Chapter 80 Birth of the Mage.... Ant. (1/2)

So which magical energy type to choose?

Death sounds awesome, an unstoppable tide of undead ants would be cool but my own family would need to be killed first! Plus there may be a chance I'll end up zombified like the death rabbit! No thanks!

Time? I mean, time would be amazing but how the heck would it work? Stopping time? Speeding up time? Travelling through time?!?! Maybe too complicated.

Entropy? Perhaps a bit too grim and macabre.

I want something I can use in a fight but also something that has some utility to it, something I can make use of outside of combat in a significant way.

I will always choose the all-around option!

No weak points is my motto!

Perhaps it is wasteful to think this way but I just don't like the idea of something that has only one purpose. I want options dammit!

Illusion? Too artsy. I was always terrible at mental imagery and drawing.

s.p.a.ce? Could be amazing but I'm not certain it'll be fighty enough.

Healing is tempting but won't help me out much when I'm on my own.

Chaos? Sounds a little…. Unpredictable?

Mental would almost certain allow telepathy of some kind… I'm not quite as starved for conversation now that I have the pheromone language though… There is always a chance I'll be able to gain this ability another way without spending this precious selection on it. I'll pa.s.s on this for now.

Maybe…. Maybe this one?

Gravity.

I feel like it has potential!

What does Gandalf have to say about it?

[Gravitational energy allows for the creation and exertion of push and pull forces beyond natural limits].

Soooooo. What would happen if I used my forceful mana ball and made it out of gravitational energy? Would I be able to push monsters away even more powerfully?

Could I lift them into the air and then drop them?

Could I make myself float?

Could I crush my enemies into the ground!?

Could I even squash them in on themselves, squis.h.i.+ng them into a tiny little ball?! Compacting the Bioma.s.s into a super dense bite sized snack!?

I like it! I like it a lot Gandalf!

I'll pick this one!

Ok with that selection out of the way I need to decide what to do with the remainder of my evolutionary energy.

I've got cash to spend and I'm gonna make use of it!

The first thing is my +5 bonus to cunning for choosing Mind Ant. With my cunning already so high the cost of five cunning is extreme, much higher than spending on might. Just by my feeling I estimate that +5 cunning would cost as much energy as +20 might.

After all, the might stat is effectively just adding more muscle, bone and sinew whereas making changes to cunning involves creating and connecting millions of neurons to form new and better brain matter.

I've decided to use my bonus and some of my reserve to do what I didn't dare consider in my first evolution. I shall create a second brain!

Normally, creating new brain matter would be a rather complicated matter I don't doubt, but thankfully it is relatively simple for me. The evolution menu a.s.sists and guides my thoughts as I try to shape what I want. A small, additional brain to help bare the mental load of s.h.i.+fting and shaping mana. Practicing my mana skills been so mentally demanding that the rate of progress is too slow. In addition, practicing these skills leaves me so tired that I can't reasonably be levelling these skills and doing something else at the same time. To raise my skills all the way I'd have to become a recluse in the colony, letting the rest of the workers feed me and never leaving, I'm not about to become a sponge!