Upping The Ante

79. Battling the Marsh

Deftly I use my sub-brains to weave together two water bolts, leaving one brain to maintain and operate the Transformation construct, as I lie patiently in wait like the great hunter I am. The flower has no way to detect me with my Advanced Stealth active and my positioning being on point.

[Water Magic Affinity has reached Level 2.]

Nice!

I need to keep practicing these spells in order to rapidly raise my proficiency. The power of my current evolution is all in my capacity to utilise magic, so I have to grind these skills until I can fling spells about with practiced ease.

Gradually the bolts weave together and I take careful aim before unleashing them all at once.

POW! POW!

Two tear-shaped orbs of water zoom through the air and smash into the flower, hitting the stem and the centre of the petals directly. The impacts cannon into the plant-type monster, rocking it back and forth on its stem, reeling from the sheer force of the strike.

If I imagined before that using water magic on a plant was like giving it a gentle sprinkling, I’ve been convinced otherwise with this attack. It’s more like hurling a block of concrete. Unlike fire, which causes damage by burning, or electricity, which zaps an organism whilst also burning them, water doesn’t seem to have any inherently harmful properties. It’s important to remember though, when water is accelerated to sufficient speeds it becomes harder and more difficult to break up.

Rather than thinking of the water bolt as throwing a ball of water, it’s more like throwing a ball of metal. The sheer kinetic force is what does the damage rather than any particular property of the Mana.

Having been smashed with two water bolts, the flower is reeling, its vines desperately flailing about as it attempts to seek out the source of that vicious strike. The fun has only begun, flower, I’ve got two more bolts on the way!

POW! POW!

CRASH!

The bolts collide with tremendous force against the stem of the flower. The impacts are nearly simultaneous, and the flower is knocked straight to the ground, the fibres of the stem starting to tear and split where the bolts struck. If I were to keep attacking that spot, the stem may simply snap, killing the monster directly. I almost feel bad. This is a rough way to fight. It’s like I’m bludgeoning the thing to death by hurling rocks at it.

And thanks to that last strike, the flower seems to have gotten a bead on my location. As it strains to right itself, the four pods surrounding the central flower swivel in my direction and open, revealing a bizarre, mouth-like arrangement on the inside. Just as I’m wondering what the heck is going to happen, the mouths open wide and shriek!

YOWCH!

Super high-pitched, almost inaudible sound waves batter against my antennae. It’s a sonic attack! From a damn plant? The sound tunnels straight through me and begins to rattle my brain. A wooziness comes over me as the persistent sound waves try to stun my mind into rest.

Having unleashed its sonic screech, the main body of the flower presents its full glorious petal arrangement. It immediately begins to employ that strangely hypnotic rippling technique, only this time it’s far more potent. The flower puts all of its effort toward lulling my mind.

Small vines creep nearer across the ground, likely to seize the stunned and mesmerized prey, and drag it back to the flower for consumption. In your dreams, petal face!

POW! POW!

Using my strong Will, I’m able to resist even Tiny’s ear shattering scream. As if some dumb flower could hope to match that volume or potency. Concerning the petal dance, now that I know it’s coming, I steel myself against it long enough to form a few more water bolts.

The two bolts smash into the flower right on the stem and shatter the plant fibres completely. Stem broken, the flower topples to the ground. Take that!

[You have defeated Level 14 Fascinatio Folium Flos.]

[You have gained XP.]

Ha!

Defeating a plant with water is an odd feeling.

Too bad for this flower my strengths matched up very well against its own. With my potent mental defences, it isn’t easy to hypnotise me. Tiny might be caught in its snares, but not this ant!

Keeping low and trying not to attract any more attention, I creep over and start eating the flower, keeping an eye on my surroundings.

[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Fascinatio Folium Flos. You are awarded one Biomass.]

[Basic Profile of the Fascinatio Folium Flos unlocked.]

[Fascinatio Folium Flos: Bewitching Petal Flower. This plant-type monster uses a combination of powerful mental attacks to lull its opponent into a stupor, allowing it to use its relatively weak physical body to consume the prey. This monster is weak defensively and can be overcome with surprise, but be careful of its sonic scream.]

Yeah, no doubt. Why are these profiles so full of information that would be immensely useful if known before fighting the creature, yet only unlocked afterward…?

I gain another three Biomass from the plant before moving on to continue my exploration, bringing my total to thirty-seven Biomass. It’ll be worth stopping to mutate something when I get a chance.

