The tale of the Colony's expansion is one of conflict, it is true, though many point to that as the sole factor, as if everywhere we trod there was nothing but war and death. Perhaps it is easy to view us as the enemy if that were the only way we have been described. Even a cursory examination of the facts, of the actual events themselves, is enough to put that lie to rest. In truth, the Colony, through the Eldest, held out an antenna in friendship as often as it did not. Where we were rebuffed, conflict surely followed.

The third stratum and the history of our intervention there is a perfect example of this. Although we fought and fought hard, we also built bridges and sought allies where they could be found. Thanks to the Eldest we were more successful at bringing the local monsters to our cause than almost any who had bothered to make the attempt prior to our arrival there.

The record I have gone to such effort to preserve shows that the true strength of the Colony is not displayed by our cleverness, our might or our appetite for work, but in our ability to have all of those things and still build alliances.

It can be hard to tell if the Eldest, in their guidance of the Colony, was exceptionally greedy or altruistic. On the one claw, they always pushed further, deeper, reached for more, and on the other, they were always prepared to share. Perhaps it is this dichotomy that makes them, and by extension, the rest of us, so hard to understand.

From the personal notes of Historiant.

There's nothing quite like a feast at the end of a successful hunt. Perhaps it's the remnant of the primitive hunter in my brain, but chilling with my crew after a huge feast and just letting the drowsiness that follows wash over me is such an amazing feeling. My abdomen is full to bursting with Biomass and my entire carapace is practically sagging with lethargy as I digest.

Tiny is in a similar position, his ape belly bulging as he leans against the tunnel wall, a satisfied smile on his bat face. Crinis is, for once, not currently attached to me, instead sinking halfway into a shadow as she finishes chomping on the last remnants of her meal whilst sending feelers out into the surrounding area to warn us if trouble comes.

Al didn't eat nearly as much, which was interesting, since he claimed not to need it. I assume he's close to maxing out his mutations or has already done so if he's willing to turn his imaginary nose up at free Biomass. Brilliant can barely move. Her carapace is so bloated that it practically drags on the ground when she tries to walk and more than once I've seen the little ant come close to regurgitating the precious resources that we have secured for her.

I made it my mission to feed her until both of her stomachs were as full as possible. It takes a lot more Biomass to fully upgrade at tier three and she needs to pack it in as much as possible! Our time in the tunnels beneath Roklu continues to be fruitful in terms of the Biomass and experience that we've amassed. A healthy number of tier five prey can be found down here, or at least, they could be found down here. Now that we've run through the place over a couple of days, I wager it's going to take a while before more demons filter down here from above. We even ran into a tier six, likely not affiliated with any city, down here hunting. Since they chose to attack us on sight, I don't suppose there was any opportunity to engage in peaceful dialogue.

Invidia hovers in the air nearby, his eye almost closed as he lazily flaps to keep himself in position. A feeding Invidia is always a somewhat horrifying sight as the food vanishes into the mouth, that also vanishes. With him and Crinis eating next to each other, it's almost enough to drive a monstrous ant sick.

[All right then gang,] I announce to my pets. [If you have the points, it's time to upgrade if you haven't already. Go over your available Skills, see what you can find that might spark a bit of joy.]

Then I turn to Brilliant.

"How are you coping little one?"

"So… full…"

I can sympathise, I'm fairly stuffed myself, but not to the same extent that she is.

"I know it's not pleasant, but we want to max you out as soon as possible, so you're just going to have to deal with it. Since we aren't going anywhere in the short term, take some time and purchase the mutations that you want. Make sure you give thought to the overall balance of what it is that you want to do. At +15 you get to fuse your two mutations or emphasise one, so keep in mind how you want to be able to function going forward, alright?"

"Alright, senior, I will," she groans.

A few seconds later and her eyes glaze over in the manner that lets me know she's scrolling through the endless lists and menus that the System provides us. Given that I have a large store of points banked away, from several hunts as well as from consuming Grokus, I should get to spending also!

