Chapter 181 Unexpected company (1/2)

My mind snaps back to its regular housing and I take a moment to reorient myself. I'm still where I was before, partially buried in a mound of workers with the Queen standing in front of me, quite close.

”Are you alright child?” she asks, seeing me suddenly look so fatigued.

”I'm completely fine!” I gasp out as my brain continues to melt into sludge, ”how are you? How did it all go?”

I'm anxious to know if there was any pain or discomfort during the process. I could have tested it on my pets but there is a chance that the skill would have a different effect on them since they have a different relations.h.i.+p with me than most monsters. In the end I went ahead and worked on the Queen hoping that it would all be fine.

”I am fine” the Queen a.s.sures me, ”it tickled a bit”

….

Tickled?

So having the fundamental makeup of your being tinkered with only results in a tickle?

Thank goodness!

”That's great!” I cry, ”excellent! The whole process has been a success! Hopefully from now own our family will experience a great gain in strength!”

I stick around to counsel the Queen about spending some Bioma.s.s to mutate her egg production organs. She is quite reluctant at first but after trying several arguments I eventually tell her that by upgrading all three organs to +5 it will greatly increase the effect of the changes I've made to her core. This isn't really a lie. If she upgrades those organs and chooses some good mutation advancements for them the rate of egg production will increase as the overall efficiency of the system goes up. I don't know for sure what advancement choices will appear but it isn't hard to guess that almost all of them will be based around speeding up the process, reducing the cost of each egg or improving the stats of the offspring, any of which would be fine!

Once I'm certain that the Queen has agreed to upgrade all three organs before beginning to produce the new workers I drag myself back down to where Tiny is waiting and take a quick nap. The relentless battering my mind has taken has pushed even my newly evolved self pretty darn hard. Using the Core Surgery skill in particular was exceptionally draining. If I'd attempted to do it with my old self I'd have had absolutely no chance of getting anywhere at all. My respect for the Sophos only increases the further I walk down the path of core manipulation. Just how powerful are their minds to create the things they do? Are their brains filling their heads and extending down into their torso? Where do they fit it all?!

When I awake it isn't because I've rested my fill, but rather because my antennae are picking up something strange. Emergency pheromones from the workers!

Gah!

What is it?! What's happening?!

[TINY! Come on man! Action stations!] I blearily shout.

For once my pet ape is actually awake and when he sees me stumbling about drunkenly as I struggle to get my bearings he reaches out with ma.s.sive paw and grabs hold of me firmly before picking me up and placing me on his shoulder.

I clutch onto his fur to avoid falling flat on my face and just like that he's up and moving, carrying me along for the ride. With his ma.s.sive arms he reaches out and takes hold of the tunnel walls before dragging his ma.s.sive frame upwards as if climbing on a jungle gym.

When we reach the Queen's chamber it is buzzing like a hive, the workers jittering this way and that and some of them stream upwards to the peak of the hill. The majority of them seem to want to remain and defend the Queen albeit in a highly agitated manner. Buried somewhere in that nervous ma.s.s of the workers the Queen seems content to stay still for the time being. I don't try to talk to her since it would be difficult to get a pheromone message through what is essentially hundreds of workers screaming ”Emergency!” at the top of their lungs.

Being careful not to crush the ants as he moves Tiny continues to carry us to the surface one handhold at a time. By this stage I've mostly sorted myself out. My headache hasn't fully receded but it's much improved from when I began my rest. I've managed to notice Crinis and Vibrant are relaxing on my person as per usual, which is something of a relief. I'd rather they be where I can see them that off gallivanting somewhere when there might be a potential attack…

When Tiny makes his way out in the light at the top of the anthill I can finally take in the situation. Hundreds of ants have already appeared in response to the threat, aggressively postured to defend the colony from all directions.

Beyond them I can see something I truly did not expect to see.