons. They moved toward the walls. Only Titus and Aurillia remained behind.

�How much longer until they start to show up, Commander? Will the trainees be ready?� the Tribune asked, worry in her tone.

Titus only smiled. �Those old dogs will have started rising up a few hours ago. The pressure in the second strata will be hitting its peak pretty soon. It won�t be long until those monsters start to push up here. We�ll give as many soldiers a rest as we can for now and then we�ll really test their mettle.�

The Tribune nodded. �Body of Iron.�

�Heart of Flame.�

I�m so damn hungry!

As a human, I never would have expected that digging would be so tiring. Although, unlike when I was human, I�ve been able to move a hell of a lot more dirt. With my Excavation skill targeting my instincts, and my mandibles acting as a movable super shovel, I can really smash out some tunnel space.

And all that work is really putting a strain on my empty stomach. When Tiny awoke, I had him collect my monster cores, then put him to work compacting the dirt at the rear of the tunnel. Despite having eaten relatively recently, my ape buddy was also starving.

I can only imagine how the queen is feeling. She appears to be fine. Cheerfully chomping away at the earth and encouraging the workforce with her seemingly endless positivity.

Admittedly, my mind isn�t completely focused on the digging. As often as possible, I activate the Mana Sensing skill, desperately searching for some sign of a source of food. On the positive side, my constant scanning and digging has raised my skills. Mana Sensing by two Levels and Excavation by one. On the negative, I�ve yet to find anything.

In my Tunnel Map, the escape tunnel continues to spear upwards and outwards into empty space. I�m somewhat worried about where exactly we�ll surface. Best I can say, at the very least, it will be several kilometres away from that guarded entrance.

Growing more and more depressed with the failure to locate anything, I finally get a response.

At last! A bite on the line.

As the skill Level has risen, the range I can successfully detect Mana has likewise increased. Which is lucky, since I doubt I would�ve been able to find this response otherwise. Very faintly, on the edge of my awareness, are ripples of Mana. Strong or weak, I can�t tell from this distance, the only way to get a more accurate reading would be to get closer.

It�s been several hours since the last time the colony had access to any sort of food. Not to mention, if I pass up this reading there�s no guarantee another one will come within range of my Mana Sensing before we reach the surface. The entire colony could starve to death by then!

I won�t risk it. The tunnel needs to be diverted. I turn to the queen.

�I�ve found a source of food! We have to divert the tunnel slightly in order to reach it.�

The queen pauses in her digging to turn her face toward me. I take it as a sign of politeness since, as an ant, she doesn�t need to turn to see me�compound eyes�nor to speak to me�pheromone communication.

�Do you know what you have found, child?� she asks.

I can only be honest here. �I have absolutely no clue. But we may all starve to death in a few days if we aren�t able to secure some food soon. If we pass up this chance, we might not get another.�

The queen ponders this for a moment before waggling her antennae in agreement. �You speak sensibly, child. Tell me where to dig.�

After a little prodding with my antennae and trying to feel out the ground with my Excavation skill, I adjust the angle of the tunnel and start to curve it toward the Mana source.

If we adjust the direction of the tunnel as we approach, we should be able to arrive above the source. Then it�s just a matter of digging a small distance down, allowing myself and Tiny to infiltrate without having to risk the workers unnecessarily.

The Mana source is roughly two hundred metres away. Tunnelling through two hundred metres of solid earth and rock is not a casual endeavour by any means. Even for a colony of monstrous earth moving machines like us.

All in all, it takes us around five hours to advance the tunnel where we need it. I continue to sink my consciousness down into my core and reach out with my senses to detect the echoing ripples.

As we draw closer, the form of the Mana I detected becomes clearer. It isn�t long before I know just what it is we�ve found�a tunnel, and a fairly narrow one at that. Joy blooms within my ant thorax when I confirm the shape of the source. This is perfect! A tunnel, covered in Mana veins, is sure to be packed with monsters, aka lunch, and due to its narrow width, the size of said monsters should be fairly manageable.

After repeatedly sweeping the tunnel, I can detect only a few small cores moving about before they shift out of my range. The best possible result. We may be able to harvest a few cores while we�re at it!

When the tunnel has been dug to the correct position, I inform the queen of the correct angle to get the tunnel back on track. Now it�s time to start digging a short passage of my own, pushing my way down toward my meal�I mean the tunnel�

[Tiny! Come up here and get ready to eat!]

I swear it takes less than ten seconds for Tiny to get from one end of the tunnel to the other, drool running down his bat face as he gently pushes his way through the workers to where I�m digging.

Maybe I shouldn�t have called him over� This ape is way too excited. The burning hunger in his eyes feels hot enough to incinerate all life in this tunnel. I�ve invited him to fight and eat; I should have known this was going to happen.

It takes me ten minutes to dig my way down to the prey-cave. The entire time Tiny is hopping from one foot to another, ripping away at the side of my tunnel to widen it enough for him to fit more comfortably.

The soil gives way from in front of me and the thick scent of monster assaults my senses.

[Tiny, time to eat, buddy!]

Before I�ve even finished speaking, Tiny releases a ravenous howl and dives into the vertical tunnel. Right on top of me!

My plan had been to crawl along the roof of this tunnel and scope it out a bit before taking any action. Instead, I get pushed down the hole by the sheer weight of ape mass that sends us smashing into the ground directly between two battling monsters.

THUMP!

Get off me, Tiny, you stupid�Wait a sec� Er.

[Get off me, Tiny, you ape!]

He isn�t listening. Eyes alive with hunger, for food and battle, Tiny leaps up, planting one foot squarely in my back, before diving headfirst into the nearest monster. Fists swinging and electricity zapping in every direction.

He flattened me. I�ve even taken damage dammit!

Turns out, having a giant ape land on your back is less than pleasant.

Groaning, I pick myself up and try to switch my mentality back to battle mode after experiencing that rather rude shock. Once my feet are under me, I try to quickly get a grasp of the situation.

What are we up against?

The tunnel itself is quite narrow, as expected, and absolutely blazing with light, the Mana veins snaking through every surface of the walls. Monsters are battling up and down the space, even as new monsters push their way out of the walls where they have been spawned.

Havoc! Chaos!

Except they�re all low-Level monsters.

The sorts of enemies I�d seen when I first entered the Dungeon. Slugs, centipedes, wolves, the occasional croca-beast and Thorn Lizard. All of the weakest foes. I was able to fight against these guys before I�d even formed a core!

I�ve evolved twice since then and am so much stronger than before. These monsters are simply no match for me anymore! In fact, most of them look very different now, seeing as I�ve grown significantly taller and longer. The Wolf Dragon hounds can�t even look down on me now. Ha!

Prepare to feel my wrath.

Muahahaha!

Filled with glee, I charge at the nearest Coral Slug, open my mandibles wide, and snap them closed.

Shattering Bite!

Without any resistance, the ethereal jaws of light snap cleanly through the slug. Your goop can�t save you now!

[You have defeated a Level 3 Coral Slug.]

[You have gained XP.]

Who�s next?

What follows is an extremely cathartic battle. With my much higher stats, body advancements and improved skills, these weaker, unevolved, base Level monsters are simply no match. Practically everything is destroyed with one bite.

I remember when I was afraid of you. Take this!

[You have defeated�]

You want to spit your horrible acid on me now? I can barely feel it! Muahahaha!

[You have defeated�]

Oh, you want to slap me around with your tail? How about I bite it off?

[You have defeated�]

All my amassed frustration from those early days in the upper tunnels of the Dungeon is poured out on these monsters without remorse. Yes, you horrible little beasts. Become my stress relief!

As much as I enjoy the ensuing battle, Tiny doesn�t. The monsters are just too weak to satisfy his lust for combat. Every single one crumbles after one impact of his colossal fist. After smashing everything in front of him, the poor fellow starts to look somewhat despondent. He continues to battle and slay his way down the tunnel, but he doesn�t have quite the same verve as before.

He just can�t seem to muster any enthusiasm unless there�s a very real sense of danger.

You some sort of masochist, Tiny? Can�t enjoy yourself unless you�re getting beat up?

You need help, man.

Soon, a decent section of the tunnel has been completely smashed clean. We rampaged until no monster was willing to challenge us. Standing amidst the remains of our victims, I am aglow with satisfaction, having successfully released some of my inner demons and stress. Tiny on the other hand can only look disappointed.

[Cheer up, Tiny. Time to eat!]

No sooner are the words out of my mouth, than a wide grin plays over that bat face and he starts grabbing hold of Biomass and shoving it into his mouth. I�m just as hungry as he is at this point, so I join in with gusto, ripping into my food with all the strength my ant mouth can muster.

Biomass still tastes disgusting. Don�t think otherwise. But you can get used to anything after a while, even cramming your face with raw monster body parts.

It�s disappointing in a way that the monsters here were such a low Level. Despite killing twenty or so creatures, I wasn�t able to Level up at all. I highly doubt I�ll be able to gain much Biomass, even if I were to consume all of these creatures.

I did manage to come across three small monster cores though! I put those aside to add to my collection for experimentation. It�ll be some time before evolution is back on the table, so there�s no need to rush and soak up every core I find. I�d rather use them to advance my skills first. The Core Engineering skill still seems to have a lot of potential.

Nonetheless, Tiny and I continue to eat until our stomachs are fit to bursting. Only then do we somewhat sheepishly realise we were supposed to be securing food for the entire colony, not just ourselves.

Got a little distracted there�

It isn�t a big deal though. If there�s one thing that isn�t in short supply during the wave, it�s spawning monsters. Even during our feast there were monsters spawning we had to destroy between mouthfuls.

Dragging myself down the corridor, I hunt down more prey and lug it back to the connection of the escape tunnel. After ten minutes I�ve amassed a small pile of Biomass, and Tiny has done likewise after hunting in the other direction.

Heading back up the short connecting tunnel to summon some workers to collect the food, I notice the Mana veins are already beginning to grow up the connection.

Dammit.

There was no way it wasn�t going to happen, but it still worries me. Hopefully we�ll be able to continue digging and outpace the growth of these veins. I really don�t want to have monsters jumping out of the walls while we dig. The monsters would be easily dealt with to be sure, but there�s a small chance a worker would be caught unaware, or a monster could appear directly underneath the larvae before anyone can stop it.

Dozens of ants have already lost their lives in this wave, and we�ve been very lucky!

�I need some help to collect food down here!� I announce to the workers after poking my head out of the connecting tunnel.

At the word �food,� thirty workers immediately stop what they�re doing and plunge themselves down the narrow tunnel, pushing me rudely out of the way in their rush to get at the Biomass.

I end up losing my grip and falling, this time landing squishily in a pile of monster parts.

My dignity!

As the ants crawl over me and start to carve up the Biomass, I take a moment to rest. After fighting and then digging, and fighting some more, I really feel like a nap!

After breaking into the smaller tunnel to feast, it has been two full days. Two days of nothing but digging and snatching the occasional hour of shut-eye.

The colony was able to harvest quite a haul, bringing up piles of Biomass to feed the queen, workers and larvae, providing much-needed energy for the labours ahead.

Before the colony dug far enough that our little capsule pocket passed completely over the opening, we managed to make a few raids, grabbing enough of a food store that it should be sufficient to feed us until we make it to the surface.

The problem was the Mana veins. After connecting our escape pocket to that smaller tunnel, the veins grew and extended into our escape vessel so rapidly, we weren�t really able to do anything about it. After just a few hours, they were spreading beneath our feet, and not long after that, the heat sources started to appear.

I did what I could and warned the ants. Tried to get extra guards near the larvae, many of whom had reached maturity after the last feed and began to spin their cocoons, turning into pupae. Despite these preparations, we still lost a few hatchling workers and a couple of larvae.

Although painful, there really wasn�t anything more we could have done. The colony needed to be fed, and without Biomass, there was no way those grubs would have lived to reach maturity anyway.

At least, that�s what I say to console myself.

And now the veins are growing so fast, we can�t out-dig them. It isn�t long before our entire escape tunnel is lit, and we just can�t seem to leave the things behind. Thankfully, we must be high enough in the Dungeon that only weaker monsters are spawning.

On top of all that, our digging had been slowed considerably by large patches of rock that required the application of my Infused Mandibles to crunch our way through. Currently, we�ve pushed through a second patch and the going is much smoother. Soft earth all the way.

According to my Tunnel Map, which increased in Level again to three, we shouldn�t be too far away from the surface. It�s hard to tell. I don�t know if the surface is flat or not between the entrance I know of and the location we�re digging toward. I mean, there is a slim chance we�ll dig up underneath a river or even the ocean, which would make me a little salty.

Heh.

I�m no digging expert, but hopefully if that were the case, we�d notice the soil getting progressively more damp. There�s been no sign of such a change, so onward we go!

I haven�t dropped my spell training as I dig either. Using my sub-brain, I�ve been continuing to practice my Mana Shaping skills, reaching the mighty Level eight! Handling the Mana into the various patterns has become so much easier. Which isn�t to say it still isn�t brutally challenging. Having had more practice constructing a few of the patterns though, I�ve noticed my proficiency has increased along with my familiarity.

Which just goes to show I shouldn�t solely rely on the skill to improve myself. Actively practicing a certain pattern will make me better at using it, even if my Level doesn�t necessarily increase.

I also began to experiment more with External Mana Manipulation. Damn, is that hard! Mana inside my body is so much easier to handle than Mana outside of it. Reaching out to grasp it with my mind feels like pulling my thoughts out of my own head and using them as a rope to pull in nearby energy.

I manage to Level the skill up once before I go back to my shaping practice. I feel the latter is simply far more profitable right now.

Currently my status looks like this:

Name: Anthony

Level: 8 (core) (III)

Might: 41

Toughness: 29

Cunning: 32

Will: 22

HP: 50/50

MP: 45/58

Skills: Excavation Level 8 (II); Improved Acid Shot Level 5 (II); Enhanced Grip Level 1 (II); Shattering Bite Level 2 (III); Advanced Stealth Level 6 (II); Piercing Chomp Level 5 (II); Tunnel Map Level 3 (II); Mana Shaping Level 8 (II); Forceful Mana Level 4 (I); External Mana Manipulation Level 2 (I); Mana Sensing Level 4 (I); Core Engineering Level 2 (II); Advanced Exo-Skeleton Defence Level 3 (II); Pet Communication Level 2 (I)

Mutations: Focused Eyes +5; Infrared Antennae +5; Restrictive Acid Gland +5; Absorption Legs +5; Infused Mandibles +5; Diamond Carapace +5; Limb Regeneration Gland +5; Pheromone Language Gland +5; Deep Gravity Magic Gland +5

Species: Mind Ant (Formica)

Skill Points: 4

Biomass: 13

There�s been a few small improvements to my skills after all of the digging and fighting. The gradual improvement of my Mana skills is what has left me most pleased. Yapping at Tiny whenever I get bored has also helped improve my Pet Communication skill, which was an unexpected plus! I can hear him more clearly from a bit farther away now.

Ultimately though, I�m really hoping we hit the surface soon. I need a chance to take stock and plan the next course of action for myself and the colony. I can�t make any plans at all until I know what will greet us when we get up there.

Hopefully we wind up in a nice empty forest with no civilisation for hours in any direction. Then we could hide and ride out the wave.

I�ll keep my six sets of claws crossed!

According to the Tunnel Map, we should be relatively close to the surface. With such an important milestone approaching, I decide to share it with the queen, digging inexhaustibly beside me as always.

�I think we should reach the surface soon! It�ll be nice to stop digging for a change.�

�Yes, the family needs to rest,� the queen said without pausing in her work. �I hope no more children are lost as we dig.�

Even now she is still primarily worried about her children. I wonder if this is a learned personality or if the Dungeon creates every Queen Ant this way.

�Hopefully we won�t be attacked any more once we reach the surface and can take a breather,� I suggest, then, curious, �Do you know what the surface is?�

�No.�

�How do you know that it will be good for us to go there?�

�One of my children told me so.� I can almost hear laughter in her voice, as if suggesting her children could be wrong or incorrect in any way, or would mislead her, is simply not a situation that exists in her mind.

Maybe it doesn�t. What sort of ant would lie?

As I�m pondering that situation, my mandibles scrape something. Dammit! More stone� I�m sick of carving through this stuff, my face already hurts like it�s on fire!

Grumbling to myself, I start to channel Mana into my Infused Mandibles in order to tear through the stone a bit easier. The queen backs up slightly to give me more space at the front. When it comes to tearing through the rock, my mandibles outperform even hers a little bit. And to be honest, I think she secretly enjoys the break�she is the only member of the colony to not have a moment of torpor since the wave broke.

CRUNCH. CRUNCH. CRUNCH.

Working mechanically, my mandibles slam closed, easily ripping into the stone. Shorn off pieces crumble away, raining down on my face and bouncing off my carapace.

Kinda seems like these stones are giving way? Perhaps they�re just a bit loose.

They also seem quite regular for underground rocks�

Ah well.

CRUNCH. CRUNCH. CRUNCH. CLATTER!

After digging for a few more minutes, the stones suddenly fall around me, revealing an open space beyond.

Did we make it?

Excited, I force my head through the gap, pushing away the stones in order to get a better view.

Where are we?

What greets my eyes is a touch surprising. My compound vision ensures I get a complete picture at once.

We are inside what looks like a stone building with a high vaulted ceiling. On either side of me, long wooden chairs are arranged in rows, all facing the same direction. A crowd of people has recoiled on either side, pressing each other against the walls and looking at my ant face in horror.

All of this is shocking enough.

Just that would have been terrible.

But it�s not what seizes my attention.

Before me, at the front of the room, where all of the chairs are facing, is a pulpit with a robed figure pointing at me with powerful emotion twisting his face. And behind that man, is a statue.

That statue�

Is� Is that� Sir Ian McKellan?

Gandalf?

There are so many things wrong with this situation.

In my peripheral, humans are pointing fingers, whispering fearfully in response to my intrusion. At the dais to the front of the chamber, the impressively robed figure recovers from his shock and launches into what sounds like a truly impassioned diatribe, full of furious gestures. The man is practically screaming in his fervour, spittle flying from his lips as he exhorts the crowd.

The people are beginning to respond to him, turning to listen, the fear gradually dropping from their faces. Their expressions changing from unease to a rapt attention, and then to something I could say is religious ecstasy.

Meanwhile, all I can think about is that stupid statue.

How the heck did they get those features so perfect?

It isn�t even Ian McKellan dressed up as Gandalf, as he did for the Lord of the Rings movies. It�s just Sir Ian, albeit with something of a beard. The statue is standing, wizened eyes and lined face depicting both wisdom that comes with age and the warmth of a kind soul. His arms are outstretched, one reaching forward in invitation, the other held out, as if gesturing to the wider world.

He�s wearing robes, which clearly fits with the character, and upon said robes are hundreds of lines of text, carved so small and intricate, I can only imagine the effort that went into producing such a sculpture.

So weird.

I�m aware other people from my world have come into this world as monsters. Is it possible some were reborn as humans? Perhaps one of them also recognised the voice as that of Gandalf and decided to jokingly use his image to found some sort of religion.

I mean, this is clearly a church of some kind. They even have the stained-glass windows, through which shine the faint rays of something I�ve barely experienced in this world. Sunlight! The windows are incredible though, each depicting a different scene which I assume relates to their faith.

In one are miserable humans working and fighting. Next to that is an image of Gandalf descending from above, words pouring from the cloth of his robe to fall upon a joyous populace. In other images are depicted dark creatures�monsters, I presume�emerging from the ground where they are met in battle by powerful and sturdy humans, lines of text exploding from each battle like special effects.

Actually, looking closer, the words have been stitched into the robes of the priest also. Lines and lines of them in an impressive golden thread. I hadn�t noticed at first, but as the light shifts over his robe, the texts glitter.

They really go all out here in this church. Intricately carved statue, skilfully made stained glass, expensive robes and a high vaulted ceiling. The full treatment!

�What is wrong?� the queen asks.

I must have been still for longer than I thought. The queen�s become concerned.

�We�ve reached the surface, which is good news! We�re surrounded by humans though, which I�m not sure is ideal.�

�What is a human?� the queen asks.

Err�

�A living creature� that, isn�t a monster?�

�Hmmm,� the queen ponders. �Can we eat them?�

Now that is a question. Regardless of whether or not I feel comfortable eating people, it�s something I�m not sure I want to make a call on at the moment. Would they even give Biomass, seeing as they aren�t monsters? Do they give experience?

I wonder how much�

No! Those are living, breathing people, Anthony! There are women and children in this crowd. Don�t think about them as juicy sacks of experience.

Even if they think about you that way�

Wait.

Don�t pursue that thought.

Shaking my head, I refocus on the humans, trying to formulate a reply to the patient queen.

�I�m not sure if we can eat them or not. Wait down there with the family, I want to make sure we�re safe.�

Hesitant to make any large movements, I begin to slowly push myself out of the hole I�ve dug through the floor.

It just so happens my movement seems to correspond with the crescendo of the priest�s impassioned speech. The middle-aged looking gentleman has gone completely red in the face, struggling for breath as he continues to raise his volume somewhat beyond what I imagine is normal human capacity.

Face completely twisted with rapture, he raises his hands high to the heavens, apparently exhorting them for something.

My antennae nervously twitch, slowly creeping out of the hole, bringing my legs up one by one.

My movement doesn�t go completely without notice, unfortunately, and the priest once again fixes his burning gaze upon me. The crowd has become completely captured by his blazing rhetoric. I really wish I could understand the words coming out of his mouth. These people are seriously gripped by a potent religious ecstasy, as if the arrival of a monstrous ant from beneath the floor were the second coming of someone really important.

I�m not sure I�m ready for that sort of pressure!

As the priest begins to gesture at me, the crowd focuses their now uncomfortably hungry eyes upon me, all traces of fear gone. As I pull myself out, an older lady nearby begins to tear up and falls to her knees, hands clasped together in praise.

Uhh�

Are you misunderstanding something?

Out of nervous habit I start to clean my antennae, running my forelegs over them, much like a person would wipe sweat from their brow.

I�m really not sure how to take this!

My discomfort goes unnoticed by the congregation. The old lady�s started a trend, as several more people are overcome with emotion and sink to their knees. That seems to settle the matter, as within seconds the entire audience has collapsed to the floor with an audible thunk!

Fully emerged now, I stand in the centre of the church, rows of pews on either side as all along the walls, people are kneeling, hands clasped in prayer, facing me.

I mean� uh� err� Hi?

I don�t think this is what you guys think it is?

I really need to learn mental magic� Didn�t think I�d need it this soon!

The priest completed his sermon and a peace falls upon him, the tension gone from his body. He almost seems to be radiating an acceptance of heavens will as he too clasps his hands together.

He doesn�t kneel though. With great dignity, he turns to the altar standing before the statue. From behind the altar, he gathers what appears to be some kind of ceremonial mace, which he holds before himself, hands gripped around the haft.

Why a mace though?

Is it an incense stick or something? It does seem to be quite delicately made, too ornate to be a practical weapon. Curiously, I flick on my Mana Sense, getting no response from the item. Doesn�t seem to be enchanted or anything. Is he going to knight me with it? Tap me on the shoulder as a blessing?

I�m starting to get more and more worried.

I don�t want to offend these people or start a fight. Even if these people aren�t able to defeat us monstrous ants, they might be able to go and bring people who can! Those soldiers in the tunnels were no joke. I�m not sure I could match up to them, even now.

Just play it cool, Anthony, don�t do anything stupid.

The priest continues to hold his apparently ceremonial mace reverentially before him as he slowly begins to walk down the centre of the church toward me. With every step, someone from the crowd is overcome with the power of the moment and raises their hands to call out powerfully before sinking back into respectful prayer.

These outbursts become more frequent the closer the priest becomes, until he stands before me, the shouts of the congregation raining down upon him.

Uh� Hello?

I�ve grown large enough now that I�m basically looking this person in the midriff, which is a great change from when I was born. The hatchlings would only be looking him in the knee. It really is a ridiculous size for an ant, considering how much longer we are than tall. I would certainly be longer than this guy if he were to lie down.

I wonder how much I weigh these days?

Unknowing of my internal jitters, the priest brings his mace before him, face filled with rapture. He raises it in offering to the heavens as the crowd becomes even more frenzied.

Then he brings it crashing down on my head.

And I bite his arm off.

So caught up in the strange energy of the moment, it takes a moment before I even realise what it is I�ve done.

Uh� Whoops?

I mean, he hit me on the head with his stupid mace! What exactly did he think was going to happen? I�ve been living a violent life in the Dungeon. Some things are just becoming instinct, you know? If you whack me on the head with your stupid mace, then you can�t really blame me for retaliating, right? It�s self-defence!

The priest also takes a moment to process these events. He looks down at his now severed limb before a new expression gradually takes over his face. He falls backward clutching at his arm and screaming loudly in horror.

This triggers the stunned crowd, who had been locked in place with shock, to erupt with fear, people climbing over each other as they attempt to run for the door.

Oh boy�

This is not what I intended. Why the hell did we have to dig up into a freakin� human building anyway!

Did they think the Dungeon delivered some free XP as an offering? You seriously expected me to just stand there and get killed? Even if I were to let you bash my head in with that ornate mace for half an hour, it wouldn�t have been able to damage my Diamond Carapace in the first place. All I�d get is a headache!

Since it has come to this, I have to try and limit the damage. My plan was to have the colony hide somewhere on the surface so we could ride out the worst of the wave in relative safety. If we manage to draw a human army down on our heads, we may as well go back down into the Dungeon and try our luck. If these humans run away and bring back soldiers, we�ll be in a real pickle!

Think, Anthony. You have to fix this.

Out of desperation, I do the only thing I can think of to stop the people from running away.

I channel my gravitational magic and form the Gravity Domain.

I mean, it would stop them moving, right?

With my increasing skill and familiarity with the spell, I can form it far more quickly than before. In only a matter of seconds, the powerful energy erupts from me, encompassing the church building. Thankfully I had enough presence of mind to dial back the strength of the gravity.

The moment the spell is complete, the humans find themselves unable to keep their feet. Younger children immediately fall to the floor, completely powerless to resist the force pulling them down. The adults are better able to cope, but even they find themselves without the capacity to walk.

The priest himself is too busy shrieking and gripping his arm, holding it before his disbelieving face. He doesn�t even seem to notice he�s been forced onto the floor by my spell.

In some ways, I�m impressed.

I only leave the domain in place for a few seconds before I shut it off. In those few seconds, the frantic escape of the congregation has been halted, almost everyone has been forced to the floor, unmoving.

I try my best to stare them down a little. It isn�t easy to communicate �Don�t move or I�ll turn it back on again!� with an ant stare, but I do my best.

They appear to get it to some extent. Fear twists their faces as they have now realised this isn�t some religious experience, but the enemy of their kind. Monsters from the Dungeon, emerging when they least expected it, in possibly the last place they expected.

Seeing the terror and tears of the children is quite a blow to me. It wasn�t that long ago I was a human myself. I�m not that scary, am I?

I mean� a giant ant that can apparently control the force of gravity would be pretty damn scary when you think about it.

With the crowd momentarily subdued, I decide to try and work out exactly where we are. I need to know a little more about this situation before either bringing the colony up to the surface or retreating down and coming up with another plan.

Moving down the aisle toward the large double doors at the rear of the church, I hesitate before pushing them open with my mandibles and taking in the surface of this world for the first time.

A brilliant sunset meets my eyes, the alien sky dyed with intense reds and pinks. Lovely. Not much scenery to appreciate in the tunnel after all, causing this sight to hit perhaps a little harder than I would have thought.

Focus! No time to get caught up in a sunset. Shaking myself slightly, I take a look at the surroundings. The church appears to be situated on a hill, a cobbled path leading directly up to the doors. Spread before me is a sleepy town, smoke curling from chimneys that poke proudly out of slatted roofs. In the distance are farming fields spread like a carpet that press up against a walled city.

Checking my Tunnel Map, I estimate the previous Dungeon entrance I�d located seems like it would be smack bang in the middle of that city.

So� things could have been worse, I suppose.

In fact, if I carefully focus my eyes, I think there�s a fire in that city? Against the darkening skies, I�m fairly sure a plume of black smoke is rising from somewhere inside the walls. Some sort of situation is happening over there. I don�t especially want to wish harm on anyone, but this could be a chance for the colony to slip away without notice!

After turning back to eyeball the congregation, I scurry around the side of the church and take a peek around the corner. The church isn�t as large as I originally thought. A sturdy stone building with a high vaulted ceiling to be sure, but it isn�t exactly a cathedral.

Constructed on the edge of this town, high on a hill overlooking simple homes of the people, many of whom possibly work farming the surrounding fields. On the rear side of the church, down the hill and over a few open paddocks, a lush wood is spread, thick foliage creating a beckoning darkness across the forest floor.

Just the sort of place a colony could go and get lost in.

I might be able to salvage this after all!

I head back inside where many members of the congregation have begun to offer prayers of a much different sort to the statue. Hoping for salvation and survival rather than whatever the heck they thought was coming their way before.

The priest is still clutching his arm, almost completely inert. I think the shock�s hit him pretty bad. Poor guy. I can�t help feeling a twinge of guilt. I mean, I did bite his arm off�

I head back to the hole in the floor and stick my back zone through so I can talk to the queen.

It�s a little weird, the pheromone conversation. We �listen� with our antennae, but we �talk� with our Pheromone Gland positioned in the rear zone.

�Could you come up here and heal a person? I injured him, but I think it would be bad for us if he died.�

I can tell the queen is a little surprised, but she agrees with my suggestion and begins to chomp and push her way up through the floor, buckling the flat stones and forcing the wooden pews to scrape and scratch as she forces her bulk through.

If I�d thought the humans were fervently wishing for salvation before, their efforts are redoubled with the emergence of the queen. She fills the room with her majesty and abdomen, forcing the people to push themselves back against the walls, openly weeping in terror at this manifestation of the Dungeon�s evil.

The queen doesn�t seem much fussed. She channels Mana through her antennae and then touches the priest on the arm. The light flares as it passes into his flesh and the wound rapidly closes over, the bleeding slowing to almost nothing in a matter of seconds.

I think with this, his life will be preserved. At the very least he won�t bleed to death.

With no way to communicate to reassure the people, I decide it�s best to just hustle the colony out of there. Giving instructions to the queen and the workers, we gather up the larvae and pupae before marching out of the church toward the forest.

The eyes of the congregation are almost popping out of their head as rows of monster ants pour out of the hole in the centre of their church, marching past, totally ignoring them. I myself head down into the escape tunnel to help and am shocked when a fat grub wiggles toward me, flopping about on the ground with glee.

Are you that energetic grub I saved from the brood chamber! I shouldn�t be shocked you survived, I suppose. You do seem to have an unusual amount of spunk.

With that, Tiny, the colony and myself carry everything we possess past the disbelieving and hopeful faces of the people, out the front of the church, across the field and into the welcoming arms of the forest.

All the while, the burning gaze of the priest follows me.

I�d never thought running through a field of wheat could be quite so thrilling. Perhaps everyone had been wrong on that front. As I hustle along, Tiny in tow carrying my precious monster cores in one large paw, and the rest of the colony following along behind, I couldn�t help but panic the entire way, worrying we�d be spotted.

Who exactly was going to spot us crossing a farm field at dusk, the sun having fallen almost completely below the horizon, I�m not sure. Perhaps the Dragon Guards of legend would swoop out of the sky and smite me with a thunder hammer or something? I have no idea how things operate up here! For all I know, they have wizards who can vaporise the entire colony from kilometres away.

Right up until the last worker is safely under the cover of trees, I keep stressing. When the entire workforce is safe and the queen, surrounded by her dedicated cadre of ants, has been escorted into the forest, I sigh in relief.

Feeling a little more comfortable, I make my way to the head of our monstrous ant convoy as we plunge into unknown territory.

There�s something faintly magical about this forest. It�s old, even I can tell that much with my limited outdoors experience. The trees are wrinkled and wise beneath their broad canopies, stretching to the sun like the elderly doing morning exercise.

At this late hour, a mist is beginning to rise from the damp litter of the forest floor, further concealing our movements as we rush deeper into these woods.

Wait a sec! Heat!

My antennae are constantly scanning and sweeping as we advance. Eventually, I detect a heat signature ahead and slightly to the left, as if some creature were waiting crouched in the growth.

I decide to continue to advance as if I had no knowledge of this interloper, wanting to see exactly what kind of action it would choose to take. Will it attack? Will it flee? I don�t know anything about this forest or the creatures who live here. Any chance to learn something should be seized. Knowledge is power to the monster!

At the head of the trail of ants, my antennae continue to twitch about. The heat source has remained still as I draw closer. Adjusting my path so I�ll be right next to the source doesn�t even elicit a twitch in response.

Only a few feet from it now, the hiding place is clearly visible. A dense shrub with thickly intertwined branches provides total visual cover. Sadly for this beastie, my advanced senses are completely aware of their location.

My main worry in the event of an attack is the larva I�m carrying in my mandibles. This feisty grub refuses to sit still, insisting on wiggling about as if admiring the view. You don�t have eyes, you little grub! What is the point of trying to get a better view?

If I�m attacked, I�ll have to ensure the grub remains unharmed, and somehow retaliate without using my fully occupied mandibles.

Sure enough, just as I pass by, the bush rustles and the creature attacks.

Thin, twisted flesh, furred skin, vicious fangs and a crude dagger are all I can see as the creature emerges in a rush, bringing its weapon down in a vicious slice.

I�ve seen it all, you chump! Curling slightly, I present my Diamond Carapace to the weapon, shielding the grub with my body and rotating my face away.

The blade flashes down and�

Ting!

Harmlessly pings off my carapace. The recoil twists the creature�s arm at a terrible angle, possibly breaking it.

I�m not sure who is more shocked by the total lack of damage inflicted. The monster or me.

Better safe than sorry, I complete my rotation and present the business zone to this furry humanoid and blast it with acid.

POW!

Already wounded by the rebound of its own strike, the creature howls pitifully as the acid blasts it off its feet and congeals, pinning it to the ground.

[You have defeated Level 9 Ille Feram.]

[You have gained XP]

So weak.

Super weak!

One blast of acid and you�re dead? Are you kidding me? I�m pretty sure you broke your own arm just by attacking me.

This isn�t some comedy!

Disgusted by the weakness of this monster, I�m not even sure I want to eat it. Is this what monsters are like on the surface? Surely the difference can�t be this much?

I shouldn�t get ahead of myself. One skinny fur-man in the woods isn�t representative of all surface monsters, staying watchful is a necessity.

Though a few ants dart over to snack, the convoy continues to wind its way deeper into the woods. A long column of hundreds of ants, marching along in near perfect silence. After about an hour, I halt the procession.

We�ve arrived in a small clearing. Strong trees surround us on all sides. The soil appears soft and rich beneath my feet. The lush undergrowth is pleasing on the eyes and indicates this forest is vibrant and full of life.

Seems like a good spot!

We should be far enough away from human civilisation for the time being. At the very least, let�s hope they won�t be able to find us in a single day. To be honest, I�d rather be farther away than this, but I have no idea how far this forest extends. If we keep marching, there�s a chance we�ll run clean out the other side and into more farmland. Better to put down some roots and scout out the situation before we make any more moves.

�Wait here a sec!� I shout to the workers. They waggle their antennae at me and tap my head as I wander past. Roughly in the middle of our convoy, I find the queen, looming over her subjects as they escort her.

�I think I�ve found a place for us to build a nest. Might be a good idea to get the larvae settled down and go hunting. Hopefully, we can find a decent amount of Biomass up here.�

The queen merely nods her assent. I think she�s a lot more tired than she�s letting on. She is the only member of the colony to get zero rest since the beginning of the wave. She probably needs to sleep more than the grubs do.

Ants being what they are, it doesn�t take long for the colony to begin construction on a crude nest. It�s honestly a little moving to see them in action. Hundreds of ants swarming, tearing into the soil with relentless energy.

In a matter of hours, there is a simple ant hill erected in the clearing, nearly as tall as the tree tops. Inside, the colony has packed into a few simple chambers, tending to the brood, whilst the queen has finally been able to get some rest, nervously watched by her defenders, right in the heart of the new nest at the bottom.

I myself manage to excavate a small chamber for myself and Tiny to curl up in, my precious monster cores nearby, and the little enthusiastic grub nestled in one corner.

I�m so damn tired. Please, nothing happen until I get some sleep!

Like a slumbering giant, the colony rested that night. The workers had been pushing themselves hard, just as I had, and almost the entire workforce sank into torpor with only a few guards patrolling on the ant hill outside. Over five hundred monsters, crammed into a small space, each as still as a ghost. Hundreds more larvae and pupae filled every corner of our new nest, the next generation of workers growing ever closer to their time of awakening.

When I finally shake myself out of torpor, I feel refreshed in a way I haven�t felt for a long time.

So good!

I can sleep as much as I want and don�t have to battle something to the death the moment I wake up! The lousy wave is in the rearview mirror for the time being and it�s a massive weight off my shoulders.

Though I�m not so foolish as to think we�ll continue to remain untouched by it up here, there�s nothing wrong with enjoying this respite from the constant danger.

Looking around my cramped little chamber, Tiny is curled up in a ball, still happily snoring away. Even rolled up, he takes up by far the most space. With him getting larger every time he eats, exactly how big is he going to get?

I�m also pleasantly surprised when I spot the other occupant of the room. Instead of the energetic little grub, there�s now a thick cocoon leaned up against the wall.

A pupa! The little grub must have woven its cocoon while I was sleeping! Using my antennae, I tap the white exterior lightly to inspect it. This is the transformative stage of an ant�s development, where they turn from a blind grub into a fully formed ant. This grub was so energetic before, I wonder how it�ll behave as a worker?

The pupa does appear a little different than those I�d seen before. I�m not sure I can put my finger on exactly why�

Mentally shrugging I turn to the other, precious occupant of this room, my cores. Wait� Weren�t there more of these before!

Shocked, I rush over to my collection like a bird flying to defend its nest. Yes, I�m sure of it. I�m missing two cores! I frantically check the remaining gems with my antennae. Phew! The Jellymaw core is still here. I have plans for that one.

Irritated, I turn on Tiny and slap him awake with an antenna. He must have absorbed them in his sleep, this greedy ape! So, you�ve gone from refusing to accept any cores to stealing them now, huh!

WAP! WAP! WAP!

Tiny is eventually roused by my furious swiping and blearily unfolds himself. He seems completely unaware that I�ve been hitting him, as he yawns and stretches before turning back to me.

[Food?] he asks.

Some things never change, I suppose.

[Come on, let�s go hunting.]

The two of us make our way out of our home and up the main shaft of the nest until we reach the top of the anthill. The rest of the colony is similarly waking up. Dozens of workers are pouring out of their chambers, some heading lower in order to tend to the queen, others checking in on the brood, most of which have transformed into pupa. Soon the colony will grow past one thousand workers!

That does raise a problem, though.

We need food. Ants on Earth have a voracious appetite. Tearing through huge amounts of other insects and small creatures in order to obtain protein to grow their young. Mature ants don�t really need to eat meat themselves, mainly relying on sugars to keep themselves going.

Not here on Pangera! The monstrous ants need Biomass to keep themselves kicking and growing stronger, just like the young. This means the monstrous ant colony has an even larger appetite when compared to normal ants.

Time to hunt.

Already, scouts are pouring into the forest, twenty to thirty of them darting off to try and locate something for the colony to feast on. More and more workers are amassing on the anthill every second, slowly expanding outward and pushing gradually into the forest, waiting for a signal to collect food.

Tiny and I drift off into the forest, moving in the opposite direction of the human town. I don�t want to get closer to civilisation and I would love to know just how large this forest is. Something tells me that with a fairly major-looking city nearby, I shouldn�t expect it to be massive. As long as we can hide out here for a week or two, I�ll be happy.

What follows is a fairly dull day of plodding and searching for prey. Tiny and I are more successful than most of the scouts, due to my enhanced senses, obviously. Even so, there doesn�t seem to be a high concentration of monsters nearby.

I run into a few more of those hairy skinny things, each of them wielding crude tools or weapons that heaven only knows where they got them from.

They go down with even less of a fight than the first one did, if that�s even possible. Tiny punched one and the creature practically exploded.

Surface monsters are clearly not up to the standard of us Dungeon dwellers.

Which leads me to another conundrum. If I want to improve my skills, I�ll need to Level up and gain Biomass. If I want to evolve and develop my core manipulation abilities, I�ll need a steady supply of cores. So far, those appear to be thin on the ground up here.

As the day draws on, I�m led more and more to the thought that even though we just escaped from the Dungeon, we are still going to need access to it. Without Dungeon monsters to fight, the colony and I will stagnate.

I refuse to accept that!

Hmm. To tunnel or not to tunnel? And even in the event that tunnelling does in fact occur, where to tunnel?

It isn�t reasonable to expect that a largish city would be built on the very edge of some monster infested wild frontier. It�s obvious now, but I really did hope there would be more monsters in here for us to eat.

Aside from those hairy scraggly things, the only monsters we�ve encountered are creatures that are fairly close to regular forest animals on Earth. The occasional slightly larger boar, some deer with sparkly horns, a few decently sized birds.

Enough to get a bit of food around, but completely insufficient to fuel the XP and Biomass needs to power up the colony.

There is only one place to get what we need, and it just so happens to be the place we only just escaped from.

Dammit!

I�m going to have to dig down to the Dungeon again.

The question is, where? I�m certainly not going to dig straight down from inside the new anthill. That would be completely stupid. Perhaps I could create a new tunnel a few hundred metres away that Tiny and I could use for hunting, perhaps even lead workers down there in hunting parties.

The other option is to head back to the existing tunnel which opens up within the church. Monsters might even be climbing out of there already, invading the surface. For his own sake, I hope that priest doesn�t try to give those monsters his �blessing� like he did me. He won�t escape with only the loss of an arm if he tries to smack an Earth Bear Tyrant on the head!

Thinking about the human town causes a slight pang in my chest. I still don�t know how to think about the humans of this world or how I should relate to them. Part of what bothers me most is how much less I consider them now. Perhaps accepting the colony as my new family has drawn me closer to accepting my monstrous life. I mean, experience has shown me I have no hope of ever being part of human society again, so perhaps my feelings are drawing away from them more as time goes on.

Still, I hope that by tunnelling into the middle of the town, we haven�t inadvertently caused the deaths of hundreds of ultimately blameless people.

I might have to sneak back there soon to see how things are going.

For now, not venturing too far from the nest in case of the unexpected, Tiny and I continue our first sweep. The forest itself is lovely, old and lush, full of the sounds one would hope to hear in an old wood.

There is a peaceful vibe I�m quite enjoying. The place is so still compared to the Dungeon, especially since the wave hit.

Hang on a sec. I�m getting a heat reading from over near that tree!

Signalling Tiny with my antennae, I point to the tree.

His eyes brighten at the prospect of prey, and he starts scanning for it in the indicated direction. A frown almost immediately creases his face as he fails to notice anything and glances back to me with his hangbat expression.

Don�t look at me, buddy, I can�t see it either!

The tree in front of us has thick, gnarled roots curled around the base and twisting their way into the soil beneath. The thick trunk isn�t smooth, but rather covered in curls and knots, clumps of moss dappling the trunk and hanging from its boughs.

This is strange�

There is, without a doubt, a source of heat only a few metres in front of me, but all I can see is tree!

This is curious. My interest has been piqued! Why is this tree giving the vibes of a creature? I mean, I know trees are alive, but they shouldn�t be like this, right?

I gradually approach, my eyes agog at this strange mystery.

Tiny has grown bored and is sitting on his backside studying the hair dangling off his arm.

Dammit, Tiny! Where is your sense of wonder?

I�ve come close enough to the tree that my antennae are directly tapping it up and down.

I can clearly detect heat from this. Something that no other tree has shown in the forest. Just what is it about this tree?

At that moment, as my antennae are tippety-tapping on the bark, something odd happens.

The tree giggles.

Uh�

Tippety-tappety-tap.

More giggles.

Tippety-tappety. Tippety-tappety. Tippety-tappety!

As my antennae go completely crazy on the trunk, a section of wood starts to wiggle with laughter and detaches from the rest of the tree before collapsing on the ground.

Before my eyes, a strange woodish humanoid is rolling about, thin root-like fingers at the end of gnarled mossy arms attached to a thin, branch-like body.

When the� thing, notices I�m no longer tickling it with my antennae, it suddenly stops moving. Two deep green eyes stare up at me from what I can now tell is a gnarled bark face.

Tippety-tappety. Tippety-tappety. Tippety-tappety.

When I resume my antenna tapping, the creature immediately begins giggling and rolling around on the ground like a small child.

What. The. Heck. Is. This. Thing?

Next to me, Tiny has waddled over and is staring at the creature with his beady bat eyes. I can tell exactly what he�s thinking.

Can we eat this?

You know what, Tiny, I�m not sure�

For the time being, Tiny and I resist the temptation to try and eat this strange tree creature. After a few minutes of tickling, I back away a few steps, making it clear that tickle-time is over, and wait to see how the creature will respond.

After wiggling about on the ground for a moment, then giving me the puppy dog eyes for a little while longer, the strange branch monster stands up. Now that it�s standing on its own two feet, I can get a better look at it.

This thing is skinny. Rather than a walking tree, it resembles a stick insect. The body is more of a branch than a trunk, and four humanoid-like limbs extend organically, with little sign of joints. The monster doesn�t have a head of any kind, really. The face peeks out from the top of the torso, the wrinkles and grooves in the wood giving rise to surprisingly expressive features.

Tiny radiates disappointment after getting a closer look at the monster. I think he�s sad at how thin the monster is, it isn�t likely he�d be able to get much of a feed from it.

Blissfully ignorant of being weighed for Biomass the� Branchie? The Branchie, looks at the two of us with eyes twinkling deep in that weathered face before gesturing for us to follow and walking briskly off into the forest.

I hesitate only a moment before I decide to follow. I�ve not seen anything in this forest that is a match for Tiny and myself, we should be fairly safe. Besides, I want to learn a little more about this walking wood stick if I can. It seems relatively harmless and is the only creature other than Formo that hasn�t reacted with hostility upon seeing me.

So, I follow along with Tiny trundling in my wake. It isn�t long before we have to speed up though. The Branchie is fast! Despite being shorter than Tiny, so skinny a stiff breeze could knock it down, and not having knees, the Branchie really motors along.

Could it be the lack of air resistance?

Whatever the reason, Tiny and I have to pick up our pace. In the end, having sprinted along behind the Branchie for ten solid minutes, it finally stops at a beautiful section of forest.

A small pond in the centre sits perfectly still, ringed with spectacularly old-looking trees. The air is so still here, as if nothing has drawn breath in this spot for a hundred years.

The Branchie smiles at us, the folds and twists of the wood curving to create the expression, before walking toward one of the trees and just, blending into it. I almost can�t believe my eyes. One second the Branchie was there, and the next it was just� gone!

I can still detect it with my heat sensitive antennae though. As I wave my antennae about this section of forest, there are a few more signals from the nearby trees. Curious, I wind my way around the pond and find more than twenty responses from the trees in the area. It looks like the Branchie brought us back to its community.

It doesn�t appear as if they want to come out and greet us though. I get the feeling these are particularly shy monsters, hiding from their enemies by using their impressive tree melding skills.

There must be something special about this spot for these tree creatures to make their homes here. My attention turns back to the pond. Do I detect a faintly familiar shimmer to this water?

Out of curiosity, I flip on my Mana Sensing, and sure enough, the pond lights up with a faint response. The water is infused with Mana! Nostalgia comes flooding back as I recall the pond in the first chamber I�d entered after being reborn.

By drinking that water, I�d taken the Mana into my body and expedited the formation of my core. This water probably has similar properties and the Branchies likely formed their community here due to the Mana in this water.

Or perhaps they were formed from the trees here? The trees drinking in this water with their roots may have been what created these tree creatures in the first place.

And it all comes back to Mana. This mysterious energy that can be turned into almost anything, has a seemingly unlimited supply, and can even create life itself! I can�t help but feel the source of this energy resides somewhere deep in the Dungeon. I have no evidence for that, but it just seems right. I mean, it has to come from somewhere.

Actually�

It has to come from somewhere, right?

So how did it get into this pool?

With a thought tingling in my mind, I retreat from the pool about thirty metres, Tiny trailing curiously behind me. Once I�ve created enough distance, I start to dig. Furiously ripping into the dirt with my mandibles, I make rapid progress.

Before too long, I�ve managed to tunnel down ten metres, slightly angled toward the pond. Gasping for breath after my exertions, I activate my Mana Sense and eagerly look to the pond.

And there it is. Under the pond is a thin tendril of Mana reaching up underneath.

It�s the Dungeon!

It�s extremely thin. Just a miniscule thread, but it�s enough to bleed Mana out of the Dungeon and up into the waters of this pond. If I were to dig farther, I would definitely be able to connect a small tunnel to the Dungeon and begin farming XP and Biomass.

This is excellent news! I�ll have to thank those Branchies somehow. They�ve saved me a lot of effort.

This also gives me a place to recharge my Mana, which will allow me to more rapidly develop my magic skills. Everything is coming up Anthony!

Not willing to wait a second longer, I throw myself into my digging efforts, burrowing deep under the pond to avoid the saturated water and connect myself to the tiny thread of Mana. More and more of it becomes clear, extending deep into the ground.

It takes a few hours to dig my way down to that thin tendril of Dungeon, but when I do, it�s a glorious sight to behold.

The bright glow of Mana shines in my eyes thanks to the veins having wound their way up even in this space. To be honest, I may have saved the Branchies, and perhaps even the humans, with this effort of mine. It�s possible the veins would expand upward and connect directly to the pool, and perhaps even start spawning monsters directly on the surface!

As it is, I�m delighted to see those Mana veins start to slowly extend into my new tunnel.

I�m assuming monsters didn�t spawn in that thin crack since there wasn�t enough space. As the veins extend deep into my tunnel, the monster spawning will soon follow!

Muahahaha!

Success!

Elated to the extreme, I bring Tiny down my cramped little tunnel to help me dig and expand it out in preparation for the monster spawning.

After several more hours� work, we�ve dug out a relatively open chamber with a narrower opening fairly high above the floor, hopefully preventing any monsters from escaping to the surface. Except for those that spawn in the surface tunnel once the veins have grown that far, but I want to limit the surface exposure as much as possible.

After digging out this huge space, I�m pretty knackered. It might be time to head back to the colony and come back after a nap to see how things have progressed. With a little luck and a lot of effort, I should be able to create a nice monster farming network here, giving the colony a healthy shortcut to pump up in size and strength.

The only drawback is that Tiny and myself won�t be able to strengthen ourselves much. The monsters will simply be too low a Level to provide enough experience and Biomass.

I shake my head. A problem for another time.

For now, we head back to the colony where I develop a pounding headache practicing my shaping, getting myself to Level nine before taking a well-earned rest.

Two days zip by in our new environment.

So blissful! So peaceful! I haven�t had anything threatening happen to me for over forty-eight hours. I might go soft at this rate.

What�s even more amusing is watching just how bored Tiny is. The big guy is almost catatonic, craving the stimulus of battle like a drug he�s withdrawing from. Other than eating, he just flops about sleeping or staring at the walls. He�s so still, the workers just crawl over him as he lies there.

To be honest, I feel a little bad, and can sympathise to some extent. Battling with your life on the line is terrifying, but at the same time extremely thrilling. The rewards provided give such immediate gratification that it becomes hard to resist the lure of combat. After spending time in those dangerous places, constantly living on the edge, our relatively peaceful environment here on the surface is a little� boring.

It�s like our intense days were filled with shockingly vibrant splashes of colour and now our scene is far more muted and tranquil. Just like Tiny, there�s that itch in my heart for action.

Unlike that dumb ape though, I know how to keep myself busy and get stronger even without high-Level monsters to fight! I keep every day full.

Tiny and I spent most of yesterday down in our monster farming zone. I was pleased to see the veins had rapidly extended and monsters were already spawning by the time we got back, the familiar scenes of chaos a welcome sight in my eyes. I gave Tiny an order that he probably never wanted to hear and instructed him to disable the monsters but not kill them.

His utter horror is amusing even now. He couldn�t refuse, though, and reluctantly ran through the small chamber, smashing legs and crippling the monsters without landing the final blow.

It was a horrifying sight, actually. All those monsters on the floor, unable to even crawl or defend themselves.

When that job was done, I laid down a food trail for the colony. Soon, a flood of workers poured into the small chamber, finishing off the monsters and carrying their precious Biomass back to the colony.

Tiny and I took a little food to stave off our hunger and then set to digging, expanding the farm a bit farther out.

Since Tiny and I are both double evolved monsters, and the creatures spawning in our farm are base Level, we get a greatly reduced fraction of the XP and Biomass when we kill and eat them. It just isn�t worth it for us to monopolise these resources. Especially considering we need far more experience and Biomass in total to advance when compared to the workforce.

To maximise efficiency, I�ve decided to use the farm to power Level the colony. I really want more workers to advance and evolve, then they�ll be able to fight more effectively without me around.

Tiny and I will have to do something soon about our stagnating Levels. What exactly, I haven�t worked out.

After we expanded the farm and instructed the workers to leave so the monsters could build up again, I put my mind to practicing my magic skills.

With the low-Level monsters popping out, I had a few targets to practice on! So far, the only �shape� I�d been able to put into action was the Gravity Domain. There are more tucked away in my head and I don�t want to pass up this opportunity to test them out.

The first spell required me to shape an intricate ball that tapered to a point on one end. I�ll admit I failed quite a few times on this one, but with my Gravitational Mana topped off, there was no risk of running out.

Eventually, I was able to finish shaping the complex construction and powered it up. Once ready, I instinctually aimed and fired.

The ball-like spell zipped through the air at blinding speed and impacted the targeted monster in less than a second! Once it hit, the spell expanded out, encompassing the creature in complex, revolving shapes which collapsed inward a moment later.

Hoping for something spectacular to happen, I was a bit disappointed when the target simply slumped and lay still. It was still alive since I�d received no notification, so what exactly happened?

After a moment, I noticed one of the creature�s claws twitching slightly in a struggle to raise it. It�d been placed under the effect of powerful gravity! This spell allowed me to fire off a gravity effect to a target farther away, as opposed to the Domain which only affects those immediately around me.

I called it, Gravity Bolt!

So pleased was I with my new ranged weapon, I spent the next hour zapping creatures with bolts and watching them collapse, unable to lift a finger until the effect wore off. The duration and strength of the effect could be changed depending on exactly how much I powered different parts of the construct, which led to my most impressive discovery.

Since I�d been able to identify the section of the construct that powered the effect� Would I be able to make changes to that part of the spell in order to modify the effect it produced?

I mean, I was still using Gravitational energy, so the spell would still have a gravity effect. But what if rather than pulling the monsters down� It lifted them up?

I mean, it�s gravity. The force of this gravity is produced by the energy in the spell, not the planet we�re on. There isn�t any reason it has to pull them down, yes?

It took me ages to rework the spell, even though it was a relatively simple change. I wasn�t changing it per se, but rather reconstructing one section of it upside down. I only succeeded once in my first practice session.

I�d been getting frustrated after a few dozen attempts when, finally, things started to run smoothly. Excitedly, I poured my energy into the construct and blasted it at a newly born centipede.

Once struck, a similar scene appeared. The bolt expanded into the revolving shapes that collapsed into the monster before it suddenly blasted toward the ceiling, impacting the roof with a sickening crunch.

Maybe too much juice in that one�

The effect worked, though! I was so pleased I did a little dance right there on the spot. I can really tap now that I have six legs, it must be said.

If I could successfully remodel the Gravity Domain with the inverted effect, then I might be able to make every monster around me float helplessly off the ground. I can�t wait to try it!

The next day, after feeding the colony and doing some more digging to expand the farm, I got to practicing a second spell.

This shape was a little more demanding than the Gravity Bolt, but I was eventually able to get it formed. The construct resembled a spear with several rings rotating around the haft. Those rings were the tricky bit. Each one formed of many smaller rings assembled like a maddening puzzle.

When I fired the spear, it zapped out of my body and streaked for my target. Once it hit, the spear stuck in the monster�s body while the rings expanded outward, encompassing a small area around the creature before collapsing inwards.

The monster appeared rather shocked to suddenly see a spear poking out of its chest. Tentatively it tested the wound with one claw, only to realise it wasn�t wounded at all. I was a little crestfallen. What the heck does this spear even do?

Then I noticed something. When the rings expanded, a nearby Thorn Lizard had been caught inside the zone, and now that lizard was being irresistibly pulled toward my target monster!

The little lizard couldn�t resist the pull anymore and flew through the air, spikes first!

Ahh, this spell creates a powerful gravity field around the target monster, pulling nearby creatures toward it. Muahahahaha!

I shall call it�

Gravity Spear!

�It�s fine!

These tests were not my only labours over the last two days either. Each night before torpor, I emptied my core doing shaping practice for hours and hours. On the second night, I was finally rewarded!

[Mana Shaping has reached Level 10. Upgrade available.]

YASSSSS! The power is MINE! I even high five myself using my antennae after Tiny leaves me hanging.

[Mana Shaping →Mana Transformation (II): Cost 1 SP. This skill guides one through the complex process of changing raw, non-attributed Mana into another kind. With increasing Levels, this skill will provide greater assistance and proficiency in the process]

Finally! Buy that!

When I confirm the purchase, an overwhelming sensation flows over my brain as knowledge floods in.

By the System, it hurt. It had ever since he�d lost it in that moment, where the shining picture he painted of himself had been ripped away along with his limb. Even now, several days later, Beyn was at a loss to explain exactly what occurred at that time.

The fear that gripped his heart, when that monster burst into the middle of his sermon, he could recall it perfectly even now. When the beast remained so still, so accepting, that fear had been replaced with wonder. It was as if the holy System had been speaking directly to him, offering itself to him, asking that he accept the fruits of its blessed creations!

What joy! What reverence! In that moment, Beyn felt as if he�d touched the foot of God.

The surging emotions blazing in his heart as he brought the church sceptrum down on the head of the offering had been so powerful, he almost shook now just recalling it.

And he�d been so wrong.

His visions of a grand destiny, of being a prophet of the System, had been torn away as that terrifying monster darted forth so quickly, he couldn�t even see it, and brought those serrated jaws down on his arm, shearing it away with ease.

Since that moment, he�d barely spoken. The haunting zeal in his eyes had intimidated the townspeople to the point they couldn�t meet his glare. They had taken him to the apothecary for treatment and left him there, speaking softly as they passed by his door.

Though he needed no physical healing. The spell performed on him by the godless monster closed the wound. To do better would require a powerful specialist in the healing arts to regenerate his arm.

Even in his dazed state, laying in his bed, Beyn was able to pick up bits and pieces of information from the nervous conversations he overheard.

There was trouble at the capital, fighting in the streets. People had been fleeing the city until the gates were barred. The queen was dead. The queen was alive. It was a coup, an invasion, the Dungeon was rising for a second Cataclysm.

On the second day he heard the town council had called a meeting to discuss the crises.

The blood began to stir in Beyn�s veins. He couldn�t lie here forever. The System, his god, was awakening, he could feel it. He must be a part of the events to come, and he would be! Casting off his blankets, he stood and strode out of his room with purposeful steps.

As the wounded priest strode through town, the people subconsciously turned their eyes away, doffing their cap or offering a brief curtsy before moving out of his path. They could not bear to meet the righteous zeal ablaze in his eyes.

The priest marched to the mayor�s house, sweeping open the door with his good arm and entering with long strides.

Inside, a group of the town�s dignitaries huddled around the desk of a beleaguered fat man, the livery of the mayor hung over his silk robes.

The mayor�s eyes brightened when he saw Beyn enter.

�Ah! Look, gentlemen, our good priest in the faith has arisen from his convalescence so quickly! This is cause for celebration, we should delay this meeting until after we have properly toasted this happy occasion.�

Several people in the chamber erupted in cheers whilst others sighed, heads falling into hands. The owner of the market, Mrs Ruther, attempted to protest the suspension of discussion, but to no avail. The mayor had already called on his servants to fetch wine for his guests, �and be quick about it dammit!�

Contempt flickered in Beyn�s eyes, but he suppressed it. This idiot would do anything to get out of his responsibilities and drink. A few more years of soaking and his family wealth might just run dry, with the wine soon to follow.

�If it please, my lord Ebruis, the discussion should not be delayed, it is for the purpose of conversing with you and the council that I have arisen from my rest,� Beyn smoothly interjected.

The quivering intensity in his voice was unnerving enough that even Ebruis could not deny it.

�Oh� Oh, very well. Are you sure you would not rather rest, Father Beyn? You do not appear to have even had a chance to change your robes,� the mayor spluttered in a feeble attempt to put off his work.

�Do the robes of my faith, marked with the blood I have shed in the name of the System, offend you, Lord Mayor?�

The fat man paled in fright before raising his hands and shaking them in protest. �I dare not, Father. I intended no such thing!�

�Very well then. If I may.� At this, Beyn took a vacant chair and gestured toward Mrs Ruther. �I would be grateful to you, Mrs Ruther, if you would apprise me of what has occurred in the last two days. Have the monsters threatened us?�

Somewhat surprised at being called on, the elderly matron took a moment to gather her dignity before replying. �They haven�t, Father. We�ve not seen so much as a leg of those ants since they marched into the forest after you were� attacked.�

After saying this, she quickly met Beyn�s gaze before flicking her eyes away, as if scalded by the fire she saw there.

�More troubling than the monsters, as strange as that is to say, is the disturbance in the capital. We haven�t had a reliable message out of there all day. Fighting in the streets, the soldiers setting fire to the merchant district, blood on the steps of the castle. It sounds dreadful. The people are too scared to work, gazing at the smoke rising over the walls from dawn to dusk!�

With his good hand, Beyn gripped his chair so hard his knuckles cracked.

�This disturbance in the capital is more important, you say? More important than the agents of the Dungeon rising from beneath our very feet?� More than just passion, hatred now dripped from every word the priest spoke, causing those closest to draw away from him.

Mrs Ruther visibly worked to regain her voice. �There hasn�t been a single victim of those monsters in this town, but we hear of hundreds dead inside the city. Most of us have family in there, Father. I�m terribly sorry for your injury, we all are, but we�ve got more pressing issues than those ants!�

At this, Beyn rose and burst out loudly, �For the first time in a thousand years the Dungeon has reached up and delivered its servants to the very surface, and you are distracted by petty fighting in the city! Do you not see the grander destiny that has been laid out before us?�

A few people shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

Mayor Ebruis attempted to calm the agitated priest. �You did say something similar at the church two days ago, Father, and, well, that didn�t turn out� so well?�

Beyn turned his blazing righteous gaze on the mayor, and then at the others one by one, until all had turned from him and were silent.

�At first, I believed the great System had called on us, had blessed this town by delivering its greatest blessing, experience, to raise us up and forge us for a new purpose. I still believe that is the case. This,� he waved the bandaged stump of his arm in the faces of the council, �was my misjudgement. I foolishly believed the System had delivered its fruit to us and all we had to do was pluck it, but no, there are no gifts within the System, only rewards! Rewards that are rightly earned and so I was punished for my transgression!�

Ebruis waved his hands to try and relax the priest, but it was to no avail.

�We have to take up arms, can you not see that!� Beyn exhorted the council. �Those hideous beasts, led by that demon ant, shall return. Not only this, more will come, I assure you! Our trial is not yet complete. The people must be told. We must rise to this test!�

After these words, Beyn strode out, leaving the flabbergasted council behind. He marched to the town square where he began to preach with mesmerising power, stretching the limits of his oratory skill to bend the hearts of the people.

A crowd gathered, and that evening, when several monsters emerged from the hole in the church, he urged the people to arm themselves and led the crowd personally in a great charge up the hill and into the building wherein those creatures were defeated.

The people roared in triumph and celebrated their victory. Beyn was unmoved. He asked that a watch be put on the church and turned his gaze toward the forest.

I need cores.

Like, super badly.

Cores for me, cores for Tiny, cores for experimenting. I need cores to raise my skills, to fuse into more powerful cores for myself and for Tiny, and I need cores for my other side project.

CORES!

The number of monster cores we�ve extracted so far from the farm was a grand total of one. When Tiny and I went in there to cripple the creatures this morning, we found a monstrous toad had already slaughtered most of the creatures. Tiny excitedly rushed to engage it, charging up his lightning fist and exploded the foe with one punch.

Luckily, he hadn�t destroyed the core.

Still, one core every three days is not nearly enough to meet my needs. I refuse!

I just don�t yet have a solution to this problem.

Tiny and I are currently resting in the nest. A contented bustle has come over the colony recently as the workers have been busy doing the things that workers love to do. Tending to the brood, expanding the nest, foraging for food. Our new anthill has become impressively large now, the top reaching toward the peak of the trees. I had to ask them not to make it any higher or we�ll end up too easy to spot. Our main objective still remains to hide and ride out the wave.

I want no trouble, be it human or otherwise.

To my delight, the pupae have started to hatch over the last few hours. Hundreds of new workers emerging to swell the ranks of the colony. When this generation finally emerges, we will have reached the one thousand worker mark! A milestone in the life of a young colony to be sure.

This is nothing though. If we expand the farm a little and keep the supply of Biomass coming, it won�t be long until we reach two thousand, five thousand, one hundred thousand!

That was the other exciting thing this morning, the queen finally awoke from her rest. After a massive feed provided to her by the workers, she got busy producing the next generation. Even as I rest, the workers are scurrying about madly with fresh clutches of eggs, stashing them into the egg chambers, fastidiously cleaning them and ensuring they are the right temperature.

This means it�s time to advance the schedule of my project. For that� I have to have cores!

As I clack my mandibles in irritation, I�m suddenly distracted by a noise. Turning around, it isn�t Tiny snoring for once, though he is asleep, thick meaty arms flung over his face like a hairy teenager. The noise instead came from the pupa stashed with us in our private chamber.

The cocoon has already begun to take on a distinct thin shade as the young larva inside has gone through its remarkable metamorphosis, transforming from a grub and into an ant. Still ghostly white and translucent, as its carapace has yet to harden, the almost complete worker has started to move, twitching its limbs and stretching out for the first time.

I guess I�ll help the little thing. It�s normal for other workers to assist newborns breaking free of their cocoon, cutting away at the threads with their mandibles. The very first workers in the colony will have this task performed for them by the queen herself.

I think I can vaguely recall having to bite my own way out. I don�t really have any memory of my pupa stage, I really only became aware of myself after I emerged.

At any rate, I cheerfully help the new member of our colony, my sibling no less, break out of the casing by carefully chomping at the outside, removing sections of threads at a time and clearing the way for the hatchling to emerge.

Gradually a little ant face pokes out of the gaps, and after a few minutes, the brand-new worker stands proudly atop its own casing!

�Small!

Why the heck is this worker so small? She looks smaller than a normal hatchling by about a third, which makes her very tiny indeed. There�s something else odd about her. I�m not sure exactly what it is. As a worker she seems a little� energetic? She�s practically bouncing around and she only just hatched!

I remember as a grub this one had a lot of pep, but this seems ridiculous.

Before I�m even finished internally complaining about this high energy hatchling, she starts waggling her antennae around before locking onto me and rushing in my direction. In a few short moments she�s raced across the chamber and scrambled up onto my back before triumphantly positioning herself between my antennae and thwacking them insistently with her own.

This�

I hate thiiiiis.

Why the hell is this ant so attached to me? Why is it so different than the others?

I honestly don�t know what to make of this behaviour.

This worker is just so odd. Out of sheer curiosity I flip on my Mana Sense and extend my mind out of my body. There�s a faint concentration of Mana in a place I did not expect. Right on top of my head.

Are you kidding me, Gandalf? This little midget was born with a core? Tell me it isn�t true!

I struggled for that core, I worked hard for that rock! Now you�re telling me a monster ant can just flat out be born with a core? Tell me, swear on your pointy hat and rad staff with the shiny crystal, that it isn�t so!

Despite my protests my new passenger remains stubbornly clung to my head, core on board.

Sigh.

I will have to investigate this later.

For now, I poke Tiny awake and make my way out of the nest, tiny hatchling excitedly riding on my scalp the entire way.

Trying to put the distraction out of my mind I turn my mind back to the most pressing issue.

Cores!

Damn worker on my head�No! Don�t get distracted!

From what I know, a monster can form a core when they are sufficiently saturated with Mana and then sacrifice an evolution in order to form it. How the freeloader on my scalp managed to get enough Mana before she was even born, not to mention the evolutionary energy acquired by amassing Levels�I�ll have to put this exception to the rules to the side. Focus on what you know, Anthony!

I myself increased my Mana concentration by drinking Mana infused water, which judging by how the monsters were addicted to that stuff, isn�t an unusual way for monsters to get Mana.

Soooo� if I can introduce a source of Mana water to the farm, it might have an effect in increasing the number of monsters able to form a core?

Worth a shot!

Fortunately, I created the farm right next to a source of Mana water! So convenient.

When we return to the pond, there are a few Branchies standing in small groups, but they scatter and hide. I swear there are a few new young trees growing near the edge of the pond. Have they been planting baby Branchies here?

Hmm. I�ll have to be careful not to disturb their local environment. For all I know, the Branchies require this pond to sustain their lives. Better to be cautious.

In the end, I excavate a shallow channel that leads to the farm tunnel, and get Tiny to line the bottom with stones he smashes flat. We then head down into the farm and disable all of the monsters before hollowing out a small pool directly under the tunnel entrance.

Hopefully this works!

After digging our narrow channel to the farm tunnel, I get Tiny to place two large stones to act as the dam before we dig out the last of the soil and the water begins to flow. I notice a few Branchies have poked their heads out of their trees, watching our activities. I think perhaps they may be worried about us interfering with the pond.

I try to give a reassuring wave of my antennae, though I�m not sure that will be enough to allay their fears. Guess we can only show we mean no harm by executing the plan and letting them see how harmless it is.

Workers have started coming over to the pond in the last few days in order to drink the Mana water. With the farm nearby, it isn�t surprising the scouts managed to forage their way over here. Naturally, once one ant finds something good the rest will soon know about it. I was a little concerned there might be conflict, but for the most part the ants have simply ignored any Branchie they�ve found, probably not seeing much, if any Biomass, in them.

I�m quite excited though. This will help more workers form cores, which will in turn cause them to grow even stronger when they evolve.

When everything is in place, Tiny picks up our damming rock and the Mana infused water flows down our channel before falling into our pre-dug basin within the farm. After a minute or so, Tiny drops the rock back into position with a splash and the water ceases to flow.

The Branchies, who seemed a little alarmed when the water was flowing out of their pond, relaxed and moved back to their trees, melding out of sight.

I head straight to the farm to see how the monsters within have reacted. Sure enough, those who�ve just spawned are immediately attracted to the water source. However, there�s no water truce to be seen. They rabidly fight over it, shovelling the water into their mouths as quickly as they can.

Retreating back up the tunnel, I decide to lead the workers down to collect the Biomass later. Antennae crossed we�ll have a core or two to show for our efforts.

With this job done, it�s time to turn my attention back to my new skill and its applications. After maxing out Mana Shaping, I gained Mana Transformation, the much anticipated and eagerly awaited skill!

After reading the description and slowly digesting the dump truck of knowledge and instincts the skill dropped in my brain, I�ve gradually built an understanding of it.

This skill will finally allow me to change the raw Mana stored in my core into other, useful types, without relying on the short cut of having an organ do the job for me. Only issue is, changing the Mana into a specific type is painfully complicated!

I�m still nibbling at the edges. This skill is by far the biggest information overload I�ve received from a single purchase.

If I were to use a metaphor, transforming Mana into a specific type is like learning an instrument so intricate, it requires the use of both hands, both feet, and your face to play it. From what I understand, you need to be shifting the Mana in complex patters through multiple dimensions in order for it to change.

Dimensions!

And it only gets worse. If you manage to master that obscenely complex instrument well enough you can efficiently transform the Mana into the required type, and then use that Mana to shape and fuel a spell, that is only for one type.

If you want to transform your Mana into another type, there is an entirely new fiendish instrument to learn, and this one requires you to also play it with your butt cheeks!

Not to mention, I�ve only been looking at the techniques required for relatively simple Mana forms, like water or fire. When I tried to just think about what it would take for space magic, I nearly passed out.

This only reinforces my confidence that the Deep Gravity Magic Gland was a good choice. Not only is the complicated process of transformation handled for me, it�s done well before any spell casting takes place. This also goes a long way to explaining why the magic organs are priced so highly. Getting a free choice just goes to show how potent the special evolutions really are!

This all leads to the unfortunate reality of what must come next. It�s quite obvious what I have to focus my transformation learning on�Mind Magic! I need to be able to communicate just like Formo and the Sophos do. This will bridge the final hurdle in being able to universally speak to anything I come across if I�m able to pass my intentions on directly from mind to mind.

Only problem is, Mind Magic is a fiendishly complex transformation. At least three or four times harder than accomplishing something like fire.

But it must be done! I have my gravity magic and a reasonably powerful physical body. At least, powerful enough for the time being. Once I�ve achieved mastery of Mind Magic, I�ll be able to focus my efforts unilaterally on pumping up my firepower!

The other thing on my list is spending some time on manipulating my cores and grinding Levels in Core Engineering. An ant�s work is never done.

I�m excited though. Even if I�m not gaining Levels, my strength is improving and I�m able to spend time on critical skills that I wasn�t able to before. This will prepare me for when Tiny and I descend into the Dungeon once more to fight!

We return to the nest, my impatient passenger included, and I laboriously start shifting values in my cores until I cannot force further changes before tossing them to Tiny to absorb.

He�s finally learned enough that I don�t have to beat his head in for him to know what he needs to do. Progress! After I�ve finished with one core and slump forward with mental exhaustion, the little hatchling on my head excitedly leaps forward to touch the core with her antennae. With a brief flash and a pop, the core vanishes into thin air.

Oi!

Who said that was yours? I use my antennae to give the worker a gentle thwack on the head. She seems non-fussed, happily wiggling back and forth as she enjoys the sensation of her reinforced core. After a few moments, she happily climbs back up onto my head.

I guess it doesn�t matter that much. Since she was born with a core already, this one is probably worth spending the resources on to raise up strong. In fact, wouldn�t she be able to perform a special evolution for her very first change? That�s something even I wasn�t able to do! Hardly my fault since I didn�t know about it, but still, this little worker could end up being very strong if I invest some energy.

Although, this just increases the need for cores even further.

Dammit!

Since I�m exhausted anyway, I take Tiny back to the farm and we disable all of the monsters in there. I make sure to practice using my magic and fire off a number of Gravity Bolts, trying to increase my familiarity with the spell.

This time, instead of taking our food and leaving, I tap the little ant on my head with an antenna to get her attention.

�Climb down off there and go finish some of them off.�

The workers seem to be able to understand the pheromone speak even if they can�t speak it, so I�m assuming this one can too. Sure enough, after hopping back and forth indecisively the little worker jumps off my head and savagely attacks with her tiny mandibles.

Despite her enemy being a completely crippled blade tailed mouse, it takes almost a minute of biting before the poor creature finally falls still and the little ant poses victoriously atop her victim.

�Yes, yes, very impressive. Now onto the next one.�

All in all, she is able to finish three monsters before tiring out. That much should be fine for a start. Her Bite skill should have increased by at least one Level, maybe two, with that much experience.

Next, I flick on my Mana Sense and I am pleased to see there are two creatures with cores. Two!

Compared to before, this is a massive increase. If I can get two cores a day, I�ll be dancing with joy! The basin of Mana water has decreased by about a quarter, so I may need to refill it in a few more days. Hopefully that won�t strain the pond supply up there. If it does, we�ll have to pull back on the operation, but for now, cores ahoy!

Filled with delight, I crunch those two monsters and dig out their cores before Tiny, the worker and I retreat above ground to enjoy our feast as a team of workers advances into the farm to claim their experience and Biomass.

These few days have been so productive and peaceful, I�ll have to enjoy it whilst I can. If my experience in this world has taught me anything, it�s that the good times don�t last.

After spending time eating and attempting to train Mana Transformation, my small crew have a snooze and awake to work once more. Since we began napping in the afternoon, it�s now solidly night time. The forest is beautiful and ethereal in the moonlight, only made slightly less so by the trails of monster ants wandering about.

After assisting the colony farm and returning with another core, I decide it�s time to pay a visit to the town in which we rather spectacularly made our entrance to the surface world. I hope that guy whose arm I accidentally separated from his torso is doing well. Life goes on, even with a single arm.

Although we won�t be able to see that much in the dark, I don�t want to risk showing up in the day and potentially being spotted. It�ll be best to minimise the potential for future limb removal type misunderstandings.

As we travel, to ensure no time is wasted, I practice my gravity spells. I might not be able to grind shaping Levels anymore, but familiarity still counts, and casting on the move is so much harder than casting standing still.

My magical skills grow with every passing day!

Eventually we come to the edge of the forest and I ask Tiny to remain in the trees. His hulking form isn�t suitable for slinking through the wheat fields and staying unnoticed. With my little passenger on board, I utilise my vaunted stealth techniques to creep through the farm fields and up to the buildings in the distance.

When we arrive, darkness has fallen over the land like a blanket. As we draw nearer to the town however, I�m gratified to notice it�s surprisingly well lit. Actually, it�s strangely well lit.

As in, what the hell is with this enormous fire!

In front of the church, a massive bon fire is blazing, surrounded by what appears to be a lively crowd. They�re all holding crude weapons and even at this distance I can tell they seem possessed of a fierce energy.

Relying on my impressive stealth, I creep closer until I�m less than thirty metres away from the edge of the buildings. Then I hunker down to maximise the passive stealth bonus. In the dark, with my skills and nearly black carapace, I�m going to be almost impossible to spot, surely. I�ll just have to keep my claws crossed they don�t have monster detecting gems here.

Actually, with their faces illuminated by the red glow of the crackling flames, pitchforks and rusty spears clutched tightly in their hands, they look a little demonic. A voice begins rising above the background noise, filled with conviction and energy.

Just in front of the church, I spot my old pal, the priest. At this distance it�s a little hard to tell, but I think he�s still wearing the same bloodied robes he was wearing when I first� met him. He�s standing in front of the church�s main double doors, one good arm flung to the sky as he exhorts the people below. Every now and again his voice rises to a soaring crescendo, and the people shout and roar in response, shaking their weapons and pumping their fists in the air.

I mean, seems lively over there at least. Just, what the heck is going on?

Then the doors are pulled open and a group of villagers emerge from within carrying something between them.

The men approach the bonfire as the people fall silent and fall back out of their way. With a mighty heave they throw their burden onto the leaping flames and the crowd roars in approval as the fire flickers.

I�m pretty sure that was a monster corpse.

It�s nice that the village is safe and they�re able to take care of themselves, but they seem a little too into it? Perhaps this is just a very civically minded town.

Being able to defend themselves for now is nice and all, but my worry is that these people will end up taking on something they can�t handle. If a Jellymaw crawled out of that hole, would these townspeople and farmers be able to handle it? Shouldn�t there be some soldiery looking types here by now? Dedication is all well and good, but do they really think a rusty pitchfork is going to do the job against the real Dungeon monsters?

Scanning the faces of the people, they all look determined and passionate. Seems they�re all in fending off the Dungeon monsters, which is fine, I guess?

Toward the back is an older lady who doesn�t look quite as pumped up as the rest. If I were to try and describe her expression, I�d have to say �concerned� or �worried.� Her hands are tightly gripping her skirts while she stares down at the frenzied crowd.

Perhaps she shares my concern that the townspeople may be getting a little ahead of themselves.

Perhaps she isn�t a bonfire person.

At any rate, approaching a frenzied mob any closer than this doesn�t seem advisable. Time to retreat.

Just as I�m turning to leave, I notice my head is feeling a bit breezy. Did someone open a window or something? Have I gone bald? I�m fairly certain I never had hair in the first place.

Wait.

Where is the little one!

Using my antennae, I slap my head and back before turning to scout through the surrounding wheat. Where the heck did that little scoundrel go?

Panic rises in my chest. That is a promising young ant! Where the heck is she?

The core! She has a core! Quick as a flash, I flip on my Mana Sense and reach out with my mind, desperately seeking that tiny Mana source. There it is! Threading its way between the wheat stalks is the little gem.

The problem is that it�s heading directly toward that roaring flame!

What are you, a moth?

You do not need to run toward any flame you see! Like a gazelle loose in the fields, I spring after my curious sibling, all thought of minimising noise lost.

Even if they spot me, I can get away, but she�ll be squashed for sure.

She�s managed to creep within just ten metres of the people near the back of the crowd. My heart is thudding. If they spot her, there could be serious trouble here tonight. It�s one thing if they try and bash my head in, the little one is a different story, they�ll easily cave her head in!

And if that happened� I honestly don�t know what I�d do.

Come back here, you little trouble maker!

I keep flicking my Mana Sense on and off so I can track the back-and-forth movements of the mischievous little ant. When I finally draw close enough, after what feels like years, I dive, six legs extended behind me and mandibles wide.

GOT YA!

As gently as I can, I snatch up the escaped worker in my mandibles, a situation she protests by wiggling fiercely.

�Stay still, you trouble maker! They�ll kill you if they find you!�

Fortunately, I can shout as I much as I want in Pheromone Language and not make a sound.

I quickly glance about.

Hopefully we weren�t noticed?

I�m almost so close to the back of the crowd I could poke a person with my antennae. Please don�t let them hear me!

The little worker is still struggling in my mandibles, trying to free herself and investigate the fire. What the heck are you so interested in? Is it the Biomass? Are you just upset they�re burning the monster bodies and not eating that sweet, sweet Biomass?

I don�t think they can eat that, kid! Different people have different cultures, ok?

�Stop your wiggling! I�ll feed you when we get back to the colony, all right?�

Upon hearing I�m prepared to feed it, the worker stops her escape attempts, and my panic subsides a little. She happily clacks her mandibles, making an audible clack sound, and now my panic skyrockets!

At first there�s no response, but then a middle-aged gentleman in the middle of the crowd turns around, a frown creasing his forehead. His face goes completely white as he�s met by the sight of a giant ant lying flat on its belly with another, smaller ant in its mandibles only a few metres from his back.

Uh� Hi!

I try waving to him with an antenna, but he flinches back from the movement, his mouth opening and closing in soundless panic. He reaches with shaking hands to tug on the clothes of the people around him. They turn, irritated at first, but when they see his expression and follow his trembling finger, they behold�my glorious backside as I�ve already begun to flee!

Time to motor out of here.

Angry shouts ring out behind me, followed by the soaring voice of the priest before the pounding of feet alert me to the movement of the people. Turning my head slightly, the crowd has recovered from their early shock and have started giving chase, crude farming tools and rusty swords held at the ready!

Holy smokes, Gandalf! These people are a little too into their monster killing.

As I sprint through the fields with a horde of shouting humans behind me, the little worker is happily clicking and clacking her mandibles, thoroughly enjoying the ride. I�m speechless at her lack of awareness. Just whose fault do you think this situation is?

Illuminated by burning torches, the crowd looks like an angry horde summoned from the depths of hell. Their raging eyes have become devoid of fear as they rush along in my wake.

Daaaaaamn-it!

I don�t particularly want to kill my way through an entire village, but at the same time I don�t want to lead them to the colony. Think, Anthony!

I may just have to give them a taste of my magical prowess.

Working quickly, I try to shape a Gravity Spear. Being so distracted, I naturally lose a little speed as I stumble here and there, and the crowd begins to gain on me. Its ok, don�t fail the construction!

My practice has helped me become more familiar with the shape of the spell, like a tune I�ve rehearsed more often. I still need to do a heap of practice before I can �play� it with total ease, but I can do it a heck of lot better than I could the first time.

After ten seconds of frantic mental work, I�ve prepared the spell and start pouring in the gravitational energy to charge it. In my haste, I don�t properly control the flow of energy and pour in a ton too much, overcharging the spell.

Gah! I don�t have time to make another one, just fire it!

Turning my head, I pick out my target, the first gentlemen to notice me, no longer terrified but maniacally shouting as he leads the charge, what looks like a woodcutter�s axe in his hand.

Sorry, bud, you drew the short straw today!

With a concerted thought, I fire off my Gravity Spear. The intricate dark purple construction streaks through the air like an arrow, piercing the man directly in the chest.

Screams and shouts erupt from the crowd as the target falls to his knees, a disbelieving look on his face as his hands rise to try and grasp the ethereal spear emerging from his body. Then they scream once more, their momentum completely broken, as the rings of light expand out in a flash, encompassing much of the crowd.

Then the pulling force of gravity kicks in.

They don�t seem to notice at first, but the force grows stronger with each passing moment until they cannot resist it. The crowd tries to hold on, bracing their feet and leaning their bodies as if fighting against a strong breeze, but the potent pull cannot be denied. Eventually they all �fall� toward the bewildered gentlemen whose chest still proudly sports the spear.

Even I�m a little stunned at the potency of this spear, and momentarily stop running to admire the sight of almost fifty people squashed together like sardines in a can. I can�t even see the guy I targeted anymore. He�s become buried under the bodies of his fellow townspeople.

That isn�t something I�m going to see every day.

Muahahaha!

So long, suckers!

With a jaunty wave of my antennae, I Dash away into the darkness.

I�m not exactly sure what has happened in that village. At the very least they�re taking their community safety seriously. I�m still a little concerned that despite their committed attitude, eventually something too badass for them to handle will poke its head out of that hole and the people there will be food.

I may have to advance some of my plans.

Rushing back to the trees we meet up with Tiny, and I command the little worker to climb back up onto my head before we hurry back to the nest. I�ve noticed that in the forest, the monsters we encounter Level up a little during the night time. I hadn�t realised it at first since they�re still pathetically weak. In any case, we make it back home without any stress.

Once we hit up the farm and ensure we�ve all had a good feed, leaving a heap of disabled monsters for the colony and extracting another fresh core, I head back to my chamber and dig out my collection. The little one seems to have had enough excitement for the time being and decides to have a nap to help digest her meal.

Once I�ve assembled my selection of treasures, I take all of the cores that are completely unmodified and place the Jellymaw core to one side. I need to go through all of these cores and alter them as much as possible in my final push to Level up Core Engineering.

Summoning all of my intellect, I focus on the first core and begin the arduous process of making adjustments to the energies contained within.

After several hours of mind shattering work, it has been completed. I managed to take five cores and make all of the changes I can, successfully grinding out two more Levels of Core Engineering.

Argh! My head is thumping! Core Engineering is ridiculously taxing on the mind, like shoving a boulder uphill using only your thoughts.

Taking ten minutes in order to refresh myself, it�s time to face the Jellymaw core. I was super impressed with this monster when I fought against it. The terror it managed to elicit, even from other monsters, was something I had never beheld before. Not to mention, I suspect this is a creature that has only evolved once, meaning not much growth potential has been lost.

Yes, I intend to make the Jellymaw my second pet!

I�d wanted to wait a little longer before reconstituting my second pet. With higher Levels of Core Engineering, I�d be able to customise the creature to better fit my intended role for it.

Sadly, recent events have sped up the timeframe, and mining the cores in the farm has proven to be a little slow. If I had a month, then I could afford to wait. Except things always accelerate faster than I want in this world. I mustn�t forget I still have to raise a reconstituted monster from an infant form up to the mature, combat ready form it had when it was killed. That process will take a fair amount of time and has to be accounted for in my planning.

With more time I would have been able to grind out a few more Levels and then, with my skills raised, embark on the kind of mastery Formo had displayed. The Sophos have carved out a life for themselves within the Dungeon using their hyper modified and specially raised pets, showing just how strong this technique can be.

I want to supplement my own strength with a few select pets. I can�t be in every place at once. Defending the colony while hunting to raise my own strength is proving difficult. Eventually the colony will be strong enough to look after itself, with a number of more highly evolved workers and sheer numbers to overwhelm more powerful monsters. Until then, I want to be able to leave the colony for a stretch of time and be assured it�s well protected.

The Jellymaw is an incredible defensive creature. Within the confines of the Dungeon, inside a narrow space, even without the power of sight, there is nowhere to hide from its fearsome tentacles and impressive strength.

Imagining an enemy attempting to assault the ant hill, sending soldiers down the main shaft to hunt the queen and ants huddling within, only to meet a wall of brutal tentacles that rip the flesh from their bones and devour them whole.

�Yuck. Effective, but yuck.

Ok! Bringing my antennae forward, I throw my mind into the dark gem resting on the soil. Immediately a flood of information invades my mind, all the details of the Jellymaw as a creature, its body type, organs, limbs, musculature, stats and evolutionary pathways are laid bare, ready for manipulation.

The first thing that strikes me is the stats. I�m kind of surprised at how intelligent the monster is. I hadn�t thought the creature would need much of a mind and had prepared myself for another all brawn, no brain associate like Tiny. As I investigate deeper, it starts to make a bit of sense.

By not including sensory organs�eyes, sense of taste, smell or hearing�a tremendous amount of� space� was left available within the brain. It�s a little hard to explain, but as I explore, all of the things that contribute toward the final �stat� value, the intricacy and complexity of the system starts to become more apparent.

If there were only ten �points� worth of energy available to devote to a monster�s brain, then you would need to spend that developing all of the aspects of a brain for a rounded mind. Some of the energy would go to unconscious body management, like how a person doesn�t have to think about making their heart beat, a good chunk would go to memory, more for increasing the speed and efficacy of the brain�s connections, that is to say, intelligence. Since sensory organs are quite complex, the parts of the brain that deal with those are also quite complex, requiring a heap of energy to properly form them. By not including any of these, large amounts of energy was instead devoted toward pure intelligence and memory, gaining a relatively high Cunning stat fairly cheaply.

Interesting!

Similarly, the Jellymaw has no bones, much like a regular jellyfish. Without having to spend energy on a skeletal system, more was devoted to the powerful musculature. I�m still not exactly sure how the monster manages to function out of water without bones though. I�ll need to dig a little deeper.

The more I look, the more impressed I am with the way this creature is constructed. That incredible power has come about as a result of a series of trade-offs. Limited senses, no bones, reduced nervous system, very simple selection of organs, all cut back to produce that fearsome strength.

However, there is still room for changes. Since the Jellymaw already has greater than expected intelligence, I want to push that advantage a bit further. Intelligence will ultimately trump strength. The human race rising to supremacy on Earth is living proof!

Besides, the Jellymaw is already crazy strong, any power I shave off now can be made up for in future evolutions by ensuring the core is maxed out.

I begin to put my mind to the changes, forcing and shaping them with my Will and holding them down until the new form holds steady within the core. Reducing the strength of the tentacles a little here and there, adjusting the musculature of the face to pour more energy into the brain. All of the extra energy is devoted to pure intelligence, raising the Cunning little by little.

