What’s more, the core of a monster retains these properties after death, constantly absorbing and storing Mana. When combined with skillful enchanting techniques, cores, especially larger, more powerful ones, can be used to create the most potent weapons and artefacts, hence their incredible value.
Like a slumbering giant, the colony rested that night. The workers had been pushing themselves hard, just as I had, and almost the entire workforce sank into torpor with only a few guards patrolling on the ant hill outside. Over five hundred monsters, crammed into a small space, each as still as a ghost. Hundreds more larvae and pupae filled every corner of our new nest, the next generation of workers growing ever closer to their time of awakening.
When I finally shake myself out of torpor, I feel refreshed in a way I haven’t felt for a long time.
So good!
I can sleep as much as I want and don’t have to battle something to the death the moment I wake up! The lousy wave is in the rearview mirror for the time being and it’s a massive weight off my shoulders.
Though I’m not so foolish as to think we’ll continue to remain untouched by it up here, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying this respite from the constant danger.
Looking around my cramped little chamber, Tiny is curled up in a ball, still happily snoring away. Even rolled up, he takes up by far the most space. With him getting larger every time he eats, exactly how big is he going to get?
I’m also pleasantly surprised when I spot the other occupant of the room. Instead of the energetic little grub, there’s now a thick cocoon leaned up against the wall.
A pupa! The little grub must have woven its cocoon while I was sleeping! Using my antennae, I tap the white exterior lightly to inspect it. This is the transformative stage of an ant’s development, where they turn from a blind grub into a fully formed ant. This grub was so energetic before, I wonder how it’ll behave as a worker?
The pupa does appear a little different than those I’d seen before. I’m not sure I can put my finger on exactly why…
Mentally shrugging I turn to the other, precious occupant of this room, my cores. Wait… Weren’t there more of these before!
Shocked, I rush over to my collection like a bird flying to defend its nest. Yes, I’m sure of it. I’m missing two cores! I frantically check the remaining gems with my antennae. Phew! The Jellymaw core is still here. I have plans for that one.
Irritated, I turn on Tiny and slap him awake with an antenna. He must have absorbed them in his sleep, this greedy ape! So, you’ve gone from refusing to accept any cores to stealing them now, huh!
WAP! WAP! WAP!
Tiny is eventually roused by my furious swiping and blearily unfolds himself. He seems completely unaware that I’ve been hitting him, as he yawns and stretches before turning back to me.
[Food?] he asks.
Some things never change, I suppose.
[Come on, let’s go hunting.]
The two of us make our way out of our home and up the main shaft of the nest until we reach the top of the anthill. The rest of the colony is similarly waking up. Dozens of workers are pouring out of their chambers, some heading lower in order to tend to the queen, others checking in on the brood, most of which have transformed into pupa. Soon the colony will grow past one thousand workers!
That does raise a problem, though.
We need food. Ants on Earth have a voracious appetite. Tearing through huge amounts of other insects and small creatures in order to obtain protein to grow their young. Mature ants don’t really need to eat meat themselves, mainly relying on sugars to keep themselves going.
Not here on Pangera! The monstrous ants need Biomass to keep themselves kicking and growing stronger, just like the young. This means the monstrous ant colony has an even larger appetite when compared to normal ants.
Time to hunt.
Already, scouts are pouring into the forest, twenty to thirty of them darting off to try and locate something for the colony to feast on. More and more workers are amassing on the anthill every second, slowly expanding outward and pushing gradually into the forest, waiting for a signal to collect food.
Tiny and I drift off into the forest, moving in the opposite direction of the human town. I don’t want to get closer to civilisation and I would love to know just how large this forest is. Something tells me that with a fairly major-looking city nearby, I shouldn’t expect it to be massive. As long as we can hide out here for a week or two, I’ll be happy.
What follows is a fairly dull day of plodding and searching for prey. Tiny and I are more successful than most of the scouts, due to my enhanced senses, obviously. Even so, there doesn’t seem to be a high concentration of monsters nearby.
I run into a few more of those hairy skinny things, each of them wielding crude tools or weapons that heaven only knows where they got them from.
They go down with even less of a fight than the first one did, if that’s even possible. Tiny punched one and the creature practically exploded.
Surface monsters are clearly not up to the standard of us Dungeon dwellers.
Which leads me to another conundrum. If I want to improve my skills, I’ll need to Level up and gain Biomass. If I want to evolve and develop my core manipulation abilities, I’ll need a steady supply of cores. So far, those appear to be thin on the ground up here.
As the day draws on, I’m led more and more to the thought that even though we just escaped from the Dungeon, we are still going to need access to it. Without Dungeon monsters to fight, the colony and I will stagnate.
I refuse to accept that!
11. Strange New Life
Hmm. To tunnel or not to tunnel? And even in the event that tunnelling does in fact occur, where to tunnel?
It isn’t reasonable to expect that a largish city would be built on the very edge of some monster infested wild frontier. It’s obvious now, but I really did hope there would be more monsters in here for us to eat.
Aside from those hairy scraggly things, the only monsters we’ve encountered are creatures that are fairly close to regular forest animals on Earth. The occasional slightly larger boar, some deer with sparkly horns, a few decently sized birds.
Enough to get a bit of food around, but completely insufficient to fuel the XP and Biomass needs to power up the colony.
There is only one place to get what we need, and it just so happens to be the place we only just escaped from.
Dammit!
I’m going to have to dig down to the Dungeon again.
The question is, where? I’m certainly not going to dig straight down from inside the new anthill. That would be completely stupid. Perhaps I could create a new tunnel a few hundred metres away that Tiny and I could use for hunting, perhaps even lead workers down there in hunting parties.
The other option is to head back to the existing tunnel which opens up within the church. Monsters might even be climbing out of there already, invading the surface. For his own sake, I hope that priest doesn’t try to give those monsters his ‘blessing’ like he did me. He won’t escape with only the loss of an arm if he tries to smack an Earth Bear Tyrant on the head!
Thinking about the human town causes a slight pang in my chest. I still don’t know how to think about the humans of this world or how I should relate to them. Part of what bothers me most is how much less I consider them now. Perhaps accepting the colony as my new family has drawn me closer to accepting my monstrous life. I mean, experience has shown me I have no hope of ever being part of human society again, so perhaps my feelings are drawing away from them more as time goes on.