Ignoring Skills for the time being, I check my Biomass and can't help but clack my mandibles softly at the total. One thousand five-hundred and forty six?! Are you serious?! That is a heck of a lot of Biomass! I knew I was piling up a fair bit back there, but holy moly! That's amazing! I wonder if demons are more Biomass rich than monsters from above? Or did Grokus just provide that much? A fully mutated tier seven is no joke when it comes to the sheer amount of Biomass that's been spent. To take an organ from nothing all the way up to +30, which is my current max, costs over four hundred and fifty Biomass. To upgrade from +30 to +35 costs another hundred and sixty five per organ.

With this ridiculous stockpile of Biomass, I'm going to be able to make a HUGE dent in my mutations. Let's get to it! Oho! The joy of upgrading oneself, I'll never get tired of it.

I hastily bring up my status to confirm my current position.

Name: Anthony

Level: 18 (Rare) (VI)

Might: 205

Toughness: 180

Cunning: 145

Will: 100

HP: 360/360

MP: 530/530

Skills:

General:

Master Excavation (IV) Level 6; Expert Grip (III) Level 15; Expert Stealth (III) Level 8; Tunnel Compass (IV) Level 4; Iron Mind (IV) Level 33; Master Stamina (IV) Level 11; Still Meditation (IV) Level 15; Snap Dash (IV) Level 21;

Mana:

Mana Craft (V) Level 45; Condensed Mana (IV) Level 31; Finer External Mana Manipulation (IV) Level 22; Mana Hoarder (IV) Level 27; Layered Mind Magic Affinity (V) Level 13; Directed Mana Sensing (IV) Level 19; Expert Healing Magic Affinity (III) Level 19; Omni-Elemental Affinity (V) Level 25; Advanced Mana Masking (III) Level 10;

Pet:

Further Pet Communication (III) Level 11; Core Crafting (IV) Level 15; Pet Growth Speed (I) Level 5;

Defensive:

Grandmaster Exo-Skeleton Defence (V) Level 24; Master Dodge (IV) Level 28; Master Endure (IV) Level 8; Expert Grace (III) Level 18; Advanced Mandible Parry (II) Level 5;

Mutations:

Senses:

Sharpened Perimeter Eyes +25, Future Sight Antennae +15 (Twilight Filament);

Defence:

Complete Diamond Carapace +25, Braced Healing Inner Carapace Plating +25;

Physical:

Hardened Rapid Absorption Legs +25, Mana Flooded Mandibles +25, Frequent Potent Regeneration Gland +25, Loud Convincing Pheromone Gland +25, Vast Hungering Stomach +25, Lock Hyper-Twitch Musculature +25, Coordinating Instant Transmission Sub-Neural Network +25;

Acid:

Propagating Mana-Feasting Bind Acid Gland +25, Guided Hyper Pressurised Scattershot Acid Nozzle +25, Thickened Draining Acid Concentration Gland +25, Exhausting Thickener Acid Stimulation Gland +25;

Mental:

Unyielding Coordination Cortex +25, Main brain, Sub-Brains;

Mana:

Compressing Unending Gravity Magic Gland +25, Empowering Collective Will Vestibule +15 (Soul Crystal), Purifying Communal Spirit Nave +15;

Species: Colony Paragon

Skill points: 33

Biomass: 1546

My Skills are coming along nicely. A few upgrades here and there haven't really hurt. Mana Craft has started shooting up since I began competing with Brilliant, and I don't plan to stop until I hit rank six! At least then my rank will match my tier. If I want to see serious improvement in my new Skills, I'm going to have to dedicate more time to grinding them. Using Mandible Spear in an actual fight just feels so stupid though. Charge I've had a use for, but that one? Ugh. Looking at my organs, obviously nothing is fully upgraded as of yet, but I'm tossing up between starting to take things to +30, or getting the newer elements of my body up higher from +15…