It’s been the WORST experience I had so far, being torn apart and having all my organs and limbs reattaching themselves while being paralyzed and depleted of energy…

The Corrupted core we gathered from the bird helped to supply some chaotic energy that Norn could stabilize and use to further improve our body and stats.

If we keep this up, we could enhance our abilities to new heights. We just need more biomass, and cores; both of them involves hunting.

"Oh, I feel so hungry. Show me my stats!"

Primal Adult- Ripper

Stats:

Level - 4 (60 biomass to level up)

Health - 18/18

Energy - 0/70

Biomass Reserves - 3 biomass / 8 corrupted (processing)

Str - 16

Res - 13

Vit - 12

Agi - 10

Int - 6

"Queen Norn says that the core was consumed, we will use that energy to impulse our evolution. As you can see, you entered into the adult phase of this Ripper organism."

"Right, and you say that we still have some energy juice to spare? Good! I don’t really want to go hunt another crazed and dangerous animal. Let’s keep it easy for a day or two."

"GO! Hunt!! We Hungry!!"

"Aghh, yes, I am hungry too."

I ordered the fighters to start moving, and they get up with difficulties; it seems that the psychic backlash is still affecting them.

"C’mon!! Move already little ones! We have work to do."

I pushed them one by one, trying to supply some energy, despite being depleted and exhausted from the evolution.

And as I was thinking about my things, I felt heavier. And maybe taller.

“Did I somehow managed to gain some weight?”

"You are indeed bigger now, and you gained about a 46% increase in weight, most of it due to structural changes, more muscles, and chitin reinforcements."

"Oh, good, so I must be around 20 kilograms or 50 pounds. So I passed from being chihuahua size to a boxer size insect. So sick."

----------

I kept on talking with Norn and the Support for 20 minutes or so, waiting for the units to come back online and gain some energy to send new collector mites into the biome.

With my increase in intelligence, I could now control 6 units or 12 collectors. I created a bunch of them and let them go harvest.

As they worked, I went with a couple of fighters to explore further into the biome.

I kept walking until we hit a wall, then turned right.

About 50 meters or so ahead of us, there is a metal door built into the wall. On each side of the corridor, there were several more crystal cages. It looked like a zoo somehow, but one that had been abandoned for some really long time.

We kept walking, without making a sound nor attract unwelcome attention upon us.

As we were reaching the door, I noticed something weird. There was one of these rooms or jails that were white. All of it seemed foggy.

As I sent the mites for closer inspection, I noticed that it was not fog, but some sort of silk.

The whole area was full of spider silk, and it reached the glass.

The mites checked it, and there seemed that the glass was still in place, despite some cracks here and there, it was still holding up. That was reassuring, as my sensors didn't pick any readings from inside.

Despite my concern, I advanced to investigate the door.

While it certainly looked unsettling, I tried to calm down. I couldn't avoid feeling worried, but whatever was living in that room had not come out to meet us. And hopefully, that would not change.

We moved further, leaving this room behind and focusing on the door.

It was less than 20 meters from us. I could see some rusty areas we could exploit. There also seemed to be some air conduct similar to the one I came from.

One of the fighters began to climb the rocky wall to access the vent and explore it while the second one kept exploring with me until we hit the door.

A large metal door stood before us.

But now, I didn't see it as an impossible obstacle to surpass. I just need a few bites.

I got close to the door and tried to chew onto the weakest point I could detect.

* CHOMP!

A metallic sound echoes through the corridor. I turned to look back, worriedly, but nothing happened.

I focused back at the door and noticed I could barely do a scratch the size of a coin. I checked the two mites, but there didn't seem to be any surprises so far at the cage.

Up at the air vent, there was some silk web, so I could expect something nasty lying there.

"I'm not gonna explore it yet, I have yet to recover the collectors' group of mites. Better go with a full stomach."

I kept working on the door for a few minutes; I even applied some spores and toxins to deteriorate the hinges, but with little effect.

"It’s time to go back, we’ll leave it for today and … where is the fighter of the ventilation?"

"Host, we can sense movement!"

"Oh, shit. We have enemies incoming!"

I summoned a second mite, and we stood focusing our attention at the ceiling while walking back through the corridor. I made a psychic call for the mites to come back asap. I will need the extra biomass probably.

My senses were telling me that things are getting fucked up quickly. Several noises are coming from the ventilation grid and then stop.

Just as I thought that nothing would come out of it, a few huge spiders fell to the ground while carrying my dead fighter.

"Damn it, I hate these insects! Too many legs and eyes. 6 is just perfect! Okay, so you want to pick up a fight against us, huh? I will make you pay for killing my brood!"

The collectors were quite near, I could feel them. Just as I was considering picking up a with these new foes, I heard a muffled sound.

* Tap-Tap...

I turned around to look at the glass from the lab room and saw something at the glass.

"Oh shit, what da hell is that??!!"

I saw a huge spider. It was black as night, with 8 red eyes focusing on me, a terrible mouth moving it’s chelicera menacingly towards me. It's even drooling. "You sick fucker!"

It was at the other side of the glass and had 4 of its 8 legs onto the glass. Luckily the glass was holding up, and the spider soon receded.

"Seriously, how big it’s that thing!? I felt I grew stronger, but this thing is massive!"

Let's call it a big ass huge spider queen; it is at least a couple hundred kilograms, that's a very, very heavy spider there.

Just as the spider was backing off, she seemed to scream, despite not having the proper organs to perform that feat.

Then, from the ventilation grid, a bunch of smaller spiders erupted, jumping and throwing webs at us. Meanwhile, the bigger spiders started to walk towards us.

I severed the psychic link with the collectors, forcing them to shut down and summon a force of mites to help me. 3 fighters and 2 bombers.

"Let's see how they perform at keeping our foes at bay."