[You look happy,] Granin rumbles over our link.

[Har, har. You’re a real comedian, you know that? In fact, why don’t you take your show on the road?]

[Don’t mind him,] Corun grins, [he’s just excited.]

[It’s not often you get to see a Mythic monster born,] Torrina adds.

I’m currently splayed out on the ground, my six legs stretched flat in all directions as I lay on my underside. The boredom has finally defeated me, and now I adopt the posture of surrender, unmoving and unthinking.

You can do an awful lot of not-thinking with this many brains, let me tell you. It’s like having static in stereo.

[There’s a lot of guards here…] Corun notes as he casts his gaze across the ranks of ants positioned around me. [Is there some kind of danger?]

[Not as such,] Wills, the guide for the trio, chips in. [The Eldest tried to break out yesterday, so we had to reinforce the garrison, significantly.]

I’ll get those damn centipedes if it's the last thing I do.

[Well, we’re here now, so you won’t have to wait much longer,] Granin sighs. [Once you’ve evolved, you’ll be free to move around again, from what I understand.]

[Oh, will I?] I say. [What about the Call, huh? Won’t the Ancients have an even bigger hook in my guts once I evolve? Seems like the opposite of being free to move around, if you ask me.]

Granin spreads his hands.

[Maybe yes, maybe no. It all depends on how strong they think your potential will be. It’s not ideal, I know, but at least you can take it as a sign that your evolutions are strong.]

[I don’t care. Am I clear on this, Granin? I. Don’t. Care. Whatever your precious Ancients want, I couldn’t give a single pip of Biomass. If it gets in the way of me protecting my family, I will go down there and kick them right in the teeth.]

Man, I’m grumpy. These past few days have piled insult on top of injury. Not only have I been locked here under constant supervision while hundreds of thousands of my own siblings wait on me hand and foot, building an entire fortress just so I can evolve in it, the idiot Dungeon even went and made a diamond centipede!

When I, quite reasonably, insisted that I be released, that I might wage a holy war to purge the many-legged devils from existence, to scour them from the Dungeon until not a claw remained, I was prevented from doing so! Outrageous! Never mind the indignity of having ants pile onto me until I couldn’t move; even Crinis, Tiny and Invidia pinned me down! My own closest friends!

The sting of betrayal cuts deeper than any centipede claw.

[You’re in a mood,] Granin bluntly observes before he sits down in front of me, one hand resting on the tip of my mandibles. [Let’s get started. The sooner we finish our discussion, the quicker you get evolving. I know you don’t care about the Ancients and any of that nonsense, that’s fine. You aren’t an experimental subject to me, Anthony, you’re a friend. That’s why I came down here and risked mana poisoning.]

That’s actually touching.

[W-wait a second. Mana poisoning?]

The big rock-covered golgari rolls his eyes.

[I haven’t spent much time on the fourth in decades. Torrina and Corun have never even been here. We’re acclimated to the third now, but it’ll take a week of careful exposure before we can move around down here.]

[So how long until you get sick?]

[We’re already feeling sick, idiot. Now are you going to sulk or are you going to consult with us?]

[Sorry! Consult!]

[That’s better. Let’s get to it then.]

I didn’t realise they risked that much to come here and help me. It warms my little ant heart to know they care that much. It also scares me, I don’t want them to suffer because of me. I do my best to shake off the malaise and focus. This is important stuff and we don’t have that much time.

[Well, talk to me about the whole “Mythic” thing you mentioned. What’s all that about?]

[That’s about the strength of your core. You have a rare core right now, but after you push your core all the way, it should transition to a Mythic one.]

[Does that mean I get a Mythic evolution?]

[That’s right. And we have a theory…]

Corun steps forward, although “bounces” might be a better term. He's as excited as a puppy.

[Yes. We think that ants are compensated for their weak starts with better and better evolutions as you proceed up the tree. This is due to the System presuming that almost none of you will ever reach that high.]

[Rrrright,] I say, [didn’t we kind of know this already?]

[We have more evidence now. Back when you evolved to tier six, you were literally the only one to progress from worker all the way to six. We don’t mean in your colony either, we mean on record, at all.]

[Now, there are more of you and the results are remarkable.] Even Torrina has an uncharacteristic gleam of enthusiasm in her eyes. [The Immortals and their Phoenix Fire Organ are a great example.]

Heh. A hilarious example.

[So you’re saying… what? I can expect something good?]

[What we’re saying,] Granin smiles, actually smiles, [is that you can expect something rock solid.]

[... I’m going to assume that’s high praise coming from a people who cover themselves in rocks.]

[Damn right it is. I actually think we might need to revisit plans on your resets based on our findings.]

[What? Why?]

[Because we were hoping to get some juicy fourth or fifth stratum options for your carapace, inner plating and mandibles, but now I believe you might be given something better.]

[You mean…]

[Sixth.]

Ooooooooooooo- wait.

I have absolutely no knowledge of the sixth stratum.

[Is… is that good? I don’t know anything about what it's like down there.]

[That’s not surprising,] he grunts, [the fifth is a poisonous, toxic wasteland that is inimical to life. Very few are able to get through and explore what’s below, so knowledge is limited.]

[What about portals?] I protest. [Surely only some need to get through and build a portal for others. It should be easy to travel through it.]

[The mana in the fifth is… special,] Corun fills me in. [Even using a portal to travel through it is… risky. And prohibitively expensive. I’ve never met anyone who’s been down there.]

[Don’t look at me,] Granin raises his hands before I can ask him, [you might just have to find out for yourself. All you need to know for now is that upgrades from that level are good. If you get to choose them, you should.]

He turns and looks over his shoulder at his two triad mates.

[Get started on the core,] he tells them, [I’ll go over the rest with him.]

They nod and move away a short distance before they sit and begin to sift through the hundreds of cores the Colony has delivered, as well as taking out a few rare cores of their own.

[They’re going to start making a Mythic core for you to absorb,] Granin tells me. [Going to take a while, even those we brought that fat demon’s core to use as a base. Mythics make rare cores look like pebbles.]

Oh boy… that’s gonna sting.