Chrysalis - Chapter 281

Chapter 281






After collecting my small collection of aphid cores I get Tiny to carry them and we descend from the trees to battle amongst the monsters once more as we make our way back to the shortcut . To be honest he non-stop grind and battering of battle against the monsters is strangely refreshing . It feels nice to exercise, something that I didn't really understand as a human . But now, with my mandibles crunching down on my foes and the endless tide of monsters battering at my shiny carapace, I get it, it's nice to use your body . Especially when it such an incredible specimen of an ant body like mine!

All things considered, this little escapade has been well worth the time, even if I were only to concentrate on the gains in skills and Biomass . When we finally make it back to the shortcut, clear it out and settle in to rest with Crinis taking the first guard shift I decide to tally up my gains .

Things have gone relatively well on the Biomass front, we don't exactly get a lot of time to eat in the Expanse right now since the battle frenzy is in full flight, but I was still able to pile up a substantial amount . With this hunt and previous snacking included I've managed to gain another 138 Biomass, which takes my current total to 189 . Not too shabby if I do say so myself . The repeated eating and fighting really seems to aid the digestion, speeding up the process of getting the food through the system and freeing up space for the next meal . Perhaps this is the ideal Biomass gathering method, as opposed to gorging until I can barely drag my business district around . I should share this information with the hatchlings, this could be vital for the colony to maximise efficiency!





My skills have also seen significant improvements . Tearing Bite has reached level 9, one step away from reaching the third rank, which is nice . Advanced Cerebral endurance gained a few levels to reach 7 and Mediation reached the third rank due to my essentially constant use of the mind affecting skill, allowing me to punch it up to Profound Mediation level 2 . This skill really has been having a potent effect, allowing my mental state to achieve a level of clarity that is startling . The amount of mental processing I'm to accomplish in moments of heated battle is becoming astonishing, allowing my high mental stats to come into their own .

Mind Magic Affinity has, thanks to my constant use and heavy focus, also managed to rank up to Enhanced Mind magic affinity . I eagerly checked my available skills the moment after I made the purchase but no new magic affinity options had become available to me, sadly . Along with two levels, those where my total gains .

The constant fighting and heavy battering I received also helped to take my mind off the suffering my core is currently inflicting on me . After levelling a couple of times the pain has noticeably receded, but is still quite intense . It's going to be a long term project to complete the absorption of that stupid rare core . The evolution I receive had better be absolutely amazing for me to endure all of this suffering . Level forty is still a long way away, so hopefully by the time I get there I can complete that task .

Rather than spend my points and mutate here and now, I decide to spend some time working on core manipulation . Tiny carefully places the six small, spherical gems on the floor before me where they glitter beautifully . One by one I activate Core Surgery and take a good look at each of the cores, confirming that the information encoded within each, the monstrous DNA, if you will, is the same for all of them . Indeed they are all a match, almost identical in the basic details, only the individual mutations, skill levels and a very minor stat variance exists between each of them . This should be the ideal circumstances to attempt the core fusion that I want .

In essence, I want to take these cores and meld them together, retaining the general shape and form of the creature within, preventing the data from overwriting or scrambling during the process . In the ideal outcome, I'll be able to combine these cores and create what is basically a large aphid with much more potential energy to play with . From there I'll be able to manipulate that blueprint and form the Aphid Queen from which my species of docile farm animals will spring .

Okay, here we go . Deftly rolling the first to gems into position with my antennae, I tap each of them with one antenna each and activate the skill, gently pressing them together as I do so . Immediately the pressure on my brains explodes in magnitude as the cores resist my attempt to push them together .

So far so good . This bit is perfectly normal and I've done it dozens of times already when making special cores . This time is different . All I had to do last time was overcome the resistance of the cores and squash them together, this time I need to do that whilst simultaneously ensuring that the information contained within the cores forms a harmonious whole, the new data sliding neatly over the old .





In order to achieve this duality I task my two sub brains with the fusion itself whilst my main mind is dedicated to ensuring the information within the core maintains its integrity . Deliberately slowing down the fusing process, my mind reaches into both cores at once and tries to get a clear picture of the information flowing between the two .

Almost like the individual brush strokes of an artwork, each piece of information is part of a complete whole, only making sense in the context of those strokes around it . The colours, the forms, width and depth, all layered on top of and around each other to build up a cohesive image . In fusing the two cores together as I did in the past, I'm basically taking two art works, melting one down into a bucket of paint and throwing it at the other .

Naturally, chaos was the result!

I'm getting a bad feeling about how this is going to have to be done .

I can't take all of the paint and throw it together haphazardly, it needs to be done just like painting a picture would be, line by line, stroke by stroke . Which means this is going to suck .

With sheer force of will, my two sub brains cooperate to hold the cores in a state of near fusion, just on the verge of beginning to meld together . Then, with my main mind I reach into one of the cores and strip away a single piece of data, a single brush stroke of the image, which I hold delicately with my thoughts as I transfer it over to the second core and carefully lay it over the top of the same data, melding the two pieces together .

As the two pieces of data merge flawlessly I feel satisfaction but also weariness . Such delicate work is tiring on the mind and my sub brains are already feeling the strain of this constant effort . I'm going to be wrecked by the time this is done…