Back to grinding my Mind Magic. Not far away now!
With three tier six monsters in the fight, the second stratum just doesn’t pose the kind of threat it once did. The shadow monsters are far too easy to take down, and the death monsters, though harder, aren’t that much of a challenge. Only in overwhelming numbers were they a threat, and those numbers just aren’t there anymore. And the experience and Biomass we gain is negligible to say the least. Stupid tier penalty…
If we want to keep progressing, we need to go deeper and find higher tier monsters to fight! It’s the only way…
This of course doesn’t apply to the hatchling. The tier one rubbish we just blow up and move on, but tier three monsters we nab and get Tiny to beat within an inch of their lives before pinning them down in front of the tiny ant. It’s rough treatment, and I’m sorry for it, monsters, but your sacrifice is to a worthy cause. An ant cause!
Predictably, getting experience from monsters two tiers above her own lands the hatchling at Level 5 after just a few kills.
“So, what do I do now? Do I evolve?” she asks, excitement clear in her voice.
All the new things to learn, see, and experience… I can understand that excitement.
“Afraid not, little one. First you need to condense your core. It’s super important to do, and you’ll be a lot weaker if you evolve without one. This is the difference between monsters that will be stuck low tier forever and those who can advance and grow strong. The core will mean you have far more evolutionary energy to spend when you do evolve, and by improving and growing your core, you’ll get more and more energy to spend on each evolution.”
Even though she hasn’t been alive for long, the heightened Mana levels of the wave and the depth we’ve been living in are more than enough for her to have passively absorbed all the Mana she needs, no Mana infused water necessary. Listening to my explanation, the hatchling is convinced.
“What happens when I condense my core?” she asks.
“Basically, you’ll pass out and wake up with a weird feeling of heat inside your carapace. It’s been ages for me since I did it, but I can still remember that weird sensation. From what I gather, your core forms while you are unconscious, but you can feel the residual energy when you wake up. After that, we need to reinforce your core until it’s as large as a tier one monster can have, and then Level you back up to five.”
“Wait. My Level resets?”
“Yep, each and every time you evolve, it will. Also, the Level requirement for evolving doubles with each evolution.”
“Doubles huh? So how many Levels do you need to evolve?”
“…A hundred and sixty.”
“Oof.”
“Big time. I’ll be stuck like this for the near future.”
“What if I already have a core?”
Wait, what? I reach down with my antennae to check more carefully, and sure enough she already has one! What the heck?
“You were born with a core? How the heck is that fair!”
She shrugs her antennae.
“Don’t complain to me.”
Stupid champions and their stupid advantages.
“Fine, take a nap or something and we’ll get ready to help you evolve later. Sheesh.”
As the little ant prepares herself and sinks down into the dreamless sleep that is the resting state of all ants, Tiny hovers protectively over her while I reminisce about my own time as a hatchling.
Those were desperate days, with nobody to talk to but the automated System messages from Gandalf. Every day had been a battle to survive. I can still remember how hungry I was before I managed to defeat my first enemy: a tiny thorn lizard. Things have certainly changed since those days…
103. Evolution
Charge! Pierce!
As ridiculous as it feels, I continue to use the stupid combo of new Skills that I purchased in order to keep Levelling them up. Charge is fine. In practice it’s very similar to Dash, with the exception that now it’s Levelled up to rank three, it’s become a proper active Skill that shrouds me in the power of my stamina and shields me when I ram into things.
Mandible Spear, though? First of all, my mandibles aren’t exactly sharp. They aren’t pointed. They aren’t even remotely spear-like. When I activate the Skill and charge into something mandible-first, it feels more like I’m hitting them with a battering ram than a spear!
Secondly, it’s almost like I’m insulting the monsters I’m fighting. I could Charge them, knock them over and finish with one powerful chomp. Instead? I repeatedly prod them with my mandibles, pushing them over in a display that feels more like I’m trying to make fun of them than fight them. It’s embarrassing! At least there aren’t any members of the Colony here to see me do this… Except for the twenty babysitters hovering over my head somewhere…
Dammit!
I keep doing it, though. For one thing, it’s a good way to gradually bring monsters’ HP down, something I’m not all that good at, and we need weak monsters for the hatchling to get experience from. For another, I still hold out hope that Mandible Spear and Charge will fuse into something a little more awesome. If I can manifest a blazing spear of energy as I Charge into my foes, how awesome would that be? There’s quite a bit of mass on me at this point, it would be a shame to not use it.
Also, my progress on Mind Magic has continued quite well. I’m only a few more Levels away from reaching the rank to unlock Mind Constructs! Very exciting. Not only for the constructs themselves, but for the opportunity to check and see what new magic might have unlocked. With any luck, Gravity Magic will finally be mine! Allowing me to use more advanced spell forms for the Gravity Mana I constantly carry around.
“Ha! Victory is mine!” the hatchling crows, standing over the remains of her bedraggled and defeated foe. “Time to evolve!”
“This was a lot harder to achieve back in my day,” I grumble as I make my way over to her.
“Maybe I’m just amazing?” she asks, completely serious and without shame.
“Noooo,” I drawl. “I didn’t have anyone serving me almost dead monsters for me to finish off. I had to fight them on my own.”
I also had to make my own core!
“I asked if I could, and you said no!” she huffs.
“Because these things would take your head off in about five seconds!”
“You can’t very well not let me fight when I want to and then complain that I’m not doing any fighting,” she quite rightly points out.
I sigh.
“Fine, fine. You make a good point. Let’s move somewhere a little less busy and get ready for the evolution.”
We find a quieter section of tunnel and settle in.
[Crinis, can you take care of any unwanted guests? This might take a little while.]
[Of course, Master. I’ll make sure that no filth disturbs you!]
In a blink, she’s gone from my carapace, and a forest of tentacles emerge on all sides, completely blocking this section of tunnel from its surroundings. I’ve no doubt that in a few minutes, this whole area will be completely empty, all the monsters having run and hidden in sheer terror from the strange creature in their midst. Pushing the insanity and fear of the Dungeon monsters from my mind, I concentrate on the matter at hand.
“Do I evolve yet?” the impatient hatchling asks.
At least she asked before rushing into it…
“No. We talked about this. The best evolutions always come when you boost your core a little more than the System recommends. You get a little extra ‘spice’ in the process. Now this here,” I hold up a special core, “is exactly the spice we are talking about. Reinforce your core with this, then you can evolve. But make sure you do what I told you. It might be frustrating to remain a hatchling for another ten Levels, but this will pay off in the long run.”