I continue to poke about here and there, engaging the odd plant monster in combat to learn about their tendencies and train my water magic skills. I end up gaining another Level in Water Magic Affinity and twelve more Biomass from the higher tier prey before I retreat from the marsh. More and more potent croca-beast variants are appearing nearby, so it’s probably time to get out of dodge and regroup with my gang still hard at work on the tunnel shortcut.

[“How are we, folks? Enjoying the wonderful process of tunnel digging?”] I greet them.

[…Yes, Master.]

Nothing from Tiny and a somewhat reluctant reply from Crinis.

“Yup-yup! Having a great time, senior!” A very enthusiastic response from Vibrant.

“Right? Digging is the best!”

“For sure! I just love the feel of dirt in my mandibles!”

Truly, only ant-kind can fully appreciate the joy of tunnel digging. My own people understand me best. As I return to digging, I decide to spend the Biomass I’ve accrued. The marsh is dangerous, and I can’t afford to hold off on building up advantages.

Firstly, I decide to spend fourteen Biomass upgrading my Coordination Cortex to +5 so I can choose a mutation advancement. I’m reliant on my magic for offence in a way I haven’t been before, so I want to get every edge I can in this department.

Once again, the menu appears in my mind with a plethora of juicy options to select from.

Let me see, let me see!

Ooooo. There’s a lot here, as usual. I can give my cortex an affinity to boost the efficiency when using a specific Mana type… I dismiss that option out of hand. General strength is the name of the game! What else have we got…

I take my time browsing as my mandibles stay busy shovelling dirt and I settle on two fairly normal, but in my opinion, excellent choices.

[Harnessed Coordination Cortex: Improves efficiency when the cortex is coordinating multiple brains to work on a single task.]

[Divergent Coordination Cortex: Improves efficiency when the cortex is coordinating multiple brains to work on individual tasks.]

Do I want the brains to be more powerful when they’re working together or when doing their own thing? There’s always the option of coming back to the other upgrade at +10, so it’s possible I could eventually choose both, but which do I want right now?

Using both sub-brains to work together on one big job is handy for sure and something that could surely be useful to have boosted. Although, letting each brain cast its own spell is also great and makes my attacking options a lot more open.

I’ll go for the Divergent.

There is still the possibility in the future that I’ll be able to include more sub-brains and hook them up to the cortex. Having each of them be more capable on their own will give me a better result, I think.

[Do you wish to confirm this selection? This will cost 14 Biomass.]

I still have over thirty Biomass left to spend and a plethora of things to spend it on. Since my legs are already at +7, it makes sense to push them the rest of the way.

[Would you like to improve your Absorption Legs to +10? This will cost 27 Biomass.]

Yassss!

[At this level, you may select a mutation advancement.]

Hit me with that menu!

So many great options for legs. Leaping Legs grabs my attention immediately. I’d be like the famous Jack Jumper ants, able to leap and deliver my menacing bite from a distance! As cool as I think it would be, I’m not sure how good I’d be jumping into the middle of a pack of enemies. I can’t make quite the same landing as Tiny can.

What else have we got?

I can double down on absorption by increasing the rate or dramatically increasing it for a short amount of time. There are options to add slicey-looking blades to the ends of my claws, allowing me to attack with my feet. Even options to increase running speed, reduce stamina cost from Dashing, and improve my climbing ability.

Argh! So much cool stuff.

Think, Anthony!

Look, I don’t think I need more Mana. The absorption already keeps me fairly topped off. Not to mention I have a huge pool of Mana to start with, especially for the number of evolutions I’ve experienced. I’ve maxed out my core, so my raw MP is high, and my Gravitational Magic Gland has a huge tank. I’m not likely to run out of Mana in a hurry.

If we get right down to it, what do I want most out of my legs? Speed and mobility obviously, but I have skills working on that area as well. I have the Stamina skill to build out my stamina and the Dash skill for speed. Is it worth it to double up and have a mutation as well as a skill affecting the same thing? Maybe that’s what I should do in order to get truly impressive results…

Alright, I think I might test something here. Not that this mutation is a bad general choice anyway.

I’m going to take Rapid Legs, which increases running speed and lateral movement potential of the legs.

Very basic and utility upgrade. Even if it doesn’t work out exactly the way I want, I can’t imagine complaining about being able to move faster. Whether running into danger or out, going faster is always a good option.

Right then! Time to confirm the purchase.

[Would you like to improve Coordination Cortex to Divergent Coordination Cortex +5 and Absorption Legs to Rapid Absorption Legs +10? This will cost 41 Biomass.]

Go for it!

SNATCHIFLATCH! Mah brains! They IIIIITCH!