*Status*

Name: Crete

Species: Cleial Isopteran (Champion)

Gender: Male

Level: 10 > 0

Health Points: 40/40 > 114/114

Stamina Points: 85/85 > 238/238

Mana Points: 0/0 > 10/10

Spirit Energy: 18/18 > 25/25

Strength: 6 > 9 + (1.35)

Endurance: 6 > 9 + (1.35)

Agility: 6 > 9 + (1.35)

Vitality: 6 >9 + (1.35)

Intelligence: 11 > 14

Luck: 4

Spirit: 6

Perception: 7

Will: 11

Undistributed Stat Points: 35

Experience Points: 909/810 > 99/1215

Skills:

(Active)

Desperate Chomp- Lvl 2

Masticate- Lvl 4

Inspect- Lvl 2

Sprint- Lvl 4

Sneak- Lvl 2

(Passive)

Strong Body- Lvl 4 > Champion’s body- Lvl 1

Pheromone Language- Lvl 4

Compound Eyes- Lvl 2

Hyper Metabolism- Lvl 4

Indignation- Lvl 1

Titles:

The First Champion

Achievements:

First of the clutch (15 % faster experience gain)

Leader of the clutch (5% faster experience gain) Limit: 7/7

To go beyond oneself (Grants a bonus of 1 extra stat every level up)

Crete just stared at his status for a while taking in all the changes and the increased strength that these changes brought him. He couldn’t be compared with the other nymphs anymore, in power, stature, heck even his intelligence was double theirs and he had no doubt that none of them had higher stats than him.

It left him feeling empty, he achieved the power he wanted, but it happened all through one fight. Yes, he did struggle and put his life on the line countless times during that fight but that was beside the point. It all just felt a little too easy for his taste.

Not letting the bitter taste of his success get to him he focused on his other siblings and instructed them to line up in front of him. “Let me give you guys the rundown; evolution is painful firstly. Second of all, at the pace we gain experience killing grubs it’ll take hundreds of them to effectively allow you to evolve. So instead of eating the grubs as soon as they drop, I propose we farm them instead”

{Crete POV}

“What do you mean by farming them...?” The now conscious Vito asked unsure of my meaning “Well my dear brother, farming them means allowing another of those young beetles to evolve from the grubs. It would be way more efficient to kill a creature above your evolutionary status to receive the tremendous bonus experience,” I said confident in my plan, as this method of grooming creatures till they were able to present the best value was one of the fragmented memories I received after evolution.

Barring the weird flashback, I experienced I tirade of memories and experiences that were transmitted to my brain from the queen knows where. But I felt that these memories were my own just through another perspective… a two-legged perspective I mused.

In those memories, I saw massive towers made of steel, glass, and other materials, multiple times the size of the “Main chamber” I had seen. I saw visions of four-legged creatures that swallowed the two-legged ones only to spit them out again after they traveled for a while. The memories were a contradiction between being familiar but innately foreign, and I wondered if my abnormal intelligence had anything to do with that, quite an imagination I had.

“In the next batch of grubs, if there isn’t another young beetle, we’ll have to secure the highest-level ones in a corner until they’re ready to evolve” I added “But won’t that defeat the purpose of the feeding chamber?” I heard one of the triplets Althaia say. “Good point, but I won’t be fighting the beetle for you, I’ll just restrain it if you’re not able to fight anymore. This makes sure you get battle experience, but the threat of death isn’t really present”

I watched as their small antenna vibrated and processed my words and what it would mean for their growth, and after the initial confusion, I saw the excitement at the prospect of a quicker evolution. I wonder if my extremely fast evolution was within the plans the queen had for this chamber, however, because from what the nymphs told me if two parties participate in a fight and contribute damage equally the experience of the kill is shared.

Maybe that was a threat that required all of us to participate so the experience would be shared equally I considered, that would make more sense. Because I find it hard to believe the queen would expect one nymph to solo a young beetle… Ah, problems to think of another day, for now, I should get the farm going.

{Amara POV}

I watched as Crete dug away at the walls opposite to the rest room, his mandibles making short work of the compressed soil. From the looks of it he was digging out a chamber for his “farming” operation, I and the other nymphs didn’t quite understand the value of it yet, however, but if it meant discarding these weak bodies… in exchange for one such as him, we were all on board.

“He’s an absolute unit huh” I heard my older brother Dynamis say in a voice of admiration, but I knew it was more self-deprecating than anything. We all felt so useless. In that fight with the young beetle, all of us understood if it wasn’t for him tanking the threat all by himself there would no doubt be a few casualties among our ranks.

