Antelligent Design

19. The New Colony Takes Shape

After speaking to the queen, I take my class into the farms for further instruction. I honestly can’t say what Mother was thinking when I spoke to her. She seemed a mix of happy and mad. I have to say, I was quite nervous. I mean, how am I supposed to know how she would feel about having her species changed? She might have been very attached to it. I don’t know!

And having her species changed by the acts of one of her own children? Being the whole ‘creator’ of a new species is sounding ominous. For some reason, I feel extremely confident this is going to have further ramifications for me down the line. The System doesn’t like to advertise when you unlock something, but surely creating an all-new species in the Dungeon is something major. Maybe it isn’t. Maybe new species pop up all the time, and those that create them are as mediocre and ordinary as me. At least I hope so. If this blows up in my face and turns into some sort of big deal, then I’m going to be super annoyed.

The hatchlings are excited after their meeting with the queen, their fervour once again ignited. Thankfully, the buzz has helped push the pain and discomfort of their newly maxed-out cores to the back of their minds. Now we can push through the training even faster!

Gwehehehehe. Thanks for the assist, Mother!

My plan for the first twenty has always been to push them as hard as possible and give them as good a start to their lives as I can. That means doing for them much the same as what I did for Vibrant. Helping them to evolve with special cores from the get-go, maxing out their mutations, and with my improved knowledge, I can also provide guidance in regards to Skills and progression.

To maximise their potential, I’ll also get them to choose the Superior Hatchling evolution. Judging by Vibrant, I suspect the Superior Hatchling allows for improved stat growth from evolutions and will hopefully allow her and these twenty to grow into the powerhouses of the colony. By proximity, it’ll allow me a comfortable retirement, tickling larvae grubs and boring hatchlings with stories from ‘back in my day’ in the future.

Ahhh, the stress-free life surrounded by family and taking my ease. I never got to experience it in my old life, but now I have a chance! To that end, I’m going to work these twenty little hatchlings to the bone. By the time I’m done, they’ll be super ants the likes of which the Dungeon has never seen.

“Line up, you little bugs! Let’s get into formation. I’m not going to baby you as much this time. We’re going to see some real combat!”

Their eyes light up as if a burning flame has suddenly exploded within and I hastily cut them off before they can speak.

“Absolutely NONE of you is going to throw yourselves into harm’s way, dammit! The first ant to leap at the enemy in a stupid way is going to spend the rest of the training being carried around by the others and fed experience without contributing, like a selfish piece of trash!”

“Gasp!”

I may as well have told them the offender would be condemned to an eternity of burning hellfire. Not do any work? Be a burden to others? Selfish! These concepts are simply not part of their lexicon.

“As you say, senior!”

“We will obey your instructions!”

They all assure me they’ll behave. I’m sure one of them will crack if the situation gets even a little bit tense, but it’ll do for now.

“Just like we practised. We’ll enter the chamber and get into formation, remember to position yourselves so the business plaza is facing the foe with a good line of sight to the target.”

“I thought it was the commercial district?”

“Same thing! You’ll never make it if you just get hung up on the small details. Go! Now! Now! Now!”

With the sort of coordination only a swarm insect could possibly arrange, the hatchlings and I burst into the farm and take up our positions on the ceiling, raining acidic death on the fiercely battling monsters below. I’m cheating, of course. The tougher-looking and most uninjured monsters are the first targeted by my own, more powerful Restrictive Acid. That should make the next stage easier.

“Report when you’re out of ammo!”

“I’m out, senior!”

“Out here!”

“Out! Shall I hurl myself at the enemy to secure our escape?”

“I’ve already warned you twice! There won’t be a third, understand? The enemy is weakened, form up and advance. We shall engage in melee!”

Moving into a box-like formation with me at the helm, we advance from the roof, down the wall and onto the floor, moving into combat with the closest monsters.

I’ve instructed the hatchlings to purchase the different Bite Skills as they become available and train them in unison. This’ll allow them to get the fusion at tier three as soon as possible. I continue to hold out for the tier four fusions though. It’ll be interesting to see what the difference is.

The hatchlings snap with their rank one Bites and Chomps. The damage they deal individually is minimal, but no ant was ever meant to fight alone. Demonstrating their fast-learning capabilities, they’re already deploying some of the tactics I’d described. On my left, the hatchlings at the flanks not only move to surround their foes on the side, but those from behind are climbing on top of their siblings to attack the enemy from above, opening up a new angle of attack.

I can’t imagine human soldiers riding on their comrades’ shoulders into battle, it would be faintly ridiculous, to be honest. Ants, on the other hand, have no issue holding each other up and finding footholds on each other. Heck, some species of ants form living nests, where the walls and tunnels are formed out of masses of ants hanging off each other. Climbing on one another to attack is just basic stuff!

In this way, the hatchlings ensure they’re never outnumbered and can use their many avenues of attack to ward off more powerful monsters who would otherwise threaten them. I do have to lend a hand every now and again when things get a little hairy, bailing them out with a well-placed Chomp, my powerful mandibles shearing through these weak enemies in a single bite.

Once we’ve cleaned the room, I get the hatchlings to stuff their faces, mutate anything they can, and it’s off to the next one. Then the one after that, then the one after that. We take a few days to fight and eat until their mutations are complete, at which stage I tell them to take the excess Biomass to the queen, a task they take to with incredible enthusiasm, bursting with pride at the chance to feed their parent.

When all the farms are empty, we have finally achieved our goal. All Level five, with maxed-out mutations. Weary but triumphant, I lead my suffering charges out of the farms and into my chamber where Tiny continues to keep a watchful eye on the Dungeon.

At this moment, I get another pleasant surprise from Vibrant when she tells me the workers are stirring. The colony is waking up!