I manage to squeeze another four points of intelligence before I stop. I don�t want to take away the creature�s strength too much.

My mind is already aching by this point. The adjustments are becoming harder and harder to accomplish. I�m not sure how much more I�ll be able to do. Girding myself, I dive deeper into the core, probing the limits of the information accessible to me at my current skill Level.

Aha! More answers are forthcoming here.

It seems the creatures body manages without bones since its flesh is formed from a bizarre, rubbery substance that is partly infused with Mana. If I�m reading this right, then the Jellymaw won�t be able to survive without a constant injection of Mana since it will absorb it directly into its body. Crazy!

I�ll need to keep this in mind for the future and make sure the little thing manages to get enough Mana at all times. This may prove slightly tricky on the surface but won�t be an issue in the Dungeon.

I can also see the future evolution paths of the Jellymaw. There are a few selections. Most of them are focused on providing various physical buffs and organs that directly increase overall combat proficiency. There is something else I want for my Jellymaw. By scrapping most of the existing options, I create my own custom evolution, and in doing so I get to set the bonuses granted by choosing that evolution.

Modifying a creature at this level is a first for me and the change is excruciatingly hard to make. I feel as if I�m about to burst a vessel or completely pass out by the time it�s done.

That�s it!

I�m out, Gandalf. No more of this torture!

I think that is all I can do.

After taking a few minutes to recover, I reach forward to tap the core once more.

[Compatible monster core detected. Would you like to reinforce your core or reconstitute the monster?]

Reconstitute!

With my command, the core begins to glow, emitting brighter and brighter light with each passing moment. As it grows more intense, the form of the core itself becomes more elastic, changing and shaping itself into the new monster.

Eventually I have to turn my eyes away as the light has grown too radiant, casting shadows across the walls of our cosy chamber. Some eyelids would really come in handy right about now�

Soon, the light has faded, and I turn back to behold my new creation and friend!

It�s� a ball�

Sitting on the ground in front of me in the space the gem previously occupied is a small dark sphere the size of a tennis ball.

Tiny tentacles start to tentatively emerge from the ball, wiggling their way to poke and stretch across the ground as the completely blind Jellymaw tries to find something in its environment.

Internally I sigh. I knew it was going to be like this, but somehow, I hadn�t quite mentally prepared myself for just how small and unthreatening the newly formed Jellymaw would be. Don�t be discouraged, me! Feed it up and it�ll become the brutal killing machine you remember in no time.

[I�m over here,] I tell the new monster, and reach across with one of my legs to touch one of the seeking tentacles.

The creature wobbles happily in response, flexing more tentacles to grasp my leg. It takes a few moments, but eventually it manages to scale up onto my back, taking the position Tiny once occupied when he was still small.

Sheesh. I feel like I spend half my time giving rides to small creatures in this life. What am I, a pony?

The dazzling display created by the core reconstitution has managed to awaken the little worker as well and she rushes to take her place of pride on my noggin before we set out.

I feel pleased, and simultaneously exasperated.

Fine. You can ride on my back for now, but you�ll work hard once you get large enough!

With my new Jellymaw pet, little worker and Tiny in tow, I head over to the farm. I�ve occasionally been letting the workers in to battle on their own, since I think every creature needs real combat experience rather than just raw XP. So long as they attack in numbers, the ants are able to overwhelm their opposition, smashing the enemies and pulling them apart without any resistance. If they trickled in with smaller numbers it would be a hugely different story, the weaker individual ants would get pulverised, so I only let them in after piling up enough workers at the entrance.

As each day passes, the colony is growing stronger. Everywhere I look, there are more workers with mutation advancements of all sorts. When I flip on my Mana Sense, there are the soft responses I get from low-Level cores all over the place.

Our power grows! I believe I even spotted the first double evolved worker, a beefy looking ant with a larger head and powerful mandibles. This may be the first �soldier� in the colony.

It�s all looking good right now.

Tiny and I descend into the farm chamber and smack the heck out of everything in there until they are almost dead. Only then do I let my two burdens loose on their meal.

As the little worker excitedly leaps off to grab her experience, I take a moment to have a word with her.

�I�m not sure if you can understand this much, but if you�ve got one, try to spend your Biomass on your Pheromone Gland, if you can get it to +5 you�ll be able to take Pheromone Language and talk to me and the queen. Think about it.�

She looks back at me for a long moment before jumping onto her first victim and starting to saw away with her mandibles. I use one of my antennae to reach onto my back and poke the Jellymaw there.

The Jellymaw has been sitting in the centre of my back, tentacles expanded out to grip my carapace to stop its little ball-form from rolling straight off. When my antenna prods into its body, it reaches out with a tentacle and grabs onto it.

[I�ll take you to some food, grab on.]

The young monster grips onto my antennae and I lift it up into the air before heading over to a defenceless beast. I don�t think the Jellymaw is able to fight at all yet, so I finish off the monster with a single chomp of my mandibles before dropping the little creature onto it.

The small black, tennis ball-like Jellymaw rests on the Biomass, feeling it out with its tentacles before starting to eat.

Once again, I�m treated to the horrific sight of the main body somehow unfolding to reveal that dreadful maw filled with razor teeth. Only this time the entire process takes place in miniature. The fanged mouth is probably too small to fit an apple in at this point.

Nonetheless, the newborn starts ripping into the Biomass with gusto, taking in far more food than really seems physically possible, until the main body has inflated from tennis ball size to nearly football size.

Gross, but impressive!

I nab some food as well. After this much time, I�ve managed to accumulate a chunk of Biomass points. I�ll need to think about what I want to prioritise my spending on soon. For now, I gather my crew together and we exit the farm.

Things are going well here with the colony, so it�s time to try and develop my own strength, and let Tiny exercise a little. The big guy is looking more depressed every day. If I don�t let him fight something soon, I�m worried he�s just going to fade away.

We run about half the distance back to the village and I begin construction of a new tunnel. It�s so easy to fall into the rhythm of digging. My inner ant is being nourished by the act of shifting dirt with my mandibles.

It doesn�t even take long until I�ve made significant progress. My powerful body combined with my digging skills is a powerful combination. Not to mention the burning joy of my ant soul toward the digging of tunnels!

My aim is to connect a stealth tunnel to underneath the human church. There are a lot of reasons for this. A little bit of protecting the humans from the monsters farther down the Dungeon, preventing the humans from absorbing XP and wasting Biomass, and using the existing tunnel connections within the escape tunnel to push deeper into the Dungeon to get some juicy monsters to fight in order to push Tiny and myself to the next Level.

Always scratching away at the back of my mind is the potential of the next evolution. After evolving into the Mind Ant, I�ve experienced a tremendous growth in power that I�m still working to explore. Since each subsequent evolution has seen an exponential amount of growth, I�m super curious about what will happen if I max out my core and evolve again.

An ant can dream, dammit!

After furiously digging for half a day, I eventually convince Tiny to help me out by telling him I�m trying to get him something to fight. To my surprise, he willingly throws himself down the tunnel and starts tearing into the ground with his hands, pausing every few minutes to haul up arm loads of dirt to dump on the forest floor before charging underground again like a deranged miner.

It almost brings a tear to my eye to see him so active again. Welcome back, Tiny!

While he�s digging, I make a quick trip back to the colony to help them harvest the farm and feed the two children still using me as their own personal transport.

The faster I feed you little runts, the faster you�ll grow up and prove yourselves useful! Eat well, muahahahaha!

After seeing to my duties, I rush back to relieve Tiny of his digging duties and press onward with the project. We don�t have time to waste right now, the foreboding feeling that started rising in me yesterday has only continued to rise. This is another thing driving my desire to get back into the Dungeon and Level up.

After digging down and angling the tunnel, I rely on my Tunnel Map to guide our fledgling tunnel to connect with the escape tunnel far enough down that we shouldn�t have any risk of being heard or observed by the humans battling the monsters in the church.

After another four hours of solid earth chomping, we finally break through.

Time for fighting!

After breaking down the final bit of dirt, the now familiar glow of the Dungeon assaults my eyes. The screaming of the monsters, the sound of claws tearing at flesh and the pulse running through the Mana veins on the walls, like the pulse of the very planet itself.

I almost missed this. Not quite, but almost.

Tiny certainly did. Crouching in the narrow tunnel behind me, the sounds of vicious combat are like music in the ears of the ape. In an incredibly short amount of time, he can no longer contain himself and shoves me forward, leaping into the Dungeon with a bloodthirsty roar.

Tiny is back in town!

I however, am crumpled on the floor with a rather heavy ape standing on my back.

[Get off me, you goon!]

I don�t think he hears me. And if he does, he�s clearly choosing to ignore me. Screeching with rage, the giant ape hurls himself onto centipedes, hounds, lizards and rabbits in his path, fists blazing with electricity.

We are not significantly deeper into the Dungeon here than the farm, but I can already see the monsters are visibly more powerful, with some of the more dominant low-Level monsters appearing.

Even this little upgrade is enough to pump Tiny�s blood and wake his thirst for battle.

As the giant ape leaps into action, the enemies rapidly crumple one by one, unable to resist those potent fists. Body after body is blasted into the walls or smashed into the floor, never to rise again.

Hold on! Leave some for me!

I scramble to get my feet under me and hurl myself into the fight.

Ten minutes later, we�ve cut down everything in our way in this section of tunnel, and have settled down to munch on some Biomass.

[You happy now, Tiny? You finally got to have a decent fight,] I say to my gorging pet.

He doesn�t even pause his eating, but a frown creases his bat forehead as he ponders my question, turning the words over in his mind.

[No,] he replies.

I�d figured as much. Although it was a little tougher than the farm, it simply isn�t enough to satisfy the big guy. That�s ok. We�ll keep digging deeper until we find something and start to Level up once more.

Speaking of Levels, I actually gained one in this fight! Nobody was as surprised as me to finally get my Level up from killing a Thorn Lizard, but hey, there it is.

The little worker and Jellymaw have also leaped off their transportation�me�to stuff themselves, packing their miniature bodies with absurd amounts of food. I really have to name these two. Thinking of them as �little worker� and �Jellymaw� is starting to feel a little rude.

Surely a bit more consideration wouldn�t hurt, right?

The worker is small and hyperactive, full of energy and a complete pain in the gaster. Her name should represent her curious and exhausting self. I�ll call her Vibrant.

I�m not sure why, but the name just speaks to me.

Satisfied, I turn my attention to the ball of magical black rubber that is busy feeling its way around with small tentacles, trying to locate the next mouthful. So far, the young Jellymaw has been fairly quiet. Mind you I�m not sure if she can even talk back to me at this stage of her development.

I don�t have too much to go on.

Also, should I give a boy or girl name? Tiny is fairly gender neutral, maybe I should go down that road again.

What sort of name would fit a blind tentacle monster of endless doom? I�m fairly stumped. I may just have to pick something I think sounds fitting and not worry too much about the meaning.

�Crinis?

Eh, sure, why not.

Sounds sort of Latiny, like most of the monster species names. I�ll roll with it.

I�m not the sort to put too much thought into these things.

We find three cores amongst the remains and I take two, leaving one for Tiny to absorb. I make sure to give him a hard stare until he does, in fact, absorb the thing. He knows what�ll happen if he doesn�t!

Although it would have been troublesome, I could have taken these cores to the surface for skill grinding, but I decided to straight up absorb them and return to the path of powering up my core. It feels nice to be on the path of strengthening oneself again.

As we rummage around in what used to be the tail end of the escape tunnel, I make something of a discovery.

It appears as if the loosely packed soil the colony left behind was not enough of a deterrent to the Dungeon veins. They remained inside the dirt, possibly spawning the odd monster inside the earth, or something may have followed the trail of veins and dug its way through, but certainly something has followed from below.

Right at the end of the old escape tunnel, I find a hole that opens into a narrow passage that retraces the colony�s steps back into the depths of the Dungeon.

Nards.

I was afraid of something like this. This means the human church isn�t only exposed to the small monster producing space we left behind, but is potentially connected to the entire Dungeon!

[Tiny! Crinis! We have to get moving. It�s time to explore a little deeper.]

Tiny is visibly pleased with the news, but I don�t get a response from the small blob. Oh, right, I didn�t tell it what its name was.

I walk over to it and tap it with one leg.

[Climb on up. From now on your name will be Crinis. Pleased to have you on the team!]

The little ball wobbles with what I think might be joy before latching onto my leg and climbing onto my back. Once Crinis is securely positioned, I collect the little worker.

�From now on your name is Vibrant! Make sure to get the Pheromone Language mutation as soon as you can, you might need to evolve first, but then we can chat. Let�s go!�

Vibrant twitches back and forth with nervous energy as her eyes focus on me for a long moment, then she leaps up onto her normal position and we descend farther into the Dungeon.

We venture forth, squeezing into the narrow tunnel and descending into the depths. Every now and again, I detect a monster forming, and this prevents us being ambushed as we pick our way down.

I�ve managed to pile up a healthy amount of Biomass over the last while and none of it has been spent. While I wasn�t paying attention, it stacked up to thirty-six! This was unheard of wealth when I was just starting out. Completely ridiculous. Now, I�ve managed to not even realise I had so much, as I devoted all of my attention and energy to my skills.

With this much, I can purchase the +6, +7, +8 and +9 upgrades for a single organ, along with something extra on the side. The question becomes, which to pick? I could go with the new hotness of the Gravitational organ or the old reliable of the Infused Mandibles, even hark all the way back to the eyes?

I think I�ll go with something that is directly combat relevant and upgrade my Mandibles to +9, and my carapace to +6, giving me a little balance. I don�t want to run into anything else I can�t tear through with my trusty face scissors. Combined with the power of my Shattering Bite skill, this upgrade could have a powerful effect! And more Diamond Carapace is always a win. It�s diamonds!

[Do you wish to improve Infused Mandibles to +9 and Diamond Carapace to +6? This will cost 36 Biomass]

Go for it�OH. GOD!

My face! My precious FACE!

The horror of the mutation itch has somehow slipped my mind completely and has stormed back to remind me just how mind meltingly irritating it really is.

My face is on fire. Fire I say! It�s so intense it even overwhelms the itch across my carapace. For the love of beards, make it stop!

There was a distinct leap in the level of itch from +4 to +5, but I assumed that was largely because of the mutation advancement. Apparently not.

Eventually, the feeling fades and I come back to my senses. Tiny is impatiently standing behind me whilst I have been wibbling about the place madly scratching at my face. Don�t look at me like that, you lousy ape! Why is it I never see you scratching away at yourself when you mutate?

I�m going to try and keep a closer eye on these pets of mine and see if I can spot them having trouble as they upgrade themselves. To help them? Of course not. I shall point and laugh! Let�s see the look on your face then, Tiny!

Having recovered, we continue our way down the tunnel and come to the section we had connected to an existing area of Dungeon in order to hunt and feed the colony. The trail stops here. Looks like whatever drilled out the old escape tunnel started from here and not from the old nest.

Thank goodness!

If those horrific beasts I heard but never saw had followed us all the way up here, we would have had some serious problems. Not to mention the human town would have been in some strife. This is by far the better outcome.

This time I make sure to leap into the active Dungeon tunnel before Tiny can lose his patience and shove me down. What greets my eyes is the same bustling scene from the first time we invaded this place. Low-Level Dungeon monsters fighting each other furiously in twos and threes up and down the tunnel. Fallen monsters being contested fiercely as creatures try to heal and sustain themselves through the endless fighting.

[Get �em, Tiny!]

This tunnel is barely large enough for the big ape to move comfortably, being the kind of smaller offshoot tunnel I�d been born in, rather than a main thoroughfare. He makes the best of it though and gleefully starts smashing his way down. I merely follow along with my passengers aboard.

Whenever a monster from behind us tries to attack, I subdue it with a quick blast from the business district. The unfortunate target is quickly set upon by nearby creatures as its movement becomes restricted and the acid begins to eat away at its health.

My goal is to try and find a larger, main tunnel. The monsters we find there should be more on our Level and provide a larger boost to our growth. If I�m lucky, we might even harvest a decent number of cores from such a location.

With Tiny in front, we follow the twists and turns for thirty minutes, punching our way through every step of the way, before we come to what I�ve been looking for.

Ahead of us, the smaller tunnel suddenly opens wide into a much larger passage, the sound of fighting and the roar of monsters is our welcome.

Perfect.

Before us is a rolling brawl of the sorts of monsters we�d become accustomed to seeing in the underground forest. Bear Tyrants, Lion Ogres, Wolf Dragons and others I�ve never seen before. Armoured lizards the size of horses with mighty club-like tails and two heads are facing off against huge creatures with snakelike tails that lead to an upright body festooned with claws and spikes they whip about with blinding speed.

Tiny has become very still for some reason. I shuffle forward a little so I get a good look at his face.

[You okay there, buddy?]

His face has gone completely slack while his eyes drink in the scenes of glorious carnage before him as if he were dying of thirst and staring at the freshest of pure mountain streams.

The infatuation, the adoration� He looks like a giant bat-faced ape in love!

Are you that desperate to fight things? Really!

Fine! You stand there and take in the sights. I�ll jump in and steal your experience.

Bwahahahaha!

With my two passengers clutching on tightly, I leap down into the main tunnel, mandibles ablaze with energy as I channel Mana into them.

Shattering Bite!

The illusory jaws of energy extend from my mandibles and crunch down on the nearest monster who, refreshingly, doesn�t collapse from the first attack.

The blood is starting to pump through my body as the excitement rises in my chest. Finally, a good battle. I can stretch out and move at last.

I can test out my new techniques!

As I feint forward and back against my opponent�a battered Tyrant Bear who rumbles and slashes at the air in response to my provocation, bearing its tremendous fangs�I begin to craft my new magic within myself.

I hope you�re ready for some of this flava. Taste my Gravity Bolt!

My practice has certainly paid off! It only takes me a few seconds to shape the magic and pump it full of energy until it�s ready to launch. I lunge to once side, causing the bear to rear back out of my range as it prepares a retaliatory attack. At this precise moment, I fire the Gravity Bolt. The foe has no time to react before the spell impacts it in the side. Right on target! Immediately the magic takes effect and starts to drag the bear down.

Gweheheh.

I�m impressed though. The raw physical strength of this monster has allowed it to remain on its feet as opposed to being pressed flat against the ground like the weaker beasts I�d practiced on. The powerful gravity is still having an effect, however. The bear is using so much strength to battle against the pull, its legs are practically shaking, eyes still fierce but a tinge of fear has appeared.

How are you going to fight in that sort of condition, Mr Bear?

You can�t!

Shattering Bite!

Trying not to get cocky, I keep an eye on my surroundings as I circle around the bear and begin my assault on its tremendous defences. In order to puncture that insanely tough hide I need to close the distance and use my physical mandibles. This is made fairly trivially easy since I�m quite nimble. But the bear is struggling to turn and keep me in its sights.

Shattering Bite!

Shattering Bite!

More Mana into the mandibles!

Shattering Bite!

[You have defeated Level 8 Earth Bear Tyrant]

[You have gained XP.]

Behold my power!

As I�m glorying in my triumph, a shattering screech echoes down the tunnel. Tiny is ready to fight!

The ear shattering screech out of Tiny has only gotten stronger over time. As the sonic waves roll over me, the stunning effect slams into my soft brain�brains�like a sledgehammer.

Thanks to my sturdy Willpower, I can shake it off after a second and see how the rest of the monsters are doing.

Generally, not great.

There are plenty of beasts reeling or stunned completely from that vocal blast, while a few larger creatures seem to have managed to resist almost as well as I did. Having announced his mighty presence, Tiny leaps into the cavern, landing with a boom, the rocks cracking under him.

The long hair on his arms and back is starting to rise into the air as he glares hungrily at the monsters, who can only shrink back from this intimidating beast. I can only imagine that seeing such a beefy, strong looking monster land in their midst is not exactly what they expected or hoped for. Tiny�s hands and body are starting to spark in earnest now, little zaps of electricity rippling over him and swimming across his fingers.

ROAR!

Not intimidated by the fearsome display, one of the armoured lizards bellows a challenge from across the tunnel. Tiny�s bat ears twitch in outrage and he screeches back, the sonic blast physically impacting some smaller monsters and knocking them right off their feet.

Crunch! Crunch!

As the two monsters stomp toward each other, their heavy tread shatters the stones beneath their feet. Not willing to be caught in the fray, the smaller monsters back the hell up, desperate to get out of the way of what is about to take place. Even I can follow their logic. If these two big fellas want to fight each other, that is a hell of lot better than them picking on us! Let�s move to the side and eat each other while they do their thing.

I have to admit I feel like a proud dad as my once little ape stomps toward a fiendish armour beast in preparation for a no holds barred battle to the death.

Should I cast a sneaky Gravity Bolt in there to help Tiny out? Asides from the risk of hitting my own pet accidentally, I�m not sure he�d be ok with me interfering in his long-awaited battle. I might just have to keep an eye on things and play it by ear.

As the monsters draw closer to each, the pressure in the air increases to unbearable levels. Two monsters enter, only one will leave!

Swinging his fists in wide arcs, Tiny is the first to act. Electricity crackles in the air as he raises both massive hands before leaping forward and crashing them down like a thunderbolt!

Reading his move, the massive lizard fearlessly dives forward. By shifting the point of impact, the blow will fall on its back where thick bony plates will absorb the damage, rather than straight onto its head.

CRASH!

The feet of the lizard are forced three inches into the cavern floor as that titanic blow, with all the weight of an angry bat-ape behind it, shudders through its body. It isn�t the physical damage that troubles the beast though. Bright rippling arcs of electricity discharge from Tiny�s fists as they impact, piercing straight through that hard shell to roast the tender flesh beneath.

Gasp! Is this the legendary Ape Thunder Strike?

Though absorbed in watching this clash, my peripheral vision picks up movement. A second of the large shell lizards is positioning itself for a charge. The monster is obviously planning to intrude on what is clearly a thrilling one-versus-one battle. How rude!

Sneakily I begin to form a spell. Let�s see how you like this tasty little dish!

After being damaged by Tiny�s strike, the lizard shakes itself vigorously before turning its large body with deceptive speed. The clubbed tail behind it whips through the air so quick it almost can�t be followed by the eye!

[Look out, Tiny!]

The big ape appears to see it coming, hardly needing any warning from me! He rotates his body and flashes out a clean right hook, connecting flush with that bony tail and smashing it away!

Holy hell! That was so fast!

Punching in such a way isn�t without cost however. A crunch resonates from Tiny�s fist in the moment of impact. He must have broken some fingers!

With his back turned, the interloping lizard has found its moment to charge! Unleashing a furious roar, it pounds the rocky floor with its mighty four-legged tread, its incredible mass and hard armour shattering any stone pillars or monsters unfortunate enough to be in the way.

Ha! I�ve been waiting for you, my friend. I skitter forward until I�m facing down the rampaging monster who intends to crush this pitiful ant flat on its way to assist in taking down the fearsome gorilla monster.

If only it were that easy for you, big guy.

Try this dish! The Inverse Gravity Bolt!

With malicious glee I release the powerful blast of purple magic that shoots through the air like a bullet. With its large frame and momentum, the lizard has no chance of dodging the strike and can only choose to continue head-on.

I can almost see the flicker of surprise in the beast�s eyes as my spell impacts and it feels no pain at all. Did the spell have no effect? In fact, not only did it not hurt, my body feels lighter than ever, like I�m flying!

Hue, hue, hue, hue.

You sure are, buddy!

Confused growls followed by panicked squeals erupt from the beast as it rises from the floor instead of smashing me to pieces. Thanks to its irresistible charge, it sails gracefully over my head, legs waggling in the empty air.

As its forward momentum peters out, the poor monster is left hovering in mid-air close to the ceiling, legs and tail thwipping about in vain attempts to control its body and move the way it wants to.

Not to worry, big guy, you�ll be coming down sooner than you think.

As I prepare another spell, Tiny�s pivoted back to his foe and swung out, smashing the lizard so hard he knocks it several feet to one side, unleashing another charge of electricity as he does so.

The scent of roasted flesh fills the air. The lizard roars in pain, unable to resist this fierce elemental damage.

Then its eyes glow and it unleashes something I didn�t expect.

From the floor of the cavern, the rock suddenly becomes soft before reforming into a sharp lance that pierces through the air like the fierce thrust of a spear.

Unable to predict the stealthy attack from below, Tiny is caught unawares and is pierced in the side. He manages to catch the tip in one hand, preventing the stone spike from penetrating any deeper as it continues to extend, lifting the massive ape from the ground.

Earth magic! These monsters must be double evolved to be able to use something nifty like that. My eyes light up with greed at the thought of the XP and Biomass to be harvested from battling against monsters as evolved as I am for a change.

Tiny seems to think the same as me. Far from panicking at being wounded, his fangs are revealed in a manic grin, his eyes wide open and blazing with hunger. He looks even fiercer than before, to be honest.

Still holding onto the spear, Tiny bellows and clutches the other fist before his face. Dazzling blue electricity begins coursing through his body and concentrating on that fist.

I know what this is.

I manage to turn my head away just in time. Tiny thrusts his hand forward, discharging a blinding arc of lightning at his foe! Expecting the attack to end, I instead get an eyeful of blazing lightning when I turn back, as Tiny continues to channel the energy, electricity pouring out from all over his body and rushing to his hand in unending streams.

Under this ferocious attack, the lizard cannot maintain control over its magic and the spear of stone crumbles to nothing.

Actually, isn�t it about time�

Glancing up to the roof, I think my floating friend is just about to run out of charge.

My sense of timing is close to spot on. The beast roars in triumph as the sensation of floating starts to fade. Soon it will drop back to the floor.

Oh, you�ll fall back to the floor all right.

Gravity Bolt!

Impacted by the second Gravity Bolt, the poor lizard experiences a brief moment of suspension. A narrow window of time in which the effect of the upward gravity is fading and the new, downward force, is only beginning to kick in.

The tentative balance is broken and with sensational effect!

From hovering in place like an awkward levitating turtle, the monster suddenly descends so quickly, my eyes almost miss the motion.

BOOM!

A tremendous impact sends dust and debris flying into the air, obscuring my vision and showering the cavern with shards of rock.

Holy moly! I did not expect that to happen. Well, not quite so spectacularly at least. Scurrying, I use my antennae to swipe at the air and try to clear my view and inspect my prey.

Stopping in place, I wonder if I may have walked too far. Where the heck is it? Is this dust ever going to settle!

The two interlopers on my back are just as blind as I am, although, for Crinis, it�s a fairly standard state of affairs. Turning on the spot, it takes a moment for me to realise the texture of the floor beneath my feet is slightly different.

Looking down, I notice I�m standing on the back of the monster.

It�s been squished right into the floor!

The dust gradually falls to reveal that the lizard has been completely submerged in the rocky floor of the cavern, and I�ve wandered directly onto it�s back. Even worse, the monster is still alive, groaning painfully as the downward pressure continues to compact it.

Sorry about that, buddy! I�ll, er� ease your suffering?

Piercing Chomp!

Crunch!

Phew, this shell is seriously tough.

Piercing Chomp!

Crunch!

Still not there.

Again! Again! Again!

By the time I break through those tough armour plates, my face is extremely sore and I�ve managed to Level up my Piercing Chomp once! No wonder Tiny was struggling to crack it with his hands. Even using my armour penetrating skill it took almost twenty strikes.

[You have defeated Level 12 Os Lacerti.]

[You have gained XP.]

Feel my wrath, you dinosaur wannabe! Mwuhahahaha! Vibrant seems somewhat confused by my domineering victory pose, her antennae wibbling about until she eventually decides to somewhat copy my dynamic stance, one leg raised to punch the air.

Don�t copy that! For starters, you didn�t even do anything. Second, you�re making me feel childish in my moment of victory. This battle was the first in which my incredible magical superiority played the decisive factor, allow me my moment of pride, dammit!

Meanwhile, Tiny has also completed his battle. After sustaining his brutal lightning attack until the enemy was almost roasted, he then punched his incapacitated foe�s head in.

Instead of expressing his dominance to other monsters by posing coolly, Tiny immediately starts ripping into the Biomass, tearing it apart with his bare hands and shoving it into his face.

You know, looking at the response of the other monsters in the chamber, his method may be more effective in the intimidation department, but it lacks style.

Indeed, the other monsters in this section of tunnel are giving both Tiny and myself a large berth while they continue to battle amongst themselves. Incredibly, I actually see a few of the normally battle crazed beasts slinking off down the tunnel, disengaging from fighting entirely.

Is it just me, or are some of these creatures getting smarter?

In the early days of the wave, they would hurl themselves into bloody slaughter the moment they were created and clawed out of the dirt, regardless of the odds! I couldn�t possibly imagine for a second, one of those creatures would voluntarily escape from battle. Calculating the odds just wasn�t something they seemed capable of.

Now though, it looks a little different. Between a monster who can decide if a fight is too dangerous and tactfully retreat, or a monster who suicidally charges forward no matter what, which is more dangerous? In the short-term, the suicidal monster is a little dangerous, in the long-term, the sneaky one is by far the greater threat. In this world, the potential for growth of monsters seems nearly infinite. All we need is time and resources. For a monster, surviving to fight another day is the only thing that matters.

I�ll have to think about this development later. For now, the stupid monsters who decided to stick around shall become my food!

Tiny finishes crunching on his Biomass and turns his greedy eyes to the other monsters battling on the fringes of the cavern. None shall be let go!

The two of us catapult into the battle once more. Having discharged most of his electricity, Tiny is reduced to smashing his opponents with just his raw strength, whereas I have plenty of juice left in the tank.

Instead of chomping everything to death, I try and work on some new tactics. The Gravity Bolt combo I used on the lizard is just one of my new strategies. I have other ideas as well! The first is to test the Gravity Spear.

After launching a spear in the midst of a cluster of monsters, the pulling effect is strong enough that none of them are able to escape, instead being sucked into a comical ball of writhing monsters who stab and snap at each other viciously with no way to escape.

Hehehe. Now is the time to apply some AOE damage.

Shattering Bite!

CRUNCH!

Pouring forth my stamina, I manifest the two ethereal mandibles around the condensed monsters and savagely bite, crushing the creatures between them!

[You have defeated�]

[You have defeated�]

[You have defeated�]

It�s so easy, it almost feels mean�

This is the strength of the Mind Ant! Being able to wield these powerful spells and destroy my opponents with ease. It was this sort of effect that I�ve been striving for from the very beginning. Practicing my magic skills and prioritising the growth of my core, grinding away all of those hours and finally choosing this evolution. Sacrificing strength, sacrificing Toughness, all to boost my capacity to wield magic in this new world.

All of it was for this.

And it was totally worth it!

I start to run around the cavern, gleefully hurling Gravity Spears and running toward the hapless targets to crunch them with my mandibles. Even as my flagrant use of my own stamina and Mana mounts up and exhaustion sets in, I don�t stop until every monster I can see has been defeated.

So much fun!

I even went up a Level!

This trip into the Dungeon has certainly been profitable. Being able to cast my spells so smoothly in combat is so rewarding. I still feel it�s possible to bring them out faster, but I�ll need a lot of practice to make that happen.

I also shouldn�t overestimate my strength either. There will surely be some forms of counter to magical attacks, shields of some sort or magic dampening abilities. Just because I can beat up on these small fries, doesn�t mean I should start celebrating too much.

Keep it cool, Anthony.

With the main bulk of our work complete, we try and wrap up the rest of our task as quickly as possible. I get Tiny to help me locate any cores and I get him to hold onto them for me before we settle down to have a rapid meal.

The two lizards we defeated are undoubtedly the strongest monsters we fought here so they are the Biomass of choice!

[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Os Lacerti. You are awarded one Biomass.]

[Basic profile of the Os Lacerti unlocked.]

[Os Lacerti: Bone Lizard. This monster is famed for the powerful armour covering its body, its immense physical strength and the devastating power of the clubbed tail. Although not too powerful, the beast is capable of simple earth magic spells, be careful.]

Yeah, now they tell us.

Drained but satisfied, Tiny, myself, Vibrant and Crinis enthusiastically tuck into the Biomass. I personally manage to pick up another fifteen points!

Overall, we managed to harvest six cores from the wide section of tunnel, including two tasty looking ones from the Bone Lizards. This has been an extremely profitable trip. It feels good to get Levels and Biomass again so freely. Now that I don�t have to worry so much about the colony surviving the terror of the wave, I�ll be able to head down here with Tiny every now and again in order to make sure my personal strength isn�t lagging too far behind.

I can already feel more heat readings from the walls growing with every passing second. A new wave of monsters is about to spawn, and I�d rather not get tangled up with them. I collect my passengers and tell Tiny it�s time to leave.

The big ape has mostly healed up after consuming all of that Biomass, but his fist still looks like it�s in rough shape. Not too surprising considering what he punched! More importantly, he looks relaxed and happy, something I haven�t seen for over a week now.

Being a little careful with ourselves, we begin the long trek to the surface, clearing out the monsters who spawned behind us after we descended. The two little ones are probably the members who gained the most from this trip. I�m not sure that eating more advanced Biomass expedites the growth of young monsters, but it probably does. I�ll be interested to see how much Crinis has grown tomorrow. Since Vibrant is a fully grown monster, albeit a small one, she will have gained a truckload of Biomass from consuming a creature two evolution tiers above her, perhaps as many as seventeen points!

Considering how limited her stomach capacity is, getting so many points from one meal is quite an amazing haul.

I climb out to the surface first in order to detect if there are any humans or other creatures around the opening to the tunnel. We need to be somewhat careful moving in and out of here, as we aren�t too far from the human settlement. Some caution goes a long way in avoiding unnecessary complications.

Since we�ve cleaned out the lower tunnels twice, there shouldn�t be too much there for the humans in the church to fight, just the very weakest monsters who spawned above where my new tunnel connects to the old one. Not only have I protected their lives, I�ve also robbed them of experience. Truly giving with one hand and taking with the other. Gwehehehe.

I haven�t really hurt them at all, and taking little steps like this to protect my colony, my family, is surely permissible, right, Gandalf?

Eh. My conscience is clean.

The four of us trek back through the forest�well, two of us trek back into the forest. I�m fairly certain Vibrant has fallen asleep on my head. Judging by the rhythmic expansion and contraction of the little ball on my back, Crinis has also.

Why I oughtta!

Ah, fine. They�ve had a big day, I suppose. The faster they digest that Biomass and grow, the sooner they�ll be off my back and working hard for the colony. Just you wait, you little freeloaders�

It takes a few hours to return to the anthill and things are perfectly peaceful on the journey.

However, when we�re almost there, faint sounds of battle attract my attention.

My heart slows as I recognise the sound of human voices shouting and the clash of steel. People are fighting near the colony!

Sprinting forward at top speed, not caring that my rapid movement has jolted my two passengers awake, my six legs eat up the remaining distance. Tiny seems to detect my rising panic and rumbles after me, his long arms reaching out and seizing the ground.

With every step my heart is pounding and a scream is rising in my head. Not my family! Not my family! Not my family! NOT AGAIN!

The sickening sounds of weapons crunching through monster flesh are enough to bring tears to my eyes. I mean, if I had tear ducts. Just let my colony be safe!

After a few moments that feel like hours we burst onto the scene. The anthill rises like a small mountain to my right, dominating the centre of the clearing. Workers pour out of the top, mandibles clacking with rage, antennae twitching angrily, no doubt sensing the call to arms pheromones that have summoned the workforce to battle!

To my left are ten humans, each equipped with glittering weapons and armour, intricately adorned with insignia and embossed filigree. Two mages stand at the back, wielding ornate staves and flowing robes running over their shoulders. These are some of the most elaborately equipped humans I�ve ever seen.

And they are massacring the ants.

The workers swarm mindlessly, desperate to defend their home, but they cannot get close enough. The magicians have conjured some type of shield that pushes the workers back, allowing the warriors to swing freely and unleash their sword skills, sending waves of sword light slashing through the ants. The acid fired from above is likewise blocked by magical means, scattering harmlessly and running down the invisible barrier.

In the centre of my view is the most horrifying sight of all. The queen has come out! Her huge frame is shuddering with rage as she tries to heal her children and push forward to rend her enemies at the same time.

My family is dying!

[Tiny, KILL!]

I�m barely coherent enough to roar the words to my companion before my mind goes totally red. My precious siblings are being torn apart like paper right before my eyes. I have to save them!

In one movement I vigorously shake off the two little ones and sprint at the enemy. They dare to attack my family! I�ll bite them to pieces!

Blinded by rage, I act without any sort of plan. Closer, closer, closer! When I�m just a few metres away, one of the spell casters turns his head and almost contemptuously flicks his wrist toward me.

Immediately I feel an impact on my face, as if an invisible barrier just rushed at me, trying to bounce me away.

Not today, Mr Mime!

I dig in with my claws and crunch down with my mandibles, trying to rip this wall to pieces with sheer physical force. At the same time, the blow to my head has returned some of my senses. Charging blindly into an unknown force may not be the best idea, Anthony, but if it saves the ants it�ll be worth it!

Even as I wrestle with this barrier, I engage my sub-brain to begin construction of a Gravity Spear, if any one spell is going to disrupt their formation, this�ll be it. The mage seems a little confused at first by my stubborn resistance to his spell, somewhat surprised that I wasn�t simply knocked back, possibly even killed by the impact of the barrier. I glare at him as he studies me a little closer, taking in my advanced size and mutated body parts, then he smirks and thrusts his hand forward, doubling the pressure on me in an instant.

Not enough!

Determined, I hold my ground, refusing to budge. I don�t have time to waste with this idiot. Every moment that passes, those swordsmen cut their way through the workers like wheat, getting ever closer to the queen!

[Where the hell are you, Tiny!]

At that moment a thunderous screech blasts the ears of everyone present. The sonic wave so intense it feels like my ear drums have been punched directly. Charging with all of his might, Tiny takes a huge running leap, raising both fists over his head to hammer down on the barrier.

The mage facing me pales in fright when he sees this massive ape monster burst out of the trees, leaping toward them in just a few seconds. He screams something in their language and the second mage, a woman, turns, and the two of them raise their staves in one motion as Tiny descends from above.

The extra pressure on me is released.

Infected by my own desperate rage, Tiny�s eyes are completely red as his massive body descends, lending all the weight of his mass to his strike. His fists hammer down like meteors, slamming into the defensive barrier with a colossal impact.

BOOM!

Under the impact of Tiny�s mighty fists, the barrier flickers in and out of existence, on the verge of total collapse. The two mages physically recoil from the power of that strike, one of them is even driven to their knees. Still, their eyes are burning with determination and they keep their staves raised to the sky, reinforcing the barrier with everything they have.

To resist that full bodied strike from Tiny, the shield up there must be incredibly strong.

The shield down here near me however�

Infused Mandibles!

Still desperately constructing the Gravity Spear within myself, I start to charge my mandibles as well. The strain on my mind is so immense I would have blood flooding out of my nose if I had one! Straining with all of my spirit, I desperately control the Mana, directing it into my mandibles while leaving as much of the load as possible to the sub-brain. It feels as if both brains are on fire, cooking themselves with the strain.

As the traces of Mana flow out of my core and into my mandibles, they begin to emit a glow that grows stronger every moment. My face is pressed against the barrier, its invisible resistance pushing back against me. My mandibles are spread wide, digging in but not penetrating. As the Mana flow grows from a trickle to a stream, and the light emitted grows more intense, I begin to feel the tiniest bit of give.

Yes! With Tiny distracting their attention, they have reinforced the barrier above but it has grown noticeably weaker below. This is my chance!

Straining with every muscle fibre of my face, I push my mandibles to the limit.

Break through, dammit!

The barrier gives a little more under my assault, then a little more. Seemingly sensing something, the closest mage turns from Tiny to me. Noticing my fiercely glowing mandibles, he tries to redirect his attention to stop me from breaking through, raising his free hand at the last second.

Too late!

Tearing through the barrier, my mandibles close with a mighty snap! The invisible shield before me cracks and dissolves, the pressure I�d created with my legs sends me flying forward, tumbling inside the dome.

Snapping one section of the barrier has a visible impact on the mage and he wilts under the strain. I don�t have much understanding of barrier spells, so I�m not sure exactly how this recoil works, but I sure as heck am going to take advantage of it!

Snapping to my feet, I use all of my mental power to complete the Gravity Spear. Cutting off the flow of Mana to my mandibles relieves a lot of the pressure on my mind and the spell construction continues at a blistering pace.

Before the mage can recover, I dart in, mandibles wide open.

Shattering Bite!

With all of my strength, I bring my jaws shut upon the mage, I don�t even rely on the manifested mandibles, instead ensuring I�m close enough that my mandibles crush him directly.

CRUNCH!

With a sickening noise the pulverising force of my mandibles closes on the mage before he�s able to recover. When I release him from my bite he collapses and doesn�t get up.

[You have defeated Level 43 High Mage.]

[You have gained XP.]

[You have reached Level 11. One Skill Point awarded.]

[You have reached Level 12. One Skill Point awarded.]

The second mage turns in time to see her compatriot fall from my jaws and her face is filled with horror. She hasn�t time to act against me, as Tiny has prepared another strike against the shield.

She�s in a dilemma now. Does she withdraw her mind from maintaining the shield and attack me, letting Tiny smash it to pieces and robbing the warriors of their defence, or does she leave herself vulnerable to my attack and try and maintain the shield?

I expected her to fight to maintain the shield, but instead she decisively brings her staff around on me, hands weaving patterns in the air as she manipulates the Mana around her.

Of course, this means Tiny gets a free swing.

From the corner of my eye, I witness the massive ape rear back with his good hand, rotating his body so far that his back is to the barrier before he unwinds and unleashes his fist as if firing it from a cannon!

With a shattering sound like a thousand panes of glass breaking at once, the invisible dome collapses. Diffused shards of Mana fall like rain upon us even as they dissolve into nothing, no longer controlled or shaped by any mind.

The soldiers pause in their butchery out of shock. Several turn to witness the situation behind them and become aware of my position for the first time.

I don�t have much time to act. This mage is going to blast me right in the face in one second. How is this spear still not ready!

Finally, the spell hums to life.

I hope I�m in time!

Without a thought for my own safety, I decisively turn and fire the Gravity Spear toward the warriors on the front line, desperate to prevent their swords from killing any more of my siblings.

Before I even see my spells impact, the female mage has completed hers. Dozens of blades of ice have formed in the air around her. With one wave of her hand, each of the blades blasts toward me at supersonic speed.

Holy moly!

I can�t even dodge if they move at this speed! Before they impact, all I can do is tuck my legs and antennae under my body and tilt my head down in order to protect my eyes, then receive the blow head-on.

Just before they impact me, something strange tickles my awareness. The ice blades are registering on my heat sense as immensely cold, the temperature of the air around the female mage has dropped precipitously. Now that those blades are screaming through the air, they leave vapor trails of cold behind that are detected by heat sense.

With all of this cold in the air� What is that source of heat on my left? There isn�t anything there?

Before I have time to properly think about it, the ice blades strike home against me.

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

Intense pain erupts throughout my body as the magical blades slice into my Diamond Carapace, cutting my flanks, back and directly chopping off one leg plus an antenna.

Holy-MASOIUGLKASNF-Gandalf!

That stings like the dickens!

My whole body is screaming with pain! Those numerous blades have cut through me all over. My Diamond Carapace was specially chosen to defend against physical attacks, it�s clearly not up to the task against something imbued with Mana.

Activate the Regeneration Gland!

I try to slump forward as if on the verge of death, even as the regeneration fluid rapidly spreads through my body, closing over the cuts and repairing my damaged muscles. Thankfully none of those blades was able to penetrate deep enough to damage my core.

I can only imagine that significant damage to a monster�s core would be completely disastrous, if not immediately fatal. Once it has been created, the core is central to a monster�s life force, the storage and nerve centre of the monster as a magical being. Much like the brain operates as the centre of thought, the core is the centre of Mana. I�m not confident a monster can live without it once they�ve adapted to it.

Certainly, it isn�t a theory I want to try out�

My ruse seems to have worked. In the heat of the moment, with the barrier destroyed, there are threats other than me these humans need to deal with. When the mage turns her staff away, I push my healing legs underneath myself, ready for my next move.

I can�t afford to let the mage attack Tiny. If she�s able to disable him or even heavily wound him with her magic, we might lose our best chance to deal with those deadly fighters. Not to mention the terrible possibility Tiny might be killed!

Quick as a flash, I spin around to present my b-zone at the mage. My sudden energetic and rapid movement takes her completely by surprise, as merely seconds ago I�d been cut to ribbons by her magical barrage.

Victory is always decided by the one who thinks the fastest. Receive the famed produce of my commercial district!

POW! POW! POW!

At this close range, I don�t worry about aiming and rapidly punch out three blasts. The jets of acid streak through the air and impact hard against the mage. At this close range the physical force is almost enough to knock her off her feet. She manages to retain her balance by falling to one knee and using her staff to prop herself up, but by then the restrictive nature of the acid is already kicking in, making it difficult for her to move.

So long as she�s delayed from affecting the rest of the fight, then my purpose will be served. More than taking her out straight away I�m most concerned with stopping the dreadful slaughter of my siblings.

The warriors have been able to maintain a distance from the fearless workers, relying on the barrier to keep the ants from pressing forward and giving them the space to unleash their advanced sword skills. Slashing out arcs of energy, much like my own Shattering Bite skill, and carving apart three or more workers with every strike.

When I see the broken and destroyed remains of my family members littering the ground, my heart twists with pain. These warriors are too good at their work. Most of these workers are already dead, beyond what the queen�s healing can fix. They didn�t even have a chance to drag their damaged bodies clear of the fight.

Disrupting the warriors from striking at the colony is the number one priority.

Thankfully, my Gravity Spear is starting to take effect.

I�d been careful when constructing the spell to ensure the gravitational fields range was controlled, so as not to be too large. When the target of my spell realises he has an ethereal purple spear sticking through his guts, his first instinct seems to be to scream in horror, unaware that the true terror is yet to be unleashed.

The target itself feels nothing from the spell, no effect at all, but it isn�t long until the warriors nearby, most of whom are still facing the ravenous ant tide, begin to notice something is wrong.

Inexorably, the pulling force of the Gravity Spear begins to show its power. The warriors are finding themselves thrown off-balance, having to exert strength through their feet in order to resist this unknown pull. The disruption is so strong that the barrage of sword attacks ceases almost instantly as they try to identify this new threat.

To my shock, they remain disciplined, barking words and instructions to each other while they resist the building force with all of their might, gradually falling back to the source of the pull without losing their feet.

These guys must have some serious physical stats to be able to resist the gravity in this way. The calm way they dealt with this new situation worries me immensely. These warriors are so disciplined and powerful they can�t be ordinary, not to mention the mage I killed�not thinking about that too deeply just now!�was some ridiculous Level over 40!

Still, they�ve retreated and grouped up, which is nice of them.

[Tiny, smash those guys!]

After destroying the shield, Tiny has been impatiently waiting for it to completely dissolve before advancing. Now that I�ve given him a target, he bellows his anger, eyes blazing with wrath as he charges at the grouped-up warriors.

One of the soldiers barks a quick command and steps forward, glittering sword in one hand and imposing tower shield on the other. He really intends to face off against Tiny himself and leave the ants to his fellow soldiers.

Glancing at the mage who is yet to rise, I decide to gamble and leave her be for the time being so I can intervene and assist Tiny.

Skirting to one side, I open up the angle a little and unleash my potent range of products from the commercial district.

POW! POW!

Two rapid fire shots blast into the warrior, one catching him on the leg, the other hitting the side of his chest. Hopefully the restrictive properties and damage are enough to help Tiny batter his way through.

With a little momentum behind him, the giant ape unleashes his devastating fist straight on. The warrior doesn�t lose focus for a second and his eyes show no fear or surprise at all, even when my acid splashes him. Faced with the massive fist of Tiny, he shouts aggressively and steps forward like lightning, rotating his body and smashing his shield into Tiny�s arm, deflecting the blow.

Holy heck!

This guy is insane! He actually managed to defend himself against Tiny? I�d expected we�d be finding parts of him in the next postcode when that fist was unleashed. Clearly my Restrictive Acid isn�t enough to deal with him.

Tiny isn�t perturbed in the slightest. When his fist failed to destroy the target, he simply wound back his other hand and unleashed a vicious hook. His fist cuts through the air so fast, a shrill whistle rings in the ears of everyone in the clearing.

And there are subtle signs of Tiny winding up his electrical engine. Little sparks are beginning to appear on his body and the hair on his arms is rising.

Shockingly, this blow is also deflected but not quite as gracefully. Ducking low, the warrior braces his shield against his shoulder and angles it. The shield buckles when that colossal fist smashes into it, but it is successfully deflected, a solid imprint of one of Tiny�s knuckles left on the patterned metal.

The warrior�s whole body is rocked by the impact and it looks as if his bones have been rattled. Nonetheless he lashes out with his blade, opening a wound on Tiny�s chest.

I�ll have to let these two go at it and hope Tiny can hold his own, the rest of the soldiers are already preparing to unleash their skills upon the onrushing horde of ants. To my dismay, the queen herself has pushed to the front line. Fury blazes in her eyes as she marches over a carpet of her own destroyed offspring in order to attack their killers.

Dammit!

I really wish she wasn�t so damn brave. These guys will cut her apart!

Just as I�m preparing to leap and unleash my mandibles upon the clustered warriors, I notice another development in the corner of my eye. The female mage has stood up and her entire body is glowing softly with blue light. My acid is rapidly dissolving, lifting away from her robes and skin and fading away into the air.

ARGH!

Now this mage is going to start flinging spells everywhere again! I don�t want to get sliced up by that magic and I sure as hell don�t want to expose the workforce to it.

Making a split-second decision, I face off against the mage and begin weaving a Gravity Bolt as fast as I can, even as I Dash in to threaten her with my mandibles. She mustn�t get a chance to cast a spell!

As she sees me charge, her eyes flicker with panic and dart to her side. For some reason I get the feeling she isn�t worried about herself?

Seeing that unwilling flicker of eye movement, I�m reminded of the mysterious heat I�d detected a few moments ago. I still can�t see anything occupying that space, but even though one of my antennae is still in the process of regenerating, I can detect there is some random heat emanating from that space.

What the heck is it!

In the heat of the moment, I don�t have much time to decide my course of action. Any second that mage is going to start casting her spells again. I refuse to be diverted and continue using almost all of my mental energy on the construction of my Gravity Bolt. This one happens to be inverse. We�ll see how well this mage can cast spells when she�s one thousand feet up!

In order to throw her off-balance, I lunge in with my mandibles, activating my Shattering Bite skill. The ethereal mandibles that are manifestations of my stamina, lash out through the air, closing rapidly on the mage. The warriors might be able to resist this attack, but I highly doubt a mage can. Not without some sort of barrier at any rate.

The woman shocks me by nimbly rolling under my strike, expertly tucking her staff flat against her stomach to avoid it catching on anything as she completes the motion and stands ready to strike at me, staff extended.

Yikes!

I hastily leap and narrowly dodge a lance of ice that materialises from the tip of her staff and streaks through the air like an arrow, smashing into the ground just behind me.

Close!

I can�t help but note that when she made her dodge roll, she managed to place herself in between me and the mysterious heat source. She is clearly trying to protect it. This only piques my interest. If she�s willing to put herself in harm�s way for that thing, then it may be able to swing the outcome of this battle!

And my own spell has just finished preparing. Have a taste of this delicacy, mage!

Ducking low as if I were about to pounce, I instead fire the Inverse Gravity Bolt directly at the mage�s torso. Caught by surprise, she doesn�t have time to dodge and her eyes flicker with shock as, instead of the wild leap I�d threatened, this bolt of magic has been fired at her.

Twitching her wrist around with incredible speed, she places the tip of her staff in the way of the bolt and manages to catch it somehow. The Inverse Gravity Bolt pushes against the staff as the mages face becomes a mask of concentration, using her staff and then her other hand to press back against my spell.

Is that even possible?

And just in case this spell wasn�t effective, I�m already on the move, rushing forward with my mandibles open to strike.

Shattering Bite!

Trying not to get too close in case she can do something ridiculous, like rebound my own spell at me, I marshal my spirit and crunch down on the mages leg, crushing it between my mandibles.

With a despairing cry she falls to one side, deflecting my spell into a nearby tree that immediately starts to pull at its roots in the ground, attempting to rise into the sky.

Now�s my chance!

I rush toward the heat source, and it recoils back from me somewhat like a person would. What the hell!

There�s a tugging at my foot and I realise the mage has desperately grasped my leg. As soon as she grabs me, ice begins to form on my leg, rapidly growing up to my body.

You are too persistent.

Shattering Bite!

[You have defeated a Level 46 High Mage.]

[You have gained XP]

[You have reached Level 13. One Skill Point awarded.]

My freakin� leg feels like it�s been put in the deep freeze! As I continue to move toward the heat source, it directly shatters. I don�t even care, keep moving, every second counts.

Behind me, the battle has continued at a ferocious pace. Tiny and the human soldier are continuing to batter at each other, and it�s becoming clear that Tiny is gaining the upper hand. He still doesn�t have a full tank of electricity, but there�s enough for him to wreath his fists in lightning and punch against the shield.

Every time his fists batter the shield, lightning rips through it, leaping onto the warrior�s body and shocking him with every blow. The warrior appears to have formidable resistance, but each mighty fist wears him down that little bit more.

Not that he hasn�t been able to strike back. Tiny is sporting cuts all over his body, bleeding profusely where the blade has managed to flash out like a striking snake between blocks. The difference between the two is that Tiny isn�t running out of strength. His huge frame is able to sustain this much damage, at least for now.

I really need to get the big guy to invest in a Regeneration Gland. His Might stat must be out of this world, but I�m beginning to suspect his Toughness is in the tank. If he doesn�t have much on the defensive side, then the Regeneration Gland would really help him out in a situation like this where he isn�t able to defeat his opponent in just a few strikes.

What really worries me is the warriors against the queen and the rest of the colony. The scene is so chaotic I can�t make out what�s happening. I hope to heck they�re ok over there!

Whatever this mysterious heat source is, it had better help resolve this situation. It has to be something good if that mage was willing to die for it.

The closer I get and the further my antennae regenerate, the more clearly I can sense this heat source. It�s starting to feel more and more like a person, on the ground, crawling away from me.

I can�t see a single thing in front of me!

Don�t tell me� Invisibility?

Pouncing, I land over the top of the heat source. Whoever this person is they�re collapsed beneath me now. I can sense their hands are raised to protect their face.

I don�t think this person is very good at fighting.

A sneaking suspicion is starting to tickle the edges of my mind.

I can�t hesitate, my family is being killed every second!

Using my antennae to rapidly tap here and there I manage to locate what I think is this person�s neck and I reach forward with my mandibles, bringing them closed just enough that I can force this invisible person to move without harming them.

With this done, I raise the invisible form up from the ground. Whoever it is, they ain�t heavy!

With the chaos battle ringing in my ears, I turn back toward the fighting and shake my prisoner slightly. Thankfully, whoever I have ahold of manages to get my message.

The invisibility falls away to reveal my mandibles gripping the neck of an elderly lady dressed in simple but elegant robes. Most importantly, her head is decorated with a seriously expensive looking crown.

Somehow, even with a monster�s jaws gripping her by the neck, this lady manages to maintain a solemn dignity, appearing neither upset nor fearful in this critical moment.

The solider battling against Tiny is the first to notice and screams something in a despairing tone, drawing the eyes of every human to me. He tries to turn from Tiny and rush at me, but I flex my mandibles, holding my prisoner threateningly before me.

He seemed stunned by my display of intelligence and backs up, turning away only when Tiny attacks again, threatening his life.

�Everyone back, off! Step away!�

[Tiny, back up a second!]

I shout at my allies until they accede to my request, giving both sides a little breathing room. The soldiers all face me, their faces filled with panic and fear as I threaten what I can only presume is the life of their ruler.

What the hell are these people doing in this forest in the first place?

When I finally get a chance to look, I can see that many ants have been destroyed by these warriors. Even the giant form of mother is leaning to one side, heavily wounded.

Rage is ignited in my heart. These people will pay!

With the human queen locked between my jaws there is little the soldiers can do to prevent me from giving her a her a fatal haircut if I so choose.

The power is in my hands�claws!

Unfortunately for these soldiers, the rage in my heart is burning furiously after witnessing the damage they�ve done to my family.

I demand vengeance!

The soldiers are talking amongst themselves now, faces tight with worry as they try to work out how to deal with this situation. I don�t want to give them enough time to formulate a plan. If they decided to threaten the ant queen, then we might end up in a stand-off instead of this situation where I have the clear advantage.

I step aggressively forward, the human queen swaying in the grasp of my mandibles, her feet dragging on the ground as she tries to keep her feet under her. When the soldiers see me treating their royalty so poorly, they react angrily, clutching at their weapons and yelling at me in their language.

In response, I flex my mandibles around her neck. In an attempt to communicate my demands, I use one of my antennae to point several times at the ground.

Put your weapons down!

The soldiers look back and forth between themselves, confused by my gesture. I don�t think they expected to be able to engage in any sort of dialogue with a monster, and I don�t really blame them. I get the impression that intelligent monsters do exist, but the feeling I have is that those monsters wouldn�t want to play nice with any creatures on the surface. From what I�ve seen of monsters, I can only imagine they put that higher intelligence to the task of inventing ways to kill people more efficiently.

Clearly in this situation, they don�t know what to do.

Once again, I flex my mandibles forcefully and point several times to the ground with both antennae this time.

Put your weapons down!

There is real fear in the faces of these soldiers. Not for themselves but for the life of the person I hold between my mandibles. They know there is very little chance they can find a positive way out of this mess.

They talk back and forth for a few seconds before the soldier who had been battling Tiny shouts at the others and then lies down on the ground. Seeing his example, the others reluctantly comply, lying face down on the ground.

Ok, sure. That works too.

[Tiny, calmly walk over to them and take their weapons and shields away.]

With them lying down, we can reduce them as a threat by removing their equipment. This will help bring everything even further under my control. Perfect.

As I�m congratulating myself on my chess-like moves, I eventually notice that Tiny hasn�t obeyed my orders. Focusing my attention on him, he�s still just standing there, looking at me with a confused expression.

[What are those?] he asks.

Oh boy.

[Take away the pointy metal things, like what that guy stabbed you with, and their big metal boards which he used to block your punches!] I try to explain.

He stares at me with incredible intensity, the thoughts ticking over in his mind with excruciating slowness. Come on, man!

He stomps toward the soldier he�d fought with, probably the leader or captain of these men, looking at me all the while. Then he slowly bends down near the nervous soldier and grasps the sword between two of his thick fingers, glancing back to me like a child wondering if they�d done the right thing.

[Yes! That�s the sword! Good job, Tiny!]

His bat face splits in a wide grin and brings the sword to me, placing it carefully at my feet as if he were a dog playing fetch. Now that knows what he�s doing, he manages to go to each soldier and take their sword, bringing them back to me one by one before he tries to work out what the shield is. When he eventually figures it out, he collects them one by one, bringing them to me and completing his small pile of equipment in front of me.

It takes almost ten minutes for him to get it all done.

[Good job, Tiny,] I say exhaustedly.

He seems immensely pleased with himself. Just how low is your Cunning stat, seriously?

With all of the soldiers disarmed, I feel a lot safer. Against their incredible sword skills, just how many of my fellow workers have been destroyed? I refuse to let them off.

Moving slow, I start to take the queen toward the nest, allowing her to walk steadily as she matches my movement. The soldiers look on with worried eyes as I take their queen away from their line of sight. When one of them tries to turn his head to watch me move, I furiously point at him with an antennae until he turns back around.

As I draw closer, the true extent of the damage that has been done in this battle is exposed. As many as one hundred workers have been killed, their bodies sliced apart by the devastating sword light of their opponents.

These individual ants are simply too weak to fight against high-Level enemies like these. They aren�t intelligent enough to use tactics and they aren�t strong enough to push through the front. If there had been more numbers, say one thousand ants, perhaps they would have been able to swarm over the barrier and break it down. Then again, perhaps the mages would have been able to hold on long enough for these few humans to destroy thousands of my kind.

It isn�t good enough!

This shocking occurrence has clearly shown that against high-Level opponents the colony will only be able to achieve victory at the cost of many lives. For a normal monster ant colony that may be fine. Victory whilst throwing away the individual workers or treating them as disposable, and all that. If I have accepted that the workers of this colony are my family members, my siblings, then I refuse to let them die so simply.

This will be the last time.

[Tiny, I want you to bring that guy you were fighting over to the nest. Then I want you to come back out here and destroy the others.]

The big ape nods, smiling happily.

Only now do I remember my two passengers that I�d thrown off in a rush. Poor Crinis! The little thing can�t even see!

[Crinis! Crinis! Where are you?] I frantically yell in my mental channel.

Turning quickly, I unceremoniously drag the queen this way and that until I notice movement in the grass. Rushing over, I see several little tentacles extended straight up, wiggling frantically.

There it is!

I carefully place one of my legs so that it is just touching the seeking limbs.

[It�s me, climb up!]

Moments later, a much more relaxed blob is resting on my back and a very small worker has emerged from behind a nearby tree and also climbed up onto my head. Mini crew assembled, I return, queen in tow, to the scene of the carnage.

Surrounded by the remains of her own deceased children, the queen isn�t looking good. A horde of workers are rushing about her, their anxiety plain in their disjointed movements, darting backward and forward, unsure what they should do to help the situation.

The human queen seems rather unhappy about being this close to such a massive monster, but I hardly care. Her people are what caused this problem. If she gets uncomfortable, I�ll shed no tears. If she tries to harm the real queen, then she will very quickly regret it.

�Mother! Are you ok?� I cry.

In my mind, I hadn�t imagined she could be injured this badly, she�d always seemed so indestructible that even if I worried about her getting injured, I hadn�t really believed it would happen.

Her super hard carapace met its match in those devastating sword skills today. Numerous cuts and gashes mar her body, some of them very deep.

�I will� be ok,� she replies, her usual calm voice strained to the limit.

�Can you heal yourself? Cast some magic?�

She doesn�t reply for a moment, her great body heaving as she labours to draw in air.

�No� strength,� she manages.

No strength! What the heck does that mean? She can�t concentrate enough to cast the spell? Does she not have enough Mana? This is really bad!

Becoming more concerned every moment, I start to tap up and down her wounds with my antennae almost without thinking about it, my ant instincts kicking in and overriding my more rational behaviour as I try to scramble for a solution.

Holy heck!

One of these cuts is way too deep! Right in the centre of her thorax, a deep and wide wound has opened in her carapace. Within the wound, I�m sure I can see something glittering.

Is that her core?

A chill strikes me to the bone. Had that skill gone any farther, it might have damaged the core directly, something I feel very confident would be immediately fatal to a monster. Just a few more inches and mother would have perished.

Appalled by the thought, I turn on my Mana Sense and examine her core. Usually blazing bright, her core is more of a dim ember right now. Why is her core so weak? It should be full of Mana and packed with energy. Is this why she seems so weak? Is there something wrong with her core?

Desperate to make a difference, I start pulling all of the Mana I can out of my own core and sending it in a stream of mist toward the queen�s. Without knowing if it will help in any way, I persist until my core has almost been tapped completely dry, before I flick on my Mana Sense again and anxiously seek any changes.

There is a slight difference, I think. The response seems a little more energetic this time.

Is she not getting enough Mana in her core?

�Take the queen into the farm!� I shout as loudly as I can to all of the surrounding workers. �Rush in there and destroy everything and then take mother inside and protect her!�

If she needs more Mana, then placing her inside the farm is going to be the best place we can find in the short-term. If the workers pack in there tightly enough then there is practically no chance that a monster will be able to spawn and have a chance of hurting the queen.

�As soon as you can, you need to heal yourself!� I urge the queen. �Your injuries are very serious!�

I�m worried she�ll start trying to heal the injured workers before she bothers to cast the spell on herself. She is usually selfless to a fault.

She begins to carry herself away, painfully and excruciatingly slow, moving toward the farm. Half the colony has assembled to help her, many workers walking straight under her and using their own backs to lift up their parent, trying to help her take the weight of her feet.

I watch her go, still very concerned.

I have other work to do right now though. I�ll have to trust my siblings will be able to complete the task they�ve been given.

Tiny is already on his way back to the battlefield to complete his task. He�s already transported the officer to the top of the anthill where several workers have surrounded him, tapping him with antennae and taking the odd nibble as he resolutely lies face down in the dirt.

�Watch him and don�t let him move,� I tell the workers as I move past, dragging the human queen up the side of the ant hill toward the opening at the top.

The trick now is going to be getting her down there.

Shrugging mentally, I slowly lift my head until my captive is forced onto her toes. Eventually she reaches up to grab my mandibles with her hands in order to help carry her weight, rather than have all of her body weight hanging from her neck.

Once this is done, I begin the descent. Fortunately, we don�t need to go far until I can stash the queen in my own personal chamber near the top of the hill.

One inside, I lower her to the ground and release my mandibles.

The second I do, a titan-croc smacks me directly in the brain!

At least that�s how I feel. My mind rocks back and forth within my head as if it were a bell that had been struck by a hammer. Gritting my mandibles hard, I try to shake it off. What the heck was that?

BOOM!

Another one. My body physically recoils as if I�d actually been hit. Despite being disoriented, I can tell my body hasn�t been hit. Something is attacking my mind! Blackness threatens to overwhelm me, but I barely manage to hold on to consciousness.

It�ll take a hell of a lot more than that to put me down.

It�s pretty obvious who the culprit is. The queen is sitting on the dirt floor of my chamber, fingers placed on her temples as she stares daggers at me.

I will never yield to you!

The rage I felt at watching my mother crawl away on the edge of death explodes in my heart and burns away the dizziness. These damn humans have killed so many of us today, you want to try and take me out too?

Pouncing forward, I open my mandibles wide, threatening a fatal strike.

Before I can get close enough, my mind is struck once more. Not with a hammer, but a drill!

Pointed, insistent pressure batters at the walls of my mind, trying to tear down my defences and invade my thoughts. I have no idea what sort of attack this is, but I sure as hell don�t enjoy it. Dammit. If only my core wasn�t so tapped out, I might be able to push back with Mana in some way.

All I can do is stoke the fires of anger within me and use it as fuel to endure the pain. As the drilling pushes harder and harder against my mind, I push back just as hard, even as it intensifies the pain.

My vision has gone completely blank at this point, the pain in my mind is making everything white. I flip on my Mana Sense, hoping I might be able to make something out. To my surprise, I can. A glittering bridge-like magical construct has been formed between myself and the queen. The main difference being the part that touches me is less a friendly, welcoming path and more of a pointed needle.

Mind Magic!

I redouble my efforts to push back. Who knows what might happen if she succeeds in this attack. She might just kill me or she might take control of me. I have no idea what Mind Magic is capable of.

God, it hurts!

Our mental bout continues until I�m sure the torture will go on forever. My mind feels like it�s breaking apart at the edges.

Then, suddenly, the pressure evaporates.

My vision floods back and I�m shocked to see the human queen stumbling to one side, surprise written all over her face and a tiny ant latched onto her ankle!

Vibrant!

The queen was just as mentally invested in our contest as I was. With the sudden bite of Vibrant, she has completely lost her focus, freeing me from her mental assault.

I can�t waste this chance.

I leap, mandibles wide open, ready to deliver the fatal blow. I�d originally wanted to keep this queen alive. Firstly, reprisals. If her death was somehow pinned on us, or if people came following her trail, we could be in big trouble. At the very least, we would have to pick up and relocate the colony again, something I�d rather not do if I didn�t have to. Secondly, information. If I were to take this opportunity to try and develop my Mind Magic skills, I could communicate and exchange the safe return of this queen for information of this world and the surrounding area.

This is critical info for me. The knowledge I could harvest from one captive human about the surface society would be worth mountains of metaphorical gold. Learning about the locations of cities, the culture, about the Dungeon, magic, weapon skills, everything.

Information is king!

With an actual person to interrogate falling into my lap, I refuse to throw away the opportunity. Well, now that I know the queen can assault my mind directly, I�ll have to give up on it. Who knows what�s possible when you dominate another�s mind with magic? Not this ant!

Can�t take the chance! I�ll have to snip the neck zone and worry about the ramifications later. Perhaps there�s still a chance I could get some information from the captain up above. It�s unlikely he would want to share after his queen is trimmed, but it�ll be worth a shot.

[Hold, monster!] a desperate voice rings within my mind.

I freeze on the spot. My mandibles are mere inches away from the royal neck. It would take me a fraction of a second to complete the motion and bring my jaws together.

An uneasy pause.

We stare at each other, eye to compound eye. Flipping on my Mana Sense, the queen has managed to hastily construct a similar Mind Magic bridge to that which Formo the Sophos used to communicate with me. However, where Formo�s bridge was an immaculate golden lattice woven with exquisite, intricate care, this one looks like the technique used to darn socks. Rough!

I shouldn�t be too surprised, since she did manage to construct it under duress. Hopefully she managed to make it so that it works both ways. What the heck do I say though? This is a ruler, used to respect and deference. I should try not to be too rude. Then again, she did try to stab me in the brain with magic, it wouldn�t pay to be too polite.

[Speak or die!]

I think I struck the balance there quite well. Good going, Anthony!

Staring into the face of a terrifying Dungeon monster, the queen is managing to keep her equilibrium quite well, all things considered. With my words ringing in her mind, she seems a little taken aback and pale as she ponders her next words.

[How is it you can understand me?] she eventually asks, sounding completely bewildered.

What do you want me to say? That I was actually a human in the past? That I was reincarnated into this body and have been making the best of my new life as a monstrous ant?

[You tried to speak to me without knowing if I could reply?] I ask.

[When you were able to resist my mind blade, I thought it was strange that a monster would have such strong force of mind. When the alternative was having my head cut off, I thought attempting to communicate would cost me nothing.]

True enough. Perhaps most monsters wouldn�t have been able to fight off that Mind Magic attack. Not that I was able to fight it off completely, rather, I managed to not die until I was saved by Vibrant.

The little worker is currently still threateningly positioned near the queen�s ankles, clicking her mandibles savagely. Clearly she isn�t satisfied with this queen�s current state of not dead. I have to think of something else to say now. Dammit this hard. Try to stay polite!

[Why should I let you live?]

Nailed it!

The queen seems slightly taken aback by that statement. It takes her a few moments to reply.

[What is it that you want?]

Gah! More questions? I guess it seems reasonable she wouldn�t know exactly what a monstrous ant colony would want with a living human queen.

[You�ve attacked my family, injured my queen, and killed hundreds of my siblings. The first thing I want is an explanation for this invasion.]

Not sounding too pushy, I hope? Even in my last life, I found it a little difficult to talk to people. I think I�m managing to strike the right tone.

[My soldiers and I were fleeing the� city, nearby.] She points in the direction of the city I�d seen from the church. [We ran into your� siblings, by chance. At first there was only one, but the farther we pushed forward, the more there were.]

No need to remind me of the battle you started which resulted in so much ant death. If you�d backed away and gone in a different direction, we wouldn�t have this situation!

[They were defending their home and their family. For the crimes you have committed against us, we have executed all but two of you. Should you wish to survive and return to your people, along with your sole remaining soldier, you will cooperate and answer my questions.]

[What questions?]

Oh, I�ve got a heck of a lot of questions. From that moment, the interrogation continued for several long hours.

The energy in the village was electric.

The events of several nights ago, when Beyn led the villagers to heroically defend themselves from the feared monstrous ant invasion had stoked the fires within the villagers� hearts to unprecedented heights.

The story had grown and been embellished with every telling. From one ant, to five, to fifty! The villagers had weathered a storm of devious spells through the righteousness of their spirit. By the strength of their virtue and power of their arms, they were victorious. Just like the legendary first Dungeon delvers in the Time of Rending!

By the next day, the word had spread to the nearby villages and farming communities of the goings on in the town of Malgate. The Dungeon had opened within the Church of the Path. Monsters had emerged but not harmed the villagers. Surely this indicates the town was chosen for great things.

The Dungeon occupies a special place in the hearts of these townspeople. Outside of the cities and far from the entrances, most people have never set foot in that place. Aside from a few retired veterans and mercenaries, none had any firsthand experience at all. Dungeon monsters were things of myth and legend to them. More powerful than any creature on the surface, more ferocious, cunning and deadly. The riches that flowed out of the Dungeons were as rare to these farmers and shop owners as real gold and diamonds. Unheard of!

But now? To hear of an opening appearing within a small town on the outskirts of the capital? To hear of villagers battling and killing Dungeon creatures? Absorbing experience and gaining Levels, changing their fate. It was surely a gift of God! The god of the System!

The morning after the victory over the ants, the first pilgrims began to trickle into Malgate. By that night, there was a steady stream, filling the town to bursting, packing the inn. When there were no more beds available, they set up tents and slept under trees. Young, old, farmers and merchants, they arrived, dusty and tired, old weapons or farming tools over one shoulder and the light of belief shining in their eyes.

In the middle of it all was Beyn. The priest was indefatigable. Without sleep, without pause, he preached to the people. He never tired in his relentless energy. His gestures were fierce and his stride was long. His voice never faltered, endlessly powerful when he spoke, invigorating the crowd or exhorting smaller groups with the righteousness of the cause. As time passed, the respect in the eyes of the people gradually changed to something deeper and more fervent.

Through it all, the battle against the Dungeon monsters was never-ending. In ones and twos, they crawled out of the hole in the church like demons rising from hell. In battling the Dungeon monsters, the villagers were able to reap a rich harvest of experience. To them, the monsters were not demons but oven fresh meals! Dungeon monsters gave far more experience than the surface variety, giving the villagers a chance to raise their combat skills and change their class, an opportunity that was as rare as hens� teeth to people such as these.

�You don�t look that excited, Mrs Ruther. Is something worrying you?� the maid asked.

Enid Ruther turned to the young servant with a frown. The girl was pleasant enough, but a little on the dim side. Finding anyone better was probably impossible in Malgate.

Suddenly, Enid was struck by a thought. �That young chap you�ve been hanging around with lately, what was his name?�

Her young maid, Lilly, blushed and turned to the side. �Why, Mrs Ruther, what are you implying? There isn�t anything official between me and Burton.�

Enid rolled her eyes. What did she care for their trysts? �Has Burton been mixing with that bunch in front of the church?�

Immediately Lilly�s eyes glowed with admiration. �You mean the Dungeon�s Chosen?� she gushed.

�The what!� Enid burst out.

Lilly turned back to her mistress, face slack with shock. �You didn�t know? Father Beyn started preaching that name this morning and the villagers have all picked it up.�

Enid stared slack-jawed at her ditzy maid before rolling her eyes. A few villagers were now legendary Dungeon warriors? What would Derrion say if he were still alive?

Thinking of her deceased husband filled Enid�s heart with sorrow, as it always did. Leaving her still gushing maid behind, she walked to the other end of the reading room where a suit of armour was mounted on a decorative frame, a worn training sword pinned to polished wood framed on the wall behind it.

Derrion had always valued that training sword more than the expensive enchanted weapon he used when delving. When he�d retired from his career as a Dungeon Mercenary, it was this training blade he wanted placed in the most prominent position on the wall. He�d sold his combat blade.

Enid sighed. Those days had been the happiest of their lives. She had sold off her business in the city and they moved here to Derrion�s home town to open a market and live a quiet life. He�d passed away just five years later.

�What would you say to these people to make them listen?� she whispered to his armour. �They sure as heck won�t listen to an old woman like me.�

Derrion had been a powerful figure in his prime. Tirelessly, he�d practiced his blade techniques and raised his class to Expert Swordsman over the long years of delving. He commanded a premium price on expeditions.

When he spoke on matters concerning the Dungeon, nobody would dare say he was wrong.

Being married to a successful mercenary for so many years, how could Enid not have learned about the strength of Dungeon monsters? Her husband had never hidden anything from her, that was the mutual respect they had for each other. The danger he experienced, the terrible beasts he battled, she knew it all.

How could these villagers and farmers possibly have any idea of the horrors that dwelt in the world below? They may have heard the legends and stories from the old times, but that wasn�t worth a pinch of salt compared to hearing it from someone who�d seen it with their own eyes.

When those ants emerged from inside the church, she thought they were all dead for sure. Instead, they healed the injury to the priest�s hand and marched into the forest without even glancing at the terrified humans.

It defied belief. Even to Enid, who knew far more than most about the nature of the Dungeon, this behaviour had no explanation.

What she did know, however, was that if these fools in the village tried to fight against those ants, or delve deeper into the Dungeon, they would all be easily killed.

Enid wasn�t a bad person. She wanted to save her neighbours if she could, but the fervour in the eyes of the villagers deeply disturbed her. What would they do if she were to speak against their new belief?

She had no confidence they would listen to her. Married to a mercenary she might have been, but Enid was a merchant. Even if she had risen in class to Prosperous Merchant, what sway did that hold?

None.

Enid let her hand trail over the cuts and grooves carved into the toughened beast hide chest plate in front of her, evidence of uncountable battles beneath the ground.

In order to save as many lives as she could, she would have to attempt the impossible.

Nothing was happening and Vibrant was getting hungry. Since she�d snapped at the pink creature�s ankle, her senior and the creature had been very still, looking at each other for several torpors� worth of time.

The young ant worker could tell there was something happening, though she couldn�t say how she knew, or even what it was she did know. She simply felt that her powerful senior worker and the strange creature were engaged in some kind of exchange she had no way of participating in.

She was bored.

At first, she tried nipping at her senior, her mandibles scratching against the others� tough carapace, but there was no reaction. Not to mention the exercise probably hurt her face more than it hurt the other.

How did this ant get so strong!

Vibrant had always been able to sense it, even as a larva. This individual was different, special. She could feel a powerful vibe from the other, something that made her want to follow and learn.

However, that didn�t do much to alleviate the current situation. After deciding that nothing much was going to happen anytime soon, the little ant climbed up onto the senior�s back in order to commune with her fellow traveller.

As a creature without any sensory input other than touch, Crinis had no idea what was happening. Everything was still and quiet, there wasn�t any movement that she could sense, though her master was close by. In her growth stage, there wasn�t anything else the little creature could hope for.

Idly, the little monster tugged on the shining thread in her consciousness that connected her to the creature who created her. A constant sense of distance and position came to her through this thread, alerting her about wherever her master happened to be, as well as the occasional words when she was spoken to.

Crinis felt she could probably talk back, but so far hadn�t really felt any urge to. She�d been tempted a few times, but decided she didn�t have anything that important to say. At this stage of her life, it was only important to eat and grow so she could become useful.

Suddenly, the little monster felt a tugging on one of her tentacles.

What was it! Out of reflex, the jelly-like monster unfolded two more tentacles from her main body and lashed out. At her present stage of growth, this strike had almost no power behind it at all, depressing Crinis a little when she made contact but her opponent barely budged.

Vibrant was completely undeterred by this response. She�d worked out long ago that her blobby associate couldn�t recognise what was going on, so the worker continued to extend her leg to prod her companion, trying to get the little blob to stick onto her back.

Why? In Vibrant�s mind, the two monsters spent so much time in close proximity, they may as well continue to stick together. The human concept of friendship wouldn�t apply to monsters, they simply didn�t think that way, but comfort or companionship, these were things they were fully capable of feeling toward a monster not of their own kind.

Eventually, Crinis was able to work out who was annoying her and internally sighed. This pesky creature had interacted with Crinis before. The blob knew from experience this irritating creature wouldn�t leave her alone until she gave in. Crinis had no idea why the master tolerated this little pest to ride upon their person, but who was she to argue?

After several more minutes of insistent prodding, Vibrant was rewarded when the little blob reached out with its tentacles and gradually dragged itself onto her back.

Oof!

Vibrant was annoyed. Why was it that this blob was growing so quickly, but she�d remained small? Once again, the worker pondered the words of her wise senior about mutation. She had frequently heard a �voice� speaking to her when eating, and she roughly grasped the idea of Biomass and spending it. Her instincts prompted her to spend her Biomass in ways without her really thinking about it, and the senior�s words went against those instincts.

The little worker had yet to spend any points on mutation at all.

As more time passed, she was more and more interested in talking to the senior and asking questions. It probably wouldn�t be long until she went against her instincts and purchased an upgrade.

With her passenger in position, the duo set off, scrabbling up the internal shaft of the nest and out into the forest!

Vibrant was excited, but Crinis was far more subdued. After all, the blob monster had no concept of where they were. She was comforted, however, by the faint awareness of the other like her.

Similar to the link between herself and her master, but much weaker, she was able to faintly sense the other monster who shared the same kind of existence as her. Right now, that presence was close by.

Vibrant also naturally could see the huge monster who followed her senior around. Right now, he was sitting on top of a creature who looked somewhat similar to the one inside their chamber. The smaller, pinkish creature looked extremely uncomfortable being crushed by the much larger monster, but Vibrant didn�t have any sympathy. She even walked closer and snipped at the creature�s hand with her mandibles.

Take that!

The creature swiped at her with the hand, knocking her back, causing her to snap her mandibles angrily. The giant monster reached down with one hand and knocked the creature lying beneath it with one fist, causing it to grunt in pain.

Vibrant was delighted. Take that! She bounced back and forth a few times, still clacking her mandibles and aggressively waving her antennae. This creature needs to learn its place!

Crinis was disturbed by all the sudden movement and had to reach out with a few more tentacles to grip onto the shifting ant she was stuck to. What was this crazy thing doing?

Both of them were distracted at the same time by the alluring scent of Biomass.

Where was it?

Crinis was able to detect the presence of food through her skin. She extended a few tentacles and wiggled them furiously in the air, trying to pick up on a direction. She was hungry!

Vibrant noticed the giant monster was chomping on something he�d been holding in his other hand. Biomass!

Moving speedily, she climbed over the squashed creature�s face and up onto the monster until she was staring him right in the eye, pointing excitedly at the food in his hand.

It took the big monster a while to realise what these two irritants wanted. Eventually he realised and pointed toward the tree line, and Vibrant was off and racing!

It wasn�t long before she found piles of Biomass, a few workers picking over it and dragging it back to the colony.

Food!

Both monsters were incredibly excited. Crinis had cast aside her earlier reservations and was now fully prepared to leap off and eat. She practically hummed with anticipation.

Vibrant was only too happy to place her comrade down on the food, guiding with one slender antenna before she started to chow down herself.

[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Human. You are awarded one Biomass.]

[Basic profile of Human unlocked.]

Delicious!

The two small monsters continued to eat until they were full. Then Vibrant collected her associate and they wobbled their way back to the nest.

It took hours to interrogate this queen and the flow of new information left me staggering. Despite my pounding headache, I pushed forward with all my strength. Who knew what could happen in the future? This old lady might fall over from a heart attack, every ounce of knowledge must be extracted this very second.

By the end, the two of us were tired beyond words. Not quite willing to trust the words of this ant killer up front, I asked every question several times in different ways, attempting to catch her off guard. It�s true that when communicating using Mind Magic, at least in my limited experience, it�s possible to sense on a surface level the thoughts and feelings behind a person�s communication. However, the quality of the connection clearly plays a part.

Formo�s mind and honesty rang through like a clear bell as he spoke, no duplicity was hidden at all within his connection. The Mind Magic woven by this queen is far less clear, words and intentions becoming muddled or lost in translation, making me far more wary.

For her part, she seems to have answered everything faithfully to the best of her ability. It will be impossible to know if there are any mistruths mixed in until I get the chance to ask these questions of another individual.

Even with this being the case, I�ve been able to learn so much.

For starters, this queen�s own situation. This ruler is quite respected and admired amongst her people, so she says, and has been queen of this small kingdom of Liria for decades, over thirty years of peace and prosperity.

Supposedly there has been a coup brewing beneath the surface, something about profit, corrupt merchants, outside forces and exploitation, I didn�t really listen to this bit that carefully. The queen got wind of the situation and attempted to bait the plotters out into the open, underestimating their strength. Eventually her loyalists were defeated and she was forced to flee the city with her personal guard, moving at night before running into the colony.

I was fairly shocked at this point. This person is either not nearly as wise as they claim or just plain unlucky!

From there, she told me about the class-based Levelling system of the surface races, what knowledge she had on the other races that inhabit the surface�she�d never heard of elves unfortunately�and some history of the kingdom.

This kingdom is fairly young, less than two hundred years old. After being infested with monsters for a tremendously long time, only in relatively recent history had this area been purged�her words�and the monsters either defeated or driven into the Dungeon. Apparently this region is still considered underdeveloped and somewhat backward, a remote frontier of the surface world.

In fact, if we were to go south for a few days, we would pass into lands that hadn�t seen human occupation for thousands of years. Even now the people of this country battled to keep the monsters at bay, and occasionally they mounted campaigns to further push back the border.

At least there are somewhat strong monsters somewhere on the surface. I was beginning to think my surface cousins were completely useless.

Eventually I leave the queen alone in my chamber and wander off to try and digest what I�ve learned. The question that sticks out the most, is what am I supposed to do now? I�ve got the apparently beloved queen of the kingdom trapped inside my dirt chamber and the captain of her personal guard is�

Being sat on by my pet.

The poor fellow looks distinctly uncomfortable. Tiny has planted himself right on his back. Is that Crinis and Vibrant? The two little creatures are positioned curiously near the captain�s face. Vibrant appears to be attempting to snip him on the nose with her mandibles while Crinis is repeatedly slapping him on the head with tentacles for some reason.

When the heck did these two climb up here?

[�Stop mucking around you two!�] I say to both of them.

The two young monsters twitch in surprise, not having noticed my arrival. Crinis pulls the tentacles back to her main body and manages to give the impression of guilty silence despite being a featureless blob.

Vibrant doesn�t seem at all fussed and simply climbs happily back onto my head. With a mental sigh I collect Crinis onto my back and make sure Tiny knows not to kill his prisoner, as we still need him for the time being.

What to do?

Try to think it through, Anthony! What are the options?

I could kill the queen and the guard, forget any of this ever happened and move on with my life.

Rejected. I�m not so far removed from my former humanity that I�m comfortable with cold blooded human killing. Taking my revenge on the soldiers for the damage done to the colony was about my limit.

Not to mention the possibility of reprisals if we were to kill a queen loved by the masses and people were to find out about it.

I could take the queen and captain to the nearby town and dump them there. This idea honestly appeals to me quite a bit. I get to wash my hands of these humans and the colony can go back about its business. The problem is that no matter how benevolent the queen may seem, or how much she may promise not to seek reprisals against us in the future, I would have to relocate the colony completely, possibly back down in the Dungeon even, in order to ensure our safety.

This one is better but still not ideal.

The third option is my least favourite, and involves trying to keep the queen and captain with the colony semi long-term. We don�t kill them, but we don�t release them either.

I�m not really a fan of this plan. It leaves me open to mind stabbing at any moment! How could I expect two crafty humans to behave while being detained indefinitely?

My mind drifts back to the last thing the queen had to say. I�d disregarded it at first, but the more I think about how to move next, the more this idea keeps popping into my head.

[What do you want to do next?] I�d asked her.

She�d thought about it for a moment before responding firmly. [I want my city back. I refuse to hand the throne over to those motivated by greed and self-interest. I will attempt to rally the people around my banner and wage a campaign against the usurpers.]

That all sounds very aggressive.

[This is presuming I allow you to leave this place alive,] I point out.

I have to say my ability to stay smooth in communication is coming a long way!

[True,] the queen chuckled. [But you know, there isn�t anything for you to gain from killing me, but perhaps much to gain by keeping me alive. Tell me, what is it that you want? Perhaps there is something I can offer you?]

Hmmm. How about two hundred of my fellow workers back to life, eh?

I wouldn�t get anywhere throwing that in her face.

[Biomass, experience, monster cores. These are the only things the colony requires,] I told her.

She thought about it. [Well, I�m not prepared to offer you the flesh of my people, I hope you understand. The only way I could give you experience is to let you kill us, which I am also unwilling to offer, but monster cores I can certainly give you.]

That perked up my interest. I really don�t know how many cores I should ask for though. What would be appropriate? I had to ask her to give me a figure, nicely of course.

[How many cores is your life worth?]

She shook her head with a wry smile. [The question I think you should ask, monster, is how many cores is my kingdom worth? Would you be willing to help me? For a price, of course.]

One of the things I learned from the human queen is the value of monster cores to their society. They use them for enchantments, magical engineering, powerful weapons, armour, training magicians, jewellery and more. Cores are an integral part of industry on the surface, their ability to absorb Mana from the atmosphere and then channel it cannot be replicated. In wealthy circles, cores could even be considered a separate form of currency, valuable everywhere civilised enough to conduct trade.

I was also disturbed to learn of the market for monster body parts, using hides, shells, claws and even organs to make equipment, potions and even building materials. The queen�s throne room is buttressed by columns carved from several massive spines extracted from the monsters who dominated this region before their deaths.

Hearing about the incredible value attached to the body parts of my own kind made me somewhat queasy. Though I do have to admit my Diamond Carapace would make a fairly cracking set of armour�

Don�t think about it, Anthony! Just because you�re a monster doesn�t mean you�re going to wind up with your head mounted on some wall, your core hung around a duchess� neck and your carapace turned into a truly sweet set of defensive gear. They might get the Anjanath, but not this ant!

That shall not be the fate of me or my colony!

If anything, the conversation with the queen emphasised again and again the danger of the surface people to me and my family. Truly, humanity is the real monster. I�m super reluctant to enter into any sort of deal with this kingdom. Packing up the colony and rushing into monster territory sounds like the safest and best place for us ants to go.

But� the wealth!

So� many� CORES.

I could pump the cores of all of my pets and myself to max, special cores included. I could even do the same for the queen! I could grind my Core Engineering to the next Level, easy.

Hundreds of cores are on the table here. Not two or three, hundreds!

It�s almost certainly a trick in some way.

The queen has no options available to her, that much is clear, but would a wise and savvy queen really be prepared to hand a portion of her nation�s wealth to a marauding band of monsters?

Unlikely.

Is it really a betrayal if you know it�s coming? Just because she�ll turn on me at some point doesn�t mean I won�t be able to extract value. Is it risky? For sure. The reward, though� My mandibles are twitching as I ponder that sweet, sweet largesse!

I need to control myself. Better go check on the real queen.

Leaving Tiny to enjoy his new seat, I scuttle over to the farm and head down to check things out. What meets me at the bottom is a veritable seething mass of ants. Workers are climbing all over each other in a huge pile, those on the outside twitch their antennae and constantly bare their mandibles at the surrounding walls, daring any monster to poke its head out.

Here and there are separate, smaller masses of ants, and just when I�m wondering what is going on I see a few workers break off from their smaller groups and walk back to the main mass with chunks of fresh Biomass in their mandibles.

Clearly the workers are piling onto every monster the second it comes out of the walls, ripping them apart in their desperation to ensure the queen isn�t threatened.

The problem I have is, how am I supposed to talk to the queen when she is literally buried beneath a protective layer of her own children?

