“My life, FOR THE COLONY!”
“SACRIFICE for the colony!”
“Before this day is done, we shall be TORN ASUNDER for the COLONY!”
Dammit, Leeroy!
From the sounds of things, the next two hundred hatchlings have emerged from their cocoons. How exciting!
[Come on Tiny, Crinis, let’s go check it out. Then we might head down into the Dungeon for a while. It’ll be nice to find something to fight.]
Tiny grunted in agreement. [Fight. Good.]
Quite so.
After making our way through the nest, we emerge into one of the brood chambers. Inside are hundreds of tiny hatchlings bustling about, shouting and roaring as the first twenty move between them, attempting to get them organised. After a few moments of cheerfully watching the high energy of these new hatchlings, irritation stirs in my gut at their slow response to the instructions of their seniors.
“Shut it!” I snap.
By some miracle, the hatchlings cut off their racket and face me, along with the first twenty. Uh, I didn’t expect to get all of this attention. Whilst I have it, I may as well say something.
“To the new hatchlings, let me say welcome to our family. Now do as you’re told and crack in, the colony needs workers, not corpses! Listen to your seniors and work hard.”
“Yes, senior!” they shout and begin to file their way out of the chamber under the watchful eye of the twenty.
“Thank you, senior,” Tungstant said. “We underestimated how worked up the hatchlings would be upon hatching.”
I could only laugh at that. “You don’t remember what happened when you and your siblings hatched?” I ask jokingly, causing the Carver ant’s antennae to droop with embarrassment.
“I’m sure you and your brood mates will do a fantastic job taking care of these hatchlings, Tungstant. You’ve done good work preparing for them, it’ll go well. I’m planning on taking Tiny and Crinis out for a bit of exploration and Levelling. We won’t be far away if you need us, I’ll leave a trail for you.”
“As you say, senior. We will look forward to your return.”
31. Delving Once Again
Briefly I contemplate paying a visit to the village, I just don’t know what to say. Nothing about the changes in the colony, I’m not exactly sure how humans would react to the creation of this new species. Knowing the people in the village, their fervour for all things ant may only increase, an outcome I’d rather avoid. If they get even more fired up in their ant obsession, I’ll come back to find a temple or something in the middle of their land.
That’s the last thing I need. It’s already difficult to go there due to getting swarmed by people moments after I arrive. Then the priest shows up and starts shouting to the heavens. It’s a pain, to say the least. If I didn’t have Enid to talk to, I’m not sure I’d bother communicating with them at all.
It’ll be nice to actually get away, not feel pressured by time and obligations, just by the jaws and claws of the deformed beasts in the Dungeon attempting to rip my face off. The less stressful stuff. Tiny lumbers behind me as we make our way down into the queen’s chamber and farther into our own private chamber, currently occupied by a few monsters attempting to claw at each other.
Impatient and annoyed, Tiny smashes these monsters in a single backhand, then squats, waiting for me to give the go ahead to keep moving. The intense light down here hasn’t changed for weeks. Compared to when I first arrived in the world, the illumination is intense, almost stinging my eyes. I’m looking forward to this stupid event coming to an end, though. From what I understand, the waves are not supposed to last this long. A week, maybe two, then things start to die down and the accelerated spawn rates go back to normal, everything is gravy.
It’s been months with this wave! The extra Biomass is nice, but I really want to be able to sleep peacefully underground again.
Ah well.
[Come over here for a second, Tiny, I want to check your core.]
Rolling his eyes, the bat-faced lightning gorilla stomps over and plonks himself on the ground with a thud. Real graceful.
Checking in on the progress of my pets every now and again is important, since they haven’t been the best at taking care of themselves. I might be driven into taking further pet-based Skills just to help manage these two. Tiny with his dim-witted decision making, and Crinis with her paralysing fear of failure, have caused no shortage of issues. Play it safe and stay on top of the problem. That sounds like a good policy.
Bringing forth my antennae, I access Tiny’s core and sift through the information to piece together his status.
Name: Tiny
Leveclass="underline" 21 (core)(IV)
Might: 154
Toughness: 42
Cunning: 7
Wilclass="underline" 15
HP: 84/84
MP: 180/180
Skills: Expert Ape Boxing Level 12; Severe Brutal Uppercut Level 4; Enhanced Leap Level 6; Advanced Heavy Smash Level 3; Advanced Athletics Level 5; Advanced Grappling Level 3; Potent Crushing Blows Level 9; Dazzling Fancy Feet Level 4; Advanced Dash Level 5
Mutations: Meteoric Enhanced Musculature +15, Stone Bones +15; Starfall Legs +15; Shattering Sonic Enhancer +15; Hard Compressing Lightning Mana Affinity Gland +10, Hard Compressing Lightning Mana Affinity Gland +10, Hyper Rapid Energy Conversion Gland +10
Species: Dire Lightning Storm Kong
Skill Points: 17
Biomass: 104
Overall, things are looking good for him. Lots of Level ups, plenty of mutations. I think he’s chosen to enhance his +5 mutation every single time he advances things to +10. Which means at +15, he only has the one option to deal with. Makes sense, I suppose. Tiny likes to keep things simple, which suits his personality just fine.
I can’t even be mad.
He’s well on his way to the complete +20, which is excellent. He also has a fair chunk of Biomass packed away in the tank. He’s probably just waiting until he upgrades at least two things at once to cut down on the time he has to spend in the menu.
[Good job, Tiny. Everything looks good. You’re getting really strong!]
He nodded once at my praise.
[Tiny strong,] he affirmed.
[Alright, Crinis, your turn.]
[Ah! Are you sure, Master?]
[Yes.]
Before she can protest further, I stretch my antennae back to the small black sphere sitting on my back.
Name: Crinis
Leveclass="underline" 6 (core) (II)
Might: 38
Toughness: 35
Cunning: 22
Wilclass="underline" 20
HP: 130/130
MP: 210/210
Skills: Expert Shadow Flesh Manipulation Level 1; Expert Grappling Level 1; Expert Shredding Level 6; Enhanced Tremor Sensing Level 6; Brutal Dismembering Level 5; Greater Fear Inspiration Level 3; Mana Shaping Level 9; Smooth Tentacle Walking Level 4
Mutations: Dense Durable Shadow Flesh +10; Rapid Disintegrating Void Maw +10; Vast Bottomless Dimensional Stomach +10; Empowered Dividing Tentacles +10; Sharpened Ripping Spines +10; Pointed Macabre Teeth +10; Wide Fine Mana Sensory Gland +10; Deep Shadow Magic Gland +5; Swift Shadow Flesh Generator +5