[I guess not…]
Seems a little unsporting, though… Mind you, I would definitely do it if I had the chance. I’m a monster, so manners aren’t expected. I’d likely get enough experience to go straight to tier eight or something. Not to mention the Biomass… or the core!
[Hang on a minute. If that actually happens, and they rise again, then won’t all of us be killed? Like, the entire Colony?]
[Maybe. Unless you can hide from them or fight them off, then yes, they would likely eat you. Or the flood of absurdly powerful monsters from the deeper strata would do the job.]
I slump.
[The only answer is to keep getting stronger, right?]
[Right.] Granin grins.
[This isn’t news to you, Anthony,] Torrina tells me gently. [If you wanted the Colony to thrive, you were always going to have to keep growing.]
[I get that, but I didn’t realise there was an Ancient-level threat on the horizon!]
[I wouldn’t stress too much in the short-term,] Corun encourages me. [It’s a big ‘if’ that what Granin is suggesting will even happen. The Cataclysm has only happened once, and nobody was living in the Dungeon at that point, so nobody has any idea what the conditions that led to the Rending even were.]
[Weren’t the Sophos down here at that time?]
The younger mage pulls a face.
[Getting the Sophos to say anything is hard, let alone spill their secrets.]
[They’ve been more than welcoming to me…]
[Maybe because you’re a monster,] he shrugs. [They might sympathise with a sapient reborn as a monster. If you find them again, maybe you can ask.]
After chatting and discussing my magic progression with them, the Shapers retire to get some rest and I check in with the Colony leadership to make sure the plan is progressing as it should. Despite everything falling into place, I can’t help but feel a little disturbed. The Ancients might rise? Demons, I can deal with, if only barely. The Legion, I was able to deal with, if only barely. Gigantic mega-monsters rising from the depths? I’m not confident.
I have to take everything Granin says with a slight pinch of salt. He’s a cultist himself, after all, and he’s readily admitted that he wants me to rise to that level, become the twentieth Ancient… for whatever reason. Come to think of it, why is it so important that there be twenty humungo monsters lurking in the centre of this world? Is it supposed to achieve something? Do the civilisations on Pangera just hate odd numbers? I’ve never actually managed to get the triad to admit what they actually get out of making me reach the peak of monsterhood…
I’m practicing spinning barriers while I wait for the evolution to complete, but I’m finding it more difficult to handle than I anticipated. My low Skill Level is obviously an issue, but more than that, I think I underestimated how difficult it is to form these things due to how easy Invidia makes it look. Grabbing hold of mana in the air, pressing it down, then weaving and shaping it into a physical barrier takes time and a considerable amount of mental effort, especially since I’m working with mana that is external to my body. At the moment, dedicating three mind constructs to the process, they can form a barrier in around five seconds. That’s clearly way too slow, but the Skill is still only rank two. I’ve been told over and over again that Skills below rank five aren’t really worth mentioning. More practice required!
My experiments with Force Magic have continued apace, and I’m happy with how they’re going. The bulk of my mind constructs are dedicated to this branch of magic, and I’m trying to rise through the Levels as quickly as possible. I’ve raised it to the second rank already, but I’ll need proper combat practice to accelerate its growth faster. At the moment, the pushes, pulls, and other forces I can control aren’t nearly strong enough to be useful. I mean, sending out a Force Bolt is like whacking someone in the face with an invisible rock, except I have a spell that throws a rock, and it’s cheaper in energy, easier to cast, and is more effective! I may as well just throw a rock!
More Levels are needed for this magic to reveal its true potential.
15. Hatchling Hatches… Again
It didn’t take much longer for the hatchling to complete her evolution. The jump from tier three to four isn’t nearly as large as those that follow. I imagine my next evolution is going to put me out of commission for days, perhaps as long as a week! That does make me wonder about the further evolutions. Will going from tier nine to ten take a year? What about the Ancients? If they evolve from where they are now, will they end up sleeping for a thousand years or something? Absurd!
When Invidia notices that Brilliant has begun to stir in her System-induced slumber, he lets me know and spits the little ant out onto the surface. Her size hasn’t increased that much, which means she’s continued to invest in almost purely mental stats, pretty much as I expected her to. In fact, she’s probably still smaller than carvers, mages, and core shapers at this tier, making her the smallest tier four ant in the Colony. I don’t know what she spent her evolutionary energy on, but it sure as hell wasn’t to beef up her physical form! When I’d initially created the different castes, I’d been sure to give at least a little boost to their Might and Toughness to make them a bit more durable. Dying is not the desired outcome for any of us!
It appears as though the hatchling hasn’t put as much thought into that. She looks so flimsy I could probably break her carapace with one leg! If she’s going to remain at this size, then she’s going to be easy pickings for the kinds of opponents we face here in the third stratum. Surely she came up with a few alternative methods to protect her own life? Actually, considering the attitudes within the Colony, that’s far from a guarantee.
After ten minutes of gradual movement, Brilliant springs up to standing and greets us.
“Ah! Hello, senior! I hope you weren’t waiting long.”
“I can already tell that you’d hoped I wouldn’t be waiting when you woke up so you could sneak away and explore on your own.”
“How?!”
“You’re as clear as glass to me, hatchling! How’d the evolution go? Manage to pick up something useful?”
“Definitely! I’m getting closer to being able to peel back all of the secrets of this world! Soon enough, nothing will be able to hide from me!”
“Really? What did you end up going with?”
“Muahahaha! Take a look and see!”
“Wait a second, did you just evil laugh? I’m the only one who is allowed to evil laugh!”
“It’s not an evil laugh! It’s an ominous chuckle! Not even remotely the same.”
“Fair enough…”
Activating core shaping with one antenna pressed lightly against the hatchling’s head, I take a peek at her status.
Name: Brilliant
Leveclass="underline" 1 (Special) IV
Might: 40
Toughness: 40
Cunning: 80
Wilclass="underline" 65
HP: 80/80