Discussions with Granin take a few hours as we discuss and weigh the different possibilities that may await my two pets upon their evolution to the sixth tier. Neither of them has reached the required level as of yet, but their mutations are close to maxed out and I thought it prudent to draw on Granin's wisdom earlier rather than later. Since he and I are both in the nest right now, may as well make the most of it.

Torrina and Corun are eager to pitch in, offering their own suggestions which are weighed and measured by their senior before he gives his own opinion on them. As the time passes, we narrow down on the better choices for the pair of monsters, Crinis listening intently whilst Tiny sleeps in the corridor.

[One thing you must do,] Granin stresses repeatedly, [is raise Tiny's intelligence so he can use the manual evolution menu before he evolves. It'll cost him a good amount of Might, but he can gain that back and more when he goes through with it. Normally for pets like this you would develop the pet Skill tree a little more to the point that you are able to handle their evolutions for them,] he raised a hand to cut off my protest, [… but I know that you don't feel comfortable making all their decisions for them. That's why bumping him up to the point he can do the manual evolution by himself is the only choice. The records on Lightning Fist Ape evolutions are thin and I'm probably one of the few who's even bothered to look into them, which I did after you left. As you suspect, they're so feisty, and stupid, that they basically never survive to make it to tier three. Those that do are strong, but are even dumber. The cult had never seen a tier four variant according to what I read.]

This and many other points were discussed before we waved goodbye to Enid and the three golgari. Time is precious right now and we can't afford to be away from the front lines for long. The job before the Colony is pretty straight forward right now: ride out the wave whilst dragging in all the resources we possibly can. For myself, that means getting Tiny and Crinis to tier six, as well as levelling up my bodyguards to tier five. The collective experience needed is massive and it's going to take a heck of a lot of grinding to get the job done. Which means we need to get back to it.

Rushing through the nest, it isn't long until we find ourselves the centre of attention as we move through the masses of ants. We do stick out a touch, my pets and I. Since evolving to tier six, I've increased substantially in size, whilst most of my siblings remain at tier three. It's no exaggeration to say that they could safely walk beneath my abdomen with only their antennae brushing against my carapace, that's how large I've gotten. It reminds me of when I met the Queen for the first time, except now I'm the one towering over hordes of much smaller insects. Having my family members looking up to me in the literal and figurative sense is a touch overwhelming if I let myself dwell on it, so I don't.

The whispers are always there, however. No matter how much I try to shut them out, a trickle always seeps through. As we run, I open myself up to them and I'm suddenly flooded by the inpouring of spirit from the Colony. Trying to steady myself, I reach out with my mind to touch the edge of this energy, to get a sense of their thoughts without getting overwhelmed. Dipping in one leg, I can feel the voices of hundreds of members of the Colony, their Will echoing in my mind. After steadying myself for a moment, it's actually kind of nice, even if I feel as though I'm eavesdropping in some way. Most of the thoughts I hear are devoted entirely to growing the Colony and making it more prosperous, of helping, of being useful.

The smith who toils on her projects, hoping to protect her siblings in battle.

The brood tender who raises the young with care and loving attention, raising the next generation as best she can so that the Colony may flourish.

The soldier patrolling the tunnels, defending the nest and protecting her siblings.

The worker, transporting food to the Queen's chamber, eager to do the work that will feed the growth of her family.

The mage fighting on the walls, using her magic to fend off the ever oncoming waves of enemies, her heart never wavering in the face of danger.

The miner digging minerals and ore, her mandibles working without rest despite the chaos of fighting around her.

All of their experiences flow through me and for a moment I feel as though I were them and all of them were me, lost in the collective of my family. It was an overwhelming feeling of togetherness, the sense of belonging I had experienced being amongst this caring group magnified a hundredfold. It was almost addictive and I found myself brushing around the edges of the stream of the energy flowing into me, experiencing the Will of hundreds of different Colony members at a time.

[Master?]

[Eh?]

Only when Crinis' voice echoed in my head did I come back into myself.

[Sorry, what's up Crinis?]

[You'd gone still, Master. For a few minutes now. I was wondering if there was anything wrong, I'm sorry if I disturbed you…]

[Really? That long?] I feel a little chilled. [No, you did the right thing. If I zone out like that again, feel free to speak to me, alright?]

[I will, Master,] she replies, happy to be praised.

Yeesh. The more I learn about the Vestibule and it's new addition, the Nave, the less I understand them. Having the Vestibule reformed using Soul Crystal has magnified the effect the organ has massively. Not only is the energy I receive vastly more than what I took in before, so too is the purity and clarity of Will. Being able to dip into it and experience the flowing thoughts and impressions of the Colony is not something I expected. Is that a product of the Soul Crystal? Or the Nave? Or both combined?

Bah, it's not like I have time to worry about it now. Onward! To battle!

"Ah, Eldest, heading out to the walls?"

"Wills? Haven't seen you in a while, what have you been up to?"

"Scouting," she replies, not a twitch of the antennae to give away the sarcasm.

"Ha, ha. A little more detail, if you please, Wills."

She clacks her mandibles in amusement.

"Not much to expand upon, Eldest. With the wave happening we've been pretty much locked into our territory, so the scouts have been doing a detailed survey of every inch of it, making sure we map the entire thing completely. It's been exhausting, detailed work, but we're just about done now."

"I guess you guys can't really go ranging very far at the moment, given the situation," I muse, "that must be annoying. I know you scouts like to get out on your own."

"It's annoying," she affirms, "but there's not much we can do about it. Wave and all that."

"So what are you scouts going to be doing now?"

"Running messages and helping to fight. Not much else we can do."

"You wouldn't happen to know where we're getting hit the hardest do you? I'm off to provide some relief and level up my group."

"Straight down, where else?" she points to the floor beneath our feet with one leg. "That's where the majority of demons come, along the lower edge. To the sides it's mostly shadow creatures."

"That's what I thought, but it never hurts to check. Care to come with? Since you're off fighting anyways?"

"Let's get to it. Wonder if Vibrant has made her way down there yet?"