Chrysalis

· It doesn't take long to make our way back to the chamber in which I force fed myself in order to afford those mutations. Despite the pain and discomfort, I'm super excited since each step is taking me closer to my next form. A new and more powerful me is on the horizon! Sadly, almost all of that enthusiasm drains out of me when I see what is waiting for me outside the chamber.

Filled with ire, I stalk up towards the morons and start yelling at them.

"Dammit, Beyn! What the heck are you doing here?!"

The priest and his acolytes are gathered at the entrance to the chamber, all dressed in their robes with the antennae sewn to the top with their hands in the air as if summoning the great sky god. At my yell, they all flinch and turn towards me, bowing deeply once they see me coming. It's Beyn who first replies, speaking to me with his human voice, which I obviously can't understand.

"I have no idea what you're saying, man. Give me a minute."

The priest looks frustrated by his inability to communicate via pheromones despite being able to understand them. How would he even 'speak' via scent? What sort of difference can a Class make in a human body? I whip together some mind mana and reach out to the one armed human.

[Well?] I demand.

[O GREAT ONE! WE HAVE HEARD OF YOUR ASCENSION AND HAVE COME TO - ]

[Loud! Tone it down you oaf!]

[Ah! I apologise great one… My brothers and sisters have heard word of your ascension to a higher state of being through the Colony. We have no desire to interfere in the process, but merely wish to be present for this holy and sacred occasion.]

Seriously?! He's so sincere too! All of them are! They're staring at me with such light and hope in their eyes!

[Alright, fine! Just stand outside the chamber and try not to be a nuisance. I can't believe you were even allowed this close to the brood.]

The look of joy that breaks over the priest's face is so bright it almost burns away all ten thousand of my retinas. He immediately turns to the others and within seconds, all of them are shouting with joy and openly weeping.

"Quiet, would you!? The brood chambers are right next to this place! If you disturb the young, don't think the brood tenders will go lightly on you."

When they receive my pheromone message the gathered antmancers regain control of themselves and return to a much quieter form of dumb behaviour. How did any of these guys survive the siege? They're clearly damaged. They look so damn happy though, I just don't have the heart to chase them away.

"All right, move aside please. I need to get into the chamber."

As I walk past them, a few reach out to try and lay hands on my carapace, which I wouldn't really mind, but before they can touch me their hands are slapped away by small tentacles that emerge from the dark shadows on my back. Crinis says no, apparently. Inside the chamber, I settle into a comfortable position with the triad of Shapers assembled before me.

[Crinis, Tiny and Invidia. You guys chow down on the left over Biomass whilst I get settled. Once I start evolving, I'll be in your care until I wake up, okay?]

[Yes, Master!]

[It ssssshall, be ssssso.]

Tiny is already eating…

[Alright kid, you ready?] Granin asks.

[Ready as I'll ever be, I suppose. Why are you guys here anyway? Aren't we basically done with the advice process and such?]

Corun steps forward.

[Yeah, we were just hoping to hear about the options you get in the evolution menu. We, as in, the cult, document these sorts of things and there's precious little information for powerful ant evolutions. Like, almost none.]

[Look, I don't mind you guys knowing about some of this stuff, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you taking it back to your cult. Come to think of it, will you guys even be welcome back with the Shapers?]

[Unlikely,] Granin shrugs, [bridges are pretty much burnt to the ground at this point. We can keep the info under our hat if that's what you want. There's a good chance we can learn more about your species and the different ways the System views your progress through the options you're given.]

[Alright then, here we go.]

Come on then Gandalf, let's get this show on the road.

[Would you like to use the evolution menu?]

Hit me!

[Congratulations on reaching the maximum level for your current species. Evolution will allow you to change your form and increase your stats as a monster.

Warning: evolving will make securing XP and Biomass more difficult as fewer rewards are given for preying on creatures less evolved than yourself.

Your evolution options are as follows: (All options are formica sapiens)

o Grand Major

o Senior Ant Mage

o Worker Commander

o Ant Archmage (special)

o Colony Guardian (special)

o Hive General (special)

o Elemental Ant (rare)

o Diamond Soldier (rare)

o All-seeing Scout (rare)

o Mature Colony Paragon (rare)]

[Holy moly! That's a lotta options!]

[How many did you get?] Granin asks, his voice intent.

[Three normal, three special and four rare.]

Corun whistles and Torrina looks impressed.

[That's a good number, means the System sees lots of potential paths in you. Only having one option isn't necessarily bad, but it means your avenues to develop have been narrowed to only a single path. Having lots at this stage means there's many directions for you that the System views as viable.]

I check through the list again.

[Looks like the rare options I saw last time aren't popping up again. Nothing about the Nascent Hive Mind or Collective Mage are here. I was kind of expecting they might still show in the list, perhaps in a different form.]

[Generally speaking, when a monster turns its back on a specialised path, the System won't present that option again,] Torrina says as Corun starts scribbling down everything I say into a little notepad. [Rare evolution choices tend to be very specific and often cut off paths when selecting them, so when you didn't take those options, the System disregarded them for you. Generic choices are still likely to show up all the way though. I'm guessing that there are Soldier and Worker type evolutions in the normal choices, right?]

I nod.

[Just so.]

Well, I'm not going to complain if the System no longer wants to turn me into an immobile mind controlling brain.

[Alright then, let's go through these. I'm going to assume you want all the descriptions and everything?]

All three of the golgari nod eagerly.

Sigh.