I know I said to keep her safe, but holy heck, fam! You�ve really gone all out.

Descending into the farm, it becomes clear the workers have even made a carpet layer underneath the queen, squashing their bodies to keep a vigilant eye on the ground. If a monster were to burst out of the soil, these workers would rather place their own bodies between its ravenous claws and their queen.

There isn�t anything for me to do except push my way through the workers until I manage to come face to face with the queen.

Even Vibrant displays some concern when she comes before her mother. The little ant sits up on my head and tries to sense her parent�s condition with her antennae.

�How are you doing, mother?� I ask anxiously.

Her antennae twitch as she detects my words and she slowly shifts her head until she spots me amongst the throng.

�I am� better,� she replies.

Her voice sounds less thin than it did, some of its warmth has returned, as well as a little of her vigour. Flicking on my Mana Sense, her core is more energetic, no longer stuttering like a candle about to be blown out.

�Is it the Dungeon?� I ask hesitantly. �Do you need to absorb more Mana?�

The queen looks at me blankly for a moment.

�I do not know, child.�

I�m getting a sinking feeling that I�m right though. It�s possible that monsters with advanced cores, like the queen, need to have constant exposure to concentrated Mana in order to survive.

So ever since we came to the surface, the queen has been gradually leaking strength? Growing weaker every passing day? And of course she doesn�t say anything, she�s too damn selfless!

If they could, my eyes would be tearing up. This is the sacrifice a real queen makes. No schemes here, just loyal service. Not a kingdom, a family!

�Have you been able to cast any healing spells on yourself?�

She waggles her antennae in an ant nod. �My injuries are somewhat better.�

�When you feel that you can, you should cast it again to make sure you heal quickly,� I urge her. �And eat plenty! It will speed up the healing.�

She once again waggles her antennae to nod. I can faintly sense some amusement radiating off her tired frame, being fussed over by her children instead of the�in her mind�proper state of her fussing over us.

Satisfied the queen is on the mend, I climb back out of the farm, letting the workforce do its thing. My mind is buzzing with thoughts and not all of them are pleasant.

I have to bear some responsibility for this situation. I couldn�t have known the queen would suffer in this way when we came to the surface, but the fact remains we�re here because of me. I also can�t help a little self-recrimination. If I�d been a little more attentive to the queen and less focused on my own growth, maybe I�d have noticed she was weakening.

Logically I know it isn�t my fault. The thoughts are just hard to dismiss.

Returning to the ant hill, lost in my own head, I�m knocked out of my thoughts by a bustle amongst the workers on one side of the hill.

What the heck is happening now!

Unbelievably, an old woman is walking slowly but purposefully out of the tree line and into the clearing, hands raised above her head and a determined expression on her face.

What.

The.

Hell!

Is this some form of ritual suicide now? Offering oneself up as Biomass for monsters? Or have the people decided to cast off their elderly as a sacrifice to appease the mighty ant kingdom? The older people are the scrawniest among you. If you want to offer Biomass, then at least throw in some fatties!

Wait! What am I thinking�?

Seeing some workers descending toward this person, ready to defend the hill, I rush down to head them off. There�s something about this old woman that�s making my antennae twitch. The way she has approached, so deliberately and with her hands in the air. It�s clear she came here to find the colony, otherwise she would have run away at the first sign of us. Raising her hands in the air is the classic sign of intending no harm, though how she expects a colony of monsters to know that is beyond me.

The question remains, what does this human want to find and approach us for? Try as I might, I can�t come up with anything at all.

As she sees me approach and warn away the approaching workers, she breathes a sigh of relief and her manner becomes a little excited. She was looking for me? Does she recognise me? Perhaps she saw me in the church� I don�t remember her being there but I didn�t spend a whole lot of time taking in the crowd.

Her face does seem vaguely familiar though.

When I draw near and stop, the old woman also ceases her steps but keeps her hands in the air.

I stand still and watch patiently.

Taking a deep breath, the lady seems to settle her nerves before she squares up to me and then� begins speaking.

I� can�t understand you, lady! Can�t you use Mind Magic or something?

For several minutes the lady attempts to speak to me, earnestly pleading about something or other, gesturing passionately with her hands, pointing at the colony, pointing back toward the town.

You really came here to talk to a colony of monsters? As in, just talk with your mouth? Internally I�m shaking my head at this crazy behaviour. If I wasn�t a reborn human, this lady would have been ripped to shreds and eaten without getting her message across at all.

Thankfully, I have a way we get around this.

Interrupting the monologue, I walk closer, frightening the old woman with my sudden movement. She leaps back in fear, thrusting her hands high in the air.

I�m not going to eat you. Sheesh! People these days�

I move to her side and use my antennae to tap the back of my carapace. She seems confused at first, so I repeat the gesture. Understanding dawns on her face and she resolutely places her hands in front of her and waves them back and forth. �No thanks!�

You don�t really have any options here, lady.

A little more insistently, I poke the old woman with my antennae and then pat my back. When she doesn�t immediately move, I repeat the gesture even more forcefully.

She gets the picture this time. I�ll keep going until she cooperates, so she may as well.

Reluctance written all over her face, she approaches my side and starts in fright when I lower my body down so she can climb on. At the last moment, I remember to extend an antenna back for Crinis to grab and shift the little blob up to my head next to Vibrant, who chitters at my pet, unhappy with her space being cramped. Crinis simply waves a few tentacles around until she manages to thwap the ant on the head before settling in on her new real estate.

Once my new captive�I mean, guest, has been secured, I head over to the ant hill, climb up the side and then descend into the main shaft. Worried the old woman will fall as we start our vertical journey, I make sure to tilt my body as much as possible and extend an antenna for her to grip, two courtesies I neglected to offer the queen.

I stop near the entrance to my chamber and prod the human until she climbs off and then I follow in behind her.

I�m a little curious as to how this is going to play out.

When the old woman enters my chamber and sees who�s inside, she goes completely still with shock, seemingly not believing the evidence of her own eyes. It�s a fair response really, you wouldn�t expect to find your queen inside a giant ant hill normally.

The old woman speaks hesitantly and reaches out with a trembling hand toward my prisoner who speaks warmly to our new guest and clasps the old woman�s hands between her own. Having her hands gripped by her queen seems to overwhelm my new guest and she falls to her knees and lowers her head in respect before the protesting queen who tries to raise her up.

Maybe she is as respected as she claims? Or maybe people just fear royalty in general in this socially primitive world.

Waving my antennae above my head to get the queen�s attention, I point to the old woman�s head and then at my own, repeating the gesture a few times until the queen manages to take my meaning.

I want you to connect this person and me with Mind Magic so we can talk.

The queen nods to say she understands but then shakes her head.

What the heck�

She frowns for a minute before I feel the familiar and crude touch of her mind on mine.

[I lack the skill to form a bridge between two individuals in this way. Connecting others is ten times as hard as connecting oneself. If you like, I can speak to this citizen and then communicate her words to you.]

I ponder this. At least I�ll get the message, but I�m a little cautious the queen might omit some details. Trust between human and monster can�t be built so easily.

[Have her speak her story to me and translate in real time. If I believe information has been kept from me you both will be eaten,] I state.

The queen looks somewhat angered by my demand. [I am not used to having my honour questioned in this way, monster,] she says forcefully.

Ok? But what does that have to do with me!

[I care not. Relay my instructions.]

A queen you may be, but my queen is a giant ant, and her subjects are literally her own children. What exactly do you think we owe you?

Shaking my head internally I turn my head toward my new guest and wait for her to start speaking. Once the queen has passed on my instructions the old lady curtsies surprisingly gracefully toward her ruler and begins to speak. Shortly after, a steady stream of translation echoes in my head.

[This citizen of my kingdom is named Enid Ruther, a merchant from the nearby town of Malgate. She was witness to your arrival in the town�s church over a week ago and has grown concerned over the behaviour and ideas gripping the people since that time. The local priest has whipped the townsfolk into a frenzy, leading them to fight against the Dungeon monsters and even�but that�s suicide!] The queen breaks off her translation to shout in my mind.

She rapidly speaks verbally to Enid, shock written all over her face, the former replies firmly and the queen just shakes her head, looking appalled.

I reach out with an antenna and tap the queen on the head. Oi, translate.

[I apologise, I was so shocked. The priest even spurred the townsfolk to descend into the Dungeon and do battle there yesterday. Several people were killed and hailed as martyrs.] Her emotions bleed through as she speaks, regret and anger at this foolish waste of life.

[Enid fears the villagers will soon raise arms and attempt to invade the forest to hunt down your colony, believing you to be a sacrifice offered up by the Dungeon for their own enrichment and glory.]

Even she seems stunned by the stupidity of it. I personally have no idea what to say. A tribute? Are these people all right in the head? Tribute your grandfather!

[Enid�s husband was an experienced Dungeon explorer, and she knows that intelligent monsters capable of communication exist in the depths. When she saw you spare the priest and even heal his arm, she was convinced you were a highly evolved species and hoped to reason with you to spare the villagers� lives. She knew it was a faint hope and she would likely be killed, but she could think of no other option to prevent meaningless killing.] The queen is getting a little choked up listening to these brave citizen�s sense of duty.

For my part, I�m still stunned by the whole sacrificial offering thing�

Just how badly do these people want to get eaten!

I�m no longer human, I get that, but coming from my world, I understand things like the sanctity of life. Even with those soldiers that were killed by Tiny. Justified as I felt ordering their deaths due to the massacre of my family, my stomach still twists thinking about whether those soldiers had families�children, wives, parents.

Mindless killing serves no purpose. These villagers may be misled, or just incredibly dumb, but I don�t especially feel the need to massacre them because of it. They aren�t a threat after all. I could probably fight a village full of farmers by myself.

Almost as if they could sense my thoughts, Enid and the queen turn to me to plead for the lives of their associates.

[These villagers are misguided, monster, there is nothing to gain from their deaths. Won�t you spare them?]

Well, I have no intention of killing them, but that statement isn�t technically correct.

[The colony would gain Biomass and experience. Hundreds of workers have died recently, our numbers need to be replenished,] I point out.

It�s not like we would gain nothing, right?

The queen�s face falls and so does Enid�s when my words are relayed to her. Enid looks even more despondent when she questions the queen and her ruler replies. I think she�s explaining how my colony ended up losing hundreds of members. More specifically, how I lost hundreds of my siblings.

Grrrr.

Feeling crushed, the old lady falls to her knees and pleads with me, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. The queen looks deeply moved and also kneels to plead with me.

[Enid begs you to spare the townspeople, they are ignorant but not malicious. She offers you her own flesh as payment. I too am prepared to offer my life in exchange. It is the duty of a ruler after all!]

Yikes, these two sure are keen on saving a pack of morons.

Still, having humans bow down before my magnificence is refreshing, empowering even! Royalty, forced to beg me for favour is something I couldn�t have dreamed of happening in my last life. What is this feeling swelling from within? Superiority? Power? Yes, you puny humans, kneel, beg! If you wish for this great one to spare your pitiful friends, then you must grovel.

Muahahahahaaaaa!

Wait! These are the words of Dark Anthony. Down, Dark Anthony! Down, you fiend! Back to the void from which you came.

I mentally shake myself free of the influence of the dark one. I mustn�t allow myself to fall down the black path, I�ll end up being some cartoonish supervillain who�ll no doubt be killed in the midst of scheming for world domination or some such.

I have no intention of massacring these villagers, but if I can extract maximum value from the queen and protect the colony at the same time� I totally will!

[There is no failing greater than ignorance. If you wish for me to spare these people, as well as to assist you in reclaiming your city, then you will need to be prepared to make fair exchange.]

Yes, I�m preparing to try and make a deal here. If I can keep the colony out of it and only expose myself to the risk, then I�m prepared to take it on in order to get those cores. With so many of the precious gems in my mandibles, I�ll be able to strengthen my entourage to the point where we will be invincible in the top layer of the Dungeon. We could secure the colony for ages, as well as accelerate the timetable for my most ambitious core modification project.

The queen seems to sense that I�m leaning toward making an agreement. Her eyes narrow as her expression turns thoughtful. To spare the townspeople she will need to turn their fervour to a less suicidal cause. These people are afire with religious zealotry, simply saying �no� won�t be sufficient to turn them from their cause. She also needs to somehow return to the city and secure her throne.

We start discussing ideas and eventually hash out a plan. I�m not particularly a great fan of it, but I think it will work.

Just� why do I always have to get hit right in the dignity�

Two days later, the preparations are nearly complete. The true queen has almost fully recovered from her wounds and continues to rest inside the farm, defended by her loyal workers. A small taskforce and I have spent the majority of our time working toward the success of our plan. Tiny has mostly been sitting on the Queen�s Guard captain and eating. The queen herself spends her time with Enid, hashing out the details of what will happen in the town and after that.

When everything is in readiness, I finalise my plans, leaving Vibrant and Crinis behind, making sure they have clear instructions to stick with Tiny and not get into trouble, before collecting the queen and Enid, and departing toward the town of Malgate.

When we finally arrive, we�re treated to a surprising sight. The town has become flooded with angry looking farmers, the crowd leading up the small hill to the church doors is easily ten times the size it was the last time I was here. There must be hundreds of these morons. Maybe over a thousand! Where did they find all of this stupid?

The pyre is still burning, even now in the early morning light. The charred remains of various monsters are scattered around the base of the roaring flames, causing me to wince. Such a waste. The priest is still there, standing before the energetic throng, his frenzied voice rising above the buzz of the people and reaching us even from the edge of the woods. This guy has some serious pipes on him. Good to know he has skills that don�t rely on having two arms. Since� you know.

Mentally bracing myself, I leave the shelter of the tree line and cross the fields, drawing ever closer to the town. I make no attempt to hide myself this time, sneaking up isn�t part of the plan. Thanks to our setup, the crowd shouldn�t attack me, but if they do, I�m prepared to make like a tree and leaf at a moment�s notice. This ant knows not to overstay his welcome!

As we draw closer, the tension in my chest grows tighter. Being this close to so many humans, totally exposed, is super nerve wracking!

When the first person notices us, I physically flinch. A bearded man near the rear of the crowd, brandishing a pitchfork, catches a glimpse of us and his jaw falls completely slack at what he sees.

After a few moments, he musters enough awareness to call out and point. Gradually, more and more people turn, disregarding the soaring voice of the priest to witness the incredible sight approaching openly and unhurriedly across the fields.

Like a ripple through a pond, the whispers and calls spread through the crowd until, when I�m only ten metres away from the nearest person, the entire crowd has its eyes on me. People at the far side have stood on rocks and gone on their toes to try and catch a glimpse of the remarkable sight.

Eventually, even the priest notices his faithful have turned their attention elsewhere. His voice falters and fades until he too notices the focus of the crowd. He falls completely silent, his voice stuck in his throat and eyes boggling at the sight.

My heart is pounding at this point. I watch the crowd through every one of my compound eyes, but nobody�s moving. Their attention doesn�t seem to be on me really, not even on Enid, their fellow townsperson walking by my side. They seem more interested in what�s on my back.

Before the stunned crowd of her subjects, the human queen rises to her feet, standing on my glittering Diamond Carapace, and spreads her arms toward the crowd before declaring with a sonorous voice, repeating the words to me at the same time, [�Loyal and blessed people of Liria! There is evil stalking our nation, threatening our peace and committing foul deeds within the Dungeon, stirring it against us. We have been chosen, you and I, by the System itself! Graced by the presence of its holy messenger from below, to restore the balance.�]

The queen�s powerful voice and imperious manner puts even the priest to shame. The people are visibly impacted by the force of her person.

Just in case, I brace myself to run. This had better work!

This human queen has achieved the class of [Royalty]. Once the restrictions have been met, a person can set their class to this one. The restrictions in this case are fairly self-explanatory. First, one must be royalty, second, that�s it.

Humans and the other intelligent species on the surface all use a class-based system as opposed to the evolution process the monsters go through. Each class gives unique stat bonuses, unlocks specific skills and can even be Levelled up in different ways. A [Merchant] can Level up through trading and making money, whilst a [Farmer] Levels up from growing crops. As long as the prerequisites are met, a person can change their class to whatever they want, but most of the best classes are difficult to attain.

For example, to become a swordsman, a person must meet the minimum physical stat requirements, as well as achieve a certain level of skill with a weapon. This means hard physical training, lessons in weaponry and experience battling monsters are necessary to make the jump from [villager] to a base fighter class like [Swordsman]. For an ordinary person to aspire to the even more powerful classes, like [Apprentice Mage] or [Soldier]? Difficult.

The queen, given her class bonuses, enjoys incredibly high Levels of oratory skill and persuasiveness. Apparently, she Levels up by inspiring her citizens and making the kingdom prosperous. Every year she spends four months touring her kingdom in order to give speeches to the common folk, visiting every town and village within her borders at least once every two years.

I hadn�t quite believed her when she said the people would recognise her on sight, but with the evidence, I have to say she was right. Her punishing schedule has also allowed her to push her class Level extremely high. According to her, she is fairly useless in combat, but when it comes to governance and speeches, her abilities really shine.

Looking at the stunned faces before me, I have to agree. Her powerful words are already beginning to sway the people to our side.

The priest is too stunned by these revelations to properly react. The people in the crowd have listened to his tireless exhortations for days now, in their minds anointing him as their spiritual leader. Now their actual leader, the monarch they have lived under for decades, is here before them telling them something different.

Don�t kill the ants?

Let the ants assist against a different foe?

Too confusing!

At this point, Enid steps forward to lend her voice to that of the queen. Thankfully the Mind Magic connection is still active, and the queen passes on the gist of what is being said to me.

[�Her majesty speaks truly! I went into the woods a few days ago and found her majesty living amongst these monsters as they supported her to protect our kingdom.�]

The queen once again spoke regally. [�These monsters have been delivered to us to safeguard our nation from that which currently threatens it. You are the chosen people to assist in this crusade. Will you answer the call? Will you help us?�]

On those final words, the force of her presence becomes overwhelming. Before they even realise, the people nearby have fallen to their knees in respect. When the first few fall, the rest are like toppling dominoes.

The priest is the last to be on his feet. Bleary eyed, he stumbles through the crowd as if in a dream, his eyes feverishly locked upon me the entire time. As he draws nearer, I start to wonder if I need to book it. Even if such an action means the queen would fall flat on her face and ruin this moment. This crazy guy already smacked me in the head once, is he going to go nuts on me again?

Eventually, the maddened priest is standing right before me, clutching at the stump of his lost arm. Just when I think he�s about to leap forward and try to do something weird, like eat me, he begins to tremble and falls to his knees, openly weeping and crying out in a great voice.

Sounding somewhat stunned, the queen passes on what he says.

[Oh, Great One, I have sinned against the messenger of the System! Forgive me for striking you so foolishly and failing to acknowledge your message of salvation!]

Oooookaaaaay?

I was relieved the queen didn�t secretly sic the people on me. As we agreed, she and I remained close to each other moving into the next phase of the plan.

With the people pacified, and at the same time their ire directed against her enemies, the queen wants to turn her attention to her most potent and loyal forces. She�d �cleverly� deployed them into the Dungeon to assist other troops in a ploy to make herself appear weakened and lure those who had been working to destabilise her rule into open rebellion. Too bad they had more backing than she�d foreseen, and with the soldiers she had left, she had been soundly defeated.

She�d even kept her guard in the dark, because they would refuse to leave her so vulnerable had they known about it. Even now, those poor suckers are stuck in the top level of the Dungeon stabbing centipedes in the face, while the queen they swore to defend was forced to flee the city.

Honestly, all of these people are so stupid, it pains me to be near them. Keep those precious cores in your mind, Anthony! You�ll walk out of here rich and leave these morons to their own devices.

The way the people in Malgate react to me is a little unnerving to say the least. As I pass by, they carefully back away, making sure not to obstruct my path, many even bowing respectfully. All of these displays of subservience are stirring Dark Anthony! Just ignore me, people! I�m honestly happier sliding into the background.

It doesn�t matter though. At my size, it�s getting hard to hide. I�m already the height and length of a desk, basically. If I continue to evolve, am I going to end up car sized? Bus sized! Yikes. Regardless, as I move about with the queen, people are easily able to find me and continue to show their respect throughout the day.

The queen speaks to people one-on-one, in small groups and addresses large crowds. Everywhere she goes, the reaction is favourable, and those prepared to go and fight are quick to prepare, packing supplies, clutching their crude blades and strapping into worn leather armour that probably belonged to a relative who fought in a war three generations ago by the look of it.

Even the priest is fully pumped up for this. He spends most of his time following along behind me, eulogising my status as a holy messenger at the top of lungs. I had the queen tell me what he was saying, but forced her to stop about two sentences in. So embarrassing!

It�s all for the money.

Another day passes, and the people are prepared. They depart the village for the forest, marching together in a spirited column. About an hour from the village, just inside the edge of the woods, we find evidence of ant activity. This is where myself and a dedicated team have been labouring away in preparation!

How is the queen going to unite with her soldiers in the Dungeon without getting into the city and putting herself at risk? What task could only a dedicated army of earth shifting experts take on? The answer is ALWAYS more tunnels!

Heaped, loose soil is everywhere throughout this area. We had to dump it somewhere that couldn�t be seen from the walls. The footprints of ants pockmark the forest floor, but not a single worker can be found. As the column comes to the opening of the tunnel in the ground, the queen gathers everyone and explains what has been done. When she�s finished, the crowd�s respectful eyes blaze with renewed fervour as they look at me, and as one, they bow.

Down, Dark One! These are not our slaves!

A little thanks for the hard work of digging is appreciated though. Making the tunnel took a long time, since humans would need to be able to travel through it somewhat comfortably, and they�re a lot taller than ants. Even Tiny can move lower than them since he�s almost designed to lean forward as he walks, weight on his knuckles. It�s a rare moment when the ape actually stretches to his not insignificant full height.

The tunnel is damn long and had to push fairly deep underground to ensure it wouldn�t collapse. I don�t know what strange physics governs tunnels in this world, but they sure manage to hold up better than I expect them to. Perhaps it�s the Excavation skill at work that helps to avoid areas that might change the structural integrity. Maybe this world is fundamentally built to support underground spaces. The Dungeon exists here after all. Even the Forest Expanse we were in defies my understanding of what was possible on Earth.

We come to the final stretch of tunnel, and according to my Tunnel Map, we�ve connected to the side of the pool cavern I first explored shortly after hatching. I made sure the workers didn�t complete the tunnel, since the soldiers on the other side would have surely killed them on sight. I wanted to dig the final few feet for myself and then push the queen through first so she could explain the situation.

After shovelling away the last of the dirt, the very moment the final bit crumbles away to reveal an opening, I hastily back away and place myself behind the queen, leaning against the left side of the tunnel, trying to be inconspicuous.

Her face pinched with distaste the queen steps forward to push away the last of the dirt, widening the opening until she is able to squeeze herself through. On the other side raised shouts echo and the queen�s calming words quiet them. After a short while, the queen pokes her head through the tunnel wall and invites us forward.

I allow the townsfolk who accompanied us to go first. Fortunately, the tunnel is a little wider here and there is space for them to funnel past me. Once the last person has left our small connecting tunnel, it�s finally my turn.

Hesitantly, I approach the opening and poke one leg out. When nothing happens, I withdraw the leg and ease my head through. It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the bright Mana infused light of the Dungeon. As the light washes over me, a comforting feeling surrounds me. Perhaps I�m slightly crazy, but coming back to the Dungeon feels a little like coming home. Particularly to this familiar place. I was born just near here.

The townsfolks are gathered around the opening, and as I emerge amongst them, my six legs taking purchase on the firm Dungeon walls, they make space for me, staying close but giving me room at the same time.

At the forefront is the priest, Beyn. Wherever I go, this guy is never far away. My very own human shaped pain in the gaster.

Beyond the villagers is a troop of fierce and worn looking soldier types. Their gilded armour and fine blades are quite familiar to me, as those are the same weapons that were turned on my colony. These must be the Queen�s Guard.

She�s amongst them now, speaking quietly. They listen intently, rage clear on their faces.

She must be explaining exactly what�s happened while they�ve been down here. I step forward slowly, warily watching the soldiers as I move. They don�t seem hostile, their anger and frustration appears to be directed more at the surface than toward me. Most of them don�t spare me a glance.

All right� so far things are going ok.

After taking some time to inform her troops and get them planning the offensive, the queen walks toward me and resumes our communication.

[My Guards will need some time to digest this news and plan the next phase. I think we should allow the villagers a time of rest. They can gather on this side of the pool and eat. In five or so hours, we�ll be ready to advance.]

[Very well. I�ll stay on this side then. Alert me when you�re ready.]

As part of the agreement, I�m to be part of the forces to assault the surface. In order to secure my reward, I�ll need to liberate the castle anyway. Hard to get to the treasury without first kicking out the rebels. Since the queen had witnessed my prowess in battle personally, she was quite insistent I be part of the attack. She also wanted Tiny to join us, not surprising after the display he put on, but I flatly refused. I was prepared to tag along myself, but no way Tiny was coming too. He has other stuff I need him to do.

Returning to the tunnel entrance, I settle down and prepare to rest, surrounded by my devout followers.

I took a long rest, being careful that I didn�t slip into torpor. It would be a little too risky to nap here with the queen once more amongst her soldiers. After four hours, she approached me to re-establish the mind bridge.

She�d informed me Mind Magic is fairly common amongst diplomats, governors and rulers. Although most smaller states, such as this one, are usually unable to find someone gifted enough in this esoteric branch of magic to serve as their liaison, in this instance, the queen herself was moderately talented. Having someone capable of unlimited cross species communication was yet another factor that helped this country punch above its weight.

I�m not shocked they can�t find many people to learn this magic. The transformation is incredibly hard, even relative to other transformations that are already mind-bending puzzles in their own right. I�ve continued my practice, but progress is slow. The day I can weave a dazzling mind bridge thousands of metres long like Formo, is a long way off.

Once communication is established, the queen informs me her soldiers are ready and the time to assault the surface is fast approaching.

[Just outside the entrance is a Legion fortress that has been mostly abandoned. There is a moderate presence of my soldiers posted around the opening. We just changed the guard so they know we are coming. Inside the fort, a small force of mercenaries has been placed, probably to watch the entrance for movements from my people. Once we leave the entrance, they will communicate our actions to the rest of their force.]

She was quite cagey about these �Legion� people when I interrogated her. I still know very little about them, but by what she divulged, I�ve seen some of them before.

[So, we need to move fast and aggressively. How far is it to your castle?]

[Around two kilometres. The castle is positioned defensively on a slope. We need to breach the gates quickly, otherwise we risk getting locked out and surrounded. Even with the villagers to swell our numbers, we�re outmatched in a direct confrontation. If we can sweep into the castle and block the gate against the troops held outside, we�ll only have to deal with those mercenary forces who are inside the castle.]

[Do you have a plan for the gate?]

She hesitates a moment. [We�re still working on it.]

[I�ll take care of it,] I say.

If I knock politely with a Gravity Bomb, I�m sure the door will open for me.

Gwehehehehe.

With our plans laid, I gingerly walk with the queen to the vanguard of her soldiers as they prepare to move out. Monsters are still spawning out of the walls here, but the soldiers are clearly of a higher Level, able to dispatch these weaker beasts with ease.

Together, with myself in the vanguard and my attendant priest behind me, we begin to march up the tunnel to the entrance. It isn�t far from the pool before the familiar landmarks begin to stir my memories. Ah, here is the staircase that leads downward. And the torches that were lit when I was nearly chased to death. There�s the side passage where I narrowly dodged an arrow and lured some centipedes to their death!

Memories�

Seriously, how desperate for human contact was I at that point? I became totally divorced from my senses. Now I have a family and followers of my own, I don�t feel as lonely anymore. Not to mention I�ve had a belly full of interacting with humans. Nothing but headaches.

Gradually we approach the rising slope and walk past the inbuilt walls where I glimpsed my first humans. Each wall is its own little guard station, with an enclosed space inside with tables and chairs. Each one has a Queen�s Guard stationed there.

The walls become thicker and more frequent the closer we get to the top, the stairs more defined as well. Eventually, the stairs widen and a bright opening is revealed in front of me. The surface. Like ascending from a basement, we climb the stairs and emerge into the light.

I don�t wait for my eyes to adjust, but charge forward, my six legs scrambling to accelerate ahead of the rest of the pack. When my blurred vision finally settles back to normal, I�m inside a ringed wall that surrounds the Dungeon entrance. A portcullis is cut into the wall and the gate is thankfully up. I keep charging at the gate as I hear frantic shouts from above. Soon after, the pounding of feet on stone and a great roar erupt from behind as the soldiers pour out of the Dungeon entrance, followed by the villagers.

The gate twitches and begins to fall as someone frantically tries to wind it down before I can reach the opening, but I�m having none of it!

Anti-Gravity Bolt!

The magic I�d prepared blasts through the air and strikes against the metal gate with precision. No matter how hard the people above try, they can�t push it down. It continues to rise, straining against the joints holding it in place, trying to rise into the sky.

Gleefully, I charge through the gap and out of the ring wall. I sense heat! Ahead of me, to my left and right, there are stairs from the upper level, multiple sources are rushing down to block my path.

Come to me!

When the first soldier leaps down the last few steps valiantly brandishing his sword, he suddenly feels an immense pull, a force that defies the laws of physics.

YOINK!

Using my Gravity Infused Mandibles, I grab the first soldier out of the air and he flies toward me.

Shattering Bite!

CRUNCH!

Caught completely by surprise and defenceless, the soldier is completely unable to resist my Shattering Bite. His flimsy armour is shredded by my jaws and my mandibles bite into him.

Still alive? Have another!

Indeed, most humans are able to resist one or two bites. They�re wearing monster-material-based equipment and have a few Levels pumped into them. I�ll use this as an opportunity to train my Piercing Chomp!

Chomp!

Chomp!

[You have defeated a Level 23 Scout]

[You have gained XP.]

Excellent.

This guy didn�t have much in the way of Levels after all. The humans Level resets in some specific class changes, but for most normal cases, their Level simply increases linearly over their lifetime. A Level of twenty-three is quite low from what the queen told me. This dude must have been recently recruited.

His comrades charge down the stairs and into view just in time to see their friend being bitten to death. Imagining what this scene must look like from their perspective, it would be pretty horrifying, right?

Your friend vanishes before your eyes and you leap forward to find a giant ant the size of a table, dazzling, glittering armour and impressive, large eyes, biting on your friend with long jagged mandibles. Gruesome.

They recoil in fear, giving me an opening to�

YOINK!

Get over here.

Shattering Bite!

CRUNCH!

Once more, I pull an unsuspecting soldier to me and the others are terrified all over again as one of their number is pulled from his feet by an invisible force and shot toward a terrifying monster. Before he can even land on his feet, he�s been crushed by a fearsome skill.

Once again with the chomps.

Chomp!

Chomp!

[You have defeated a Level 31 Scout.]

[You have gained XP.]

[Piercing Chomp (II) has reached Level 7.]

Haha, nice!

Perhaps one more?

I�m denied my wish when the three remaining scouts�I assume�turn and run. Before I can think they must have fled from my fearsome performance, the Queen�s Guards begin to charge past me, fiercely brandishing their weapons in their desire to rend the traitors.

Oh well.

According to the plan, we need to rush in to try and reach the castle as quickly as possible. Without pausing to account for every foe, our entire force rushes out of the fort and into the wide cobbled streets of the city of Liria. As we run, a great plume of fire rises high into the air behind us, once, twice, thrice, before it�s cut short.

That came from somewhere in the fort. The signal was sent.

Still, my first time in a fantasy city on my new world! The buildings are cramped together with tiled roofs, and people are everywhere on the roads, pushing carts, shopping or riding in horse pulled carriages. There�s a distinct lack of chimneys and smoke on the houses, no matter how poor and shabby looking. Apparently, people in this world tend to use enchanted fire plates, perhaps the most common and inexpensive piece of enchanting that can be done. Drawing the Mana out of the air and into a plate of metal to cook with or use as heating.

Pretty neat!

As I Dash through the city, there are screams of terror on all sides as the common folk catch sight of the monster rushing through their midst.

Where is the hospitality, I ask you?

The Queen�s Guard and I charge down the cobbled roads. I depend on the guidance of the soldiers to point me in the right direction when we occasionally have to turn. The citizens are screaming and fleeing out of our way everywhere we go. To be honest, even if there wasn�t a monster here, they would probably do the same thing seeing the soldiers. The common folk don�t want to be anywhere nearby if the fighting is going to start again.

They had to put up with bloody street to street fighting in this city for a week. Even now, I can see burned out buildings and collapsed walls. It must have been brutal in here.

I do have to wonder what happened when a supposedly savvy queen�not sure I�m convinced�so dramatically underestimated her foes. She�d thought that with her preparations, the foe would be swiftly dealt with. And after a whole week of fighting in the city, the castle was breached and the queen forced to flee. It seems unlikely a collection of Dungeon fighters were able to stand against the army at that level.

From what I�ve been told, those who regularly fight in the Dungeon tend to have higher Levels, better equipment and greater individual strength than regular line soldiers. Then there�s the army. The army tends to have more discipline, coordination and better training. Not to mention that with the resources of a nation, it isn�t hard to build up a collection of elites, giving them gear and privileges that most Dungeon explorers can only dream about.

That would be the queen�s Royal Guard.

These guys and gals are packing serious heat. Enchanted blades, double forged monster shell armour, and each and every one of them has been on gruelling Level grinding expeditions into the Dungeon. The queen is rather confident in their strength. Still, there aren�t that many of them, not enough to storm a whole city.

From a side street, twenty mixed armour warriors burst forth, two mages in their midst wielding staves. When these fighters see me charging, they aren�t intimidated in the slightest, reacting only with mild surprise. These are Dungeon Mercenaries! It�ll take a lot more than one ant monster to intimidate them.

After this experience, that may change�

Gravity Spear!

Expecting to be attacked at any moment, I�ve pre-woven myself a spell and had it charged, ready to fire for a few minutes already. Holding a spell in place isn�t easy and wears on my mind, but it�s totally worth it in these scenarios.

Before they can even prepare themselves and spread out to attack, the spear slams home on a massive warrior in the middle of their formation. With a hostile spell suddenly flashing into their midst the enemy displays their experience by not panicking. They each drop into a defensive stance and try to move apart, only to find their movement is becoming more restricted with every passing second.

Stay nice and bunched up for me, folks. No need to separate. Mwehehe.

Locking onto the mercenary force, the Queen�s Guard suddenly have a blazing light in their eyes. This is the scum they wanted to fight. Letting out a delighted roar they engage, several members blurring into streaks of light or vanishing entirely as they employ powerful skills to close on the clustered enemy.

Don�t take all of my XP, dammit!

Bracing for the sudden charge, the mercenaries struggle to properly wield their weapons as the potent gravity constantly tugs at them, forcing them to divert attention and energy to resisting the pull. Despite this, the mercs begin to employ their own skills to defend themselves.

A bulky mercenary, covered in scars, raises one foot high as his face twists with concentration. His foot explodes with light and he slams it down into the ground. As if transformed into water, the surface of the road ripples outward, the ripples growing larger as they travel until they�re over a metre tall.

When these �waves� crash into the buildings, they crumble, as if their foundations were suddenly embedded in quicksand. Several of the charging soldiers have to cancel their Dash skills as their footing becomes unsteady. Nimbly, they reposition themselves to the sides, riding out the disturbance and waiting for the ground to settle.

The huge mercenary with my spear imbedded in his chest draws a huge greatsword from his back. His knuckles crack as he prepares a two-handed grip before bringing it down with blinding speed. With a flash, a blade of light ten metres tall rips from the tip of the blade and streaks toward me, cutting through the ground as if it were paper.

Whoosh!

I leap to one side, pushing hard off the ground with my six legs, and the blade flashes past me before crashing into a house. When the dust settles, a huge slice has been cut into the building, collapsing one wall in.

Holy heck, I nearly lost an antenna!

Settle down, big guy! Need a lift?

Internally gleeful, I fire off my next hastily prepared spell.

Gravity Bolt!

Let�s see how you enjoy flight! Hopefully more than you enjoy the fall.

Before I can gloat too much, the two mages step forward, staves flashing with Mana as they thrust them forward to block my spell. The Gravity Bolt smashes into the heads of their combined staves and my spell rapidly begins to lose energy.

This technique again.

I really want to learn it!

I scuttle off to one side, not prepared to act as the vanguard and charge into the midst of these clearly experienced monster killers. Instead, I take a little distance and begin to weave my next spell.

It would be so good to have Tiny here right now. He would leap right into the middle and create a huge distraction, allowing me to safely operate on the edges. Or if Crinis was grown, the havoc she could reap here, with the enemy bunched up together�Gah! I bite back my frustration. I didn�t bring them for a good reason, they have their own work to do.

The powerful skills displayed by these mercenaries have shocked me internally. I knew from the queen that humans and other surface races were capable of some fearsome abilities, but I hadn�t seen anything quite like this with my own eyes.

To my shock, the show was only just beginning.

Once my spell completely disappears, the two mages get to work on their own magic. One of them shouts out some words and a spherical shield of fire blooms around him, the scorching heat radiating off is enough to make my antennae numb. The second mage also conjures a shield, but this one is of tightly rotating wind. An air barrier!

Their defences prepared, they begin their next magic, concentrating for a moment before they each extend one hand toward me with perfectly synchronised timing.

Why me!

From one mage, a powerful blast of wind. From the other, a jet of flame.

The two spells converge together to form a massive gout of blue fire that hungrily reaches for me!

A combi-attack! What the heck?

It�s so cool and flashy!

A huge jet of flame over thirty metres long roars from those two hands and covers the open street between us in a second. Caught flat footed, the best I can do is stop, drop to the ground and roll to my right as the flame washes over me.

HOT!

That�s a spicy meata-ball!

Searing pain erupts through my left side as the flames cover me, barbequing my carapace and raising my internal temperature uncomfortably.

Thankfully, as an insect, the outside of my body is essentially my skeleton, and inherently less cookable than say, human flesh. Even so, I�ve taken a decent chunk of damage from that attack.

I think about using my Regeneration Gland, but dismiss the idea. It�s too early in the assault. I need to save it for a more desperate situation. Maybe if I can get some Biomass to eat�

As the flame dissipates, it seems as if the Guard is ready for their counterattack.

Having regrouped, the queen�s Royal Guard have positioned themselves to strike together. Weapons drawn, they form a row ten across, and as one stab forward with their swords. Instantly, ten beams of sword light flash through the air, impacting against the mercenaries and knocking them off their feet. With the constant force of the Gravity Spear dragging at their feet they can�t possibly brace themselves against this strike.

Three mercs slip and that�s all it takes as they �fall� toward their own leader, the enormous great sword wielding warrior.

Chance!

With the front line in sudden disarray, I activate my Infused Mandibles, feeding my Gravitational Mana into them at a furious pace. The warriors might be struggling right now, but those two mages at the back have maintained their footing. Thankfully the kerfuffle at the front has pulled their eyes away from my magnificence, so I have an opening!

I don�t know how these guys are able to block spells, but that is something I surely want to learn. I mean, it makes sense that mages would be able to defend themselves against hostile magic, otherwise a magical battle would always be decided by whoever managed to cast first. I just hope the technique doesn�t rely on their staves and is something I can achieve in my mind. Perhaps the neglected External Mana Manipulation skill holds a clue?

With no eyes on me, I stealthily scuttle to the left, circling around the mercs and maintaining a twenty-metre distance. Soon, I reach a point where the two enemy mages are lined up, fire mage in front, wind mage behind, their elemental shields flickering with power.

The fire mage recovers from his distraction and turns back to me, eyes flicking about until he sees my position, not to mention my brightly glowing purple mandibles! He tries to shout a warning as he thrusts his staff in my direction but it�s too late.

YOINK!

As my mandibles flare with power, the fire mage flinches instinctively, lowering his stance to a defensive posture. Very alert these guys, I have to give them credit.

His wariness does him little good when his ally slams directly into his back.

BOOM!

As the two shields, one of swiftly rotating air and the other of Mana fuelled flame collide, the air erupts with a wave of heat and fire climbs into the sky. The two mages, caught completely by surprise, don�t have time to react before their elemental shields begin to shred each other, the fierce wind merging with flame and shooting out amongst their allies.

The mercenaries, grouped together and off-balance, are licked by searing tongues of flame borne on sharp winds from behind. Their voices begin to take on a note of panic as the situation spirals out of their control.

Now is the time!

Leaping forth, I Dash toward the flailing mercs.

My XP! Come to me!

If I�m going to fight here, then I�m going to get my reward for it, dammit! There is no chance the Queen�s Guard will leave these traitors alive. If they have to die, I may as well gain something from it!

After a few seconds, the mages take control of themselves and shut off their shield spells before staggering back to their feet. Just in time to see the monstrous ant rushing at them with its jaws wide and alight with power.

Shattering Bite!

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

Not willing to give them a moment of respite, I snap down on them three times in rapid succession. The ethereal jaws crush the two mages together and they slump to the ground, reeling from the strike.

[Shattering Bite (III) has reached Level 3.]

Finish them!

First on one, then on the other, I shower them with Piercing Chomps as they weakly try to fend me off with their staves. The traditional weakness of mages in close quarters seems to hold plenty true in this world, as their feeble efforts are unable to shake me off.

[You have defeated a Level 36 Human Fire Mage Apprentice.]

[You have defeated a Level 34 Human Wind Mage Apprentice.]

[You have gained XP.]

[You have reached Level 14. One Skill Point awarded.]

Nice!

Oh crap!

Just as I congratulate myself for the successful elimination of those threatening mages, the mercenary leader charges at me, massive blade poised overhead to strike.

Dodge!

Diamond Carapace or no, I do not want to take that thing head-on!

CRASH!

The blade smashes into the stones with tremendous force, sending shards of rock flying everywhere and pinging off my carapace.

Phew!

Not wanting to draw too much heat, I hit the ground running and put some distance between me and the mercs. The rest of the Queen�s Guard closes in, continuing to launch attacks.

Since my business district is facing the right way anyhow�

POW! POW! POW! POW!

Tilting my head slightly for a clear rear view, I shower the enemy with my Restrictive Acid, giving the bulky leader two shots since he seems a little too eager to move at the moment.

I stop construction on the Gravity Domain spell I�d been working on and let it dissolve within me. It doesn�t look as if I�ll be needing it right now. A massive gate is ahead sitting astride the street, blocking our way through the wall and into the inner keep.

I mean, a wall doesn�t do squat to keep me out, but it still serves to slow down these humans.

Seeing our target up ahead, I start to pull Mana out of my Gravitation Mana Gland and compress it into the fearsome Gravity Bomb. It�ll take a minute or two to charge up this sucker, so I may as well start now.

The mercenaries have fallen into an ever more hopeless position. Assaulted from the front, shot at from behind, and with their two support mages dead they have no chance of fighting their way out against the furious queen�s Royal Guard. Knowing they�re dead already, the mercenaries throw caution to the wind. Finally free of my Gravity Spear, they are able to unleash their skills to the fullest, desperately attempting to take some soldiers down with them.

I figured a few would try and surrender, but I guess not.

With the two sides battling to the death and pulling out all of their strength, I scuttle to the side, into the shadows, and look for an opportunity as I continue to charge my bomb. If I can sneak myself a little XP then I will, but I�ve done more work than all of these soldiers combined so far, I�m not about to stick my neck in for the cause.

As they finally begin to fall, a few of the mercenaries break and run, trying to dash into nearby buildings or down side streets and hopefully keep their lives. One unfortunate sap happens to flee into the little alley where I�ve tucked myself.

HALLO!

Shattering Bite!

[You have defeated a Level 38 Human Swordsman.]

[You have gained XP.]

Letting the body drop to the ground, I consider the option of� well� eating him.

I mean� I was a human before, for quite some time.

It�s not cannibalism since I�m not human now!

But� hmmm.

Checking my HP, there�s not too much missing, and I still have my Regeneration Gland topped off and ready to go. I don�t think I need to push myself too hard here.

If only there were more mercs who utilised monsters like the Sophos did. Then I�d be able to munch on that Biomass without worry.

I�d asked the queen about how common the technique was, or if it was known, as I�d been so impressed by Formo, I assumed everyone who could would leap at the chance to raise such powerful monsters and have them take the risks for you.

The technique is well known, and not just here, but all over the place. Whilst some mercenaries do take that path, some even going all in and taking the [Tamer] class tree, there are a few considerations that keep it from being common. Firstly, cores are money to mercs, using even one to turn into a monster that you then have to feed and raise before it can fight is troublesome. Then, if you want to raise it properly, you need to keep feeding it meat from the Dungeon, which you either have to pay for�expensive�or constantly go into the Dungeon�dangerous.

Not to mention, to ensure it evolves well, you need to feed it even more cores. Literally throwing money into its mouth!

To the surface races who rely on cores for enchanting, it isn�t worth it except for the very wealthy, or some nations who keep guardian beasts. The practice works so well for the Sophos for a few reasons. They have such powerful minds that controlling monsters is quite easy for them, they live in the Dungeon itself so access to meat isn�t hard, and since they don�t fight themselves, they have little use for enchanted equipment, thus having reduced demand for cores.

With the mercenaries finished off, the queen herself comes forward along with the villagers. The townsfolk were looking a little wild eyed at the level of devastation wrought on the nearby houses. They might have Levelled up some fighting skills, but seeing giant sword cuts in the faces of buildings was a little hard to swallow. As they catch sight of me, however, their eyes light up a little. Not sure exactly why, but they seem to draw comfort from my presence.

And� oh, great. The priest is back. He rushes right up to me and begins speaking to the other villagers, no doubt extolling my mighty powers, graced upon me by the System or some such rubbish.

As the queen draws closer, surrounded by her Guard, she reaches out with the mind bridge.

[We have reached the gate but we have to get through quickly. If we delay, they will have more time to gather troops from across the city. Quickly monster, do you have a way to get through the gate?]

I check internally on my Gravity Bomb. It�s cooking along nicely.

Not bothering to reply, I move toward the gates and turn my mind fully to the task of compacting the Mana as tightly as possible. A few seconds later, the transformation occurs and the tightly packed sphere takes on the ominous black hole-like appearance.

Without hesitation, I open my mouth and blast out the Gravity Bomb, which shrieks into life the moment it leaves my body. The piercing howl of the wind as it�s sucked toward the bomb causes all of the humans nearby to cover their ears. It even shatters the windows in nearby buildings.

When it impacts the gate with a sickening thud, the ball expands outward in an instant, tearing and eating away at the gate. With a deafening shriek, the gates lurch on their hinges before the protesting metal finally gives way and the gates are sucked into the bomb entirely.

When the bomb flickers out of existence, the once proud metal gates are no more, torn stone and an empty swinging hinge the only evidence they were there at all.

I turn back to the queen.

[What gate?]

There�s a stunned silence after the Gravity Bomb flickers out of existence. The first thing I hear breaking the peace is a thud.

Twitching to one side, I notice the priest has fallen to his knees, followed by the rest of the villagers. Even the soldiers are looking at me strangely, their faces set in cold masks behind their helmets.

I look at the queen.

[What?]

She too looks at me with an odd look in her eye. [Those gates were Mana Warded. Your spell should not have worked.]

Mana Warded, is it? Doesn�t look like it was too effective. Maybe they needed to put on a second coat? At any rate, is it really ok for us to stand around here with our thumbs up our commercial districts?

[Shouldn�t we be going inside?] I prompt the queen.

The elderly woman shakes herself a little and regains her dignified poise before shouting her commands to her soldiers.

Roaring their battle cry, the Guards charge through the gate, some members Dashing into streaks of light as they deploy their skills to close with their enemies. The ringing sound of steel clashing with steel soon fills the air, the defenders rushing into their breached gates.

With the queen in their midst, the townsfolk also advance, but at a more measured pace. Several of the braver ones run out in small groups to support the soldiers already engaged in battle, but the rest remain defensively postured, watching all directions for threats.

[Stay with me, monster. We will storm the throne room and royal chambers, I�m sure we will find the masterminds there].

[Hmm,] I grunt in reply.

Surely, we won�t find the villain sitting languidly on the throne, ready to lure us with talk before springing the final trap? That would be way too predictable�

As we pass through the gates, a team of townsfolk rush to block the entrance behind us with whatever they can find. Loose stone, a cart, someone finds the royal coach and they push it into the gap before tipping it on its side. Those with spears or long handled pitch forks stand in rows, weapons at the ready. Hopefully it�ll hold out until they can be reinforced by the Guard.

A wide road runs toward the main doors and loops back through an elaborate garden with imposing statues placed at regular intervals. The entire setup screams royal luxury. I can�t help but eye the queen with a little disbelief. In the middle of the city, you really want to take up so much real estate with your driveway!

It just seems like such a waste� Perhaps I�m becoming biased because my colony basically lives on top of one another. Even Tiny, Vibrant, Crinis and I packed into our own little chamber is odd and luxurious by ant standards.

My queen sleeps with workers walking on her back for goodness sake!

As I grumble internally, the great doors open and a densely packed group of soldiers charge out, weapons bared.

Although they may be dressed like mercenaries, these fellows look anything but. Determined faces, coordinated movements, tightly packed formation�

Aren�t these soldiers for sure?

The townsfolk in front of me freeze at the sight of this mass charge. They are absolutely no match for this kind of assault. Not giving them time to decide to flee, I jump to the fore and counter charge.

Have I gone insane? Am I suicidal? Or have I got my Gravity Domain on the boil?

Gwehehehe�

I knew the fighting was going to get close once we got inside the castle, much like it is inside the Dungeon tunnels. Naturally I started to reconstruct my most potent close-range spell. How was I to know the enemy would deliver themselves to me before I even made it to the door?

As the men with their shields and swords raised close in on me, blades beginning to shine in preparation to unleash their skills, I continue to pump Gravitational Mana into the construct, pushing with all the force of my two brains.

Closer� Closer�

Gravity Domain!

Just before the soldiers reach me and slash out with their skills, my domain expands in a flash, the dark purple hemisphere expanding out to encompass the soldiers. Some of them cancel their attack skills and raise their shields to defend, whilst others grit their teeth, determined to see their strikes through.

BOOM!

With an almost audible impact, the crushing force of gravity falls on the soldiers like a hammer from heaven, pressing them to the ground. A few blasts of sword light are released just in time, slamming into my Diamond Carapace and buffeting me about, but my defences hold firm and only minor damage is inflicted.

In a wide circle with a radius of ten metres, the trapped soldiers are pressed down by an invisible, irresistible force. Their movements are slowed and some are unable to keep their feet, driven to their knees.

You should never skip leg day!

Shattering Bite!

I unleash my fearsome mandibles upon these foes as they labour under the effects of my domain magic. So long as I maintain the spell, the fight is one sided. As if their arms and legs were impeded with massive weights, as if their weapons and shields were ten times as heavy, the soldier�s movements become slow and painful. Mustering the stamina to activate their skills seems incredibly difficult.

Several soldiers are able to raise their weapon or shield, but never both. I run amok amongst them, snapping and biting at every opening I see, dodging away with ease whenever a soldier manages to muster a strike.

[You have defeated a Level 39 Human Swordsman.]

[You have defeated a Level 36 Human Scout.]

[You have defeated a Level 37 Human Soldier.]

[You have gained XP.]

[You have reached Level 15. One Skill Point awarded.]

[Piercing Chomp has reached Level 8.]

Muahaha!

It would have continued in this vein if the townsfolk hadn�t for some reason become madly brave and decided to charge directly into my Domain.

Who can say what madness possessed them? I personally suspect the priest urged them to charge and assist me in battle since I had so successfully suppressed the foes.

Naturally, the moment these brave and determined townsfolk step foot in my Domain, they immediately fall flat on their faces, completely unable to stand up under the pressure of my spell. Idiots!

What�s more, they�re now a target to those soldiers who can still swing their weapons. Rather than watch the townspeople be massacred, I sigh internally and release the spell.

These people really are a pain in the business district.

Forced to withdraw my Domain, the magic flickers out of existence and the drain on my Deep Gravity Magic Gland trickles to a stop. The true benefits of the bottomless gland upgrade are showing now after this extended fight. Despite casting bolts, javelins, infusing my mandibles, the bomb and the domain, my Gravitational Gland is kicking along at well over half full. Not to mention my own core is still topped off and ready to go.

Freed from the immense pressure of my spell, the soldiers and townspeople scramble to their feet, brandishing their weapons. The townspeople comfortably outnumber their foes, but they are individually significantly weaker. If it weren�t for me having bitten the heck out of these soldiers while they grovelled beneath my Domain, they wouldn�t have any chance at all.

The priest is the first to leap back to his feet, brandishing a heavy looking mace in his one hand like a madman, roaring at the top of his lungs. At times like these, I�m glad I can�t understand the words coming out of his mouth. This priest has achieved a level of obsession that cannot be considered healthy in any way. If I were to poop in a field, I feel like this guy would raise a shrine and worship it for one thousand years.

This guy can only thank his lucky stars that the only things I can dispense from my back zone are acid and justice.

The battle breaks down into a brawling melee, several townsfolk surrounding each enemy soldier and relentlessly stabbing them with incredible fervour and selfless courage. In the grip of their religious zealotry, the poorly trained and armed farmers ignore their own wounds and exhaustion, pressing forward relentlessly.

Almost like ants! These people are doing the colony they worship proud.

Much like I had for the workforce in the past, I Dash throughout the field of battle, running interference wherever I can, biting legs and arms, tearing weapons from hands or charging into soldiers to bowl them over, preventing them from grouping up.

Every now and again I fire off a Gravity Bolt, sending a soldier sky high before they come crashing back to the earth. Shockingly, some of them don�t die immediately on impact, utilising some sort of skill to absorb the tremendous force or increase their survivability. Even so, most die straight away and the survivors are greatly wounded.

Of course, I try to ensure my targets are on the outside of the battle so they don�t fall directly back on top of us.

And to exclusively use my Piercing Chomp skill for grinding purposes, and ensure no allies are caught up in my attack. The melee is too tight for me to deploy AOE skills and expect to not incur some friendly fire.

After twenty long minutes, the battle is done and the townsfolk have been triumphant. Covered in sweat and wounds, the people raise their weapons and cheer! Some have given up their lives for the cause here, but the survivors are not disheartened. In fact, the sacrifice of the martyrs has inspired them even more.

These people need help�

I myself managed to harvest another Level from raining my enemies down on the hard stone, as well as increasing my Piercing Chomp skill by one Level. One more and Piercing Chomp will reach Level ten! Then both of my primary jaw attacks will become advanced skills.

According to the queen�s information on skills, once a skill is able to project the user�s stamina outside their own body, it can be considered an advanced skill. Surface races, with their class-based system, have the ability to gradually raise skills associated with their own class type through training, without having to risk themselves in battle. Usually, a trainee soldier or mercenary will be confined to the training yard to raise their skills to at least this Level before being allowed in the field.

After all, what use is someone who can wave a sword or spear around against someone who can send out a wave of light to strike their enemies from ten metres away!

Whilst some of my skills are raised through constant, passive use, such as Tunnel Map, I don�t think it�s possible for a monster to raise their attack skills through biting trees or rocks, for example.

Yet another example of system prejudice against monsters.

It does help explain why monsters can experience more rapid growth than the surface races. Training is quite slow, whereas a monster will only get stronger by constant combat, raising skills, gaining Levels and consuming Biomass all at once. A young but strong monster can grow powerful and evolve in a matter of days, whereas a human would be on the training field for months, if not years, to raise a single skill.

This also makes it clear how human mages are able to learn faster than I can. By studying, reading and conducting mental exercises, the humans can raise magic related skills passively and then raise them again when they actually practice. Whereas I can only repetitively practice over and over again. Monsters are compensated by the possibility of magic specific glands, basically shortcutting the process of learning proper magic.

It was only in this way that I was able to confirm with the queen that the route I chose to learn magic is essentially the surface way, which all the advanced and sentient races use. Building the fundamental skills up from the ground. Monsters who cast spells as humans can aren�t unheard of. But they are exceedingly rare and only found deep in the Dungeon.

After five minutes or so to catch our breath, the queen, flanked by a small team of her Guard, leads us inside the castle. When the broad doors open, a warm light from the entrance hall spills out. I�m a bit confused at first, the light looks almost like artificial light from Earth. Scuttling inside alongside the townsfolk, I can see that the light is produced by lamps placed at regular intervals along the walls.

What stuns me is that these lamps don�t seem to have a detectable energy source. No flame or gas or wire at all! What is up with these? Curious, I break away from the huddled fighters around the queen to climb up the high walls to get a closer look at this marvel from another world.

As I get closer�

[Compatible monster core detected. Would you like to reinforce your core or reconstitute a monster?]

Don�t tell me�

Peering closer at the gold lamp stand attached to the wall and the light source itself, I can see that it is in fact a small glowing gem. A core!

This is the attitude of the wealthy, right here! Whereas mercenaries have to scramble for every core they can, the royalty is using them to light their castle. Such a flagrant waste of resources is almost offensive to me considering the circumstances I endured in my previous life� Unbelievable!

Looking about cautiously to ensure nobody is watching as they advance farther into the castle, I quickly confirm with Gandalf.

Reinforce!

There are six lamps in the entrance hall and I naturally refuse to let any of them off. Quickly zipping around on the walls, I absorb all six of the cores before rejoining the strike force headed for the throne room.

Gwehehehehe. The perfect crime!

I�m certain nobody was able to see that.

As soon as I reach the back of the group, I notice a twitch of movement behind me. What the hell!

Turning my head slightly, I can see the priest walking behind me, hands clasped together in reverence.

This guy! He was waiting behind me this entire time? How still was he that I didn�t even notice� Creepy!

Sigh.

I guess I won�t have much chance to keep this secret since he�ll probably preach about it the first chance he gets to open his mouth�

Not bothering to hide it anymore, every time we come across one of the glowing lamps, I clamber up the wall and absorb the core, nabbing myself another four before we make it to the throne room.

As soon as I enter the throne room, shuffling in at the rear of our force, the first thing I notice is the abundant lighting, causing my mouth to immediately begin to water.

So many cores!

I only need a few more to max out my core at 100 MP! After that, a special core will push me over the top and I�ll be ready to evolve as soon as I hit max Level. At Level 16 now, I�m more than halfway there!

The anticipation that only a monster can enjoy toward evolution is beginning to mount within me once more.

Our group has stopped advancing, so I push my way to the front to see what�s happening. Sure enough, lounging nonchalantly on the throne is a black-leather clad mercenary lady, surrounded by flunky looking rich people and a force of soldiers between us and the dais.

This whole thing is too predictable!

The revered Queen Verita of Liria, second of her name, defender of the frontier and upholder of the Lion tenants of her ancestors, was pissed.

Long had she puzzled over how the enemy had been able to gather so many more troops than she had been able to anticipate. Her closest advisors worked with her on their strategy. The careful plotting, endless information gathering, debates and planning had been overthrown as her soldiers were soundly defeated and outnumbered when the trap had finally been sprung. Her enemies dashing out of the shadows into the light.

Where had all these fighters come from?

Seeing those organised warriors at the castle door was one thing, and now looking at these disciplined soldiers dressed in mercenary gear arrayed against them before the dais of her own throne, it all became clear.

These were not mercenaries or hirelings brought in to bolster the numbers for the fight. These were trained soldiers from a nearby kingdom. There must be a hundred of them there! This wasn�t a small number by any means. Someone must have wanted to interfere in the political situation in Liria desperately enough to commit so many of their people to a coup in another country.

Seeing the Andron ambassador standing beside Corrin while the filthy Union mercenary leader lounged on Verita�s throne, she could easily guess who it had been.

�Great Queen Verita, how nice of you to join us,� drawled Corrin, one leg dangling over the side of the throne. �We were just wondering when my coronation should be held. You wouldn�t have any input on the matter, would you?�

Verita disregarded the mercenary as beneath her notice and turned instead to the ambassador, Regix.

�Regix, so interesting to see you here. Incredible how quickly the kingdom of Andron has been able to adjust to the changing landscape here in Liria. One could be forgiven for thinking you had known about all of this in advance.�

The ambassador smiled tightly and turned to Corrin, deferring to the Union leader.

Enjoying the display of her authority, Corrin beamed at her former queen.

�Don�t be upset, Verita. It turns out people other than me can notice how incompetent your reign has been. Our friends from across the border wanted to assist the people of Liria to have good governance, for once.�

Verita could only roll her eyes at the pretence.

�Corrin, since you were born, the only thing you cared about was money and power. Let�s not pretend anything other than these motivated your treason.�

The mercenary leader�s smile only grew wider. �It�s important to pretend in front of the street rats though.� She gestured to the townsfolk nervously clutching their weapons behind their queen. �I can�t very well say to the public that I�ll be rewarded with mountains of gold by Andron for destroying your rule and handing over the governance of our nation to a neighbouring country now, can I?�

Indignant rage flared within Verita at those words. Her family had founded this kingdom. Her own kin had fought and died in the campaign to liberate these lands from the monsters. Since then, they had tirelessly worked to raise this nation out of the dirt for hundreds of years.

In a moment of clarity, the queen realised exactly why Andron would be prepared to go so far. They were afraid. Liria had risen so far and so quickly, their neighbour to the north feared they would be overshadowed and eventually absorbed. After all, it was Liria that was able to expand their territory by pushing south, Andron had nowhere to go. Rather than die a slow death, why not strike first? If they were successful, the bright future of the Liria kingdom would belong to them instead.

Verita had to admit it made sense. Had she been Queen of Andron, she might have been tempted to secure the future of her people in this way too.

But she wasn�t, she was Queen Verita Leocor of the Leocors. Liria was her kingdom and she�d be damned before she gave it over to these scum.

Throwing any pretence aside, she drew herself to her full height and imperiously proclaimed, �Corrin, you will need to surrender yourself to me for judgement. Regix, order your men to stand down at once and you may escape my castle with your life.�

Regix only shook his head and chuckled. Corrin was more unrestrained, throwing back her head and laughing until it filled the entire room.

�You haven�t changed, Verita. You�d think it was you sitting on this throne right now! I�ve no idea how you got back inside the city, but the only thing that did is save me the trouble of hunting you down in the countryside and putting you down like a dog. You�re outmatched here, give it up and I�ll kill you quickly.�

Judging by the sadistic look in the others� eyes, Queen Verita sincerely doubted a quick death featured at all in her plans.

At this moment something pushed its way through the Guards behind her to appear at the front. As one, the soldiers arrayed before her tensed, and even Corrin�s eyes widened in surprise. Without even turning, Verita knew exactly who stood beside her now.

Concentrating deeply, she wove anew the mind bridge to allow communication between her and the monster. As soon as the weave was done, the cold and emotionless voice she had still not grown accustomed to echoed in her mind.

[Who are these worms?] the voice demanded.

The queen�s mouth tightened. As royalty, she wasn�t accustomed to being spoken to with the constant disrespect and rudeness she received from this monster, but she could only overlook it. How could she expect manners from a monster?

[The leaders of the coup against me and a century of soldiers from a neighbouring kingdom.]

She could almost feel the weary disinterest rolling off the creature in waves, confusing her. What was it so bored about!

Corrin stood from her place on the throne, a grin twisting her face. �You�ve even allied with a monster in order to regain your throne, Verita? What would your precious Legion say if they were to find out of this? Or the Church of the Path for that matter? If word of this were to get out, you�d be finished!�

�Somehow I don�t think you�ll be talking much when I separate your head from your shoulders,� Verita bit back.

[If we can win here, the rebellion will fall apart and our pact will be finished, monster. All those people have to die, and you will have your reward. Are you able to do it?]

Verita had to admit she was nervous. As far as monsters go, this ant wasn�t that large or powerful, but for some reason it managed to overcome impossible odds over and over again. The baffling magic it was able to use continually surprised her, even filled her with trepidation. The blast that destroyed the gates was seared into her memory. No city wall, no matter how enchanted, would be able to withstand that shocking power!

That memory only firmed her resolve�

[If I can kill or disable all of these people, I can take my reward and leave?] the monster asked.

Verita wasn�t sure, but she felt she detected something strange in the creature�s tone.

She shook off her thoughts.

[Of course,] she replied. [Is it possible?]

[Tell your people to stay out of my way. I�ll finish this.]

The monstrous ant leisurely walked forward as the hundred soldiers braced their weapons against it.

�One little ant, Verita? This is the best you could find? Exactly how is this piece of garbage going to turn the tides here? You must be insane!� Corrin exulted.

The ant monster indeed looked weak as it faced the enemy soldiers arranged neatly in their formation. Nobody in their right might would think a single ant monster would be able to overcome these odds. Ants were not known for their individual strength. They were so feared because of their terrifying numbers.

But this ant was different. Verita wasn�t sure why or how, but this one was different.

The monster continued its unhurried march. The closer it got, the tighter the soldiers grip on their weapons became.

When a short gap of only a few metres remained, something changed. With the monster at the centre, a crackling purple energy sphere flickered into existence and rapidly expanded outward.

Seeing that baleful magic flickering into existence, Queen Verita�s heart froze in her chest. In all her days, she hadn�t seen anything as horrific as this magic. The sound. The destruction. Everything it touched was simply� gone. Smashed to nothing as if consumed by a monstrous beast.

Even though it was her foes who were about to experience this horror, the queen held pity for them, feared for them, even. Who knows what gods would await them on the other side of that dreadful maw?

The little ant opened its mouth and the vortex of death howled into existence. The air inside the throne room pulled at everyone as it was sucked toward the purple ball racing through the air to impact against the shield of an enemy soldier in an instant.

Despite the horrific shriek of the wind, the soldiers didn�t panic, but calmly began to deploy their defensive skills. They didn�t believe this little monster would be capable of casting a spell strong enough to threaten them. How many monsters had they killed on training expeditions to the Dungeon? How many towering, powerful beasts had they faced down? To retreat in the face of this little thing would be an insult to their pride.

It would be their death instead.

As soon as it touched that shield, the dark purple, almost black, ball expanded, and the soldiers near the impact point vanished entirely. Those close to the edges had a split second in which their faces twisted with fear and shock before they too were pulled into the ball. Horror overtook every soldier in the room as the wind rose in pitch to a deafening howl. Soldiers tried to flee, tried to pull their comrades away from that sphere of death, but they could not resist it and nothing would sate it.

Even the ant who cast the spell backed away slightly before becoming still and watching its creation consume the enemy. The queen could only stare at the grisly spectacle before her. Seeing this magic employed against a gate was one thing. Seeing it make proud, trained soldiers vanish in an instant was another. Fear gripped her. What Level of mage would be required to defend against something like this?

It felt like a lifetime, but it was only a few seconds before the sphere vanished. A tight, dense ball of� something�The queen refused to think on it�dropped to the ground with a wet THUNK and rolled several times before coming to a stop.

Even the floor had not been spared. The lower half of the spell had carved a groove out of it. The stone slabs were simply� gone. Sliced away so precisely it could have been the work of a god.

Before the remaining shocked and demoralised soldiers could recover, the monster was already acting again. The spherical, purple domain flickered and expanded as the monster charged.

Queen Verita had seen the creature use this spell before. The powerful domain type spell that had brought the enemy to their knees. What was this purple Mana? What type of magic was this? She�d never heard of anything like it, capable of flinging people up into the air or crushing them flat into the ground.

It was hard to imagine that a monster, and one apparently quite young, could comprehend magic in the way this creature had. To cast the various types of spells like a human mage would take years to learn. It was terrifying.

Exactly how strong would this single ant become? Queen Verita narrowed her eyes. She didn�t think she wanted to find out.

No longer complacent, the soldiers wanted no part of this spell. Their morale was shattered, and fear was plastered over their faces. The proud soldiers of Andron broke ranks and fled before one ant. If the queen hadn�t seen it herself, she would have felt she�d lost her mind. Even though she witnessed the events, she almost couldn�t believe them.

The monster was relentless in chasing them down, no matter how they fled. And as soon as the spell took effect, they would no longer be able to run, only slaughter would await them. Though there was no visible change the moment the spell began to function, everyone watching could see it. The bodies of the soldiers sagged to the ground as if pressed down by a mountain. Those who were still able to keep their feet did so only by exerting extreme effort, their faces going red with the strain. The soldiers� eyes were wild and filled with terror. What could possibly have prepared them for this?

There was no way they could resist what was to come.

The queen snapped back to alertness and turned to her stunned Guards.

�Aim your strikes at the enemy, but do not close the distance! Be sure to stay the hell out of that spell!� she ordered.

Loyal and disciplined, her Royal Guard leapt into action, their weapons raining strike after strike down on the trapped foes and those who continued to run, desperate to avoid becoming sealed in that zone.

The townspeople watched the spectacle unfold with rapt amazement, their eyes afire with deep emotions. They could not participate, as none had mastered the advanced weapon skill required to strike from a distance. But they could watch and silently praise.

As her force became battered by wave after wave of sword light, Corrin�s expression grew ugly. She could not believe her eyes. How could one piss weak ant, legendary for being the weakest individual monster in the Dungeon, be devastating the highly trained soldiers she brought with such efforts? How long had it taken her to weave this plot together? The months of preparation, the incredible effort needed to talk Andron into getting off their fat arses. It was disappearing before her eyes!

She turned to the Andron ambassador. �What the hell is happening, Regix? Your soldiers are worthless! Didn�t you promise me the best?�

The ambassador was pale faced and shaking. He was a diplomat, not a warrior! He�d never seen such bloodshed and violence. Watching his soldiers being torn apart rocked his mind. He could barely think, let alone speak.

The trembling Andronian continued to struggle to speak, and Corrin nearly screamed in frustration.

It had been so perfect. She had been so close. Wealth! A stupid amount of wealth! It was all slipping from her grasp in this moment and that feeling drove her berserk. If it wasn�t for that stupid monster! She�d played the queen like a damn fiddle, but this idiotic monster ruined everything!

Suddenly, her heart froze in her chest. Dread swept over her like a cold blanket and sweat erupted from her forehead. Turning slowly, she looked down at the monster to find it looking directly at her. The smooth dark glittering carapace, the cold lidless eyes, and the dripping jaws that glowed fiercely with purple light. No emotion or feeling emanated from that creature. In Corrin�s eyes, it was nothing less than an emotionless machine of death.

Corrin�s mind turned as if her thoughts drifted through molasses. When had those mandibles begun to glow?

The mandibles flared with light, and she flinched back, but it was no use.

How to describe it?

The floor simply wasn�t the floor anymore. Her feet slid along the ground as if it were suddenly a wall and she fell directly toward the monster. A scream rose and stuck in her throat as fear paralysed her mind. The only thing she could see was those mandibles as everything faded away. They grew larger and larger in her eyes as they opened wide.

Then they closed, and she knew no more.

Queen Verita surveyed the field of carnage that polluted her throne room in disgust. That it had come to this. Foreign soldiers slaughtered before the throne, the most officious and historical location in her young kingdom, by a Dungeon monster. Her ancestors would shake their heads in despair if they knew of this farce.

Brusquely she ordered her Guards to clean the room and do something about the dead and escort the townsfolk out of the room. Then she ordered two soldiers to seize the ambassador and bring him before her. The Andronian was still frozen with terror on the dais, shaking in fear as his eyes stared vacantly at the broken bodies of the men and women he brought here to fight.

When Corrin had been pulled through the air to her death, he�d been so terrified his legs lost all their strength, causing him to collapse onto his knees. As the two Queen�s Guard hauled him up by his armpits, they sneered in contempt as they noticed the damp patch on the front of the ambassador�s trousers.

The queen thought for a moment before signalling another of her Guard to attend her.

The soldier saluted smartly. �Take the head of Corrin and put it on a spike at the castle gate. That should take the wind out of any mercenary scum who want to try and continue their rebellion.�

The soldiers saluted again. �At once, your majesty.�

The Guard picked his way through the remains toward the fallen Mercenary Union president to complete his grisly task. Soon, he walked briskly out of the hall carrying a red stained cloth wrapped around a roundish object.

When the mercenaries battling desperately to push through the gate and into the castle recognised the head being held up high on the tip of a spear, they were filled with equal parts rage and despair. They knew they would never grasp the profits they�d been promised to secure their support for this uprising now. Many mercs decided on the spot to flee the country as fast as their legs could carry them. If they were quick enough, they may be able to avoid arrest. After all, they could ply their trade anywhere the Dungeon was, which was everywhere.

The news that the queen had taken back control of the castle spread through the city like wildfire. The citizens cheered and poured into the streets to celebrate. Many were glad to have their benevolent ruler secure again on her throne. Though many others were simply glad the fighting had come to an end and peace could once again return to their lives. After weeks of fighting, death and destruction, they wanted to get on with rebuilding and forget any of this had ever happened.

Inside the castle, Ambassador Regix was dragged before Queen Verita by her Guards. When he was unresponsive, a soldier slapped the man viciously until he was able to come back to himself.

�It�s a shame we had to speak under these circumstances, Ambassador,� Verita said.

Regix spluttered, trying to draw himself up and regain some of his dignity. His efforts proved fruitless whilst he was being held upright by two callous soldiers who gripped him so tight, he was sure to bruise the next day.

�You can�t treat me like this, Verita!� he spat. �Do you think Andron will stand for this?�

His gumption rendered Verita momentarily speechless. �You know,� she bit back, �I find myself not caring a whit what Andron will or will not stand for. As far as I�m concerned, your pox filled nation of rats can jump in the Dungeon so they can live amongst their own kind!�

Regix gaped at her. �You dare!�

Verita glanced at one of her Guards and gave him a subtle nod. The soldier immediately stepped forward to deliver another powerful slap to the ambassador, drawing blood.

After letting him recover, the queen resumed speaking. �I do. You�re going to scurry back to your nest, rat. When you get there, I want you to tell them that I�m coming. I�m going to march into Andron and burn it to the ground for what you�ve done here.�

The quivering ambassador recoiled before Verita�s fury. Unable to muster a response, he could only hang his head as the Guards dragged him out of the castle. They would throw him on a horse and send him on his way back to his own land within the hour.

Left to her own thoughts, Verita allowed herself to feel relief. She�d thought it was all gone. The night they fled the castle, slipping through a hidden gate in the darkness, she had wept. All the work of her ancestors, the toil and sweat of the citizens to carve out a new country from what had been a monster infested death-zone, gone to waste. All because of her.

Now it was back in her hands. All of it. The traitors had been rooted out. She would take a sword to the merchants who backed this coup, wash away the stink of rebellion with the blood of traitors. Once again, Liria would experience a meteoric rise, no longer suffering from the leeches which had drawn away its strength. The light of justice was shining on her kingdom today!

Wait�

For a kingdom basking in the light, why was it so dark in here?

Puzzled, Verita cast her eyes around the room only to find the glow lamps on the walls had been extinguished. On one side of the room, a single lamp remained lit, and frozen above it like a gigantic spider was the monster, holding still as if a child caught with a hand in the biscuit tin.

The queen could only stare at this strange creature who had made her resurrection possible. Probing mentally, she found the mind bridge she had been maintaining.

[Monster. What have you done to my lamps?]

The final light winked out.

[Just taking a little of my payment in advance.]

Verita was stunned. How could a monster be this shameless?

The monster�s pitiless voice echoed in her mind once again. [It seems you have what you want, Queen.] Verita always felt the way the monster said �Queen� sounded doubtful for some reason. [I have fulfilled my end of our agreement.]

It was clear what the monster wanted. Now that it had done what it promised to do, it wanted to be paid.

Verita carefully studied the creature latched onto her wall. Despite not turning to face her, she knew the insect was watching her, just as she was watching him.

[I never learned your name, monster.] Despite tactfully asking several times, the creature had simply refused to share it, declaring that �monster� was fine.

[You never did,] the monster agreed, clearly refusing her yet again.

Verita�s mouth tightened and she covertly signalled to her Guards in the throne room.

Still, the monster was watching her. Its voice rang in her mind.

[Do you know of the phrase �tit for tat�?]

[I don�t.] She frowned.

[It means that should one be treated well, they will return that goodwill, but should one be treated poorly, similarly it will be returned in kind.]

The queen drew herself up. From the corner of her eye, she could see her soldiers slowly shifting their positions. [Are you threatening me, monster?]

[Yes.]

Silence lay between them. The monster spoke first.

[Think carefully on what you choose to do next.]

That cold voice sent a shiver down her spine. It seemed the monster had been able to guess her intentions. This creature was so powerful already, and it would only get stronger, smarter, more deadly in the future. How could she let it roam free?

Not to mention, should word of her alliance with Dungeon monsters be leaked, her reign would be destabilised. Most people hated and despised monsters, viewing them as the enemy of civilisation. If they knew she�d willingly borrowed the power of a monster, trust in her authority would be shredded. The Guard would not speak, the townsfolk could be persuaded, and the people in the city would not be believed. People saw all sorts of things in the heat of battle. The key to silencing the issue was in not letting this monster go!

In her heart, the queen could not believe the monster could do anything to her here, in the seat of her power. In her throne room, there were many hidden cards she could deploy, not to mention the powerful Guards around her. It was over.

The queen sneered, throwing all pretence aside.

[You can only blame yourself for trusting too easily, creature!]

She signalled her Guard who immediately drew their weapons, over twenty blades drawn in unison.

BOOM!

In that instant, the wall directly under the monster burst inward as if smashed with a battering ram. Bricks and mortar flew across the room and the queen sought refuge behind a hastily raised shield by a nearby Guard.

With heavy footsteps, a new entity entered the throne room, obscured at first by the stone dust which hung in the air. The soldiers tensed at this unexpected development, weapons and shields drawn as they braced for anything.

As the dust slowly settled, the giant form of a powerfully muscular ape was revealed. Huge hands knuckled the ground as it moved. Staring balefully at the humans, it loomed over them. After it had pushed through the new hole it made in the wall, the creature drew up to its full height, towering high as the ant began to climb down from its perch.

The queen watched, stunned. The situation was changing too rapidly for her to think. Her soldiers weren�t sure anymore if they should engage and were waiting for her orders!

Before she could signal them, the ape raised one hand and flung something toward them. The object arced through the air before landing heavily with a thud and rolling to a stop. Only when the shape groaned and shifted slightly did the queen realise what it was.

�Captain Pendlen!� she cried.

This was the Guard captain that had been captured with her. As the giant ape raised another hand, the queen and her Guard flinched back as if it were going to throw something else at them. Instead it simply dragged a bulging sack off the ground and flung it over its shoulder.

From across the room, the queen could see the sack appeared to be filled with small round objects, their outlines bulging against the fabric. Cores.

Her treasury!

She stared at the monster climbing down next to its ape pet in disbelief. How was this possible! Is this some sort of heist?

[You disappoint me, Queen,] The monster�s voice chilled her mind. [From beginning to end, this matter has been� too predictable.]

Rage burst inside her chest and she raised a hand to point at the two monsters as she screamed, �Kill them!�

Her Guard charged, but quick as they were, the ape was faster. Raising its free hand high it smashed the stone floor at its feet with a deafening crash. The room was showered with stone and dust.

When it cleared, the soldiers were stunned to see the two monsters were gone, as if they had never been there. They tentatively approached, shields raised high and eyes scanning, only to find the shattered floor opened into a tunnel that led straight down. The walls of the tunnel were threaded with veins of blue light, and echoing from within, the screams and roars of thousands of monsters could be heard.

Boy was I glad to sense Tiny managed to arrive on schedule! My biggest worry had been that the big moron would get confused or lost somehow.

[You managed to find me ok, big guy?]

[No.]

[It was hard? What happened!]

[Walls.]

[You got stuck behind walls?]

[Yes.]

[How did you get through?]

[Punched �em.]

I wonder how many walls the queen is going to have to replace�

Thinking of her, I could only internally shake my head. Are humans in this world penalised on Cunning or something? From the moment I captured her she had demonstrated her dislike of monsters at almost every opportunity. To think that such a person would actually hold to an agreement with one? I hadn�t believed it from the beginning!

I mean, the queen can�t be entirely blamed for being outwitted. How could she have known I was not just an unusually intelligent monster, but an actual human reborn? Of course, I know about treasuries, betrayal and have the unfair advantage of being able to understand human mannerisms and tone. It was simplicity itself to have the colony tunnel under the castle and poke about until we located the sweet, sweet, wealth.

Being the noble and upstanding ant that I am, I wanted to uphold my end of the deal as much as possible. I went along and fought hard to restore the queen to her throne. To be honest, it would have been pretty embarrassing had the queen not actually turned on me in the end. At that point, we had already connected the castle to several prepared Dungeon tunnels and emptied out her supply of cores!

Thankfully we managed to avoid that awkward scenario�

Tiny and I are currently racing down a separate tunnel we prepared that hadn�t been connected to the Dungeon itself. We are blessedly unobstructed by monsters in our escape. I collapsed the entrance behind us, so I doubt the humans will be able to locate us. They should be busy handling a flood of monsters right about now.

Gwehehehehe.

The perfect crime, Anthony. You genius, you!

The best part of all? The sweet, gravelly tones of Gandalf that are still ringing in my ears!

[You have reached Level 20. One Skill Point awarded.]

[You have reached max Level for your current evolution, would you like to access the evolution menu?]

[Monster core has reached max capacity for your current stage of evolution.]

[Piercing Chomp (II) has reached Level 10. Advancement available.]

[Advanced Exo-Skeleton Defence (II) has reached Level 5.]

[Pet Communication (I) has reached Level 3.]

[Shattering Bite (II) has reached Level 4]

By the bushy, bristling facial hair of the bearded one! SO GOOD!

The notifications fell like rain in my ears during the final battle. Max Level! Thanks to stealing the cores from all of the lamps, I�ve maxed out my core at 100 MP! If I can take in a special core, I�ll be ready to evolve. My POWAH, it grows!

Combined with this sack full of monster cores we swiped, the future is looking exceptionally bright. The skills I�ll be able to train, the special evolutions I�ll be able to secure for my pets and the colony.

We really hit the jackpot this time!

The unfortunate part is that we have to move the colony, and quickly. That queen is perfectly aware of where we are presently situated, so we can�t sit still. Only by relocating somewhere out of her reach will we be able to avoid retaliation. Thankfully such a place isn�t too far away. To the south of these lands, the wild and untamed monster infested lands are vast! It�ll be easy for our colony to get lost in there, giving us plenty of time to develop and grow.

The only tricky part is making sure we have some form of Dungeon access, since the queen isn�t able to sustain herself on the surface. We�ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. If everything goes according to plan, we�ll be able to build a kingdom of our own. For ant-kind!

Hold on there, Anthony, don�t get ahead of yourself. For the moment you still need to focus on fleeing the country. You�re a fugitive!

Even if I want to evolve reaaaally bad!

It�s addictive, evolving. Go to sleep and wake up as a better and more powerful you. There�s an intoxicating quality to it. I must firm my will and resist. You can�t evolve when you�re dead.

Tiny and I continue to run through our emergency escape route, me chuckling gleefully to myself the entire way. There is a very real danger of me becoming conceited if I continue to celebrate my own success so enthusiastically.

When we finally burst out of the tunnel, we find ourselves beneath the shady foliage of the forest. I breathe deep of the fresh forest air. Delicious, freedom! I stretch my legs wide to embrace the trees.

This is the feeling of freedom, of liberty, of successful, guilt free theft!

Tiny looks at me as if I�m completely stupid.

Pah! You don�t have the intelligence to appreciate the subtle nuances of this moment. You don�t even realise that with that sack over your shoulder, you look like a mutated, evil Santa!

It takes another twenty minutes to make our way back to the ant hill. Seeing the large dirt structure, with its ever-attentive guards, warms my heart. Home with the family once more.

Whelp, time to uproot and move them all again!

Skirting around the anthill, I make my way straight to the farm, leaving Tiny to rest after his long haul. He might have power, but stamina seems to be a slight weakness for the big guy. Crawling down into the farm, a familiar sight greets me. The workers have continued to build a living layer of armour around their beloved queen, essentially burying her beneath several layers of workers.

I have to climb in and push my way through until the queen�s face emerges from the clutter right in front of mine.

�Mother! Hello! Have you been able to heal yourself?� I exclaim.

The queen smiles, her antennae waving about until she manages to free one and give me a tap on my own, the ant high five.

�I am well, child. I have healed myself.�

�How does your core feel?�

Flipping on my Mana Sense momentarily, her core is again blazing with light. The density of Mana in her core seems to have recovered to its maximum capacity.

�I feel fine,� she responds.

This is great news! The queen has made a full recovery. This means we can move immediately without endangering the most important individual in the colony.

�Hi-Hi!� a voice calls.

Giving the queen a quizzical look, she stares calmly back at me.

Was that� Who was that?

�Where did you go, senior? You took so long!� the voice comes again.

The voice seems somewhat high-pitched, squeaky almost. If it isn�t the queen, then who the hell is talking to me in here! I turn around and cast about with my antennae until I come face to face with a small worker carrying a conspicuously large black lump on its back.

�Vibrant!� I exclaim.

�Hi-Hi!� she says. �I learned to talk, senior! I have sooo many questions!�

It�s been two hours now and the little worker just. Won�t. Stop!

�Why is your carapace so shiny?�

�How�d you get so big?�

�Can I do the magicky stuff?�

�Isn�t talking FUN!�

�What are you doin�?�

�What are you doin� now?�

�Do you like eating? I think it�s the best!�

�Should we dig something? I love digging!�

And on and on�

It turned out the little lump on her back was Crinis, who seemed delighted to grab hold of my antennae and migrate onto my back. She even quietly spoke up, saying, [Welcome back, Master,] after she�d settled onto my carapace.

So polite! Her voice is very soft and reserved, not at all like the image of the full grown Jellymaw I remember.

All that effort I spent making her more intelligent seems to have paid off. It�ll be nice to have a pet I can have a decent conversation with. Tiny is great at the whole, silent companionship thing, but isn�t much for a detailed conversation. Only thing is, the little pet seems extremely reticent. No matter how I prodded, I wasn�t able to get any more words out of her.

Maybe she�s just shy�

Vibrant on the other hand� The bizarre hatchling has no struggles with this public speaking.

I swear, she�s still going even now!

As soon as she could, she climbed onto my head and practically danced with joy as she pelted me with endless questions, observations and random statements. I can seriously feel a headache coming on�

I tried my best to answer her at first, but my responses became shorter and shorter the longer the conversation went on. Eventually I just had to shout, �I need to talk to the queen!� and started ignoring her.

Anything for relief!

The queen seemed slightly amused by my predicament. I can only imagine that the queen has been enduring Vibrant�s endless thirst for conversation in my absence. Seeing as she�s the only other ant capable of talking back to the little thing.

My esteem for the queen has risen to an even higher level. What saint-like patience! What incredible tolerance for her own children!

Choking back emotions, I speak to the queen. �Mother, we need to move the colony again. We aren�t safe if we remain where we are. The humans will come again, and soon.�

Hearing of the creatures who killed so many members of the colony and wounded her, a faint anger can be felt from the queen.

�I know a place where we can go that they won�t follow. The problem is that you�ll have to move across the surface if we�re going to escape quickly enough. Do you think you can?�

Mother seriously considers my question before nodding. �I believe I will be able to sustain myself for some few days,� she says. �I will let you know when the feeling of weakness returns.�

�That�s great! Make sure you tell me, ok? If you keep it to yourself again you really might die this time!� I plead.

The queen simply acknowledges my words with a wave of her antennae and begins to mobilise the workers to return to the surface. As she makes her own way to the enlarged opening they created for her, the layer of workers around her just shuffles along, maintaining their defensive positions.

Vibrant had managed to hold herself in while I was speaking to the queen, but as soon as she begins to move away, she pipes up with her squeaky pheromones.

�Where are we going?�

�To the south, we need to escape the humans.�

She immediately became enraged. �Humans! I will die to protect the colony!�

Why did this immediately become about her dying?

�You don�t need to die or anything, we just need to move! If we can get far enough south, they won�t want to follow us,� I say.

She seems a little mollified. �Ok then. But let me know if I need to sacrifice my life for the colony.�

�Nobody is asking you to sacrifice anything, ok? It�s fine!�

She doesn�t seem convinced and shuffles about on my head a little more before moving onto her next line of questions.

�So, what are we doing?�

Oh God.

�We�re going to get ready to move out. As soon as the colony is assembled, we�re going to leave.�

�Ok!�

Here it comes. Any moment now. I can just feel�

�Why are your antennae so funny looking?�

Kill me.

Please.

Putting up with Vibrant�s pestering, I go to Tiny and get him moving. His job is obviously to carry our precious cores in the sack. Inspecting the sack, it seems to be of some sort of fine material. Is this velvet? Or a tapestry or something? Exactly where did he get this thing?

Doesn�t matter.

Within ten minutes, the colony has assembled, hundreds of workers carrying brood and eggs, while others surround the queen to protect her. All together in one huge mass, with me and Tiny at the head, we move out. The colony is on the march!

We march for two days straight, no rest, no sightseeing, and strictly no deviation from the designated path.

Although I say no sightseeing, the pest on my head is completely curious about everything. Along the way I have to explain what a farm is, why they�re necessary, the basic understanding of the human digestive tract, gut bacteria, bacteria in general and what a screaming mob of people running for their lives is.

The colony takes a day to make it out the other side of the forest, and from there we mostly run into small farming communities on our way south. We skirt around the buildings, ignoring the people as we pass through. There is one instance where we come across a town in the night, and rather than deviate, we just power straight through, causing the small riot that prompted the little one�s excited questions.

After forty-eight hours of straight running, we dig a temporary nest and almost the entire workforce goes into torpor, me included. I�m knackered after that run! Despite being so tired, I spend a little time planning my own immediate future path.

Before evolving, I need to try and get my mandibles around some Biomass! I�m painfully aware that the further I evolve, the deeper I�ll have to go into the Dungeon in order to secure a decent source of Biomass points. It�ll be much easier if I can go on an eating tour of the upper level before evolving so I can be more efficient with my gains. Then I have a heap of Skill Points saved up. Whilst fighting against weak monsters, it�ll be a great chance to build up some new skills. For starters, I was hugely impressed by those upgraded versions of the Dash skills. I think I�ll definitely pick that up. After that, I�ll have a look and see what I can find in the menu.

I absolutely want to use my newfound core wealth to train Core Engineering as far as I can. If I get a good evolution that will buff my mental stats again, I�ll be even more effective when modifying cores, increasing my Level up speed. The day when I�ll be able to realise my dream project is becoming closer and closer.

I also need to pay attention to my pets. Paving the way for Tiny to successfully evolve, as well as stuffing Crinis full a few times a day until she can start to fight and Level up.

The days ahead sure are going to be busy!

First, we need to escape.

The next day we assemble the convoy and move out. The journey is tough, and we have to tighten our belts a few times. What little monster prey we find is fed to the young and the workers go hungry. Tiny seems to have lost several sizes. I�ve never seen him so trim!