“Yeah… it’s like he has more stamina than me… well I guess he probably does by now…” a disheartened Meneo chided in. “I don’t think we should compare ourselves to the first… it wouldn’t be good for our mental health. Because only the queen knows what goes on inside his head…” Amore attempted to comfort Meneo, but she instead making all of us depressed...

“I think we should use him as a goal rather than a standard for comparison… for obvious reasons…” I heard Vito say on the side and I silently agreed, seeing Crete finish carving out the side room. Approaching us he said, “When the grubs drop down again make sure you sift through them to get the highest-level ones, I’ll dig out a hole and we’ll put them in there for now”

After saying that, he went back to work and started digging again, leaving the 7 of us feeling even more useless than before. We knew that if he wanted to, he could just focus on making himself stronger, but he was working so hard to ensure all of us evolved too. It left a bitter taste in all our mouths, and despite him not really seeing it as a big thing all of us would remember this favor forever. So, with renewed vigor and the familiar choir of squeals, we set about sifting through the grubs to realize his plan.

Crete was tirelessly toiling away at the soil in front of him, the shape of the pit, in which what he called “the fights for evolution” would soon take place was coming together. He realized with his increased intelligence it was possible to use his body almost autonomously, so while he was toiling away he considered his status and finally decided to allocate his 35 undistributed stat points.

*Status*

Name: Crete

Species: Cleial Isopteran (Champion)

Gender: Male

Level: 0

Health Points: 114/114 > 183/183

Stamina Points: 238/238 > 376/376

Mana Points: 10/10

Spirit Energy: 25/25 > 31/31

Strength: 9 + (1.35) > 15 + (2.25)

Endurance: 9 + (1.35) > 15 + (2.25)

Agility: 9 + (1.35) > 15 + (2.25)

Vitality: 9 + (1.35) > 15 + (2.25)

Intelligence: 14

Luck: 4 > 5

Spirit: 6 > 8

Perception: 7 > 11

Will: 11 > 15

Undistributed Stat Points: 35 > 0

Experience Points: 99/1215

Skills:

(Active)

Desperate Chomp- Lvl 2

Masticate- Lvl 4

Inspect- Lvl 2

Sprint- Lvl 4

Sneak- Lvl 2

(Passive)

Strong Body- Lvl 4 > Champion’s body- Lvl 1

Pheromone Language- Lvl 4

Compound Eyes- Lvl 2

Hyper Metabolism- Lvl 4

Indignation- Lvl 1

Titles:

The First Champion

Achievements:

First of the clutch (15 % faster experience gain)

Leader of the clutch (5% faster experience gain) Limit: 7/7

To go beyond oneself (Grants a bonus of 1 extra stat every level up)

He chose to distribute his points in primary stats equally so that he wouldn’t be too biased in any physical area, at least until he got a better understanding of how the stats affect his strength. He messed around with the secondary stats a bit, focusing on areas he thought would benefit his actual battle prowess, but he threw a point into luck to see if it would have any apparent effects. Mildly disappointed he couldn’t feel any changes he scolded himself from using a valuable point, as he didn’t even feel any bit “luckier”.

After distributing his stat points, his attention was refocused on what he was doing, and he was surprised to see the area he excavated for the pit was much larger he intended it to be. Observing his work, he concluded that this chamber was about half the size of the feeding chamber and the pit occupied more than 3/5ths of it. Marveled at the physical capabilities of his new body he was eager to “graduate” from this chamber and experience the real world.

“We found 3 level 10 grubs Crete and about a dozen level 9’s, it looks like the level 10 ones have already begun their evolution though…” the voice of Althaia reeling him out of his daydreams. His eyes drifted behind him and the grubs that the nymphs presented him, 3 of them were in cocoons and it appeared they were physically extending and morphing.

As he was observing evolution for the first time, he was fascinated by the way the creatures were changing. He thought back on his own experience and determined it must be because they’re essentially growing limbs and their whole structure is changing rather than just enlarging as he did.

“Put the level 9 grubs at that corner of the chamber and the level 10 ones put them in the pit for now,” Crete said pointing at an empty corner of the chamber and gesturing to throw the cocoons into the pit. Realizing he didn’t consider the fact that there would be 3 beetles to subdue now, he mused on how he would make it so that while one of them was fighting the nymphs the others wouldn’t go wild.

