Chapter 997 - Shake it Off (Patreon)

Thanks for the support for Book 1 folks! If you can, even if you haven't bought it, you can jump on over to amazon and drop a rating or review, that helps a TON!

For BoD readers, it's coming, I swear. I stuffed up the status update (again) and need to fix it. At least I found the mistakes before I published it... for once!

Yessssss.

YESSSSSSSS!

Tier six perfection has been achieved. My form. My FINAL form. It has arrived at last! Looking over my status, I admire the wall to wall +30's. Every mutable organ in my body has reached its peak. Nothing now can be done until my next evolution. Then the rat race will begin again. At tier seven it'll cost me a hundred and sixty five to upgrade just from +30 to +35. For anything new, and anything that I reset, the journey from zero all the way to the new max will be even more harrowing in expense.

At least this time I have an opportunity to build up a reserve, something I haven't really been able to do before. The Colony helped out a lot last time, but with my frequent hunting trips and this war with the termites, getting food hasn't really been all that difficult for me. My family is becoming more and more independent, allowing me time and space to go chasing food and experience. Throw in the odd major conflict and I've got everything I need to rocket up to the next tier!

Speaking of which, what is my level?

133?!

No way! What in the heck?! That's insane! I must have killed way more termites than I thought I did…. Or they're giving more experience now. Either way, I've jumped up a great deal! Let the skill points rain down on me! Gweheheheh.

My next evolution isn't that far away! At one sixty, I'll be able to make another quantum leap forward in strength. I can't wait to see what sort of options I get. Oh boy. The feeling of going to sleep and waking up as a whole new, better and more capable you is just so addictive.

Although I have other complications now…

My core will be getting stronger, which is obviously great news, giving me more evolutionary energy and a higher level of MP. That'll also mean that it'll become harder and harder for me to go higher in the Dungeon. Right now, I can still go to the second stratum. I might even be able to visit the first during a wave, but the surface is right out. I'll never feel the sun on my carapace again.

If I double the strength of my core? Perhaps even the second stratum will be off limits for me. I'm not sure if I can take that… all the grubs are in the second stratum!

Nooooo! My precious grub time! How will I live if I can't be healed by the pure and innocent joy of larvae tickling? I-I'm not sure I can bear the thought of it. I won't be deprived like this! I have to tell the council to start egg production in the third stratum as soon as possible. I will move heaven and earth to ensure that this isn't taken away from me…

The other thing I have to deal with is the Call. Damn Ancients. They think they're all that. The constant yanking on the guts of my soul is no more pleasant now than it was when it started. Like an itch that can't be scratched, it's almost impossible to ignore. If they think I'm going any deeper at tier six then they're outside of their minds. I'm too weak to explore the fourth stratum, forget about the fifth. I feel like they're just trying to get me killed. If they happen to approve of my next evolution, I expect things will only get worse. Which sucks!

If I evolve and then head back up to the third to help with the demon problems… yuck. I don't even want to think about it, it's distressing.

I calm myself down over time and then get to checking in on my allies. The three of them are going well, each of them having reached a level around a hundred. They too are closing in on the next milestone. It'll be an exciting time when they make it. Having the four of us at tier seventh tier will create a far more formidable team than we are now.

With all of us having completing our round of mutations, we spend the rest of the day resting and healing up. It's a nice relaxing time, chatting back and forth and needling each other, combined with the occasional light snack.

Spending time together like this, with just the four of us, is like food for the soul. The companionship I get from Crinis, Tiny and Invidia is something that I enjoy with all of my heart. I'm almost sad when it comes to an end and we find ourselves largely recovered.

Levering myself up onto my six legs, I lead the group to go and visit Sarah.

I find her in a nearby chamber, still injured, being fussed over by a full team of healers who clack their mandibles and apply waves of their specialised magic to her massive frame.

I try to engage her in some light chat, but I can tell her heart isn't in it. Subdued and dispirited, she is clearly a little lost in her own thoughts and so I back off and give her some space, but not before leaving her with some encouragement.

[Nothing that happened was your fault,] I reassure her. [Whether or not you believe it, that is the truth. But remember, you are always welcome among the Colony. You're part of the family. If you never fight again, that doesn’t change.]

And I leave her with that.

We make our way back out of the safe zone and head towards the front lines. The twisting roots of the Mother Tree curve and wind around the tunnels as we travel, but it's different now, more vibrant. The roots glow with life and there is more greenery than before, a sign of the Tree pushing more energy out now that the roots are no longer under threat?

The other noticeable change to these tunnels is the presence of the bruan'chii. They pop up here and there, smaller ones and Grove Keepers alike, tending to the sprouting gardens and interacting with each other in their own curious, silent way. It's strange actually, I can feel the mana thickening down here. The energy that permeates the atmosphere is beginning to thrum with vibrant life.

It seems as though the Mother Tree and the ecosystem of… herself, that she creates down here actually works to… I don't know… enhance? Circulate? Brighten? Whatever she's doing, the mana is becoming more rich, which I'm going to assume she then begins to pull back into her roots.

No wonder she's been struggling. Cut off from these tunnels, the closest to her roots and trunk, she hasn't been able to utilise this harmonious cycle to her benefit, depriving her of all important energy.

When we finally reach the front, right on the edges of the mountain the tree dominates, we find the Colony has already entrenched to an absurd degree. Thousands and thousands of ants teem through the tunnels and along the shoreline, building walls, traps, medical centres, tactical headquarters, resting chambers, Biomass storage and all of the other things necessary to prosecute the defence.

But I'm not here for the defence. I'm here for the offence.

In the distance, I can see, over the crystal blue waters of the lake, the white spires of the fungal gardens. Ripe for the burning.