After three more days, we reach the border. The vast monster filled wilderness is spread before us. Our safety. Our future!

Titus huddled with his advisor in the centre of the cramped chamber, his axe resting on its head on the dirt. Donnelan was afraid of that axe. It had even invaded his dreams. The thick, bloodthirsty aura that rolled off it in waves was suffocating, and ever present. It had burst into wakefulness suddenly during the wave defence. The trainees had felt a strange stirring of the Mana in the air before that aura had burst out, making them feel as if a demon had their throats between its teeth.

And that�s how they felt every moment of every day since.

The only blessing was that the beasts hated it as much as the trainees did. Ever since the axe had awakened, they�d ceased to attack the fort. Choosing instead to battle against each other, keeping their distance from the Legion. The line soldiers had been relieved that, even if they constantly felt the spectre of death, they no longer had to fight.

The endless tide of monsters that clashed against their defences had claimed a few lives over the last two weeks. For those young Legionaries experiencing their first wave, it was a sight they�d never forget. Thousands of monsters rolling forward like the tides. An endless sea of violence and death. Aiming hadn�t been important, it was impossible to miss, no matter what skill was used. They fought for hours without pause, until their arms were heavy as lead, their vision blurred and their heads afire. Then they�d stumble to their blankets where they�d sleep like the dead before waking up to do it again.

It had been hell.

Up until the axe. Donnelan had seen the looks on the officer�s faces when it happened. The monsters immediately fled the walls, but the brass had been shocked. Shocked and worried. The commander raced to his tent where he�d left the axe and walked out with the thing slung over his shoulders and his eyes tight with worry.

Being a magician in training, Donnelan managed to puzzle out exactly why they were so unhappy. That shift in the Mana, as if it were being sucked down a sinkhole, the axe had drunk it in like water, causing it to �awaken.� Putting aside the idea of a sleeping or waking weapon, something that Donnelan had never heard of, let alone thought possible, the reason why it was so strange was because it shouldn�t have happened. Not up here. Barely a few kilometres down, the Mana should never be as thick as this. Not even close. It had grown so dense, it was enough for the axe to pull in and rouse itself. Something none of the officers, certainly not the commander, had expected to happen.

That left Donnelan with yet another worry. Why was the Mana so dense? Why was it still rising! It was coming on now. Saturation sickness. Extended exposure to Mana wasn�t natural for humankind. The diffuse levels of energy on the surface were normal for their bodies, they�d adapted to it over thousands of years. The levels he was experiencing now were making him sick. All of the trainees were getting sick.

If they didn�t get relief soon, they would suffer Mana poisoning. If they weren�t treated, they�d die.

They knew that. Everyone knew that. So why were they going deeper!

Whilst Donnelan chewed over his worries, Titus was speaking to one of his specialist trackers. �You�re certain of that, Lisestus?�

The Legionary nodded. �That�s what my Dungeon Sense is telling me, Commander. Many ants died here in the chamber, along with a whole lot of other stuff. No ant has died here in the last week or so. Either they were all dead by that point, or packed off somewhere else.�

�What about the queen? You should be able to tell if a monster that size was killed, surely?�

Lisestus� face twisted a little as he concentrated, employing the skills of his secret class. �I can�t tell, Commander. She may have died here with the colony or not. Too many monsters have died in the meantime, I just can�t pinpoint her.�

�No worries, man, thanks for trying.� Titus clapped him on the shoulder and sent him to rest. Dungeon Seers were a tremendous use to the Legion, able to detect the residual energies of monsters after they had passed away. Deploying those unique skills depleted mental energy at a rapid pace, however. Lisestus would need a brief lie down after sensing this spot.

Titus looked around the tight dirt chamber. This had been where the ant colony lived, presumably after the queen fled here from the lower levels, either chasing the young that had been stolen or fleeing from danger once her first nest had been uncovered.

He�d managed to locate the nest, but not knowing whether they�d perished here or escaped� If they�d managed to flee, Titus had absolutely no idea where they could be. The matter was out of his hands now.

Whilst he pondered the Legion�s next move, he idly stretched his old bones. With the axe, Anima Sitio, having awakened, he didn�t need to continuously swat small fry. The weapon was constantly advertising its hunger, daring them to come. Only the stronger beasts would be able to step forward against that aura.

Titus cocked his ear. Something was coming. He raised a hand to get the attention of his troops in the chamber. �Hold yourselves!�

As the Legionaries looked at their commander quizzically, they too began to feel it. As if the air itself had grown thick, the pressure upon them grew until it squeezed their insides.

They heard it then, rumbling up from the tunnels leading below. A low growl that shook the dirt around them like an earthquake and drove several trainees to their knees. Many soldiers were forced to brace their hands on the walls to steady themselves as their legs seemed to have turned to porridge.

The tremoring growl faded away, only to be followed by a rising hiss that blew air through the tunnels as if it were a gale. In the wake of that terrifying rush of air, the Dungeon became completely quiet. Every monster had ceased battling where they stood.

The stillness was eerie after two weeks of endless din.

Titus� face was grim. He stared down at his axe, lost in thought. To most observers he appeared calm, but as she burst into the chamber and took him in, Aurillia knew that in his eyes, the thirst for battle was burning.

�Commander!� she hissed. �Was that what I thought it was?�

Titus moved to his weapon and picked it up. �Garralosh. That bastard is coming up.�

Eyes wide with concern, Aurillia pressed her commander. �What are your orders, Commander? Will we move to intercept?�

Titus shook his head. �If we meet the old croc on the way down, then I�ll happily take another arm from it, but we mustn�t deviate from our mission.� He turned to look his Tribune in the eye. �I know you worry about the situation on the surface, but as bad as things are up there, it�s going to be ten times worse if we don�t reinforce the bulwark below. You know this, Aurillia. We have to go down.�

Reluctantly, the officer nodded and left the chamber to organise the troops.

Donnelan shook off the pressure that had nearly crushed his bones and approached the commander. An action such as this would normally be unthinkable for the trainee, he loved to stay low key, but the panic rising in him overrode his judgement.

�Commander! Are we still going farther down into the Dungeon? Sir?� he said, rushing forward to clutch at Titus� arm.

The commander looked surprised to be accosted in this way, but not irritated. �Donnelan, is it? Our fine young trainee. We have quite a ways down to go yet.�

�But what of the Mana sickness? What of the wave? It still hasn�t stopped! The Mana levels are still rising. We have to get to the surface! We have to help them or the whole city will be destroyed. My family, my friends! What about us trainees? If we stay here in the Dungeon we�ll all die! You aren�t sick, I can tell, I can see it! But us? We�re all falling ill, the saturation is too much. You can�t let us die like this, Commander!�

Titus raised one of his thick hands and clamped it down on the young man�s shoulder, trying to steady him.

�Easy there, boy! Easy! We won�t let you die of the sickness, ok? You know I�m fine, the officers are fine, all of the full Legionaries are fine. Once we get you down to HQ, you�ll be fine too, but we have to hurry. I don�t want to risk losing you to the saturation before we can get there. Now listen, we have a few days journey until we reach Periclasus� stair. That�ll take us straight down twenty kilometres. From there, it�ll be a short hop to the city and you�ll be right as rain.�

Donnelans� head spun. �City?�

�You�ll understand when you see it. We�ve done what we can for the surface, two weeks we bought them. From here out, they have to manage their own defence. If they can�t hold off the big croc, then they�ll have to flee. Once we reach the city, we can see about contacting your family. We have ways.�

Donnelan nodded, slowly calming himself.

Titus clapped him on the back. �Hold it together a bit longer, trainee. We�ve almost reached safety. Who knows? You might even get to see this axe take a chunk out of a mighty monster on the way down.�

The queen is holding up incredibly well. In fact, if I hadn�t been sneaking the odd peek at her with my Mana Sense on, I wouldn�t even know that her core was leaking energy. The brilliant radiance of her core has already faded to half of its full lustre. After five days on the move, the whole colony is tired and desperate for rest. It�s almost a shame we aren�t a nomadic ant species like the army ants.

Mind you, those buggers are completely blind. If I�d been born as one of those separate from the colony, there�s no way I�d have been able to survive. Also, the entire reason those ants are nomadic is because they�re so numerous and so ferocious, they strip the land bare of everything they can possibly eat, forcing them to constantly move to a new location. There�s a lesson in that for our own colony going forward. We can�t be so greedy as to strip the land bare. Intake will have to be managed. Well, that�s in the far future if we ever manage to grow enough to dominate our environment.

An ant can dream, dammit! Don�t look down on my humble ambitions.

All I want is for my family to rise. To be ascendant.

It�s a lot for a few ants to take on, but with a bit of grit and a heck of a lot of tunnel digging, I�m sure we can make it.

We have arrived in our new land. A blessed place full of monster infested nests and forests. Battle awaits around every corner, and that means only one thing. Biomass!

This colony is hungry.

We need food!

Like an angry demon, the colony as a whole swept forward over the boundary separating the lands of Liria from the untamed wild. Despite keeping a close eye behind us, we never saw pursuit from the humans we left behind, which surprised me a lot. Once we made it over the border, the tension I�d carried, expecting an attack to arrive at any moment in retaliation for our grand theft of cores, evaporated. There is no way they�ll be bothered to chase us into here, surely!

The workers don�t care. They dive right in, antennae eagerly sweeping over every rock and plant in the hopes of flushing out a monster. Whenever we run into some surface monsters, they either attempt to flee or leap out to attack. The former are shot with acid until they can�t move, and the latter are promptly ripped to pieces and distributed amongst the workforce.

Even I�m forced to eat some of it in order to reduce my hunger. I get a bonus point for each new source, but nothing else. These creatures are so weak they provide nothing to myself and Tiny. We have got to get ourselves into the Dungeon so we can mutate!

Unfortunately, we can�t set up a nest until we find a section of Dungeon close to the surface that we can occupy. The queen absolutely has to be inside the Mana infused air of the Dungeon in order to live.

The imminent demise of our collective mother puts a lot of pressure on us workers and we hustle here and there trying to find an entrance. After two days of desperate searching, when the panic in my thorax was reaching critical mass, we finally succeeded! A relatively narrow crack in the earth, occupied by some rather tough looking dog-faced bipeds I�d never seen before.

After annihilating them with sheer numbers, a minor helping of gravity magic and Tiny�s judiciously applied fist, the digging work began. With over a thousand workers getting their faces right into the dirt, we�re able to tunnel down into the Dungeon and occupy it through sheer numbers. Up above, the hill is rapidly forming. Once the queen is safely ensconced under the ground, calmly regenerating her strength, covered in a defensive layer of workers, the surface chambers are formed and the brood are nestled within.

Home at last! Tiny and I, with minimal help from Vibrant, excavate our own private chamber within the upper reaches of the ant hill. The cores are safely stored in the wall and the four of us settle down for a well-earned rest.

�Why are we resting?�

�Be quiet, Vibrant��

HIYAH! I�m up! I�m ready! It�s time to take on a new day. So many things to go about doing I can�t even decide where to start.

First things first, I rush over to Tiny and poke him with a leg.

[Wake up, big guy! It�s time to go and eat until we can�t walk!]

When he hears of the feast to come his eyes snap open, blazing with a fierce energy. He hasn�t had a good feast in over a week. This ape is desperate for a feed! What�s more, he knows we aren�t hunting on the surface today, but exploring a brand-new stretch of Dungeon. If he�s lucky, we might even find something tough to fight.

Personally, I doubt it. One of the things I learned from the human queen about the Dungeon, was just what the environment down there was like. Apparently, the tunnels run in an almost endless web beneath the surface. Main tunnels branch in all directions with smaller offshoots breaking off and looping back on themselves.

The main hunting grounds for the humans aren�t these tunnels, but are instead the areas they refer to as the Expanses. Every Expanse is a cavernous open space beneath the earth of impossible size, full of spawn points, bizarre plants, rare minerals and powerful monsters. The area beneath Liria was called the �Forest Expanse.� According to the queen, the entire reason the city had been founded in that location was to gain easy access to the Expanse and monopolise its resources. The Forest Expanse isn�t even a large one. It�s considered quite small even amongst those known of locally. It had the great benefit of being closer to the surface, however.

Tiny and I gather up Crinis and Vibrant, who pesters us with endless questions, as usual, and we eagerly rush past a dozing queen and her entourage into the lower tunnels.

A brand-new Dungeon! Excitement boils up inside me almost without me even noticing. Finding new places and learning new things is something that has brought me endless joy in this new world. I can�t wait to see what we find!

The cool light of the Dungeon welcomes my small party home as Tiny and I follow the tunnel deeper beneath the earth, Vibrant and Crinis tagging along for the ride. The goal of this trip, and for the next few days, is to absorb as much Biomass as I possibly can before evolving and pushing my evolutionary Level penalty further and further. Every time I evolve, I get less Biomass from creatures that haven�t evolved as much as me. After my next evolution, I�ll be a tier four monster, with three evolutions under my belt! Considering I started as the statistically pathetic hatchling worker ant, which has almost no strengths to speak of, I can only say that I�ve come far from my humble origins.

Not only do I require Biomass, Tiny also needs to eat, as well as gain experience to push him toward his next evolution. I briefly conversed with him as we rushed through the queen�s chamber and he was able to communicate that he had not yet reached Level 20, therefore he needs to be the one absorbing all of the XP.

Crinis and Vibrant have tagged along since they both need to eat and Vibrant needs to gain more experience so she can evolve. Considering she was born with a core, we don�t need to worry about using her first evolution to form one, so she can directly be promoted to mature worker ant. I still intend to have her absorb a special core and see if she gets any juicy options that I may have missed out on, since I didn�t know special cores and the extra evolutions they unlock even existed at that time.

Still, I wonder what monsters we�ll encounter. A new section of Dungeon hopefully means we get to see something fresh, I really don�t want to have to keep battling centipedes all the time. Ever since I was born, there�s been centipedes around every corner! Giant centipedes with spikes in their b-zone is not exactly something I want in my face all day, let alone actually having to eat!

If I see even one centipede, I may call the whole trip off�

The tunnel we�re following is slightly narrow, most likely not a major one. I can feel monsters gestating in the walls, so apparently the wave is still not over but they don�t seem to be coming out at all? To my senses, they seem to be developing less rapidly than the monsters in the Dungeon we encountered during the wave. Those guys had popped out after a dozen minutes or so, like corn kernels in a microwave.

When I flip on my Mana Sense, I can see a more powerful reaction from these sleeping beasts. It seems the monsters here might be slightly stronger or more complex. Requiring more Mana for the Dungeon to form them. Or is the wave receding and the Mana isn�t sufficient to pump out the monsters as quickly as before?

Bit of a head scratcher.

The workforce already invaded this section of tunnel and cleaned it out when the queen took up residence, so we�ll have to push a little deeper if we want to sate our hunger. With Tiny in the lead, we eagerly search left and right for something to fight. After five minutes or so I notice something off.

Isn�t it� quite green in here?

Contrary to my normal Dungeon experience, the stone here seems to have actual vines growing on it. And is that a flower I detect? Since when the hell have there been colourful flowers like this about?

The flower in question is poking out of the rock on the wall, about halfway up, looking offensively harmless. Bright red in colour and with vivacious petals that really give a refreshing feeling of spring�

I didn�t come down here to admire the flowers! I came for food!

However, as if mocking my expectations, the vegetation only grows thicker and more vibrant as we descend, until the tunnel widens out, and we find ourselves in a place that looks rather less like the Dungeon and more like a scene straight from a rainforest. I expect singing bears and man cubs to walk around the corner at any minute. Not only do I not get any sweet rhythms, I also don�t see any monsters around here.

Vines string across the tunnel, dangling moss in our faces and the rock walls are barely visible beneath layers of leaves and shrubs. Here and there are truly massive flowers and ferns that sway with the breeze.

Hang on� we�re underground. There is no breeze!

The lightbulb goes on in my head just as the many plants and vines start shifting and moving, almost unfolding as they reveal hideous plant mouths laced with razor-sharp teeth.

Goddammit Seymour, not this crap again!

[�Watch out for the plants, they�re monsters!�]

Tiny was already into it before I spoke. Roaring with excitement, the giant ape leaps forward to grab one of the� plants? By the� throat? Before beginning to pummel it in the face with his massive fists, rocking it from side to side with devastating hooks.

All around vines begin to whip through the air as they try to latch onto me, or simply lash with their suddenly razor-sharp leaves. Some fire magic would surely go down well right about now!

I�ll have to settle for implementing my newly minted jaws with the advanced�

Splintering Chomp!

Pouring forth my vital energy, the mandibles of light manifest themselves. When I use the Shattering Bite, the ethereal mandibles look like wide, rusty saw blades that close like a vice, tearing and compressing. For the more armour penetrating chomp attack, they manifest as blades studded with long, pointed spikes.

Ripping my mandibles closed, they slam shut cutting vines and stabbing wide holes in fleshy plants. They only extend about a metre in front of my face, but as I Level up the skill they�ll get larger and more potent, at least that is how it�s worked with the Shattering Bite skill.

With vines and leaves falling around me like rain it�s time to employ another new skill I purchased, Dash!

HIYAH!

[Dash: Increases speed over short distances but increases stamina drain.]

With a burst of movement, I motor across the room faster than I�ve ever moved before. Vibrant is clinging to my head whilst cackling madly, and even Crinis has extended extra tentacles as her main body is sliding back.

Geez! Even at Level one the increase is close to 30% of my max speed! Although I can feel the corresponding stamina drain is vastly increased, I�m actually extremely impressed with this skill so far.

Rushing toward the nearest plant, I sprint through the vines, ignoring those that smash into me, trusting my defences to deflect the damage. Above me a giant, somehow angry looking plant is looming, mouth agape and ready to devour me whole.

Not today buddy!

Shattering Bite!

I bring my jaws down on the stem of the plant. It�s time to mow this lawn.

Having severed the stem, 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 leaks out of its body.

[You have defeated a Level 6 Flos Fame.]

[You have gained XP.]

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 attack with vines, trying to cut and control their prey and bring them to their cavernous mouths. Towards the back is a completely different looking plant. A long tube-like flower head sits atop a bulbous base, and 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 up and to the right, narrowly dodging the spray. 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 just as my legs fire into top gear, moving so quickly they completely blur out of sight.

�Wheeeeeee!� giggles Vibrant. 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, Crinis has also extended 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!

But this blasted tube plant is able to track my movement and fires several short bursts of acid as I race toward it, forcing me to zig and zag to throw off its aim. I can almost smell the fear of this aggressive vegetable as I close in, mandibles opening wide!

Splintering Chomp!

Being careful to only penetrate the plant with my ethereal mandibles and not my own physical ones, I crunch savagely on the bulging sack at the base of the plant. As expected, the moment my jaws puncture through the soft flesh, massive gouts of acid spray out everywhere as the internal pressure forces the fluid through these new outlets.

The plant sways violently like a drunk as its precious acid leaks away, but it hasn�t taken any fatal damage. Aiming another shot from point-blank range, I can almost feel the plant screaming at me, �Damned meat bag! Take this!�

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, this particular flowery foe has lost its bite.

Gwehehehehe.

Just like this, I start to race around the cavern, 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.

Come on, Gandalf! When are we going to find a monster that�s basically a nice pie on legs? Or a monster that fires roasted chicken out of its face cannon? Surely there is something in 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 toward 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 off 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. �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 six Biomass, three from bonus points and three 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!

We continue to progress farther into the Dungeon, ensuring we stick with the larger paths at every opportunity. Even though we walk past dozens of smaller tunnels, we ignore them all. If we want to progress fast or locate an Expanse, which according to what I�ve learned from my interrogation is by far the best way, we need to stick to the larger passages. The bigger the better.

Not wanting to hang about too much and waste time, I let Tiny smash his way through the various plant creatures that fill the tunnel. Able to pulp these veggies 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, it�s 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 since they eat Biomass like everything else in the Dungeon, there really isn�t any need for them to photosynthesise. That being the case, 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 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 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 becomes sharper and more useful.

Eventually we reach a wide tunnel space filled with greenery and vegetation. Large plant monsters dot 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 we�ve stuck to the plan and roughly descended beneath where the colony has settled. In terms of lateral distance, we�ve 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 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, bud!]

Unleashing a fearsome bellow, Tiny leaps with shocking speed, both fists raised overhead, bringing them down with a tremendous crash! That�s one mashed veggie�

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 its 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 keep itself in place.

I cut off the flow of Mana to my mandibles and release the pressure on the plant. Looks like they can hold on tight enough to stop me pulling them out of the ground�

Let�s try something else then.

Time for a Gravity Bolt. Constructing the mind-bending shape with threads of Mana, weaving at a much faster speed than I could manage originally. Behold the effect of my daily practice! Every moment there�s 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. 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 before, 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 toward the tunnel floor.

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.

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 just to create devastating bomb spells? The skill description says it�s 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 built 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 toward 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 minds begin 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 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 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 while 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 at the flower and unleash my spell!

The Gravity Bolt streaks through the air. It doesn�t look much different than the normal version 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 digs in with its roots.

Then the force takes hold.

RRRRRRIIIIIP!

In one second, the plant is torn out of the ground, vines and roots flailing madly, even tearing the rocks it gripped straight out of the ceiling! They crash 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!

[You have defeated a 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 I 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 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, Tiny is currently battling on his own, getting drenched in acid and what appear to be poisonous fumes while 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!

�Wheeeeee!�

It is SO hard to keep my mind focused on fighting with that going on!

[Dash has reached Level 2.]

Wheeeeee!

Level ups bring me a lot of joy� don�t judge me!

I engage in the vicious melee that is swirling around my giant ape pet. The plant-type monsters we�re engaging now are 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, 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. It�s worth it if it keeps those poisonous flowers off our backs.

Suddenly I feel myself being bombarded by savage lashes. What the heck? In my peripheral vision, the vines I�d seen lying on the ground and creeping up the tunnel walls have come alive, whipping through the air so fast that all they leave are blurred afterimages as they 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, this isn�t the same tangle of vines we�d run into before. The individual vines are thicker, more dexterous, and amongst the web of vines are 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, firing it off in a matter of seconds. I target 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, 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 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 toward me, I cut them with my chomp.

Slice! Slice!

Julienne veggies, like a pro!

Sliced vines rain down, but still they keep coming!

Slice! Slice! Slice!

As the vines keep coming, I keep chomping. The ethereal mandibles slash 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. A number of the connected vines become 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 makes it rather a pain in the end-zone to deal with quickly.

I continue to slash my way through the endless vines, crunching each clump until the entire creature finally goes still.

[You have defeated a Level 8 Vinea Trames.]

Finally!

Puffing, I�m 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, Tiny is holding a plant in one hand that he�s uprooted while punching it fiercely with his other hand. Around him is a veritable farmer�s market of deceased plant monsters. 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?]

He just grunts.

[You going to be ok with that?] I wonder. Does he need healing?

[Ok, I fix myself.]

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 seventeen 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 slight upward diagonal 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!

HOOPAH!

I snap to alertness hours later, ready for action. Vibrant and Crinis are still slumbering on my back, the little ant using the ball-like Jellymaw as a pillow.

While creating our resting chamber, I�d estimated how far the veins of light would be able to travel while we slept, and made sure we had a bit of a buffer. I didn�t want dumb plant monsters spawning on our heads while we 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 ain�t 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 needs 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 again.

[�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 rise. 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 ape�s 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. �Morning Senior! Are we eating again today? Will there be Dashing!�

[�There absolutely will be Dashing!�] I declare to the group. Wouldn�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 freshly spawned plant creatures which we destroy as an appetiser, feeding the last hits to Vibrant. Then we step out into the main tunnel.

Chaos!

Fighting!

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, they�re engaged in what looks like all-out war.

Up and down the tunnel, plant monsters engage in ferocious battle with other creatures 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, farther back and surrounded by plants, is 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.

[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 gradually builds up momentum 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. Tiny bursts through the crowd of plants cornering the massive boar and roars his challenge, smashing out with one mighty fist. Electrical energy flashes and lights up the piggy like a Christmas tree. The victim bellows in pain, thrashing wildly 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. Pretty sure that monster�s skeleton was visible.

Those two big bruisers can go at it, my job is to 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 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 admittedly quite hefty, 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. The Diamond Carapace held firm.

Idiot pig! Metal or diamond, which did 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, it�s desperately swinging its head to try and gouge Tiny with a tusk, but it isn�t going to happen. The ape smartly backs off 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!

SKREEEEEEEE!

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 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 bright 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 taken out, the rest of the pigs and the battered plants aren�t able to resist us for long. Within twenty minutes, we�re once again seated, feasting without rest, without remorse!

OM NOM. NOM. NOM!

I gain another eleven 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 (1) has reached Level 3.]

[Shattering Bite (III) 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.

Our field trip lasted four more days before we finally completed our shortcut tunnel and returned 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. 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 of 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 +15, that�ll take ages. I�m just not sure I can wait that long� Evolution is beckoning 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. It�s time 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 to 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, Willpower and 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 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, 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�s some very old beasts lying about unseen. I haven�t noticed anything capable of tackling a swarm of workers up here though.

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 many new brood in the nest. Those that we had before have mostly hatched, bringing our numbers back to over a thousand. Since then, there haven�t been many new ants born. Perhaps the queen was on break while she healed 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 human queen, it�s a drop in the ocean, but another fifteen cores are always welcome!

As Tiny retrieves the 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 142 Biomass! Unfathomable largesse! Lucking into a few highly evolved prey makes all the difference.

It might sound like a lot, but when I consider how much is needed to get every organ to +15, my current maximum, it isn�t nearly enough.

My mandibles are at +9 already, so they�ll be the first thing upgraded. I still don�t know exactly what will happen once an organ reaches +10. I�m hoping for another mutation advancement. Perhaps I�ll have the same menu as before, or 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 Infused Mandibles to +10? This will cost 10 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 for my scrolling pleasure.

Hmmm� Yes, I see. Indeed!

The list of options is basically what I thought. 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 choooose!

To start with, I pick out a few options 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�s needed all that 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�ll 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 have the most powerful bite 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.

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!

GAAAAAH!

The itching continues for a good long while, and this time, I can actually see my own mandibles changing shape during the process. They�re becoming longer, more vicious in appearance, 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 sensation fades away. Scrabbling back onto my legs to try to retain my dignified pose, I once again hit 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 have 132 left. That means I�ll be able to take three more parts to +10 and have twelve left over to play with.

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 and it only gets me this far? Four body parts at +10!

I�m insanely 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! I have nothing at +15!

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 ensure I dedicate a significant chunk of time to bringing my mutations up afterward. 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 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 and mostly right at the edge, between 45 and 50 kilometres down.

The second stratum 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. This layer extends from 30 kilometres to over 200 down. She wasn�t able to tell me exactly how far it went.

The second 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 yours.

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�s 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�s called the layer of demons, nobody knows much about this area of the world. 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 finish upgrading 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 Diamond Carapace to +10? This will cost 34 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. 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 was 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 +10, better vision hasn�t let me down in the past and I�m curious what new options I might have.

I punch in the upgrade and dive right in! Flicking through the menu, most of this stuff has been here before. Upgrading to +10 will already give my compound eyes a quality upgrade, and honestly, ever since I took the Focused mutation, I haven�t really suffered in the eye department since I can basically see as well as a human can, but only directly forward.

The rest of the lenses, pointing up, sideways, backward and so on, are still poor in comparison to human vision, but they do well enough to get me by. My default option would be just to enhance the Focused upgrade to further improve my forward vision, but another option catches my attention.

[Omni-Focused Eye: Enhance key lenses to improve the long-range focus of the compound eyes in multiple directions.]

I like it!

It bears repeating sometimes, but I don�t have a neck. In order to face sideways, I have to turn my body in that direction, hence the compound eyes helping out a lot. Being able to see in almost all directions without shifting my head at all is obviously a great advantage. The drawback of each individual lens in my eyes being quite crud is something I�ve just had to put up with. From the sounds of things, this upgrade will go some of the way to increasing the distance I can see in all directions, not just forward!

Along with the quality increase I get from taking the eyes from +7 to +10, I can expect a tremendous improvement in my eyesight across the board. Nice!

I�ve got more to spend though. What�s next, baby?

I�m feeling the Regeneration Gland. It�s served me well, very well, in the �keeping Anthony alive� department, which I�m a fan of. Everyone in that department needs a raise and it�s coming at them right now. Punch it in, Gandalf! Lemme see the menu.

Flicking through the options for the Regeneration Gland, most of the enhancements increasing the limb regeneration aspect feel a little unnecessary, basically regenerating them faster or more frequently. Not interested. What I want from the Regeneration Gland is to make it better at what I originally purchased it for. That is, healing me when I�m injured.

[Rapid Regeneration Gland: Allows the Regeneration Gland to refill more quickly, meaning it can be used frequently to heal damage and restore HP.]

I like this choice. It�s healing, but more frequently. What�s not to love? On extended runs through the Dungeon, an upgrade like this will come in handy, allowing me to heal up between fights.

I�ve got eighteen left, that�s enough to take something to +7� Legs, why not? Everyone needs legs.

[Do you wish to upgrade Diamond Carapace to +10, Focused Eyes to +10, Limb Regeneration Organ to +10 and Absorption Legs to +7? This will cost 127 Biomass.]

Here it comes� Hit me!

OH GOD!

Back to the floor I go!

Eyes have always been extremely bad in the itch department. Your actual eyeballs changing size is a special sort of unpleasant. Combined with the carapace, which obviously extends over my whole body, and legs, and regen gland� this is torture.

TORTURE, I say!

GAH!

I wriggle on the floor for another five minutes while 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!

Once it fades, that concludes my Biomass spending for the time being.

Thank goodness.

Time to move on to core reinforcement!

Gawd� mutating is exhausting.

Acclimating to my new form, I clean my antennae and run a keen eye over myself, I double check my status before spending a moment adjusting to my new vision. I wouldn�t say I can see as well as a human can in all directions, but it is indeed significantly better than before. My forward eyesight has somewhat improved, but all other angles are dramatically better. I�ll need to wait until I get somewhere a little more open before I can thoroughly test my eyes� ability to focus at a distance. Heading over to the collection of cores in Tiny�s hands, something sends 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�s anything suspended from the roof before remembering I don�t have to turn my head to look up anymore. It�s only then that it occurs to me 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, 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 across the surface 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 the future, will I eventually 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 my 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 flatlining. 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 monster�s physical shape rather than just its 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 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!

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 with the utmost seriousness, I tap each one with a single antenna and press both together physically and mentally.

HRRRRRNNNNNG!

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 the best I can do at the moment.

Hold on, Anthony, you have the power!

I grit my mandibles tightly as I press with my mind 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!�

�Hi-hi!� she answers, energetically bouncing into view.

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 while 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!

Muahahahahaaaa!

�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 for 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 streams 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.

That�s right, buddy, you�re next!

Tiny�s bat face starts to exude more and more anxiety.

[Tiny.] Unsurprisingly the big guy dutifully ignores me. [Tiny!]

[What?]

[Time to max out that core, champ! Get over here.]

With reluctance painted over every inch of his body, Tiny lumbers resentfully toward me from where he�d slumped himself against the wall.

Using an antenna, I flick one core at his feet and stare at him.

He stares back.

Slowly I reach down to pick up the core with my mandibles and something flashes within the ape�s eyes. Was it understanding? Wisdom? Or was it heart rending fear? I shall never know. What I do know is that Tiny 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 (II) 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 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�s 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�s progress and see if there have been any major changes during her evolution.

And� still nothing. Maybe she�s fiddling around in the menus? I can�t be sure.

The first time I evolved, I had no idea how much time passed as I fiddled about with the options and scrolled through the lists, which are 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 loveable ape�s dim-witted ways, I drift into torpor�

MANAMANA! I�m up!

Springing awake, I flash into action, moving to check on Vibrant. Antennae wiggling this way and that I eagerly check to see if there have been any developments. What�s she got, wings? Extra head? Doubled in size? Tripled in size!

Er, 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, this pile of cores could change the world�

That�s enough daydreaming, 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.

HRRRRRNNNNNG!

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 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.

Raise the core high�

[WAKE�]

BAM!

[�UP!]

BAM!

�You ungrateful�

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

I savagely slam the core on his head! 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 were 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�

As he rubs his head and gives me a resentful look, that I completely ignore, 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, Tiny finally touches the core, 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 �Freedooooom!� 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, 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�

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 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 Mana. 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 (II) 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. Not even a microsecond passes before the truly uncomfortable squeezing feeling erupts in my guts.

NOPE!

I remember this feeling, and it sucks!

As if my intestine were 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 intensifies the pain so I try and distract myself in any way possible. Looking around the room for something to catch my eye proves fruitless, everyone in the room is sleeping or something like it!

Tiny is openly snoring. I�m not even sure if he�s evolving or decided to take a nap first. Vibrant is still posed, perfectly still 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 way onto my back where she wibbles a bit and 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 she�s a little disappointed 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.]

[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.

And naturally she goes silent.

[Well, maybe work on it in the 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 of thought a tentacled blob of death would be this sensitive? It�s nice though, so much more respectful than the other two�

DAMN IT HURTS!

With the core fully absorbed, 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 step 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 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.]

The first option is a normal evolution that gives some bonus stats, and what�s this? A discount on Aura Glands? Hmmm. 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. A discount on those is nice. 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. Grants one free Health-related organ. Defensive carapace upgrades are discounted.]

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 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) Magic Soldier (Formica): +15 bonus to Might, +10 bonus to Toughness, +5 bonus to Cunning. Grants 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 fairly tempting. If I was satisfied with my magic progress at this point, I�d be even more swayed. The huge jump in stats alone is tempting!

[(Special) Ant Sage (Formica): +10 bonus to Cunning, +5 bonus to Willpower. Grants 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) Dispersed Mind Ant (Formica): +10 bonus to Cunning, +10 bonus to Willpower. This evolution includes a free Coordination Cortex and a free Sub-Brain.]

Dispersed Mind Ant for +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 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 Deep Gravity 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, and 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 spellcasting 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! Specifically designed to help manage multiple sub-brains? So that means I won�t even have to direct them with my 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. 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�re equally capable. I hit the wall numerous times already with what my sub-brain could handle. 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. I won�t need to make the sub-brains strong enough to handle the big jobs on their own, just good enough that they can handle it when they work together.

I end up spending most of the free +10 Cunning on shaping up the sub-brains with the remainder spent on my own mind. I draw on a little of the 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 spending 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!

And I still have plenty of energy left.

Like a kid in a candy store, I can�t help but flick through the available options. 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 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 are 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.

Perhaps something that might enhance my already potent defence. There have to be some interesting glands or organs that can help me out in this department. For the short-term future, I�ll be using magic as my primary offence. The whole point of choosing this path was to achieve that end, so I�m not too concerned about raising my physical offence for the time being.

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 a soft, spongy creature, those parts are quite vulnerable and may need to be protected.

What I need is something to 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 promising!

[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.]

Muahahaha!

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 (special core) (IV)

Might: 41

Toughness: 29

Cunning: 44

Will: 34

HP: 58/58

MP: 110/110

Skills: Excavation Level 8 (II); Improved Acid Shot Level 6 (II); Enhanced Grip Level 2 (II); Shattering Bite Level 6 (III); Advanced Stealth Level 6 (II); Splintering Chomp Level 2 (III); Tunnel Map Level 3 (II); Mana Transformation Level 1 (III); Forceful Mana Level 4 (I); External Mana Manipulation Level 2 (I); Mana Sensing Level 5 (I); Core Engineering Level 6 (II); Advanced Exo-Skeleton Defence Level 5 (II); Pet Communication Level 3 (I); Dash Level 4 (I)

Mutations: Omni-Focused Eyes +10; Infrared Antennae +5; Restrictive Acid Gland +5; Absorption Legs +7; Savage Infused Mandibles +10; Hardened Diamond Carapace +10; Rapid Limb Regeneration Gland +10; Pheromone Language Gland +5; Deep Gravity Magic Gland +5; Coordination Cortex; Inner Carapace Plating

Species: Dispersed Mind Ant (Formica)

Skill Points: 12

Biomass: 5

My mutations remain disturbingly low, something I�ll have to rectify when I get a chance. After I evolve, my mutation limit will be +20, and I don�t even have a single organ at even +15 yet!

I really wish I could squeeze in a way to increase my Biomass gain and efficiency. I could make my stomach mutable, which would allow me to upgrade it, but everything takes precious energy! I mean, what would I cut to fit that in? I�ll have to revisit the situation in my next evolution.

Overall, I�m pleased with what I see and I confirm my choices. Immediately, my mind falls down into a deep void filled with black.

I always expect to get knocked out when evolving, but this feels slightly different. I�m not being pulled down into slumber, but quite literally being pulled downward!

My consciousness is being yoinked into my core, dragged away from its home in my ant body.

What the heck is going on here! I was just about to evolve and enjoy my rise to triumph. What the heck is this? Is this some punishment for hitting Tiny too much? He deserved it, I swear!

Did I kill too many humans? Is their god going to enact punishment on me for reaping juicy experience from them? Those were bad people! Probably!

To tell you the truth, I don�t know!

Despite my protestations and desperate flailing with my mind, I have absolutely no control. Like a water balloon held in an iron fist, my mind can only slosh about as it�s inexorably pulled into the core, and then down, further down. A tiny thread-like tendril has extended from the dark and connected to my core, and it�s through this thread that I am dragged.

Like Alice tumbling down a rabbit hole, I can sense myself sinking through a winding path, twisting here, turning there and always spiralling further downward, to the very centre.

Of what, I have no freakin� clue. As a disembodied mind, I don�t really have access to a whole lot of sensory options. None, is the precise number, now that I think about it. I think Vibrant would die of sheer boredom in this place. Not to mention Tiny, he�d have nothing to fight! Or eat�

Crinis would probably be quite fine though. She�d miss the sensation of touch, obviously, but she�s used to going without the others�

I continue babbling to myself on the surface level of my mind, mainly to distract from the sheer existential terror.

I�m freaking out over here!

It isn�t often your consciousness is quite literally dragged out of your body and pulled to a new location while you spin, completely blind and unaware of the process going on. How often could that possibly happen to a person? It�s only the second time I�ve ever experienced this sensation!

The realisation stills my pounding� mental� heart. For a single second.

Actually, I did go through this whole thing once before, didn�t I?

I vaguely remember what it felt like when I� died, I guess? My mind slipped away from my body, pulled out and dragged through who knows what to who knows where. The hunger and sensation from my old body just faded away, then everything went white and then�

[Then you heard a voice which welcomed you to your new world.]

Yeah! Then Gandalf spoke to me and everything got started on this crazy antventure�

Gandalf!

[Is that what you call me, young one?]

Well� yeah? That is certainly the voice of Gandalf the Grey, and I�ll say the same even if you don�t let me pass.

[Pass where?]

Doesn�t matter� I suppose. What�s going on here exactly, O Bearded One? Could I perhaps be returned to my body, please?

[Your core has reached the level of density required for me to reach out to you in this way, young Anthony. It is kind of� traditional, that I speak to those like you personally at this point of their new journey.]

Uh� don�t you talk to me almost constantly? Every time I Level up and so on?

[Those communications are a little more subconscious. For me to reach out to you with my active mind requires a little more� sturdiness, on your part. You have reached this point very quickly, I must say. You must have adapted to the monstrous life well.]

That sturdiness comment is a little disturbing. I reached this point quickly? Compared to what? The other people like me? Just how many people do you drag in here, Gandalf? Are you in the habit of abducting people?

�Can I go away now? Please?

[I reach out to grasp an existence like yours and bring them into this world periodically. It helps� various things.]

What do you mean �like me�? I don�t recall there being anything particularly special about me.

[Oh, you don�t? I have found it takes a certain resilience of mind, a certain insanity to allow a sentient creature such as a human to survive the transition to life in the Dungeon of this world without� breaking. I try to find souls such as yours, souls that have lived a life of deprivation and suffering. I find they are better equipped to handle the madness, slaughter and solitary life of a monster.]

But� I don�t particularly see myself as having suffered a horrible life or anything. It was a bit tough sometimes, but everybody hurts, you know?

There is a slight stunned silence between the two of us. The image of his perplexed expression is way too easy to imagine.

[You starved to death at age fifteen�]

Well� yeah, I know that� but I always thought that was a bit more common than people gave it credit, you know? People starve to death all over the world, many of them younger than me. That�s not so bad.

I�m not sure Gandalf was quite expecting the response he�s getting.

[Weren�t you also abandoned by your parents?]

I wouldn�t necessarily say abandoned� They did disappear one morning with all of their clothes and any belongings that were worth anything. Not to mention my relatives immediately stopped answering my calls, leaving me stranded with debtors on the door� But hey� could have been worse.

[Could have been worse!]

Sure! Could�ve had my leg cut off.

[Didn�t that happen too?]

Well� a bit.

[A BIT?]

Fine! Sheesh! So what? I still had my pets at least.

[Ah yes, your pet colony of ants. You fed them everything you had, didn�t you? Until you starved to death.]

Can we stop talking about the death and such? I�m more of a forward-looking person�

[Would you describe it as sane for a person to feed a colony of ants above themselves to the point they died because of it?]

Not everyone has my sense of responsibility and devotion, Gandalf. What can I say?

[That is the reason I reincarnated you as an ant, by the way. I thought it would be a� comforting form for you.]

It really was pet ants equals ant rebirth? Dammit!

[You don�t like it?]

Well, I mean� it worked out ok in the end. But I have to say, Gandalf, it was quite a shaky start!

[Yes, many don�t make it past the first few days, despite my best efforts.]

What happens to those who� don�t make it?

[Death, of course.]

Yikes!

[I hope you can continue to succeed, young Anthony. Who knows, perhaps I�ll see you in person one day.]

In person? Like� you�re not a spirit or something? Where the heck are you?

[If you go down far enough, you should find me.]

I just might, you know! Not in a million years.

[You may not have a choice� Good luck!]

With that, my mind is again manipulated by a power beyond its control, flung out of wherever the heck I�ve been, and up, up, up through the tendril and slammed back into my core.

Whoa!

From my core, my consciousness settles inside its rightful house. Before I can even begin to process the bizarre conversation with He of the Floppy Hat, I sink into sleep as the evolution process properly takes hold of me.

Dangi�

Gradually my mind begins to resurface. It�s a strange feeling, seeing as I don�t actually get to sleep as an ant, but rather go into the stasis-like rest of torpor. I�m not used to properly blacking out like this.

The memory of what had taken place when I evolved still boils away in my mind. Gandalf? Is he actually down in the Dungeon somewhere? I push away the bad memories of my previous life that had been dragged up during the conversation. No sense wasting time focusing on that stuff. I have plenty to focus on in the here and now. I�ve got a new family, pets, and a brand-new mother to look after. No point suffering by thinking of things that are long gone.

Sensations bubble up in my awareness until the light comes on in my eyes and then�BAM, I�m awake!

HAH!

HOOGABAH!

I�m here! It�s action stations, people!

Why is my face full of fluff?

Flexing my legs and body, the familiar appendages are in their proper places: six legs, two antennae, the junk in my trunk. All seems good.

The real problem I have is all this damn fuzz in my face! What the heck is going on?

[Tiny! Tiny, is that you!]

Not the time to ignore me, you dumb ape!

[Get the hell up, Tiny! I need to move about in here!]

[�Sleepy.]

[Go sleep on the surface or something. I can�t even see with all this fuzz in my eyes!]

[�Tired.]

[That�s the same thing as sleepy. Get the heck out of here, you lump!]

I can sense an exasperated sigh over the mental link, as if I�m the one being unreasonable. Just who does this ape think he is? And why the heck is he so damn fluffy now!

Gradually, the fuzz begins to shift and move and I can see a little better. A wall of long white, fuzzy hair rolls away from me toward the entrance where there�s grunting punctuated by frustrated growls.

[Do you not fit?]

[�No.]

Dangit! I shouldn�t be too surprised since the entrance and chamber was a little squeezy before he evolved. Knowing Tiny and his general species, I can only assume he�s gotten even more powerful and large after evolving. If I�d properly thought ahead, I would have recognised this possibility and made proper preparations.

[You�ll have to dig your way out, buddy. Try digging straight out that way, and you should come out the side of the hill, near the top.]

Our chamber is usually dug the closest to the top and off to the side somewhere, out of the way of the rest of the colony, so there shouldn�t be a problem if he starts digging his way through. Even if the side of the hill collapses, it won�t take down any chambers other than ours and we can dig out easily enough.

I hear a deep scraping as the ape starts to dig. The only visible evidence I have of that is the shifting white hair pressed into my face.

Eventually he finally breaks through. Grunting happily to himself, he hauls himself out into the light and I finally get a good look at his new size as he moves.

He�s big. That�s a big ape!

He was already large enough to put any earth-sized gorilla to shame, but he must have increased in size by thirty percent with this evolution. If he were to stand up to his maximum height, he�d probably crack ten feet, easy! His thick, powerful arms are covered in long white hairs. The shorter hair on his torso is also mostly white. On closer inspection, he isn�t pure snow white like a polar bear, more of a burnished silvery colour.

Is he a silverback now?

[What species are you now, Tiny, do you remember?]

Out on the side of the hill now and basking in the sunshine, Tiny turns to look at me. His bat face is now completely black, rather than the dark grey it used to be. His eyes, however, are a deep, glowing red.

[Your species? What kind of monster are you now? Do you know at all, bud?]

He stares at me blankly.

[Did your Cunning actually go DOWN!]

Nothing. Holy moly! Just how muscle-brained is this guy going to get as he keeps evolving? If he gets any dumber than this, he�ll forget how to eat! Looking at his bulky form that practically radiates strength, I can only imagine how potent those massive fists have become. This species clearly prioritises physical strength above all else, even having a brain.

In some ways he makes the perfect pet, but I wish he had a bit more going on in the upstairs department. I want him to be able to have independent thoughts and to think for himself, rather than rely on me to point him in the right direction and make sure he has what he needs. Ah well. Maybe I can do something about that down the line.

Now that I have a little more space in the chamber, as well as a snazzy new natural lighting, I can get a handle on what�s going on in the room. Where�s Vibrant? She doesn�t seem to be over in her corner. So she must have woken up by now.

�Vibrant?�

�Hi-Hi!� I hear her chirpy response.

Did that come from�

Using my antennae, I feel around on the top of my head, and sure enough, something is there. Shifting my head position back a little I can clearly see her beady little ant eyes staring back at me. She looks almost exactly the same!

�Have you evolved, Vibrant?�

�Yup-yup!�

DANG.

�Do you remember what species you chose?� I grate out.

�Of course! Vibrant took one of the special options, just like senior said! Superior Hatchling Worker!� she declares proudly.

So, still a hatchling.

I slump to the ground, defeated. I�m going to have to put up with this helpless little freeloader until she reaches Level ten, then craft another special core for her, then maybe she�ll become useful after that.

Haaaah�

Oh well. No use crying over spilt� something.

Crinis is still in place, nestled onto my mid-section between the joints where my legs attach to my carapace.

[How are you, Crinis? Ready to go and get large?]

[Ready, Master,] she replies. [Was your evolution successful?]

[It was! Some very nice bonuses picked up this time.]

[You don�t seem to have changed much that I can tell, Master,] she says, extending a few little tentacles to pat about my carapace, probably checking my size.

[All of the changes took place on the inside this time. And they weren�t small either!] I boast. [Wait and see what I can do now.]

[I look forward to it, Master]

I can already feel the difference within me. My mind is positively humming with strength, like a sports car sitting in neutral, just revving and ready to go. My sub-brains are sitting idly inside me, each of them more powerful than the single one I had before, and I now have the ability to harness them together, get them to act in concert on a single task.

I can�t wait to flex this new mental muscle!

Let�s try it!

Mana! Transfoooooorm!

Eagerly I direct my new mental rig to attempt the never before achieved Mind Mana Transformation. This process is so difficult, I honestly have no idea how any human is actually able to achieve it at all, let alone in a fight!

First, I need to bring the Mana out of my core, directing it into threads which are woven and shaped into a mind-bending construction. I�m beginning to suspect it goes a little beyond the three dimensions I�m familiar with. Intricate whoops and whirls curve back and in on themselves before fine filigree patterns are woven on the outside and on the inside of almost the entire thing!

I get a headache just picturing the stupid thing.

At least� I did.

Muu� muuuha�. MUAHAHAHAHA!

YESSSSSSS!

Throwing the bulk of the work over to my sub-brains, they thrum to life as they take the strain of directing and shaping the Mana. The cortex acts like a foreman, directing the efforts of the two brains to ensure they don�t overlap and their independent efforts slot together like clockwork.

The sub-brains strain under the load of directing the wispy threads of energy, but they are far more capable than the old sub-brain was. Not only is their mental strength beefier, they have an upgraded amount of Willpower, giving them a bit more grunt.

What this does is free up my main mind to patch up the gaps. Keeping the whole picture on my mind as I fill in wherever I notice a deviation or a particularly tricky bit that the sub-brains can�t quite handle on their own.

Over a few minutes, the Mind Magic Transformation construct begins to take shape and excitement rises in my heart. It might actually happen this time!

Nearly there!

This construct has defeated me over and over again. To the point that this glittering shape of Mana is literally burned into the insides of my eyelids. Except that I don�t have eyelids�not the point!

With every passing second, the shape begins to come together, weaved out of threads of light, it shines brilliantly inside my mind.

Finally!

Crunch.

AW HECK!

In my eagerness, I slip in my control and one of the threads gets shunted out of place. Which, of course, causes the entire thing to collapse in on itself and dissipate into nothing�

GAAAAAH!

Undone by my own eagerness and joy at success. This is the cruel irony of the world at play and not entirely my fault!

Ok, it is.

I can almost feel the smouldering resentment from my own sub-brains, irritated that I ruined their work. What the heck? You don�t get to be mad at me, dammit! I�ll make you guys transform Mana on your own until you melt into sludge!

That�s right. That�s who�s in charge!

Putting aside this failure, I�m still feeling extremely positive. I�d never been that close to succeeding in that notorious transformation before, and I almost nailed it on my first attempt! With diligent practice, I�m sure I�ll be able to succeed. If I can manage the Mana Transformation then I can surely succeed with the simple ones. It seems this evolution was a wild success!

The next thing I�m keen to try is working on the cores. If I can practice the Core Engineering skill at a faster rate, then I�ll be massively pleased!

Rushing over to the cores, I roll one out with my mandibles and crack right in.

Core Engineering!

My mind sinks down into the little core and the nebulous energies that contain the information, the Mana DNA of the monster, rise in my mind.

Now for the tricky bit.

Bringing the force of my mind to bear and calling upon the reserves that are my sub-brains for assistance, I begin to force and hold the changes to the information in the core. What I find almost immediately is� it�s so much easier! Forcing the change is a breeze with all the power I have humming inside my head, then locking it into place is so much easier, I�m able to task my sub-brains with that and move onto the next change immediately.

This is going to increase the speed of my skill training immensely!

Happily, I continue to shove around the values in the core, sometimes making large stat changes and going in and making finer adjustments to the body shape, muscle density, even the brain matter. As usual, the process becomes more and more difficult the further away from the original state of the core we get. With my newfound mental strength, I can push it so much further than before, reaping more XP from every core I start to work on.

I could almost cry, this is everything I wished for! Now my Core Engineering skills will be able to go to the next Level!

Once I hit the wall with the first core, I push it to one side and take a brief rest. If I alternate resting and working, I�ll be able to work for longer and grind my skills more efficiently, even with my extra brain power this rule will hold true.

After a minute or two I shift over to the next core and then the next. On it goes until the fatigue starts to mount up. I push through until my mind is entering the familiar braindead zone I spent so much of the last few days in.

[Core Engineering (II) has reached Level 8.]

Yessss!

Two whole Levels from grinding today. Though it took hours of effort, with my new brain rig, I�m able to make more changes to each core and work for a longer period of time before I fall flat and run out of energy. This is a huge boost. Gaining two Levels in one go is evidence of the kind of power my new brain is packing!

Two more and I�ll be able to morph it into the next Level of the skill. I cannot wait!

Literally, I can�t.

I know Tiny is hungry and Vibrant is bored, I think she�s run off somewhere with Crinis actually, but this is too important. My biggest goal and major project is dependent on this skill taking shape.

Determined to see it through I decisively� take a nap! Need to replenish my mental stores. When I wake up, I notice Tiny has shifted his position and moved somewhere below me. Judging by my senses, he got tired of waiting and tunnelled his way down to underneath the queen�s chamber, so he�d at least have something to eat.

I don�t mind that, I�m also starving, but the cores come first.

Cores, cores, cores!

Pleased to notice that my headache is resolved, I jump straight back into grinding until my thoughts are sluggish and my head is pounding. The pile of cores I�ve worked on goes past fifty and almost reaches seventy by the time I finally get the announcement.

[Core Engineering (II) has reached Level 10. Skill upgrade available.]

[Core Engineering (II) Core Surgery (III): Cost 1 SP. This skill guides the user when making finer and more detailed changes to core energies. It also enables the manipulation of the cores of living creatures.]

Awwwww, snap!

Called it! I had a feeling this was coming after my conversation with Formo. After all, how could they create such insanely powerful monsters in one go? Surely they worked on them over a number of evolutions after setting the core up the way they liked it. Here is the proof I was right!

Gwehehehehehe.

This will enable me to work on the cores of Tiny and Crinis if I want, adjusting their evolution paths as they go. Not to mention the project I�ve been wanting to do this whole time. It�s going to be a lot of work but the future of the colony will never have looked brighter once I�m done!

That�s right. I�m going to work on the queen! If she agrees, I�ll use this skill to make adjustments to her core, not changing her at all, but focusing on her children. If I can make her offspring more intelligent, more like Vibrant, then I�ll be able to teach and guide them, turning them into something more than just workers.

Don�t get me wrong, my siblings are great ants, loyal and brave, hardworking, basically better than me in almost every aspect. After seeing them cut down in their dozens by the humans as they charged in blindly� I decided then I would have to make a change.

Ants are designed to fight that way, to sacrifice themselves, hurl themselves forward and overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers, their lives treated as disposable. I don�t want my siblings to live like that. Family is important! I want them to be intelligent and clever, surviving the fight and not dying off pointlessly.

With this skill I can make it happen. I�ll go into the core and modify the offspring of the queen until they�re like me. Super ants!

At this moment, with my head filled with the glorious victory of the new super-ant race, I notice something a little odd.

There is a dull ache coming right from my core.

What the heck is with that? What on Pangera makes your core hurt? Do I have core-itis? Flu of the core? Seasonal core-swelling?

I�m unusually disturbed by this inexplicable pain. Once formed, the core is attached to a monster�s life force. If anything were to happen to it, I�m not sure how long I�d last.

Focusing intently on this feeling, I try to analyse it. When I carefully sense the area around my core the issue becomes clearer. There�s more going on than meets the eye. Almost like a lung that is slowly leaking, as time passes my core is slowly draining energy out into the air. Almost as if when my body tries to draw in Mana, there isn�t anything there, and then I �exhale� Mana out.

I�m losing Mana!

As time passed, the loss became more noticeable until I was struck with this pain. It�s literally my core gasping for air. I need Mana! Whilst the pain isn�t completely debilitating now, it�s only going to get worse the more energy I leak.

This must have been what was afflicting the queen! Weakened and in pain by the lack of Mana, she�d been bleeding her life out into the air until I finally noticed something was wrong.

I can�t help but get a little emotional.

Dammit, Mother! Just how self-sacrificing can you be? Just because I�d said the colony would be safe on the surface, you were willing to bleed Mana from your core until you died? Why is it that the best mother I�ve ever had is a giant ant?

Now I feel like garbage. Not only because my core is increasingly pained but also because of the guilt of unknowingly causing such suffering to a dear parent. I�ll make it up to you, Queen! You�ll be the mother of the most successful ant colony in the history of the entire� wherever we are!

I�m not really sure if this is the same universe as the one I was born in, come to think of it. Something to ask Gandalf if I ever see him again.

Well, now that I know of this problem, what am I going to do about it? The fact it took a few days for the problem to grow this severe means I�m not completely unable to operate on the surface, I�ll just have to take frequent trips underground. Actually, is this the reason Tiny has relocated himself underground? It�s possible his core has also advanced to the point where he can�t sustain himself on the surface level of Mana.

Sighing to myself, I grasp my bag of unworked on cores in my mandibles and make my way down to where Tiny is currently sitting munching on some low-Level plants that leapt out of the walls and into his waiting hands.

As soon as I descend past the surface Level and into the Dungeon proper, there�s a sense of relief. As the light emitted by the Mana veins washes over me and my feet begin drinking energy in a steady flow, the pain in my core begins to ease. I�m getting a little more energetic and alert as I stop leeching precious energy the air.

Feels good!

This incident does really hit home at something that Gandalf said. When he told me I might join him one day, he suggested I might not have a choice but to go farther down. Is this what he meant? Every time I condense my core and evolve, I�ll have a higher requirement for Mana, forcing me to live deeper and deeper in the Dungeon? I guess this explains why the most powerful monsters live closer to the centre�

I�m not sure how I feel about this. Obviously, evolving is the best thing in the universe and I should keep doing it, but then aren�t I basically imprisoning myself?

All right, it�s complicated, think about it later!

This is my policy and I�ll stick to it!

Tiny seems quite relaxed down here, his silvery hair taking on a distinct blue shade in the reflected light of the Dungeon. I pass him the bag and take some time to hollow out a chamber for us to use, shoving the loose soil farther down the tunnel. Once that�s done, I ask Tiny to keep watch for me and rest a little before resuming my core grinding. I don�t want to rush over and start working on the queen�s core straight away with Core Surgery at Level one. If I can push a few more Levels out of it, then I�ll be more confident at being able to achieve my goal.

Back to grinding!

It takes a few more naps and one hundred cores before I finally achieve Core Surgery Level 3. By this time, my brain feels like a puddle of sludge and my other brains aren�t much better. Despite my improved mental power, grinding through so many cores in such a short time has pushed me right up to the wall. This kind of speed would have been completely impossible before my evolution so there is that to celebrate. I have to say though, training this line of skills is a pain in the ass!

Who has one hundred cores lying around, Gandalf?

All in all, I�ve nearly gone through two hundred cores over the last few days, perfecting my skill at making nuanced changes to monsters and grinding that precious XP to get to this point. How long would it have taken me to amass all of these cores if I hadn�t been able to rob the Lirian vault?

Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I flick cores at Tiny until he�s full up. He�s at the same Level of evolution as I am, so it a while for him to top out, then I do the same for myself.

[Your core has reached max capacity for your Level of evolution.]

Hue, hue, hue, hue.

So soon after evolving and my core is already maxed out. It feels so good! All we need now is the special cores. There�s no way I�m going to put up with that pain for an extended time again. I can whip those up right when we�re ready to evolve.

Although� if you give it enough time, would you get used to it enough that you could absorb a second one�

As if reading my thoughts, Tiny raises his head and glares at me with his dark red eyes.

Never mind!

I don�t think I�ll be able to raise the skill any higher for the short-term. I take a good nap, getting Tiny to defend me from the spawning monsters and making sure he feeds the Biomass to Crinis.

When I wake up, I�m fully refreshed. Time to head over to the queen and try this out.

Zipping up the tunnel, full of beans, I push my way through the crowd of workers and come face to face with Mother once again. The giant ant is quite placid, perhaps enjoying this interlude of relative quiet.

�Hello, Mother, how are things?� I inquire.

She reaches forward to tap on my head. �I am well, little one. The colony has been safe here, you have done well.�

Awwww, shucks! I�m not used to this sort of praise. If I could blush, I would!

�Thanks, Mother,� I beam. �I�m glad I could help!�

�Of course, child. We should always seek to better our family,� she says warmly.

�Exactly! That�s why I�m here!� I say enthusiastically. �I�ve gained a skill that will allow me to make all of the ants in the colony stronger!�

The queen�s antennae whip about a little in surprise. �Really, child? That�s wonderful,� she says.

Now for the tricky bit. I hesitate a little at this point. �Thing is, it�ll only work on the ants who haven�t been born yet, I can�t do anything to the family members who are already alive.�

The queen seems confused. �What are you planning on doing?�

I really have no idea how the monstrous queen is going to react to the idea of me modifying her core. She is quite intelligent for a monster, but her own logic and mine are quite different, as well as our experiences. This queen is still not even one year old. She can�t compare to my own nearly sixteen years of life.

�This is what I can do.� I decide to explain it all carefully. �I can perform the skill on your core, while you rest here. Then I can make the young that will be born in the future more powerful, smarter. I�m hoping that by doing this, more of them will be able to survive and grow until they can evolve, making the colony stronger.�

The queen wibbles her antennae around for a while as she digests this news. �You think you will be able to keep more children alive?�

�Yes. Their species won�t change and they will still be our family, but they�ll be better equipped to survive and live a long life. What do you think?�

This is the magic moment. I�ve worked so hard to try and make this project a reality, but if the queen says no, I won�t question it. The project will die right here. Perhaps it�s silly to take the feelings of a monster into account, but this giant ant is no ordinary monster to me. This is the best parent and family member I�ve ever had.

My main motivation for this project isn�t even for ant world domination. I just don�t want to see my siblings throwing their lives away anymore. I want them to be smart enough to retreat when needed and be able to take care of themselves.

I look the queen straight in the eye and await her judgement. I tried to be as honest as I could and explain things in a way she could understand. My heart is pounding as she gazes calmly back at me.

Eventually, she speaks.

�Of course, child. It is the responsibility of every member of our family to strengthen the whole. If you can achieve this, we will all benefit. That is what being part of the colony is about. You can start when you are ready.�

I should never have doubted the queen�s capacity to risk herself for her children.

Tentatively, I bring my antennae into contact with the queen�s and activate the skill.

Core Surgery!

With what I learned during the skill upgrade, all I need is to be touching a part of the body on the monster I�ll be �operating� on. With an ant, it feels like the antennae are the most appropriate place.

As soon as the skill is activated, a massive burst of information hits me as the details of the queen�s core explode in my mind.

Yikes!

The queen has by far the most complicated and powerful monster core I�ve seen with the exception of Formo�s worm! I frantically put my sub-brains to work processing all of this information before the onslaught of data just straight knocks me out. With my backup dancers doing their part, the pressure eases off and I look in awe at the elegance of the queen�s core.

She�s actually a very powerful and rare creature, isn�t she?

I got the impression ants weren�t common in the Dungeon, based on what the human queen told me, usually appearing randomly at the bottom of the first strata or sometimes even lower than that. After all, they have the extremely rare ability to produce their own offspring, rather than waiting for the Dungeon to spawn more of their kind. We ants aren�t the only ones in the Dungeon with this ability, but we are among the most feared.

Looking at the queen�s core I can finally see how this function works. The queen actually has a network of glands and organs that work together to perform this job. I had thought I�d just find an �Egg-laying Organ +10� or something in here. That isn�t the case. The queen has three organs that contribute to producing her offspring.

The way the offspring are produced is also not what I expected. Rather than being made from nothing, as eggs that then need to mature, the queen actually converts the Biomass she eats into eggs that can then be born. This is the reason the workers bring her almost all of the food they catch. Biomass points are directly converted into new workers inside the queen!

In a flash I make another realisation. This is why the queen�s egg producing rate has gone down ever since we came up to the surface! Like me, she has a powerful core and is a higher tier monster. She doesn�t get much value from eating surface monsters or weak, lower-Level creatures. She was born at the lowest reaches of the first strata, her natural prey are down there. With so few Biomass points being produced, her rate of laying has plummeted.

This also explains the connected organs for egg producing.

Firstly, she has an organ attached to her stomach that is designed to drain off Biomass and convert it to some kind of liquid sludge. This is the Biomass Conversion Organ, and it looks as if the queen hasn�t upgraded it at all�

I bet she spent almost every point on eggs and healing upgrades�

Sure enough, when I check through all of her organ data, she�s upgraded her antennae to +5 for Healing Channelling, and upgraded her Healing Mana Gland to +5 to take a Burst Heal upgrade that lets her wave out the energy over an area, perfect for healing a huge army of ants.

She�s really too unselfish. This also shows a little lack of wisdom due to her being a young monster. Upgrading the egg production organs is by far the fastest way to grow the colony�s power. I�ll have to convince her to upgrade all the organs related to producing eggs as quickly as possible, all the way to +10 if we can, but at least to +5.

The second organ in the process is the Lifeform Recoding Organ. If the job of the Conversion Organ is to strip the Biomass of its properties, turning it into a multipurpose goo, then this organ is for reshaping that stuff into the necessary material for ant egg making.

Finally, there�s the Egg Production Gland itself. This was responsible for taking the reformed goop and making it into ant eggs, essentially encoding ant DNA on the sludge.

This process is going to be more complicated than I thought. I figured I could just go to the �baby ant� section and whip up some magic, but apparently not. I may have to make changes to multiple organs here and rework them slightly.

I think I�ll have to work backward. I�ll start at the last step, the egg production organ. Reaching in with the most delicate control my combined minds can muster, I ever so carefully begin to make fine adjustments to the design of the eggs produced by the organ.

I don�t have any intention of changing the early life phases of the ants. They�ll go from eggs to larvae, as usual. In fact, I actually extend the early, development phase of their lives. By increasing their youthful state, I gain leeway to develop them into a more complex organism at the end of the process. The longer the gestation period, the more �allowance� I get. I don�t want to keep the young in larval form for ages, but increasing it to a little longer than it currently is gives me a little wiggle room. I�m looking at adding a lot of complexity to these guys.

The first thing I do is give the hatchling worker a more complex brain, beefing up the Cunning stat considerably. I won�t be able to get them to the same Level of Cunning that I had when I was reborn as an ant, and I�m not aiming to. If I gave them a brain that complicated, they�d be larval for a year and the queen would need so much Biomass to produce a single egg it wouldn�t be worth it. Instead, I�ll give them the intelligence of a young human child which they can build on over the course of their evolutions.

The next thing I do is give them the Pheromone Language Gland at birth. This way I�ll be able to communicate and teach them right from the moment they�re born. If they can ask questions and talk with each other then they should all advance at a faster pace.

Speaking of advancing at a faster pace, mutable stomachs! We are going to have a ton of hungry mouths to feed soon enough and being able to stretch our Biomass to its limits will make all the difference. I might slot that into the first evolutions so they�ll have it once they reach the second tier. Hopefully this means they�ll avoid the pitfall I fell into and evolve faster than they can mutate.

Hmmmm�

These complicated additions are really stressing the system here. I�ve overdrawn on my budget. To balance out the changes, I�m forced to reduce the physical stats of the hatchlings to an even more horrible floor than they already started with. They�ll be smaller and weaker than the current workers by a significant margin. It shouldn�t matter though. My goal is to raise them up myself until they achieve their first evolution, then I�m hoping they�ll be strong enough to take care of the next generation without me.

Next, I push my current Core Surgery skill to the very limit and begin to change the evolutionary paths available to the workers. At the very least I can alter the first few tiers. The inbuilt knowledge that comes with my skill tells me that the system will be able to fill in the rest even if I don�t settle it myself. I just have to hope it can carry on with the foundations I lay in a sensible way.

For the future ant society, I�m envisioning three basic paths of evolution. The soldier path for those ants dedicated to battle, the support path for those who will be healers, tend to the young and become the future queens, and the artisan path for the ants who will indulge in their love of digging and making stuff. I�m extremely curious to see exactly what sorts of things a highly intelligent ant decides to create!

The Soldiers will obviously focus on physical stats and resilience. Their future paths include leaders with auras, tanks and scouts. Each individual can flavour their own path with whatever skills and mutations they like, so hopefully this allows enough individuality.

The Support or Worker class will be more intelligent, focusing on the work of the colony, caring for the brood and the queens. Their future paths include Juvenile Queens, Healer ants and Brood tenders.

The Artisans are the caste I�m depending on to take over my core manipulation duties. I don�t want to have to form special cores myself for every ant in the colony. These guys are highly intelligent and have a strong Will but are the weakest physically by far. Their paths include Core Manipulator, Ant Mage and Carver ant. The last one, I gifted with exceedingly mobile claws on their front legs, almost like hands. I�m not sure what they�ll be able to do with them but perhaps they�ll surprise me.

I also manage to put in place special evolutions for each of these paths. I don�t think an entire colony of ants will be able to fully reinforce their cores or anything, but it doesn�t hurt to be prepared.

By now the changes are really starting to push back hard and my mind is hitting the wall. I judge I won�t be able to do much more before I can�t go any further. I carefully check over my work to make sure I haven�t made any massive mistakes, like shift their antennae into the middle of their eyes.

With that task settled, I sit back and take in my work, figuratively speaking. Despite the downgrades I�ve made, the rate of egg production for the new ants is still going to be about half of what it was before. I�m ok with this though. If each of the new workers can prove to be twice as effective as the previous, it�ll work out just fine.

Now onto the secondary organ and the minute adjustments to ensure the Bio-Soup being produced contains the extra bits and pieces needed to produce the new juiced up eggs.

By this point, my head is on fire. There isn�t anything more I can do here even if I wanted to. Hopefully, the work I�ve done is sufficient to make my dream a reality.

With that, I withdraw my mind from the core of the queen.

My mind snaps back to its regular housing and I take a moment to reorient myself. I�m still where I was before, partially buried in a mound of workers with the queen standing in front of me, quite close.

�Are you all right, child?� she asks, seeing me suddenly look so fatigued.

�I�m completely fine!� I gasp out as my brain continues to melt into sludge. �How are you? How did it all go?�

I�m anxious to know if there was any pain or discomfort during the process. I could have tested it on my pets, but there�s a chance the skill would have a different effect on them since they have a different relationship with me than most monsters. In the end, I went ahead and worked on the queen hoping it would all be fine.

�I am fine,� the queen assures me. �It tickled a bit.�

Tickled?

Having the fundamental makeup of your being tinkered with only results in a tickle?

Thank goodness!

�That�s great! Excellent! The whole process has been a success. Hopefully from now on, our family will experience a great gain in strength!�

I stick around to counsel the queen about spending some Biomass to mutate her egg production organs. She is quite reluctant at first. After trying several arguments, I eventually tell her that by upgrading all three organs to +5 it will greatly increase the effect of the changes I�ve made to her core. This isn�t really a lie. If she upgrades those organs and chooses some good mutation advancements for them, the rate of egg production will increase as the overall efficiency of the system goes up. I don�t know for sure what advancement choices will appear, though it isn�t hard to guess that almost all of them will be based around speeding up the process, reducing the cost of each egg or improving the stats of the offspring, any of which would be fine!

Once I�m certain the queen has agreed to upgrade all three organs before beginning to produce the new workers, I drag myself back down to where Tiny is waiting and take a quick nap. The relentless battering my mind has taken has pushed even my newly evolved self pretty darn hard. Using the Core Surgery skill in particular was exceptionally draining. If I�d attempted to do it with my old self, I�d have had absolutely no chance of getting anywhere. My respect for the Sophos only increases the further I walk down the path of core manipulation. Just how powerful are their minds to create the things they do? Are their brains filling their heads and extending down into their torsos? Where do they fit it all!

When I awake it isn�t because I�ve rested my fill, but rather because my antennae are picking up something strange. Emergency pheromones from the workers!

Gah!

What is it? What�s happening!

[TINY! Come on, man! Action stations!] I blearily shout.

For once my pet ape is actually awake. When he sees me stumbling about drunkenly as I struggle to get my bearings, he reaches with a massive paw and grabs hold of me firmly before picking me up and placing me on his shoulder.

I clutch onto his fur to avoid falling flat on my face and just like that, he�s up and moving, carrying me along for the ride. With his massive arms, he takes hold of the tunnel walls before dragging his massive frame upward as if climbing on a jungle gym.

When we reach the queen�s chamber, it�s buzzing like a hive, the workers jittering this way and that, and some of them stream to the peak of the hill. The majority of them seem to want to remain and defend the queen, albeit in a highly agitated manner. Buried somewhere in that nervous mass of the workers, the queen seems content to stay still for the time being. I don�t try to talk to her since it would be difficult to get a pheromone message through what is essentially hundreds of workers screaming �Emergency!� at the top of their lungs.

Being careful not to crush the ants as he moves, Tiny continues to carry us to the surface one handhold at a time. By this stage, I�ve mostly sorted myself out. My headache hasn�t fully receded but it�s much improved. Crinis and Vibrant are relaxing on my person, as per usual, which is something of a relief. I�d rather they be where I can see them than off gallivanting somewhere when there might be a potential attack.

When Tiny makes his way out into the light at the top of the anthill, I can finally take in the situation. Hundreds of ants have already appeared in response to the threat, aggressively postured to defend the colony from all directions.

Beyond them is something I truly did not expect to see.

Several hundred dishevelled-looking humans are clustered around a number of wagons pulled by extremely poor-looking horses. At the lead is a figure I sadly recognise all too well.

The priest. His robes stained with dirt and potentially dried blood, he becomes ecstatic at the sight of me and runs forward, spooking the workers considerably. They gnash their mandibles and I reluctantly ask them to settle down as I advance to meet him.

My life might be significantly simplified by this guy vanishing but I don�t really want to kill him. Besides, judging by the look of all of these people, something rather serious has gone down. I recognise a few others in the group as members of the village that rallied around me and the queen during our short-lived cooperation. In fact, the old lady I captured, Enid, is here.

As soon as the priest reaches me, he falls to his knees and begins proclaiming in a loud voice, turning to indicate the villagers behind him should do the same.

This guy really wants to feed the dark one�s ego, doesn�t he?

I still have no idea what the heck he�s saying, so for the time being I have to leave him to his own devices. It�s a darn good thing I�ve evolved and actually have a chance to pull off the Mind Magic Transformation, otherwise I�d be forced into some kind of interpretive dance right now.

Turning my attention inwardly and ignoring the prostrating human in front of me, I summon the combined power of the brains and begin to painstakingly work on the transformation structure.

Not daring to allow myself any slips this time, I double my focus and take everything nice and slow. I manage to make it all the way to the end of the process without stuffing it up, but so careful and painstaking was I, that it takes a full ten minutes for me to finally complete it. During this time, the humans have started to grow increasingly fidgety but the priest�s capacity to extol my virtues seems to be endless.

Success. Finally complete! I admire the fiendishly complex final product in my mind. I�ve no idea why it�s so outlandishly difficult to construct, but it�s done! Now to put the darn thing to use.

Along with the knowledge of how to construct the various Mana transformers, the way to use them was also granted with the purchase of the Mana Transformation skill. The construct itself doesn�t do anything special, it�s simply the magical mixing bowl that changes regular, attribute-less Mana into the desired type.

In this instance, what I do is maintain the finished construct with one of my sub-brains and get the other to draw out raw Mana from my core, which is then fed into the shape in a specific way. As soon as the raw Mana enters, the construct leaps to life, surprising me momentarily. I didn�t know it moved!

The entire construct begins to spin and whorl, different sections moving at different speeds and in subtly different directions. The entire effect is like a beautiful dance or an engine, but infinitely more intricate.

Then finally, finally, out the other end of the construct, a thin thread of glittering golden light emerges. Mind Mana!

With my main mind, I eagerly seize this new Mana and begin to replicate the spell I�d seen Formo cast so magnificently and the human queen cast so poorly.

Mind Mana can do a heck of a lot more than this, I�m sure, but from what I�ve gathered, this spell, which effectively enables universal communication between any two organisms smart enough to think, kind of overshadows the rest of the kit.

The mind bridge.

Hesitantly at first, then with growing confidence, I reach out and connect to the best human for the job.

[Enid, what are you people doing here?]

The old lady leaps a foot in the air and drops her basket, spilling its contents and drawing the attention of the people around her.

[ME?] she squawks.

[Yes, you,] I snap.

Enid stumbles forward until she reaches the side of the still sonorously praising one-armed priest.

I see her concentrate and then her voice appears in my mind.

[Wouldn�t it be more appropriate to communicate with this man?] She indicates the priest. [It was he who led our people to this place.]

This priest? How the heck did he find me! Does he have some sort of tracking device on me or something? More likely he was able to follow our trail� The bottom line remains, what the heck are these people here for? They certainly don�t look as though they�ve come to fight, judging by the number of women and children in the crowd. Not to mention the sheer lack of arms.

[I will speak to you since I have had dealings with you before. Make it clear to the others I am speaking to you.]

I don�t want to talk to that guy. He makes me nervous.

Enid takes a moment to gingerly touch the priest on the shoulder and indicate that I�m communicating with her using Mind Magic. Rather than disappointed, the priest�s face is overcome with enlightenment and he bows low before me, head nearly touching the ground, before he backs away to speak animatedly to the crowd. Nothing fazes this guy�

[Enid, tell me why these people have followed my family here to the wild lands.]

She hesitates before she speaks, fingers idly twisting her skirts. [Our homes have been destroyed. After you vanished following the assault on the castle, things settled down. At least at first. Many of the villagers wanted to know where you went, but we weren�t told anything. Things were calm for a week, and then�]

She shivered, her recollections are apparently still terrifying.

Enid draws a deep breath before focusing her mind once more. [Then the capital caught fire. We could hear the roaring of beasts from our houses and flames reached so high it was as if the sky burned. We were terrified, nobody knew what to do. Then monsters burst out of the Dungeon and into the church, dozens of them. Some of the villagers fought for a time but they were never-ending. Then the big ones came�]

Her shoulders droop some, likely overcome with emotion. I�m not as good at reading human expressions as perhaps I was before, but she seems overwhelmed with sadness, and tears are streaming down her cheeks.

[Giant crocodiles came out. The children of Garralosh. They killed so many� Only thanks to Father Beyn did we survive. He rallied the survivors and organised a retreat. We ran from the town with nothing but what we could carry on our backs or throw onto a few carts. With the capital burning, we had nowhere to go.]

She gestured to the broken and desperate people behind her. [Without food or supplies, without knowing what was happening, we decided to flee south. We heard word of the colony�s passage as we travelled. Father Beyn believed that perhaps you would be able to help us as you had in the past, and so we came here looking for you.]

Looking me in the eye, I can tell she doesn�t hold much hope. Having interacted with me directly and taken part in the deception to save her village from themselves, she knows I am not an altruistic saviour from the Dungeon as the priest believed.

[I just hope that you will let us settle nearby and leave us in peace, that�s all we can ask. If you aren�t willing, then you may as well eat us,] she says bitterly. [We�ve lost everything and have nowhere else to go.]

I don�t think I�ll be eating anyone here, even if I need Biomass. I�ll be getting that from the Dungeon in short order. I need to prepare myself before the future generation of ant workers is born! This is a critical time for me and the colony. I don�t want any of this crap to interfere with me raising the future workforce.

[Tell your people to go make camp at least one kilometre in that direction.] I point with my antennae in front of the shocked woman. [Tell Beyn I want him to get them settled, make sure they don�t interfere with the workers or approach the nest, he�s in charge. I want you to stick around so I can ask more questions.]

Surprised and joyful, Enid passes my words onto the others. The people appear glad to some extent. A little light returns to their dark and dull faces. With a bit more energy and spring in their step, they turn as Beyn, delirious with joy at being entrusted with this task, begins to lead the others, helping them to their feet and urging them with his persuasive voice.

[Enid, sit there.] I point the tired old woman to a nearby stone and she gladly hobbles over to it and sits. I have no idea how she managed the journey at her age, trudging by foot over such a large distance. It was tiring enough for me and I�m a monster!

[What�s happened, Enid? Tell me what you know.]

She shakes her head, grey hair swaying around her ears. [I don�t know much. I think the monsters have invaded the surface. The capital got the worst of it. I can�t imagine any other reason for the whole city to be torched like that. Those poor people�]

There would have been thousands of people trapped inside those walls. It isn�t hard to imagine the chaos that would have occurred.

[I know a little about the Dungeon,] Enid continues. [My husband taught me a lot about his work. It isn�t normal for monsters to approach the surface like this. Something strange is happening.]

I have no doubt about that. To me, strange stuff has been happening ever since I arrived here, so I�m not too fussed by it.

[You mentioned the croca-beasts�I mean, the Garralosh infants? Why bring them up in particular?]

[There were a lot of them. More than you would normally expect. You usually only find those things around here when their mother has been past and lain a clutch of eggs somewhere deep, but these ones were young. I have to think they were lain somewhere close to the surface, which would mean�]

[Wait a moment,] I interrupt. [Their mother!]

The older woman looks at me somewhat confused. [Of course, didn�t the queen tell you about Garralosh?]

[�Not really.]

[Garralosh has been around this area, deep in the Dungeon, for hundreds of years. A century ago, the beast decided to try and raise its own young. Ever since then, its hateful offspring have filled the Dungeon under Liria.]

All of those damnable crocs actually did come from a single parent? Like� ALL of them? I know how that process works now, unless there�s some crazy variant of it. That Garralosh monster would have had to have eaten an absolute mountain of Biomass to produce so many large and complex creatures.

Enid breaks into my thoughts with her mental voice. [I think Garralosh must have risen up in the Dungeon and assaulted the surface. It sounds insane, since something like that hasn�t happened for thousands of years, but it�s the only thing I can think of that fits. Just� how? Why?]

[Oh, that�s easy,] I say absentmindedly. [The Mana level in the Dungeon is still getting higher is all.]

First shock, then horror overtakes Enid�s face before her eyes roll back in her head and she passes out.

Once Enid wakes up and manages to gather herself, I speak to her a little longer before sending her back to her people. Then I lay a heck of a big pheromone marker around their campsite encouraging the workers not to eat them.

If they run into a worker outside of that ring� that�ll be a little different. Although I�m inclined to trust these people a heck of a lot more than I ever trusted their queen, I�m not prepared to let them run around willy nilly. They�ve been given a very small hurdle to jump over as the first action toward building trust, let�s see how they go.

Job done I wander back to the anthill, collecting Tiny on the way, and we descend down to our little chamber, snacking on a few monsters once we get there.

This is the last thing we need right now! The changes to the queen�s core have only just been made. It�ll be a week, two at the most, before she�s lain the first batch of the new wave of workers. I cannot afford to have anything go wrong. Those ants will be a heck of a lot smarter than the previous hatchlings, but they�re also significantly weaker. These ants are going to be like human infants, without someone to help guide them and raise them in the beginning, they won�t be able to reach their potential.

If I�ve got giant croca-babies and their mother burning the Dungeon tunnels and the entire surface to the ground, it�s hardly going to be an ideal environment to raise ant hatchlings.

What a pain in the thorax!

What the heck am I going to do?

I can�t just leave it as is� Enid made it perfectly clear there would likely be more refugees from Liria heading south over the next few days. She seemed to think the destruction was centred on the capital and then expanded outward. There were a whole lot of panicked people in the towns and villages they passed, getting ready to flee at the first sign of danger. Those people are probably already on the road in this direction.

Even if I don�t do anything about it, the problem will reach me eventually. If those crocs and the other monsters are running about on the surface, there�s no reason to believe they won�t come here.

Only one thing for it then. If I�m going to get the peace and quiet I need to change the destiny of ant-kind, then I�m going to have to clear up our little croc problem.

First things first!

[Tiny! Crinis! It�s time to go smash stuff and eat!]

�Vibrant! Where did you get to?�

�Here-here!�

She�s on top of Tiny�s head for a change. I should encourage that.

�We�re moving into the Dungeon, we need to clear it at high-speed and stuff ourselves with Biomass as we go. You coming?�

�Yippee!�

Of course she is.

I�ve already done what I can to organise the humans for the time being. They know where to go and where not to. They have access to water from a nearby spring and they�ll need to sort themselves out food-wise to some extent. It isn�t as if we have a heap of ant bakers churning out fine baguettes or anything.

The first order of business is to go into the Dungeon and check out the situation there, whilst power eating. I need more Biomass and Crinis needs to grow up as quickly as possible. I send a quick message to Enid letting her know that I�ll be in the Dungeon for the next few days, and to make sure her people and any newcomers stick to the rules I�ve lain down in my absence. I�m not worried about these humans overpowering the colony at all. They�re mostly farmers and craftsmen. It�d be best to avoid unnecessary casualties on both sides though. We have bigger crocs to fry.

I break off the mind bridge to Enid and my sub-brains relax into little balls of goop. It was damn hard maintaining it over that distance, but I wanted to test my limits. Formo managed to weave one over a distance of kilometres without breaking a sweat. I�m still a mile away from that level. Even maintaining it over a distance of one kilometre was about all I could manage.

I also allow the Mind Magic construct to collapse, further releasing the burden on my brains. Now that I succeeded once, I�m sure I�ll be able to reproduce it easier the next time.

Once my brains have had a rest, I�ll need to get to testing some more combat-oriented transformation constructs. Probably the water one.

Into the Dungeon!

The gang advances at a rapid pace. Tiny can quickly slap to death any of the regular customers we see as we rapidly descend through the upper tunnels. We take a few detours here and there to make sure nothing is slipping past us as we travel, fleshing out my Tunnel Map a little more and pushing the skill to Level five.

Any time we encounter an evolved creature, we get the little ones to stuff themselves with it to mount up that Biomass. There is one problem though.

[Crinis?] I ask.

[Yes, Master,] she responds faster this time, perhaps sensing I wasn�t going to tolerate silence on this one.

[Are you actually growing? You�re the same size as you were when you were born,] I point out.

It�s true. She�s still roughly the size of a tennis ball. Sometimes she appears a bit larger, and anytime she�s eating she looks much bigger, but when at rest, such as now, she reverts back to a handy tennis ball.

[Well?] I prod.

[�I am growing, Master,] she responds, sounding embarrassed.

[And?]

She clearly doesn�t want to be talking about this. [I can compress the extra mass, Master, due to my nature as a shadow beast. I have been growing properly.]

[Why do you choose to be such a small size all the time?] I ask, baffled.

Wouldn�t it be more impressive to be larger? Display her strength to the world?

[�I think it�s easier like this,] she suddenly gushes. [I fit on Master�s back much more comfortably!]

Well� that is true, I suppose.

[If you want to stay small, you can stay small, Crinis. Whatever floats your boat. Just let me know the second you�re ready for combat, we need to power Level you in a big way.]

[Yes, Master! It won�t be long now!]

[Oh? Good!]

The sooner she can turn into the blending tentacle orb of death she was before, the better. She�s seriously taking a lot longer to grow than Tiny did. Is it because she�s a more complex creature? At least, she was at the time of her reconstitution. I�m starting to see how the skill that increases the speed of pet growth might be desirable.

We continue our way down the tunnels. So far everything appears to be the normal, dumb plants, occasional pig, and various other little bits of nothing. Other than Dashing about every now and again to train the skill, I leave most of the fighting to Tiny. I need to let my brains rest before I test new magic constructions. I do manage to put my new mandibles to work. The Savage Mandibles have way more impressive cutting strength than the regular mandibles. The bites are nastier, wider and look like they�d be more difficult to heal as well. All in all, I�m quite happy with this upgrade.

Time to go deeper.

We make rapid progress in our descent this time as opposed to the first. Tiny is stronger after his second consecutive special evolution. He smashes his way with extreme speed and a strangely casual attitude through these small fries. I don�t think I�ve even seen him throw a punch. He�s just squashing monsters flat beneath his palms for the most part.

I really have no idea exactly what he gained in the evolution. Perhaps some new organs? Something related to his lightning? Maybe a boost to his sonic scream? I�m more tempted than ever to take the skill that allows me to look at a pet�s status, simply for convenience�s sake, but I resist. Now that I have the Core Surgery skill, I can take a look at his information using that. It�s just a bit more difficult to do so. I have a lot of Skill Points saved up at the moment, so the thought of casually spending one or two to make life a little easier is extremely tempting.

As Tiny keeps slapping his way through the upper layers, we pause every now and again to let the little ones eat. I�ve told Crinis to exercise as much as possible to aid her digestion in order to allow for maximum food stuffage in the shortest period of time. What this ends up being, is her frantically waving tentacles all over the place whilst riding on my back. She can extend a lot more limbs a lot farther than she could not that long ago, so I�ll take that as evidence of her growing properly.

Whenever we take breaks, I flip through the skills menu, looking for anything new that�s appeared or anything that might be useful. There are a few skills I hadn�t seen before that I�m considering purchasing. Especially these:

[Water Magic affinity: Increases the user�s comfort, speed and efficacy when using Mana of the water attribute.]

[Fire Magic affinity: Increases the user�s comfort, speed and efficacy when using Mana of the fire attribute.]

[Earth Magic affinity: Increases the user�s comfort, speed and efficacy when using Mana of the earth attribute.]

[Wind Magic affinity: Increases the user�s comfort, speed and efficacy when using Mana of the wind attribute.]

The appearance of these skills seems to answer a few of my questions. It appears that once an intelligent creature has mastered the Transformation skill to some extent, they will be able to choose an affinity to make it easier to advance onto the next step. I�m guessing that with higher levels of the Mana Transformation skill, or perhaps when the skill advances to the next rank, then other, more advanced affinities will become unlocked.

It makes sense that these basic elements are the first to become available, since of all the Mana types, these four have the most basic transformation constructs, making them the simplest attributes of all.

After some consideration, I eventually purchase the Water Magic Affinity. I know the croca-beasts have a fire magic gland, despite being based on an aquatic creature. Even if water magic doesn�t prove to be too effective offensively against them, I�m sure it�ll be more than a little handy defensively.

That thought leads me in an interesting direction. Is it possible for a creature to have poor compatibility with certain elements? Or even good affinity? A water-based life-form like a crocodile doesn�t seem to have good synergy with fire magic on the surface� Maybe I�m overthinking the whole crocodile thing. Just because they dwell in water on my world doesn�t necessarily mean they do here, or that the croca-beasts are better in water than anything else in the Dungeon.

I decide to poke through a Garralosh Infant core the next time I get one. My skill Level is much higher and I might be able to see something I couldn�t before.

We continue for about an hour, making our way down to the location of the shortcut we previously dug. While Tiny smashes everything, I continue to charge about like crazy, delighting the little ones, until the notification springs up in my mind.

[Dash has reached Level 5. Upgrade available.]

Nice!

[Dash → Rapid Dash (II): Cost 1 SP: Like a flaming horse, the user will be able to dash faster and with more precision.]

I�ll take it!

Even with this, I still have ten Skill Points saved up. I�ll leave it for now, but I really ought to be spending these. Skill Points in the bank do nothing to increase strength! I do need to keep a few points in reserve so I can advance key skills when they hit the cap, ten�s just pushing it.

Once the local tunnel has been emptied out, we excavate the entrance and start clearing the shortcut of spawned monsters. By this time, the Dungeon has extended its veins all the way to the top. Beasties and plants have spawned all over the place and started ripping into each other with gusto.

It�s over quickly when we arrive. I go into high gear to help take care of things and bite the heck out of everything I see. Once finished, we pile up the more evolved species at the top of the shortcut and I spray food pheromones all over the place. This tasty meal should find itself in front of the queen fairly shortly.

