Name: Anthony
Leveclass="underline" 30 (Special core)
Might: 41
Toughness: 29
Cunning: 44
Wilclass="underline" 35
HP: 58/58
MP: 180/240
Skills: Expert Excavation Level 3 (III); Improved Acid Shot Level 9 (II); Enhanced Grip Level 4 (II); Advanced Shattering Bite Level 14 (IV); Advanced Stealth Level 6 (II); Splintering Chomp Level 10 (III); Tunnel Map Level 7 (II); Mana Transformation Level 9 (III); Advanced Condensed Mana Level 1 (III); External Mana Manipulation Level 2 (I); Empowered Mana Sensing Level 1 (II); Core Surgery Level 6 (III); Expert Exo-Skeleton Defence Level 3 (III); Pet Communication Level 4 (I); Rapid Dash Level 4 (II); Expert Water Magic Affinity Level 1 (III); Advanced Stamina Level 7 (II); Pet Growth Speed Level 1 (I); Mana Scrooge Level 5 (II); Advanced Cerebral Endurance Level 9 (II); Profound Meditation Level 2 (III); Advanced Precise Shooting Level 2 (II); Shredding Bite Level 9 (II); Advanced Mind Magic Affinity Level 4 (II)
Mutations: Perimeter Eyes +15; Future Sight Infrared Antennae +15; Mana Eating Restrictive Acid +10; Rapid Osmotic Legs +15; Empowered Mandibles +15; True Diamond Carapace +15; Regrowth Regeneration Gland +15; Persuasive Pheromone Language Gland +10; Expansive Deep Gravity Magic Gland +15; Networked Coordination Cortex +15; Supportive Inner Carapace Plating +15; Gluttonous Stomach +15
Species: Dispersed Mind Ant (Formica Sapiens)
Skill Points: 14
Biomass: 212
I have a lot of Biomass to spend, I’ll need to take care of that soon. The other thing I need to think about is that I’ll be able to evolve again in ten Levels. My strategy of absorbing a portion of the rare core and hoping my body would adapt seems to have worked. The pain and discomfort are still there, but it’s diminished. There may be a shot that I’ll be able to take the rest of the core before I evolve. Claws crossed.
Speaking of Levelling Skills, I need to ensure I’m taking the time to grind up a few points whilst I’m up here on the surface. I have two sub-brains who are doing nothing but picking their noses right now, may as well set them a task!
I can almost feel the begrudging acceptance as I force my sub-brains to begin manipulating the thin Mana in the air. The lowest Skill I have regarding magic is my External Mana Manipulation. I may as well grind it up to the second rank at least.
My two brains grab hold of the Mana outside of my body and begin to move it. It’s a difficult task, far more difficult than grabbing hold of the pliable Mana within my core. I need to save that Mana as much as possible, so forget about using it to practice!
When I allow the brains to cooperate, they demonstrate much better progress, utilising their resources, they’re able to grab hold of more Mana and shift it around in lazy patterns in the air.
Ten minutes later, I was rewarded with the first Level up.
[External Mana Manipulation has reached Level 3.]
Nice! Keep at it, sub-brains. I’m counting on you!
It’s a strange sensation, having them work on something while my main mind dithers. It’s me working hard to control the Mana outside of my body, but at the same time, it wasn’t. As if my left hand were busy as hell with a task and my right hand was idle, but each hand had its own brain?
I continue on my way under the open sky and finally find the place where we battled the croca-commander. There’s signs of our fight to be found, the disturbed grass, the hemisphere of soil that had been consumed by my Gravity Bomb. The Mana here felt… odd. My sub-brains were still actively reaching out to the Mana in the air, but it was almost thin. As if there was less of it to take hold of in this place.
The body of the croca-commander is gone without a trace. In the soft earth near where we left it is a reptilian footprint. Large enough that I can stand in it, my entire body encompassed within.
That’s a big croc.
61. Return to the Others, the Plan
All over the scene of the battle are oversized footprints pressed into the ground. It’s clear they approached from the direction we pursued the commander, meaning they’d come from the direction of the capital city, Liria. It’s also clear that the creature cleaned up all of the Biomass we left behind. I’m not certain if Biomass fades on the surface as it does within the Dungeon, I suspect not, which leads me to believe the creature chewed all of it up before departing.
There’s no doubt in my mind who these oversized croc prints belong to: Garralosh.
The mother croc.
There are so many damned prints, it isn’t easy to tell how many legs the creature has. Judging by the progression from croca-beast to croca-commander, I can expect the number of limbs, tails and heads has only gone up. Images of bizarre formations of croca parts run through my head. Four heads? Nine tails? Twenty-two arms!
I shake myself to push the pictures from my mind. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. The rare core has been lost in my carelessness and I can’t get it back. Disappointment and guilt wash over me. If it’d been for me, I doubt I would have cared this much. So stupid!
Only one way to fix it. Try and hunt down another croca-commander and present its core to Mother! Heck, I’ll bring her the core of big momma Garralosh myself if I have to.
With an upwelling of determination, I decide to ignore the idea that I just pledged to defeat a crocodile whose feet are larger than my whole body, and turn to meet up with my crew. I spend the journey huddled in the long grass, my minds grasping at the Mana in the air.
Curiously, I find the Mana has replenished itself the farther from the battle site I get. Why the heck was the ambient Mana so thin in just that location? It seems weird. There must be a reason.
The only significant event I could think of is that Garralosh, a very old, very powerful monster, passed through the area. But what did that have to do with the Mana in the air?
Wait.
Hang on a second.
Big ol’ monster, highly evolved, powerful core, on the surface, needs Mana, Mana in the air is lacking after it passed through…
There are some dots here I feel I’m connecting…
Stopping in place, I hesitantly stretched out with my main mind, sending my awareness outside of my body in the strange way that’s only possible here in this world, to sense the Mana in the air. Like part of the atmosphere, the Mana suffuses everything. Every blade of grass, every leaf and the air itself. Not nearly to the level it exists within the Dungeon itself, but still, it’s there.
I grab hold of a small portion of Mana with my thoughts, gripping it tight in a vice of pure will, and draw it toward my body and then inside to my core. To my shock, the Mana is drawn straight into my core like a drop of water being soaked into a sponge.
Holy moly!
This means I can draw Mana out of the air in order to sustain my core whilst I’m up on the surface? Why the hell didn’t I think of that before? The core draws Mana into itself passively, I guess I just didn’t think of trying to supplement its automatic replenishment function by controlling the Mana around me. Negligent! I’ve been negligent again! I should not have neglected the External Mana Manipulation Skill for so long. What other precious secrets does it hold?