There were several spiders on the floor and ceiling, and they already had killed one of my own before, so I was quite pissed off.

We kept the stance until some silk webs started floating in our direction. One of those threads managed to fall over one of the fighters, and it was just pulled over to the wall without effort.

There, it struggled against several smaller spiders that started to throw more webs at it, turning into a cocoon less than a minute later.

This threads managed to pick my interest, in a wrong way. Being pulled out of the ground was an almost guaranteed death sentence.

My venomous and highly unstable bomb mites started to pour some shoots at our foes with terrible results. Their shooting range was too short, not reaching even 7 meters, plus those spiders were quite agile themselves.

They managed to evade all the incoming shots quite quickly, and my brood soon started to get tired and low on ammo. Damn it.

One of my fighters and I managed to engage one of the bigger and less agile spiders while the small spiders on the ceiling kept throwing webs at us. While the spider was trying to take down the fighter, I stabbed at its thorax, rendering in a half-paralyzed state.

I then used my pincers and claws to cut through the webs that had fallen at us.

With the area turning into a silk nest at each passing second, I decided to take the spider and go back before this turned into a full-scale battle I was not ready to fight.

I summoned a couple of bombs to cover our escape and pulled back the prey we managed to capture with quite the effort.

The spider queen watched all the fights through the glass and seemed quite furious herself, hitting the glass. Luckily she couldn't join the fray.

When we are arriving at the intersection where this corridor started, I could see a vast web being created at the end of the corridor, covering the floor, walls, and ceiling in a white fog.

"Damn, that is gonna be hard to get through."

Well, we lost some good units, but we managed to secure quite a piece of lunch. "Oh, the spider is moving again! That's some huge resistance to poison you have! How about this?"

* CHOMP!

Yikes, it tastes like mud and vinegar. Bah, beggars cannot be pickers. I force myself to keep eating and swallowing some biomass.

Norn started to work on the DNA sequence and tried to create some sort of acid that can counter these foes' webs.

I stopped eating the spider and get out of the cave where we are resting. This whole fight has left me quite a bad taste. I then moved through the biome to search the collectors I shut down before.

As soon as Norn gives me the okay, I will level up and get my spores and venom to level 3 too. That might help me fight them off.

"If only we had some fire at hand… wait, Norn, can you make some collectors produce some hydrogen? It’s a gas, flammable."

"How is it produced?"

"How? Dunno, by digesting cellulose or something? What do you mean you don't know? How can you manage to tamper the DNA and genes but don't know this?" As soon as I said that, I knew I pissed her off.

She gave me a speech about how she is working her mental ass off to get the right sequence to evolve us as fast as she can, not complaining (seriously?) about my hunting speed or methods.

And basically, after 10 minutes or so, she shut down the conversation without a proper answer. So, It seems I am alone at this… Maybe we could just dig the soil to get through.

"We currently lack the units designed for that function. And without those, the working speed would be as low as 16%. It makes more sense to keep working on the enhanced acid."

“You too? Okay, we're going to do it this way, but next time I choose.”

I created a few collectors to eat and process the spider for me. I was not going to keep eating that corpse.

I noticed my units were defenseless in the last couple of fights. Unless they manage to get stronger or I get more energy to keep pumping them to keep the balance of the battles, I'm reaching a bottleneck.

"Level up then! We are ready!"

"Norn, unless you have something useful to add, just- Sigh. It doesn't matter. I'll go find the biomass to level up."

I kept walking and finally found the collectors' bodies. I ate them and begun searching for more food.

I miss being human… In less than a week, I turned into a dog-sized insectoid that eats its own brood at convenience.

Despite sharing this body with two other beings, I feel quite lonely. I guess that what happens when you are stuck with a childish and bossy Queen and its psycho and efficiently murderous support thing. I should name it, though.

With no intention to go back to the spider's corridor, I left a fighter near the intersection monitoring the spiders' nest and went back to the cave.

After picking a resting spot, I slowly ate the rest of the collectors, trying to fill the empty sensation inside me. It didn't work, and I felt even worse afterward. I closed my eyes and pushed myself to the next step of evolution.

"Beginning evolution!"

My body begins to crack again, growing new tissue, muscle, and chitin. As I grew, the cave I was in started to feel less spacious than before.

That feeling is only confirmed after I wake up.

Okay, I have just enough biomass to level up either the pincers or the chitin, and I don't want to stock it while I am risking my life at any given time, so, chitin it is!

Level 1 Chitin Biomorph - Upgrade cost: 15 biomass per level.

"15 biomass? That was cheap!"

Well, maybe it wasn't so cheap before, but now I don't even break a sweat for expenditures of 100 biomass in one go.

"Host, the Queen Norn has deciphered and developed a biomorph to help you in combat. She wants you to take a more active role."

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen."

New biomorph: adrenal glands.

"So, what does it do?"

"It will convert a small quantity of biomass into energy to use it in combat and help you have more control of the battlefield."

"Yass! Okay, so I have to spend… 2 biomass per 5 energy units! What!! That's a rip-off."

"Shadup! You wanted energy, that's it."

"Yeah, but… Agghh, Okey. Thank you, Norn. Happy already? Cmon, show me the stats! By the way, you need a name, dude. Any suggestions?"

I don't require a name, nor your predisposition to treat me like a male. I am a mere support biomorph. My role is to serve my host and provide help.

"Okay, you talk too much. What about Darwin? You like that name? Or maybe Adam. We'll see."

Primal Adult- Ripper

Stats:

Level - 5 (80 biomass to level up)

Health - 21/21

Energy - 0/80

Biomass Reserves - 34 biomass

Str - 18

Res - 15

Vit - 14

Agi - 12

Int - 8

Biomorph list:

Support level 2

Enhanced senses level 2

Maw and claws level 3

Chitin level 1 - - > 2

Poison sting level 2

Spores level 2

Pincer level 1

Adrenal glands, level 1(new)

Unit list:

Minor -> Collectors, Fighters, Bomb

"Ughhh, why can't I scratch, this burns my skin!! Seriously Norn, can't you make it less painful??!"

"Yes! But it's expensive."

"Oh, you can? Why don't you… oh wow, a hundred thousand? That's expensive. Okay, I will bear with it for now. But I assure you I will buy that biomorph someday."

As the chitin was growing and being reinforced, I tried to decide my course of action.

With nearly no energy and low biomass reserves, I needed to move and get some food.

"I will check the rest of the biome areas I haven't seen yet. I'm sure I will manage to find more useful stuff."