Next order of business: Brief rest!

Aaand back at it. In order to ensure the Dungeon beneath the colony is safe, we keep mapping out the branching paths as much as possible. Every tunnel Tiny can fit in is explored to some extent, those he can�t, I scurry into myself and snap everything I find to bits.

This is exhausting! On the plus side, my Tunnel Map is becoming more and more complete. This is something necessary for the defence of the colony.

After we spend another two hours clearing out the tunnels, we reconvene at the shortcut for another rest and feeding session. Tiny and I are getting reduced Biomass from the food at this point. I scrounge together eleven points after stuffing myself, but at least I get the benefit of having my various nicks healed.

I spend the points straight away on upgrading my new supportive skeleton to +2 and my Coordination Cortex to +1. The most efficient play will be to upgrade these new body parts to +5 before resuming the journey to all +10. Technically, I should take a body part to +20 at this level of evolution�

I really need to get my eat on. My mutation numbers are going to the moon!

I send Tiny up the shortcut with another shipment of food for the queen. She�ll get even less than I do out of these monsters, but it�s better than feeding on the piddling surface creatures. The sooner we get that egg production system upgraded, the better. The new generation must be as strong as possible.

I�ll have to check in on her when I return. If she�s storing Biomass to produce eggs without upgrading herself�

Let�s just say I wouldn�t be surprised.

When Tiny returns, we settle in for a brief nap and gather together into the main tunnel, sealing the shortcut closed behind us. It�s time to delve a little deeper. We still have over a day of exploration before we�re expected on the surface and I intend to be sure there aren�t any threats coming from below before we return.

Something echoes up the tunnel toward us. A faint wail, the fading sound of bone on bone.

Something is coming.

Almost as if the air were rushing toward us, a wave of pressure rolls up the tunnel and presses against my face.

It� isn�t comfortable.

[�Something is coming up. Get ready to fight,�] I warn my crew.

Vibrant and Crinis huddle carefully on my person. Tiny stands to his full height, his head brushing the roof. He can also sense the disturbance. His silver fur starts to rise off his frame as electrical sparks begin to shimmer and zap across his frame.

Ohhhh, he�s pumped up! I�m also keen to see what he can do now that he�s evolved. That massive frame isn�t for nothing. I�m sure I�ll witness something interesting when he goes at it. Now that I think of it, I should also start making some preparations.

My two sub-brains are well rested and ready for action. It�s time to put them to work. Wanting to test their strength, I task both with a separate spell, one Gravity Bolt each. Best to begin with the basics and work their way up.

As the pressure continues to build and roll against us, I internally sense my two little helpers getting busy shaping the spells. Independently, they draw on the Gravitational Mana stored in my gland and begin the process.

Gwehehehehehe.

Excellent!

Chuckling to myself with glee, I begin to shape a third spell with my main mind. Not double the spells, TRIPLE the spells! This is the true, awesome power of my Divergent Mind! The sub-brains are neither as quick nor as capable as I was in my last evolution. They lack the force of Will to shift the Mana as rapidly, and the Cunning to weave the shapes as deftly. Even if it takes them twice as long, being able to independently cast their own spells makes these sub-brains so damn useful!

Now to unleash the fearsome might. The unparalleled force and the extraordinary dexterity of my newly upgraded main brain!

After all, most of the extra juice I pumped into my mental faculties was spent on this. In terms of Will or Cunning, I�m nothing like I was before. Behold!

With force and precision, I draw on the Gravitational Mana to rapidly weave it into a Gravity Spear, the long body of the spell with its surrounding intricately engraved circles taking shape at record pace. Incredible!

My ability to use magic in combat situations has absolutely shot through the roof! I�m more than satisfied. With my next evolution, I may spend a little of my budget neatening up the edges, but I don�t think I need much more juice in the mental department. I�ll be ramping up my physical stats until I�m the same size as Tiny!

Once the spells are formed, I hold them ready, one mind for each, and prepare myself to face whatever is approaching.

Tiny is so excited he�s practically fidgeting. Calm down, oi!

Gradually the sounds from the tunnel build in volume. From a whisper to a murmur and then rising into a crescendo of sound. Roars, screams and the pounding of feet fill the air, rattling my nerves. I still can�t see anything coming. Where the heck are they!

This sounds like a freaking stampede of monsters!

Just when I�m starting to reconsider our frontal approach, the edges of the horde come into view. My first impression is a wave of teeth racing at full speed. The second and third impressions are much the same.

What the heck is this!

Dozens of monsters, hundreds even, are charging with mouths gaping and claws rending the air. They aren�t fighting each other at all� this is weird! Gandalf? Any advice!

Dammit, you beardy-faced pile of senility!

[Tiny! This is going to get rough! Go all out!]

Why the hell didn�t I get a Gravity Bomb ready?

I see all sorts of monsters mixed into the onrushing horde. Shadowy monsters, Imps, pigs and even some of the mobile plant types are in the mix. I just can�t understand why they�re all cooperating.

And the formless pressure is still building. Pressing down on us like an unseen hand.

No time to hesitate, let�s do this!

Experience the power of my ant soul!

Gravity Spear! Gravity Bolt! Gravity Bolt!

All three spells are launched simultaneously, streaking through the air like glittering purple arrows. The monsters have no capacity to dodge, as packed together as they are. The leading shadow beast is speared directly through the chest and the creatures around him are instantly wrapped within the expanding circles as the spell activates.

The second the pull is applied, over ten monsters are dragged toward the target. Not expecting the sudden force, they�re thrown off their feet and stumble, only to be smashed into the ground by the pounding feet of the creatures behind them. Other monsters trip and fall, only to meet the same fate. Crushed under the heels and claws of their brethren.

[You have defeated�]

[You have defeated�]

No time for that!

The two Gravity Bolts smack into another two monsters and drag them down. These are also crushed. With five or six monsters dead, the size of the coming monster wave hasn�t even diminished.

Going to need to bring out the big guns!

I spin up the backup singers and task them with preparing the much more complex Gravity Domain. With the two of them working in tandem, they should be able to handle it. I don�t want to chip in with the main mind right now, I need my wits about me.

Tiny is getting increasingly riled up, electricity crackling all over his frame, stinging the air with frequent flashes of light. In the face of the onrushing monsters, he doesn�t flinch, but rather smashes his chest with his mighty fists and roars! His powerful bellows and shrieks are so loud, they even rise above the cacophony of the beasts coming at us.

And he doesn�t stop there. Having issued his challenge, the ape charges in, smashing the tunnel floor with his knuckles as he picks up speed. He�s not content to wait. He�s going to take the fight to the enemy!

Dammit, Tiny!

[�We�re going in with him, hold on!�]

Dash!

I spring forward, hurtling ourselves to the onrushing horde. As I get closer, the thousands of teeth and claws grow larger in my sight until there�s nothing else. This is madness! What is happening here is sheer madness.

How�s that Domain coming?

Still not ready?

CRASH!

Like a cannonball, Tiny smashes into the front ranks of the wave, fists flying. Monsters are catapulted into the air and bashed into the walls. He continues to propel himself, bellowing his challenge.

Tiny is quickly surrounded, the monsters latching onto him with claws, mouths, tentacles and whatever else they have available, lashing the ape again and again.

Oh no you don�t!

SHATTERING BITE!

CRUNCH!

Pouring out my stamina into the bite, I manifest jaws of light over two metres long and rip them closed. The Savage Mandibles display their ferocity, tearing my enemies apart and crushing them in the same breath.

The horde of monsters is endless. Is this the true Wave? I feel like I�m battling the tide!

Shattering Bite! Shattering Bite! Shattering Bite! Shattering Bite!

I lash out relentlessly, but as quickly as I crush them, they�re instantly replaced by more. Tiny doesn�t seem to care. He keeps pushing deeper, sending waves of monsters flying with every lashing of his fists. The electricity on him is still building! It�s started flashing out and lighting up the monsters around him like Christmas trees, and it doesn�t feel like it�s going to stop there.

Electricity rippling across his body, Tiny�s fists flash out, devastating his opponents. None can stand up to his blows. That doesn�t shock me much. We�re talking about a ten-foot-tall gorilla monster here. If I�d seen a gorilla on Earth that was ten feet tall, I�d have browned my downstairs department. Physical strength is something he has in spades.

What�s really impressive is the lightning strikes flashing from his body without him having to think about it. Blasting any creatures who draw too close. Problem is, they have no choice but to get too close since they�re a mindless mass of monsters pushing forward no matter what.

We�re still taking damage, he and I. It only took a few seconds of following Tiny�s charge for the two of us to be completely surrounded, buried amongst the monsters. They lash at us from all sides, battering me with their limbs, trying to bite through my tough carapace and raising sparks between their teeth and my shell. I�m losing HP here!

Thankfully my defence is holding up pretty well, but Tiny is suffering. He doesn�t have a nice handy outer skeleton and his fur is only a slight protection. His physical stats are likely inordinately slanted toward Might as opposed to Toughness. As the claws and teeth of our foes rain down on him, he�s continuously taking damage.

Not that he slows down any�

Is that Domain ready yet!

My two sub-brains have been frantically working together to weave the far more complex spell but it�s still not done. Unwilling to wait any longer, I focus with my main mind and ignore the rain of blows that fall on me the moment I grow still. With every ounce of my mental strength applied to the task, the spell rapidly takes form, layer after layer of complexity added to the construct until it�s finally complete.

Not hesitating in the slightest, I open the sluice gates and pour in the Gravitational Mana like it�s going out of fashion. Get! This! Spell! Done!

There!

The instant it�s ready I unleash the Domain and the glittering purple dome of energy rapidly expands outward. Encompassing the entire width of the tunnel, the spell expands ten metres out in all directions.

THROOM!

The massive gravitational pull kicks in and the monsters around me are immediately affected.

[Tiny!] I shout.

The ape turns back toward me. These monsters are made of sterner stuff and won�t collapse to the ground just because of the Domain, but their ability to move and contest us has easily halved. The shadow beasts are probably holding up better than the rest. Their strange elastic flesh is far stronger than it appears.

But now we can manage.

�KEEEEEEEEE!�

Tiny opens his mouth wide and unleashes his ultimate bat scream, the Ultrasonic Wave! The ear shattering sound is even stronger than before, piercing straight through my antennae and stabbing into my brain.

That stings!

I manage to resist the stunning effect thanks to my over-tuned Will, but most of the monsters aren�t so lucky. Those caught inside the Domain have it the worst, hit by double debilitating effects. Those on the outside don�t look so good either.

[Get �em!]

The two of us start flailing about madly, Tiny with his fists and me with my jaws. I use Shattering Bite over and over again until my face aches and exhaustion creeps in. Tiny�s endlessly lashing out with his fists. And even now, the monsters keep coming! They�re walking straight into the Domain and don�t seem to care. What is driving these creatures?

[Tiny, retreat and eat something, restore your strength!]

The limiting factor here is our stamina. I might have taken less damage than Tiny, but his robust physique will provide him a lot more energy. After constantly using my advanced physical skills, I�m beginning to run out of gas.

My two sub-brains are currently tasked with maintaining the Domain. A constant flood of Gravitational Mana flows out of my gland and into the construct powering the spell. Thanks to the bottomless upgrade, I don�t need to worry about running out of Mana in the short-term. My feet are sucking up energy from the floor every passing second, but the rate of transfer into Gravity Mana is still painfully slow.

Tiny shakes his head but ultimately can�t refuse my order. He throws himself behind me and starts stuffing his face with the plentiful Biomass littered across the tunnel floor. The food will help accelerate the healing of his wounds and give a little extra fuel in the stamina fire.

[Crinis! Go with him, this is going to get dangerous!] I yell as I flick the little ball of dark rubber at Tiny as he runs past.

With all of these attacks raining down on me, I don�t want the little one to get squashed by accident with her not being combat ready. Vibrant at least is a proper monster, with a carapace to protect her from any glancing blows.

With Tiny gone, the monsters descend on me like locusts. I can�t even tell how many there are or if we are whittling down their numbers. My impressive, nearly three-sixty degree vision is giving me a wonderful view of monsters mouths trying to attach themselves to my person!

I continue to absorb the battering, laying out with my mandibles at every opportunity. In an effort to avoid complete exhaustion I stopped using my skills and instead started channelling Mana into my mandibles to add a bit more punch to my bite.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

The horrific sounds of my jaws at work mix with the howls and savage cries of the beasts. I felt like I held on for hours, but it was probably only a minute before Tiny�s furious voice rang in my mind.

[FIGHT!]

Sounds like he�s had enough eating. I bolt to his location at the rear of the fight as he charges into the fray once more. I try and stay close behind him while stuffing my face with Biomass and activate my healing gland to recover from the battering I�d just received.

I hope Tiny can hold on for a while, I�m knackered. This is the weakness of my body right now. Mental power for days but not enough combat effectiveness yet. I need to start practicing the water transformation construct as soon as possible!

Tiny re-joins the fight with relish and pounds his opponents into the dirt with rising glee. The electricity on his body is still crackling away, blasting the occasional monster into a deep-fried version of itself. Does he ever run out of electricity?

Apparently not! With a mighty bellow, Tiny raises both hands over his head, bringing them together for a slam. Once his fists rise into the air all the electrical energy crackling over his body floods up his arms, concentrating on his fists, and they shine so brightly I wish I had eyelids.

As the electrical energy intensifies, a static whine grows in pitch until it rises above the register I can hear. I can still feel it though, causing the hairs on my antennae to violently shake.

The monsters around him don�t seem to know what is coming as they charge, leaping at Tiny, desperate to take a bite out of him.

Then those fists come down and the tunnel is filled with lightning.

The entire tunnel shakes when those fists impact the ground, knocking most monsters off their feet. The electricity contained in the strike erupts, rolling outward from the point of impact in a forward arc. Crackling over the floor, it slides along the ground like a wave. Every monster it touches gets thoroughly cooked. Dozens of monsters collapse as the tide of lightning explodes through their ranks, decimating the foes in a blinding flash.

That. Is. Hot. To. Death!

Tiny, you the ape!

I haven�t even finished celebrating Tiny�s spectacular Lightning Wave technique�named it myself�before my joy is quenched by more monsters rushing up as the ones in front collapse from being overcooked.

How many of these damn things are there going to be!

I hurriedly make use of the room Tiny bought us by stuffing my face full of Biomass. Every bit counts! I also snap up my status to check on any skill changes. I want every edge I can get in this critical fight!

Hmmm.

I�ve gained a Level of Shattering Bite and two Levels in Advanced Exo-Skeleton Defence. Letting myself get battered by a horde of trash seems like a good way to train that skill, if painful. Looks like I�m going to get battered to hell all over again in a minute. The next wave of shadow beasts will be on us soon.

Seems I also managed to gain two Levels from the conflict as well. Not too helpful at the present moment, but nice to know!

[Master!]

[Crinis, what�s up?]

[I�m ready!]

Those monsters are closing in quick. I don�t have time for a chat!

[Ready for what?]

[To fight!]

[Fight what!]

I really need her to get to the point here.

[�I�ve finished my growth phase,] she slows down to explain to me clearly. [If you point me at the enemy, I can fight them.]

Oh� Ohhhhhh! AWWW!

[Quick, grab on!]

I shift an antenna over in her direction, and the little tennis ball sized glob of dark rubber latches on. She�s still the same size as she was before.

[Are you sure?] I ask.

[Positive, Master.]

[Ok then� Here you go!]

I flick her into the air directly at the onrushing beasts. Tiny watches as she sails over his head, tracing a graceful arc through the air. As she travels, something remarkable happens. She starts to grow. From a little tennis ball she expands. By the time she reaches the apex of her arc, she�s inflated to basketball size, and as she descends, she continues to become larger. Just before she vanishes into the crowd of monsters, the central sphere of her body unfolds and dozens of powerful, barbed tentacles appear, surrounding a horrific, open maw.

Dis gon be good!

Almost giddy with anticipation, I skitter up the wall to get a better view of the action.

Just in time too!

Once that inflated ball vanished from sight, sunk into the middle of the onrushing horde, a few seconds passed and then� chaos!

Tentacles flailed wildly as Crinis unleashed the true power of the Jellymaw! Mowing down monsters like a scythe or gripping them, lifting them into the air and crushing them before they are tossed into that endless mouth.

Monster after monster vanishes into Crinis� gullet. She doesn�t seem to change size at all! Whatever dimension they�re travelling to, I hope their end is a peaceful one. The monsters do their best to fight back, slashing at her tentacles or dashing in to bite at her. I�m sure they�re doing damage but I can�t see it.

At the rate she�s eating them she might just be healing it right back up anyway.

Between the shredding and I, Tiny stands quite still, squishing to death any monster that gets close enough or tries to slip past him. I think he might be enjoying the show just as much as I am!

[How�s it going, Crinis! Do you need help?] I enquire.

[No need, Master. You don�t need to sully your mandibles with this trash.]

That�s a bit harsh on them, isn�t it?

Releasing my Domain spell, I start weaving a few Gravity Bolts and fling them into the fight whenever they�re ready. Trying to do a little bit to ease the burden on my youngest pet, though it doesn�t seem like she needs it�

When it comes to cutting down weaker creatures like chaff, she is surely the most suitable between herself and Tiny. The big ape is more specialised as a big hitter. Though his new area lightning strike certainly helps him out in this department.

This is why I chose to make Crinis my second pet, she counterbalances Tiny extremely well!

Watching her shred through the endless waves of monsters is almost enough to bring a tear of pride to my eye. If she seems deadly now, just wait until she evolves!

Her main disadvantage of not being able to see is totally irrelevant to her at the moment. No matter what direction she extends a limb, there�s going to be an enemy there. Like a relentless machine, those tentacles snatch up a monster and crush it before snapping out to seize another victim.

It�s incessant!

In the end, I leave the casting of the Gravity Bolts to my sub-brains and chill out on the wall. It�s kind of nice to be so unneeded.

[Ah� Crinis, can you not eat so many, we could send some of that up to the queen.]

[Oh! Sorry, Master! I� I�ll control myself.]

[Thanks.]

She really is a hungry thing, isn�t she?

Tiny gets bored after a while and wades back into the fight, making sure to remain a minimum distance from his fellow pet. He throws and slams monsters to his heart�s content.

So peaceful here in the Dungeon�

After another twenty minutes of monster splatting, there finally seems to be none left, and we�re able to spend some time picking through the battlefield. Looking at the heaped piles of monster remains, I try and estimate just how many there were in this ravenous swarm. The Biomass is piled high even though Crinis probably ate almost a hundred monsters on her own. Just where is her stomach!

When I finally come up with a number, a chill rushes through my carapace. There must have been almost a thousand of them! If Tiny and I hadn�t evolved� if Crinis hadn�t suddenly been able to fight�

What would have happened to us if we tried to face down that many monsters?

It�s disturbing to think about. I have so many questions now as a result of this� Why has this happened? The queen certainly never mentioned this sort of phenomenon, though it does seem reminiscent of what Enid told me happened back in Liria.

Are these monsters being controlled or threatened? Are they being chased out of their territory and sent up the Dungeon?

I�ll have to answer these questions another time. First, we all eat until we�re full, not that Crinis had any more space� I manage to gain fourteen Biomass, then I pick over the battlefield to find any monster cores using my Mana Sense. Tiny piles up a load for the queen over at the hidden entrance to our shortcut.

I manage to find twenty cores amongst the wreckage. Those go to Crinis, who promptly sticks them into the multi-dimensional folds of her person, and then she shrinks back down to a tennis ball which I place on my back.

Oof! Heavy!

So damn heavy!

She might be able to hide all that Biomass, but she still carries the weight!

[Is everything alright, Master?] says the innocent little murder blob on my back.

My legs are shaking!

[I�m ok!] I wheeze.

�Crinis was so awesome!� cheers Vibrant, rushing over to her mini friend and rolling her about with her antennae.

[�Look. Let�s take this food up to the surface and do a check of the nearby tunnels. I want to make sure no monsters made it past us and up to the queen�s chamber.�]

[�Ok!�]

After delivering the Biomass to the surface and marking it with pheromones so the colony will pick it up, we return to the entrance, making sure to conceal it. I feel good knowing all this Biomass is going to bring the queen closer to upgrading all of her egg production organs and laying the first generation of the new workers!

For that happy occasion to come to pass, we need to work hard. Get to it, Anthony! Protect the colony! Kill the invaders!

Once we get back down, we backtrack up the tunnel and check out the branching paths off the main tunnel. After two hours of meticulous searching, we come up with nothing� no tracks, no monsters, no nothing.

Seems like that deadly wave of monsters only came up the tunnel we were in. That�s far too much of a coincidence to write off as luck. There must be something about this tunnel in particular�

After resting briefly�I get Crinis to hop off so I can stretch my legs�I decide we�ll venture farther down and explore this tunnel a little deeper. We aren�t that far down here. If there�s any serious action happening, it�s surely going to be deeper than this.

The four of us gird ourselves and begin to venture deeper into the Dungeon.

As we descend, I can really feel the difference in the Mana. It�s certainly denser than it was when we fled the Dungeon at the start of the wave, no doubt about it. I think the wave has clearly moved into a new phase, as stronger monsters with longer gestation periods are forming in the walls now. On the one hand, it means they aren�t popping out every few minutes. On the other, it means a stronger fight when they�re finally formed.

This is slightly better than it was before, but not by much.

Still, this change leads me to conclude that something weird is going on in the Dungeon, and I don�t like it. The monsters become tougher as we descend, even if they aren�t necessarily a higher tier of creature. Something I�ve noticed is that even creatures of the same species are often found lower down if they�re a higher Level. Perhaps it�s a natural instinct of monsters to move lower the stronger they get?

Certainly, I have a good reason to be inside the Dungeon, with my core draining until I die if I don�t have access to the sweet, sweet Mana.

Along the way, I start practicing the formation of the Water Mana Transformation construct. It�s far simpler than the Mind Magic one, so it doesn�t take long for me to start making progress. I wonder if this is how human mages train, by repeatedly forming these constructs until they get good enough to form them at high speeds so they can cast spells.

It makes sense. I�m cheating in many ways, since rather than improve my mind through exercises and repeated practice I simply upgraded my brain during the evolution process�

Ha! This is the advantage of monster-kind! This is my consolation for having to eat guts and bones all the time without any seasoning!

I let Tiny resume his monster slapping role, filling in my Tunnel Map and tracing the side tunnels a ways when they appear. I wonder if there�s an Expanse down here somewhere. From what I�ve been told of the Dungeon, they appear fairly regularly at various depths. The Forest Expanse was only unusual for how close it was to the surface. The various Expanses are almost like the organs of the Dungeon, the vital ecosystems that keep it running. The connecting tunnels are like the veins, allowing monsters and Mana to flow between them. At least that�s how the human queen phrased it.

It isn�t really a question of if there�s an Expanse down here, but where it is. It may be straight down or off to one side of us. No matter what, all main tunnels will eventually connect to an Expanse, so as long as we trace them out, we�re going to find one.

About twenty minutes later, I finally succeed in forming my first Water Mana Transformation construct.

Woo!

So much easier than the Mind Magic one� my upgraded brain has already succeeded! Perhaps this is the effect of the affinity skill as well?

I can�t wait to try out some spells!

Feeding the construct raw Mana, it begins to perform its intricate dance, working its special alchemy on the raw Mana from my core until it finally emerges from the other end as shimmering blue water Mana.

So exciting!

I leave one sub-brain in charge of holding the construct in place and task the other with feeding a constant stream of raw Mana from my core into it while I take the Mana and begin testing some of the known shapes to see what works.

First, the bolt!

Following much the same principles as the Gravity Bolt, I begin to use the Mana to weave the familiar shape until a shimmering blue bolt is formed within my mind. Nice! Let�s test this sucka!

Fire!

Fwoosh!

Filled with blue Mana, a dense ball of water is formed that blasts forward and impacts against a nearby rock formation where it explodes. Water flies everywhere and the stone partially crumbles under the impact of the pressurised water ball.

Holy heck!

So nice!

Let�s try the spear.

I gather a new Mana thread and start trying to form the spear shape, but the spell doesn�t seem to want to come together. The more I try and force it, the more it pushes back until the whole things snaps and comes apart.

What!

Why the heck did that fail?

I try again, a bit irritated, and the same thing happens. I get to a point where the spell simply won�t come together and if I try to force it, the whole thing breaks and dissolves to nothing.

GAH!

Let�s put the spear aside for a moment and try something else.

I could try the Domain spell I guess� but I don�t want to use that much Mana and exhaust my mind. What other shapes are there? I haven�t looked at the others since I haven�t really used them in so long.

Hmm�

I flick through a few different spells in my mind before settling on one. This�ll do!

The shape I�ve chosen is similar to the spear but more open ended, kind of like a cylinder within a cylinder, and both are engraved with elaborate patterns and signs. Not the worst thing I�ve ever seen. Let�s give it a go!

With my powerful main mind on the job, I work patiently through the process of forming the construct, and ten minutes later, it�s finally complete! I may have had to remake a few parts, but for my first go that isn�t too bad.

Let�s power it up and see what it does.

Fire!

FOOM!

A solid jet of water appears above my head and blasts forward as if shot from a fire hose. Holy Moly! The potent stream of water sends spray fountaining everywhere as it smashes into the wall of the tunnel.

Ah! It�s still drawing on my Mana. Turn it off! Turn it off!

So, a Water Cannon?

Tiny is looking at me, irritated, dripping wet from the spray.

�Sorry about that, buddy!

I wonder which other shapes will work. There are a few I still haven�t tried, even with Gravitational Mana. Since my raw Mana is being replenished quite rapidly through my feet I may as well try and experiment.

I think of the various shapes that have been implanted in my head when learning my magic related skills and find one to my liking. This one is sort of a curved arc with a cloud-like base. I don�t know why, but I feel like it will be impressive.

It�s a bit more difficult than the last one, so I take my time to carefully construct it. Tiny�s busy slapping to death the various monsters we come across. Eventually it�s ready and I start powering it. The moment I do, I realise this one is going to need quite a lot of juice before I can cast it.

[Tiny? Come and stand behind me.]

The giant ape moves behind me, carefully positioning his lumbering form to avoid possible splash back.

Still thinking about that, eh?

Being careful, I continue to feed the water attribute Mana into the spell as it comes out of my transformation construct, drawing the reserves in my core lower and lower. Just how much is this spell going to take?

Aha, ready at last!

After activating the spell, I stumble a little against the potent magic.

With a colossal BOOM, water explodes out of the ground in front of me with a deafening roar and thunders down the tunnel in a mighty tidal wave!

Stalagmites shatter and get washed away by the sheer kinetic force of the wave as it froths and foams, eventually following the tunnel around a bend and out of sight.

Then a chorus of angry roars echoes up the chamber.

�Whoops?

Looks like we might have hit something by mistake?

Although, considering everything down that tunnel is sure to be hostile, I�m not sure I would call it a mistake.

I wonder what I even hit with that wave�

The mystery is soon solved when a gang of angry and damp croca-beasts swagger around the corner looking for trouble.

You guys!

Are you the culprits chasing all the other monsters up the tunnel toward the surface just like Enid said, you damn thugs! Acting all tough now that your momma is in town. How sad is that?

You stupid croc bipeds might have been scary and threatening when I was a hatchling, but you�re small fry now!

And it�s true. The croca-beasts that once upon a time loomed over me like giant croc-faced messengers of death don�t seem nearly so large anymore. I�m not quite tall enough to look them in the eye, but I probably have a similar overall mass since I�m longer than I am tall.

Their sharp claws and powerful, snapping jaws are not nearly as impressive as they once were. My own Savage Infused Mandibles look far more deadly to be honest. These guys just don�t hold any fear for me anymore.

�ROOOOOAAAAAOOOOOR!� Tiny bellows.

Well sure, he�s even less scared of them. Without waiting for my orders, Tiny lumbers forward and starts smashing croc-face in with his massive fists. It�s almost sad. He towers over the little crocs and his fist is probably the same size as their entire head. With every swing, he one shots a croca, and it isn�t long before the posse of toothy monsters has been smashed into paste.

[Good job, Tiny! Show �em who�s boss!]

The big ape slaps his chest and a wide grin appears on his bat face. This takes me back to when I first saw Tiny, battling against his rival, a massive titan-croc. I get the feeling even after being reconstituted, he still has a special hatred for the croc monsters. At the very least he seems inordinately pleased to have punched this particular group�s faces in.

Since they�re unevolved monsters, we don�t even pause to eat them before proceeding down the still soggy tunnel. As I climb over the fallen crocs I begin to sense something strange tickling at the edge of my awareness. Like a sound I can�t quite hear.

[Do you hear anything, Tiny?] I ask.

The ape tips his head to one side and listens for a moment before frowning and slowly nodding. There is something�

[�Be on guard, everyone,�] I advise before we continue to advance.

With every step the same feeling at the back of my mind grows more distinct. The pace of its increase is so slow, I wouldn�t have noticed at all if I wasn�t watching for it. As it grows, the sensation becomes more oppressive, threatening even. And I can�t shake the sensation that I�m being watched by a ravenous beast.

HOGAAA!

Feels weird!

I can tell Tiny feels it as well. He�s been restless and smacking monsters with even more force than usual.

[�Crinis, Vibrant, are you picking up on this feeling?�]

�Yup-yup.� The usually energetic Vibrant seems a little subdued under this pressure.

[I can, Master.] Crinis too is feeling it.

[�We need to proceed with extra caution, team,�] I inform my crew. [�It�s possible something really nasty is nearby that we can�t necessarily defeat. I want everyone, including you, Tiny, to be prepared to run away if we get into trouble. We�ll flee back to the shortcut and make our escape from there.�]

It goes to show how this mounting creepy feeling is weighing on us, that even Tiny seems inclined to agree. Just to be sure, I order him directly.

[Tiny, if I tell you to run, you�ll flee to the shortcut entrance. Got it?]

He reluctantly nods, his bat face pinched with a combination of distaste and unease. He doesn�t have to like it, he just has to do it. No way I�m going to allow him to die charging headlong into some unwinnable fight. When we get right down to it, he cannot deny a direct order from me, so I�m satisfied he�ll be ok.

The others are still riding on my back so they�ll probably end up where I do. I have to be careful not to leave Crinis behind, she has a very limited capacity to navigate her way around. Perhaps I should advise her to take Tunnel Sense and Tunnel Map? That�ll give her a solid idea where to go without having to see�

We continue to advance down, the monsters growing tougher with every step. More shadow monsters and the larger, more difficult beast types are becoming common. We even run into a few nasty plant types that are clearly evolved versions of the others we�ve seen and some others who are from a superior base species.

A particularly nasty plant appears as a young tree, the first tree-looking plant monster I�ve seen. It attacks by swinging its branches, but also seems capable of using earth magic. I didn�t get a good look before Tiny crunched it to nothing with a two-handed slam.

Something odd seems to be going on with the monsters we come across though. For starters, there are far less of them. Ever since that formless pressure began to weigh on us, the number of monsters we�ve seen active in the tunnels has gone way down. Secondly, there are quite a few monsters moving away from us and down the tunnels. Every now and again we catch glimpses of newly spawned creatures shifting along the walls and vanishing down the tunnels.

Where are they going? Is there some sort of party we aren�t invited to? I�d love to chase after these shadows but with the invisible weight pressing down on me, I simply don�t have the confidence to be blindly rushing around corners. For the first time in a while, I�m starting to feel real, actual fear.

If this is a monster causing this pressure, when I can�t even see it� just how powerful would that creature need to be? Is it Garralosh itself! I thought that croc was meant to be over in Liria. That�s like a week away over the surface� What would it be doing here?

To be honest, if I actually thought the parent of all these croc monsters was kicking around down here, I�d rush straight back up to the surface. I don�t see any reason for Garralosh to be around here so I�m prepared to proceed. Cautiously.

We creep forward very slowly. The tunnel continues to wind its way deeper into the ground. The tunnel grows wider. Other branching tunnels are coming together here. It feels as if we�re getting close to something. We make better progress than I expected, considering our careful pace due to the lack of monsters in our path. It�s almost unnerving to see the tunnels this deserted during the wave.

I know the monsters are still being formed in the walls. I can sense them. They�re just rushing off somewhere the moment they come out.

I estimate about ten kilometres down, judging by my Tunnel Map, that the passage opens up and a strange light illuminates the rocks ahead of us. Is it an Expanse?

The pressure is crushing now. As if death waits for us after every step. Vibrant is extremely nervous, clinging fiercely to my head and shivering in place. As we step forward the tunnel walls slowly drop away and a vast, open underground space appears before us. Dark swampland stretches as far as my eyes can see. Mist-covered marshes studded with drooping trees, and vibrant, vine shrouded flowers.

And crocs. So many crocs.

Throughout the marshes and on the humps of land that rise up out of the murky waters, there are croca-beasts at various stages of evolution almost everywhere. Including a number of varieties I haven�t seen before. Some of them are freakin� massive, hulking brutes of creatures that look like they seriously mean business.

What really hits me�the most intimidating thing�is that the invisible pressure has skyrocketed the moment we laid eyes on this Expanse. It�s like something has a knife at my neck, except that I don�t have a neck! I can�t see anything that might be the cause of this feeling, but I�m certain. Somewhere in this Expanse there is a truly frightening monster.

There are other tunnel entrances nearby. Periodically a monster will emerge and head deeper into the Expanse. The crocs don�t attack them, and curiously the plants don�t seem to either. It�s as if this entire ecosystem of monsters is being suppressed by something, not obeying their own monstrous instincts to hunt and fight in the endless pursuit of prey. It can only be whatever is creating this oppressive aura. I personally don�t feel any desire to rush into the Expanse and high five the beast creating this pressure. Quite the opposite. Except it�s clearly having some effect on the other monsters here.

Perhaps this is the source of the wave of monsters we battled in the tunnels? Perhaps the monsters are being gathered here and then sent out in huge packs to brutalise the surface and other creatures. For what purpose? For what design? Purely for destruction�s sake or for something more?

I mean, if I were a giant crocodile monster, centuries old and filled with an endless hunger to produce tiny crocs� what would I do?

I mean� eat?

Come on, Anthony! You can do better than this! Think. Think like a Croc!

Grrrr� GRAAAH!

How am I supposed to know what a stupid croc thinks like? I never had pet reptiles, dammit! Let�s just go with the mindless massacre scenario. They�re sending out waves of murderous monsters in order to kill stuff because Garralosh is mad at the world or something.

There.

The real question is what are we going to do about it? We�ve found a huge, juicy Expanse here, placed relatively nicely for the colony to exploit. If I can connect the shortcut to this area, it�ll be a relatively short trip for the workers to take advantage of the resources. Only problem being that some huge murderous beast is sitting in there somewhere, creating this aura of death. I really don�t want to charge headlong into this place.

How about we compromise! We still have a day before we�re expected back on the surface. There�s plenty we can do in the meantime without rushing headlong to our deaths. If there�s something Tiny is reluctant to fight, then I�m all about avoiding that thing.

I�d like to get a visual of it so that I know what I�m dealing with, but I feel like getting that close is going to take some effort.

Let the work begin!

We happily back out of the Expanse and busily get to work constructing a new shortcut that will connect to our already existing sneaky tunnel. What better way to relax a tense mind under formless pressure than by indulging in the fantastic world of ant-zen? Digging is truth, truth is digging!

We make incredibly fast progress, even though we need to make the tunnel larger due to Tiny�s massive size. The reason is all thanks to Crinis! Now that she�s fully grown, she�s more than capable of helping. Where she excels isn�t really in the digging of the dirt, but in shoving the loose soil down the tunnel and out the entrance. By unleashing the power of her tentacles, she can shift huge amounts of dirt at a time, and since the tunnel is so easy to navigate she can�t get lost moving back and forth. This allows me so much more time to get my face hands into the dirt, enabling us to really fly through it!

It�s so nice when the team comes together.

Every now and again we take a break and try to lure creatures out of the Expanse and into the tunnels to fight. Every time a group of crocs walk past, I get Tiny to throw a rock at them. Trusty pebble! You worked hard for me in Yharnam, and you perform your function here as well!

When the croca-beasts notice they�re being pelted with stones, they predictably get mad and charge angrily into the tunnel. Whereupon we descend with furious vengeance and snuff them out before engaging in vigorous snacking. It only takes a few times doing this before the wandering groups of crocs aren�t crossing our tunnel anymore. We have to start creeping a little farther into the Expanse to find monsters to lure.

I leave my pets and Vibrant working on the shortcut tunnel and slowly encroach on the marsh Expanse solo. It isn�t that I don�t think they could fight whatever it is we find in here, I just don�t want to attract unwanted attention. It�s time to execute something I haven�t had to do for a while.

Engage stealth-ant mode.

Luckily, I�m still relatively small for a monster. Remaining unseen is still fairly simple. The plant growth is thick here, reeds and hillocks blocking line of sight in every direction. Cautiously I creep about, all of my sensing apparatus tuned to their finest state, twitching at every shift of a tuft of grass.

I�m tense.

Super tense!

With this stupid pressure hanging over my head, and flying solo for the first time in a while, I�m really feeling the heat. It�s also unnerving to be moving through this swampy terrain where there could be monsters under the water, or indeed, every plant could be a monster! I have my heat detection for the latter. The plant monsters register much higher on that sense due to their peculiar biology than normal plant life, thus I manage to avoid most combat by navigating around the edges of the terrain.

Avoiding the tops of the mounds that poke out of the waters is key. Lest I present my silhouette to prying eyes. I don�t particularly want to have this magnificent form catching the attention of every croc and murder flower in the Expanse. I�ll have to get the best view I can whilst staying low.

This Expanse is freakin� huge. Way bigger than the Forest Expanse, and that one already pushed my understanding of what an underground space could be. The roof is easily twice as high and through the low-lying mist and trees, I can�t quite see the walls as they widen and curve away from our entrance. From what I have seen though, this place could easily be at least double the size of the forest.

I recall Formo told me that the radius of Pangera was around 10,000 kilometres. Certainly significantly bigger than Earth. The radius of Earth was six-ish thousand� so that would mean the volume of Pangera would be, like� way larger. By a lot�

There�s tons of space in here, is what I�m trying to say. And the Expanses apparently get even larger the lower you go. Some are truly ridiculous from what I�ve heard. Perhaps they would even be a similar size to some countries on Earth if we were to compare the floor area, which is crazy to think about. Still, this marsh is easily larger an Expanse than I expected to find in the first layer of the Dungeon.

This is either hitting the jackpot or a noose around my neck.

Expanses are the juicy goldmines of the Dungeon from what the human queen told me. Stronger monsters, more cores, Mana infused natural resources like wood and stone, all of these can be found in the Expanses. Great opportunity also brings with it great danger. Expanses are great points of conflict, not only between nations of the surface, but between monsters who reside there. The big dogs all want the best territory, and from what I�m feeling, the crocs have moved in and an extremely big dog has set up shop here.

Perhaps the crocs want to monopolise the Biomass being generated in this area? Maybe they aren�t only sending out waves of monsters to terrorise the nearby surface� Maybe they�re also herding the weaker monsters straight into the belly of their parent to fuel the egg laying process�

Bizarre scenes of monsters willingly marching into the open mouth of a gigantic crocodile flit through my head. Surely not� The monsters seem unusually quiet and obedient, but there�s no chance they would just walk to their deaths.

More investigation is needed, and before more investigation can happen, we need to learn all we can about the terrain in this Expanse.

The wide pools of water are really frustrating my senses. There�s enough hillocks of ground that I can hop from one to the next to move around without getting my feet wet. Except I can�t sense any heat sources under the water, nor can I see squat through the murky surface. The result? I�m constantly on edge, my compound eyes giving me superb vision of my surroundings while my mind is also focused on those deceptively placid waters.

The plant-type monsters seem to be right at home here. The trees are dense, standing tall on splayed roots that plunge with their thousand-divided fingers into the waters. Mixed between them are more tree-like monsters, their bark exteriors concealing the hungering creatures within. The Branchies were a heck of a lot more friendly than these punks. I�ll need to hunt down a few to sample the Biomass and try to get a clearer picture of what we�re dealing with.

Some of the natural trees are absolutely enormous. At regular intervals, usually a few hundred metres from each other, these truly massive trees rise out of the swampy water and spread their branches impossibly wide. Giant fleshy leaves the size of a lounge room spread huge amounts of shade everywhere. From below, strange shadows shift about the branches and foliage, so I don�t attempt climbing up at this point. I�ll wait until I�ve managed to scope out a little more info.

Oooo, here we go.

Nearby is a vibrant flower with several dark green pods on vines hovering around the main trunk of the plant. The flower itself is beautiful. Shades of yellow and orange rippling across the petals in a strangely hypnotic pattern, almost as if the colours themselves are moving. I almost feel a� a lull� coming over me� as if� tired�

HACK!

Not today! Vigorously I shake my body to cast off the lethargy starting to wash over me due to the influence of that damn plant. This must be some kind of mind affecting ability. Perhaps caused by the pattern itself or maybe spores in the air.

Thank goodness for a high Will stat!

Ok� This flower is going to get it. To learn about the creatures of this Expanse, I must engage in true diplomacy, monster style. Which of course means killing and eating.

Calling on my sub-brains, I have them weave the water construct from the Mana in my core. I�ve been practicing with this transformation shape whenever I get the chance, whipping it up and then letting it dissolve so I can whip it up again. Practice makes perfect as they say, and my time has been steadily going down. There�s still a long time to go before I reach what I would consider mastery. Though I�m satisfied with my current progress.

Before long, a bright and shiny new construct is glimmering inside my head. My brains get to work operating it, feeding raw Mana in one end and producing the glittering blue energy out the other side. I don�t think water Mana is going to be super effective against this plant, but since I�m practicing it, I need to keep using it in order to become familiar with its uses.

[Mana Transformation (III) has reached Level 3.]

Haha! There we go. Practicing the Transformation magic is definitely reaping the benefits of experience at least. Particularly when I�ve been using it in combat.

All right, flower. Time to get hosed.

Deftly I use my sub-brains to weave together two water bolts, leaving one brain to maintain and operate the Transformation construct, as I lie patiently in wait like the great hunter I am. The flower has no way to detect me with my Advanced Stealth active and my positioning being on point.

[Water Magic Affinity has reached Level 2.]

Nice!

I need to keep practicing these spells in order to rapidly raise my proficiency. The power of my current evolution is all in my capacity to utilise magic, so I have to grind these skills until I can fling spells about with practiced ease.

Gradually the bolts weave together and I take careful aim before unleashing them all at once.

POW! POW!

Two tear-shaped orbs of water zoom through the air and smash into the flower, hitting the stem and the centre of the petals directly. The impacts cannon into the plant-type monster, rocking it back and forth on its stem, reeling from the sheer force of the strike.

If I imagined before that using water magic on a plant was like giving it a gentle sprinkling, I�ve been convinced otherwise with this attack. It�s more like hurling a block of concrete. Unlike fire, which causes damage by burning, or electricity, which zaps an organism whilst also burning them, water doesn�t seem to have any inherently harmful properties. It�s important to remember though, when water is accelerated to sufficient speeds it becomes harder and more difficult to break up.

Rather than thinking of the water bolt as throwing a ball of water, it�s more like throwing a ball of metal. The sheer kinetic force is what does the damage rather than any particular property of the Mana.

Having been smashed with two water bolts, the flower is reeling, its vines desperately flailing about as it attempts to seek out the source of that vicious strike. The fun has only begun, flower, I�ve got two more bolts on the way!

POW! POW!

CRASH!

The bolts collide with tremendous force against the stem of the flower. The impacts are nearly simultaneous, and the flower is knocked straight to the ground, the fibres of the stem starting to tear and split where the bolts struck. If I were to keep attacking that spot, the stem may simply snap, killing the monster directly. I almost feel bad. This is a rough way to fight. It�s like I�m bludgeoning the thing to death by hurling rocks at it.

And thanks to that last strike, the flower seems to have gotten a bead on my location. As it strains to right itself, the four pods surrounding the central flower swivel in my direction and open, revealing a bizarre, mouth-like arrangement on the inside. Just as I�m wondering what the heck is going to happen, the mouths open wide and shriek!

YOWCH!

Super high-pitched, almost inaudible sound waves batter against my antennae. It�s a sonic attack! From a damn plant? The sound tunnels straight through me and begins to rattle my brain. A wooziness comes over me as the persistent sound waves try to stun my mind into rest.

Having unleashed its sonic screech, the main body of the flower presents its full glorious petal arrangement. It immediately begins to employ that strangely hypnotic rippling technique, only this time it�s far more potent. The flower puts all of its effort toward lulling my mind.

Small vines creep nearer across the ground, likely to seize the stunned and mesmerized prey, and drag it back to the flower for consumption. In your dreams, petal face!

POW! POW!

Using my strong Will, I�m able to resist even Tiny�s ear shattering scream. As if some dumb flower could hope to match that volume or potency. Concerning the petal dance, now that I know it�s coming, I steel myself against it long enough to form a few more water bolts.

The two bolts smash into the flower right on the stem and shatter the plant fibres completely. Stem broken, the flower topples to the ground. Take that!

[You have defeated Level 14 Fascinatio Folium Flos.]

[You have gained XP.]

Ha!

Defeating a plant with water is an odd feeling.

Too bad for this flower my strengths matched up very well against its own. With my potent mental defences, it isn�t easy to hypnotise me. Tiny might be caught in its snares, but not this ant!

Keeping low and trying not to attract any more attention, I creep over and start eating the flower, keeping an eye on my surroundings.

[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Fascinatio Folium Flos. You are awarded one Biomass.]

[Basic Profile of the Fascinatio Folium Flos unlocked.]

[Fascinatio Folium Flos: Bewitching Petal Flower. This plant-type monster uses a combination of powerful mental attacks to lull its opponent into a stupor, allowing it to use its relatively weak physical body to consume the prey. This monster is weak defensively and can be overcome with surprise, but be careful of its sonic scream.]

Yeah, no doubt. Why are these profiles so full of information that would be immensely useful if known before fighting the creature, yet only unlocked afterward�?

I gain another three Biomass from the plant before moving on to continue my exploration, bringing my total to thirty-seven Biomass. It�ll be worth stopping to mutate something when I get a chance.

I continue to poke about here and there, engaging the odd plant monster in combat to learn about their tendencies and train my water magic skills. I end up gaining another Level in Water Magic Affinity and twelve more Biomass from the higher tier prey before I retreat from the marsh. More and more potent croca-beast variants are appearing nearby, so it�s probably time to get out of dodge and regroup with my gang still hard at work on the tunnel shortcut.

[�How are we, folks? Enjoying the wonderful process of tunnel digging?�] I greet them.

[�Yes, Master.]

Nothing from Tiny and a somewhat reluctant reply from Crinis.

�Yup-yup! Having a great time, senior!� A very enthusiastic response from Vibrant.

�Right? Digging is the best!�

�For sure! I just love the feel of dirt in my mandibles!�

Truly, only ant-kind can fully appreciate the joy of tunnel digging. My own people understand me best. As I return to digging, I decide to spend the Biomass I�ve accrued. The marsh is dangerous, and I can�t afford to hold off on building up advantages.

Firstly, I decide to spend fourteen Biomass upgrading my Coordination Cortex to +5 so I can choose a mutation advancement. I�m reliant on my magic for offence in a way I haven�t been before, so I want to get every edge I can in this department.

Once again, the menu appears in my mind with a plethora of juicy options to select from.

Let me see, let me see!

Ooooo. There�s a lot here, as usual. I can give my cortex an affinity to boost the efficiency when using a specific Mana type� I dismiss that option out of hand. General strength is the name of the game! What else have we got�

I take my time browsing as my mandibles stay busy shovelling dirt and I settle on two fairly normal, but in my opinion, excellent choices.

[Harnessed Coordination Cortex: Improves efficiency when the cortex is coordinating multiple brains to work on a single task.]

[Divergent Coordination Cortex: Improves efficiency when the cortex is coordinating multiple brains to work on individual tasks.]

Do I want the brains to be more powerful when they�re working together or when doing their own thing? There�s always the option of coming back to the other upgrade at +10, so it�s possible I could eventually choose both, but which do I want right now?

Using both sub-brains to work together on one big job is handy for sure and something that could surely be useful to have boosted. Although, letting each brain cast its own spell is also great and makes my attacking options a lot more open.

I�ll go for the Divergent.

There is still the possibility in the future that I�ll be able to include more sub-brains and hook them up to the cortex. Having each of them be more capable on their own will give me a better result, I think.

[Do you wish to confirm this selection? This will cost 14 Biomass.]

I still have over thirty Biomass left to spend and a plethora of things to spend it on. Since my legs are already at +7, it makes sense to push them the rest of the way.

[Would you like to improve your Absorption Legs to +10? This will cost 27 Biomass.]

Yassss!

[At this level, you may select a mutation advancement.]

Hit me with that menu!

So many great options for legs. Leaping Legs grabs my attention immediately. I�d be like the famous Jack Jumper ants, able to leap and deliver my menacing bite from a distance! As cool as I think it would be, I�m not sure how good I�d be jumping into the middle of a pack of enemies. I can�t make quite the same landing as Tiny can.

What else have we got?

I can double down on absorption by increasing the rate or dramatically increasing it for a short amount of time. There are options to add slicey-looking blades to the ends of my claws, allowing me to attack with my feet. Even options to increase running speed, reduce stamina cost from Dashing, and improve my climbing ability.

Argh! So much cool stuff.

Think, Anthony!

Look, I don�t think I need more Mana. The absorption already keeps me fairly topped off. Not to mention I have a huge pool of Mana to start with, especially for the number of evolutions I�ve experienced. I�ve maxed out my core, so my raw MP is high, and my Gravitational Magic Gland has a huge tank. I�m not likely to run out of Mana in a hurry.

If we get right down to it, what do I want most out of my legs? Speed and mobility obviously, but I have skills working on that area as well. I have the Stamina skill to build out my stamina and the Dash skill for speed. Is it worth it to double up and have a mutation as well as a skill affecting the same thing? Maybe that�s what I should do in order to get truly impressive results�

Alright, I think I might test something here. Not that this mutation is a bad general choice anyway.

I�m going to take Rapid Legs, which increases running speed and lateral movement potential of the legs.

Very basic and utility upgrade. Even if it doesn�t work out exactly the way I want, I can�t imagine complaining about being able to move faster. Whether running into danger or out, going faster is always a good option.

Right then! Time to confirm the purchase.

[Would you like to improve Coordination Cortex to Divergent Coordination Cortex +5 and Absorption Legs to Rapid Absorption Legs +10? This will cost 41 Biomass.]

Go for it!

SNATCHIFLATCH! Mah brains! They IIIIITCH!

It takes a while for the vicious itch to fade. The Coordination Cortex is like an octopus that sits between my sub-brains and the main mind, so as it mutates and changes, my entire brain zone lights up. It�s intolerable! Combined with the legs, all six of them� I�m not a fan.

But finally gone!

With the process finished, my pet monsters look at me funny. Now see here! Just because you lot can take the sensation of mutating like it�s nothing, doesn�t mean I can! I�m sensitive�

�Maybe.

At any rate, keep digging!

It takes a few hours of vigorous work to connect the new section of the shortcut to the old. Travel time from the surface down to the marsh will be as short as an hour if there aren�t monsters spawning in there, or an hour and a half if there are. It�s a crude tunnel that zig-zags back and forth on a fairly steep grade, barely large enough to squeeze Tiny through. When he evolves again, we�re going to have to put in a lot of work expanding all of these passages for the big lug. To celebrate this momentous achievement, I�ve decided we�ll all pitch in and collect a feast for ourselves and then another feast to take up to the queen.

I place Crinis on defence duty at the shortcut entrance to make sure nothing sneaks out of the Expanse. Tiny, Vibrant and I roam the tunnels in search of Biomass. Crinis isn�t really built to be an offensive hunter, at least not yet. Placing her in position where she can deploy her tentacles thinly like a spider�s web to detect intruders and snatch them up is the best use of her talents. Tiny and I are more than capable of dealing with the monsters that spawn out of the walls.

Sadly, we don�t find many. Since the monsters are drawn by that mysterious pressure to run into the marsh Expanse upon spawning, they can�t build their numbers and get caught up fighting each other in the tunnels. Asides from a few stragglers and slow-moving plant types, the pickins� is pretty darn slim.

[Master! Return to my location. I think something is happening,] Crinis suddenly speaks in my mind.

[We�re on the way, Crinis. What�s going on?] I mean� something could be happening, but how the heck would she know? If a fireworks display was going on around her, she�d have no idea.

[I can feel vibrations in the tunnel floor and they keep getting stronger. I think something is approaching.]

Ohhhhh. That makes a lot of sense. She does have quite a responsive sense of touch. Kind of has to since it�s the only sense she has� She�ll have to wait until evolution before she�ll be able to take advantage of some of the changes I made to her core.

With Vibrant resting on my head, and Tiny lumbering behind, we make our way back at full speed. Just in time too.

Although Crinis was unable to tell what was causing the vibrations, I could see perfectly well what was happening. Another horde of monsters was piling out of the marsh Expanse and into the tunnel, hurtling in our direction as quickly as their beastly limbs could carry them!

[�It�s another mob of monsters, guys! Action stations! Prepare to dive! Crinis, engage feast mode!�] I holler frantically.

The horde is nearly upon us. Only a few metres away at this point, and Crinis wastes no time. Retracting the thin sensing tendrils she had laid out, she reforms her tentacles into the thick, monster crushing engines of destruction we need them to be. Her main body swells up to its full, beach ball size, splitting open to reveal her hungering maw.

Tiny is no slower to prepare. In his case, he simply pushes past me and flings himself at the crowd of monsters, howling with glee. He doesn�t say much, but I get the feeling the big guy hasn�t enjoyed feeling so subdued by the pressure emanating from the centre of the Expanse. He�s not the kind of monster who wants to shy away from a fight, he wants to get in there and punch faces. Especially with strong enemies.

The feeling of being reluctant to challenge something has been a strange, new sensation for this normally suicidal ape. I�d welcomed the change. Personally, not wanting to fling yourself at some mysterious boss monster is just downright sensible, but Tiny isn�t built that way.

Now he has a chance to work his frustrations out on a massive horde of foes and he�s going to take it!

Before the charging mass of monsters have even reached Crinis, Tiny bowls into them with his formidable mass, sending monsters flying and slamming into the walls and ceiling.

[Crinis! Move toward the Expanse and engage! Tiny ran past you to fight, so you need to shift up the tunnel!]

[Oh! Uh� understood, Master!]

Hearing my orders, Crinis uses her tentacles to propel herself forward, and soon those grasping limbs come into contact with the edges of the horde already starting to wrap around Tiny and attack his vulnerable back. Those monsters rather suddenly find themselves wrapped up, as their bodies are rent by Crinis� and tossed into the limitless darkness of her maw.

[Just a reminder not to eat them all, Crinis� we need enough for all of us and the queen,] I remind her.

[S-Sorry, Master! I forgot myself!]

[I mean, it�s fine to eat, just don�t go nuts.]

[Ok!]

It shouldn�t need to be said, but boy can she eat a lot. I wish I had that stomach. I didn�t properly consider the stomach when I evolved, but I�m becoming more and more convinced of their value. If I can hold greater amounts of food or process it more efficiently, then my Biomass deficiency should be alleviated somewhat. After all, if its good enough for the new ants, then it�s good enough for me!

But right now, I need to deal with these monsters!

With Tiny smashing his way through, fists first, lightning sparking off him in increasingly intense waves, and Crinis starting to wind up her threshing machine, I decide to hang back and offer support.

I reactivate my Water Mana Transformation construct and start feeding it double time as I weave together a spell.

The Water Cannon!

With my potent main mind on the job, it doesn�t take long to get it up and running. A massive torrent of water blasts out from just above my head, cannoning into the monsters on Tiny�s left and knocking them off their feet.

Haha! Time for some crowd control!

I scuttle up the wall and move closer to unleash the full fury of my Water Cannon on the densely packed monsters. The sheer pressure of the water smacking into them doesn�t do a whole lot of damage, but it surely knocks them around a lot! From up here I can fire upon the monsters just in front of Tiny without hitting the big lug, so I sweep the spell across the crowd, sending monsters flying into their neighbours from the impact.

Gwehehehe!

With my assistance keeping the enemies from swarming him, Tiny is able to unleash his strength to the fullest, lashing out with massive sweeps of his gigantic fists and pulverising monsters. At one point he unleashes a furious uppercut that slams a monster straight into the roof. Holy heck!

Not willing to be outdone, I flip control of my hose over to a sub-brain and task the other with maintaining and feeding the construct so I can concentrate on other spells. A few Gravity Spears to start. I throw them into the pack at various points to further destabilise the monsters, making life easier for my two pets. I also realise something rather nasty about that particular technique� Several monsters are caught in the overlap between spear effects and find themselves being pulled hard in opposite directions�

It wasn�t pretty.

I mean, the force wasn�t enough to pull the monsters directly in half or anything, but they sure didn�t look happy.

I could probably form a Gravity Bomb and lob it into the thick of the pack. The monsters are still streaming out of the Expanse and packing the tunnel, I�ll be shocked if there aren�t another thousand of them, but I want to keep as much Biomass as possible. This is a gift racing straight into our stomachs and I refuse to let it go!

At this point, another curious synergy is becoming apparent. Tiny�s fists are completely sparking with electricity by this point and his body is starting to zap nearby monsters, such is the charge he�s built up. Due to my excellent deployment of my super soaker, the monsters around him are also drenched in water�

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

Electricity begins to arc and crackle throughout the saturated monsters with every swing of Tiny�s fists. The electricity discharges into the monsters� bodies and then leaps to the next. With every swing of his fists, Tiny is damaging five or six monsters and he starts to cut them down even faster than before.

Nice! Maintain that hose! I�d like to say I planned this, but I really didn�t. If anyone asks me though� I�ll smile mysteriously and act smug. Gwehehehehe.

My feet are continuing to soak up Mana from the floor at a furious rate, feeding my core which in turn continues to feed the water Mana. Finally, this upgrade is able to show its true might!

After continuing to hose down the foes and letting Tiny�s fists smack them with electricity, the idea finally occurs to me to widen the damage even further. I take over the hose with my main mind and start spraying as wide a field of monsters as possible. It doesn�t matter if I knock them down or not, it only matters if they get soaked!

[Crinis! Move forward and support Tiny for a minute.]

[Yes, Master!]

My faithful death blob wriggles a little closer to her fellow pet and extends her tentacles around his sides to snatch up and smash the monsters who try and swarm around the giant ape, whilst my hose is no longer providing the same level of crowd control.

It takes me a little while to thoroughly drench the monsters in the tunnel, and I can�t quite reach the ones at the back as they pile in from the marsh Expanse. It�ll have to do.

[Crinis, back off again, and Tiny, unleash your lightning!]

Crinis responds quickly and retracts her tentacles as I turn the Water Cannon back onto the monsters surrounding Tiny while the ape� keeps swinging his fists.

[Tiny! Shoot the lightning!]

I can quite literally feel his slow working cogs�

[The lightning! Shoot the lightning from your hands!]

[Am�]

ARRRGGGH! You dumb ape!

[Not like this, the one where you shoot the electricity in a big bolt! You�ve done it before!]

[�When?]

I swear I�ll use Core Surgery to give you a brain again, think, dammit!

As if feeling my animosity drilling into the back of his head, Tiny pauses before responding. Literally. The lug actually stopped swinging his fists!

[Oh� like this?]

A huge amount of electricity bursts out of his body and crackles across his fur in jagged arcs that flood toward his right hand. As the charge builds up, the hand glows brighter and brighter, dozens of electric bolts sparking off it every second. With a roar, Tiny thrusts the hand forward and a bright arc of electricity blasts out of his hand and covers the saturated monsters in electrical energy, instantly frying them!

The entire tunnel lights up as Tiny passes his hand across the crowd, controlling the arcing bolt of electrical energy and letting every monster have a taste. The ape�s body continues to release unbelievable amounts of energy that slithers down his arm like countless electric snakes before blasting out of his hand.

Sensational!

[That�s the one, Tiny! Good stuff!] I praise him.

At my words, Crinis retracts her tentacles even further and shrinks a little. Is she sulking? Surely not�

[Crinis, you�ll need to step up in a moment, Tiny can�t maintain it much longer.]

[Ok!] she responds, sounding full of life.

Must have been my imagination�

The monsters exposed to my watery torrent of death have long been fried, and the fresh ones from behind are blindly pressing forward, packing into the tunnel. Tiny has been able to maintain his lightning arc for a good thirty seconds before it fizzles out.

[Back up, Tiny, and catch your breath, let Crinis pass you.]

Reluctantly the ape acquiesces to my orders and falls back, allowing Crinis to slither to the front line where she can fully display her talents in reaping the chaff. Tiny would happily continue fighting, but he can�t refuse my order. He would win, of that I�ve no doubt, but I don�t want to see the big guy getting hurt for no reason.

I�m too soft!

Sorry, Tiny! Perhaps one day you�ll be able to indulge your suicidal impulses and punch your way into an early grave, but it isn�t this day.

With an almost tangible feeling of delight, Crinis has returned to her crunching best and tentacles fly in all directions, knocking down monsters, grabbing others and shredding them before flinging them into the walls or into packs of monsters, scattering them like bowling pins.

Tiny is reduced to supporting, smashing down monsters that try and surround Crinis or break past her to run deeper into the tunnel. In the interest of training my water magic further, I pass the Water Cannon to my sub-brains and use my main mind to throw down some water bolts to train faster.

My efforts are rewarded before the end of the battle by the soothing tones of Gandalf ringing in my mind.

[Mana Transformation (III) has reached Level 4.]

[Water Mana Affinity has reached Level 4.]

Yasss!

That�s what I wanted to hear!

Using the Mana Transformation to power two spells at once, particularly a consistently draining one like the Water Cannon, is really putting a strain on the system. Especially when I�m using one sub-brain to hold the construct in place as well as feed the Mana into it.

My sub-brains are proving to be massively capable, and they�ve increased my spellcasting flexibility to a huge degree. However, I�m still finding that more sub-brains may be necessary in the future. I mean, I�ve got the Coordination Cortex already, the more brains I plug into it, the better efficiency I�ll get.

I�ll shelve this for future consideration.

It takes another ten minutes to finish off the monster horde and I manage to snag two Levels by dumping water bolts on monsters from above and then charging in to mob up the dregs with my mandibles. I must have been close to Level four already but grabbing another two Levels is certainly nice. More Skill Points in the bank for my upcoming spending spree!

Once we�re done, we stand in the wreckage of nearly one thousand monsters. There�re so many, they clog up the tunnel nearly to the roof in places. This is madness! What are all these newly born monsters doing? If they�re following orders for some reason, what is that purpose?

Why am I thinking about this when I could be eating instead?

OM NOM NOM.

The four of us chow down to the limits of our respective stomachs. I myself manage to crunch in and fill every stomach to bursting, netting myself twenty-one points in Biomass. I really do need to resolve this stomach situation, because Crinis must have gotten double what I did if the disappearing act she pulled on that food was anything to go by. The worst part is, once she�s finished, she attempts to break my back by shrinking herself down and taking her customary position.

Gah� I need to work on my legs�

After resting briefly, we start hauling the food up the shortcut to the surface. We can�t take it all between the four of us, but over a few hours we make a number of trips and manage to pile up a respectable haul that I mark with pheromones before we tread our weary way back to the nest. I�ll need to check in with the humans at some point� ugh.

Before then, I�m going to check in on the queen. I�m interested to see if Mother has been properly upgrading herself or stocking up on Biomass to lay eggs�

The queen was in her chamber much the same as she had been over a day ago, covered in workers and resting peacefully. She hasn�t had any reason to go out and fight lately, so I hope she�s enjoying a period of relaxation.

Considering the measly supply of Biomass the workers have been extracting from the surface, there hasn�t even been much laying to do. I�m not sure if queen ants can get bored, but perhaps she might be feeling that things have become a little dull?

�Bored?� she responds when I ask her, sounding for all the world like she didn�t even understand the word. �Why would I be bored?�

�Well, there isn�t much to do at the moment?�

�Foolish child,� she chides me. �The colony is not under threat, and you have provided food and a great hope for our family. I am content, as we should all be.�

How is this giant ant monster always so positive? Such a good mother!

Before I can get too emotional, I need to focus on the present.

�So, you�ve received the Biomass we sent up?�

�Yes. The children have been working as hard as they can. They found it and brought it to me.�

�Awesome.�

I stare hard at the queen, trying to judge whether she�s upgraded herself as we discussed. Rather than accuse my own mother of lying, which would be rather tactless, I try a different angle.

�Is it ok if I check on your core? There may be more that I can do to improve our chances.�

�Of course, child,� she answers without hesitation.

I seriously doubt she�s even capable of doubting her own children. I wonder if all the ant queens are like this?

Bringing my antennae forward, I activate the Core Surgery skill and spin my minds up into overdrive to handle the flood of information that nearly knocks me off my six feet. Ok, ok. Here we go then. Ah, this is the bit I�m looking for!

Arranging all of the details in my mind, I find the information I want and check in on the queen�s mutation advancements. Oh ho! I would not have been surprised if she neglected my advice in order to produce more young. I believe she considers producing young as her primary responsibility and the best way to serve the family as a whole. It�s only natural she would prioritise it over everything else. But in a pleasant shock, she�s constrained herself!

In front of me are the upgrades to the three egg production organs she�s selected:

[Efficient Biomass Deconstruction Organ +5: Increases the efficiency of the organ to produce more deconstructed Biomass per point of Biomass spent.]

[Smooth Biomass Recoding Gland +5: The recoding process utilises less deconstructed mass to encode the same material, increasing efficiency.]

[Boosting Egg Production Gland +5: Gives a bonus +2 stats to all stats for each egg produced.]

Fantastic!

The first two upgrades were exactly the sort of thing I spoke to the queen about. After studying the organs carefully, I estimate these two advancements will synergise together to boost the egg production by 10%. Possibly more!

That might not sound like much, but it isn�t as if the queen will be producing ten eggs per year once the colony gets rolling. My dream scenario would have the queen producing about a million ants a year. An extra 10% would represent an increase of 100,000 workers. Not a small number at all.

The thing that really grabs my attention is the +2 to all stats in the Egg Production Gland. +2 might not seem like much, but it�s enough to make my mind boggle. That�s a huge deal! The ants will be so weak that +2 to their physical stats is going to be significant enough, but +2 to the mental stats is fantastic!

If we were to think of the croca-beasts and how much Biomass would be needed to create one as opposed to a hatchling worker, I would guess for each croca-beast hatched, eight worker ants could be made, perhaps more. An extra two stats on one croca won�t make that much difference, but for eight workers? The difference is huge!

In fact� I can make use of this�

Knowing that every worker is going to be getting this boost from the queen, I make a few minor adjustments, bending my mind to its limits to enforce them. I trim down on the workers a little, basically shaving one point from each stat and giving clear paths for the bonus stats to slide into.

The end result of this trade-off is that the ants will be produced cheaper than before and still be a little stronger in the end. Win-win! However, there is a chance we can go further.

Withdrawing my mind from the queen�s core, I congratulate her on the wise choices she made.

�Those mutation advancements are fantastic! The two efficiency upgrades will mean more workers and the +2 to all stats was perfect. Great Job!�

�Thank you, child.� The queen sounds genuinely pleased to be praised in this way. �Are we ready to lay the first generation of new workers? How many are needed? 200? 400?�

�Whoa there! Hold on a second! 400?�

I can tell the queen is pumped up to get back to growing the colony, and the promises I�ve made about the next generation are clearly exciting for her, but she needs to hold onto them horses a bit longer.

�No way! Not yet!� I say firmly.

�What? Why?� I can tell she�s genuinely disappointed. Sorry, Mother!

�First of all, we�re going to get that Egg Production Gland to +10 for sure. If it�s possible to get another +2 to all stats to stack with the existing advancement, that will be absolutely insane. Game breaking even. I�m not kidding, +10 for the egg laying is a must!�

The queen is silent for a moment. I can almost feel her sadness�

�It�s ok, it won�t take long! We brought up a huge feast from below. It�ll surely get you to +10! I�ll make sure the workers bring every bit of it here for you, ok?� I say desperately.

�Thank you, child,� she says gratefully.

�As for the first generation,� I continue, relieved her mood has improved, �my suggestion is that we keep it small. Only twenty workers.�

�So few? I haven�t laid a clutch of eggs that small since the first. Is that really all right?�

�Absolutely. These workers will be completely different than the ones in the past. I�ll have to teach them a few things and bring them up carefully. Once they hatch, I�ll start teaching them and you can save up on Biomass. When they�re ready, you can lay the second generation of 400 and the workers I�ve trained will be able to take care of them. See?�

�I understand. I�ll be patient.�

�Thanks, Mother.�

I chat with the queen a little longer before sending my crew down below into our little chamber and making my way back to the surface to make good on my promise. I personally lead the workers to the food cache and instruct them carefully before supervising the transport of the massive load of food directly to the queen�s chamber for her to feast on.

If that organ can be doubled up to +4�

Things are going to get crazy.

Filled with hope for the new workers, I wander over to the human area and see what the pests have been up to. They�ve erected a few crude shelters and unpacked most of their stuff. Someone took the time to use fallen branches to put up a picket line for the beasts of burden as well.

As I draw closer, I observe the people a little more carefully. It doesn�t take long before something strikes me as a little odd�

Why are these homeless refugees looking so chipper?

It�s true. Where I expected to find weeping, gnashing teeth and fists being shaken at the sky, I see calm people, many smiling and joking with others as they go about their labours.

Odd.

Also, are there more of them?

Once close enough, I�m recognised by the people and the reaction is unlike what I expected.

The humans seem unusually comfortable with having a monster ant wandering up to their area. I guess they�ve seen plenty of ants wandering here and there over the last few days.

And they seem a bit� reverential. When they recognise me�I look different enough to the other workers I suppose�they fall quiet and still. There are hushed whispers and people rushing off toward the rear of the settlement where the shelter is. Other people are gesturing in my direction and talking animatedly to the people next to them. Even the children are pointing and whispering.

Annoying!

So annoying! What are these people doing anyways?

I wait impatiently on the edge of the settlement, not willing to wander in and subject myself to more pointing. After a few moments, Enid and the white robed priest, Beyn, come rushing over.

She looks a bit nervous, while he appears positively beaming with joy.

Hastily I weave together a Mind Magic Transformation construct and connect to Enid.

[Enid, have your people managed to stay within their bounds?] I say abruptly once the mind bridge is finished.

[Yes. We�ve been staying within the boundary you set very carefully,] she says nervously.

It appears to be true. When I detect the pheromone trail on this side of the settlement with my antennae, it does seem to be fine. I�ll check the other side before I leave as well.

[There seems to be more people today?] I ask dubiously.

[More refugees from Liria. It appears the monster horde is moving farther south. These people arrived only this morning and we herded them in here as quickly as we could so that they weren�t�]

[Eaten?]

[�Right]

[What are you people going to do?] I ask. More to the point�how long are they going to stay?

[We have nowhere to go. Most of us are content� surprisingly content, to remain here and build a temporary shelter. Wait for the wave to pass and hopefully return to our homes.]

I brighten up immediately.

[So you don�t want to stay forever? Head back after the wave is sorted out? Sounds good!]

Wait. How long is the wave going to go for? Well, as long as it isn�t permanent, it should be fine.

[There are a few things we would like to ask,] Enid said hesitantly. [As you know, we came with very little and have made do with what we have. We have access to the stream for water, but food is scarce and shelter is hard to come by. It isn�t too cold right now but it will start to cool soon.]

Weather? Honestly, I don�t even notice anymore. I do spend most of my time underground, to be fair.

[So� you want me to remove the restrictions on movement? This land isn�t tame by any stretch. The colony is chewing through a lot of the local beasts on the surface, but there isn�t any guarantee you won�t come across monsters around here. Other than us, I mean.]

She nods. [We�re aware of that, but we need to do this or we�ll perish. We have to forage for food, perhaps try to clear a field that we can sow crops. The people here are feeling positive about their prospects of living safely here. They have hope again and they want to do something positive for themselves.]

She�s quite persuasive when she puts her mind to it. Since this area is untamed, uncultivated wildlands, there are woods everywhere, plenty of places to go foraging. If they want to clear a field though, that�s going to be a heck of a lot of effort. Though there is that ready access to water from the stream which will help with irrigation�

I may as well help them out a little. If they get off to a good start, they�ll have less reason to come and whine at me later.

[Enid, I�ll help by cutting some trees and bringing the logs to the edge of your settlement and I�ll start work on the stumps to help get your field started. Tell your people they can start foraging, but not to come closer to the anthill. I�ll mark a new boundary halfway between here and there. I recommend you make sure your people don�t cross it,] I warn her.

Her expression brightens. [Thank you so much! This will mean the world to these people. Wait till I tell Beyn!]

She starts talking rapidly to the priest next to her. As soon as she�s finished, tears begin to flood down his face and he kneels in the dirt before me, raising his one good arm to the sky and shouting with praise.

I�m starting to regret this already�

When the other villagers hear his words of thanks, they all beam with joy, and many bow or wave in my direction. Some go as far as to kneel along with their priest!

I�m getting out of here.

[I�ll be back to check in after two more days, Enid. Try to keep your people in line.]

[I will. Thank you.]

Sheesh.

I flee rapidly from the effusive praise and get to work checking on the old boundary as I circle around and overwrite it. It appears as though Enid was telling the truth after all. With that job done, I call Tiny up to help me and leave Crinis on defence duty under the queen�s chamber before marking out the new boundary in a straight line roughly two kilometres long between the settlement and the nest.

With Tiny helping, it�s fairly easy to clear out trees. After surveying a little, we choose an area a hundred metres from the stream and several hundred from the settlement. Using my Infused Savage Mandibles I cut the trees close to the ground and Tiny carries them over his huge shoulder back to the humans where he dumps them on the ground. Once we�ve hauled a few trees over, I get digging and Tiny helps me lever out the stumps, leaving behind deep holes that the humans will need to deal with.

After a day�s work, we manage to clear almost fifty trees and skirt the edges of the human camp on our way back to the nest. It�s a hive of activity in there. The people are bustling everywhere, talking back and forth, hauling the logs about and readying the tools they have on hand. Looks like they�ll be busy enough with that for some time. So long as they don�t come and bother me, it�s worth it.

We�ve got serious business to be about back at the nest.

Preparations need to be made and the Dungeon below needs more exploring. Not to mention the intense food packing program we need to undertake for the queen to start mass-producing the new generation after the first are born.

When I get back to the nest, I high five the workers I pass on the way in, send Tiny down to our little guard post under the queen�s chamber and summon Crinis to help me. I need to dig out some farms! With Crinis helping to relocate the dirt, I create two large, empty chambers accessible only by a narrow tunnel on either side of our guard spot. I get Crinis to haul the dirt back to Tiny and let the ape carry big handfuls into the queen�s chamber, where the workers get annoyed and dump it outside on top of the hill.

Once the Mana veins extend into those chambers, we�ll be able to begin harvesting Biomass from right here near home, if not quite as much as we were before due to the longer gestation time the monsters are experiencing right now.

With that done� time to nap!

WWWACHA!

I�m up!

Snapping alert after my nap, I leap into more work. Got stuff to do, no point slacking off like a dumb croc! Yeah, I said it!

First thing on the menu is expanding the farm chambers. I originally thought two would be fine, but now I�m not so sure. I need to be more ambitious if I want to grow the colony to the sort of size it needs to be in order to support itself in a never-ending expansion of the glorious ant empire. Everyone wants what�s best for their family, right? I�m no different. What�s best for the colony is obviously Dungeon domination. This is the conclusion I�ve come to.

To that end, I make the existing two chambers larger and dig out another two the same size, relying on my pets and the workers to deal with the loose dirt issue. The first two chambers have already begun to incubate monsters, I can detect their heat easily. And no, I�m not worried about the monsters taking over the nest. There are literally two hundred workers and the queen chilling just above where these farm chambers are. The odds of them overflowing with enough numbers to take out the colony are basically non-existent.

Not to mention the farm chambers connect through narrow passages to my resting place, where Crinis and Tiny will be on guard duty anytime we aren�t away from the nest.

The digging also pays off with a Level. Taking my Excavation to Level nine! Every extra Level increases my digging efficiency that little bit more and I can�t help but be happy to see that happening. After all, digging is the way of ant-zen!

Refreshed from my labours, I prepare myself for the next task of the day. This is one I�m not really looking forward to. I feel nervous about what we experienced in the marsh Expanse, that formless pressure, and those waves of monsters. We can handle the waves ok for now, but what if they get larger? What if more powerful monsters come? I�m getting worried that my current rate of growth isn�t enough. Even without laying eyes on the beast in the marsh, I�m certain it�s going to be a tough cookie to crunch.

Definitely got some anxiety going on. There isn�t any real direct threat to my family right now, but if something were to happen and I couldn�t save them�

I refuse to let that happen. I lost my family in the last world. I refuse to let it happen in this one too.

I�ll do whatever it takes to make sure this family stays together!

With a surging feeling of determination, I unearth my core collection and begin fusing together a special core. I�m so focused that the mental strain barely registers in my consciousness. All that occupies my mind is visions of workers marching themselves down the gullet of a brutal crocodile beast the size of a house.

[Compatible special core detected. Would you like to reinforce your core or reconstitute the monster?]

Reinforce!

The painfully familiar process begins as the oversized core gradually dissipates into pure energy that is drawn into my own core, enlarging and condensing it within my body. It doesn�t take long for the pinch to come, the awkward feeling of being a little too full on the inside that grows more unbearable over time until it becomes an acute pain.

I will endure. This isn�t enough. Not nearly enough!

I grit my mandibles and hold on until the entire process is finished. It feels� not good! But I can take it. For the colony, I can take it!

Painfully, but no less determined than before, I move out to take on my next task. Hopefully over time I�ll become accustomed to this size core and the pain will fade, much like it did the first time I took in a special core early.

Then I�ll see what else I can do�

For now, I wander over to the queen�s chamber and check in with her. It turns out, the masses of food we sent up had in fact been enough to tip her over the edge and allow her to upgrade her egg-laying organ to +10. I eagerly activate the Core Surgery skill and inspect her choices.

Ready to behold the future of the ant race on Pangera.

And it is beautiful.

[Enhanced Boosting Egg Production Gland +10: Gives a bonus +4 to all stats for each egg produced.]

DAAAAAYM!

It�s really here!

I immediately retract the skill and perform an excited six-legged tap dance in front of the bewildered queen.

�Yahooo!� I cheer.

�You seem happy, child,� the queen laughs.

I refuse to stop the dance. This music must be expressed!

�This is going to make all the difference, Mother!� I cry whilst my feet keep tippity-tapping. �The next generation are going to be something very special, just you wait!�

�I have already begun to stockpile Biomass. When I have enough for the first twenty, I�ll let you know,� the queen assures me.

�Fantastic! If I get a chance, I�ll head down into the Dungeon and try to rustle up some grub. The sooner we can get this rolling, the better!�

The queen seems quite pleased by my enthusiasm, even if she has no idea how to take my celebratory dance. I swear I saw her shuffle her own feet a little before growing still once more.

I don�t want to make any more changes to the new generation, they�ll be fine the way they are. With all the upgrades in place, the egg production will be quicker and produce more powerful hatchlings than I had originally planned for. Everything is coming up Biomass.

Full of enthusiasm, I waddle my way back down into my chamber and settle in for a little bit of planning. There are a few things I want to look into before we move out again. The challenges are getting a little real right now and I want to make sure we�re in tip top fighting shape, myself and my pets.

For me, this means a little Skill Point spending. For my pets, it means a little Core Surgery so I can take a look at their skills and mutations. I need to be able to better understand what I�m dealing with.

The skill that allows me to directly take a look at their status is still somewhat tempting. But again, since I can use Core Surgery, I don�t really think it�s necessary. I mean, I could just ask them for the information. I�m sure Crinis would be happy to provide it, but Tiny� well, he has communication issues�

If he gets any dumber, I�m going to have to shift some energy into beefing up his brain. I�m almost afraid to look at how low his Cunning has gotten�

[Crinis, could you come over here please?]

[Of course, Master,] the little tennis ball of endless darkness responded.

I get the feeling she�s able to sense where I am since she manages to roll to me despite having no sense of sight. Once she reaches a space just in front of me, she unfolds a few tentacles and �stands� up, holding her body up on a few slender tendril-like limbs.

Let�s lead with a general question. [How are things going, Crinis?]

[Well, Master!] she happily replies. [Since maturing, I�ve been able to gain Levels and Biomass at an accelerated pace. It feels good to be useful to you, Master.]

[Yep, you�ve been a great help.]

The little ball wiggles happily in front of me for being praised. Despite her image, she really is quite weak to positive reinforcement�

[How�ve you found spending your Skill Points and Biomass, Crinis? Has there been any issues? Do you need any help or advice?]

[I�ve� been a little hesitant to spend my points, Master, since I couldn�t be sure my choices were exactly what you wanted. I didn�t want to make any mistakes�]

What!

[It�s your skills and your Biomass, you spend it however well you want!]

Just because they�re pets, I don�t want to micromanage every aspect of their lives. I�m probably a bit na�ve about it, but I like the idea of my pets making their own choices and finding their own way in life.

Is it because I�m lazy and can�t be bothered going through all the menus and burning up my brains working out a balanced strategy where every member of our group functions as a cohesive part of a whole?

�Maybe.

Still� viva la freedom! Viva la pet choice!

They can work it out on their own. I don�t need to get involved.

[Tell me, Crinis, how many points have you spent? What sort of skills are we looking at?]

What�s this? Somehow, even though she doesn�t have a face, I can tell she�s looking away from me.

[What�s wrong? Have you got a few points stored up? I�m happy to give advice if that�s what you want�]

Something is starting to dawn on me the longer the little ball of darkness avoids �looking� at me.

[Crinis� how many points have you saved?]

[A-All of them�]

[All of them! You haven�t spent a single thing?]

[I�m sorry, Master! I didn�t want to spend them incorrectly!]

[It�s fine if you spend them however you want. Do what you think will work for you!]

[But, but, but� What if I make a choice that doesn�t work out? Or doesn�t work with what you wanted me to do?]

Sigh. It�s nice to have a pet that�s diligent and thoughtful, a direct contradiction to Tiny, but she�s too diligent and thoughtful. She�s become paralysed by wanting to make the perfect selection. Unable to make a choice because she�s preoccupied by what I might want.

It�s time for me to show my understanding side and educate her, just as I educated Tiny.

WHAP!

Using my antenna, I swing one in a wide loop and whack straight into the little ball suspended in front me.

[M-m-m-master!] she cries in shock.

THWAP!

[Go spend your points, all of them! Right now!]

[But�]

THWA-PAAAA!

Spinning both antennae, I whip one from the left and the other from the right, timing it so that one strikes a moment before the other, cannoning the little ball into the second blow which sends her flying to the corner of the chamber.

[Every point! I�ll be checking back on you in an hour!]

I turn from Crinis� mental snivelling with a heart of cold steel. I know she�s only trying to do what is best by me, but if I relent and go through the process with her this time, she�ll come to rely on me even more. I want my pets to be more independent than that. If she can�t even upgrade herself without consulting me, just how independent could she possibly get?

This is tough love!

You can do it, Crinis! This is for your future growth and not because I don�t want to dig through all of your menus with you.

In truth� a part of me kind of hopes I can release my pets one day. The idea that they�re essentially indentured servants, magically unable to refuse my orders, kind of sits uncomfortably with my modern sensibilities. Much as the colony has come to be my family, Tiny and Crinis are also part of that family. I would rather we teamed up and worked together as fellow family members than as master and slave.

Perhaps I�m just too sentimental�

[Tiny! Wake up, buddy, come over here for a minute.]

The giant ape wearily opens his eyes and groans before rolling over and gradually picking himself up.

Is it really that much of a bother to move five metres over here?

Eventually, he pulls himself onto his feet and lumbers over to me. His dark red bat eyes contrast sharply with his black and silver fur. He really is an impressive sight. His huge, bunched shoulders and massively thick arms are intimidating enough, but his huge fists, well beyond basketball size at this point, look truly scary.

[How�s it going, Tiny?] I lead with an easy one.

Any minute now, he�ll respond. Just gotta� wait it out, and�

[Good.]

There it is.

[How are those skills going? Spending your Biomass points ok?]

He tilts his head quizzically to one side.

Well� I knew it was going to be like this.

[I�m going to use a skill on you, big guy. Hold still for a minute, ok?]

When he nods, I place both of my antennae on his arm and activate the Core Surgery skill. Huge amounts of information flood my brain and I have to whip my processing speed up a gear to comprehend it all. Using the Core Surgery skill isn�t like directly looking at the status menu of another monster and then making changes. Whereas the status screen is a nice piece of paper with everything neatly written, using Core Surgery is like sticking your face in a bowl of crumpled sticky notes.

All of the information is there, but you need to filter it, sort it and poke about here and there before being able to piece together the full picture.

After a while I manage to get a handle on what Tiny�s status is like.

Name: Tiny

Level: 7 (core) (IV)

Might: 154

Toughness: 42

Cunning: 7

Will: 15

HP: 84/84

MP: 180/180

Skills: Ape Boxing Level 5 (I); Uppercut Level 5 (I); Leap Level 5 (I); Smash Level 5 (I); Stamina Level 5 (I); Grappling Level 5 (I); Crushing Blows Level 5 (I); Fancy Feet Level 2 (I)

Mutations: Enhanced Musculature +4; Bones +4; Legs +4; Heightened Sonic Enhancer +4; Lightning Mana Affinity Gland +4; Lightning Mana Affinity Gland +4; Energy Conversion Gland +4

Species: Dire Lightning Storm Kong

Skill Points: 28

Biomass: 266

I notice his core is a little weaker than mine� Mustn�t have fully upgraded it before he evolved the first time. Can�t really blame him, he was just a wild monster back then. Something else really sticks out though�

He hasn�t upgraded anything. Like, nothing. The big lug has 28 Skill Points and 266 Biomass�

Are you kidding me, Tiny?

And what the heck is FANCY FEET!

What�s has been going on, Tiny? I mean seriously, man� you haven�t upgraded anything? Haven�t spent your Skill Points at all? The only skill that looks like you didn�t already have it is Fancy Feet. What does that even do? Have you been dancing behind my back? A little bit of tap here and there?

Sigh.

I use my antennae to rub at my temples in an effort to ward off the migraine I feel coming on.

I really thought the pets would be able to handle this stuff without me interfering. Even if Tiny couldn�t, I was sure Crinis would be fine. After all the effort I put into enhancing her intelligence� still nothing.

Nothing!

With Tiny, I�d mentally prepared myself for a lot. Nonsensical upgrades that made no sense, no synergy or evidence of even a mild amount of thinking. I�d prepared myself for that. To find he hasn�t done anything at all somehow hurts my head worse than those other options.

I don�t think he hasn�t done it because he doesn�t understand the idea of spending Biomass or Skill Points. His mind is slow, that�s for sure, but I doubt he can�t understand how to upgrade himself. Centipedes and Dragon Wolf Cubs can spend Biomass. I know they can, I�ve seen them with upgraded body parts. There is no way they can do it but Tiny can�t.

No, no. The reason he hasn�t done it is because he can�t be bothered. It�s too much hassle.

This lazy ape!

[Tiny, lean down here for a moment, would you?]

Puzzled, the giant ape leans down, bringing his bat face a little closer to mine.

THWAP!

I whip my antennae around and smack them against his head on both sides.

[Go spend all your points! Right now!]

[�Why?] He sounds dissatisfied as he rubs at his bruised cheeks.

Stubborn gorilla!

He has to obey my instructions so he will spend them. It would just be better if I could give him motivation that would make him try harder to spend them well.

[If you spend all your points properly, you�ll be able to hit things better.]

[Ooooo!] A spark of interest lights up in his eyes.

Tiny eagerly leans forward, hoping for more.

[You�ll grow stronger too. Maybe enough to fight that scary thing in the marsh!]

His brow furrows for a moment as he thinks hard before rushing up to his feet and pounding his chest.

[OOOOOOO!]

[That�s it, buddy! It�s a good idea to spend all of your points. Go get �em, now!]

[OOOOOOO!] He roars in his mind as he turns and sprints out of the chamber.

[OI! Get back here, you ape! Spend your points, don�t go fighting!] I cry as I chase after him.

It takes a little while, but I manage to calm Tiny down some and reinforce the idea that spending points good, leaving them unspent bad. I get him settled in a corner where he sits with a glazed expression on his face as he trawls through the various menus. I don�t envy him. He has to go through upgrade menus for literally every upgradable body part he has.

Crinis is still vaguely wobbling in the corner as she also grapples with the problem of upgrading herself. She won�t have nearly as many Skill Points or Biomass as Tiny to chew through, but the fact she has yet to spend a single thing makes me a little worried. Even with my orders hanging over her head, she�ll probably struggle to make choices. I think she�ll be awhile.

Time for me to spend a few points myself!

I�ve got thirty-six points of Biomass to spend and another fourteen Skill Points. The Biomass will go quickly, but the Skill Points, I�ll need to spend a little more time on. I�ve got enough that I can branch out a little and perhaps allow myself a little leeway to pick up a few non-essential skills.

All right then, Biomass first!

This one�s easy enough, fifteen points are needed to take my Inner Carapace Plating to +5, leaving me with twenty-one points to spend. I think I�ll spend the extra on my acid gland. The fact that I can spin magic now shouldn�t take away from the ease of use and deadly restrictive properties of my business zone. I�m also pretty hopeful that there might be some juicy advancements to choose from when I get to +10. I�ll keep my tiny little claws crossed on that one.

[Do you want to upgrade Inner Carapace Plating to +5 and Restrictive Acid Gland to +8? This will cost 36 Biomass.]

Right on the money!

[At this level, you are able to choose a mutation advancement. Please select from the menu.]

Then pow! The menu hits me right between the eyes with a plethora of options. I start picking my way through, searching for something that makes sense for me and what I want from my Inner-Plating. What exactly do I want from it?

More defence, I guess? I mean, as far as I see it, there are two options for improving defence, tougher shell or faster healing. Generally speaking, I like having a mix of both. The tougher the shell is, the more valuable the healing, right? I have the Regeneration Gland to provide sweet, sweet healing in the event I need it, and I have my Diamond Carapace to provide the hard outer shell.

The bone plating is basically a reinforcing layer underneath the carapace, supporting it and making it more difficult to break through. I don�t mind if the plating serves a double role, reinforcing the outer shell and helping to repair it at the same time.

Let�s see if I can find something along those lines�

Bingo!

[Regenerating Inner Carapace Plating: Helps to regenerate damage done to the carapace in addition to improving its defensive properties.]

Nice!

With this my shell is capable of healing itself even more than before. Muahahahaha! All I need now is to bolster my defence against magical attacks in some way. I need to start investigating and training my skills.