As he was contemplating, however, he recalled one fragmented memory he had of tiny beings inside a shining box; of a battle he had seen in something called a “Colosseum” and how the creatures would be restrained by a gate until they were released to fight. It was a novel idea and exactly what Crete needed right now to handle his problem.

So, setting about extending the pit, he expanded in the direction of the chamber’s walls and hollowed out a space in which he would keep the beetles until they were required to fight. The passage into the holding room was long enough so that they wouldn’t be able to just charge through without him noticing either, and he compressed the walls of the room so it wouldn’t collapse.

He then proceeded to make individual pens for the beetles so they wouldn’t be able to gang up on him when he came to lead them out. He dug 3 more holes into the holding room, and after making the pens he wondered for a short while what he would use to seal them before remembering the perfect example. He could just compress soil into something like the rock used to seal the feeding chamber.

With ideas on how to proceed with his plan for farming evolutions for his siblings, he was ready to set about ensuring everything would be in order before the first beetle emerged from the cocoon. But before that, he would have to determine which of his siblings would be the first user of this colosseum.

“Are any of you level 5 yet?” Crete asked emerging from the holding chamber looking at the nymphs moving the grubs still, and seeing all of them shaking their heads in denial he had the perfect idea to determine who his first combatant would be. “Well after you’ve finished moving the grubs, you better get to farming the rest, because the first to get a crack at evolving is the first to hit level 5, you can do it!”

{Dynamis POV}

Seeing my older brother disappear into the tunnel he dug into the hole he called the pit; I was practically brimming with excitement and determination. I had to be the first to reach level 5 and looking around at the others and the determination that radiated off their thoraxes I realized the competition would be tight.

No matter, I had confidence in myself, and in the strength I was blessed with. I would live up to his expectations and seize the opportunity that he created for us, and the power that he had achieved with my own two mandibles.

{Meneo POV}

Looking at the floor of the massive room my brother had carved out I was still in amazement, and thinking back to the words he uttered before departing back to his endless toiling at the soil, I was moved. Everything he was doing for us, and the relentless manner in which he operated, and his amazing work ethic electrified and mortified me.

Thinking back on his declaration, I felt an unrestrained need to live up to his expectations. I knew I could work longer than the others, so I had an advantage in that area. I need only access a fraction of his never-ending drive to accomplish this. So, with a renewed determination I set about to hunt the grubs, level 5 being my only goal, I needed to prove that I was the best.

{Amore POV}

Shuffling my legs, I left the chamber the first carved out, and into the one where I had hopes of finally being able to achieve my goals. He gave us a chance, a possibility of wielding the power we had seen him use to carve out that massive chamber in a few hours. A chance for me to finally be able to protect...

With the power I saw him display, I felt that I would finally be able to be the shield that I was meant to be for the rest of my siblings. The dream that I had cultivated since I popped out of the egg… finally it was in my reach, I just needed to be the first to reach level 5. Something I realized would encourage everyone else to hunt faster than usual, so we would be ready for when the next beetle emerged.

{Vito POV}

As I watched my siblings rush about the feeding chamber laying waste to the fat wriggling masses of experience, I felt lost. The fervent desire that everyone else had was absent in me, and I wondered why. I remember being afraid and powerless when I hatched, but that didn’t spark some crazy desire for power in me, like one I could feel my siblings had.

I mindlessly joined them in their pursuit for power, reaping the lives of the defenseless grubs. However, I idly wondered why we had to do all this. From my near-death encounter with the beetle, I determined that experiences like those weren’t ones I was trying to be subject to in this mindless and perpetual search for power.

It all felt so hollow to me, even though I understood why they did it. Even my younger sisters were being influenced by our older sibling’s desire for power. Trying to find a reason to search for that power myself, I considered the reasons of my older siblings.

Crete... none of us could really understand but I felt his was one of adventure. Amore’s we could all clearly see in her motherly concern and the things we knew she would do selflessly to protect us. Dynamis’ I felt was more of a pure desire just to be stronger and cultivate the strength he was born with to a higher level. Meneo’s was obviously one borne out of the need to prove he was the best, a prideful termite that one. The triplets didn’t quite yet have their individual reasons though, but I felt they would find them soon.

And me… I didn’t quite have a desire for power… if anything my desire would be that my relatives didn’t need to have one… I yearned to make sure that dangerous situations, like the one that threatened us with the beetle, wouldn’t need to be a regular occurrence. I wanted to ensure my siblings didn’t need power to achieve what they wanted in this world and instead be able to just accomplish their goals and live their lives…