I guess for the time being, I should emphasise the spellcasting ahead of the quick movement. Absorbing Mana through the legs has increased my MP regeneration by a ferocious amount. If I keep on using spells in battle, having that increased regen will be incredibly helpful. Let’s emphasise the absorption.
[Do you wish to improve your Expanded Deep Gravity Magic Gland to +15? This will cost 65 Biomass.]
Naturally.
[At this level your mutations will be reinforced. Do you wish to proceed?]
Since I’ve taken the same upgrade twice for the Gravity Magic Gland, naturally, I won’t get the choice to fuse. I’ll be interested to see how much capacity I’ll have once this mutation is done.
Confirm all of those!
4. Hey Big Spender
This is a big moment for me. I’ve upgraded every body part to +10, and now I’m advancing a large step towards full +15. My mutations have been lagging behind my evolution tier for way too long, it’s nice to finally be able to boost up this side of the power equation.
Ensuring that my core is fully upgraded and evolving has certainly helped. But the neglect of my Skills and mutations from a lack of patience and dedication stops now! From here on in, it’s going to be Skills and Biomass number one! Evolution is for chumps and Anthony’s who’ve fully mutated themselves.
Let’s get on with sorting out this mutation bonanza.
Right then! Time to confirm the purchase.
*[Would you like to improve: Expanded Deep Gravity Magic Gland +10 to Expansive Gravity Magic Gland +15?]*
*Combined Divergent Coordination Cortex +10 to Networked Coordination Cortex +15?*
*Rapid Absorption Legs +10 to Rapid Osmotic Legs +15?]*
This is one hell of a purchase.
At sixty-five each, upgrading five body parts is going to set me back a cool three hundred twenty-five! I’ll have thirty-one left. Thirty-four shy of upgrading something else to +15.
Confirm that purchase!
This is so exciting, I—wait…
How do I always forget the IIIIIITCH!
Oh no, I can feel it, it’s coming! Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no—NOOOOOOOOOO! AAAAARRRRRRR!
FLABBA-DABBA-FLAZZZZZZ!
Worse than ever before, the mutation creeps over my body: my legs, my glands, gah! An itch I can’t scratch, so intense, I can’t stand it! This is agony!
Unable to support my body, I roll onto my back and twitch there like an electrocuted spider.
FLAZZA!
KRAZZA!
FTAGN!
And on. And on. And onnnnn.
Make it STAHP!
Thankfully, it fades away. My body has finished performing whatever magic it does when the pure essence of Biomass floods my system, rebuilding my body and reshaping my cells at a stupidly rapid pace.
When you think about it, mutating feeling as intense as it does makes a certain kind of sense. The body itself is being restructured in a pretty serious way, after all. I just don’t get why it doesn’t seem to bother anyone other than me!
I’ve spent a massive amount of Biomass—three hundred and twenty-five points—and endured the worst itching of my ant life, but I’ve done it. A major step has been taken in the pursuit of the pre-evolution, fully upgraded ant.
With that out of the way, there is so much to do it makes me dizzy. Hunting needs to happen, obviously, grinding Skills along the patterns that Beyn and I discussed as well as helping the humans out a bit. Oh, can’t forget preparations for the new generation. Too busy!
First, I decide to check in with the twenty larvae playing about in the chambers toward the top of the nest. When I get there, the little grubs are still rolling about, stuffing themselves full of food provided by the battle above. Some of the little things are so stuffed they look like pale basketballs. I can’t stop rolling them around and giving them a tickle with my antennae until they wiggle about trying to escape my clutches. Awww!
Enough with the larvae teasing. Time to check in on the queen.
Let’s see if I can utilise my new Persuasive Pheromone Gland to change her mind about the rare core. Surely, she can see the value in improving her own strength.
THWACK!
Nope!
Rubbing my head with my antennae, I retreat from a clearly irritated Mother into my chamber. The new carapace upgrade is showing its worth here. That blow hurt less than usual thanks to my potent shell. Nice to see the plan coming together!
Gwehehehehe.
I don’t know what I’m going to do with that rare core… I may have to try and absorb it in chunks. Is that even possible? Guess we’ll find out…
5. The Ancient Itch
Somewhere in the Forest Expanse, a predator lay. Old and implacable, it had hunted these tunnels for hundreds of years. How many creatures had perished between those jaws? How many torn by those claws? It was a number too vast to have meaning. Uncountable.
In the early times, where the memories are dim and blurred, it hunted with such intensity, such ferocity, nothing was safe from its grasp. Nothing could escape its immolating breath. Many tried: powerful beasts, the old kings, beasts grown fat and idle, content to rule their own tiny ponds and venture out only to sustain themselves.
They had all been hunted down, dragged from their lairs and consumed, fuel to the ever-burning fire. The predator had grown strong, powerful. It revelled in that strength at first, seeking more powerful prey, greater challenges, descending ever downward.
But the one known as Garralosh had grown too strong, too fast. When the call had come, Garralosh hadn’t realised what it was at first. It was vindication. Triumph! Her long years of struggle, the lonely hunt, had finally borne the ultimate fruit. Recognised for the prowess, the bottomless strength cultivated with the broken bodies of fallen enemies.
It had come too soon. Swiftly the announcement came, then a pull began to exert itself on her. Descend, descend, descend! Every day, every hour, every second, the call tugged. An endless itch that demanded to be scratched.
At first, it was fine. Garralosh wanted to descend, wanted to seek her rightful place alongside her peers in the centre of this world. But when she tried to get there… blocked, prevented, barred. No matter where she went, which paths she travelled, they were always there, pushing Garralosh back, fending her off. Barricades she could not break through, defences that did not yield to her assault, warriors who did not fear her jaws.
They fought so many times. Garralosh killed them, feasted on them, but was never able to break through, always forced to retreat.
And the pull. It grew every passing moment, insistently tugging at the soul. Descend, descend, descend, DESCEND!
Desperation followed. Then rage, world-burning, soul-immolating rage. Still, there was no breakthrough; Garralosh could not breach past the hated soldiers in black. They tracked, harried, harassed and repelled the great predator every time it drew near the borders. They had erected a cage around it, and no matter how desperate, the beast could not escape it.
Then the madness came.
Garralosh shifted her massive bulk, cracking a few trees against her scales. It irritated her, to think back to that time when the madness consumed her. She’d charged at the blockage, storming the defences. Battered and bruised, she had killed many but paid a hefty price. Finally, the black shirts brought out their champion and they had done battle.