[Would you like to confirm these choices?]

Yep!

FFFFFFTAGN!

All over the inside of my carapace! Noooooo!

Ugh, that�s horrible� Now for skills.

For the first time in ages, I bring up the skills menu and start pouring through it, looking for options that might help me out in the current situation.

I saw one skill in Tiny�s list that I thought looked helpful, so I go straight to confirming what that might be.

[Stamina: Reduces the cost of actions or skills that drain physical endurance. The amount of reduction increases with skill Level.]

Hot damn, that is handy. Consider it bought!

Ok, what else is there?

I check through the pet-related skills again to see if there�s something I really want. Increasing growth speed doesn�t really appeal, being able to view status�

Well, if I think about it in terms of what the skills will turn into when advanced, rather than what they are currently, how does that change my thinking?

Growth Speed could become� Levelling Speed? Increase in XP or Biomass gained? That could be really handy.

Viewing Status would become� Changing Status? Being able to spend Skill and Biomass points?

The second one still doesn�t interest me but the first one could become useful. It�s worth spending a point on. Purchased!

The joy of spending points and growing stronger is filling me! Or is it just the knowledge being dumped into my brain space?

The rest of the pet skills don�t interest me right now. I don�t need to take the skill to increase the number of available pets until the system refuses my attempt. I may as well try and find a third now that I have the faster pet growing skill. Presumably I won�t be able to Level it up unless I gain a new pet.

At that time, perhaps the system will refuse to allow me to reconstitute a monster and I can easily pick up the skill then. For now, let�s look about and see what other skills there are.

Scrolling through the menus takes a significant amount of time. They don�t seem to be organised in a properly logical way. Movement skills are mixed with mental skills, and magical skills are sometimes tucked away amongst physical ones. It�s almost as if you need to know what you�re looking for and where to find it ahead of time, otherwise your only choice is to trawl through the lists checking every entry until you find something you like.

Which is exactly what I�m doing. And it sucks!

This one? No�

How about�No�

Hmmmm� No.

Who would want to get better at that anyway?

Madness!

There has to be some juicy new skills here somewhere. I need to look a little more carefully. I remember when the skill list had only five options on it. I don�t know how, I don�t know why, but that�s ballooned out to over one hundred at this point. I�m not sure exactly what causes the skills to become unlocked. There must be some sort of prerequisite that needs to be met. Perhaps with stats� or even actions in the world?

For example, the pet skills. I don�t exactly frequently check the skill list, but they didn�t appear until after I reconstituted my first pet. I didn�t go looking for them until after I�d met Formo the Sophos, but it stands to reason they were unlocked somehow.

Which means other skills must also have prerequisites before they become available. I suppose humans and civilisations like the Sophos would have had hundreds of years to learn all this stuff and map it out. Uncovering the most optimal paths, planning the best combinations of skills.

Well, the ant kingdom will also have to compile this knowledge! Starting with the first twenty of the new generation, I�ll begin the process of learning the secrets behind the entire skill tree. Not a single leaf shall remain unturned!

With renewed determination, I start reading through the skill descriptions one by one and I manage to uncover a few gems.

[Mana Miser: Allows the user to be able to do slightly more with slightly less when utilising Mana. Effect will increase along with skill Level.]

[Cerebral Endurance: The user will be better able to marshal their mental resources, reducing the mental exertion for complex Will-based tasks slightly.]

[Meditation: User will be able to relax the mind and achieve clarity of thought. Each Level will make the state more effective and easier to achieve.]

Each of these three makes a lot of sense to me from a magic user perspective. More efficiency with Mana, better mental endurance and a clearer, more focused mind? Perfect for my spell slinging ways!

Purchased!

Man, the number of skills I have is really climbing. Now that my skills are starting to reach the third tier, it�s becoming harder to train them, meaning I have to upgrade them less, causing my current Skill Points to build up.

I shouldn�t go too crazy picking up new skills� perhaps only one or two more.

I�ve already picked up some skills on the mental side. Is there anything on the physical side worth a consideration? I start to hone in on skill names that seem to focus on physical prowess, but most don�t seem that useful.

There has to be something that could be interesting� I need to remember not to judge a skill on exactly what it says at the first stage. After reaching Level five and then Level ten, the skills become much more useful. Look at Dash, for example. I ignored it initially since charging forward when I was just born would be little more than charging into my own death. After witnessing the awesome movement skills of the humans, it became clear that once upgraded, Dash was almost essential for physical combat.

Ooooo, how about this?

[Precise Shooting: The user will become better able to target objects with ranged attacks.]

This should work for my Acid Shot as well as my magic. Purchased!

All right then, there has to be something else� something less passive.

One more skill�

Something catches my eye. Even then� it sounds a bit nasty�

[Ripping Bite: Increases the user�s ability to make Bite attacks aimed at tearing away parts of the target�s body.]

That� is badass.

Purchased!

With the warm trickling sensation of new skill knowledge flooding my brain, I feel pleased with my new purchases. New skills to Level! New horizons to explore! Who knows what exactly these skills will turn into in the future.

One thing I do know, I need to start training them up quickly. My current options aren�t nearly enough to handle the sort of conflicts we�re going to start getting into, so I need to lift my game.

Content with my spending for the moment, I turn to check in on my pets. Crinis is still bobbling away in the corner and Tiny remains seated, eyes glazed as he contemplates the upgrade menu.

Good luck, guys, I wish you well!

Since I don�t have much to do, I may as well start grinding my skills.

Who knows? Perhaps I�ll be able to unlock something interesting if I can get some of my skills to evolve.

I settle in to wait for my pets to complete their spending and try to activate my Meditation skill. It takes a little while but I gradually feel a calm sensation begin to pervade my mind, my thoughts growing still and placid, my emotions fading into the background.

With the proper mood established, I call on my Mana and begin to practice. There�s a lot of work to do.

Mirryn awoke with a start.

Wide-eyed and alert, she turned her head to look around. She was immediately struck by the austere white room in which she lay. She was lying on a clean bed in a small white chamber. On the ceiling, a glowing crystal provided illumination, a clean white light that filled the space warmly. Just looking at that light nearly brought Mirryn to tears. She�d feared she would die surrounded by the blue light of the Dungeon, seeping into her body and killing her slowly.

She couldn�t remember much of her arrival to the Legion base in the Dungeon. The descent down the carved spiral staircase the commander referred to as Periclasus� stair, was long. That journey had tested the trainees to their limits. It had taken many days of endless marching to reach the bottom, spiralling ever downward into the depths. And the lower they got, the sicker they became.

None of the trainees had been down in the Dungeon this deep, for this long. Without proper acclimation, the lower part of the first strata would normally be the first place a Dungeon delver would need to worry about saturation sickness, or �the blues� as it was colloquially known.

During this wave, which didn�t seem to want to end, the Mana had risen to ridiculous levels. The first strata was currently reading much the same as the second and the trainees were unable to cope. Every one of them was struck with the blues, quite literally turning a light shade of blue as the raw Mana of the Dungeon began to pervade their bodies. Mana saturation sickness was an insidious killer and a truly messy death. Delvers, mercs and every being who entered the Dungeon lived in fear of it, their bodies literally breaking apart cell by cell as the excess energy ravaged their bodies.

The trainees got their taste of it as they walked the endless stairs. They began to stumble, their legs no longer responding as they should. The farther they got the more pronounced the symptoms became. Their vision was overtaken by a blue haze that made it difficult to see, their hands started shaking, then the whole body. The young, strong trainees began to experience the fear that was normally reserved for the aged, the fear of having their own body betray them and begin to fall out of their control.

Through it all, they felt no pain, only a giddy, inexhaustible nervous energy. The blues didn�t make people feel tired, as the name might suggest. Rather, the Mana suffusing their body and brain numbed them and gave them the jitters, as if they�d been drinking five cups of coffee every hour. They couldn�t sleep, couldn�t rest, couldn�t think clearly, they were both more exhausted than they�d ever been in their lives and completely unable to rest.

With the encouragement and support of their fellow Legionaries and officers, they�d barely made it. The only other members of the party struggling as much as them were the prisoners the Legion mysteriously brought with them on this expedition.

Less capable than the trainees, many of them had to be carried toward the end, the soldiers taking turns to hoist the murderers on their backs as they battled the long march.

The last Mirryn could remember was arriving before a large stone door. She could barely see by that point, the door itself was nothing but a blur. The commander had stepped forward and done� something, and the door swung open. Vague figures had rushed out, gathering the sick members of the party and bringing them inside. She�d collapsed into the arms of the person rushing toward her and then� she woke up here.

Looking around the room some more she noticed a strange arrangement on the side of the bed. A tube had been inserted in her arm, surrounded by a glowing enchantment drawn directly onto her skin. Nervously following the tube with her eyes, it was attached to another enchantment drawn on a nearby flat table. The centre of the table held four softly glowing cores.

Mirryn stared at the strange setup, puzzled. Closing her eyes, she tried to feel if anything was different. Her saturation sickness was significantly better. If she focused hard, she was able to feel the flow of Mana in her body, slowly inching down her arm before being leeched out through the tubes and being fed to the cores on the table.

She was stunned. She�d never even heard of this kind of treatment before. Such fine manipulation of the Mana in another person�s body via an enchantment� how had they done it?

�I haven�t heard anything, Alberton, but as soon as I do, you�ll be the first to know!� the commander�s voice penetrated through the door.

Soon after, the tread of heavy feet thunked as the Loremaster and commander continued to argue.

�I just can�t understand why we didn�t make more of an effort to prevent Garralosh from reaching the surface. You know what will happen up there. That�s my family, dammit!�

There was a heavy thump, as if a fist had smacked into a wall.

�You think you�re the only person with family up there, Alberton? You think I don�t want to rip the head off that croc and protect our people? Is that what you think?� the commander demanded quietly.

There was a long pause, and Mirryn began to wonder what was going on when she barely heard the Loremaster sigh and reply.

�I�m just worried.�

�We all are, but we have a duty to get here to HQ and support the bulwark. As much damage as Garralosh can do, would you want the second strata monsters to rise to the surface? Do you know what that would mean? This wave isn�t ordinary, Alberton, and you should stop pretending that it is. The entire world could go up in flames if we aren�t careful.�

Another sigh and a quiet, �I know,� before the door opened and the two top officers of the Liria branch Legionem Abyssi strode into the room.

�Ah, good to see you�re finally awake, trainee,� Titus nodded.

Mirryn nodded in return, though a little confused, this greeting didn�t feel as positive as it should. Something about her commander�s tone and posture was off. Even Alberton looked somewhat downcast, almost not meeting her eye.

�Is this the HQ?� she asked.

�Yes, you�re in the medical wing,� Titus affirmed. �The Mana saturation was much higher than expected on this journey, we had to perform emergency treatment to lower the Mana levels in your body. All of the trainees received the same treatment. You�re the last to wake.�

Mirryn�s head spun for a moment. So, all of them had been in this place? Where were they now?

Alberton could see the questions in her expression. �The others are waiting for you. We have to move quickly.�

�Can you walk, trainee?� Titus asked.

Mirryn tested her legs. �I think so, sir.�

She rolled out of her bed and stood shakily on her feet. She was still weak from the blues. Titus didn�t wait for her to ask and stepped up to support her, carefully removing the pipe from her arm.

In silence, the two old officers walked with her out of the room and down a long corridor. The place was strangely empty and quiet. Mirryn didn�t see or hear another person as they travelled. They came to a heavy wooden door with a carved, enchanted lock. Titus waved his palm in front of the elaborate carving and it glowed with bright light before swinging open to reveal a winding staircase carved in rock.

Not another one, Mirryn thought.

The three descended, Titus keeping a steady grip on her shoulder to help her navigate the steps without falling. At the bottom of the stairs was a small chamber with another door. Gathered there were all of the trainees.

Mirryn was relieved when she finally saw other people. The feeling quickly faded when she realised the air was tense in the room. The trainees were nervous, the officers solemn.

With the trainees tightly packed together in the small space, Titus took position on the lower steps, placing him higher than his audience so they could see him, and began to speak.

�Congratulations, trainees. You have successfully braved the dangers and hardships of this delve and made it here to the headquarters of the Liria branch of the Abyssal Legion. I�m proud of you.�

And he really was. Looking down on these young Legionaries filled him with pride. They were good people, strong people. They had sacrificed, fought, upheld the tenets of the Legion and proven their mettle. They gave him hope for the future.

The trainees themselves allowed small smiles at the rare words of praise from the commander, but his serious expression dampened the mood.

�You represent half of the trainees inducted in your year. The others have been weeded out. Not dedicated enough. Not loyal enough. Not willing to sacrifice. Only those that we trust to keep the secrets of the Legion and do their duty make it this far. You have earned the right to become full Legionaries.�

Excitement, smiles and joy lit the expressions of the trainees. This was what they had been hoping for ever since they enrolled. They�d worked so hard for this!

Titus saw their looks and acknowledged it with a nod even as his heart sank in his chest. This was always the hardest part�

Titus was a renowned Legionary above and below the ground. He was known for his strength, his iron will, his leadership and his willingness to put himself in harm�s way to protect his fellows. He was a leader who never spared himself.

Most of all, he was known for his unyielding sense of duty. He�d sacrificed over and over again in order to perform the role he filled, and he would damn well do it again. He never hesitated, did not regret, but often, he grieved.

Looking down at the eager trainees, sorrow gripped his heart.

But it didn�t stop him.

�You are about to undergo the final trial on the path to becoming full members of the Deep Legion,� he announced.

Serious expressions overtook the trainees at the word trial. What would they need to do?

�You have experienced severe Mana saturation sickness on the way here and we have done what we can to alleviate the symptoms, but we have not cured you. Behind that door lies the greatest secret of the Legion. We will cure you of saturation sickness permanently. The process will also make you stronger, faster, smarter, more powerful than you currently are. When it is done, you will be reborn.�

A few gasps and disbelieving murmurs erupted from the youths. Was any of this even possible?

Titus pointed to the door behind them. �What lies beyond enabled the first Legionaries to perform the heroic feats deep in the Dungeon that helped end the Cataclysm thousands of years ago and it fuels us today. Every full Legionary you have ever met has undergone this process. Including me.�

The commander took a deep breath. No avoiding it.

�Let�s go in and I�ll explain further.�

Titus gestured to Alberton who squeezed through the cramped chamber before unlocking the enchanted seal on the door and striding through. Titus waited on the stairs until everyone had entered the next room before stepping forward, closing the door behind him.

Of all the trainees, Mirryn was the only one to note his actions closely and a sudden fear gripped her heart. The way they moved, it was almost as if they had been blocking the exit, making sure it was impossible for someone to get past them�

Suddenly anxious, she cast her eyes around the room they now found themselves in. The room itself was unremarkable. Light was provided by glowstones embedded in the ceiling which illuminated a simple and unadorned stone chamber. The chamber itself was long, but narrow, with regular offcuts down the right side. Pushing past her fellow trainees, Mirryn saw that in each offcut, a narrow basin had been chiselled into the floor, almost like a bath carved into the stone. Counting under her breath, there were thirty such �pods,� each with the same narrow basin that appeared designed to have a person lie down in it.

Closely inspecting the pod, she realised the ceiling directly above each basin was not as simple as she first assumed. Incredibly fine, intricate runic patterns were carved into the surface, the lines so thin she almost hadn�t noticed them. In the centre of the pattern a thin hole could be seen, perhaps for something to flow through and fill the basin? Even the basin itself was covered in intricate runic inscriptions. Just what were these for?

Her anxious musing was interrupted by a sudden clap from the commander. All of the trainees turned back to their officer, paying close attention.

�I will now explain the process to you,� the commander said crisply, his eyes hard with determination. �Listen closely, as this will impact the rest of your life.�

He paused there to ensure he had their full attention.

�Each of you will strip down and lie in a separate pod. From the ceiling above we will release pure, condensed liquid Mana that will fill the basin until you are submerged. The fluid will be absorbed into your body, remaking it into something new. After twenty-four hours it�ll be done, and you�ll be a full Legionary.�

The trainees were staring at him as if he were insane. Liquid Mana? What the hell was that! Donnelan stood with the rest, his mind flicking at lightning speed. If Mana could be condensed into a liquid, wouldn�t it be more potent than the energy in the Dungeon? Wouldn�t they just die?

Titus could see their confusion. He did not move to reassure them.

�This process is exceedingly dangerous. It will be the most painful experience of your lives. Every cell in your body will become super saturated with Mana, tearing at the seams. There are powerful healing enchantments built into the basin. You will be ripped apart and remade constantly for a day. One in five of you will not survive.�

The deep, stern voice of Titus faded away and there was total silence as the trainees stared at their commander in shock. They had been prepared for many things, but not this.

Alberton spoke from behind them, his voice weary with sorrow. �To defeat the monsters, to protect the civilisations on the surface, the Legionem Abyssi decided that to be human was not enough. In order to overcome the Cataclysm, to make sure it would never happen again, this was the step they decided to take.�

His words fell on the young trainees like stones. This was real. It was going to happen. Fear gripped their hearts as they imagined the agony of having their very cells ripped apart for hours on end. Could they endure it?

Several thought fleetingly of running, of escaping this chamber and the insane ritual about to take place. They quickly squashed the thought. Who was that standing in the doorway, they thought bitterly. Commander Titus. He was a legend in the Legion. If all of them unleashed their most powerful skills at once, would they shave even one HP from him?

�Nobody is forced to take the ritual,� Titus announced grimly, bringing relief to the trainees. Before they could start to celebrate, he pulled the short sword on his hip from its sheath and gripped it tightly in his right hand.

�But you cannot know the Legion�s secrets and not be one of us. If you wish to spare yourself the suffering, step forward and I will give you a quick end.�

Alberton found Titus staring at the wall outside the ritual chamber, as he always did once the trainees had begun their transformation. Once the process was done, they would be remade into an entirely new species. No longer human, but Legion.

They could delve farther into the Dungeon than anyone else could hope to, able to tolerate levels of Mana saturation beyond what a normal person could ever dream. They would be able to take the fight directly to the monsters, able to chase them down wherever they chose to hide. That was what it meant to join the Abyssal Legion.

This had been done for thousands of years, all over Pangera. The secrets of the first Legionaries had been kept ever since those days. As Loremaster, it was Alberton�s role to keep the histories of those days. The determination, the sheer will of those men and women had remained within their spirit to this day.

That didn�t mean they liked it.

Screams echoed through the chamber now. Down the corridors and up the stairs. On and on, endless screaming. Alberton could well remember what it had been like. He still experienced it in his nightmares, his throat ripping apart from the force of his shrieks only to be instantly healed, allowing him to scream some more.

Amidst the howls of agony, a tap, tap, tap of chisel on stone could faintly be heard as Alberton approached his friend.

As he drew closer, the memorial wall became clear. Thousands of names had been written here by Legion Commanders through the centuries since this base had been established. Titus knelt, his hands steady as he added one more name to the bottom of the list.

Alberton felt his heart twist with pain. The Legion did everything they possibly could to test their new trainees before they reached this point. Anyone they didn�t think would be willing to undergo the baptism had been separated, recommended to other forces and placed in the Auxiliary or other surface teams that were not required to delve. Even though the trainees didn�t know it, they had been forensically examined for years before they reached this point.

The Legion didn�t want to have the blood of their own people on their hands. Unfortunately, no system was perfect.

Trelik had been unwilling to undergo the baptism and accepted Titus� offer.

Now the commander knelt and added his name to the wall, along with every other trainee who had not survived the final trial. Tomorrow, the baptism would be over and Titus would have to kneel here again.

It was impossible to converse with the horrific cries of their own people ringing in their ears. Instead, Alberton walked beside his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder as he let his eyes roam over the names on the wall.

The Legion was the front line against the Dungeon. None fought harder or delved deeper than they. To achieve this, they had been called on to relentlessly sacrifice. None more so than Titus.

Alberton let his gaze rest on one name in particular. Romanus.

How must it have felt� when the commander had carved his only son�s name into this wall?

Her hands hurt like hell.

Mirryn leaned against the parapet of the Legion HQ and took in the view, resting her forearms on the stone.

�How are you holding up?� a voice came nearby.

Mirryn turned to see Donnelan approaching from along the wall.

�Couldn�t sleep either, huh?� she asked him.

�Not a chance in hell,� he muttered.

Neither of them wanted to talk about their baptism, but they couldn�t help thinking about it. When they had finally been taken out of the basin, the trainees immediately lost consciousness, their minds no longer supported by the complex enchantments that had surrounded them.

Upon awakening, they learned that three of their friends died during the process.

All things considered, it wasn�t a bad number. Below average. She could see the relief in the officer�s faces that they hadn�t lost more. It seemed stupid, to be thankful of only three deaths, though she understood their logic. Would the situation be somehow better if four had died?

No.

The commander and the rest of the Legionaries had been by to visit them in the days since. The trainees had been placed in a convalescence unit, comfy beds, good food, medical staff around the clock, counselling specialists, the works.

On the surface, Mirryn would have been shocked to think of the cost of the lavish treatment. The Legion was legendarily thrifty, they made most of their own equipment, ate nutritious but brutally unflavoured food. It was a regular sight for the trainees to be seen cleaning their leathers and polishing their swords outside the barracks in the dawn light right next to their officers.

The trainees were learning just how many things they had thought they�d known had been an elaborate deception. The Abyssal Legion they thought they�d known, the Dungeon they�d thought they�d known, indeed, the world they thought they had lived in, were so far from the truth.

�Did you ever think that something like this could exist?� Mirryn asked Donnelan as he joined her.

�Absolutely not,� he answered flatly. �I�d heard the stories, same as anyone, cities, even entire countries in the Dungeon, but I never believed it.�

Even though she was looking at it, Mirryn still thought it was impossible.

It was a city.

In the Dungeon.

They were inside a vast, egg-shaped cavern of impossible size, kilometres across and many more high, filled with people. Buildings covered the bottom of the cavern and then extended up the walls, carved into the rock face. A gigantic glowstone at the top of the space provided illumination during the day and faded at night, regulating the time for the thousands of citizens here in Rylleh.

Through some mechanism she couldn�t imagine, the cavernous space managed to keep the Dungeon veins out. There was no risk of monsters spawning within the city itself. Such safety within the Dungeon felt weird to her. She�d spent every moment underground up to this point being completely alert. To be this relaxed down here felt� unnatural.

From her vantage point, Mirryn could see the city bustling with activity at all hours, the people moving like ants in the cramped streets below. Even now the light of thousands of lamps lit the city in the evening hours like a sea of candles in the darkness. It was incredible.

The Legion headquarters was about halfway up, a citadel that occupied a position of great standing, looking down over the rest of the city. She hadn�t been able to explore much yet, the trainees were basically confined to recovery. Not the trainees, actually� full Legionaries now.

Mirryn had longed for that for so long�

�How�s your hand?� Donnelan asked.

She glanced down at the heavy bandages that wrapped her forearms all the way to the tip of her fingers.

�Better,� she said. �They�ve been healed but they�re worried about damage to the bone, so I�ll be under wraps for a few days yet.�

Donnelan�s expression twisted a little. Unable to contain his curiosity he eventually asked, �Is it true how they got injured?�

�What did you hear?�

�That you punched the commander in the face.�

Mirryn shrugged her shoulders uncomfortably. �It�s true.�

Donnelan whistled his appreciation. �I can�t� I cannot even imagine it. Did he say anything?�

He hadn�t. The commander had visited each trainee personally upon their wakening. When she�d finally opened her eyes and got her bearings, he�d already been there. He didn�t explain or justify. He just sat there. On seeing the man she�d trusted so much, almost like a father, who had done such an unspeakable thing to her and her friends� she�d lost it. Rage and fury had exploded in her.

She�d been able to contain it at first. What would be the point of hitting him?

When she asked how many died and he told her, she�d leapt out of the bed and punched him right in the face with both hands. He hadn�t resisted in any way. Willingly accepting her strikes. The end result was she broke both fists. She didn�t think the commander even moved.

She�d spoken with some of her fellow trainees, especially Donnelan. There were feelings of anger, of betrayal and fear. Fear of the pain that kept them awake at night, fear of the never-ending horror of it, and deep down, fear that the Legion was right.

They could feel it now. Ever since they�d awoken, they could tell something was different. Their bodies were absorbing Mana out of the air, breathing it in and out through their pores. Mirryn felt stronger, healthier, her mind moved quicker and with greater agility.

They hadn�t even begun training or using their new bodies yet, but they could already tell they had been fundamentally changed. She didn�t think it would end with just this either, she thought there would be more secrets to come.

She knew her officers were good people. The impression she had of them from years of living alongside them wasn�t wrong. They were indeed the kind of hard-line, duty-bound hardheads that would put people they cared about through such torment, so long as they had good reason to.

The torment was over, but Mirryn was afraid to find out why it was necessary.

The Legion had done this for thousands of years. Why? What exactly were they fighting down here?

She turned back to Donnelan. �When do you think they�ll let us out and into the city?�

He smiled. �Hopefully soon. After everything that�s happened, I could do with some leave. A few refreshments wouldn�t go astray.�

Mirryn shook her head. �A whole new world to explore down here and the only thing you care about is getting drunk?�

�Yes.�

After a pause, they both laughed and turned back to the city spread below them. Growing up in an undeveloped frontier country like Liria had stunted them in many ways. They�d very rarely met members of the other races, didn�t come into contact with the rare and powerful artefacts of the old empires. The frontier nations had been established on lands nobody wanted, by people with the grit to try and carve out a new life for themselves. The kingdoms, empires and alliances that endured from the Cataclysm to today were far-off legends to them. Here and now, looking down on the impossible city below them, they felt as if those fairy tales they heard were so close they could reach out and touch them.

A cough sounded behind them and they jumped, turning quickly to find Tribune Aurillia behind them.

�I hope I�m not disturbing you, Legionaries?� the older woman enquired.

The two stiffened at being approached by their officer. It would take a long time for any sort of trust to exist between them again. Aurillia was not offended, or even surprised. She naturally knew how they felt, having gone through the same thing herself.

�The commander has called for you to assemble. It�s time to find out if what you endured was worth it.�

The rest of the new Legionaries were gathered together in a cluster at the end of their ward under the watchful eye of a few Centurions.

The young soldiers felt restless. They still didn�t know how to feel toward the Legion and the seniors who cared for and trained them for so long. The pain of the baptism was fresh in their minds, the scars still raw. Many of them felt a strange dual emotion toward the people they once admired, equal parts anger and respect.

Aurillia stepped forward to address them.

�Thank you for gathering, young Legionaries. You have endured the pain of the baptism and suffered the loss of friends, as have we all.� She looked each of them in the eye directly, letting them see she knew of their pain, shared it.

�I�m sure you�ve felt it already, the changes in your body. You are no longer what you were before. Your very flesh has been infused with Mana and this means a few things will change. Firstly, you can never live on the surface without regular doses of liquid Mana to support your body. The Mana there is too thin. Here inside the Dungeon, you�ll be fine, but in the upper levels you�ll begin to feel a bit weak.�

Murmurs erupted from the new Legionaries at these words. Unable to live on the surface without liquid Mana? If the Legion were the only ones who knew how to make it, isn�t this just another way for them to be controlled?

�It also means,� Aurillia interrupted their thoughts, �that so long as you are able to absorb enough Mana, you will be able to do things you had never imagined possible before.�

Now she glared at them. Impressing her will on them. Each wilted under the strength she held in her gaze.

�I know you are questioning the Legion, I did once also. When you have experienced the fight, we are engaged in for yourself, you will no longer hold any such childish notions! If you truly want to protect your loved ones from the horrors of the Dungeon, then you�ve come to the right place. The Abyssal Legion stands on the front line against the true threats. For thousands of years, we have done battle far beneath the surface, an unending war that few people in Liria have ever heard of.�

Her glare intensified.

�Come.�

Aurillia turned and pushed open heavy wooden doors that separated their ward from the rest of the Legionary building, and marched briskly through. The former trainees followed closely behind, trying not to stare at the bustle around them. Legionaries in their customary blackened leather armour stood in guard positions down every corridor or passage they moved through, auxiliaries dashed about delivering papers, meals, equipment or any of the million other tasks the Legion needed done in order to operate. The new Legionaries were hardly spared a glance as they followed behind Aurillia, escorted by the Centurions who followed them.

The castle was carved directly into the wall of the space in which Rylleh was situated. As with all things the Legion constructed, it was built on very clean lines, straight corridors and square rooms, giving the entire structure a very austere feeling. It was easy to tell the structure was old. Possibly too old.

Mirryn made a few mental estimations before she came to the shocking realisation that this base, indeed, the city of Railleh itself, probably predated Liria by a considerable amount of time. The Legion had been here long before the nation of her birth had even been created. This whole city?

It didn�t make sense. Why would the surface be so neglected that it was the last place to be developed, to be made habitable for people? She thought of her family and their humble history, working hard to carve out a life for themselves in the frontier kingdoms and the pride they felt at what they achieved in such trying circumstances.

Was it all a joke? There�s an entire city down here! Long before her ancestors had even thought to join the expedition to the frontier.

As she muddled through her conflicted feelings, the passage they were travelling through suddenly opened into a vast hall. Mirryn gasped, shocked out of her thoughts by the grand scale of the space. A high arched ceiling, buttressed by powerful columns of stone, had been carved straight into the rock. Ornate, almost delicate supports, stretched across the empty space to give strength and proportion to the stone.

Clusters of glowstones illuminated the room in bright light, causing Mirryn to squint against the sudden glare. Down the centre of the room, between the columns, stood two rows of stone statues raised on marble plinths. Each of the figures was a masterpiece. Incredibly detailed, perfectly proportioned. The level of skill that would go into making such a perfect piece of art boggled the young Legionaries minds.

Each of the statues was a Legionary. Men and women in full battle armour, weapons in hand, standing ready. Most of them were of advanced age, clearly senior officers or veteran soldiers. Scars criss-crossed their faces and arms, their expressions hard, as if there was little they hadn�t seen. So lifelike were they, it felt as if they could jump down from their plinths and stride into battle at any moment.

�This is the hall of remembrance,� Aurillia said over her shoulder. �Here, the greatest members of our branch have been immortalised in stone, preserved for history and for the battles to come.�

She pointed to one of the figures toward the end of the room as they continued to stride through the hall. �Over there is commander Titus� father, Magnus.�

Almost despite themselves, the young Legionaries felt their heads snap around to stare at the statue in the distance. A tall, bull-shouldered figure stood there, a great two-handed held casually in one hand. Even at this distance, Mirryn could see the statue�s features; the broad chin, stern eyes and thick neck were the same as commander Titus.

Some of the new Legionaries were somewhat surprised to learn the commander even had a father. They�d felt as if he�d walked fully formed out of a mountainside�

Once through the hall they were quickly brought into the armoury. Before a large ornate door stood the commander himself, a rare half smile on his lips as he watched his newest Legionaries assemble before him.

Oddly, he didn�t say a word. He simply turned and pushed open the door before indicating with his head that they should walk through.

Mirryn had somehow found herself in the front. Feeling somewhat nervous, she stepped through the grand door and into the darkened space on the other side, cautiously letting her eyes adjust to the gloom before moving too far.

As her vision improved, her footsteps slowed until she was completely still, dumbstruck.

Lining the walls on either side of the room were massive suits of armour of obsidian stone and polished steel. An endless network of enchantments webbed the plates, the glittering blue light of residual Mana providing most of the illumination in the space.

What the heck are these? Mirryn thought in wonder.

The commander grinned. �Who wants to suit up first?�

Titus didn�t wait for the Legionaries to answer and immediately started calling names, lining everyone up before him in name order. The young soldiers were so accustomed to following his orders that doing as he said was almost instinctual.

In the dim light, the commander looked as impressive as always. His solid frame and clear eyes were reassuring to everyone in the Legion, even if they didn�t know how to feel about it at the time.

Once everyone was lined up appropriately, Titus raised his voice to address them.

�Ladies and Gentlemen of the Legion!� He smiled warmly, a rare sight indeed. �Welcome! You have endured the pain and come through the other side. It is time to add the finishing touches to your induction as full Legionaries.�

He gestured to the armoured suits that lined the walls. �What you see here is more Legionary tech developed thousands of years ago during the Rending. Magical theory was highly advanced at that time, and in their desperation, the creators of the Legion experimented with hundreds of different ways to increase their strength to defeat the monsters and preserve the light of civilisation. The baptism you endured is one such technique, these suits of armour are another.�

He walked toward the nearest suit and knocked against the melded steel and stone plate. A hard clang rang out, ringing in the air. The armour was massive and bulky, impossibly so. Even Titus, as powerful and broad as he was, looked like he would struggle to move when weighed down by the sheer mass of the suit.

Donnelan in particular was confused. He was a mage, used to wearing only light leather armour. Anything heavier would reduce his mobility to the point where it would be difficult for him to impact the battlefield where and when he was needed. The Legion didn�t subscribe to the �soft� mage approach of cloth armour and little combat training. Some forces preferred to have their mages spend all of their time in study. The Legion took a different approach. Donnelan had been forced to endure harsh physical training, maintain his own leather armour and equipment, as well as learning how to defend himself with his staff or even bare hands.

But surely they wouldn�t expect him to clunk around like a turtle inside one of these things?

�This is Abyssal armour,� announced Titus, a touch of reverence coming through in his tone. �Even now we struggle to reproduce the incredible level of craftsmanship that was achieved during the Cataclysm, and these suits have been made right here in Rylleh.�

There was unmistakable pride at that announcement. Was this Abyssal armour really that special? The former trainees stared hard at the oversized suits and struggled to see their value.

Titus could only shake his head. It was hard to understand just what the Abyssal armour could do until you�d experienced it for yourself. He didn�t blame them too much for looking down on it.

�Before you can test out the suits, we have a little item on the agenda that needs to be taken care of first. Class change!�

Mirryn went wide-eyed at this. Class change? Now!

�Every single one of you has met the requirements for your class, we aren�t stupid.� Titus laughed. �I�ll ask you to step forward one at a time and we will enact the change. I�ll be the trainer for all of you.�

He gestured for the first person to step forward and soon after the soft glow of the class change radiated from that person�s frame. Titus pointed to one of the suits and they moved to stand beside it before Titus gestured to the next.

It was soon Donnelan�s turn and he stepped forward nervously.

�Don�t be shy, lad, it�s fine,� Titus smiled at him.

Donnelan eyed the commander. It was rare to see the grizzled veteran in such a good mood. �I�m not done with my current class though, Commander,� he said. �Is it really proper for me to change right now?�

Titus nodded. �You�ll understand in a moment. Step forward.�

Donnelan took the final few steps to close the distance to his commander, and Titus raised a hand to place it on his shoulder. As soon as he did, Donnelan received a System prompt within his mind.

[Would like to change class to: Abyssal Legionary?]

What!

Donnelan was stunned for a brief moment. The Abyssal Legion was actually a class within the System itself? This was almost unheard of� The cases where the System actually changed to recognise organisations that existed in the world were so few, you could count them on the fingers of one hand.

Yes! Donnelan hastily confirmed his choice. To inherit such a rare and unique class, who wouldn�t be willing?

The familiar trickling sensation washed over his mind as the System imparted new knowledge and skills to him, along with his new class, and Titus directed him to stand next to a suit of Abyssal armour near the back on the left side.

Still somewhat shocked, Donnellan stumbled over to his designated armour. As he approached it, he could see it was built lighter and slimmer than the other designs, clearly more mobile and manoeuvrable than the bulkier versions. Judging by the size of it though, there was still no way he could possibly move whilst wearing it.

Or� could he?

Donnelan flipped open his status and took a look at his new skills. Sure enough, Abyssal armour Operation Level one was there. As time passed and more of the new Legionaries undertook the class change, Donnelan was able to absorb more of the knowledge being fed into his mind until he reached the point where he was able to understand the suit next to him to some extent.

Even what little he did understand was enough to shock him. This wasn�t armour. This was a priceless masterpiece! The enchantments, the crystal filament wires, the incredible alloys that made up the plates, all of it was insane.

When every trainee had changed their class and taken their place next to a suit, the commander instructed them to suit up.

With the newly imprinted knowledge fresh in their minds, they were still hesitant to follow the instructions within their head. It just didn�t seem real. Donnelan decided to just go for it and stepped in front of his suit. Raising one hand, he placed it on the chest plate of his Abyssal armour and waited.

Perhaps he could feel it?

According to the knowledge he now possessed, the suit was powered by Mana, not by his own physical frame. Without excessive use of incredibly dense monster cores, moving something like these suits of armour would be nigh impossible. Only, the suits didn�t use cores at all. Instead, they drew on the Mana infused within the bodies of the Legionaries wearing them.

Something like this could never be done by someone that hadn�t undergone the baptism. The Legionaries� very flesh was infused with Mana and they absorbed it from the Dungeon at an accelerated rate. Thanks to the incredible magical engineering within the suits, they were able to supply enough power to move it themselves.

Gradually, Donnelan became more aware of the flow of Mana from his body into the suit. As time passed, the flow increased and the thousands of tiny enchantments carved into the ornate surface of the armour began to glow with the light of Mana. The light spread throughout the suit, starting at the breastplate where his hand rested, then flowing throughout the suit until the entire thing was powered.

The armour began to float, piece by piece, onto his body, the various plates clicking into place around his arms, chest, neck and then legs. He had to lift his feet to allow the oversized boots to snap together around his ankles. Once the helmet settled into place and locked onto the pauldrons, it was done.

The feeling was strange, almost like being locked in a tomb. At the same time the armour felt like a second skin, as if it were connected to his body and mind. It moved so fluidly and naturally. It just didn�t seem real.

�Get yourselves accustomed to the feeling, Legionaries,� Titus said. �We are going to be training in these suits for the next few weeks until you advance your skills to the third tier. This is how we fight down here. Welcome to the World Below.�

There they are. Look at them. Peacefully sleeping, awaiting the day when they awake and take their first steps into the world. Shhhhhh, little ones. You don�t know it yet, but the world will be your oyster. Yes it will! You will roam wherever you wish and bring prosperity to our family. Our enemies will flee before your strength and become food beneath your mighty mandibles.

Yes they will! You adorable little things!

[Master.]

WHA�! What now?

[Crinis, why are you interrupting my egg time?]

[I�m very sorry, Master, but I believe I have detected another wave approaching from the tunnels below.]

Haaaa. These stupid monsters just won�t stop! I�m going to have to work out a solution for this problem before the time approaches. These waves have caused no end of headaches and significant losses to the colony over the last week. Those crocs are going to get what�s coming to them, and the sooner the better.

[I�m on the way, Crinis. Tiny, wake up! Time to fight.]

[Oh? Ohhhh! FIGHT!]

Reluctantly, I turn away from the twenty small, white spheres occupying the egg chamber. They�re the only occupants of the egg chamber and the workers have been caring for them diligently, but I can�t help coming up to take a look at them every now and again. When I think of the future these little eggs could bring for the colony, I get so excited I just can�t help myself.

I put in a lot of work to create those eggs. I deserve to be a little happy now that they�ve finally arrived, dammit!

Just three days ago the queen managed to gather the Biomass necessary to lay this small clutch. It�ll take a few more days before they hatch and then two weeks for them to complete their time as larvae and become pupae. Then a little while longer and they�ll finally take their place under my tutelage.

It�s so loooong!

I know it�s my own fault for extending the development time of the workers in order to squeeze more stats into them, but I�m so frustrated right now. I feel like kids probably felt at Christmas when there were presents waiting under the tree. I didn�t get to experience that during my human life, but I think I finally grasp that emotion now. The wait is torturous!

Grumbling to myself, I descend through the main shaft of the nest, through the queen�s chamber and into the area my pets and I have made our home. It�s been somewhat expanded recently, mainly to accommodate Tiny and allow us a little more space in fighting off the Dungeon monsters that have swarmed up the tunnels periodically over the last week.

My pets and I have been training our skills, using our shortcut to venture deeper into the Dungeon and harvest Biomass for ourselves and the queen. We�ve seen significant gains in pumping up our new skills and our overall combat effectiveness has risen as a result. I�m quite pleased that my pets now have properly allocated Skill Points and mutation advancements, even if it took way too much effort to finally get them there.

We ran into serious trouble twice during our escapades. When Tiny and I ventured down, leaving Crinis on guard duty, she had to fight off a wave on her own. Thankfully the ants from the chamber above became aware of the ruckus and rushed down to support her. By the time Tiny and I returned it had been cleaned up and casualties were minimal. We were a bit more cautious after that and tried to make sure no monsters were able to slip past us.

Still, the second time, through some twist of tunnel, one of the waves managed to find an alternate access point to the surface. We had no idea they were up there until the colony engaged and started calling for reinforcements. When the Queen�s Guards in the chamber above started moving out, we were alerted and rushed out with them. Eventually we were able to find the monsters and defeat them, but not before a significant number of workers had been killed in the engagement.

The human refugees had almost been caught up in it. When the battle raged, the fighting had gone right to their doorsteps. Being saved by the colony seems to have driven their affection for ant monsters to even greater heights. When workers wander past their growing encampment, they bow respectfully and cheer. It�s getting a bit unnerving.

We�ve been even more careful since then.

I would�ve rushed straight into the Dungeon and shoved my mandibles through those stupid crocs� faces if I could, but I wanted to make sure the colony was safe first. That was a few days ago now. We�ve been quietly building our strength since then, getting ready to launch our invasion and claim the marsh Expanse for ourselves!

Nobody messes with my family and gets away with it!

Entering the chamber, Crinis and Tiny get ready for action. Crinis has extended her tentacles down the tunnel for more than a hundred metres, stretching her strange flesh to the limit in order to detect vibrations.

[Bring it all back, Crinis. Time to get ready to fight]

[Yes, Master.]

The little tennis ball of boundless hunger begins to retract the thin, wire-like tendrils she had painstakingly extended down the tunnel back into her body. When the task is done, she inflates herself to her combat size, ready to unleash destruction upon our foes.

Tiny has long been primed. His hands clench and unclench repeatedly as if he can�t wait to allow his fists to go to work. The silver hair on his arms is already beginning to rise as electrical current begins to flicker across his body.

Ever since advancing his skills, Tiny has become even more obsessed with fighting, if that were even possible. I think that now he knows he can advance his skills again there�s even more relish to be had in the thrill of battle.

Actually�

Where the heck is he going?

Unable to contain himself anymore, the ape dashes down the tunnel, whooping with delight!

[Damnable ape� Let�s go, Crinis!]

Rushing after him, Crinis and I hurtle down the tunnel. In front of us, Tiny moves with impressive speed, hands and legs flailing with a strange grace as he propels his massive frame like a hairy, overweight gazelle.

I should never have told him about the Dash skill�

With us hurtling down and the monsters rushing up, it doesn�t take long for the two sides to crash into each other like speeding trucks.

Boom!

As Tiny smashes into the front of the monster wave, a voice calls from behind me.

�Hey-Hey! Wait for me, senior!�

Vibrant�

As Crinis joins Tiny on the front lines, the little ant motors down the passage behind us to catch up and I sigh internally.

It isn�t that we�ve been ignoring the little thing lately or trying to leave her behind. It�s more that she�s become a little too reckless. Flinging herself into combat and trying to get her mandibles dug into the flesh of our opponents. The result of such behaviour is that she nearly gets smashed by Tiny or eaten by Crinis as they rampage. Crinis doesn�t have a way to communicate with the little worker. As friendly as they are with each other, they don�t share the same bond that Crinis and Tiny do. I�ve confirmed with Crinis multiple times that within a certain range, she can sense my location as well as Tiny�s. This prevents her from ripping into Tiny as they fight together.

�Vibrant! You need to wait here with me for a second.�

�Whaaaaat? I want to fight!� she complains. �Look at big sis, Crinis! She can fight so well already. I want to be like that!�

Sigh.

This is the source of the problem. Her former partner in smallness, Crinis, is all grown up and wrecking faces, whereas she has yet to evolve, still a Superior Hatchling, not really capable of contributing to tough fights like these.

�Tell you what. You go up to the ceiling and fire acid to get some Skill Levels, and we�ll save a good chunk of monsters for you to finish off. After all this time, you�re fairly close to your next evolution. If we can manage it, you might even be able to evolve today.�

�Yaaaaay!� she cheers like a happy child and rushes up to the ceiling to begin raining acid down on the horde of onrushing monsters.

Well, at least she�s happy. Vibrant has been something of a restraint on our strength since she isn�t really powerful enough to wade into situations like this and come out alive. These shadow beast monsters are simply a cut above the kind of prey us ants would normally have to deal with.

If she can evolve again, then perhaps she�ll be able to hold her own. She�s certainly had enough Biomass to upgrade all of her body parts to the limit by this stage since we�ve been pumping her full of food for so long. Considering the regular feasts that have been delivering themselves to us on a regular basis, as well as our own farming activities, I�ve managed to pile up 163 points of Biomass that I need to spend.

This will be the last upgrade before our assault on the marsh Expanse, so I need to make it count!

Whatever the crocs can do, I need to do better.

Charge!

Eager to continue training my skills, I rush up the wall and begin weaving my magic.

[Make sure you guys save a lot of monsters for Vibrant to finish off, ok? We want her to evolve today if possible.]

[Yes, Master.]

[Grrrnnn.]

You�re that unhappy about only being allowed to punch the monsters mostly to death, huh, Tiny? Get over it, man!

Moving onto the ceiling where Vibrant has already taken up a position to hurl blasts of acid into the fray, I take a moment to size up the situation.

The tunnel is packed with onrushing shadow beasts. These guys are almost entirely low tier monsters that are yet to evolve, but due to their nature as monsters from a deeper level of the Dungeon, they cannot be compared to Centipedes and Coral Slugs in terms of their lethality.

Their claws are sharp, their teeth are deadly and the strange elastic shadow stuff that makes up their bodies is both strong and malleable, allowing them to twist and contort themselves to an alarming degree. Not quite to the same level Crinis can, but stretching out their arms to attack a few extra feet is easily within their capabilities.

Tiny has no issues wading into the battle. With his skills upgraded, he can clear his way through the mobs with more vigour than before. Particularly since his fist skills have reached a new tier.

�Raaaaaaah!� Tiny roars as his fists begin to glow with bright light.

Thrusting one massive fist, Tiny unleashes his strength in a colossal blow that smashes the monsters directly in front of him. But it doesn�t stop there.

Boom!

When his fist stops moving, the light continues forward as a mighty ape paw, scattering monsters ten feet away from Tiny as they suffer the impact of his tier three Boxing skills.

As the monsters begin to try and swarm, Tiny swivels on his heel and unleashes a devastating hook that blasts an arc of light around him, smashing the smaller creatures around him to the ground.

Haha! Didn�t see that coming, did you?

Crinis has also improved her abilities. Her limbs reach out farther than before and with greater agility to snag monsters from the crowd, lifting them up before entangling them with more tentacles and crushing them.

Nice!

By purchasing a few skills and mutating her body, the tennis ball that devours all, including hope, has increased her skill at manipulating her tentacles as well as their strength and flexibility. All in all, she poses a much larger threat. I honestly can�t wait until she evolves, it�ll be exciting to see how she�ll grow!

Not wanting to waste any more time I hastily whip up a water construct and start feeding Mana through it. The entire process is more fluid than before, the Transformation construct being pieced together with practiced ease. I�ve made thousands of these stupid things recently. It would be impossible for me to not improve.

Not only that!

I start weaving water bolts with both of my sub-brains, flinging them into the crowd and knocking monsters down with each fierce impact. With my main mind, I start to work on something special.

Operating the Transformation construct carefully, I split off a third stream of water Mana and begin to condense it, crushing the Mana down under the weight of my mind. Steadily, the outline of a water bolt frame begins to form, made entirely of condensed Mana.

I really have to grind down my focus to achieve this, but it�s one thing I�ve been practicing lately and the results are� interesting.

As the battle rages, I spend precious seconds assembling my spell. With Tiny and Crinis at the front line I�m not worried. They could handle this wave on their own, I�m just here for the experience.

Once the frame is finished, I begin to power the spell with condensed Mana. With the shape of the spell formed of condensed Mana, the construct holds up better when also filled with the volatile stuff. When it�s finally powered and ready to cast, I take careful aim to ensure I allow plenty of leeway so my own pets aren�t caught in the blast.

Fire!

The water bolt, a deeper and darker blue than the others, almost as if it were formed of water from the deep ocean, materialises above my head and rockets forth.

The monsters don�t have time to react before it impacts amongst them.

BOOOOOOM!

Like a crashing wave, water explodes amongst the monsters, blasting them into the walls and crushing them into the ground. The spray from the impact is so strong it cuts into their bodies, leaving gaping wounds, and in some cases severing limbs.

Yikes!

Condensed spells are really no joke!

As the rather explosive effect of my Compressed water bolt fades and the monsters begin to recover as more flood into the narrow tunnel to trample over the fallen, I take a little time to reflect on the success of the spell.

Certainly better than I thought.

After witnessing the awesome effects of Forceful Mana spells when using the compressed energy to fuel a spell, I began to experiment with forming an entire spell from compressed Mana. The structure, from beginning to end, weaved with those threads and then the entire thing filled right to the top. My test results were promising, to say the least.

All the extra practice with water Mana pays hefty dividends also. When Water Magic Affinity hit Level five, I immediately pumped it up to Advanced Water Magic, which is already Level two. I also ranked up Forceful Mana to boot. Never doubt my gains!

However, this was my first time putting the spells to use in actual combat. I wanted to test them in a controlled situation and started with the most harmless of all my spells, the water bolt, but the little testing I�d done with gravity spells had been somewhat alarming. I wasn�t quite ready to put them to use just yet. Maybe in a more open space.

This first test was a rousing success! Not only was the primary target completely pulverised, but the splash effect had a vicious cut to it as well, increasing the area of effect potential.

I�m really quite excited for the next one.

I stop my sub-brains from casting spells and begin to focus all of my mental energies on my next task. Dividing the labour between my minds, I begin to stockpile compressed Mana as best I can, and simultaneously weave a Forceful Water Cannon. The shaping of the spell I handle myself, as it�s by far the most difficult task.

Beneath me, Tiny and Crinis continue to battle away, smashing monsters all over the place, but making sure to leave them on a sliver of life as much as possible. Tiny has a lot of issues controlling his strength, and is just as likely to knock a monster�s head clean off by mistake. Crinis has far more finesse. Like lightning, her limbs snap out to pluck up a monster, and she wrings it out like a soggy cloth before dropping it on a growing pile of severely wounded monsters behind her.

Perfect.

Nearly there now.

Eagerly I begin to fuel my constructed spell. The trick I found in my test run is that I can�t quite transform Mana and then compress it fast enough to keep up with the demands of the spell. Meaning, I ran out of juice and the spell failed only a few seconds after I cast it. Those few seconds had been enough to drill a hole three feet in the tunnel walls though, so I�m expecting good things.

To prevent the spell from such a premature failure this time, I�ve been carefully amassing a stockpile of compressed water Mana as I go. Judging by the rate of consumption, I think I have roughly fifteen seconds or so for the spell to operate.

I�m looking forward to this.

Forceful Water Cannon�Fire!

Just above my head, an ominously blue glowing ball flickers into existence. What comes out is less a Water Cannon and more of a Water Beam. The monsters hit are less damaged but rather� dissected. It cuts straight through them! As the water blasts straight through the monsters, it impacts against the tunnel floor and a vicious hissing noise fills the air as it starts boring a hole through the dirt and stone.

Hastily I direct the spell to zigzag its way up the tunnel and delight in the chaos caused.

[You have defeated�]

[You have defeated�]

[You have defeated�]

[You have defeated�]

[You have defeated�]

Ahhhhhh, this spell is ridiculous!

Some monsters are able to hold on for a moment, resisting the stupidly potent pressure of the beam with the strength of their bodies, but eventually it tunnels through them, boring a hole directly through their shadow flesh.

Then the Mana runs out.

The entire tunnel is littered with monster bodies and a truly insane amount of water. The spray has gone everywhere. The walls are coated with it, the monsters are saturated. Tiny is also saturated. Crinis� doesn�t seem to care, but I can sense a smouldering discomfort emanating from the big ape.

He really hates getting wet.

To vent his frustration, he channels lightning into the onrushing monsters, who charge directly into the soaked section of tunnel, promptly burning them to a crisp.

You were supposed to save some for Vibrant�

Ten minutes later, we finish mopping up the wave and prepare to chow down. I decided not to test any more spells, lest Tiny get even more irritated. I should try and work out a solution where I�m not going to get him soaked. I�ll be hitting the front lines soon enough. It should be fine.

The first thing I do after the fighting is done is call Vibrant down from the ceiling and get her to finish off the stragglers we saved. Thankfully after she spends a lot of time chomping away at them, she cheerfully announced she was able to hit Level ten. Not even the news that another special core was coming her way was enough to dampen the little ant�s mood as she danced about while chowing down on Biomass. Even Crinis managed to find her and toss her in the air a few times to celebrate as Vibrant laughed hysterically.

Tiny just ignored the proceedings and munched his way through a mountain of food.

I�m with you, buddy. Time to embrace the food coma!

OM NOM NOM.

When all is said and done, and we can barely walk, I�ve managed to amass 201 Biomass from my week of feasting and practice. The four of us waddle-roll-limp our way back up the tunnel to our little chamber and I call down the workers.

We weren�t able to eat all of the food, not even close. Hopefully, when the queen has consumed a good chunk of this, the next generation of new workers might be locked in and ready to go.

Settling in, we all prepare to finalise our spending in order to make the final push for excellence as we prepare to advance into the marsh Expanse. I hastily whip up a special core after withdrawing a few small cores from my stash and feed it to Vibrant. Once absorbed, she somehow manages to both gleefully and painfully waddle to one corner to settle down and evolve.

Tiny and Crinis have already begun the process of mutating, I can see them vacantly sitting, unmoving, pawing through menus.

Ok. Time to do this. I�m gonna spend up big!

Muahahaha! With over two hundred points to spend, I�m feeling slightly giddy. What to improve first?

First off, acid is already at +8, time to complete my new and improved commercial empire!

[Would you like to upgrade Restrictive Acid to +10? This will cost 19 Biomass.]

And nineteen gone, just like that. I still have a ton of Biomass to play with, so I need to get spendin�. Once I�ve upgraded my acid, I�ll still have Antennae, Gravity Mana Gland, Pheromone and the two newest additions to go before I even reach a complete +10 state.

Arrrrrgh, this is so frustrating!

Just how much do I have to eat before I can upgrade myself all the way? Is it my tiny ant stomach that�s the problem! I have two stomachs and I pack them both full every meal.

When I consider that my current level of evolution supports upgrades up to +20, I grow woefully depressed. The goal of fully mutating everything before my next evolution seems like a long way away. Work hard, stomachs! I�m counting on you guys.

Since I�ll be striding forth into battle after this round of upgrades, I really want to ensure my combat effectiveness is at its peak, not only on the offensive but also the defensive. That means my Coordination Cortex, Inner-Plating and Gravity Gland should be next on the menu.

[Would you like to upgrade Regenerative Inner-Plating to +10, Diverse Coordination Cortex to +10 and Deep Gravity Gland to +10? This will cost 120 Biomass?]

Yikes!

Sixty-two left?

I guess only one more body will make it to +10� Perhaps I�ll improve my ability to coordinate with the colony? It couldn�t hurt. I�ll upgrade my trusty Pheromone Gland next. I can upgrade it to +10 and have twenty-two points in the bank.

Ok then!

[Would you like to upgrade Pheromone Language Gland to +10? This will cost 40 Biomass.]

Let�s do it, O bearded one.

[At this level of mutation, you may select a mutation advancement. Please select one from the menu.]

First, I jump into the acid menu.

My acid is the OG. When I was a weak and helpless ant, all alone without my colony to support me, it was the acid that became my trusty sidekick. Every combat would entail the acid attack playing a key role, letting me deal damage from range before closing in to finish the job.

Since the rest of my body has been enhanced, as well as my magic growing to the point that it�s a credible ranged threat, the acid has become outshined. I don�t really need it to do damage, what I want is more utility out of it. The restrictive properties are great, if that could be enhanced, I�d be interested for sure. Let�s see what the menu has for me.

Hmmmm� wait a sec.

Wait. One. Second.

[Mana Eating Acid: Acid becomes able to dissolve magic it comes into contact with, including barriers and constructs.]

Done!

I don�t need to see any more. In fact, I refuse!

This is the sort of utility I�m talking about! Able to eat through magical barriers or constructs? Hot. Damn.

Acid is back in town, in a big way.

Already giddy with delight, I shift to the next item on the menu, the Gravity Gland!

I see, there are some new options on top of the ones from before. The Condensed Gravity Magic Gland sounds interesting. This is the one Tiny ended up choosing, which slightly condenses the Mana held within the gland. If this upgrade were chosen multiple times and reinforced, perhaps fully condensed Mana could be sitting in the gland, ready to go, without my brains having to do any extra lifting.

Though I already have the brains to do that work�

A quicker-to-refill gland sounds helpful. Mana becoming more malleable for spell shaping or move smoother. There are a lot of new effects that make spell casting easier, but I feel like that�s a waste of potential. I can increase casting speed by buffing up my brains during evolution. There�s no need to utilise my mutations for that.

Personally, I like the idea of having more Gravitational Mana to play with. It�s shown how devastatingly powerful it can be. If I have more of it, that can only be a good thing!

I�m going to take the Expanded Deep Gravity Magic Gland.

And next! Let�s keep this rolling! Straight into the Coordination Cortex!

Another menu! All this text is sending me cross-eyed.

The Coordination Cortex functions as a gatekeeper or secretary to sub-brains, increasing their efficiency by sorting inputs and outputs before passing them on, allowing the little brains to better focus and make use of their resources.

My first upgrade allowed the cortex to better assist the sub-brains when they were focused on their own individual tasks, rather than combining their strengths.

There is another heap of options available. I can have the cortex be more efficient at assisting minds casting certain kinds of spells or increase the efficiency of working on certain types of Mana. There is a further upgrade on the Divergent mutation which assists the brains when they�re each concentrating on multiple tasks. Yikes.

But I�ve had my eye on an upgrade since last time. The Combined Coordination Cortex. That�ll increase the efficiency of attached sub-brains when working together to accomplish a sophisticated task. This way I get a slice of both types of pie!

NEXT.

My Inner Carapace Plating!

Sooo many great options for the bone plating. Strengthen the plating overall, turn it into a second skeletal structure, improve the regenerative ability, improve the speed of the regenerative ability, extend the bone plating inward so it protects some organs from damage.

So many!

Eventually one catches my eye. My Diamond Carapace is tough as nails and extremely sparkly. I get that. But my main concern is a strong blow cracking it from a hammer or axe type weapon, even a monster like Tiny punching me. To protect myself against that, I need:

Dispersive Bone Plating! This bit of goodness will form an absorbent layer against the outer skeleton that assists in absorbing and dispersing kinetic energy from hard strikes.

I like it. My exo-skeleton is my pride, and it shall never be pierced. I won�t rest until I�m as solid as a tank!

Although, I really need to work on my magic defence.

Finally, it�s time to move onto the last but not least, the pheromones!

Once more the menu blossoms within my mind, filled with the possible selections of pheromone upgrades. There are tons.

Acid pheromones that cause damage to any who inhale them? What the heck? I mean� I guess the ants don�t inhale the pheromones, so it wouldn�t hurt the colony� not sure on that one.

Mind Strike pheromones that weaken the will of any who come into contact with them? Could be handy for setting someone up for a mental attack� pity I can�t do those yet.

Flammable pheromones. You basically fill up an enclosed space with this stuff and throw in a fire spell. Kaboom! Basically, petrol fumes pheromones? WHY!

I spy one option that piques my interest.

Persuasive Language pheromones, makes it so your pheromones are more persuasive when being used to communicate with others. Meaning others will consider your signals before listening to any other trails.

This sounds interesting. I might be able to get the queen to reconsider mutating further with this. I�ll take it!

With that, all of my selections are done. Time to mutate this ant!

[Would you like to confirm these choices?]

Awwwww yeah!

Wait a sec�

Noooorrrr-FLETABINNNNN!

Building rapidly is the most extreme itch I have ever experienced! It�s everywhere! So many hotspots all over my body, it�s impossible to decide which is worse!

I CAN�T TAKE IT!

The only blessing is that the others are so occupied by their own menus, they can�t see me scrabbling and rolling about, desperately clawing at the dirt in a frantic attempt to alleviate the itch.

My dignity is preserved at least.

From up above, a giant ant head pokes down into the chamber to see what all the fuss is about.

Dammit, Mother!

Name: Anthony

Level: 13 (special core) (IV)

Might: 41

Toughness: 29

Cunning: 44

Will: 34

HP: 58/58

MP: 220/220

Skills: Excavation Level 9 (II); Improved Acid Shot Level 6 (II); Enhanced Grip Level 3 (II); Shattering Bite Level 7 (III); Advanced Stealth Level 6 (II); Splintering Chomp Level 4 (III); Tunnel Map Level 6 (II); Mana Transformation Level 6 (III); Advanced Forceful Mana Level 5 (II); External Mana Manipulation Level 2 (I); Mana Sensing Level 5 (I); Core Surgery Level 3 (III); Advanced Exo-Skeleton Defence Level 7 (II); Pet Communication Level 3 (I); Rapid Dash Level 1 (II); Advanced Water Magic Affinity Level 2 (II); Stamina Level 1 (I); Pet Growth Speed Level 1 (I); Mana Miser Level 1 (I); Cerebral Endurance Level 1 (I); Meditation Level 1 (I); Precise Shooting Level 1 (I); Ripping Bite Level 1 (I)

Mutations: Omni-Focused Eyes +10; Infrared Antennae +7; Mana Eating Restrictive Acid +10; Rapid Absorption Legs +10; Savage Infused Mandibles +10; Hardened Diamond Carapace +10; Rapid Limb Regeneration Gland +10; Persuasive Pheromone Language Gland +10; Expanded Deep Gravity Magic Gland +10; Combined Divergent Coordination Cortex +10; Dispersive Regenerating Inner Carapace Plating +10

Species: Dispersed Mind Ant (Formica)

Skill Points: 14

Biomass: 22

Once the horrific itching fades, I scramble back to my feet and cast my eyes about to see who was witnessing my fervent rolling. It appears Mother retreated after confirming all the noise wasn�t related to some threat or danger of any kind, and my pets are too busy with their own mutations to have time checking on me.

Phew!

Suppose I can relax� Really need to make sure I�m on my own or somewhere I can�t be seen when doing significant mutations like that. I don�t know what it is, but the sensation of my own body shifting and changing as the surging Biomass roils through my body is just� ITCHY.

What even is Biomass anyway? It can�t be the raw material since that gets dissolved down in some way within me. It isn�t as if my stomach continually feels full until I spend my points. As time passes, the food is definitely being digested, and then I start to feel hungry again. Perhaps monsters extract something from the food they eat? Some sort of� concentrated� stuff? The higher the evolution of the monster the more� stuff they have in them?

Maybe?

I don�t know! I just eat things!

Considering that nothing comes out my business end, barring acid and magic consuming justice, all that food must be going somewhere�

I�ve already resolved to investigate all things stomach upgrade during my next evolution, but internally I double down on that resolution. The mysteries of the Biomass need to be unlocked!

I start practicing my water Transformation and compression skills while my fellow team members finish their work. Vibrant appears to have completed hers and has settled down to evolve. If she doesn�t finish by the time the others are ready, we may have to carry her down with us. I wouldn�t want to leave her behind, mostly because she would just run down the tunnels on her own and probably end up dead.

Still, I�m interested to see what she can evolve into, considering she was a Superior Hatchling up to now. From a Superior Hatchling into a� Superior Worker? That wouldn�t be too exciting�

Maybe she�ll go straight into being a Juvenile Queen? For some reason, when I think of Vibrant�s personality, I just can�t see it happening. Sitting around the nest being motherly all the time? Vibrant! Not a chance.

Time passes, and Crinis is the first to complete the process. She takes a long time to fiddle through the menus since she has such anxiety about making incorrect choices. Tiny takes longer, but I think that has more to do with his comprehension speed.

[How�d it all go, Crinis?] I ask cheerfully.

The little ball freezes momentarily before slithering over to me on a few tentacles.

[I hope I made the right choices, Master�] she says somewhat miserably.

I sigh internally. [Just pick whatever you think is right. You know more about how you want to grow and fight than I do! You�re the best one to make these decisions.]

[But you are the best person to decide what it is that you want, Master.]

Gah! Getting her to be more independent is going to be a long project.

[Just� come over here and I�ll have a look at where you�re at. I want to see how everyone is going before we set out.]

[Of course, Master!] she bubbles.

Bringing my antennae forward, I activate the Core Surgery skill and gradually piece together her general status.

Name: Crinis

Level: 5 (core) (I)

Might: 26

Toughness: 22

Cunning: 17

Will: 15

HP: 70/70

MP: 20/20

Skills: Advanced Shadow Flesh Manipulation Level 1 (II); Grappling Level 3 (I); Expert Shredding Level 4 (III); Tremor Sensing Level 3 (I); Dismembering Level 2 (I); Fear Inspiration Level 3 (I); Mana Manipulation Level 1 (I); Tentacle Walking Level 1 (I)

Mutations: Shadow Flesh +3; Void Maw +3; Bottomless Dimensional Stomach +5; Dividing Tentacles +5; Ripping Spines +5; Macabre Teeth +5

Species: Blind Shadow Hunter

Skill Points: 1

Biomass: 6

Why is it all her skills and upgrades sound so intimidating? How the heck did she even get Fear Inspiration! From what I can see, the skill educates the user in ways to act more intimidating or cause fear in foes.

I�m not sure that�s going to be a problem if she keeps Levelling up Dismembering�

[Ah! I see you picked up Mana Manipulation.]

[Yes, Master� is that ok?] She sounds mildly panicked.

[Of course! You have a reasonable Cunning and Will stat. With practice, you�ll be able to start slinging some spells like me. I think that was an excellent choice.]

Instead of replying, the little ball holding itself up on a few slender tentacles just becomes exceptionally still. Wait. That�s not quite right. With my improved vision, I can make out that she�s not still but actually slightly vibrating in place.

That happy to be praised, eh?

Actually, wait a second.

[Crinis, is there something you want to tell me? Has some sort of milestone been achieved?] I enquire.

[N-no? I can�t think of anything like that, Master.]

So evasive!

[You�re Level five! How long have you been ready to evolve?] I stare hard at her. [You wouldn�t be worried about having to make choices for yourself again, would you, Crinis? Panicked that you might make a selection I didn�t approve of? If that were the case, I�d be quite disappointed.] My voice dropped to a sinister low by the end.

[Hiiiiii!] she squeaks.

I can only sigh. Why are pets so weird? This should be a joyous occasion. The individual should be jumping for joy, and as the master, I would bathe in that reflected happiness, smiling deeply, smug and satisfied that all things were travelling on the path I ordained.

But no.

Instead, I�m either bullying my own pet into evolving or watching the other one evolve into an imbecilic lump of muscle meat. Crinis is just paranoid about having to make her own choices, not wishing to do something wrong.

[Look, Crinis, I�m very happy you�re ready to evolve. It�s a great thing! So as soon as we�re finished speaking, we�ll finalise your core and you will evolve. Okay?]

And now she�s shivering� I swear, if she had eyes, they�d be as big as watermelons right now.

[OKAY?]

[Yes� Master�]

Don�t sulk!

[Let me remind you of something. When I recreated you from your core, I made sure to make adjustments so you�d be perfect. The best little murder ball of boundless horror and death in all of Pangera. I also created a special evolutionary path for you. You understand?]

The little ball was struck dumb, growing incredibly still.

[You did that, Master? For me?]

[Of course, I did. We�re connected by bonds of friendship, not just those of master and servant. Whatever I can do to help you, I will. You do understand that me creating your evolution means I�m meeting you halfway on this, right? I�ve already made a good chunk of the decisions for you. The rest you need to look inside yourself to find the answers that best fit the kind of monster that you want to be.]

[�But!]

[No buts!]

THWACK.

Swinging an antenna around in a vicious arc, I whack the little tennis ball, sending her flying to the corner in which I keep my core stockpile.

[Let�s do this!]

Ignoring her attempted excuses and protests, I fuse together a special core and whack her on the head with it until she finally absorbs it.

[Now go evolve, dammit!]

[Huuuuuu�]

Sniffling to herself, Crinis retreated to one side of the chamber and began the process of her evolution. This is only her second evolution, but it�s going to be exciting to see exactly how she changes. I know the broad strokes of course. What she decides to change for herself is what will be interesting to see.

Yes, I�m being harsh on her. After all, the only thing she wants is to be as helpful as possible. She�s got to develop some independence though and become her own Crinis!

I can only shake my head internally and leave Crinis in her own little world as I move over to Tiny. The big guy is gradually opening his eyes and shaking himself awake. I want to check his status as well before we get moving.

[How�d it all go, Tiny? Finished?]

[Hmmm. Finish.] He manages to grunt even when speaking mind to mind.

[Let me have a look, big fella.]

He amblers over in my direction and I once again activate the Core Surgery skill. I�m determined to ignore the quivering tennis ball behind me.

Name: Tiny

Level: 12 (core) (IV)

Might: 154

Toughness: 42

Cunning: 7

Will: 15

HP: 84/84

MP: 180/180

Skills: Expert Ape Boxing Level 3 (III); Brutal Uppercut Level 2 (II); Enhanced Leap Level 3 (II); Smash Level 5 (I); Advanced Athletics Level 1 (II); Grappling Level 5 (I); Potent Crushing Blows Level 4 (II); Fancy Feet Level 4 (I); Advanced Dash Level 2 (II)

Mutations: Overwhelming Explosive Enhanced Musculature +10; Iron Bones +5; Springy Impact Legs +10; Piercing Heightened Sonic Enhancer +5; Compressing Lightning Mana Affinity Gland +5; Compressing Lightning Mana Affinity Gland +5; Energy Conversion Gland +4;

Species: Dire Lightning Storm Kong

Skill points: 15

Biomass: 3

Things are looking good! He�s way stronger than he was before he started spending his points properly. Just look at some of these powerful sounding upgrades! Overwhelming Explosive Enhanced Musculature? That sounds destructive!

Actually, just looking at him he seems more built than before. Not in a rippling muscle sort of way but more in a� solid, sheer size sort of way. His shoulders and arms are definitely a size larger than they were before. I�m guessing he had to upgrade his bones just to stop them snapping like twigs when he throws a punch.

Overall, I�m pleased with his choices. I�m especially impressed he followed my advice and took the same upgrade for both Lightning Mana Glands. Naturally, it may have been more optimal to take different upgrades for each to increase versatility, but I figured Tiny would just get confused. Better to find one that works well and use it for both. I think he mainly took that advice, so he didn�t have to think so much.

I like the compressing mutation as a choice as well. Tinkering around, I worked out that it applies a mild compression to the Mana inside the gland, increasing the potency of the Mana but slowing its recovery speed. Since he has the conversion gland already, he doesn�t have to worry about that so much and can enjoy more potent lightning for free.

Ok then!

Vibrant is still sleeping. I�ll head topside to alert people as to our absence, come back and check on post evolution Crinis and then we�ll be off!

[How long will you be gone for?] Enid asked worriedly.

[As long as it takes to remove the threat.]

This is why I don�t like coming up here to the human camp. No sooner did I appear than people started gathering and pointing. Then the priest came at a run, his face flushed with excitement and began exhorting the people to pay their respects to me. In a flash, the humans were raising their hands or kneeling nearby as I nervously waited for Enid to show up.

I�m thankful the crowd maintained a respectful distance. It seems their fear of Dungeon monsters isn�t completely gone.

[Do you have any idea what is actually causing these monsters to attack the surface?] she asked.

[I�m not sure. I have a few suspicions, but I don�t exactly know what we�re up against. The colony, and by extension you humans, are not safe while the Expanse below us continues to send out these monsters. They need to be removed.]

Enid frowns as she ponders my words. Why am I even here? I could have just spoken to the queen and disappeared underground. Nobody here in the camp would have been the wiser. It isn�t as if they see me very often, I�m almost always underground already.

I guess Enid herself has been helpful and respectful. I don�t really have any reason to keep her in the dark. Since this expedition has a direct impact on their own safety, I suppose it doesn�t hurt to tell them.

Just� give me a little space!

[The people here seem remarkably well disposed toward ant monsters. Is that safe?] I�m forced to ask, as a child attempts to sneak closer and touch me, only to be snatched back by an adult.

Enid gives me an odd stare before replying.

[You and your colony have kept these people safe on several occasions. The only reason we have been able to settle here and start making a life for ourselves again is that you and your colony are here, taming the land and protecting us. Of course, we are grateful. With Beyn here, that gratitude is only getting more ingrained.]

Damn priest�

I�ll need to have words with him at some point, but for now, I�m worried he may just take it as some sort of divine visitation. The guy is just odd. I bit his arm off, how did he end up such a fervent supporter?

Enid hesitates before speaking again. [There are a lot of valuable resources that can be extracted from an Expanse. I was a merchant before, and I know the value of many things that can be found in the Dungeon. If you see something that looks special, bring it to me, and I can tell you about it.]

Hmmmm�

[I�ll think about it.]

Other than Biomass and monster cores, what else does the colony require? On the off chance that something useful can be found down there, I might keep this in mind. Still, in my mind, it�s far more likely to be helpful to the humans than it is to us.

After a few more words, I bid Enid goodbye and carefully back myself up to leave. The people reluctantly part to let me through, the priest�s voice raising to an even higher crescendo before I disappear out of sight. Somehow, not being able to hear exactly what he�s saying makes it feel worse.

Safely back in the nest, I feel far more comfortable. My people! It doesn�t take long to explain the situation to Mother. As always, she expresses concern for my safety but encourages me to do what is best for the family.

Naturally!

This ant doesn�t let his family down. No chance.

Farewells handled, Tiny gathers the still slumbering Vibrant, unexpectedly gently, in one massive paw and we drop in on a waking ball of death.

[Crinis, you look wonderful!]

[R-r-r-really, Master?]

[Absolutely. What a wonderful evolution! Such an incredible difference. You positively radiate power and strength. Surely you are my most potent servant.]

Crinis wiggles with glee.

[D-don�t praise me too much,] she says, embarrassed but also delighted.

[Nonsense. I insist you come over here so I can check on your core immediately!]

Buttered up by my words, Crinis shyly makes her way closer.

She looks pretty much completely the same.

The only difference is that she�s been promoted from tennis ball of infinite death and despair, to soft-ball of infinite terror and despair! To put that in other words, she�s slightly larger.

On the outside, nothing else has changed with her. The inside is a different story.

However, after reflecting on my attitude toward Crinis, I reasoned she would be nervous after evolving, so I thought praising her a little might put her at ease.

Practically vibrating with joy, Crinis allows me to place my antennae on her spherical main body and activate the Core Surgery skill.

When I finish piecing together her information, I get this:

Name: Crinis

Level: 1 (core) (II)

Might: 38

Toughness: 35

Cunning: 22

Will: 20

HP: 104/104

MP: 30/30

Skills: Advanced Shadow Flesh Manipulation Level 1 (II); Grappling Level 3 (I); Expert Shredding Level 4 (III); Tremor Sensing Level 3 (I); Dismembering Level 2 (I); Fear Inspiration Level 3 (I); Mana Manipulation Level 1 (I); Tentacle Walking Level 1 (I)

Mutations: Durable Shadow Flesh +5; Disintegrating Void Maw +5; Bottomless Dimensional Stomach +5; Dividing Tentacles +5; Ripping Spines +5; Macabre Teeth +5; Mana Sensory Gland; Shadow Magic Gland; Shadow Flesh Generator

Species: Special Death Ball

Skill Points: 1

Biomass: 6

Yissssss.

Look at the power of my pet!

Solid boost to all stats. Crinis isn�t a straight up hitter, but a support fighter. Tiny can smash through the walls. I want Crinis to be a bit more flexible.

The two new organs, Mana Sensory Gland and Shadow Flesh Generator, should be fantastic additions. She�s so strong for being only tier two! The advantages of her unique species perhaps? Or being a second stratum monster? It�s useful, at any rate.

It was a bit weird, but none of Crinis� system-built evolutions included any mechanism to take away her primary weakness, a lack of senses. She�s supposed to remain sealed off from all senses except touch for the remainder of her existence, which just seems weird. Kind of feels like whatever decides the monster�s forms and paths, loves to come up with a concept and then stick with it to absurd extremes.

I did investigate simply giving Crinis some eyes. The cost is quite high, and when I thought about it, that does make sense. Eyes are complex organs and require significant brain matter to process the visual signals with any sort of clarity. So rather than use up the bulk of an evolution simply sticking eyes on Crinis, I opted to give her a different sense.

The Mana Sensory Gland works much like magical sonar or a permanently active version of my own Mana Sense skill. She�ll be able to visualise Mana sources near her, which will of course include monsters who are filled with the Mana generated within their cores. Combined with her Tremor Sense, she�ll have a unique set of senses that are completely her own.

Then the Shadow Flesh Generator. Being a shadow beast, her body has a different make up than beast-type creatures, and shadow flesh comes with its own properties. Malleable, strong, flexible, all good stuff, but it isn�t that tough. Rather than try and make the Shadow Flesh more defensive, largely a waste of time, make it easy to replace!

With the increase to her Might and Toughness stats, Crinis has experienced a boost in her mass, meaning there is more Shadow Flesh packed into her. This gland will effectively provide a high-speed regeneration option should she start to lose tentacles or have holes shot into her. After spending a heap of time mucking about the choices, it was the best healing option I could find.

The Shadow Magic Gland is her own choice. Seems she may have been inspired by me a little and decided to go down the road of inherent magic produced in a gland and controlled magic utilising the raw MP from the core. She has a natural affinity with shadow magic anyway, so this is a smart choice.

Very satisfied with what I�ve found, I withdraw my senses from her core, only to find Crinis hovering unusually still.

[Great job, Crinis! I�m super proud of you. The choice of the Shadow Magic Gland makes a lot of sense. Great work!]

[HRCK!]

�What?

Ah, she broke.

Peering closer, she�s gone into silent, vibrate in place mode.

Too much praise. She couldn�t handle it all. I�ll need to give controlled doses of positive reinforcement over the next week or so to build up some level of tolerance within her, because this is just ridiculous. I gather her up in my mandibles and flip her up onto my back. It�s time to go and we can�t wait any longer!

I�m excited for the upcoming challenge but at the same time a little nervous. We are throwing ourselves into the great unknown in order to protect the colony from harm. Something about it just makes my ant heart sing. Going to have to watch out for this feeling in case it motivates me to do something stupid. I get up to enough of that on my own.

At any rate, there isn�t anyone else in the colony who could handle this level of danger, so it has to be me and the crew.

In order to ensure we don�t miss any waves, we take the long way down, sweeping the tunnels clean and using the creatures we find to get a little extra XP in the bank before we get to the Expanse. If we can Level up even one skill by one point it might help more than we expect. To this end I use my new Bite attack, Ripping Bite, exclusively. This ends up in some� messy combats. Crinis seems to approve, but I�m personally not as much of a fan. At least the skill is accruing experience.

In this way it takes us a number of hours to reach the Expanse deep beneath the surface. When we approach, Vibrant finally begins to show signs of stirring from her slumber. Her body has undergone a number of changes during the journey, including a rather dramatic increase in size�at last!

I can�t wait to take a look at her status and see what she chose.

As we post up outside the marsh Expanse, I decide to put Crinis on guard duty while the rest of us open up the shortcut, clear out a small section of tunnel and nestle down for a short break.

We need our wits about us for this next test. If Vibrant is going to be fighting alongside us, I want to make sure she�s got the right stuff after evolving.

It doesn�t take long for her to wake up and regain her normal energy.

�Hi, senior! How long did I sleep?�

�Well, I�d say it was��

�Wow! Where are we? Did we move somewhere?�

�Uhh� yes. Tiny carried you. We came down��

�Thanks, Tiny! I wasn�t heavy, was I?� She rushes over to Tiny, tapping him vigorously with her antennae.

The big ape just looks down at her for a moment before reaching out with one big finger to poke her on top of her head.

�Hey! Hee-hee! You�re the best, Tiny!�

�Just come over here for a moment, would you,� I grate out.

Full of beans, she bounces over to me and stops, still managing to wiggle from one foot to the other as she awaits my instructions. No matter how far she evolves, I don�t think her high energy level is ever going to change.

�I want to take a look at your core and see what your stats are like. Is that ok?�

�Sure-sure!�

All right then.

Bringing my antennae forward, it�s time for Core Surgery once more!

After a bit of fiddling about, I put together her status:

Name: Vibrant

Level: 1 (core) (III)

Might: 52

Toughness: 38

Cunning: 25

Will: 22

HP: 76/76

MP: 55/55

Skills: Advanced Digging Level 3 (II); Advanced Acid Shot Level 6 (II); Grip Level 4 (I); Crushing Bite Level 5 (II); Advanced Dash Level 2 (II); Exo-Skeleton Defence Level 3 (I); Stamina Level 2 (I); Piercing Chomp Level 4 (II); Leap Level 2 (I)

Mutations: Enhanced Reflective Exo-skeleton +10; Savage Mandibles +5; Accelerated Legs +5; Focused Eyes +5; Foresight Antennae +5; Burning Acid Gland +5; Widened Command Aura (Formica) +5; Frequent Explosive Energy Gland +5; Pheromone Language Gland +5; Slow-release Regeneration Gland +5; Inner Carapace Plating; Speed Aura Gland

Species: Major Soldier (Formica)

Skill Points: 6

Biomass: 5

What the heck is this? Her physical stats are already higher than mine�

And by so much!

The new evolution has certainly seen a massive rise in Vibrant�s stats! And some of her organs look incredibly unique. The Command Organ? Did she get that from being a special ant from birth?

Gah! I should have investigated her core ages ago. That�s what I get for not being curious enough.

�How do you feel, Vibrant?�

�Great!� she cheers.

I have to say, she�s not so little anymore, almost the same size I am. The only reason I�m bigger is because I used the shortcut method of raising my Might stat quickly by packing on more size rather than condensing the muscle, which increases strength without increasing size. My guess is that Vibrant has taken a much more balanced approach and therefore has more power squeezed into a smaller body.

Looking at her skills and upgrades, it�s clear the direction Vibrant has been taking. Physical strength, hearty defence, looks like she picked up an Aura Gland during her most recent evolution, speed naturally, being Vibrant.

She�ll likely be taking the path of pouring her Mana into fuelling a range of Aura Glands rather than using it to directly fuel magic. I should look at recommending that path to Tiny, actually. The lightning Mana he has is put to good use, but the all that raw MP sitting in his core doesn�t do anything, while his lightning glands are topped off. He�d be more effective in a fight if he had somewhere to put that energy.

I�ll have to think on it.

Due to his low intelligence, I�m worried about Tiny�s future evolution paths. Every time he�s evolved, it�s like he�s lost Cunning. If it continues down that path, he�s going to wind up an extremely well-muscled, bat-faced vegetable.

�Well, you�re probably strong enough stats wise to fight in the front line,� I muse.

�Yay! I can fight with Crinis!� The no-longer-little ant cheers with delight, her antennae wiggling in the air uncontrollably.

I can only be pleased for her pure enthusiasm. As exhausting as her seemingly infinite energy can be, she is as pure as a diamond compressed from snow made of glass.

�You�ll need to be careful,� I warn her. �Nibble at the edges, don�t go straight on. You�re fast and reasonably tanky, but you can�t take the horde face on. If you get in trouble, pop your healing gland straight away, don�t save it. We can get you to safety and let it recharge before you need to go again.�

�Yep-yep!� the still wiggling ant exclaimed.

She�s doing her best to listen to my advice, but her energy is just way too high right now. Sigh. I�ll have to remind her again later, hopefully she won�t do anything too stupid in her excitement.

[Tiny, Crinis, Vibrant will be joining you on the front lines for the attack. Try to keep an eye out and keep her safe. I want her on the edges of the fight and not in the middle. If she gets buried in the melee, try and get her out.]

[Hurr!] Tiny grunted affirmatively.

[Of course, Master. No harm shall come to her,] Crinis declared with confidence.

I�d be more assured if you could actually see her� maybe she should keep a tentacle on Vibrant or something?

I�m sure it�ll work out.

[�All right, everyone, it�s time to form up for the attack. Tiny in the front, Crinis with me, and Vibrant on the flank. Our mission is complete subjugation. All crocs must be handbags or tasteful jackets by the time we�re done. Nothing too out there, I�m fashion conservative.�]

The others look at me strangely.

[What is a jacket, Master? Explain it to me and I shall prepare a thousand for you this day!] Crinis cries.

I should give up on the jokes. My talent is wasted on this room.

[�Just kill all crocs. They�re our primary target. If we remove them all I think the wave attacks on the colony will stop.�]

�Okay!� Vibrant says, almost shivering out of her carapace with excitement.

Crinis wiggles her way onto my back before retracting her tentacles and entering her deceptive, innocent tennis ball mode. Tiny eagerly takes his place in the front, already sparking with anticipation and occasionally thumping his chest, trying to contain his energy.

I don�t think the marsh is expecting what�s coming.

The oppressive aura is still here, bearing down on us with full force. But we are stronger than before, motivated to protect the colony. I don�t care what sort of monster sits in the middle of this Expanse, suffocating the area with its baleful aura and sucking in the monsters. I have a few tricks up my carapace that should fix its little red wagon!

Full of motivation and gusto, we depart our little hidey hole and advance into the marsh Expanse. Before us the lush green of the vibrant plant life stretches as far as the eye can see, from one side to the other. The hillocks of sodden earth that rise out of the dark waters look like moss encrusted tortoise shells, covered in vibrant flowers and the occasional tree.

Overhead, the tall mangrove-like trees, with their enormous webbed roots, spread a wide canopy. Half glimpsed shadows can be seen shifting about on the broad green leaves here and there. This right here. This will all belong to the family.

The marsh Expanse is teeming with monstrous life. Monsters creep out of connected tunnels, making their way deeper into the recesses in order to meet up with whatever is compelling their behaviour. Even without the steady trickle of captive beasts, there is plenty of stuff to fight around us.

The ever present, ever hungry flora dot the mounds and regularly rise out of the waters. The plants don�t seem to want to eat each other much, but they are always waiting for a juicy meal to wander past, ready to fall into their clutches.

Then there�s the crocs.

Lounging here and there, yawning mightily with their enormous jaws, the croca-beasts, titan-crocs and beyond can be seen almost everywhere. Never too many in one place, just little posses of three or four, wading through the waters or lying on the raised earth.

I think there�s more of them here than the last time we came. Maybe they�re gathering on this side since we�d raised a ruckus.

At any rate, they don�t seem to have spotted us.

I think the best course of action is to lure them into the tunnel group by group, keeping the combat out of sight so we don�t draw the lot of them down on our heads at once. Nice and steady, that�s the play.

So why is Tiny over there punching a titan-croc in the face?

DAMMIT!

[�Let�s go! Move quickly to support Tiny! Crinis, don�t let him get surrounded and try not to get flame-throwered!�] I cry as I rush forward.

This stupid ape! How could I forget his habits so quickly? Last time we were here I was pleased by his self-control and ability to control his seemingly endless hunger for battle. The reality is he was unsettled, even a little intimidated, by the oppressive aura hanging over this Expanse.

How did I expect a maniacal, famously thick battle addict to react to his first taste of fear? An emotion he probably hadn�t felt in his entire life. After taking out his frustration on smaller, weaker, unsatisfying foes and getting a power buff from actually increasing the Level of his skills, not to mention the massive boost he received from finally mutating to over +5, he�s pumped.

He�s back, large and in charge, and couldn�t wait to punch some face in.

So, he didn�t!

The second he laid eyes on a croca, the urge to redeem himself in a battle of old-fashioned fisticuffs must have been irresistible.

He didn�t get far. The closest group of croca-beasts was within a hundred metres. When they saw the giant ape eagerly flinging himself forward, swinging from tree branches like a demented, overweight Tarzan, they roused themselves to fight. Claws out and jaws agape, they met Tiny�s charge with all the fury they could muster.

Fists ablaze with light, Tiny smashed their faces within ten seconds and stood pounding his chest as he roared out a challenge to the Expanse as a whole.

Because� of course he would.

When we rush up to his side, Tiny is still bellowing his challenge, and it�s safe to say he�s drawn a fair bit of attention.

All around us small gangs of crocs are staring with undisguised hostility at us. I�m quietly confident even the plants are giving us a full dose of the stink eye, even though they don�t have eyes.

I think I�m feeling a headache coming on�

Actually. You know what? Who cares! Instead of chipping away at the enemy tactically over an extended period of time, this stratagem has a little more chest hair! I�m with you, Tiny, bring it on!

I immediately kick my sub-brains into gear and get them weaving up a Water Transformation Construct. It shouldn�t take long for them to get it set up and pumping out water attributed Mana. If any of these monsters decide to start spitting flames at us, I want to be ready.

[�Get ready, folks, they�re coming in!�]

Four small groups of crocas advance, curiously untouched by local plant monsters. Counting rapidly, I size up our opponents. Ten croca-beasts and two titan-crocs. Not even a warm-up!

These low tiered monsters can�t hope to hold a candle to us. It�s what will come next that worries me.

Come on, brains, get kicking!

The monsters swagger closer, their toothy grins and grasping claws screaming confidence. It�s almost strange. I�m starting to think these guys haven�t been challenged in this marsh for some time. Have they become the local bully boys? Leathery skinned, super ugly Mafioso?

Gonna get a rude awakening!

[Crinis, eat!]

[Of course, Master!]

With her Tremor Sense, Crinis is able to detect the subtle vibrations of movement through the ground and air. As the crocs flex, eagerly anticipating the meal to come, Crinis lifts herself from my back on thin tendrils and drifts forward.

Such an innocent looking little ball of endless despair. Who could possibly imagine that this tennis ball sized black orb would contain so much terror?

Certainly not the crocs.

[Tiny, leave it to Crinis, you�ve had some fun already.]

In response to my order, Tiny frowns sadly and kicks the dirt. He hasn�t had nearly enough fighting yet, but I know his games. It isn�t possible for him to get enough fighting in the first place.

[There�ll be more soon, bud. Keep that engine warmed up.]

The big ape nods, still looking sad, but the fire in his eyes is burning bright.

Some of the crocs approach through the water, their long tails sinuously trailing behind as they adeptly swim, whilst others move from island to island, gradually closing the distance at a slow walk. The smaller croca-beasts lead from the front whilst the two titan-crocs follow from behind, dwarfing their lesser evolved allies.

As soon as one scaly foot lands close enough to Crinis, she acts.

