The Antventure Begins

102. The Great Dig!

He certainly looks really strong. The size of the guy! I think it’s clear that almost all that evolutionary energy went into Might. Somewhat sadly. I really wish a sliver of that energy had made it to buffing up his brain power.

Well, it isn’t all bad I suppose. Since Tiny has me to help him do the thinking, and he can now receive my instructions, being as good as he can at fighting is probably for the best. Especially when considering the upcoming crises we’ll soon face.

The final thing I need to do is complete my mutations. With eleven points of Biomass to spend I’ll be able to select a mutation advancement for my Legs and upgrade my Gravity Magic gland twice.

I open the menu, not even listening to the prompts of Gandalf. Lemme check out dem legs!

Ho boy! Look at all these juicy options. So many selections to choose from!

Let’s see now… legs that stick to surfaces? Peh, I can already do that. Legs with barbed spines emerging from them to stab enemies? Ouch! Legs with extra running speed, frictionless feet for sliding, legs with skin between them to allow for gliding? What the heck?

I’m tempted to take an option that just makes me faster or something plain like that, until my eyes fall on a choice that piques my interest.

[Absorption Legs: Connects the core to the feet, allowing the monster to draw in Mana from the surface it is standing on.]

With this option, running around in the Dungeon will let me draw in Mana from the walls and floor? If the absorption rate is decent then this could provide the missing link to my magic practice! If I can refill my core and the even more Mana hungry Gravity Magic Gland faster, they will become much more useful.

I’ll take it!

[Do you wish to select Absorption Legs and improve Gravity Magic Gland to +3? This will cost 10 Biomass.]

Hit me—flanargle—AHHH! The itch, stupid thing!

Most of my preparation in this place is done for now. With Tiny’s successful evolution, it’s time to re-join the colony and do our part to assist the digging efforts! I ask Tiny to bring along the remaining cores and we leave the trap network, heading back to the main shaft before we make our descent to the main nest.

The tunnel walls have grown eerily dim. I haven’t experienced this low a light level ever since I was reborn in this Dungeon. The change in condition is disturbing, making the tunnels feel more threatening and oppressive. Shadows dance menacingly across the walls, the patterns of light breaking every time we move.

Tiny is squeezing through, hunching his shoulders forward to the point he’s almost kneeing himself in the face as he walks. In one hand he cups the remaining cores protectively against his chest.

We descend the main shaft in silence. The absent workers and darkness press down on our mentality. The only sounds we hear are the echoes of our movements. It seems insane that in a few short hours this empty place will become a monster filled death zone.

I’m almost pathetically grateful when the noises of the colony reach my ears at the lower end of the shaft.

Being ants and incapable of any sort of speech, it isn’t chatter but a scritching scrabble of thousands of legs and the grinding of dozens of mandibles as the colony hauls dirt, working at a ferocious pace.

Tiny and I descend into the queen’s chamber to discover the room is completely packed with hundreds of workers. Other than a few workers tending to the brood, almost every ant must be here in this tunnel.

They climb all over each other, some heading out and down to the lower tunnel with jaws full of dirt and others running back to collect another haul.

“Keep working, children,” the warm voice of the Queen sings out, gently encouraging the colony.

I honestly don’t think the workers could work any harder! They’re practically vibrating with energy, so eager to work at the side of the queen as she digs.

[Tiny, go down to the lower tunnel and make sure nothing goes wrong,] I instruct my ape friend.

He nods before lumbering off, gently pushing his way through the bustling workers, still clutching the cores in his hand. They mostly disregard his presence. Some workers even start climbing over him, just walking up his arms and down his back as they move through.

Taking a breath, I start to push my way through the worker frenzy, using my larger size to force aside the much smaller hatchlings. So desperate are the others to contribute, I eventually have to resort to quite rigorous methods, knocking other ants out of the way or climbing on top of them in order to get to the front.

I don’t find it annoying, rather it shows how serious they are about the task. These are the sorts of people—ants—you want working on your side in a disaster.

Once at the front of the tunnel, I can only be impressed with the progress. With the queen working at the head of the line, her enormous mandibles carving up the dirt and rock at a constant rate, combined with a veritable army of assistants carting it all off, progress has been rapid indeed.

But it still isn’t enough.

The tunnel has already extended roughly two hundred metres away from the chamber, far from the several kilometres it needs to be! At the moment there probably isn’t even room to put the brood and all the workers inside this tunnel.

And when I consider Tiny…

No way we all fit!

“Hey there, Queen!” I say as I rip into the dirt with a frenzy.

It’s convenient to be able to talk without moving your mouth.

“Welcome, child,” she responds, similarly with her mandibles loaded with dirt.

The two of us attack the wall, mandibles tearing away large clumps of earth which we then turn and fling behind us, allowing the smaller workers to do the job of hauling it away.

We aren’t the only ones at the front. At any one time there are near to a dozen workers extending the tunnel one mandible load at a time. Most of these ants gather up their diggings and cart it away themselves, creating a never-ending exchange of workers at the front.

The queen and I remain constant, mandibles pumping like piston engines until my face aches from the sheer repetitive effort. Thankfully the feeling of ant-Zen returns, the indescribable feeling of doing what it is you were born to do. My primitive ant senses are flooded with contentment.

I can’t afford to waste any time though! I regretfully shake off the restful mindset. Digging doesn’t require much thought, so I should dedicate this time to practicing my valuable Mana skills.

Surrendering my digging to my mechanical instincts I use my Will to summon the Mana from my core and begin my Shaping practice. With the assistance of the sub-brain, the Mana is drawn out easily, wispy tendrils of strange energy that respond to my thoughts start to form into mystic patterns within my body.

I still have no idea what these patterns are for or what they represent. They were imprinted in my mind when I learned the skill without any sort of explanation. I’m guessing the only way to learn what each is for is by testing, which could be quite dangerous.

I’m resolved to try and begin the experiments away from the colony as soon as my skill reaches an appropriate Level. The difficulty to form many of the shapes is still high, and my success rate, not to mention the speed of forming them, is far too low for practical use.

Practice and then more practice. Let’s do it!

Just like that, the queen, me, and the entire colony dig for our lives. We dig desperately, endlessly, with a single mindedness only an insect can possess. Losing myself to the repetitive motions of my mandibles and the formless Mana within me, my body and mind almost separate from each other.

After an indeterminate amount of time my awareness snaps back when my core has been emptied. Not even a faint mist of Mana remains.

Checking my stats, my Mana Shaping has risen by two Levels!

Now to wait for my core to refill. Hopefully my new Legs will be able to assist with that.

Mana veins don’t exist in this section of tunnel, since we’ve dug it so recently. I don’t feel any Mana coming to me through my feet.

We’ve been digging for a while… I’d better go check how dark the nest has become.