Chrysalis

"I'm telling you! We found a super, suuuper fishy scent trail and we decided to follow it!"

"How much of that was wanting to investigate a possible threat and how much of it was just wanting to keep running once you got your speed up?"

"Both-both! Running is fun! Investigating for the family is important!"

I mean. That's true…

"Just try a little harder not to run headlong into dangerous situations, alright? If I hadn't showed up, you and all of your followers would be dead right now."

"I'm sorry, senior."

And she actually looks like it, for once. Vibrant's grown up big and strong compare to that miniscule little grub that I saved way back when. Endangering herself and her squad wasn't something that she intended to do and I'm pleased to see her properly reflecting on her behaviour.

"Well… don't beat yourself up too much, it looks like the lizards set a trap and we weren't ready for something like that. If they can mask or somehow create scent trails then that's something we'll need to investigate. If they can manipulate our sense of smell then we may not be able to rely on our own trails. That's a nasty swerve."

"I'llgolettheothersknowokaybyeeeeeee!"

Unable to contain herself to a normal pace of conversation anymore, Vibrant blasts me in the face with words and then turns and dashes away, kicking up a wave of dust that further smacks into my already reeling mug. That wasn't necessary! Neither of those were necessary!

Ugh, whatever. Damn, I'm tired. It takes a lot to get me tired, but this whole escapade has managed it. The constant construction work, followed by a battle, followed by more construction, then the chase after Vibrant and another battle. Even ten thousand ants providing regenerative energy through the Vestibule isn't enough to fully soothe my fatigue. More to the point, I'm mentally exhausted after the many ups and downs. I need a snooze. Badly.

"Eldest! Vibrant has been running around telling everyone all sorts of things about a giant mountain nest and bombs and lizards. I'm confused."

Poor Sloan looks it too, her antennae twitching as she tries to make sense of what Vibrant had been saying as she roared past.

"It's not that complicated, but the implications are serious," I sigh. "Basically, Vibrant was lured all the way to the termite nest. Well, a termite nest. I suppose we don't actually know that there isn't more than one. Anyway. It seems that the lizards have managed to find a way to produce pheromones via mana in some fashion, so we'll need to be extra careful and not rely on our trails too much. When I turned up they had Vibrant trapped under a shield along with her crew. My squad and I broke in, caused a bit of havoc and then got them out. No problem."

"No problem?" Sloan doesn't seem convinced. "It doesn't sound like it was no problem. I'm guessing you've left more than a little of the story out of your telling."

I shrug.

"The details will get out there soon enough and aren't really relevant."

I'm not wrong, all of Vibrant's followers were there. The tale will be all over the fortifications before long.

"What is relevant," I continue, "is what the reaction of the kaarmodo will be after we spit directly in their face like this."

"What are your thought?"

My thoughts? It always boil down to the same few options in the end.

"They'll either back off or double down. If they reflect on what happened and conclude that they might have bitten off more than they can chew, they'll retreat, hit the pause button on their termite strategy. Or, they'll get angry at us and invest even further in the termites before they come after us with a vengeance."

"So we should start preparing then."

"Indeed. We probably need another ten thousand ants to come down here to be honest."

"I'll get the word out."

Out of the two options, is there really even a point considering which they might choose? When have the enemies of the Colony done anything other than come at us harder? It's predictable at this point.

"You do that. I'm going to go have a snooze."

And check my status, I haven't done that in ages. Me and four comrades pile into a separate chamber, out of the way of the main worker thoroughfares and immediately fall into a long session of torpor. Sarah waves us goodbye before we stumble in, not an easy feat with a bear paw, before she lumbers off to help with construction. When I awake, it's with a start as my insect body zaps itself to alertness once more.

HARRAZ! I'm up!

What was I going to do? Oh yeah! Status update. Man I haven't checked it in ages, there should be some juicy stuff in there. I don't know the exact number of announcements I got after that gravity bomb, but it was a lot. Hopefully I've managed to climb in levels at least a little. Come to think of it, I haven't really looked at it since my last mutation, which was over a week ago. So much hunting and fighting lately!

Name: Anthony

Level: 46 (Rare) (VI)

Might: 205

Toughness: 180

Cunning: 145

Will: 100

HP: 360/360

MP: 530/530

Skills:

General:

Master Excavation (IV) Level 31; Expert Grip (III) Level 20; Expert Stealth (III) Level 10; Tunnel Compass (IV) Level 9; Iron Mind (IV) Level 40; Master Stamina (IV) Level 14; Still Meditation (IV) Level 21; Snap Dash (IV) Level 31;

Mana:

Mana Craft (V) Level 56; Condensed Mana (IV) Level 40; Finer External Mana Manipulation (IV) Level 31; Mana Hoarder (IV) Level 31; Layered Mind Magic Affinity (V) Level 24; Directed Mana Sensing (IV) Level 36 Expert Healing Magic Affinity (III) Level 20; Omni-Elemental Affinity (V) Level 80; Advanced Mana Masking (III) Level 15; Wood Magic Affinity (I) Level 1; Metal Magic Affinity (I) Level 1; Lightning Magic Affinity (I) Level 1; Advanced Force Magic Affinity (III) Level 16;

Pet:

Further Pet Communication (III) Level 20; Core Crafting (IV) Level 18; Pet Growth Speed (I) Level 5;

Defensive:

Grandmaster Exo-Skeleton Defence (V) Level 45; Master Dodge (IV) Level 40; Master Endure (IV) Level 16; Expert Grace (III) Level 20; Advanced Mandible Parry (II) Level 10;

Offensive:

Unerring Acid Shot (IV) Level 26; Master Precise Shooting (IV) Level 38; Doom Chomp (V) Level 55; Mandible Spear (II) Level 8; Advanced Chomp Combo (II) Level 10; Charge (II) Level 6;

Mutations:

Senses:

Sharpened Perimeter Eyes +25, Future Wave Sight Antennae + 30 (Twilight Filament);

Defence:

Thickened Complete Diamond Carapace +30, Fortified Healing Inner Carapace Plating +30;

Physical:

Hardened Rapid Absorption Legs +25, Mana Drenched Mandibles +30, Hastened Potent Regeneration Gland + 30, Loud Convincing Pheromone Gland +25, Vast Hungering Stomach + 25; Lock Hyper-Twitch Musculature +25, Coordinating Instant Transmission Sub-Neural Network +25;

Acid:

Propagating Mana-Feasting Bind Acid Gland +25, Guided Hyper Pressurised Scattershot Acid Nozzle +25; Thickened Draining Acid concentration gland +25, Exhausting Thickener Acid Stimulation Gland +25;

Mental:

Indomitable Coordination Cortex + 30; Condensing Gravity Main Brain +15; Mind Mana Focused Sub-Brain +15; Mind Mana Focused Sub-Brain +15; Mind Mana Focused Sub-Brain +15;

Mana:

Forceful Unending Gravity Magic Gland +30; Might Infusing Collective Will Vestibule +30 (Soul Crystal); High Purifying Communal Spirit Nave +30;

Species: Colony Paragon

Skill points: 57

Biomass: 653

Oh, shoot! That is a lot of levels! Up to level forty six already? This is already past the halfway point for my last evolution. Nice! I've also got a ton of skills that I need to rank up. I really should have checked my status ages ago.

Most interesting of all is the level of my omni-elemental affinity! All of my diligent practice has finally paid off! Muahahahaaaa! Better rank up these skills and see what happens!