Unfurling herself with blinding speed, tentacles lash out in all directions, peeling out of her body endlessly until there are dozens of them grasping the closest foes. By the time the croca-beast realises what�s happening, it�s already too late. Once the first tentacle latches onto its leg, its fate is sealed.

More tentacles lash out, slashing through the air like whips and striking the beast, coiling tightly around it. Snarling viciously, the monster tries to resist, pulling and slashing at the inky black Shadow Flesh with its claws but it is to no avail. Razor-sharp barbs emerge from the tentacles and begin their dark work.

Knowing what Crinis� upgrades can do, I�m not entirely sure I�m prepared to watch what�s about to happen�

[Stay away from Master, you vile beast!] Crinis roars.

Then she engages her Ripping Spines.

Where once her barbs would dig and tear into her victim, now they move, shifting back and forth at high speeds over a distance of a few inches.

In effect, I guess you could say it�s like a chainsaw.

Slack-jawed with fear, the other croca-beasts watch as their struggling compatriot undergoes what can only be described as the �Crinis Experience.� She�ll probably get a few more Levels of Dismembering from this.

When it�s all said and done, her main body inflates and unfolds to reveal her cavernous maw. The no longer struggling croca is unceremoniously dropped within, and as a ghastly crunch emerges from her main body, those inky black tentacles begin reaching out for more.

The smaller croca-beasts look quite apprehensive to be approaching the grasping tentacles of death. With their larger cousins pressing them from behind, they have little choice but to continue approaching.

Crinis spreads her net of tentacles in a ten-metre arc toward the approaching foes, her Tremor Sense giving her some idea of the positioning of the enemy. The titan-crocs bringing up the rear snap their jaws and bark out a brief message to their lesser kin, who grit their oversized teeth and rush in as one.

It seems they�ve grown tired of the slow measured approach and want to surround Crinis with overwhelming numbers. Nine of the beasties are coming at her now, claws extended and long crocodile jaws open wide for a taste of my pet.

Fortunately, Crinis, the smartest of my core-children, has foreseen this situation! She was already a complete beast at fighting a horde of enemies, but with her new mutations, that ability has only been intensified.

Those jet-black grasping tentacles react to the pounding feet of the approaching crocs. Before the monsters can even swipe their claws, the tentacles divide, splitting into thinner limbs that divide some more, creating innumerable appendages that slither through the air.

Just as they were about to commence their attack, saliva dripping from their agape jaws, the crocs become lashed with hundreds of tentacles. Due to her upgraded Shadow Flesh and tentacle manipulation skill, Crinis has become quite adept at the manipulation of her limbs. The strange stuff that makes up her body has only grown tougher and more flexible as she mutates it.

The crocs don�t stand a chance. The moment they�re entwined in those razor-thin tentacles, all hope is lost. They writhe and roar, but the Shadow Flesh proves resistant to their feeble struggles. The tentacles slowly fuse together, thickening until they manifest those deadly barbs.

With a horrid whine, the ripping begins and it isn�t long before croc after croc is deposited into the mouth of the ever-hungering murder ball.

That is just� so rough, every time I see it.

[�Tiny, I want you to take on the titan-croc on the right. Vibrant, you go support him. Crinis, you and I can take out the one on the left,�] I command my troops.

�Roger!� Vibrant shouts.

[Huh,] Tiny grunts happily, the fire burning brighter in his eyes.

[Of course, Master!] Crinis cries with glee.

The two giant crocs seem to be having second thoughts about their previous confidence. Watching their allies be shredded and chewed up by a single ball of ink will have that sort of effect I suppose. It�s too late to back out now, because we are on the charge!

My Transformation construct is ready and primed, churning out a steady stream of water Mana which I begin to weave into spells. I don�t actually think Crinis or Tiny will need help to dispose of these titan-crocs, but it feels nice for everyone to get involved. We have a long fight ahead after all, we all need to get warmed up!

Unable to escape, the two six-legged crocs rear back to their full height and roar in unison. The low rumble of their cry rattles the air and all around us crocs turn to focus intently on the goings on. With my superior vision, I notice a few slipping into the water and making their way toward us.

Oh boy, I think it�s on now.

With no reason to hold back, I begin pouring my mental energy into spell shaping. I need to make sure my allies don�t suffer in this fight!

Tiny is the first to reach his enemy, leaping high and crashing down with a titanic strike. A narrow miss! His light enveloped fist plunges down and the ground beneath our feet shakes from that shattering impact. The croc seems to realise just how lucky it was to have dodged, staring wide-eyed at the ape before it, failing to capitalise on this moment of weakness. Vibrant takes advantage of its distraction and Dashes in to viciously chomp it on the leg, tearing into the limb and causing the beast to growl in pain.

On my side, I fling a few water bolts, staggering the croc with the sheer kinetic force. Water sprays everywhere from the blasts, drizzling down onto Crinis who completely ignores it as she �walks� up to her opponent on her several tentacles. This is her new skill, the Tentacle Walk. It may not seem like much, but she certainly is moving with more ease and grace than before. Whereas before she basically dragged herself along, now she glides with deadly purpose.

Before her main body, those long limbs are already seeking, reaching and grasping for her worried opponent who is only just recovering from the impact of my water bolts. Hastily the croc throws open his jaw and unleashes a jet of orange flame!

Searing heat washes over me as the flames are turned onto Crinis at point-blank range. Fortunately, she was forewarned of this danger. As soon as she feels the heat, she retracts her limbs as quickly as possible, folding them into her main body to protect her more vulnerable parts.

This was what I instructed her to do. Shadow beasts seem to have something of a weakness to fire, so I wanted Crinis to be able to limit the damage she might take in battle with the titan-crocs.

But I don�t simply intend to let her sit there and take the flame thrower, that would be madness.

Water Cannon!

A solid stream of water materialises above my head and streaks through the air before smacking straight into the croc�s mouth!

Got him!

The flames are almost immediately extinguished as the croc slams its mouth shut, steam leaking out from between its teeth.

[Go, Crinis!] I shout.

I keep the Water Cannon trained on the dumb croc as it uses its large upper arms to shield its face from my relentless water attack. If he opens that mouth again, he�s gonna get another dose!

Freed from the pesky flames, Crinis slashes out, attaching herself to the croc in moments. With the limbs undivided, they are thick and powerful. Before the croc can even scream, they begin to twist and rend the beast, dragging it bodily to the waiting maw bristling with enormous fangs.

Well, she needs to heal up a little, I guess.

On the other side, Tiny has beaten their foe into a pulp with his fists as Vibrant ran interference, nibbling on legs and being a general pest to the large croc.

Our first battle has ended in glorious victory. Though more of the monsters are making their way over. Including a few new variants I�ve not fought before. It�s time to take on the real troops!

[�Eat up, gang, not long until the next wave is here.�]

Crinis has already eaten, stuffing her face with ten crocas and an entire titan-croc. If I get my hands on that Dimensional Stomach during my next evolution, I swear I�ll dance for a week straight.

I�m so envious!

Also, where the heck is my food?

I�ll have to settle for nibbling on some of this next group coming our way. With my omni directional eyes I can see there are crocs approaching from multiple sides. Having seen us shred the weaker ones so comfortably, the smaller croca-beasts are staying back, cowering behind their more powerful siblings. Titan-crocs, the massive, lumbering six-legged beasts are the bulk of what is coming our way, but they certainly aren�t the biggest.

Mixed amongst them are clearly more highly evolved children of Garralosh. Even larger than the titan-crocs�will I have to rename them!�their dark green scaled bodies ripple with strength as they ponderously move on their six limbs. The larger legs and somewhat prehensile arms sport vicious claws and their long jaws bristle with razor-sharp looking teeth.

Where they differ from their slightly more diminutive siblings is firstly the eyes. Just in front of their regular eyes is an extra set which gleam red with some sort of energy. Secondly, their tails. Right at the base of their tail it splits into two, both tails almost shifting independently of each other.

It kind of makes me wonder what was going on in Garralosh�s head when they designed these evolutions for her children. More isn�t necessarily better, you lousy croc! Just slap an extra set of eyes and tail on them and call it quits? How lazy is that! All the effort and thought I poured into shaping the new generation of workers is being mocked by this slack effort.

Wait, no. Don�t judge too quickly, Anthony. The titan-crocs had the surprising inclusion of their fire Mana gland, there�s a chance these guys will have something interesting going on besides just an increase in size and new tails.

I have to say, the crocs look right at home in this environment. The lush greenery, dark brown earth and muddy waters feels like the perfect backdrop for these monsters as they slide through the water, mostly submerged, or lumbering between the trees. I can see why they like this Expanse.

Too bad I found it! Soon all of this land will belong to the colony! Muahahahaha!

[�Tiny and Vibrant, you guys take on that side together. Begin with an acid bombardment, Vibrant, then nip at the flanks like we discussed. Tiny, don�t hold back, I want to see some sparks, you understand?�]

�Yep-yep! I�ll get �em!� Vibrant declares cheerfully, snapping her mandibles at the approaching enemy.

[Hmm,] Tiny grunts as sparks begin to crackle across his body.

[Ok, Crinis, you and me on this side. Watch out for more fire. We don�t know what these bigger crocs can do, so we need to be careful and go full force from the start. Don�t hold out on me!]

[Never, Master!]

[That�s what I like to hear!]

Drawing out my Gravity Mana I begin to compress it. I�m not going to play around with these unknown evolutions. I�ll take one of them out before they can even start the fight.

Flipping control of the water Mana construct to one of my sub-brains, I task the other with feeding me a steady supply of the purple Gravitational Mana from my own internal supply. Within my body, the energy pulses vibrantly and begins to flow out, responding to the direction of my thoughts. Next to the Mana gland, my core glows brightly, already recharging the Mana I spent on water bolts earlier.

As the gravitational energy is delivered to me, I start shaping it, crunching it down, pressing with the weight of my consciousness, then beginning to outline the structure of my spell. All of the hours of practice I�ve put into this task are bearing fruit as the spell fluidly takes shape. It�s still hard, like painting a three-dimensional masterpiece with only my thoughts, but my mind isn�t what it used to be. Almost double my normal human Cunning means my mind is able to move in ways it simply wasn�t able to before. More precise, more powerful, my mind slides the compressed Mana into place then starts powering the spell.

This one is special, a new trick I worked on during the last week. I tested the spell on a few monsters and was entirely disappointed with the effect. For the Mana invested and the difficulty of the spell to construct, I�d hoped for a lot more. Even so, it might come in handy.

The spell shape is a double layered sphere. A small, dense ball of gravitational energy, inscribed with arcane sigils that slowly rotate within a shell made from the outer sphere. The inner sphere is hard to make, but the outer one� yikes. Suffice to say it looks pretty impressive floating in my mind.

During testing I learned how to fire it. Essentially it manifests in front of my face and flies forward in a straight line. Once it impacts the target, the energy contained within the inner sphere flows to the outer one and the target becomes surrounded by a gravity field that pulls them in all directions.

It�s� nasty.

But other than making monsters uncomfortable and inhibiting their movement, the spell didn�t do a whole lot of damage. Then I thought about the Forceful version. What would be different with the spell powered-up?

That one�s really nasty.

I call this spell of gruesome death, the Gravity Sphere!

BAM!

With a surge of Will, I manifest and fire it toward the closest double-croc; so named for their new eyes and tail. The beast didn�t expect that to come flying at it from such a harmless looking ant monster and failed to dodge.

I feel sorry for you, buddy.

The spell takes effect immediately, the outer sphere expanding to encompass the entire form of the croc in crackling purple Mana as the energy from the inner sphere is discharged.

Then the horrific pull of gravity begins to exert itself on the monster from every direction. The creature roars with rage as the monsters around it step aside, unsure of what�s happening.

I wonder how long he�ll be able to resist it. At least that�s one croc taken out of the fight.

[Let�s go, Crinis!]

As my first victim languishes within my spell that is quite literally trying to pull it apart in every direction, I turn my attention to the rest of the monsters. Right now, there are six titan-crocs and three of the larger double-crocs who need dealing with.

Come to me, you leathery chumps. I�m not holding back this time!

I vengefully command my sub-brain to pass more Gravitational Mana to me and begin swiftly weaving ordinary Gravity Bolts. With the relative ease of construction, the spell leaves me enough awareness to turn and present my back zone to my foes.

Have a taste of this, you darn crocs!

POW! POW! POW!

Quick as a flash, three blasts my own special brand of acid are fired off of before I turn around again and unleash my spell.

The acid arcs through the air. They�re on alert this time and two of the shots miss but the spell slams home into one of the titan-crocs who immediately feels the weight of the world fall on its shoulders, slowing its movement to a crawl.

Plenty more where that came from!

[Crinis, get into a defensive position in front of me. I�ll throw spells until they reach us.]

[Understood, Master.]

No nonsense in the heat of battle, my faithful pet glides gracefully in front of me and rapidly deploys her web of tentacles. The monsters will have to get past her if they want to reach me, and I don�t think she�ll allow that.

Gravity Bolt!

With my current mind I can whip one of these out in just seconds. The next one is already prepared and on its way.

This time I target one of the double-crocs. I want to see what these beefier monsters are made of. As they draw closer, the spells become more difficult to dodge, and this one easily strikes home. The target looks angry to have been struck, and when the gravity descends it unleashes a roar of frustration, the anger rumbling out from deep in its chest. But it keeps coming. Slower than before, thankfully, but still coming. It appears these monsters have enough Might to overcome the normal Gravity Bolt and not suffer too much. I won�t bother spending more of that on them then.

Weighing them down and restricting their mobility is nice, but there�s a hell of a lot better I can do with my time and every second counts.

I�ve been weaving another Gravity Bolt even as I watched the effect of the last one and it�s ready.

Fire!

Another titan-croc feels the pressure pulling its feet down to the ground and it struggles to overcome the weight.

The crocs are moving at full speed now, the ground shuddering under the impact of their massive feet. Overhead the trees shake and shiver. The monsters moving through the water shift into high gear, spraying water as they pass, their jaws opening wide to reveal their surprisingly pink tongues nestled between rows of razor-sharp teeth.

I�ve got room for maybe two more spells before they hit us.

Maybe I can buy us some more time though�

Gravity Mana begins to pour out of my gland at the behest of my sub-brain and I bring forth the full power of my prodigious mind to compress it down and weave it into a new shape. I have to focus hard on this one as I haven�t had enough practice with it to be able to shape it with ease.

I can almost feel steam pour out of my ears as my mind starts to overheat. Compressing Mana and building up the structure at dizzying speeds. Loops and whorls, spheres and lines, layer on layer taking shape as the seconds tick by. The crocs thunder ever closer, emerging from the water just a few metres away.

Aaaaand� done!

Gravity Bola!

[Advanced Forceful Mana (II) has reached Level 6.]

[Precise shooting has reached Level 3.]

Haa! It�s nice to fight tier three monsters! The difference in XP is really showing. I can�t wait to eat.

The Gravity Bola materialises and flings out in the shape of a wide line. By angling it just so, I manage to clip the crocs emerging from the water as well as those running overland. Only one titan-croc is able to avoid being hit as it faces forward, shrinking in width as it passes.

The crocs who are hit seem almost confused as they notice no effect. Unbeknownst to them, there is a sliver of energy that ties them to the bola as it travels. The farther the spell goes, the smaller it becomes until it has shrunk to a single point and becomes still.

At this point, the spell takes effect. With a tremendous pulse of gravitational energy, the crocs are pulled backward toward the spell. They jerk as the pulse yanks them back a few steps. The massive beasts freeze then begin to walk forward, only to be yanked back by another pulse of energy.

The Gravity Bola!

The normal version isn�t much, but the Forceful version comes out wider and the pull is much, much stronger.

Phew! That took a lot out of me. Thankfully my Gravitational Gland is so deep, I still have plenty in the tank.

Angry and frustrated, the double-crocs strain against the pull until their muscles creak and pop. The closest one opens wide and flames flicker within its mouth.

Yikes! I hastily begin spinning up a spell.

The croc leans forward and unleashes a huge ball of fire that races toward us, the fire bursting out of its mouth with a tremendous roar!

[Master?] Crinis questions.

She can probably feel the heat. The temperature is certainly rising fast.

[I�m on it!] I grate out as my brains work together at lightning speed.

Done!

Water Bolt!

The dense ball of water flies and impacts against the fire just before it strikes us.

PSSSHHHHH!

With an audible THUMP the spells collide and an explosion of steam bursts out, the two substances consuming each other in an instant.

Dammit! I can�t see a thing!

I hastily whip up another water bolt and hold it as I peer through the steam. My antennae start going crazy as my heat detection lights up like a firework. Yes, I get it! There is heat everywhere!

[What have you got, Crinis?]

[They�re coming!]

The steam has no effect on her vision� since she doesn�t have any�

The fight is raging between Tiny, Vibrant and a host of crocs behind me. Without my magnificent magic to deter the beasts, they have been able to swarm and engage Tiny in a vicious melee. Unfortunately for the crocs, right next to the ape isn�t exactly the safest place one could hope to be. Lightning crackles along Tiny�s torso, zapping nearby foes and discharging through his hands with every punch. With each swing of his arms, a croc is sent reeling, even the double-crocs, large as they are, cannot withstand the strength of those fists.

Like me, Tiny is a tier four monster, not to mention the beneficiary of multiple special evolutions. His strength is absurdly high, and thanks to having actually spent some Biomass and Skill Points, his combat effectiveness is only climbing. The double-crocs are tier three monsters, and there is little chance they have received the level of evolution, or had access to the wealth of Biomass, that Tiny has been able to enjoy.

I spoil my pets! What can I say?

At any rate, despite being heavily outnumbered, the big lug is managing to hold his own, smashing away crocs with wild swings. He�s taking some damage though, his defence not up to the task of fending off those jaws and claws.

Vibrant is sticking to her instructions. After bombarding the foe with acid from range, she�s stuck to a hit and run tactic. Whenever a croc runs directly at her, she turns and races to the other side of Tiny, putting the melee between herself and her would-be opponent. She really is fast! She would leave me in the dust, even when Dashing. Once out of sight and out of mind, she charges and viciously deploys her various biting skills, chomping away at legs or arms, occasionally the odd torso.

Whenever they get sick of her nibbling, the monsters turn and swipe at her, their claws raking along her carapace, occasionally penetrating far enough to draw blood. True to directions, she immediately backs off, healing up and waiting for another opportunity to strike.

I wonder just how often she can use that healing gland�?

On my side, Crinis and I are still contending with the odd fireball as our opponents struggle to overcome my Forceful Gravity Bola.

Nifty spell, this one. Even monsters as large and physically powerful as the crocas aren�t able to advance once I�ve tagged them with this beauty. One titan-croc managed to evade the spell, but he�s unfortunately fallen into the clutches of Crinis� tentacles.

[You dare to approach my Master, vile beast!]

She seems mad.

The fate of the croc is� not good. To say the least.

[Don�t eat them all, Crinis, we need to save some food for everyone, especially the double-crocas.]

[Understood, Master.]

Beyond the immediate surroundings, the environment is still shrouded with steam. I can�t quite see the crocs, their hulking bodies reduced to mere shadows with the obstruction, but similarly, they can�t see us.

Doesn�t stop them from hurling fire though.

[Crinis, fire coming!]

Dammit! Blindly throwing fire in our direction is dangerous enough. The flames the double-crocs possess are more potent than what�s inside their smaller siblings. This is going to get rough.

The fireballs explode all around and I turn my mind inward, racing to complete another spell. The air begins to roast us, Crinis suffering more than I am.

Grrrr. I should have seen this coming! Hurry up, Anthony, get this spell done!

Within my mind the water Mana dances and glides as all of my minds are dedicated to weaving the Mana into a familiar shape.

FWOOSH!

More fireballs ignite through the steam. These crocs have a decent tank of fire. Luckily, my spell is ready.

Water Domain!

Expanding outward with me in the centre, a spherical wall of water pushes the flames away. With yet more explosions of steam, the incoming fireballs smash into my expanding barrier, super heating the liquid and pushing through with only a shadow of their previous strength.

Nice! I can handle this!

More steam billows out, further obstructing our vision.

[We can�t hang back anymore, Crinis! Time to push forward and mess them up!]

A very damp tentacle death sphere acknowledges my words with her actions. She picks her body up and begins to advance, extending a web of tentacles, completely unaffected by the steam.

I pass the maintenance of my Water Domain to my sub-brains as we cautiously move in. A swirling mass of water swishes and froths constantly in a five-metre diameter around me.

Gradually a shadow looms larger in front of us, a double-croc thrashing against the restraint of the Gravity Bola. The croc is large, far larger than myself, but it certainly doesn�t expect us.

Crinis� seeking limbs creep forward before finally contacting the monster. Instantly a number of tentacles latch onto the croc who growls deep and begins slashing with its claws at the Shadow Flesh attached to it.

Oh no you don�t, you damned croc!

Dashing forward, the beast is buffeted by the surging waters of my Water Domain, knocked off-balance and thoroughly saturated. Summoning the energy from within, I open my mandibles wide as they begin to glow.

Shattering Bite!

Crunch!

�GARRRR!�

The double-croc reels back in pain.

Suffer from my bite, croc! The first of many!

More fireballs fly out of the distance and impact against my Water Domain, sending massive gouts of steam hissing into the air and further reducing visibility. In front of me, soaked by the frothing mass of water, the double-croc lunges with its massive jaws.

SNAP!

Yikes!

Leaping to the left, I manage to avoid the snapping jaws at the last second. With the foe off-balance, I Dash forward to bite once more.

CRUNCH!

[Shattering Bite (III) has reached Level 8.]

Muahahaha!

The croc growls furiously, a rumble that comes from deep within its chest and shakes the air with its intensity. The double-crocs are almost the same size as Tiny when standing on their hind legs, close to ten feet.

Being a little over a metre tall at this point, the damn thing towers over me. My eyes are about level with its knees! Thankfully, my Shattering Bite manifests more than a metre away from my actual mandibles, considerably increasing the range of my bite attacks.

Enough to take a decent chunk out of the monster�s side at any rate.

WHAM!

Ouch!

A little cocky after my successful bite, I don�t even notice the twin tails sweeping at me until they smash into my side with tremendous force, sending me flying several metres away.

[Master! Are you all right!] Crinis cries shrilly.

[I�m fine! Focus on the fight!]

[Damn beast! I will REND YOU!]

I�ve lost a bit of HP. The kinetic force of the impact was enough to crack my carapace in several places, but the enhanced diamond is perfect for resisting this sort of damage. Not to mention, a new feeling arises in the damaged sections that brings a smile to my heart. The inner bone plating, a supportive structure that webs the inside of my exo-skeleton, begins to excrete a gel-like substance at the site of the damaged portions. The tingling feeling of regeneration begins immediately and intensifies as the cracks start to knit together.

Oh, how I love it when a plan comes together!

How�s that, you stupid croc! A few minutes and I�ll be back to full HP again. The magical tank that is Anthony the ant shall never be stopped!

Being able to repair the damage to my main defence, the carapace, without having to use my healing gland is so tasty!

Whilst I�m admiring my own incredible wisdom, Crinis has gone berserk. She�s begun thrashing her limbs around one of the crocs� legs. The beast being too large for her to effectively wrap the entire thing at once, she has chosen to concentrate her fire on one particular limb, causing it to fall to one side.

Ahhh! So, this is why she took Dismember!

Yuck�

Other shadows grow closer, their flickering forms growing nearer through the steam. My Water Domain continues to swirl around me, and I position myself so the frothing liquid slashes and slams into the croc�s face as Crinis flicks her limbs to the beast�s torso.

It seems like the crocs, as expected, are quite resistant to water spells. Their scaly hides are perfect for sliding through water and provide a decent measure of protection against the kinetic impact of my water spells.

Perhaps Garralosh wasn�t completely stupid when they designed their children with fire Mana glands after all. At least my water magic is working to counter their stupid fireballs, even if the field has been covered in a blanket of steam.

I rush forward and begin to chomp away at the hapless double-croc. With Crinis working her dark magic on its limbs, and my own mandibles crunching at it, even a tier three croc monster cannot resist for long.

[You have defeated Level 12 Garralosh Bellator.]

[You have gained XP.]

Before Gandalf has even finished his words, I leap and take a bite from the fallen enemy.

[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Garralosh Bellator. You are awarded one Biomass.]

[Basic profile of the Garralosh Bellator unlocked.]

[Garralosh Bellator: Garralosh Soldier. Following in the evolutionary footsteps of their progenitor, the Garralosh Soldier is equipped with a more powerful muscular system, increased stamina, intensified flame and double tails.]

Huh. Apparently these Garralosh offspring are basically evolving the same way the original croc monster did? Following in their mother�s footsteps?

That�s interesting. It gives some insight into what Garralosh itself might look like.

But I don�t have time to worry about that, we have more offspring to kill! I have to move quickly before my gravity spell wears off completely.

I mentally nudge Crinis and we rush in the direction I recall seeing the other double-croc. Thankfully my memory doesn�t fail me and we manage to approach the creature who, despite being buffeted by my Water Domain, accurately swipes at me with one claw.

SCREETCH!

The solid bone claw scrapes along my pristine Diamond Carapace and sparks fly, but the claw fails to penetrate through to my soft, fleshy insides. The carapace is triumphant!

[DEATH!] Crinis screams, and a boiling mass of tentacles lash out and wrap both legs of the double-croc.

[Nice, Crinis!] I shout and move to follow up on her attack.

POW!

Right from the famed shopping plaza, a blast of acid smacks into the beast�s upper chest, sizzling and burning away the scales that cover the croc�s torso. Flames begin to flicker around the mouth of the creature, but thanks to my improved rear vision, I�m way ahead of it and position myself so that my Water Domain starts slamming into the croc�s face.

Haha! You wanna flame thrower me now?

HSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Apparently, yes!

Unwilling to hold back the flame, the monster opens wide and blasts the spherical wall of water. Even though some of the fire does penetrate my defence, the majority is swallowed by the water and a huge gout of steam blasts the croc right in the face!

Yeoouch.

I wonder who has the higher Cunning, Tiny or the double-croc?

I shake my head. I shouldn�t think so poorly of my own pet.

Scalded by this unexpected event, the croc rears back in pain and anger.

[Get him, Crinis! Finish it!]

[Understood!]

As the uncomfortable sounds of ripping and tearing fill the air, I lunge to apply mandibles, pumping some raw Mana into them to activate their Infused property and greatly increase their cutting power.

CHOMP! CHOMP!

No matter how the monster tries to fight back, it�s useless. With Crinis tying up and savaging its legs, and me tearing into it, the superficial slashes and bites it manages to land on us are not able to inflict serious damage.

[You have defeated a Level 6 Garralosh Soldier.]

[You have gained XP.]

I feel the Forceful Gravity Bola dissipate, releasing the rest of the crocs to continue their advance, but the spell has done its work admirably. Without being able to group together, the larger double-crocs have been defeated.

In fact, I can also sense�

[You have defeated a Level 7 Garralosh Soldier.]

[You have gained XP.]

[You reached Level 14. One Skill Point awarded.]

There you go.

Not sure I want to go inspect those remains though�

With the heavy hitters taken out of the equation, there isn�t much left to the fight. Crinis and I quickly destroy the titan-crocs and rush back to help support Tiny and Vibrant.

The giant ape and ant soldier are beaten and bruised, but victorious as they lord over their fallen enemies. Tiny is beating his chest and roaring his challenge out to the world whilst Vibrant does a manic, high-speed dance around his ankles.

[RAAAAAR!] Tiny bellows.

�RAA-HAHAHAHA!� Vibrant cackles.

I was right to team these two up. They fit together like peas in a pod. The only problem is, who is the brains of the operation?

In the distance, there are yet more crocs, huddling together in small posses like leathery hoodlums. For the time being they aren�t responding to our provocation, though I�d rather not put their tolerance to the test.

For now, there aren�t any groups within two hundred metres, which is roughly how far we�ve advanced into the Expanse.

[�Hold off on the celebration already, you two,�] I snap. [�We�ve won the first skirmish, but there are more to be had. Let�s eat quickly and prepare our next move.�]

I don�t need to tell them twice. The gang breaks up and we start stuffing our faces full while simultaneously keeping a watchful eye on the surrounding monsters. I myself head directly for the double-crocs. It�s been some time since I�ve been able to eat a tier three monster of this size and I don�t intend to let the opportunity go to waste!

OM NOM NOM.

There really is a distinct flavour to croc. I think it�s growing on me, to be honest. Particularly the tails. Now that I think of it, the double-croc evolutionary choices are really making sense to me. Double the tail to eat? Nice!

I manage to reap a nice harvest of Biomass from the first croc, but as I�m moving toward the second, Crinis mentally cries out.

[Master! I can feel vibrations coming this way, lots of them! I think it�s a wave!]

Oh snap!

[�Everyone back to the tunnels! Go Go Go!�]

Tiny seems reluctant, still shoving huge fistfuls of food into his mouth until his cheeks are puffed out to a ludicrous degree.

[Tiny! Move your big butt back to the tunnels right now!] I yell at him even as I activate my Dash skill to rush at Crinis and throw her onto my back.

HEAVY!

With that maw of hers, she can eat ten times faster than the rest of us. She�s so damned heavy already, she must have eaten two or three crocs at least!

Tiny cannot refuse my direct command. Unwilling to part with his meal, he grabs the body of the double-croc he was eating and throws it over his shoulder before Dashing and leaping his way back to the tunnel.

How greedy! Wish I�d thought of that� At the very least I might have been able to grab a tail�

With all possible speed, we rush back to the tunnel entrance and position ourselves defensively. I�d figured we would encounter a wave or two during our attack on the Expanse. In my mind, the worst-case scenario would be if we were caught out in the open. The monsters in a wave are low Level, without many mutations, and generally tier one with a few having evolved, generally not much of a threat. But if they were to surround us in the middle of the marsh, where mobility is difficult and there are native monsters who could interfere and get in the way�

It could get nasty.

Safely retreating to the tunnel that leads up to the colony and effectively blocking it, preventing any monsters from reaching my family and then continuing the assault is by far the best choice.

[�Tiny in front, Crinis right behind to support, make sure he doesn�t get surrounded. Vibrant, stay behind Crinis and move up to support when you can, don�t let yourself get caught. I�ll stick to the roof.�]

We take our positions and it isn�t long until the wave of monsters approaches. They roll through the marsh as a dark mass of shadow beasts, the occasional normal, animalistic monster mixed in.

Curiously, they don�t seem too interested in feasting on the native monsters as they pass, leaving them undisturbed for the most part. I think I see the odd flower monster getting trampled, but nothing seems to go out of its way to kill or eat.

This behaviour is just so un-monster-like that it�s baffling. What hold does the creature controlling this Expanse have on these monsters? Is it a skill? A mutation? Or something to do with their core? I just don�t have the knowledge to explain it.

Hopefully, I will soon.

It doesn�t take long for the monsters to reach us. Tiny finally stops snacking on his croc and flings the remaining food behind us, saving it for later. Flexing his fingers, lightning begins to crackle around his body.

I myself head toward the ceiling and Grip it tightly, drawing on my Water Transformation Construct to stockpile some condensed water Mana in preparation for a Forceful Water Cannon. That spell has proven to be the most effective so far at cutting through the shadow beast�s strange flesh.

[Enhanced Grip (II) has reached Level 4.]

Nice! Grip hasn�t Levelled in ages! Why now?

I guess I haven�t been doing a whole lot of gripping. Where once I almost exclusively travelled on ceilings, I�m more of a floor walker now. Somehow that feels a little disappointing, as if something of my ant nature is lacking. I guess I walk up and down the colony walls, but that probably does less XP-wise than hanging off a ceiling during a fight.

Internally I resolve to hang upside down a bit more.

The monsters grow larger in our eyes until they crash into us with tremendous momentum. Tiny meets the challenge willingly, his massive fists smashing the first monsters into paste the moment they get into range.

Forceful Water Cannon!

The tunnel is filled with the sound of desperate combat as the monsters throw themselves at us like berserkers, mindlessly advancing into our attacks and getting cut down just as fast.

My spell zigs and zags through their ranks, slicing through them without mercy. The spray of water saturates the tunnel and the incoming monsters, who quickly fall prey to Tiny�s lightning and fists.

Any that reach his sides are snatched up in Crinis� tentacles and torn to pieces, or flung back to Vibrant who falls upon them with savage glee, her mandibles swiftly ending the threat.

We battle in this way for a full fifteen minutes before the wave has expended itself. The tunnel is packed full of Biomass, to a ridiculous degree, and we are tired and battered. Tiny in particular has suffered the brunt of the fighting so far. Cuts and bruises dot his body as the massive ape catches his breath.

Since we�re close to the shortcut anyway, I decide we should stuff our faces, heal up, and deliver the rest of this food to the surface for the colony to pick up before we continue our assault.

After we�ve made a quick delivery to the surface, we rest to aid the digestion. Fighting on a full stomach isn�t the best feeling in the world, especially when I�ve already taken in a special core.

The tight, painful feeling has faded to the background now. I�m not sure if that�s because my body has successfully accommodated this slightly oversized core or if I�ve just gotten used to the pain. I�m still determined to try and take in another before my next evolution. I�m not willing to stay behind on the power curve. To protect my family, I�ll take the risk to get every edge possible.

To turn a humble worker ant into a monstrous powerhouse, the standard road isn�t enough. Maxing out my core and selecting the special evolutions isn�t enough anymore. If I�m going to run into this Garralosh monster, I�m going to need every advantage I can get my claws on.

Just thinking about what that croc could look like makes me nervous enough to clean my antennae before I can settle down.

How many evolutions? Tier five? Six? Seven!

Mutations would be at what Level� Tier six would be +30!

I hope my pets and I are strong enough to handle it if that damn beast ever decides to come at the colony.

For that reason, we need to take every opportunity to make ourselves stronger. When the new generation is up and running, I�ll be a lot more confident in our future. To that end, we have to secure our position as quickly as we can. I�ve got a week until they hatch, by that time the Expanse needs to be tamed and the threat to the colony ended.

I reaped 21 Biomass from the fighting so far, enough to buy a little something.

After instructing everyone to spend up, I settle in to glance through my menu.

Thank goodness! With this last feed, I�ve amassed just enough to take my antennae to +10!

[Would you like to upgrade Infrared Antennae to +10? At this level, you may select a mutation advancement from the menu.]

Awesome! The dream of all +10 will finally be realised!

My infrared senses have served me well since purchasing that upgrade. Having more information and more ways to sense enemies has made me feel secure in my travels through the Dungeon. My earlier sensory weakness has been well and truly overcome.

There are some upgrades to the infrared advancement that make it more sensitive or effective at a greater range, but I�m not particularly interested in that. Some of the other options are far more delicious, and I want to come back to some of those this time.

Precognitive Antennae, being able to sense a moment into the future. That is just a straight up hack. With multiple upgrades, I might be able to push the time I can detect into the future further and further.

Now that my ability to sense opponents is so high, it�s time to continue to build on my ability to defeat them!

[Do you wish to purchase this upgrade? It will cost 27 Biomass.]

YAS!

Oh� right�

SNAZIFAZZLE!

Why, dammit?

Five minutes of agonised flailing later we�re ready to roll. The others have made their purchases, and the decided lack of reaction to the irritating side effect of having your body rearrange itself at the cellular level is starting to irritate me.

Not much I can do about it.

Before we leave, I gather the crew for a brief war conference.

[�All right everyone, how do we feel about our attack on the crocs so far?�]

[These beasts lack the proper respect for you, Master!] Crinis pouts.

[Tasty,] Tiny grunts.

�Those tails are delicious!� Vibrant cheers.

[�Thanks everyone, that�s� super useful. Let�s go.�]

In short order, I get everyone lined up and ready to advance. Once more, we step out of the narrow, glowing tunnels and into the comparatively broad skies of the Expanse. This time I make sure to instruct Tiny not to charge in recklessly and to wait for my order.

He wasn�t happy, but he�s just gonna have to build a bridge and get over it.

Immediately I can see there are fewer crocs on this side of the Expanse than before. Where they were clustered quite thickly around this entrance, there isn�t any sign of them now. It almost feels as if they�ve withdrawn to prevent further losses. Maybe we�ll find them deeper into the marsh. Content not to have to worry about the stupid lizards for the time being, I get the gang moving.

In this way, we progress a little deeper into the marsh. The fauna and flora are more active here. Perhaps the thinner numbers of crocs have encouraged them to come out of their shells a bit. The ever-present aura of intimidation still hangs thick in the air, but the marsh is starting to show a few small signs of life.

Tiny, for one, gets spellbound by the mind-bending flowers and I have to try and hold him back while Vibrant mows down the offending plant.

Having warned Tiny away from the pretty flowers, we continue to creep in until we make it to roughly the four hundred metre mark. The vegetation is so damned thick�trees, hanging vines, flowers the size of cars and rolling humps of mossy earth rising high�visibility is incredibly weak. It�s hard to know if we�re coming or going sometimes.

As the soft sounds of the marsh ring through the air around us, I try to watch in all directions at once, wary for any traps or ambushes that may come our way.

As I creep along behind Tiny, Crinis riding on my back, I suddenly feel a strange sensation tickling down my antennae. It feels so weird I freeze in place, entirely unable to process what my brain is telling me.

CHOMP!

Which is precisely when I lose two legs to a massive hippo-turtle.

I realise now that my brain, or rather my fancy new antennae, were telling me I was about to have my legs bitten off in a savage and painful manner by a large creature emerging from the murky waters to my left.

Unfortunately, I was simply unable to process the information fast enough. I mean, when you start receiving sensory messaging from the future, it kind of wigs you out a bit. Up until this point, my new antennae had only been providing me with a mild buzzing sensation. When it lit up so suddenly, I was momentarily overwhelmed. So much so that even though I was aware my legs were about to be chomped off, it still happened.

Ouch!

The offender is a rather large hippo looking creature with rough leathery skin and a moss-covered shell. It�d been visible above the waterline, looking for all the world like a hump of dirt, much like any of the others.

Now the damn fatty looks decidedly smug as I fall to one side, cursing internally and triggering my healing gland. The cold fluid floods my system, rushing to the site of my lost limbs, which begin to regrow at an almost visible pace, and I scramble with my four remaining legs to get myself clear of the monster.

[MASTER!] Crinis shrieks. [What happened?]

[�Ambush! Fat hippo-thing on the left! I�ve lost a couple of legs, cover for me!�] I shout.

[AHHHH!]

My mind is overwhelmed by Crinis� hysterical screaming as the little tennis ball EXPLODES with tentacles that start seeking the left side, latching onto and tearing at the hippo-turtle�s face at breakneck speeds.

Irritated at the sudden retaliation, the hippo rises out of the water and charges at us with surprising speed. Fast! Huge! FAT!

The monster is much larger than I�d first thought and certainly more bizarre. Small piggy eyes and those adorable little flappy ears sit above a typical broken-toothed, oversized hippo mouth. The head extends out from under a thick, dome-shaped shell on the end of a long turtle neck. The entire thing rests upon four squat hippo legs that pump at a rapid pace as the huge monster dashes out of the water, grunting angrily as Crinis continues to shriek in my head and tear at its face.

The ground rumbles under my feet. I push with all of my might but I can�t activate Dash without all of my legs. Great time to learn that. Thanks, Skill! Come on, legs, regenerate faster or I�m going to be building a more intimate relationship with this dirt than I was quite prepared for. Just before I get stomped into ant paste and served on crackers, Tiny Dashes in from the side and meets the charging hippo with one shoulder.

BOOM!

The impact is colossal and the ground shudders under the impact of these two titans. As more of the creature emerges from the water, I get a clearer picture of its size. Hippos are quite large creatures back on Earth, everyone knows that. Fast, big mouth, plump, grey-skinned killing machines that like to swim. This guy is a touch larger. I�d say he�s about the size of a minivan.

You hear what I�m saying?

A MINIVAN!

[Crinis, you need to try and get at his legs! Buy me a little time!]

My smaller pet, she of the ink chainsaw, is still screeching. Her earlier wordless hollering has given way to a deafening tirade that promises endless violence in the most graphic terms I can imagine. She�s so caught up in her blood-red diatribe, I�m not even sure she heard what I said.

In any event, as the hippo-turtle rights itself and recovers its balance, Crinis begins to transfer her tentacles away from the monster�s face where, despite her most violent effort, minimal damage has been done.

Not only is the shell tough as nails, it seems the skin ain�t no slouch either.

[Go hard, Tiny. This guy looks tough!]

�ROOOOO!� Tiny bellows, the fire blazing bright in his eyes.

He�s ready to go!

Fists sparking, the ape launches himself into the air and brings both fists down in his patented ape-smash directly onto the hippo-turtle�s shell. The flabby beast grunts as all the air is forced out of its body in a whoosh and it slams belly first into the ground.

Electricity flows out of Tiny and into the beast, momentarily stunning it as lightning crackles over its shell and leathery skin. Snarling, the beast forces its feet back under it and turns to engage the offending ape, snapping at him with those huge jaws.

Why does everything around here have to have such large mouths?

Whilst my pets engage the monster in brutal battle, I bravely continue to crawl through the dirt as my missing limbs regenerate. It�s been ages since I lost a leg. This hippo is going to pay!

As Tiny continues to trade blows with the beast, his fists snapping that head left and right, sending shockwaves through its long neck, Crinis busies herself with ripping into the legs. Trying to saw her way through the thick skin is taking a long time though.

�Vibrant! Give it some acid, aim for the neck!�

�Roger-roger!�

The ant soldier had been waiting for the opportune moment to engage in the fight, not willing to obstruct Tiny in his battle. With my instructions given, she proudly presents an ant�s best feature and begins to blast the enemy with her potent acid.

Four shots in total land on that long neck and begin to sizzle away. The big monster groans in pain but cannot turn away from the ape in front of it growing more and more aggressive, his fists swinging faster with every moment.

Gravity Bolt!

I hastily whip up the spell and blast it out, hoping to assist my pets in their work. Unerringly, thanks to my skills, the bolt strikes home on the creature, directly behind its head. I�ve seen this before. When the bolt hits a creature of sufficient size, it doesn�t just increase the gravity of the whole monster, but rather drags down the body part it�s hit.

In this instance, the fatty is instantly affected by a strong dragging force that wants to pull its head into the dirt. Tiny takes advantage of the hippo�s distraction to smash a few punches directly into his opponent�s face.

Gravity Bolt!

Gravity Bolt!

I pile more spells onto the now struggling monster�s neck, removing its ability to attack quite so swiftly with its jaws. Unwilling to suffer from the torture of the ape�s fists any longer, the hippo-turtle begins to withdraw its head back into shell.

You can also do that!

I hate this monster� so much.

[Get that leg, Crinis!]

[Fall, you filthy beast! Become food for the Master!]

With a horrible ripping sound, those countless tentacles twist and writhe before eventually completing their task and crippling the hippo�s front left leg.

Hah! How do you like it?

As the beast topples to one side, this time for good, the assault is renewed. Crinis moves to another leg as Tiny lays into the shell like it�s a punching bag, eventually cracking the hard outer layer with every punch.

Vibrant judges the time is right and leaps to engage with her mandibles, chipping away at the beast.

By the time my legs are sufficiently healed that I can walk, the creature has been brought down.

Finally!

[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Sus Aquarum Armatae. You are awarded one Biomass.]

[Basic profile of Sus Aquarum Armatae has been unlocked.]

[Sus Aquarum Armatae: Armoured Water Pig. This giant monster possesses a robust defence, boasting a tough skin and extremely durable shell. Offensively, the Water Pig can deploy its vicious bite and has been known to utilise water magic to attack its foes.]

Water magic huh? This one didn�t use it, but it may not have had the chance.

After the fight, I had Tiny tip the beast onto its back, a difficult feat even for him, and we commenced feasting on the creature�s flabby Biomass.

Somewhat vindictively, I started on the legs.

Damn pig!

My legs have regenerated at this point. The new limbs are still somewhat stiff and a little tender, nothing a day or two won�t fix. Having my legs get eaten is still irritating.

[�We need to make sure we don�t get ambushed by these damn Water Pigs again, guys.�]

[Tasty,] Tiny disagrees.

�Yeah, tasty!� Vibrant registers her opinion cheerfully.

[I will be three times as vigilant! No such filth shall approach you again.] Crinis furiously wiggles her tentacles in the air to emphasise her words.

The unity of this group is severely lacking.

More to the point, listen to me, dammit!

Other than Crinis, the other two are only interested in eating.

She might get a little over-enthused sometimes, but at least she listens and pays attention.

[Thanks, Crinis, I appreciate your efforts.] I give her a quick tap on the top of her tennis ball form with an antenna.

[HAGA!]

Eh?

Standing next to me, elevating her main body on a few slender limbs, Crinis freezes and ever so slowly, begins to topple over until she�s lying flat on the ground.

�What happened to Crinny!� Vibrant scurries over to the small mass of tentacles lying unnaturally still on the ground, poking her friend with a foreleg.

�All of them are useless. Hopefully, the next generation of ants will prove to be more helpful than this lot.

Did I just jinx myself? No flags! Shut up, Anthony!

After finishing off the pig and letting Crinis recover until she�s able to take her place on my back, I pause to consider the next move. The lush growth of the marsh Expanse surrounds us, pools of murky water everywhere and the extensive mangrove-like trees with their vast, overly fleshy leaves.

Those small shadows are still up there also. Little shapes that change their position every now and again, shuttling about in their own airy domain. I think I�ll get myself up there. I�ve had enough grubbing about down here.

More than anything, I�m curious as to what those creatures are. What exactly are they doing up there?

Informing the others of my plan, I head straight to the nearest tree and place one claw against the wood of its trunk. There�s something odd about this bark. I can�t quite put my finger on it. Not that I have fingers. Leaning back, I reach forward with my front four legs and try to pull myself up.

Slippery!

Sticky!

What is up with this tree? I can�t quite get my claws to dig into it. Not only do they slide off, refusing to properly grip into the soft looking bark, they also feel gummed up, as if coated in some invisible substance.

Damn tree. How dare you resist my claws! As an ant, I will not be denied my natural born right to walk vertically on anything I darn well, please! There are species of ants that can hang upside down on glass back on Earth. For a tree to try and stop me climbing has lit a fire in my ant heart.

I shall climb!

Determined and alight with the pride of all ant-kind, I kick sharply off the ground and latch onto the tree with all of my claws, gripping for all I�m worth. Come on, Enhanced Grip! Do me proud!

The tree isn�t having it. My claws slide and lock up, but I refuse to give in. Grip, Grip, Grip!

Like a barehanded climber with six legs, I force my claws to bite deep into the trunk and grasp hold before hauling the rest of my body up. Good thing I�m not that heavy for a monster relative to my Might stat. Even so, it takes all my strength to pull my body up, and by the time I reach the top I�m a heaving, gasping mess.

[Are you all right, Master?] Crinis asks from my back.

Ah. This deceptively heavy ball of unending hunger was on me. I forgot.

Still! That tree is resistant to climbing to a ridiculous degree. That was insane. I can walk upside down on wet rocks no problem, but climbing this stupid thing was nearly impossible.

Shaking myself, I push my legs back under me and look about. I�ve reached the lowest of the branches that reach out across the marsh. In front of me are thick leaves, each one larger than I am, and small shapes creeping over them.

All right then, what are these things?

Bracing myself by gripping tight and moving slow, I begin to creep out along the length of the branch toward its end. As I draw closer to the oversized leaves, the creatures creeping about on them become clearer.

Small, soft looking green shells, round chubby looking body, and thin, stick-like legs.

Something deep within my ant brain sparks as if struck by lightning.

Are those� APHIDS?

Excitement builds in my belly.

Many people on Earth don�t realise it, but some species of ants are farmers, and have used farming to produce their food for hundreds of thousands of years. Leafcutter ants harvest leaves, not because they eat the leaves, but because they use the leaves to grow a species of mould deep within their nests that they eat. Herder ants, among other kinds, perform a different type of farming. They keep aphids. The aphids feast on the leaves of trees and plants, and when approached by the ant, offer up a sugary liquid produced in their business district which the ants eat. In return, the ants protect the aphids and shelter them from harm. Even picking them up and moving them to the best positions on the plant.

Looking at these little monstrous aphids, each one the size of a school bag creeping about, I begin to wonder about the possibilities that might present themselves. Ants and aphids have a long history of cooperative coexistence.

In the deep recesses of my brain, a farming scheme is taking shape.

Eagerly, I advance down the branch and step out onto the broad leaf on which one of the little green fuzzy insects is feeding. The leaf takes my weight, and I gradually approach the little bug. As I draw close, the creature freezes and huddles flat on the surface of the leaf.

As I stand over it, the creature�s shivering begins to ease off when I don�t attack it. Gradually, slowly, the little aphid excretes a thick, gel-like fluid from its back.

My antennae twitch at the scent.

Biomass!

My eyes gleam with avarice.

Beyn was a priest and he was proud of that class. He�d worked hard in the seminary, his faith blazing with an admirable glow, such that he earned promotion and placement into a small village at a young age.

He often thought back on his time at the college, within the Path Sanctuary in Luxon, a mighty citadel filled with learning, preaching and the contemplation of the Path. He�d been happy there, tearing through scripts and sitting at the knee of his teachers, absorbing their wisdom. He delighted in his deepening knowledge of the System and the way in which it improved the lives of all peoples.

Respect was due to the System, reverence also! It was omniscient, it was omnipresent, and it saved all of the civilised peoples of the world from certain destruction. It had shown them the Path to salvation!

That is what Beyn firmly believed his entire life.

Looking around the dusty people surrounding him now, it was hard to comprehend just how he�d come to be here.

Such wondrous happenings, such revelatory events, they defied understanding, let alone explanation. If he were to take his lessons, relate his experiences to his old teachers, there wasn�t a single doubt in his mind that he would be turned over to the Seekers for questioning. Perhaps he would even be purged. Yet, he could not deny the evidence of his eyes, nor the wellspring of hope that erupted in his heart.

He�d paid for his newfound belief with an arm, but it had been so worth it.

The evidence was all around him. The System chose to present its aid, its benevolence, through an entirely unexpected medium. Monsters! Ants from the Dungeon. It seemed preposterous. Though wasn�t it said, �The ways of the System are unknowable by mortal mind�?

Truly none would have expected this turn of events.

�Priest Beyn,� he was greeted by a passerby.

�Good morning. May the Path be clear before you and our saviours clack their mandibles with blessing upon you.�

The person smiled and nodded, their eyes flicking in the direction of the colony�s great mound, barely visible now from this place, before moving on. Indeed, the ants had done so much for these people. Beyn intended to be sure they were properly grateful. The monsters infesting the nearby woods had been nearly eradicated by the tireless workers, wood had been provided that was now being made into houses, fencing and other such structures. Crude farms were being erected in order to secure a food supply for the near future, and as more people came south, fleeing the violence continuing to ravage the surface, so too did the needs of the community grow.

He moved amongst the burgeoning village, smiling, giving blessings to those who approached him. An encouraging word here, a smile or a nod there, a hug and compassionate prayer for those in distress. Beyn moved amongst his people and did his utmost to buoy their spirits so they might take advantage of this wondrous blessing that had befallen them.

A sanctuary in such troubled times, protection, given by the System itself in the form of their ant guardians.

Suddenly inspired, Beyn stopped and raised his one hand to the sky and began to speak, his Expert Preaching Level nine causing his voice to soar over the din of the village.

�Let us give thanks, O travellers! O weary folk of a fallen kingdom!�

The refugees were accustomed to his frequent outbursts of preaching. They were not surprised to hear his sudden oration. Compelled by his powerful voice, they turned to listen as they had many times before.

�We have suffered much. The pain of loss, the heartache of our destroyed homes. Monsters have risen to the surface in a way that hasn�t been seen for thousands of years!�

A ripple passed through the people at his words and the crowd began to coalesce around the crippled priest. Monsters pouring out of the Dungeon was the stuff of nightmares, a forgotten legend they�d witnessed with their own eyes.

�And yet, the Path is never straight, the Path is never clear before our feet. It is not for us to decide the way, but for the System! We have been delivered from monsters, by monsters! Our insect saviours, led by the Great One, have defended us, provided for us and granted us sanctuary in these times of fear and death.�

As an expert level Preacher, Beyn was able to read the mood of the crowd, sense the ebb and flow of emotion as his words were absorbed. These people were grateful. These people were awed. More importantly, these people believed.

There was a veneration in their eyes when he spoke of the Great One. They�d seen it for themselves. The creature had come right to the village, standing so unnaturally still, and communed with one of them.

Beyn wondered if the Great One had any idea how strange such an action was to the people here. To see a feared Dungeon monster in the flesh, so close. For it not to harm them, but to speak to them? Provide them with food? With wood?

Unheard of.

It was unprecedented, it was unnatural. To Beyn, it was a sign of the Divine.

�A miracle has occurred here!� he roared. �The Great One is a miracle sent to grant us succour in our time of most dire need! The monsters rise, friends! They rise but they shall be defeated! Our guardians shall overcome them. They shall roll back the tides of darkness that sweep over the lands and we shall be saved!�

People cheered at his words, raising their hands toward the ant hill and bowing as Beyn built to a thunderous crescendo.

�Be glad, friends! Make a nest of gratitude in your heart and let the workers of your soul build a tunnel to praise! The Great One has shown care for you. Do not allow despair to overwhelm you. Ensure the directions of our saviour are met. Be vigilant and educate any newcomers as to the ways of the colony. We must seek to emulate our saviours in our unity of purpose! Only then will we be worthy of the blessings rained upon us. That is our Path!�

The people cheered, clasped their hands and bowed toward Beyn and to the ant hill. Some were overcome with emotion, unsurprising considering what they�d been through, and fell to their knees.

Beyn ceased his preaching and began to move amongst the people as they turned and resumed their tasks.

�Do you really need to preach so often, Beyn?� a weary voice asked from behind him. Enid.

The priest faced the de facto leader of the community. The elder of the village was looking careworn, her expression tired. However, in her eyes a small light dimly burned.

She worked tirelessly for these people, caring for them, struggling to meet their material needs, even as Beyn worked to provide nourishment to their souls.

�I only seek to instil a spirit of gratitude and cooperation in the people, Enid. You know that.�

She sighed. �Yes, I know that. I just wish you didn�t block the traffic when you did it.�

Enid eyed him a little warily. �We�ve had some new arrivals today, Beyn. I was hoping you could talk to them about the rules here. Make sure they don�t cross any boundaries. This group seems a little� different.�

Beyn�s face lit up with enthusiasm. �I�d love to!�

�Don�t preach at them, Beyn. Just talk to them.�

�Aww��

Beyn found the new arrivals huddled under a tree near the edge of the village. Refugees, fleeing the continuing destruction of the kingdom to the north, arrived nearly every day. Sometimes in small groups of three or four, other times a collection of families, farmers usually, fleeing their holdings. Twice they received a more significant number, over fifty in each, moving together for safety.

There were almost two thousand people here now. Enid was run off her feet trying to keep everyone housed, clothed and fed, but she did good work. Her high Level in the merchant class made it so organising provisions and acquiring goods happened as she breathed.

Beyn smiled thinking of it. It felt as if everyone was falling into place as they were needed, at just the time their absence was most felt. Builders and carpenters arrived two days ago and employed their skills and Levels in the construction of more permanent housing. When they ran out of materials, the very next day a blacksmith arrived, his equipment stacked on a cart pulled by an exhausted nag and watched by his young apprentice.

The priest had gathered the people and given praise for an hour, shouting and raising such a racket that the blacksmith might have turned his cart around and taken off if Enid hadn�t appeared and clapped a hand over Beyn�s mouth.

He shook his head at the memory as he approached the dusty group of travellers. He got carried away sometimes, he knew it. The passion, the faith that blazed inside of him was so powerful he struggled to contain it. The Great One, a divine miracle, had appeared to lead the people in their time of trial.

How was he supposed to NOT talk about it!

Even now, the blacksmith was running out of materials he could melt down and turn into nails. Many a wagon axle had been sacrificed to erect housing. No sooner did the need arrive than members of the community stepped forward and began prospecting in the nearby woods. Beyn had every faith they would find ore nearby. He felt it in his bones. Provision would come.

�Welcome, travellers, to our humble sanctuary,� he greeted them warmly. �Please be at ease, you are safe here and among friends.�

Before him sat five travel-worn individuals. Enid told him there was something odd about this group, and on first inspection, Beyn had to agree.

It wasn�t the way they half sat, half squatted in the shade of the tree, resting, yet alert. It also wasn�t that they wore leather armour and had blades on their hips. It was their eyes, hard, cold, and perhaps a little angry. They were mad about something.

Beyn wasn�t fazed though. It would take a lot more than a hard stare to wipe the calm smile off his face.

After a moment, four of the strangers turned to eye one of their number. The thickset woman nodded shortly and stood. Beyn turned his peaceful expression to this person, apparently the leader of this group, and took in her features.

She looked strong. Not only that, but powerful. Her shoulders were broad, her arms thick and her jaw could possibly cut bread. A strong, calloused hand rose and rested on the hilt of her blade as she extended the other toward the priest in greeting.

�I am Morrelia. My group has been fighting monsters in this area for several months. We saw smoke from a few kilometres west of here and came to investigate.� She gestured to the bustling people in the village with one hand. �I didn�t expect to see� this? What has happened to the north?�

The smile finally slipped a little on Beyn�s face. They hadn�t heard of the trouble, of the kingdom in ashes, trampled into the dirt under the feet of Dungeon monsters.

Taking a deep breath, he told them. Their faces went pale and their eyes wide with shock as he described to them the horror that had occurred.

�We are all refugees here, Ms Morrelia. I led the people of my village here and in the weeks that have followed more have arrived with the same tale. It is a difficult time.�

Morrelia scrubbed one hand across her forehead, still struggling to process his words.

�Monsters on the surface? Are they attacking out of the Dungeon? It makes no sense! My father� What of the Legion? They surely wouldn�t allow such a thing to take place! What has happened to them?�

Beyn could only shake his head. �I have no idea, Ms Morrelia. I am only a humble preacher who has followed in the steps of our saviours, led by the Great One. Here we have found a place of security, for the time being.�

Confused, the young lady�who Beyn had realised is quite young�turned back to her people and they shrugged.

�Saviour? Great One? Is there some leader here? A Lord or Lady with a strong class?� she asks, turning back to the priest.

His smile returned at full beam, blasting the guests directly in their eye-holes. There was nothing he would like to talk about more.

�Yes! The Great One and our saviours! From the Dungeon itself, they rose amongst us and did not do us harm! Instead, they protected us, saved the city of Liria before its subsequent fall and then led us here to safety. We would be dead without them, and so we give thanks!� he shouted fervently.

�Give thanks!� Nearby villagers echoed his roar and raised their hands toward the ant hill in the distance.

Wide-eyed, Morrelia looked from the suddenly animated priest to the villagers and back.

What the heck was happening here?

�Just who is the great one? And your saviours? Some delving team?�

�No!� Beyn yelled, full of the wonder of this miracle. He leaned close toward his audience, his face only inches away from hers, his eyes afire with faith.

�They are monsters!�

A leather gloved fist crunched his nose before he said another word.

The following melee was short and thankfully deathless. When the people saw their beloved priest go down bleeding the refugees were incensed. Full of wrath they descended upon the five strangers, punching and kicking in a frenzy. The new arrivals were no slouches, their skills put on full display as they fended off the angry mob with fists and movement skills, until Enid arrived on the scene and shouted for everyone to calm down.

�How can you be sure you are safe from them?� Morrelia demanded, not for the first time.

Enid sighed once again. These people were exhausting, and she had a list of jobs as long as her arm that needed to get done. Instead, she was here trying to talk to one of the most stubborn people she�d ever met.

She raised her hands from the crude wooden table in front of her to rub her temples and try to soothe her building headache. They were seated inside one of the few completed buildings, used by Enid and her helpers.

�We are safe here. The ants have protected us numerous times. I�m surprised you didn�t run into them if you were out there.� Enid gestured in the general direction of the woods. �They�ve been in and out of there killing the surface monsters for weeks.�

The young woman before her shifted uncomfortably.

�We did notice the pressure from the surface monsters had decreased lately. We thought we might have finally been having an impact on their numbers.�

�You�ve been trying to reduce the monster population here? Just the five of you?� Enid asked incredulously.

Morrelia turned her head to one side. �Fighting monsters is kind of my family business, and I�m damned good at it.� She brought her forceful stare back toward Enid. �And I don�t trust them. Dungeon monsters are killers, always have been. You want me to believe a colony of monstrous ants is peaceful? It�s insane!�

Enid readily nodded. �Yet it�s true. Their nest is right over there. You can see it from the edge of the village boundary. We are unharmed. Not only that, the monsters have provided wood and materials to the village to help us establish housing. I witnessed one of the ants fight to repel invaders from Andron. I have spoken with their leader, using Mind Magic. They mean us no harm.�

If Morrelia was shocked before, she was gobsmacked now.

�You�ve spoken� with a MONSTER! You could have been bewitched! If it can use Mind Magic it could have twisted your thoughts!� she exclaimed.

�I am extremely confident that is not the case,� Enid firmly denied.

The younger woman stared, unable to believe what she was hearing.

�They�re monsters,� she said, �they kill people. They always kill people. How can you trust them?�

Enid could only shake her head. �They have proven to be trustworthy, so we trust them,� she said definitively. �While you are here, you must respect the rules. If you cross the boundary and are attacked by the ants, you will defend yourselves, and the villagers will not take kindly to any casualties amongst their protectors. If you cannot accept this, then I suggest you leave.�

�What about this leader ant? Can I speak to it?� Morrelia asked.

�It�s gone into the Dungeon for a while,� Enid replied warily. �I�m not exactly sure when it will be back. It isn�t particularly talkative, but you could try for an audience.�

The warrior rested one hand on the pommel of her sword.

�I think I shall.�

After the discovery of the wondrous Dungeon aphids, we spent two more days pushing into the Expanse. Monsters became more and more common the deeper we went. Hippo-turtles, double-crocs, bewitching flowers, a tree that tried to eat Tiny and got punched to pieces, all sorts of stuff.

I didn�t care about any of it.

APHIDS.

They represent something incredible to me in this world of Dungeons and monsters. A way to get Biomass without fighting. The possibilities boggle my mind. You could have newborn ants fed from the aphids until they have achieved a decent level of strength. They�d be under no risk whatsoever as they collected food, from trees and leaves of all places!

I�m hungry for the details. To what level can these creatures be pushed? Can the stuff they excrete be improved in some way? Is it an organ they have? Can they mutate it? Can we breed them? They�re almost like fuzzy little dogs. Would the ants be happy to care for and defend them?

I need to know so badly! I can�t, however. Until the Expanse has been purged of our foes and made safe for ant-kind, I can�t afford to be sidetracked by anything.

So, we keep fighting.

The constant fighting and eating has been good for my little group. Crinis in particular continues to feast and take in more Biomass which I demand she spend during our rare breaks. As a result, she�s been able to gain several more mutation advancements, including her Durable Shadow Flesh +5 and Disintegrating Void Maw. The first upgrade made her rubbery Shadow Flesh tougher and harder to damage. The second caused her mouth to achieve a disintegration property. From what I understand, anything she can get her impressive maw around will slowly start to crumble out of existence.

She was apparently frustrated that her tentacles weren�t up to the task of tearing the Water Pig down and wanted another avenue of attack against monsters with tough defence.

With that, she�s achieved +5 in all the body parts she is currently able to spend Biomass on. Having already evolved once, her limit is presently +10, so she�s pushing to upgrade her tentacles, getting them to +9 so far.

Almost all of her skills have advanced also. The murder ball of infinite darkness is certainly starting to come into her own! At Level 16, it won�t be long until she�s ready for her next evolution.

Tiny has continued to feast, as usual. He managed to get his Iron Bones to +10 and took the Unbreakable mutation, making his reinforced skeleton even stronger. I suspect this is only so he can try and attach on even more explosive muscles, making his punches stronger.

Most of his punching skills have improved also. Not enough to go up a rank, but I can tell they�re getting sharper just by watching.

Vibrant has also been improving. Her Robust Inner Carapace Plating has improved her defence, and her +5 Enhanced Speed Aura Gland is giving all of us a significant speed boost. Nothing crazy, though certainly enough to make a difference.

My own improvement has been modest by comparison. I�m still biding my time and testing out my bag of tricks. I want to have plenty in the tank by the time we get to the big bad hiding in the middle of this swamp.

For now, I�m just storing up my Biomass and continuing to hone my magic attacks.

We�re perched up a tree at the moment. Not one of the nearly impossible to climb large ones, but rather a more regular specimen less resistant to climbing and not quite as hungry for giant ape flesh.

We gathered up here to rest a little after another tough fight. A hippo-turtle decided to run into the middle of a battle against a posse of crocs. It got messy real fast. Fortunately we were able to lock down the hippo long enough to finish off the crocs before turning onto the hippo and devouring it.

A little battered and with bulging stomachs, I decided we should retreat to heal up and digest before moving on.

So here we�ve been for the last few hours, watching the comings and goings of the nearby monsters. It�s curious that after we clear out the crocs, the local marsh monsters begin to come out of their shells. Their activity increases and what I would consider �normal� monster behaviour begins to re-emerge. It only gives more weight to my theory that the Expanse, and indeed all local monster activity, is being suppressed somehow by the crocs as part of their occupation.

If I can learn how they do it, I�d be most interested in exploring the applications of such methods�

Gwehehehehe.

First, there�s more crocs for eating�I mean fighting� Also eating.

If Garralosh truly wanted to conquer the upper levels of the Dungeon, they shouldn�t have made their offspring so tasty! It�s a flaw in design and not one I�ll replicate. I�ve never eaten an ant, but I feel fairly confident we�d taste like garbage.

Not that I think a monster would care about how I tasted considering how Biomass-rich my body would be.

Gah! Stop thinking about yourself getting eaten, Anthony! Positive thoughts.

Isn�t it a positive thought though? I wouldn�t want the monster that eats me to have a negative experience� or would I?

Bah! I hope they choke!

[�Are we all ready to go?�] I ask my gang, not willing to dwell on these pointless thoughts.

[FIGHT!] Tiny growls.

�Ready-ready!� Vibrant beams.

[I am prepared for battle, Master,] Crinis replies, dignified.

All right then.

[�Let�s move out.�]

We cautiously descend the tree and begin to make our way even deeper into the Expanse. Here in the middle, we are completely surrounded by the dense vegetation. I can�t even see the walls from where we are. This means vigilance needs to be high.

Tiny is under the strictest of instructions not to go running off like a moron. We definitely can�t risk it now!

What the heck is this stuff?

After venturing forth, and emerging victorious from a skirmish, we came across something curious so I halted the group for a careful inspection.

We�re looking at one of the mangrove-style trees that emerge straight out of the muddy waters. Its tangled knot of roots sinks beneath the water line like so many straws. Supported atop this mess of roots, the tree rises, twisted and tall, opening into a grand canopy. It isn�t the top of the tree that�s garnered our attention, it�s the bottom. Specifically, the roots.

They�re glowing. Not all the roots, mind you, just some of them. Half perhaps. But there is a glow happening. The roots in question are shimmering with a soft browny, bluey sort of light, the kind of colour that soothes and mollifies the tired mind.

Curiously I venture close enough to give them a traditional ant investigation, which consists of thwappity thwapping the offending wood with my antennae until I get a good sniff. To my more ordinary senses, they seem just like glowing wood.

Flipping on my Mana Sense skill, I get a very different picture. When I reach out with my magically attuned mind, I can detect water Mana, blue and clear, infused within the wood alongside another Mana type, slow-moving and earthy in a way I can only imagine is earth Mana.

This wood is infused with not one, but two types of Mana? Is it due to sitting in the muddy waters of the Expanse, a place saturated with Mana at the best of times and at present completely overflowing with the stuff?

Perhaps this is an example of the kind of rare materials Enid mentioned? I wonder if the humans can make something out of this stuff. I�ll have to take a sample up with us when we return, not to mention keep an eye out for any more sources.

Before leaving, I give the wood one last thwappity with my antennae, the nimble sense organs flipping about rapidly as if they had a mind of their own before I feel satisfied.

[�Looks like some sort of Mana infused wood,�] I report back to my group when I join them a few metres away from the tree.

�Oooooh,� Vibrant coos. �Sooooo, what does it do?�

�I�m completely certain,� I reply firmly, �that I have no clue. We�ll have to wait until we get to the surface and ask if the humans know anything about it.�

�Aww. I was hoping we could do something cool with it.�

Personally, I was hoping the same. To preserve my dignity as the senior ant, I refuse to let my disappointment show.

�Nothing to get too fussed over, Vibrant,� I tell the soldier. �Let�s go find some monsters to crush.�

�Kay!� she cheers, punching the air with one foreleg.

I wait a moment as Crinis lifts herself up on a few tentacles and returns to her customary place on my back. Since she has a walking skill it wouldn�t hurt to have her wander about on her own. There isn�t strictly any reason why she has to be on my back. Perhaps I�ve gotten so used to having little creatures riding around on me, I�ve grown too comfortable with it. Since she can fold up into a little ink-black tennis ball, it doesn�t do any harm to have her there.

[See anything, Tiny?] I ask the ape as he pushes through the growth in front of me.

[Crocs. Big,] he grunts, pointing.

Hmm? I skitter forward, mandibles clacking with curiosity. What did he see?

When I make my way around my sizeable ape friend, I follow his arm with my eyes. It takes a moment before I spot exactly what he�s pointing at, but once I do�

Holy mackerel! BIG!

In the distance, perhaps only one hundred metres from us, is a gigantic croc. I wasn�t able to see it at first since it was resting in the water, most of its body submerged. When the water rippled, I was able to pinpoint the long snout resting just above the waterline and then traced it back to the tail resting on the shore fifteen metres away.

I mean, really?

I can tell from here this thing is a freakin� beast. Perhaps this is our first sighting of the legendary, so far mythical, tier four offspring of Garralosh? I study the floating beast. Yes, I�m confident this is just too large to be a double-croc. We have a new species here.

[Don�t even think about it.]

I hear a shuffle next to me.

[Wha?]

[Don�t play dumb, Tiny. You plant your big ape butt right here in the dirt until I say you can fight. Got it?]

[Grrrr�]

[I�m not kidding here, buddy. Sit down and chill for a second. We don�t know many crocs there are out there.]

Without turning my head, I can see him shift and look directly at me as if I were crazy.

[Is that meant to be the fun part?] I ask.

He nods vigorously.

Save me from this muscle head!

With one antenna, I firmly point to the ground next to me. [SIT.]

[Hmph�] he sulks and sits with a THUMP.

And of course the croc in the distance twitches in response to the sound before turning to face our direction.

[Dammit, Tiny� was that on purpose?]

The massive ape looks innocently at me. Wide-eyed as a newly born baby giant ape.

If he didn�t have the Cunning of brick forged out of smaller bricks that were themselves made of the distilled energy of pure stupid, I�d believe he might be capable of such an act of duplicity. I think he just got lucky.

[�Ok, gang. We have attracted the attention of a large ass croc, possibly a new variety. It looks strong, and we don�t know how many others are about, so be careful!�]

[Roger-roger!] Vibrant solutes me with one antenna before scuttling off a little ways to look for a flanking opportunity.

[Master, I will defend you with my life!] Crinis vows solemnly.

[It uh, shouldn�t come to that, Crinis.]

[Nevertheless!]

[Ok, thanks�]

That headache is coming back�

Shaking my head to dispel my extraneous thoughts, I focus on what is truly worrying me. The oppressive aura that�s weighed on our minds and hearts the entire time we�ve been in this Expanse, is it coming from this beast?

To tell the truth, I�m worried. Obviously, I�d be worried! That stupid aura is pressing on us like a weight strapped to our backs. It isn�t exactly comfortable! The vague oppressive fear permeating the entire area has only grown stronger the farther we have progressed.

No. It isn�t coming from this monster. I can tell the source is deeper in, the pressure is rolling in invisible waves from quite a distance yet.

So even this creature, a croca-beast that has undergone three evolutions, is not enough to cause that terror. Just what is waiting for us deeper in the Expanse?

We�ve killed a lot of croca-beasts already. I don�t know exactly how many children Garralosh has, but we are seriously depleting the tables at the family reunion at the rate we�re going.

I�ve now eaten so many of the basic crocas, that we managed to unlock the intermediate profile for them. It struck me again the ridiculous number of specimens you need to consume to get even this far in terms of profiles. Just how many do you need to eat for the complete profile? A thousand!

What exactly does the complete profile communicate anyway? It must be something damn good to have such high requirements. Or, more likely, it doesn�t and it�s just the Dungeon messing with my head, as usual.

At any rate, the profile provided the following information:

Garralosh Infant:

Might: 31

Toughness: 17

Cunning: 9

Will: 6

These numbers are roughly in line with what I expected. From my experience with designing the new generation of workers, Workers MK2, if you will, I know it�s so much easier to bulk up on physical stats than mental ones for a new monster. Even so, to produce monsters of this size, the cost compared to even my enhanced workers would be out of control. If I were to compare the output of the queen producing workers versus Garralosh infants, the ants would outnumber the crocs more than five to one.

Since my work was so damned streamlined!

The more I know, the more I think Garralosh just didn�t see the value in efficiency. Although now that I think about it, these creatures were designed to be solo hunters, and they certainly manage to terrorise the upper levels just fine, being pretty much the baddest thing on the block. Perhaps Garralosh was correct in making sure their offspring could punch hard from the get-go.

Whereas I want my fellow workers to survive through intelligence and cooperation, Garralosh wanted to create solo killing machines that would battle their own way up the evolutionary ladder. Not a bad approach, I suppose. Simply inferior to mine.

At this moment, the next rung in that croc ladder is lazily swimming closer, double tails trailing behind it. This thing is absolutely massive and I don�t intend to stuff about in this fight.

Meditation.

For the first time in the Expanse, I activate my recently acquired Meditation skill. Like a shutter sliding down over an open window, my minds are suddenly cut off from distraction, from the outside world.

The silence is deafening. Where only a moment ago my keen senses were flooding my mind with information, where my inner mind was filling itself with plans, thoughts, worries and distractions, there is now quiet.

To be honest, I hadn�t expected much from this skill when I first used it. A rank one skill like Meditation, how effective can it be? At best I�d expected a little more clarity of thought, a little stillness.

Instead, it was like being ejected into space. My minds are sealed into a vacuum, separate from the world and unassailable as the mundane stimulus of the physical drifts past like debris after a storm.

The problem I found was that I became so detached from my own body, that a monster started chewing my antennae off and I was barely cognisant of it. My minds dismissed the pain to focus their energies inward.

If Vibrant hadn�t tackled the shadow beast off me, I might have kept on casting spells while it tore my head from my body!

That in mind, I�m a little nervous as I activate the skill, but as soon as I do, those concerns fall away into nothing.

I�m as placid as a lake that has no giant crocodiles swimming in it.

Immediately my minds turn to crafting magic and it�s so damn easy. With the unnatural focus and concentration the skill brings, the weft and weave of the magic is so smooth, the streams of energy seem to dance under the ebb of my thoughts.

Two streams of gravitational energy flow out under the direction of my sub-brains, swirling around each other as they�re drawn down in concentric circles that grow tighter and tighter until a ball of condensed Gravitational Mana forms.

To this task my main mind is dedicated. The ball of extraordinary energy looms so clearly in my mind, it�s incredibly simple to reach out with my thoughts and press, squeezing until the ball begins to take on a different feeling.

�Vibrant, give our new friend a few blasts of acid. If he�s going to take his time approaching, then let�s get a few shots in.�

�Okay!�

The ant turns to present her commercial district to the foe and fires a few shots of acid. The enormous croca hasn�t even really been moving except for the languid shift of its tails as it propels itself through the water. In the stillness of my mind, I can make out the beady red eyes of the monster glittering confidently as it continues its gradual approach.

As Vibrant�s acid slashes through the air, the beast finally reacts, opening its mouth wide and� yawning?

The acid splashes across the water, much of it wasted on the marsh, but certainly some of it contacts the monster�s head. Sure enough, a slow sizzling arises and steam rises from bubbling flesh on the creature�s snout.

Within, I continue to press the Mana that floods out of my Gravitational Mana Gland into an even denser ball. There is something off about this croc�

It takes a moment for me to recognise it, but with my thoughts so still, my observation is sharper than normal.

[Stand up, Tiny. Time to fight.]

Where only moments ago the acid had been chewing into the monster�s face, the flesh is reknitting itself at a rapid pace. Is this croc undying!

Our new foe continues to take its time approaching our position. Its skin has rapidly closed over and healed the damage Vibrant was able to do with her Enhanced Acid, indicating some powerful regenerative effect. Is it tied to the skin? Surely not even a croca-beast would be stupid enough to waste a Regeneration Gland on such a small injury?

For my part, I continue to use this period of excessive confidence from our foe to create my most potent weapon, the Gravity Bomb! Within my mind, the Mana pulses with excessive energy as two separate streams of gravitational energy converge into a dense, darkening sphere of purple energy. As the transition takes place, the ball starts to shrink even further, packing the Mana ever more densely, compressing it with the force of my Will.

If this moron wants to take us lightly, I�ll give it a welcome it won�t forget�or survive!

Crinis extends her tentacles and rises from her resting place on my carapace. I understand she wants to create room and have tentacles at the ready in case this monster decides to rush and attack at the last second.

Tiny is still sitting on his backside, staring at the croc as if it were a sparkling birthday cake with his name on it. He isn�t able to stand until I rescind my earlier order, which I won�t do since he�d race into the water and start punching the beast the second I did. I wouldn�t usually be so against the idea, but since this creature is a newer variety than those we came across before, remaining cautious is key.

Also, I plan on vaporising the croc with a miniature black hole, and I wouldn�t want my beloved pet to be caught in the spell.

�Stay on the flanks for us, Vibrant, and don�t get caught. If any other monsters try to interfere, you have my permission to fight them.�

�Really? Yippee!� her voice rings out from my right.

Being able to converse without making a sound is such a fantastic aspect of being an ant. Pheromone Language is severely underrated. I wonder if humans could have adapted to this over time, or perhaps genetically modified themselves?

When I get right down to it, what part of an ant isn�t superior to being a human? Except for the brain, I suppose, which I got to keep anyway. Best of both worlds!

The croca draws eminently close. Close enough it�s reached the island of dirt we�re standing on and now has to crawl out of the water. Its enormous jaws seem to grin evilly as those two pairs of red eyes glitter in their sockets.

�HSSSSSSSSSS.�

The creature utters a guttural hissing sound that grates on our ears as it pushes itself off the ground with powerful front arms, noticeably longer than those of a double-croc. Up, up and up it goes until it towers high, even more significant than Tiny! Its hulking body is enormous, heavy and rippling with muscle!

Part of me is relieved to see it. To achieve that kind of size, it must have dumped almost all of its evolutionary energy into Might and taken size over quality. Tiny has a more balanced approach. Not only is he large, but his muscle density is also fairly decent, creating a lighter, faster moving, yet powerful form.

I�m sure this croc is quick, but I highly doubt it has achieved back-to-back maxed out special evolutions. Its stats should be manageable for us.

Sharp claws glitter and pointed white teeth gleam as the monster almost seems to invite us to admire its impressive and intimidating physique!

Is this the croc version of Tiny or something? How stupid is this variant?

Tiny himself is still sitting, staring at the croc with stars in his eyes. Don�t be happy, dammit! Hold on, what is that? Are you flexing?

He is! Even while sitting, the giant ape is positioning his arms just so. His arms and shoulders are tensed, causing his muscles to bulge beneath his fur. He�s taking up the challenge of the croc! He refuses to lose in terms of Might!

�Idiots!

I critically eye the croc as I put the finishing touches on my spell. Being an unknown variant, I haven�t gone light on this one, and my main mind is beginning to buckle under the strain of keeping this ferocious amount of energy contained. The spell itself pushes back against my control, at all times wanting to be released. Should I slip up, I�ve no doubt the spell would explode out of control, probably sucking my entire body inside it and crushing it into an acorn!

[Advanced Forceful Mana (II) has reached Level 7.]

That helps a little.

In terms of differences from the double-croc, whom I believe this particular specimen evolved from, this version is both larger and more defensive. The stomach is no longer coated with a lighter colour of skin. Thick plated scales, almost like armour, cover the once vulnerable area. The rest of its scales are also darker and denser. Even its face appears to be more thickset and broad.

Some of this could be attributed to mutation advancements, but I don�t think so. I think this beast was designed to be a brute force tank, able to take and dish out a lot of punishment as it rapidly heals itself in the fight.

Suddenly, the croc opens its mouth and red flames begin to gutter in the back of its dark throat.

Oh no!

Gravity Bomb!

I panic and unleash the Gravity Bomb the moment the croc goes on the offensive. The spell howls through the air as if tearing a wound in space itself. Not even twenty metres away, the towering croc unleashes a torrent of flame into the spell, confident it can burn anything a little ant like me can produce.

Big mistake.

FWOM!

[Tiny, LEG IT!]

The moment the spell contacts its target, it expands into a sphere that begins to drag and pull everything around it into itself. A shrieking, tearing void that wants to consume all!

Also, are we� a little too close?

Advanced Dash!

GOOOOOOOO!

The pull of my own spell starts to take hold of me as my thin little legs move so quick they become a blur in my eyes.

GO. GO. GO. GO. GO!

Air, leaves, branches and water. All sorts of stuff flies past my face as I desperately try to run away from the immense gravitational pull of my bomb.

Stupid, stupid! Why the heck would you launch that spell so close to yourself?

As I frantically scramble to avoid elaborately killing myself, I idly wonder what happened to that tough crocodile we left behind.

[You have defeated Level 17 Immortalis Garralosh.]

[You have gained XP.]

Immortal, eh? Turns out, not so much.

When the spell finally runs its course, and the four of us have managed to avoid dying, we return to find the dense ball of compressed stuff sitting innocently in a circular depression in the ground.

The only problem with this spell, is that it doesn�t allow me to enjoy the Biomass afterward. Dammit! Oh sure, I could try eating this ball. It has the croc in it, after all. Also, a good chunk of dirt, muddy water, leaves, sticks and goodness knows what else that got pulled in there.

Even Tiny is eyeing the ball a little sceptically.

[�Uh� anyone want to try eating that?�]

�Nope!�

[Bad.]

[I�m afraid I must decline, Master.]

That�s what I thought�

Since we unexpectedly crushed the Immortalis Garralosh�Immortal Garralosh? Even I can work that one out�progress has been slow.

The density of monsters has been increasing. Not only are the croca-beasts in their various forms are more common, but also the local wildlife. One of those stupid hippo-turtles, the Water Pigs, managed to sneak up on us and almost took Tiny�s arm off. He managed to dodge away in time, and I tied the flabby beast down with Gravity Bolts until we were able to kill it. Their strength is in their fat, but also their weakness.

Hehe.

Other things have also been growing in strength, namely the oppressive aura filling the Expanse. It�s so thick now it hangs over us like a fog. Even with a Will as high as mine, it intrudes on my thoughts and fills me with a compulsion.

This close, I can sense more clearly what the aura is trying to convey�a combination of fear and demand for obedience. I�m not sure if a gland creates this aura or if it�s some side effect of a sufficiently powerful core, but this oppression is rolling out in waves and suffocating the Will from the newborn monsters, while also suppressing the instincts of the creatures within the Expanse.

Just what kind of creature can cause such an effect? I�m getting a touch nervous since I think we�re getting reasonably close to finding out.

[�Everyone holding up ok? I know it isn�t easy to operate under the effect of this pressure.�]

[I am� all right, Master. I will not fail you!]

On the one antenna, I�m touched by her loyal spirit, on the other, I�m concerned about her lack of self-preservation instinct. Crinis is loyal in an almost fanatical way that Tiny never was. I wonder why?

[I�m not worried about you failing at all, Crinis, I want to make sure you�re fine. If you can�t fight properly, then you won�t be safe, and we will need to pull back. It�s crucial that you be honest here.]

[I am touched by your concern, Master. I believe I will be alright. If I feel I am becoming a liability, I will tell you.]

[Good girl, Crinis.] I pat her by bending one antenna back and tapping her on the head a few times. Like a cat, she flops down and turns from a tennis ball into a tennis blob. I need to stop indulging her.

[How about you, Tiny? Feeling alright, buddy?] I ask my faithful bat-faced gorilla.

[Hmm,] he rumbles.

The poor guy�s face is tight with strain. His mental stats are a bit low, to say the least. The aura must be having the most potent effect on him out of all of us.

[Need fight,] he says finally.

I think I get what he�s trying to say. With the fear and command pressing into his mind, he wants to fight and have the adrenaline take over. Or perhaps he just feels the need to smash the face in of whatever is making him feel this way. Actually, I�ll bet on the second.

�How about you, Vibrant? You holding up?�

The soldier ant, no longer a small, cheerful hatchling, is more subdued than usual. Even her usually boundless energy and enthusiasm has been dampened by the atmosphere.

�I�m fine,� she responds, utterly devoid of her usual sparkle.

�It�s going to be alright, Vibrant, don�t worry.� I sidle up next to her and give her a friendly thwippity with my antennae, the ant high five.

�Once we find this nasty croc and smash him, the colony will be able to use all of the stuff down here, and we won�t have to worry about those waves of monsters killing our family. Don�t forget, we also get to eat him!�

�True!� Vibrant exclaims, a little energy coming back to her voice.

Encouraged, I keep going.

[�Just think about it,�] I say intently, slipping into mental speech as well. [�How strong must this monster be to create this sort of pressure? Think of the Biomass! It must be so dense that every mouthful will give a point. When you take into account how large the monster is, how much Biomass do you think is contained within�why is it raining?�]

So intent was I on imagining the glorious harvest of rich Biomass and watching the light begin to shine in Vibrant�s eyes, that I didn�t notice Tiny walking up behind me and listening in. Before I�d even finished speaking, he was drooling a river all over my precious Diamond Carapace!

[Dammit, Tiny! Stop dribbling me on me. Yuck!]

[Disgusting! Clean the Master immediately to make up for your lack of manners!] Crinis demands, enraged.

[Uh, I don�t think that�s necessary,] I say quickly, but it�s too late.

Looking shame-faced after being admonished by his fellow pet, Tiny moves swiftly to make amends. He reaches with two enormous hands, grabs me around the middle, and flings me into the nearby marsh water.

SPLASH!

He put his arm into it as well! I feel Crinis latch hold of me desperately as we fly through the air and crash into the water.

Irritated, I stomp out of the water with a soggy Crinis on my back to find Tiny standing on the shore looking extremely pleased with himself, and Vibrant on her back cackling with her legs wiggling in the air.

�Haaa-hahahahahaha!� she laughs.

Tiny smiles proudly.

[�Haaaa��] I sigh.

Feeling a little mollified to see them so happy, I walk onto the shore and shake myself down. Having a carapace means I don�t take on water at least, but judging from the weight on my back, it isn�t quite the same for Shadow Flesh. Luckily, the water wasn�t too deep. I might have drowned.

In my rear vision, I can see Crinis extend a few tentacles and wrap them around herself and squeeze, wringing herself out like a sponge. A torrent of water pours out of her and runs down my back to puddle at my feet. Nice.

[Please don�t throw me into the water next time, Tiny.]

He looks a little confused but nods readily to my request. What am I going to do with this guy? Seriously. At least this moment has lightened the mood a little.

�Haaa-hahahahaha-haaaaa!�

�Stop laughing! It isn�t that funny!�

�RRRRRRRSSSS.�

A deep, guttural growl echoes around us so loud, it shakes the leaves in the trees and rattles my bones. What the hell was that!

The pressure that had fallen to the back of my mind returns with full force, nearly bowling me over. It�s close!

My brains kick into overdrive, every sense coming alive. Not going to kick the bucket now. Bring it, Croc!

With dirty swamp water dripping off my carapace, the formless pressure builds ever higher. We frantically cast our heads about trying to identify the source. It has to be close.

[�Eyes open, everyone! Something nasty is coming!�]

With my compound eyes, I keep watch in every direction at once, keeping my antennae twitching, trying to focus on what�s happening both now and a moment into the future. Without hesitation, I begin to prepare my most potent attack, the Gravity Bomb.

It was able to one-shot the immortal croc, hopefully it can do the same to whatever the heck this is. My sub-brains begin to feed out two separate streams of Gravitational Mana that I seize with my thoughts and press down into a compressed ball that continues to grow and darken as more Mana is added.

This is a risk. My attention is being diverted by the need to focus my main mind on the compression process, but I�m willing to take the chance. If I can blast this thing right in its face the moment I see it, then that will be the best outcome.

The marsh has become unusually still. The various creaks and growls that were always in our ears just moments ago have quieted. Then I hear it, in the distance. A pressing sound as if something were slowly squashing the damp earth of the marsh Expanse down. Press, press, press. Each sound coming at regular intervals.

Footsteps!

Hooooooo boy. I�m getting nervous.

I activate my Mediation skill and my minds sink beneath the icy waters of emotionlessness. My fear and anxiety falls away and no longer perturbs my thoughts, allowing my spell to continue to take shape at record speed. A handy thing too, �cause I think I�m gonna need it!

The rest of the crew spreads out, doing their best to resist the mounting dread caused by the oppressive aura as the creature draws near. Tiny has already begun sparking with electricity, his body writhing with snakelike ribbons of lightning as he snarls, revealing his fangs.

[Crinis, hop off me and look for a flank. I don�t want you directly in the firing line for this one,] I tell my orb-like pet.

For once, she doesn�t try to argue about putting myself in danger, perhaps she senses the seriousness of our predicament, and immediately extends a few tentacles to walk a little ways off. Keeping herself low to the ground and out of sight, she places herself close to the waterline. She�ll have to rely on my directions to get into the battle, but I hope she can do some damage without being injured, since it�s so hard for her to get back out of the fight.

Another sound accompanies those slow footsteps. The rustling of leaves and the creaking of wood as a towering figure pushes its way through. I can make out vague details through the shifting leaves. Bright green scales punctuated by flashes of red. A flash of a broad, rounded snout studded with jagged teeth. And large. Really large. Not only the height, but also in sheer bulk.

This croc is ripped.

Unhurried, the massive croca pushes its way free of the branches, reaching out with thick claws to shove everything out of the way as it moves. As more details of our foe come into sight, I divert part of my attention to snap on my Mana Sense.

The croc blazes with light, its powerful core radiating energy. This core is stronger than the queen�s and second fiddle only to Formo�s worm in my experience. In my mind, that confirms it. This has to be the monster responsible for the trouble in the Expanse. This monster is responsible for sending out the waves of creatures and getting my siblings killed on the surface.

The croc steps around a tree and into full view at last.

If this thing isn�t responsible for the trouble, then I sure as hell don�t want to meet whatever is.

It�s huge.

Three tails sweep the ground behind it. Bright green scales adorn its body, striped with a pattern of red markings. Two fully developed sets of arms extend from the shoulders and its head is horrific. It has two jaws, one on top of the other. What the point of that is, I don�t know, but there it is. The lower jaw hangs open, a grotesque red tongue hanging low, dripping saliva.

Gross, man! Show some class, would you?

Next to me, Tiny is starting to grunt and shift his weight, the electricity on his body crackling with increasing intensity. Settled within my calm, Meditating mind, I know he�s psyching himself up for a charge.

Also, thanks to my calm, Meditating mind, I believe such a course of action would be reasonably suicidal.

It isn�t that the croca is so much taller than Tiny, even though it is. It must be half again as tall as he is. It�s the sheer mass of the creature. Tiny is a fully stacked deck, don�t get me wrong. His enhanced musculature bulks him out to an impressive degree. This croc is just a whole different beast. It�s got to be half as wide as it is tall!

Deep within my minds, even as I continue to press down to create the densest Gravity Bomb I can, I roughly calculate the monster must weigh six to seven tons. I�m looking at a croc with slightly more mass than a full-size elephant.

Holy moly, that�s a big croca!

Eat Gravity, sucka!

Gravity Bomb!

Even within the depths of my Meditation skill, the sheer size of the monster has panicked me. Apparently, I need more Levels in the skill to truly tamp down my emotions. Once the beast reveals itself, I unleash the shackles on the miniature black hole contained within and open my mouth wide to unleash destruction on the world!

The dense rotating ball of pure, concentrated gravitational energy flies at the gigantic croca, the wind howling as it�s sucked into the spell creating a piercing shriek.

The croca�s eyes flash! Flame bursts from its lower mouth in an instant, engulfing my spell.

So fast!

The reaction speed on this croc is no joke! Part of me is looking down on the croca-beast, however. Just what does it think its flames are going to do to my Gravity Bomb? Get compressed, fool!

As my spell races closer, flames track it. After another second, I notice something. If I weren�t activating my Meditation skill, I wouldn�t have had the presence of mind to detect it. The fire is eating away at my spell! It has anti-magic flames!

Not good!

In an instant, my sub-brains kick into gear, and each starts constructing Gravity Bolts. The Gravity Bomb will still probably detonate, but I can�t be confident it�ll have the strength to kill the beast.

We need to prepare for a drawn-out fight.

[Tiny! Charge up your lightning and blast it from range! I want it to get both barrels but don�t shoot through the fire!]

Tiny has been busy working himself into a rage, but he isn�t so far gone that he doesn�t hear my orders. So long as he understands them, he has to obey them. Eyes blazing with fighting spirit, the ape crouches low before thrusting all his strength down through his legs.

POW!

His leap skill and mutated legs give him one hell of a leap. The ground THUDS as he pushes off and Tiny flies into the air, his entire body writhing with electricity. When he lands twenty feet away, the electricity is already snaking down his arms and pooling in his hands.

FWOM!

Much diminished, the Gravity Bomb reaches its target and detonates, instantly inflating to the dark sphere that attempts to devour all.

Please kill it!

The slowly rotating vortex of death engulfed the gigantic croca.

Die! Die you overgrown handbag!

Please?

The Gravity Bomb continues to suck in air, sticks and whatever else is unable to resist its immense pull. The power of this spell still shocks me to my core. When Mana reaches a critical density, scary things start to happen, and the Gravity Bomb is a pure example of that. However, I know this is only half the spell I�d hoped it to be. Whatever property this massive croc had imbued into its flame, it�d eaten away at the Mana packed in my spell, dramatically reducing its strength.

It�s too hard to get a decent visual on the enemy with the spell still in effect. My pets and I dig in our heels to resist the insidious drag of the bomb and prepare ourselves for the moment the spell drops.

The next five seconds feel like an eternity. My heart pounds in my chest as I await the results.

The spell flickers for a moment and fades. For a brief moment I see the beast, then the world is encased in fire.

HOT!

The clever son of a Garralosh! The damned croc sacrificed an arm to the spell! It must have sensed the density of the Mana and reached out to trigger the bomb before it could touch its torso.

The level of strength required to resist the pull at such a close range�is something I can�t think about right now. It�s too damn hot!

Flame erupts everywhere around me and I immediately fire off my three prepared Gravity Bolts and task my sub-brains with cranking out a water construct on the double and I leg it! The three spells are reduced by the flame as they pass through, but retain some of their power as they strike home against the crocs left leg.

This monster looks fairly damn strong, but I�ll take any advantage I can get at this point.

�Vibrant! Hit the thing but keep your distance!� I holler.

�Roger-Roger!� she cries and acid flies at the croc from behind its shoulder.

Yikes!

A torrent of flame continues to pour out of the beast�s mouth. It�s obviously a little annoyed by that friendly bomb I lobbed its way since the fire seems to follow me wherever I go.

Dash!

My legs blur as I activate my Dash skill and begin to sprint in a zig zag moving away from the beast.

[Tiny! It�s focused on me. Give it heaps!]

�ROOOOOW!� Tiny bellows and thrusts both meaty hands forward at once.

CRACK!

Two twisting snakes of lightning blast forth from the ape�s hands and stab straight into the croc�s side. The electricity ripples across the beast and the smell of cooked flesh fills the air.

�HURRR!� the croc bellows and turns its blazing eyes on this new target.

With a moment of reprieve, I begin to spin together a few more Gravity Bolts and assess the situation. To my horror, I can already see the arm that had been consumed by my pre-emptive strike is beginning to regrow. A bubbling lump of flesh has appeared where the arm connected to the shoulder, rapidly extending outward.

I curse within my mind and launch another two Gravity Bolts at the croc�s left leg before turning more attention toward the water transformation construct. It�s my only chance of being able to counteract the damn things flames!

Acid continues to fly out of the surrounding trees as Vibrant launches distanced strikes. The croc seems to content to simply shrug off those blows, even as the acid steams, eating away at the scales on its back. Perhaps its confident it can regenerate the damage along with its arm? That doesn�t bode well!

[What about me, Master? Should I strike?] Crinis calls desperately from her hiding place.

[Absolutely not! You hear me? Don�t come out until I give the word!]

I have to hold Crinis back until the critical moment when she can get close enough to apply her damage unscathed. The trick is getting the monster to that point!

[Tiny, JUMP!] I scream.

The croc has opened its upper set of jaws and a crackling blue flame has begun licking the space between the croc�s teeth when I shout my warning to Tiny.

Too late.

Caught up in his bloodlust, Tiny was too focused pouring every ounce of electrical energy he could into the croc. Controlling the lightning from that sort of range was taxing on Tiny in the first place, combined with his intense focus, it isn�t any surprise he wasn�t able to react in time.

The croc darts its head forward and a focused torrent of blue flame spears through the air. The heat is intense. Even though the flame isn�t directed at me, a rush of searing air rolls over me.

Tiny is almost quick enough. He cuts off the flow of lightning and leaps high, but one foot is caught in the narrow blast of flame and burned clean off.

�ARRRRRRRR!� the giant ape bellows as he awkwardly lands, falling to one side and propping himself up on his hands.

I can see an evil glint in the croc�s eyes at it looks down on the ape. It takes a lazy step and opens its upper jaw once more, preparing to incinerate the largest of its foes.

Wrong move.

Forceful Water Cannon!

[Meditation has reached Level 5.]

[At this Level, a skill advancement may be purchased.]

[Mediation (I) → Deep Mediation (II): Cost 1 SP. Allows the user to further separate their emotions from their thoughts and for a longer period of time. A slight boost to Mana sensitivity will take place whilst the skill is active.]

Take it!

Outside the bubble of my thoughts, my emotions are a roiling mess. Seeing Tiny injured has rocked me to my core. For the very first time, I wonder if we�ve gone it too deep. Have I been too confident? Too complacent?

I refuse to let my friends die!

As soon the croc opens its mouth, it cops a Water Cannon to the face. The dense beam of water slashes into the soft tissue of the creature�s palate before it snaps its jaws shut and turns to glare at me once more. That�s right, you overgrown gecko. Leave my ape alone and come get some!

I maintain the Forceful Water Cannon and shunt its control off to the sub-brains. The little minds are on overdrive right now as they feed, transform Mana, condense it and maintain the cannon. Only under the effect of the Mediation skill are they able to find this level of efficiency, but this is the limit. If I push them this hard for too long the darn things will cook themselves.

They�re already heating up. Within my body, the temperature is spiking high around the spot where three little furnaces are generating tremendous heat.

The area around us is a sea of flame now. The red flame from the lower mouth may be able to eat Mana, but it still seems fairly good at setting fire to regular things too! Trees and plants, only moments before saturated with the abundant water of the marsh, are now extra crispy and the trees are crackling as the flames consume them.

In only a few moments, the enormous croc has transformed this watery swamp into a raging inferno.

The blue flame is even more frightening. The devastation caused by it is less, since it was fired in such a narrow beam, but wherever it touched has simply been incinerated to nothing.

Well, let�s see what we can do to settle this fire at the least. I�d rather not have to fight surrounded by flame if I don�t have to.

I make sure to keep the Forceful Water Cannon playing over the croc�s face as it twists its head from left to right, trying to avoid the painful beam.

The creature seems quite capable of resisting the penetrating power of the spell unfortunately. The beam that is quite capable of ripping through Shadow Flesh like a laser is not able to do the same to those bright green scales. So long as I keep the torrent of water aimed at its face, it won�t be able to open its mouths to unleash those terrifying flame breaths.

What�s the play now, croc?

Rage burning in its eyes, the croc steps toward me.

Despite being weighed down by several Gravity Bolts, the croc is still able to move, though the left leg drags through the mud. I continue to blast the croc with my Water Cannon until the monster is forced to lift one hand to try and block the spray. I�m not doing any sort of serious damage. Its thick, water-resistant scales are doing a good job minimising the damage. So long as I keep threatening its face however, it can�t open its fat mouths and threaten us with that deadly flame.

The moment the croc tries to break the deadlock, I Dash to the side, forcing it to adjust its position to continue blocking my Water Cannon. I won�t give it a chance to shoot. Whilst I�m doing all this, I�m also condensing Mana for another spell, keeping my brains on the red line. I won�t be able to keep up this level of cognition forever!

I�m also trying to keep the damn monster away from Tiny. Down one foot, the big ape is seriously mad, and currently in the process of trying to prop himself up on one leg and balance on his knuckles. Judging by his twisted expression, he wants nothing more than to punch the crocs face in. Thankfully my orders are forcing him to stay back. I�ve managed to get into a position where he�s behind me and off to one side, hopefully not enough of a target for the croc to prioritise.

Crinis is also still in hiding, waiting for my order to strike. We just need an opportunity.

�An opening!�

What the HECK?

Vibrant, who had been intelligently firing acid from long-range, suddenly leaps out from between two trees behind the giant croc and charges it directly!

�What the hell are you doing!� I yell.

�Biting!� she cheers.

CHOMP!

With the incredible speed of her charge, she arrives right behind the slowed left leg of the croc and brings her mandibles sharply down.

Once! Twice! Thrice! She bites and bites again. Each time her mandibles clamp shut, scales split and tear beneath her assault.

�Get out of there!� I shout.

Too late.

Vibrant had done well to avoid the tails that curled and thumped the ground behind the monster on her way in, but she overstayed her welcome. As if it had eyes in the back of its head, the giant croc twists and swings its tails on different angles, cutting off any means of escape.

WHAM!

The foolhardy soldier and is sent flying, a harsh crack in her carapace.

Dammit!

�Vibrant, heal yourself!�

It can�t go on like this!

The emotion and panic battering at the walls of my Meditation skill rise, trying to destroy the calm bubble in which I sit. I need to turn this around. The situation is only getting worse.

Decisively, I throw away the Water Cannon spell, letting it fizzle out, and devote my minds to complete my next water magic as fast as possible.

[Advanced Water Magic Affinity (II) has reached Level 3.]

The strength of the monster is evident in how quickly I�m gaining Skill Levels. For some reason, it doesn�t cheer me up.

Finally free of my Water Cannon harassing its face, the beast grins and opens wide its top jaws, preparing to blast me to ash with its blue flame breath.

Not today!

Completion of my spell takes effect as a torrent of Mana pours out from me and forms a semi-circle on the ground before my feet.

[�Hold on, folks! This is going to get rough!�]

Forceful Tsunami!

BOOOOM!

With a roar that would rival any explosion, water bursts out of the ground, completely destroying the earth in front of me and sweeping forward in an unstoppable wave. The marsh turns out to be the perfect place to cast this construct, as the murky waters rise together with my spell, building the wave even higher and giving it irresistible momentum. The wave reaches over ten feet high and rolls over the surroundings, dousing flames effortlessly and crashing into the croc like a sledgehammer before continuing on its path.

Hopefully this doesn�t drown the entire Expanse�

With one of its legs significantly damaged and weighed down by gravity, the croc is awkwardly driven off-balance and knocked down. The slightest of reprieves! I hastily check my Mana levels. Not much left in the tank but it might just do.

I hastily spin together another three Gravity Bolts, one sub-brain maintaining my construct as I check on my crew. Tiny was thankfully behind me so I could angle the spell away from him, and Crinis was able to dig in low. I�ve no idea where Vibrant might have gotten to and that�s concerning. I don�t know just how injured she was and if she gets carried away by the wave�

I can�t think of that now, we have to kill this damn thing.

There!

The frothing waters recede to reveal a drenched croc still struggling to get to its feet.

That�s the leg right there!

POW! POW! POW!

Three more Gravity Bolts fly, striking home on the wounded leg. I want to do everything I can to reduce this monstrous creature�s mobility to give me time to work on my next spell.

[Crinis! Tiny! Go in now if you can! Keep it off-balance and do everything you can to NOT DIE!]

Part of me is railing and screaming against sending my beloved friends into fight, but deep in my Mediation, I can�t feel that emotion clearly. It happens within me, but outside of my thoughts. Inside the bubble of rationality, I know I need time to prepare a spell that might actually deal decent damage to this beast.

Delighted to finally be set free, Tiny bellows his challenge and starts relentlessly charging forward. So furious is his charge, he doesn�t even seem slowed down, his fists pounding the dirt and sending dirt flying behind him as he builds unstoppable momentum. Even as he charges, he continues to do two things�roar at the top of his lungs and grin.

He�s hopeless.

Crinis, for her part, slithers out of her hiding place, half buried in mud, and unleashes a forest of tentacles. Using her fellow pet as a homing beacon she moves in, not with any of Tiny�s manic speed, but with deadly grace as her body expands to its full-size and her powerful limbs seek out the croc, slithering through the air like ink-black boa constrictors.

�HRAAAAA!�

Bellowing angrily, the croc thrashes and twists, trying to get back on its feet. Just when it seems to right itself, Tiny opens his bat fangs wide and unleashes a piercing screech!

�KEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!�

MAH BRAIN ZONE!

The sound drills straight through to my noggin, but I shake it off. The croc doesn�t seem to be quite so lucky and momentarily freezes just long enough for Tiny to throw himself at the much larger beast and start hammering it with his fists.

The force of those punches sends the croc smashing into the ground, causing the earth beneath my feet to vibrate as if an earthquake just occurred. Before the croc can fight back, Crinis arrives on the scene and devotes all of her limbs to binding both arms on the right side of the croc�s body before unleashing her barbs and beginning to saw. In a rare show of aggression, she unfolds her mouth and brings her Void Maw down on the croc�s shoulder, digging deep into the flesh with her fangs.

The croc is seriously mad now. Red-eyed and screaming with rage, it slashes and writhes with all of its prodigious strength to throw off the combined assault of my pets.

They can�t hold for long.

Within my mind, a slightly new construct is taking shape, layering over the top of the water construct and adding to its complexity.

This had better work.

When Water Mana Affinity Levelled up to Advanced Water Mana Affinity, I learned many things. I�d poured a lot of resources and evolutionary energy into beefing up my spellcasting ability to the point I was happy with it, except the spells hadn�t been quite as impactful as I�d hoped. The Mana Affinity skills were my first window into increasing the power of my magic. The human mages I�d seen had almost all been specialised in a particular type of Mana, especially the younger ones. What had been the reason for this?

Advanced Water Mana Affinity unveiled a few clues. Along with new constructions, new spell shapes specifically for water magic, I�d also learned how to adjust the Water Mana Transformation construct to produce a slightly different effect. A more potent one.

As Tiny and Crinis do battle with the monster, I race to complete the new construct, all of my minds dedicated to the task. I�d hoped to have more time to test this before being pushed to using it in such a desperate situation. I thought I�d had more time!

Just another example of me taking things too lightly. I�d assumed that I�d become so powerful we�d be able to blow through most resistance with ease. I constantly have to keep reminding myself that though my evolutions might have given me a massive leg up in terms of raw stats, I started from perhaps the lowest base in the Dungeon.

I need to keep pushing myself further.

With a shattering roar, the croc finally connects a solid blow into Tiny�s ribs, sending the ape rolling through the dirt and into a tree where he lies clutching at his side.

Come on, brains!

The final pieces of the construct snap into place as the croc painfully struggles to its feet. All of the Gravity Bolts I�ve piled into that one leg are adding up. Along with the beating it�s taken from Tiny, the creature no longer has the strength to move freely or easily. That has to be enough.

The beast flexes its claws and prepares to slash Crinis, who�s still clinging with everything she has to the croc�s other arms, restraining them with all of her might.

I won�t let you!

Ice Spear!

All of my minds work in concert to power one spell at a time, churning out this new form of Mana, Ice!

Two feet long and needle sharp, the Ice Spear rockets through the air as if shot from a cannon and slams into the croc�s chest.

CRASH!

Ice shards and scales fly as the spear shatters, but only after the tip is driven into the beast�s flesh. The monster turns to me again and prepares to open its mouths to douse me in fire.

I don�t have three brains for nothing, you sap!

Ice Spear!

Another projectile of concentrated ice zips through the air and smashes against the monster, just under its neck. Having avoided the thicker chest scales, a bloody hole is torn in the monster as the spear penetrates deep.

The flesh immediately begins to bubble and regenerate, but not quick enough.

As the monster recovers from the blow, I try to give myself a little extra time by Dashing to my right. It works for a moment as the croc raises its one free hand to defend against my next spear and momentarily loses sight of me.

It only buys me a few seconds, enough for me to start compressing the ice Mana until it turns from a glittering pale colour into a much deeper, richer blue.

Catching sight of me, the croc opens its upper jaws and unleashes a narrow torrent of blue flame. The air heats to searing hot as the flame ignites. But I was fore warned by my antennae and am already moving, Dashing right out of there.

In fact, wasn�t that Dash a little quicker than usual?

�Still wide open! Hahahahaha!� Vibrant cries as she Dashes wildly back into the fray.

Her carapace is still showing signs of a horrific crack in the process of healing, but she doesn�t seem to care as she positions herself behind the croc once more.

�Not again!� I cry, aghast.

�Ahaha! Why not?� she laughs and charges in, savaging its wounded leg.

The croc knows what to do this time and swings its tails. Vibrant has wised up and smartly Dashes low, sliding underneath the strike and running clear.

She bought me just enough time.

Forceful Ice Spear!

This spear is four feet long and dense, the ice a deep, sparkling blue as if formed from the waters of the deepest depths of the ocean. As I activate the spell, it crackles into existence over my head before blasting through the air at the croc.

The spear strikes home against the croc�s gut. Instead of shattering, it drives right in, burying half its length into the beast.

�ARRRRRRRRR!� the croc bellows in pain and swings at the air wildly.

My brains are fried, and my Mana is low. I task both sub-brains with holding the ice construct in place and give my Mana a chance to recharge. I�ve been sucking Mana out of the ground all this time through my legs, but my consumption has been high. I�ll need to take the fight to the croc the old-fashioned way.

Exhausted, I can only open my mandibles wide and charge in.

�Yay!� Vibrant shouts and charges back in again.

The croc is reeling from the Ice Spear buried in its gut. I bet that took a decent chunk of HP! Please be close to dead. I don�t think I can fight much more!

Shattering Bite!

Pumping out as much stamina as I can, I begin to mindlessly bite at the croc, mechanically chomping as much as I can. At some point I fail to dodge a wild swipe of the claws, and the croc tears a foot long gash in my side that requires me to immediately trigger my Regeneration Gland.

That stings!

The croc is staggering, but so are we. Vibrant has nothing left in the tank and Crinis is almost sagging with exhaustion. Tiny has managed to sit up but he hasn�t been able to get back into the fight. Not for lack of trying. He�s dragging himself through the dirt with one arm whilst the other is held against his doubtlessly shattered ribs.

The croc becomes increasingly desperate, growling and roaring with pure rage. Pinned to the spot, unable to move due to a leg that feels as if the weight of the world were resting on it, attacked from all sides and bleeding, the beast does the only thing it thinks will save it.

It opens its lower mouth and covers itself in fire.

[Ahhhhh!] Crinis screams and rapidly untangles her limbs, flinging herself out of the flames.

Damn that hurts!

I�m cooking right here!

The heat may be intense, but the croc is cooking itself just as surely as it�s cooking us. This is the last-ditch attack!

Vibrant falls back from the flames, but I stay. Overhead, the massive croc looms, its double jaws gaping as it laboriously heaves air into its burning lungs.

My antennae twitch. I can sense the next moments before they happen. The croc stretches wide its lower jaw and lunges, seeking to end the pest that has caused such injury to it in one bite.

In my mind, it happens in slow motion, every movement following a pattern that I�d already seen. I spin around, facing away from the croc. The jaws are almost upon me as I raise my abdomen high, presenting the justice department in all its glory.

I fill the monster�s guts with acid one second before its jaws close and tear away at my flesh.

Turns out, letting a giant crocodile take a sizeable chunk out of your business district is exceedingly painful. Like. It hurts a frickin� lot.

FTAGN�MY ASS!

Is this a hostile takeover of my commercial operations? What the hell, Croc!

In that one strike, my HP has plunged perilously low. I activate my regen gland again to let whatever regeneration that has accumulated up to this point flow into my system and pull me back from the brink.

[Deep Meditation has reached Level 2.]

I bet it has.

[Cerebral Endurance has reached Level 4.]

If the brain is a muscle, then I�ve pumped the heck out of mine. I�m certain its sprained. Thank goodness for Meditation keeping my mind relatively calm. It isn�t stopping me from rolling around in agony as I contemplate life without a backside, but it is allowing me the freedom of thought to openly mock myself. So that�s something.

The croc isn�t doing any better than me, thankfully. I fired both barrels of acid straight into his open mouth. I�m assuming that both sets of jaws share one throat, so the poor sucker has little hope of getting anything out of his mouths. The sticky acid will be hardening and gumming up his pipes just as fast as it burns through that soft, soft inner flesh.

�HSSSSSS! HARAAAARRR!� the croc gurgles and hisses, falling to the ground as it thrashes about and throws itself off-balance due to its one extra-heavy leg.

CRASH!

The enormous beast falls heavily into the dirt. It raises all of its available claws to rip and tear at its own neck, ripping away scales and skin.

Wait a sec. Is that what I think it is? Is it just me, or is that croc turning a little blue?

Sure enough, the croc is choking. The acid has solidified and blocked its throat, forbidding the passage of air.

I lie panting as my body slowly tries to regenerate. A huge chunk has been ripped out of my carapace and my insides have been exposed to the world. I barely want to move as I watch the croc gradually struggle less and less. Growing more feeble with the passage of time, until finally�

[You have defeated Level 53 Garralosh Praeceptorem.]

[You have gained XP.]

[You have reached Level 15.]

[You have reached Level 16.]

[You have reached Level 17.]

[You have reached Level 18.]

[You have reached Level 19.]

[You have reached Level 20.]

[You have reached Level 21.]

What�?

Seven Levels? Just like that? And Level fifty-three! Just how evolved was this monster? If I think about it, my max Level should be forty right now. So this monster is at least one evolution beyond me. There�s a chance it�s more though. A strong chance.

Holy crap. We took on something like that and survived? What the hell was I thinking! Just because we evolved again, I thought I was the bees knees, cock of the walk, the big cheese! There�s still a long way to go before I�m truly strong.

Not that I think monsters this powerful are common. Not at this Level. Unless I miss my guess, this big fellow must have been fairly old. Old enough to pile up a ton of Levels and Biomass�

Biomass.

Just how much Biomass will we be able to get out of this thing?

Gulp!

[Tiny, are you able to move?]

He just grunts in reply, his eyes still on the fallen croc.

[Get over here and eat. You need to regrow your leg.]

As he starts to pull himself forward with his hands, I look about for Crinis.

[Crinis? Are you alright? Where are you?]

[I�m here, Master.] Her voice echoes weakly in my mind as I see a tired tentacle wobble into the air a few metres away from me.

I drag myself over and find a withered bundle of tentacles collapsed in a heap around her spherical main body. She�s badly burnt.

[Here, grab a hold of my antennae and I�ll take you to the food.]

[Is the enemy defeated?] she asks.

[He�s done for it. Eat and heal yourself. We can talk later.]

I feel slightly ashamed when her tentacles tremble as she reaches up to grasp my antennae. Her grip is feather light, nothing like the strength she should be able to exert. I carefully use my antennae to lift her off the ground and carry her toward the croc before letting her down.

�Time to eat, senior?� Vibrant asks cheerfully.

I sigh.

�Yes, Vibrant, time to eat.�

Out of all of us, it�s Vibrant who came out the least hurt. Mind you, she still has a long crack in the side of her carapace that is yet to heal. At least the wound is no longer deep enough that I can see the muscle attached to the inside of her exo-skeleton.

Weary to the bone, the four of us crawl to the still remains of the massive croca. How much Biomass would a creature of this age and evolutionary Level contain?

Tentatively, I reach forward to take a bite.

[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Garralosh Praeceptorem. One Biomass awarded.]

[You have unlocked the basic profile of Garralosh Praeceptorem.]

[Garralosh Praeceptorem: Garralosh Commander. Among the oldest of Garralosh children, the commanders are powerful melee combatants. They feature two fire glands which are often mutated in complementary ways. Beware their powerful regenerative abilities and incredible physical strength. These creatures were personally reared by their parent to be leaders of her offspring and carry potent auras. Approach with caution.]

Among the oldest of the children? So not necessarily the oldest? And what else is this? Personally reared by the big croc itself? I guess that explains why the thing is so tough if it had a big bad monster looking out for it from a young age.

Does that mean Garralosh is going to come here for revenge? Surely not!

Please, for the love of Gandalf, let that not happen.

Suddenly nervous, I tuck into my food with increased gusto, vigorously chowing down in the hopes of healing my physical wounds and dispelling my nervousness. As I eat, something remarkable begins to happen.

[You have gained one Biomass.]

[You have gained one Biomass.]

[You have gained one Biomass.]

So fast!

I can feel it as well. As the food is consumed, it feels heavy, dense even, inside my stomachs. Whatever magical process goes on in there, the pure essence, whatever it is that creates Biomass, is flooding into my body with every bite.

This isn�t food. It�s gold!

Pure gold.

Greedily now I chow down and notice the frenzy with which the others are eating has also increased tenfold. Even Crinis, a withered husk of herself only moments ago, is now tearing huge chunks of food off with every bite.

Oh no you don�t!

With the Mana I have in my core, I activate Infused Mandibles to enable me to cut off larger chunks of food and increase my eating speed.

I won�t be outdone! Gimme dat Biomass!

OM NOM NOM.

We feasted on the croc until there was nothing left. Our stomachs were full to bursting and our wounds gradually closed. In hindsight, it probably wasn�t too smart of us to eat until we were completely comatose, but oddly enough it turned out fine.

With the commander and its oppressive aura gone, the creatures of the Expanse began to slowly regain their former bustle. Around us, the growling and clashing of the normal, frenetic pace of the Dungeon during a wave began to reassert itself. In contrast, the croca-beasts were nowhere to be found. As we ate and then lay about recovering, we didn�t see hide nor scale of one.

My theory is that they must have retreated after the aura from their commander faded, but some scouting will be necessary to confirm this. After I�ve digested of course.

Speaking of digestion. The sheer amount of Biomass gained from consuming this creature was absurd. When you consider just how many mutations it must have had, not to mention the complete lack of Biomass intake penalties due to evolutionary tier, perhaps it isn�t so surprising I was able to gain almost 310 Biomass just from my share.

310!

A staggering number. The others must have gained close to the same. I think Crinis and Vibrant will be able to max out their mutations at this point. A situation I�m extremely envious of! This trip will have gone some way to relieving that stress. Combined with the food I�ve eaten during our assault on the Expanse I�ve managed to pile up close to 400 Biomass!

Not to mention, I�m more than halfway to my next evolution. Level 40 is creeping closer into sight!

Speaking of evolution�

I roll over onto my stomach and painfully crawl my way toward the remains of the croca commander. Not a whole lot is left to be honest, not even a complete skeleton. As I drag myself, I eventually come within range of the gem.

[Compatible rare core detected. Would you like to reinforce your core or reconstitute a monster?]

A rare core.

Not special.

Rare.

The gem is significantly larger than the special cores I�d seen before. Sitting amidst the remains of the gigantic croca, the spherical gem glitters with a red light, the energy within swirling madly.

This is some valuable stuff.

Feeling out myself internally, the tightness and pain caused by absorbing the last special core has almost completely faded. I�m not entirely sure if that means I�ll be able to carry out my plan and absorb another special core before evolving, hopefully. I�m a bit stuck on what to do with this thing though.

I�m not sure if I can use it. Trying to absorb a core and popping from the inside isn�t necessarily the way to go. I�ll have to think on the appropriate use of this treasure.

The other aspect to consider here is that I have learned of levels of cores beyond the special. This unlocks the possibility that there are even more potent cores. In fact, I wouldn�t doubt it! I wonder if Garralosh has a rare core or something even more potent?

What comes after rare? Legendary? Super Rare? Completely Rad core?

I have no idea!

Just something else to ponder, along with what possible evolutions would be unlocked with the absorption of a rare core.

I can dream, dammit!

All in all, it takes a few hours before the gang is ready to move again. We�re still wounded, but the worst of the injuries have healed. I decide it�ll be best if we take our prized core and retreat to the surface. The Expanse is becoming more restless as time passes and we aren�t in top shape.

We�ll need to come back to do some recon to be sure the croca-beasts have actually left, and then wait a bit in order to be sure the waves of monsters will no longer be heading toward the colony.

Tired but triumphant, Tiny, Crinis, Vibrant and I limp our way out of the marsh Expanse to the shortcut, avoiding combat for the most part. Due to us being careful and not wanting to attract unwanted attention, it takes us about six hours to get out of the marsh and up the shortcut.

By the time we get there, I�ve been able to activate my Regeneration Gland again and the hole in my commercial marketplace has been mostly covered up. The carapace is still somewhat thin in places, but at the very least my insides are not being fully presented to the outside. A great improvement indeed.

When the anthill finally comes into sight I almost sag into the ground with relief.

I�m tired, man!

So damn tired�

We all nearly died in that fight! I need stress relief. Also, I need to work on my skills since my spells aren�t working out the way I want them too at the moment. I wish there was someone I could talk to in order to get some advice about this stuff. I highly doubt most people bother with this stuff. They certainly wouldn�t want to have any expertise on the matter. The one time I managed to interrogate a human, I didn�t know enough to know what questions I needed to ask, so there are bound to be massive gaps in what I was able to learn.

So frustrating!

Perhaps Enid will be able to help me out.

Exhausted in body and mind, I drag myself up the anthill and down the main tunnel, Vibrant and my pets wandering along behind me.

Workers are buzzing about, bustling past me, busy with their own tasks. I�m stopped a few times and we exchange the ant high five enthusiastically before going our separate ways.

So nice to be back amongst my people!

I take a moment to pop in to check on the eggs and shock strikes me to my core.

The eggs! They�re gone!

In their place are twenty energetic looking little grubs, dedicated workers watching over them, cleaning them and keeping them fed at all times. They hatched!

The new generation has arrived!

Eyes agog, I move into the nursery chamber to give the little grubs a quick tickle with my antennae. I can�t help but laugh as the little critters wiggle and roll to escape my antennae.

How exciting!

After playing with them for a time, I exit the chamber and head down to the queen�s chamber. She�s still resting, covered in workers and patiently absorbing the ambient Mana just below the surface.

�Mother! I�m back! I�ve got something for you!� I call.

Gradually, the queen�s face emerges from the shifting mass of workers, her enormous antennae reaching out to contact mine.

�Welcome back, child, it is good to see you. What have you brought?�

Suddenly, I feel like a little kid bringing a painting they did at school home to show their parents. At least, this is how I assume that would feel, having never experienced it before.

With a thunk I drop a heavy gem onto the ground.

�I have a rare core! How close are you to evolving?�

The queen looked down at the core and then back up at me, curious.

�I�m not that close to evolving. I have currently tried to reduce the amount of experience I am taking from my children. There has been a great deal of conflict and our family has suffered. It was my intention to allow the children to have a better chance of defending themselves by allowing them to take in experience.�

Of course she did. What else would I have expected her to do?

�Look, I understand that you�re happy to sacrifice your own prospects to help the rest of us survive, but your own Level and more importantly, your own evolution, will make a huge difference to the overall strength of the family!�

�I will consider your words, child,� the queen assured me calmly, though I doubted she would do anything of the sort.

I may have been able to convince her to be slightly greedy with the Biomass, advancing her egg-laying organs to the point she could select mutation advancements, but I think I was only successful there due to the promise of tangible benefits for her children. There is no such guarantee when it comes to evolution and Mother knows it.

�Look at this core! We defeated a seriously strong monster in the marsh Expanse and this core was inside it. A rare core! Even more powerful than a special core. Who knows what kind of powerful evolution it could unlock for you.�

As I try to advertise the merchandise I�ve brought back to my mother, she continues to watch me patiently. I can�t help but get the feeling she is faintly amused by my attempts at persuasion.

I sigh.

�You aren�t going to use this core, are you, Mother?�

Her antennae twitch in a laugh.

�No, child.�

�Well, what do you want me to do with it?� I say, frustrated.

I really didn�t think she�d knock this back. If Mother can evolve after absorbing the rare core, who knows how powerful she will become. What she might be capable of. At the heart of the colony lies the queen, after all. If she were to die, then it�d be over for this family. I really don�t think we�d be able to raise another queen before the workers died off.

Why wouldn�t she want to get stronger?

As if reading my mind, Mother replies.

�What needs to be considered isn�t how strong I myself can become, but how strong the family as a whole can become. I may be the most powerful individual in the colony for now, but you children are yet very young. It is you and your siblings who must grow strong for the colony to thrive, not I.�

Haaaa.

�Fine. I�ll take it. Maybe I can use it on Vibrant or something.� I kick a few pebbles in irritation.

Thwack!

The queen whips an antenna sharply down on my head.

�What was that for?� I protest.

�I believe this core is precious and that you should be the one to take this opportunity,� the queen decrees.

�I might not even be able to take it, I�ve already absorbed a special core since evolving!�

Thwack!

Mercilessly she brings her antenna down again.

That stings!

�Find a way, child. You always have before, and the family has been able to survive thanks to your efforts. I believe you can utilise this resource for the best of us. Don�t waste it.�

�Yes, Mother,� I grumble.

Satisfied with my acquiescence, the queen gives me a quick pat on the head and turns her attention back to the workers who swarm over her.

�Oh! One more thing!� I call. �How long until the next wave of eggs will be ready to be laid?�

I want to know so I have some idea exactly how long I�ll have to get the first twenty in shape so they can take on the job of training the second wave. I don�t want to be stuck raising new generations of workers forever. I�ve got stuff to do!

Besides that, I have a sneaking suspicion that two hundred workers wouldn�t fit on my back.

�Tomorrow.�

�Wassat?�

�They�ll be laid tomorrow.�

��Kay then.�

As the queen turns back to her attendants, I scurry down into my own chamber beneath the colony and bury my rare core along with the others, mind spinning furiously. She already has enough Biomass for another two hundred!

I curse myself internally. Shouldn�t have sent up all that damn food. Now I�m going to have hardly any time at all to try and get the first generation into shape. If only Tiny had eaten more�

Never thought I�d be thinking that!

Tiny and Crinis bunk themselves down in our chamber for a well-earned rest. Vibrant has already sprinted off to help the workers out whilst I was talking to the queen.

I feel as though she�s been taking a more active interest in the activities of the workers since her last evolution instead of tagging along with me all the time. This can only be a good thing in my mind. The workers could do with having a more powerful and intelligent soldier to protect them.

With the basics taken care of, I suppose I�d better head up to the village. Hopefully they haven�t managed to stuff anything up while I�ve been gone. With luck, I�ll be able to find someone to answer a few questions I have about skills.

If I�m going to be honest, I don�t really want to go and talk to the humans. The priest will probably be there, a crowd might form, it just feels so irritating. However, they may have information that can help me and I can�t help but feel a little responsible for them.

In some ways, it�s in much the same way a human might feel responsible for their pets. They�re a collective of individuals who need me to make sure they aren�t killing themselves as they go about their daily business. I make sure they have the basic necessities of life, security, food and water, and then I let them go about their daily business.

Much like I cared for my pet colony when I was a human. Except with the ants, I cared more if they survived.

Sighing, I make my way up out of the colony and to the top of the anthill. Diligent workers continue to patrol the tunnel, a few trails leading foragers out into the surrounding wilds, groups of ants returning with the remains of surface monsters they�d found and dispatched.

Quite a few of the remaining workforce has evolved twice, giving them the stats they need to be able to dominate the bulk of monsters up here. Since the workers always act in teams, they�ve been able to mow through the surrounding lands like a scythe through wheat, in some ways reminding me of the fearsome army ant. That species of ant is nomadic. They basically strip the area around the colony of food pretty darn quick, forcing them to move to more fertile ground or starve.

Luckily, we won�t have that problem since the Dungeon will provide all of the sustenance we need. Soon enough the new generation of workers will be in a position to farm deep into the Dungeon, right down to the Expanse without my supervision.

Then I can investigate the aphid situation and see if I can�t come up with an even better solution.

The future is bright!

Muahahahaha!

Oh� right, humans. Ugh.

My musing has distracted me long enough that I�ve arrived at the burgeoning human village without being aware of it. I�ve already been noticed, several people gathering around me, maintaining a respectful distance. The number of people builds and I�m fairly sure I saw someone run off to collect Enid, and in all likelihood, the priest as well.

As I wait, I take a little time to inspect the work that�s been done. The number of crude buildings has certainly increased significantly since I was last here, as well as the number of people. It seems as though the flow of refugees hasn�t stalled at all, perhaps it�s even growing.

A tingle of concern causes my antennae to twitch slightly.

If the monsters are rampaging farther south, then there�s a chance they�ll come here. I�ll need to make proper preparations, perhaps get some scouting done�

Arrgh!

The list of things to do just doesn�t seem to end!

Can�t Pangera just buzz off somewhere else so I can help my colony grow?

It isn�t long before Enid rushes over, accompanied by the one-armed priest. It seems she has several others in tow as well. I don�t pay them much attention and get to work forming the mind bridge, using all of my mental prowess to quickly complete the process.

[Enid,] I greet her once the complex shape has been created.

[Hello,] she sounds nervous. [How did things go in the Dungeon? Well, I presume, since you are here safe and sound.]

[It went well enough. My goals were accomplished, though the fighting was more difficult than I anticipated. My companions and I received no insignificant wounds.]

Her eyes widened.

[That�s terrible! I�m surprised there was a monster at that level of the Dungeon able to hurt you and your pets. What was it?]

I give an ant shrug with my antennae, which of course she can�t recognise.

[More of Garralosh�s offspring. I believe they have retreated from the Expanse below us however, which should make us a little safer here.]

Enid nodded, gratitude plain in her eyes.

[I thank you. The people here will be much relieved to hear of it. They have suffered at the hands of Garralosh and her children. Hearing of your victory will give them some degree of comfort. May I?] She gestured toward the crowd.

I wave one of my antennae in agreement and the aged woman turns to the nearby villagers, including the priest, to explain what I had said.

Behind her, the five or so martial looking refugees listen with attentive faces. Now that I get another look at them, they seem a little on edge. Their leader, a square-jawed, tough looking woman standing in front of the others, is giving me a serious dose of the stink eye.

I observe her without shifting my head or posture at all.

What is your beef, lady?

My thoughts are disturbed as a great cheer erupts from the villagers around me. It�s quite a strange sight to see. People start hugging and shouting with exuberance. Smiles wreath every face and the powerful voice of the priest rolls over the top of all, one hand raised to the sky as he eulogises his heart out.

Chill out, people! One croca commander doesn�t mean the entire species has been wiped out or anything� Sheesh!

Even Enid is smiling broadly as she turns back to me. I think she can sense my discomfort at the hubbub bubbling around us so she hastens to reassure me.

[I apologise for their boisterous behaviour. Good news has been hard to come by lately, and even a little thing like this is enough to lift their spirits.]

Her eyes narrow a little.

[I� didn�t let them know that you�d been injured. I rather felt that there might be some panic or indeed, some outrage, if they were to know that you had been harmed. I don�t want anyone to start trying to sneak into the Dungeon to exact revenge.]

I can�t help a little shake of my head at that. Just how dumb are these people? Going into the Dungeon. Suicide!

Still, this is as good a time as any to bring up my needs with Enid.

[Speaking of being injured. The fight helped me come to the realisation that I may need some advice and assistance in regards to developing my skills and abilities. I tried to learn what I could from your queen, but I believe that much information may have been withheld from me. Would you be in a position to assist me?]

Enid looks slightly stunned to be hearing so many words at once from me. Once she understands my meaning, she frowns, her hands nervously playing the front of her skirt.

[I know a bit. My husband was a high-Level warrior who spent his days delving in the Dungeon and he taught me a fair bit about the combat skills. However, he was a swordsman and a human. The skills he used may not be applicable for you at all.]

She hesitates a moment before rushing on.

[You might not like to hear this, but our local priest, Beyn,] she gestures to the robed figure, still exhorting the crowd with all of his might, [would be an excellent person to ask. As a priest of the Path, he studied the System extensively. Part of his responsibilities as a priest is to advise people on builds and skills relating to their profession. He would know far more than I would.]

Oh. Great.

Reluctantly, I agree to Enid�s suggestion.

[All right, fine. Let him know I�m going to weave a mind bridge to him so we can talk, shouldn�t take a minute.]

[Ah, there are some others here who want to speak to you also. Would that be possible?]

More of them?

[I�ll talk to this priest first, then we�ll see.]

Enid nods and turns to the priest, tugging at his sleeve to get his attention before speaking to him.

A few moments later he begins to weep profusely.

Yeah. I�m already getting irritated.

Sobbing uncontrollably with joy, the priest raises his one hand toward me and falls to his knees, quite obviously performing some kind of worship. So caught up with emotion is he, that nearby refugees, temporarily taking leave of their senses, are also swept up in the moment and mimic his action.

Surrounded by villagers giving praise on their knees, my ego begins to stir.

Down, Dark One! You shall not rise here this day, nor any day!

I take a moment to control my thoughts. Having people worship you is a quick way to let your ego take over. I can�t imagine anything good happens when someone begins to think of themselves as some sort of god, when they are in fact, an ant.

I haven�t shown any external reaction to all of this kerfuffle, keeping still except for the occasional twitch of the antennae, but there are others who have responded more strongly. The five new martial looking refugees, led by the square-jawed female, do not look impressed to see a group of humans on their knees before a monster.

You know what? That reaction is probably spot on.

What sort of people in their right mind would do this sort of thing? If anything, I agree with the five newcomers. These humans are nuts. In some ways, having a human look at my villagers with such shock and dismay is almost a relief. At least there are some normal humans around here!

An angry light in her eyes, the leader pushes forward and grabs Enid by the shoulder, pointing at me and speaking in quick, harsh tones.

What�s all this about then?

I�m not a big fan of her being so rough toward Enid. The old woman has been nothing but helpful to me and to the humans here. She deserves respect.

Enid listens without fear to the words being spat at her before shoving the hand from her shoulder and replying curtly to the woman. Then she turns to me, concentrating on our mental link.

[This person is named Morrelia. She and her group have been fighting surface monsters in this area for weeks. They only recently found us here, and to be honest, they are quite distrustful of you. They question the villagers� loyalty and devotion toward you and your colony. I believe she wants to talk to you to determine if you are using some form of mind control.]

She thinks I�m mind controlling these people? I didn�t even want them here!

[She seems to be getting a little forceful here, Enid. Have they caused any trouble?] I ask.

The older woman shakes her head.

[No. I simply believe they are concerned for the safety of the people here.]

I grunt.

[How concerned do you think they�ll be toward you if they think you�re all under some sort of mind control? Will they attack me or just kill all of you?]

Enid blinked, seemingly not having thought of the possibility.

[I�ll talk to her. But tell her if she gets too handsy with you, I�ll be taking that hand with me.]

Turning quickly to the martial looking woman beside her, Enid relays my words.

Nodding with satisfaction, the fighter steps back from Enid and turns to face me with a sharp glint in her eyes. And a hand resting on her sword hilt.

Yeesh.

Grumbling internally about humans being far more trouble than they�re worth, I ignore the shock and disappointment in the priest�s face as Enid tells him what is happening so I can finish off constructing the bridge, which I extend toward my unwelcome guest.

[What?] I huff, irritated.

Morrelia�s eyes widen slightly at my abrupt rudeness, but she shows no other reaction.

[Are you able to hear me?] the response comes.

[Yes, I can hear you. It�s a frickin� mind bridge. I didn�t bust my thorax trying to learn this spell so that I couldn�t talk to people.]

Oooo, that�s a bit snippy, Anthony. I must be grumpier than I thought. Need to rein it in a little.

I have none of these problems when talking with ants, just sayin�.

My words provoke a response this time. Indignant rage seeps through the cracks on that stone face, but she holds her neutral expression well. The eyes tell a different story. They�re alight with anger.

[Listen to me, creature, my family has slaughtered monsters for generations. If you don�t show the proper respect, I�ll add your head to my wall.]

Her grip on the pommel of her sword is getting pretty darn tight by the looks of it. This lady has some serious angst.

Mind you, I�m not planning to back down any just for that.

[Unless you�re a higher-Level human than I�ve seen around here, taking my head might be more than you can handle.]

Morrelia sneered.

[You overestimate yourself, monster.]

What did I do to deserve this kind of attitude? This is what I get for saving humans. Somewhat irritated, I snap back.

[You�re standing in a village full of people whose lives I�ve saved, and then protected, for absolutely no gain, and threaten me? Which one of us has issues with manners and respect? As you�ve been only too quick to point out, you are a human who celebrates killing monsters. Yet I�m a monster who has saved humans. Is it possible that I�ve done more good for your kind than your family has?]

If I hit a nerve last time, then this time I flat out kicked it. Muscles bulge on her arm as she struggles to restrain herself from pulling out her sword. I think she knows it would be a bad idea to fight here surrounded by villagers, but she looks so damn tempted.

[My brother gave his life fighting in the Dungeon. My father has dedicated himself to the Deep Legion for decades and he is a damn hero. The idea of a monster putting itself above them is an insult!]

She might have a point, I suppose.

[Yeah, I can see how you�d think that. I apologise.]

[Excuse me?]

[I� apologise?] I can�t quite tell what she�s thinking right now. May have just shocked the frothing anger right out of her! [Soooo, what is the problem here? You think I�m mind controlling these people or something?]

[Uh, yes?] Morrelia pulls herself together. [Yes. It seems unbelievable that a group of humans would so readily accept the help of monsters from the Dungeon. Impossible, even. I want to be sure you aren�t manipulating these people with your Mind Magic.]

I sigh and give my antennae a quick clean as I think about the situation. Bringing my front legs up and pulling my antennae through the joint drags the sensitive detectors through the cleaning hairs on the back of my knee, ensuring the antennae remain effective and also feels quite pleasant.

I don�t recall ever being this clean as a human, actually�

[Look, Morrelia. I didn�t want these people here, they followed me after my colony fled in this direction. We ran through or near a few human settlements, none of which we harmed, and this idiot,] I stab one antenna at the priest, [decided that following us and depending upon the colony for protection was a great idea. To this point in time, I�ve ensured the colony won�t harm these people, tried to keep them safe from monsters and provided them with some help getting shelter. That�s it. If you want to take over babysitting, be my guest.]

Morrelia�s eyes narrowed.

[You could just be saying these things. Even if the villagers confirmed it, that could be because of your mind control, altering their memories.]

I can�t help but shrug my antennae.

[Then what are we talking for? If nothing I say would convince you I don�t mean any harm to these people, then why try and talk to me in the first place?]

If she wants to take over the protection of the village here and bar me from entry, then that could be a blessing in disguise. As long as I can get my info from the priest first, I�m happy enough to never come back.

[That is what I can�t understand, monster,] Morrelia bursts out. [Why haven�t you harmed these people?]

[Well, they�re super irritating, I agree with you there, but I don�t think they deserve to be killed for it.]

[Why? Any monster would be delighted to kill and eat all of these people. Experience! Food! Couldn�t your colony grow in size from eating them? What exactly is the reason why you are helping them?]

Ahhhh. Now we come down to it. She�s confused! Monsters from the Dungeon are supposed to be hateful things who kill and eat everything they can find, much like the croca-beasts are doing all over Liria right now. If we consider that, then finding an ant who seems quite content to live alongside people would be pretty darn weird, right?

If I were to explain that I myself was human in a previous life, that I don�t particularly want to kill and eat something that I used to be, would that be convincing?

She�d probably think I was just insane. A rogue monster gone completely bananas. What to say then�

All I can think is, [I don�t mind �em that much, these villagers. You people are all right.]

Smooth.

Morrelia blinks a few times. [You� can�t seriously expect me to accept that.]

This is one stubborn person.

[We�ve already established you won�t accept anything I say.]

Her eyes narrow.

[Then would you answer a few questions?]

It�s amazing how patient everyone is being. I have a crowd of people standing about watching a woman stare at a monster with absolutely nothing happening on the outside. For some reason they all seem riveted. Watching me, then watching Morrelia, as if an invisible game of tennis were going on and they had to imagine the movement of the ball.

[Yes, I can answer some questions, but can we make it quick? I have stuff to do.]

I can see her mouth tighten a little at that. I�m only telling the truth. This conversation taking place at all is a favour to her, I�m not getting anything out of it.

Maybe I�m just trying to work on my diplomacy. Nearly getting my entire commercial district bitten off was enough to remind me of the old days when I hung about on the ceiling and did my best to never be found.

The change to walking straight up into my enemies� faces happened a little too quick. The caution from those early days kept me alive. Information first! Swaggering up to giant monsters and attacking them head-on is not supposed to be my style.

Stay low! Information is king!

This lack of care and attention, this was the work of Dark Anthony. Damn ego beast! Be gone from my sight.

Remember humility. Remember stealth. Remember not getting half of your arse bitten off!

With renewed motivation, I decide to listen to what Morrelia has to say. Not making enemies I don�t have to is a wise policy. Let�s keep it pleasant.

[Have you ever killed any humans?]

[Yep.]

DAMMIT.

Her eyes flash dangerously at my immediate reply and I hasten to explain myself.

[In defence! My colony was attacked by humans, and I defended my family! I surely can�t be blamed for that. I also killed a few during the rebellion in Liria, but I was assisting your queen in retaking her throne. You would have done the same had you been around, surely.]

Morrelia listens to my defence and is forced to reluctantly nod.

[I have heard from Enid and others about what happened during the rebellion in my homeland. I had not heard of your colony being attacked.]

I shrug my antennae.

[It was just bad luck, really. The human queen and her Guards ran straight into the anthill whilst fleeing the city. They attacked and we killed them in retaliation. Many of my siblings died in that battle. I honestly wish it had never happened.]

The humans who killed my kind had been dealt with. Then I took appropriate measures against the queen to protect myself from her betrayal.

[I don�t exactly trust humans, there have been plenty trying to kill me above ground, and the black soldiers have done the same down below. But these villagers have done nothing wrong to me or my colony, so I tolerate them.]

That should communicate my position.

Instead of being relieved, Morrelia is staring at me with even more intensity than before.

[Soldiers dressed in black? You�ve met the Legion?]

So those soldiers are from the Legion she mentioned? I remember when they forced me out of my first nesting place, systematically killing every monster they found and burning out the tunnels. I was terrified of them at the time. To be honest, I�m still afraid of them.

[I wouldn�t say I�ve met them. I�ve seen them. They moved into the Dungeon and started killing everything not long after I was born. I fled and wound up finding my colony in the Forest Expanse.]

[You�ve not fought them then?]

Her thoughts are vibrating with intensity as she asks that question.

[Hell no,] I reply. [Strictly running from them. I�m not that stupid.]

Morrelia visibly relaxes.

[That is wise of you. They are strong.]

Just you wait, lady. Pretty soon the most powerful and awesome ant colony in the history of any world is going to be born.

[I don�t trust you, monster. But I�m willing to let you live. Perhaps after a period of observation I�ll be able to determine your true colours. I will stay here with my allies and assist the refugees for now. They are what is left of my homeland after all.]

She can�t help but sound depressed as she utters that final sentence. It�s true, her home is gone, destroyed by monsters from the Dungeon such as myself. A slight twinge of guilt hits me. I didn�t have to dig quite so many tunnels underneath the castle. I ended up playing a small part in the destruction of the city and the loss of so many lives.

The innocent lives anyway. The human queen got what she deserved.

[Stick around, feel free. As long as you don�t kill any of my siblings or mess with the colony, I have no beef with you.]

Morrelia nods and breaks off the mind bridge, turning to her companions as they press in to hear the results of the conversation.

FINALLY.

No longer forced to be diplomatic, I can now turn to the task at hand. Extracting information from this priest.

I turn to him, only to find he is still on his knees, giving praise and extolling whatever virtues have taken him at this moment in a sonorous voice.

This guy�

Reluctantly, I get to work forming the mind bridge, and before long I reach out and complete the connection.

[Hello, Priest.]

[O GREAT ONE! IT IS BEYOND JOY TO FINALLY RECEIVE YOUR HALLOWED WORDS. LET ME SAY THAT�]

[Loud! Too damn loud!]

The priest�s face, which had been rapturous as the link was established, is instantly chastened. He tries again.

[It is a blessing to finally be able to bask in your wisdom. I am honoured�]

[Too soft! Just speak normally, man!]

Now the priest is looking properly distressed. Being told off twice by his religious idol has demoralised him so visibly, the people around him reach out and place their hands on his person to give comfort to the poor guy.

I try to settle him down.

[Just relax. I have a few questions you can help me with. Please don�t shout at me, it hurts my head.]

The priest takes a few deep breaths. With his one shaking hand, he reaches up to touch the hands placed upon him, as if to draw strength from them.

Then he faces me calmly.

[I am ready.]

Okay then.

[Right, so I had a few questions about the system. I hear you�re pretty knowledgeable about that?]

[THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAISE, GREAT ONE! I AM HUMBLED�]

[Shaddup!]

It takes a while for me to get him settled, but eventually we reach a point where he is able to converse somewhat normally. By the time we get there, I�m mentally exhausted.

[You want to learn about skills? Particularly magic skills?]

[That�s right. I need some advice about how to proceed getting stronger.]

[Very well, O Great One. I would be delighted to help you to the extent of my knowledge.]

[First off, talk to me about magic affinities. How important are they? How do they progress?]

A frown creases the priest�s youthful brow as he ponders.

[Let me assume that your skills have progressed to the point where you are able to manipulate and shape internal Mana in order to cast spells. When learning the basic skills of Mana Manipulation and Mana Shaping, you�ll gain knowledge of the basic spell forms, such as barrier magic, simple bolt spells and so on. You�ve learned these?]

[Yes. So, you�re suggesting there are other spells to work with?]

[Correct, Great One, how infinite your wisdom. Once you have reached the level of Mana Transformation, you will learn how to transform Mana into various attributes. Once you have succeeded at transforming your Mana into any other kind, you will unlock the rudimentary affinities. These are the elements Earth, Fire, Water, Wind.]

[Yes, I�ve gotten that far.]

[Then you have taken the first steps on your path to being a mage! Possibly the first monster of your strata in history to have ever done so!]

[Settle down, buddy,] I warn him as the look in his eye becomes increasingly wild.

He bows to me slightly.

[I am in control of myself, Great One,]

[Good. I�ve learned Water Mana Affinity and Levelled it to Advanced Water Mana Affinity, which gave access to ice magic. What�s next to make myself stronger? My magic doesn�t feel powerful enough for me. Should I focus on boosting my stats? Do I need to Level my skills?]

[Ah, yes. The first teaching of the Path is on this matter. It is known as the First Question. The very first thing the civilised races of the surface sought to answer after the System revealed itself to us.]

[So� what�s the answer?]

[As the saying goes, knowledge is power, and skills are knowledge. Having great physical strength or mental prowess is next to worthless if you can�t apply it appropriately.]

I was worried about that.

Sigh.

[What do I need to learn?]

[The way the System works for humans and monsters has quite significant differences, huh?]

[From what you�ve told me, and the limited information the Church of the Path has collected over the centuries, there are similarities but also differences, most of them due to unlock requirements.]

[I still can�t believe there are no prompts for unlocking skills.]

Beyn chuckles ruefully.

[I�ve read copies of the journals the early researchers of the church have kept. The frustration they experienced trying to track down the exact requirements to unlock advancements nearly drove them mad. Some of them are quite exacting, I assure you.]

[Give me an example.]

[Very well, Great One, may your carapace be ever shiny. As we discussed, the surface races do not evolve and gain strength, but instead have classes. Gaining Levels in a class provides stat growth and every class gives different stats at different rates.]

[That still seems unfair to me. Why do most classes have such low growth?]

Beyn raises a finger of his one remaining hand.

[It�s true, most classes have appalling stat growth. Take this village for example. Most of the people here have the [Farmer] or [Grower] classes. The stat growth on these jobs is poor, 0.2 Toughness a Level and 0.1 for the other stats. Without transitioning to a more advanced class, they�ll be stuck with mediocre stats their whole lives.]

I frown�in a sense.

[Why don�t they change classes?]

Beyn shook his head.

[The requirements for advancing classes can be quite strict. Although a farmer can gain experience through growing and selling produce, the experience gain is pitiful compared to fighting monsters.]

[How are they supposed to fight monsters without decent stats!] I protest.

Beyn nods.

[Exactly. The System rewards battle above all else. To advance a class any other way is hard. It can take decades for a moderately successful trader to advance to a merchant.]

I think about it. Why would the System be built in such a way to punish non-combat-oriented classes?

[There must be shortcuts.]

[There are, but they are only available to those with resources. For example, a wealthy merchant can take their child with the trader class into the Dungeon and pay for mercenaries to feed them the experience from kills in order to rapidly advance their Level. Such practices are common in the upper echelons of society and�] he sighed heavily, [the Church of the Path is also a major player in such trade. Knowledge of powerful, advanced classes, escorts to take people on �pilgrimages� into the Dungeon, all of it is for sale.]

[Seems a bit grubby,] I point out.

[I am questioning much that I blindly accepted since meeting you, O Great One. The light of your truth has�]

I tune him out for a few minutes. Every now and again he launches into a sermon, and rather than keep yelling at him, I�ve just been letting him go until he runs out of steam or catches himself going on too long.

I�ve been chatting with Beyn, the village priest, for some time now, and the crowd around us doesn�t show any signs of dispersing. How they are so entertained by this game of invisible tennis, I�ve no idea.

Other than a few kids trying to sneak up and poke my carapace, I haven�t had any issues with the crowd so far. The kids have all been intercepted by wary parents and had their hands slapped down.

Beyn has had a lot to say. All sorts of new ideas have been imparted to me, skill fusion, spell tier progression and the Mana type matrix. It�s going to take a long time for me to digest these ideas. For now I can say this much, I have to improve my skills!

The priest hasn�t been able to give me exact instructions on how to progress my more monstrous skills, since his church hasn�t been able to study the sorts of skills monsters have access to in any depth. Though he�s been able to give me a few ideas. Enough to go on for now, anyway.

[So,] I break into Beyn�s rambling, [you�re able to give people advice and such on how to progress here in the village, right? I assume you aren�t charging them for it?]

He vigorously shakes his head.

[Absolutely not! However, there is little time or energy for the people here to try and advance their classes and gain Levels. We are barely surviving as it is.]

[Right. Tell Enid to get together a list of things I can do to get the village up and running, and let the people know they need to be trying to advance their classes. I don�t want to have to protect this village forever, and the sooner you can do it yourselves, the better. Eventually I�ll be prepared to escort small groups into the Dungeon to �feed� experience to them. That should speed the process along.]

Beyn�s face goes slack with astonishment.

[You would be willing to do this for us, Great One?]

I shrug.

[Sure. The faster you can look after yourselves, the better it is for me, right? It won�t be hard.]

He whips around to the villagers and begins shouting, his face filled with joy. Very quickly the expression is spread around until all of the adults are staring at me with wonder-filled eyes. Some of them are even crying!

Thump.

Oh boy. Here comes the kneeling.

Almost as one, the people fall to their knees and clasp their hands, or hand in Beyn�s case, in prayer. Shouting out their praise and thanks at me.

I, uh, didn�t think it was that big a deal�

Not far away, Morrelia and her group are watching this display with narrowed eyes, clearly angered by such words being professed toward a monster of the Dungeon.

I didn�t ask for this, okay!

The noise is so great that I almost didn�t notice the slight vibration running through the ground beneath my feet. Once I detect it my antennae start twitching this way and that through the air, trying to find the source of the sudden, uneasy air that�s come over me.

[Tiny, Crinis, come up here,] I say, breaking off my link with the priest.

Gradually the vibrations grow stronger and stronger until the tread of heavy feet on the earth becomes audible.

Then the growls start.

We�re under attack!

The monsters came from the north. They swept south in a hungry pack, seeking, destroying and devouring everything in their path like a tide of beastly Vikings.

As the monsters draw closer, their snarling and growls ring louder in the people�s ears and panic races across their faces. The fear spreads fast from person to person, clouding their faces and twisting their expressions.

They lose the will to fight so quickly, these people.

I shouldn�t be too surprised. They�ve lost their homes and families to these creatures. Small and weak it may have been, but they had also lost their country. Against a foe that had taken apart something so much larger than themselves, it�s only natural they would be intimidated.

But I won�t sit idly by.

[Tiny, bring Crinis to me. We need to fight.]

If those stupid monsters think they can get this close to my colony, then they are outside their damn minds.

I loudly clack my mandibles several times in succession.

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

The sharp, staccato noises ring out, cutting through the rising fear. The circle of people sharply turn back to me.

[Priest. Tell the people to go hide and stay out of my way. I will defend my colony, but if any monsters get through, the people will need to defend themselves.]

The priest nods enthusiastically.

[Of course, Great One! The blessings of the System belong only to those who are prepared to earn them! Your wisdom is as deep as the Dungeon, as broad the Endless Sky Expanse and as�]

[Just tell them already!]

[Oh! Right!]

I break off the mind bridge with the mouthy priest and he turns to the people to explain what I�ve said. Gradually some life returns to their faces. When I push my way out of the circle, they fall back respectfully to grant me space.

And good thing too!

The monsters are upon us.

The swarm is rushing toward the village and a wave of nostalgia rolls over me.

All of my old friends are here!

The Claw Centipedes�so many damn centipedes! Like a carpet of pinchy death, they slither and climb all over each other, snapping madly at the air as they approach.

The Wolf Dragon Cubs and their evolved versions are here as well. I think I spy an Earth Bear Tyrant stomping amongst the horde.

Even the little rabbits are here! Awww, the little fluff balls. Devilish, murdering little fluff balls.

Not to mention those stupid croca-beasts.

It feels as if this is a collection of monsters from the Forest Expanse area. Perhaps they are gathering the monsters over there, just as they did here, to assault the surface.

Dangit!

I thought I was finally free of your meddling!

The thundering of monstrous feet is growing louder as the horde kicks up dust. Only a hundred or so more metres and they�ll be amongst the villagers. Not willing to wait, I rush to meet the onrushing horde.

I don�t have time to power up a Gravity Bomb. I�m going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.

With speed, I Dash. My brains kick into gear, each one swiftly crafting a Gravity Spear. I haven�t had that much time to rest since battling against the Garralosh Commander, but it�s enough to deal with this trash, even if there are thousands of them.

My brains work overtime, weaving together the magic, layers flowing together as if in fast forward.

Gravity Spear�Times three!

As soon as the dark purple projectiles fly out, I�m already working on another set. The spears fly home, not that they could miss, slamming into the front line of the wave. Snaring large clutches of monsters and binding them together, they�re forced to stumble, running momentum broken.

Even as I Dash closer, the next wave of spears takes shape. I pour forth my Gravity Mana and empower the spells, letting them fly just as the wave crashes into me.

Or is it me who crashes into them?

My sub-brains continue spinning more spears as I smash into the thick of the monsters and their blows begin to rain down on my carapace, battering me left and right.

As if I�m just going to sit here and take it!

Shattering Bite!

Ceaseless attacks fall upon my diamond shell, but I stand firm, the bulk of the damage failing to pierce through. Centipedes rise to clutch at me and I crush them with a single bite. When a fearsome bear smashes into me from the side, sending me sprawling, I channel Mana into my mandibles and dive back at it.

Bite after bite, I crush its defences, my stamina draining away along with my Mana until the beast finally falls.

Eventually the chip damage begins to pile up. A chip here and a chip there shave away at my health until I�m forced to trigger my Regeneration Gland. I�m not worried though.

I can feel them coming.

�GRAAAAAAH!�

BOOOOM!

With a titanic crash, Tiny announces his arrival to the battlefield. Leaping high, he falls to the ground like thunder, his newly regenerating foot stomping down and crushing a croc beneath him as he lands.

Then Crinis is here.

Like a nightmare given form, her tentacles explode outward, snapping onto any monster they touch and rending them apart, or lifting them into the air to toss them into the bottomless void of her maw.

My heart lifts to see them on the battlefield alongside me.

As long as they are with me, we can defend the colony against anything. I truly believe that.

Shattering Bite!

Before my jaws can even clamp shut on the Wolf Dragon before me, a blistering lance of light impales the creature, dispatching it in a single hit.

Why the hey!

Adjusting myself slightly, I look back to see a straight path through the monsters has been created by that piercing attack. It must have speared through five of them!

As the monsters gradually close in once more, I catch a fleeting glimpse of Morrelia, rage burning in her eyes and her hand extended, her sword clenched in her first.

That was one powerful strike!

I hope she wasn�t aiming at me�

�RAAA!� Morrelia bellows. Her muscles bunch and shift beneath her skin before she stabs her hand out once more.

To describe it as a stab wouldn�t be doing it justice. The strength, the control, the sheer force of that strike went beyond what I imagined was possible. As if she were cutting apart the very air, the sword pierces the atmosphere. As it does, pure light coalesces around her arm and hand, flowing onto the sword itself, rapidly building in intensity until it was blinding.

The glare reaches a critical mass just as the sword extends, forming a point at the tip of the blade that shines like a miniature sun. Then, in an instant, the beam lances out, piercing monsters straight through, seemingly without resistance. Just as suddenly as it had come, the light fades and a line of twenty monsters slumps to the ground.

What the heck is that skill? How the heck does she do that?

As the monsters swirl and growl, Morrelia�s crew arrive to back her up, firing arrows with incredible speed, their hands a blur. It looks as though they took a little time to gather their supplies and uncase their bows, but they�re in the thick of it now.

On impulse I decide to rush back to where the five of them have gathered, tearing my way through a dense cluster of centipedes to do so.

Clang!

An arrow smacks into my carapace as I Dash, reflecting cleanly off one of the diamond portions and ricocheting off into the swirl of beasts harmlessly.

OI!

Slowing my approach, I wave my antennae frantically to signal my peaceful intentions. I�m willing to give the benefit of the doubt on the first shot, but any more than that and we�re going to have trouble here. Thankfully, the archer�s eyes widen as she recognises me and turns to shoot a fresh target.

I mean, an apology would have been appreciated� but I suppose under the circumstances�

You�re fighting a giant horde of monsters and a massive ant, I suppose I�m basically the size of a couch, if not quite as high, comes charging at you, you�re going to shoot the heck out of them.

As I reach their side and unleash a few more Gravity Spears into the horde, binding monsters, slowing and restricting them, Morrelia turns to me and nods briefly before unleashing another solid beam of light into the throng.

She�s like a freakin� laser cannon with that skill!

It�s rad as hell, I have to say.

She pauses for a second, as if feeling or sensing something, before barking an order to one of her crew, a grizzled looking guy with a face full of scars. He nods and steps ahead of the group, gripping a heavy looking axe in two hands.

�Haaaaa!� he bellows before sprinting at the onrushing horde and unleashing wild horizontal swings with his axe.

With every swing, a furious arc of light slashes out in the shape of a phantom axe, splitting the monsters apart and giving the group breathing room, allowing the two female archers to continue unleashing their bolts of death.

With this respite, I continue to build Gravity Spears, hurling them into the horde to bind the monsters together, occasionally firing at a patch of ground to bind the monsters to the earth, creating knots of creatures throughout the mass of monsters that can�t move freely, tripping and blocking the press of beasts behind them.

�Haaaaaa� Haaaaaa.�

Next to me, Morrelia, eyes closed, goes into some sort of breathing meditation. The air seems to whistle between her teeth as they clench and her breathing becomes heavier. Before I even have time to mock her within my mind, something changes in the air. A bloodthirsty aura rises. A tangible sense of rage and violence that seems to warp the very air around the powerfully built woman.

As each second passes, the air around her grows denser and her body begins to release a soft red light that stinks of blood.

What.

The.

Heck.

As I grow more bewildered and confused, the two archers shout out a warning and the axe swinging man turns without hesitation and sprints to get behind Morrelia.

Just as he does, her eyes open. They�re frickin� glowing with a murderous red light. Snarling like a beast she tears a second sword out of a sheath across her back and explodes into motion.

The nearest wave of monsters simply burst into chunks of Biomass when she smashes into them like a cannon ball, blades flashing as her murderous aura rises all the while. All technique and finesse seems to have left her. She rips her blades through the air, cleaving foes up to ten feet away with wild swings.

Instead of the light of her skills being pure white, as every other time I�ve ever seen a skill activated, even her own, the light flowing from her swords is bright red. The monsters almost appear intimidated to find this creature amongst them, but it�s too late. She swings with wild abandon, slashing left and right, leaving herself wide open to attack.

Some attacks actually do manage to get through, the occasional monster making it to her and raking its claws against her arms or across her leather armour.

She doesn�t care.

She doesn�t even seem to notice.

In fact, my startled eyes notice that as that hungry red light continues to tear apart monsters with every flash of steel, her wounds are closing.

The hell is this? This is freakin� hot to death.

She�s some sort of Vampiric Berserker?

And she thinks I�M the monster!

I have to say though, watching her in action, a snarling rictus of pure rage locked on her face and her eyes alive with hate, actually glowing with the light of rage�Well, it�s enough to bring a tear to my monstrous eyes. That�s the way to fight.

[Tiny, Crinis! Watch out, one of the humans is a flat-out berserker and she�s killing everything that gets anywhere close to her. Make sure you keep some distance. I don�t think she can recognise friend from foe.]

[Acknowledged, Master!]

[Grrrrr, FIGHT!]

I can only roll my eyes at Tiny as he resents my intrusion on his battle. In my mind�s eye, he�s bellowing with rage, the air around him alive with crackling electricity as his fists cause devastation amongst the thronging monsters.

As well as we�re doing, the wave is immense.

In the tunnels, we were able to use the narrow spaces to funnel the enemies into manageable numbers, forcing them to charge directly onto our spears, so to speak. Out here, it simply isn�t the case. They surround, they flow around and separate us. Even worse, some of them ignore us, rushing past the small number of fighters and charging into the village.

The front of this horde is so wide, that even the ant hill might be threatened at this rate. As monsters continue to break away from our melee and rush to the closest targets, I can see some of them dashing for the colony.

Not only that, I can tell that these monsters are not the freshly hatched creatures we battled in the tunnels. Despite being regular first strata beast-type monsters, they�ve got Levels and Biomass behind them, probably from destroying and consuming the people of Liria.

Their advanced skills and mutations are making them just that little bit harder to crack. Every minute difference begins to pile up rapidly in a melee like this.

This isn�t going well.

Despite my misgivings about the current situation, Crinis is having a field day. I�ve been steadily making my way to the area my two pets are active, tying together knots of monsters and hitting the occasional heavy hitter with a pair of Gravity Bolts, effectively locking them down for a period of time.

When I finally get a view of Crinis, she is merrily carving away at the monsters around her, rending them, twisting them apart, throwing them into her unending maw of eldritch terror, and in general threshing the wheat these monsters are to her. Only when something larger and more powerful approaches does she have any difficulty.

As I approach, a mighty looking Lion Ogre charges at her, its heavy feet thundering into the ground as the powerfully built creature reaches out with clawed hands.

[Watch out, Crinis!] I shout.

Naturally, she was totally aware of the creature through her Tremor Sense. Something that large and heavy had to be lighting it up like a firework. Before it can grasp her, ten tentacles explode out of her main body and wrap around the creature�s legs, pulling them together.

CRASH!

Howling with fury, the Ogre can�t maintain its balance and collapses, shaking the earth so hard that several nearby monsters lose their feet. Despite hitting the ground so hard, the monster is largely unharmed. Snarling, the beast tries to rip at the tentacles binding its legs together, but Crinis is already there.

Yet more limbs snap out, twisting and winding around the monster, holding its wrists and torso. Crinis isn�t strong enough to win a contest of strength against something as physically imposing as a Lion Ogre, certainly not one of this size. But she doesn�t have to.

A horrible buzzing erupts from the tentacles as Crinis unleashes her barbs. The tiny, hooked blades move back and forth at incredible speeds. By the looks of things, the Lion isn�t enjoying it too much.

Not content with this level of existential terror, Crinis unfolds her main body, exposing the black, empty void ringed by distended fangs that is her mouth, and clamps it down on her foes shoulder, tearing into it without mercy.

The display is made even more horrific by the fact that she�s still got tentacles out harvesting monsters around her, even as she takes on this big fish. I think her Fear skill is kicking into effect. Several nearby creatures are looking decidedly intimidated, hesitating as the bloodlust that filled them only moments before is drained away by the sight of this eldritch terror.

You do you, Crinis. You�re all right in my books.

Even so, I might turn myself around. It�s hard for me not to be able to see what she�s doing, but if I angle my body just right, she falls into one of my more blurry patches of vision and I�m spared the full details of the gory scene.

My face is already starting to ache from repeatedly using my biting skills. I�ve had the Mana flowing into my mandibles for some time, improving my cutting power. Eventually I am going to run out of stamina.

Gritting my mandibles together, I start to cut my way out of the horde, moving toward the colony.

The Gravity Spears have been having a better than expected effect. After firing twenty or so, there are many little knots of monsters frozen in place. They aren�t smart enough to reason through the situation, so rather than try and move together, they just run about, smacking into the monsters around them and getting pulled back together. The groups I stuck to the ground are even more debilitated. The further they get from the point I targeted, the stronger the pull. They�ve effectively been taken out of the fight.

Each spear hasn�t done that much work, but cumulatively, the effect is substantially reducing the numbers of the horde.

Ha!

Finally!

I burst out from amongst the monsters and Dash with all of my strength to get ahead of them.

Only to find workers running in the other direction, toward the horde.

Dammit!

The colony is already getting into the fight?

Gah! My feet scrabble against the ground as I dig my claws in and try to turn around as more and more workers charge past. In the distance, the ant hill is swarming with workers as they pour out of the many chambers within, rallying to the defence of the colony.

It wasn�t as if I thought I could keep them from the fighting� Well, maybe I did. What I really want is to make sure as many as possible survive.

I turn and charge alongside my siblings. All around me now, they�re silent with only the occasional clack of mandibles and the faint rasping of carapace. To my antennae, though, they are roaring.

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! ENEMY! ENEMY! FIGHT!

The air is thick with the chemical signals of their rage. Their home is threatened and their queen needs defending. The colony will rise. The first workers smash into the edge of the monster wave, their mandibles working like machines. Wherever possible, two or more ants gang up on another monster, subduing it, latching onto its limbs and pulling it down before yet more workers approach to finish the job.

Before I crash back into the horde, there�s something else developing in my side view.

The humans are also charging. Led by, believe or not, the one-armed priest. They�re wielding their motley collection of busted swords, farming implements and crude spears. Faces twisted with fear and desperation, but also courage and anger, they sprint as fast as their human legs will carry them to monsters so much larger than themselves.

The last thing I see is the priest�s face, alight with joy and righteousness, before I�m back amongst the melee, chomping away and crunching monsters as fast my mandibles can move.

The frustrating thing about a battle such as this, where the numbers on both sides were relatively high and the fight was spread over a wider front, was just how hard it was to keep track of what was taking place.

My senses were overwhelmed on every front. Heat was thick in the air from the exertion of thousands of bodies, my eyes were filled with the blur of rapid movement and my antennae were drowned in the pheromones of my fellow workers. Not to mention the vague impressions of the very near future I received; confusing, shifting images that fluttered against my mind like ghosts. It was a sensory overload. If I hadn�t built quite as powerful a mental rig as I did, perhaps I wouldn�t have been able to process half of it.

Thankfully, I could.

I could parse all of it.

It was a strange feeling, to say the least. My brain was able to accept and sort all of the information in a fraction of a second. I could see everything around me, track every enemy, see the subtle shifts of their future selves, observe their body heat, and react. Claws fell from all around me and I shifted my body at high speeds. A little to the left, slant my carapace a touch on the right, and blows either slid off me or scratched harmlessly against my diamond shell.

Muahahahaha!

I am all that is ant! Behold me!

Phew. Need to cool off. Even in the midst of battle, it�s a heady rush. In the back of my mind, I can hear the announcements of Gandalf, letting me know my skills are improving. That�s the one thing I don�t have the attention to spare for. I can go over that later.

Right now, I need to kill as fast as possible!

If I had the time, I could try and form a Gravity Bomb. Except, with the humans, Tiny, Crinis and now the colony involved, the risk of collateral damage is too high. This battle is simply one that we have to grind out, unfortunately.

And the workers are perfect for this. As soon as they arrive, they get stuck in and don�t stop. I move as fast as I can, ripping into beasts with all of my strength, more often than not just debilitating a monster before moving on. I can leave the remains to the workers, but if I can disable as many foes as possible then I will. The survival of my siblings comes first.

My sub-brains are ripping out Gravity Bolts one after another. Every five seconds they blast out a pair of the spells, rooting some unfortunate monsters to the ground. Easy fodder for the follow up wave of workers as I wind my way up and down the front between the horde and the ants.

[Work your way back toward me, guys. Be careful you don�t catch any of the workers in your strikes.]

Tiny and Crinis silently acknowledge me and I can feel them begin to shift closer to me. The two of them are still buried deep in the melee, surrounded by foes and holding on. I make sure to warn them not to injure the colony since the last thing I want is to lose family members to Tiny�s lightning or Crinis� maw.

The two of them will need to act more cautiously, slowing their killing speed, but I want them on this side to support the ants. The more help we have, the fewer colony members will fall.

Idly I wonder how the humans are doing on their side. I quickly push it out of my mind. They have to look after themselves. Morrelia and her crew are over there and the villagers gained some Levels and weapon skills when Beyn had them fighting Dungeon monsters in the village. It will have to be enough for them.

My family comes first. As always.

Holy moly, I�m tired.

I have to switch from using Shattering Bite to less draining skills. The punchier bite skills do a wallop more damage, with a hefty cost to boot. I can�t maintain constant use in an extended fight like this, my face already feels like it wants to fall off.

It would be nice if I could �see� my stamina as a resource. According to Beyn, it�s a hidden resource in the System, unlike Mana and Health which are quantified and made visible to everyone. Apparently, it�s possible to do the math and calculate how much stamina you have, how quickly it regenerates and how much your skills cost, but I rejected Beyn when he, very eagerly, offered to run the numbers. I didn�t want to be a lab rat for the priest, and the look in his eyes was off-putting to say the least.

Ripping Bite!

Using the new, and slightly more brutal, Ripping Bite, I continue to tear into the monsters as they appear before me. Evolved Centipedes and hounds are at the front of the swarm now. They were likely huddled in the middle of the pack, letting their weaker evolutions suffer the first counterattack.

I grit my mandibles.

Going to grind this out the hard way.

And we do.

After a solid hour of biting, tearing, acid spraying and more biting, the ants from the colony and the human warriors meet each other in the centre of the field. All around is a carpet of ruined monsters, covering the ground with their ichor. The humans are covered in wounds. Filthy and gasping for breath, their chests heave under sweat stained clothes. The ants are fine.

I�d anticipated this moment. Since I was moving just ahead of the ants in the fray, I manage to run into the humans first. Cue me, desperately running backward and forward spraying �Don�t fight! Food!� pheromones all over the place. The workers are a little confused, but by that time there are so few monsters, Tiny is able to sprint along and pound them to slag before the suddenly idle workers are attacked. Message received, their antennae flick this way and that as they begin to turn and deal with the precious Biomass.

Morrelia is there, her vicious, red-eyed rage has run its course and she appears haggard, as if her own life force had been sucked out of her. I suspect it might be a cost imposed by activating her berserk state. Still, she stands tall, shoulders square like a spartan, watching as the ants pick over the Biomass and begin dragging it back to the colony for consumption and distribution.

Hey, we�ve got some special larvae to feed over there.

Exhausted, I fumble my way into forming a mind bridge with Morrelia.

[You�d better get the humans to back off from this area,] I say wearily. [It�s only a matter of time before one of the workers bumps into a human and attacks. If your people leave, then they will focus on harvesting the food.]

Even as visibly drained as she is, she still watches me carefully.

[Why aren�t they as smart as you?] she asks, nodding toward the workers. [Why are you so different?]

[I don�t know,] I lie. [Look, there have been casualties for both my family and the village today. Let�s not complicate things. Ask your people to move away before someone gets hurt.]

Her jaw clenches stubbornly.

[Some of these monsters have useful parts. The people could use them. We should get our share.]

My temper flares hot, but I try to tamp it down.

[You aren�t wrong, but I can�t sort out a sharing arrangement right here and now. Ask your people to step aside and I can ensure your village will get a chance to harvest from the Dungeon, but if you don�t do it right now then people will die while you stand there wasting my time.]

Her eyes flash hot at being spoken to like this by a monster. All things considered, I�m right. At least she�s not so full of pride that she can�t recognise it.

Her crew stand behind her, the two female archers, the grizzled axe guy and the swordsman. They�re battered and bruised, though still trying to put up a show of force behind their leader. It�s paper thin.

For their part, the villagers are just happily staring at the workers as they go about their business, so drained and shell shocked from the battle, they seem to have forgotten not to get too close to the monstrous ants.

That changes when Morrelia turns to speak to them. Eyes widen with understanding and they begin to step back cautiously, trying not to make any sudden moves to antagonise the workforce. I can even see the priest moving amongst their ranks, his robes torn and bloody. The man is like a cockroach. I swear he�s unkillable. He might have more in common with insects than humans.

Wearily, I throw up my status to check my skill changes.

Looks like I got three Levels in Shattering Bite, two in Ripping Bite, one in Mana Miser, three in Advanced Exo-Skeleton Defence, two in Rapid Dash and two in Stamina. There are a few skill upgrades to take care of. I�ll do it later when I have a bit more peace.

A fairly good haul, I have to say. I don�t notice anything else odd about my status. Wearily, I turn to the Biomass. Better help get this stuff stowed away.

Name: Anthony

Level: 22 (special core) (IV)

Might: 41

Toughness: 29

Cunning: 44

Will: 34

HP: 58/58

MP: 220/220

Skills: Excavation Level 9 (II); Improved Acid Shot Level 6 (II); Enhanced Grip Level 4 (II); Shattering Bite Level 11 (III); Advanced Stealth Level 6 (II); Splintering Chomp Level 4 (III); Tunnel Map Level 6 (II); Mana Transformation Level 6 (III); Advanced Forceful Mana Level 8 (II); External Mana Manipulation Level 2 (I); Mana Sensing Level 5 (I); Core Surgery Level 3 (III); Advanced Exo-Skeleton Defence Level 10 (II); Pet Communication Level 3 (I); Rapid Dash Level 3 (II); Advanced Water Magic Affinity Level 3 (II); Stamina Level 4 (I); Pet Growth Speed Level 1 (I); Mana Miser Level 5 (I); Cerebral Endurance Level 4 (I); Deep Meditation Level 2 (II); Precise Shooting Level 3 (I); Ripping Bite Level 5 (I)

Mutations: Omni-Focused Eyes +10; Precognitive Infrared Antennae +10; Mana Eating Restrictive Acid +10; Rapid Absorption Legs +10; Savage Infused Mandibles +10; Hardened Diamond Carapace +10; Rapid Limb Regeneration Gland +10; Persuasive Pheromone Language Gland +10; Expanded Deep Gravity Magic Gland +10; Combined Divergent Coordination Cortex +10; Dispersive Regenerating Inner Carapace Plating +10

Species: Dispersed Mind Ant (Formica)

Skill Points: 24

Biomass: 356

All work and no play makes Anthony, something, something.

Things have been way too busy! I need some rest.

Not to mention they�re only going to get busier from this point. I need to help the humans out a little, get them up and running so they can look after themselves. Especially now that it looks like there will be more attacks from those damnable crocodiles. Over the surface this time. I need to train up my own skills and fill myself with Biomass to get to the point where I�m ready to evolve. Not to mention I need to prepare for my evolution and decide what to do with the rare core. And, all of this has to be taken care of before the next generation of workers arrives!

Almost makes me feel as if I wasted my time evicting the stupid croca-beasts from the Expanse below. I know, I know� that isn�t true. If we had to worry about attacks across the surface as well as from underneath, I�d be too stressed to let the workers out to hunt.

It�s not all doom and gloom.

I�ve got a heap of Biomass to spend, I�ve got some skills I can advance, and I�m sure the same is true for Crinis and Tiny. Vibrant is going to be super upset about missing the battle. All the action and food she missed out on? That�s gonna sting.

Thinking of Vibrant, she�s been unusually responsible and active around the colony since we got back. I might want to ask about that.

For now, though, SLEEP.

With Tiny and Crinis in tow, I depart from the scene of the battle where the workers are still picking over the last scraps of Biomass, cutting it up and carrying it in their jaws back to the anthill. I spent some time helping out, as well as snacking, which earned me another ten Biomass. Even Tiny and Crinis were helping. Tiny can carry an awful lot, and Crinis is exceptional at� separating the food into� more manageable sizes. I�ll phrase it like that.

Hopefully none of the villagers were watching or they might have been put off their lunch.

Down we go, into the massive mound of earth that is our home, through the queen�s chamber and into our own little nook at the very bottom of the colony. Underground, where the Mana is still strong enough to sustain us.

Crinis descends into the chamber as a mass of ink-black tentacles that rapidly withdraw until she appears as a tennis ball sitting atop a single stalk. Tiny just slumps into a corner, throwing himself onto the floor, and I swear he was snoring before he hit the ground.

For my part, I find a comfy spot between them and grow very still, letting my thoughts slow until they too become frozen in place and my awareness stretches out to nothing�

HAGAH!

I�m up!

Snapping awake, the energy returns and my mind�minds�snap into alertness with a suddenness that causes me to stumble slightly as my legs can�t quite keep up. Whoa!

No problem!

�Senior! What happened when I was out?� Vibrant loudly exclaims.

Wazzat?

Vibrant has taken up a position on the wall near the entrance to our chamber. She probably noticed me awake and immediately asked what was on her mind.

I decide to play dumb.

�What do you mean? I don�t remember anything interesting happening��

�What, what! The entire colony stinks of Biomass and the workforce is so fat they can barely move! Somethiiiiing must have happened!�

She�s so full of curiosity that she�s practically vibrating in place, her legs scritching and scrabbling against the wall so fast she may as well be dancing.

�Okay,� I relent. �There was another mass monster attack, but across the surface. We fought them off and the humans helped� a little.�

�Whaaaaaat!� she cries, appalled.

Hehehehehe. I knew this would bug her.

�Huge battle it was. Massive. Why, the horizon was filled with enemies. From left to right, nothing but monsters, come to challenge the colony. The workers were heroic, standing tall as any ant has ever stood. Why, each worker must have accounted for thirty monsters at least!�

�No way, no waaay!�

Unable to take my expansive boasting, she leaps off the wall and starts slapping me with her antennae�thwack, thwick, thwack!

Gwehehehehe.

�All right! Enough already!� I fend her off with my own antennae, and for a moment it feels like two ten-year-olds having a slap fight until she finally gives up.

She sighs, deeply.

�If I�d stayed here instead of helping with hunting, I would have got waaaaay more food.�

Which reminds me.

�Why did you decide to help out with the hunting? Usually you just stick around here. You actually went and helped out on your own.�

Vibrant thinks for a moment, her antennae drawing lazy circles in the air.

�Don�t know,� she exclaims. �I just felt like the colony needed more food and the rest of the workers needed help!�

Fair enough. Perhaps this is her advanced intelligence coming into play? Perhaps something else. There is a different sort of air around her that wasn�t present immediately after she evolved. She seems a little more� grounded. And the workers seem to follow along with whatever she�s doing.

Even now, there are two workers sticking their heads in here just to check up on what she�s doing. What�s going on up there, guys?

Maybe later I�ll have to check in on her core and see if something is up in her status. Speaking of which, I�ve got points to spend!

�The battle�s over now and the food�s been distributed, but there might be a bit still left up there if you want to go eat or help out.�

She�s immediately excited.

�Kay!�

Aaaand she�s gone. Motoring up the wall and out of the chamber, her followers racing along behind.

First thing is to upgrade the skills that need it.

[Ripping Bite Shredding Bite (II): Costs 1 SP. Grants the user familiarity and knowledge to more effectively use bite type attacks to tear and break apart their foes.]

Yikes.

[Mana Miser Mana Scrooge (II): Cost 1 SP. Increases the ability of the user to use Mana more stringently, reducing waste whilst retaining effect.]

Handy.

[Advanced Exo-Skeleton Defence (II) Expert Exo-Skeleton Defence (III): Costs 1 SP. Grants high-level expertise in using an external skeleton in a way to maximise defensive properties. Greatly increases the ability to disperse energy from hard strikes.]

Very nice!

[Mana Sensing Empowered Mana Sensing (II): Costs 1 SP. Grants greater expertise in reaching further with mental senses, searching for Mana patterns and concentration. Increases the sensitivity of the sense, allowing for more accurate readings of smaller stimuli.]

Also good.

The warm rush of new knowledge melts over my mind. This never gets old. Having a rush of information just unfold in my mind is incredible. If I could have learned this quick as a human, it would have been handy to say the least. I might not have dropped out of school! Well� I probably still would have� who cares!

I�ve got Biomass to spend, baby!