Phase 1: Preparations

  First thing I decided was where to create my battlefield, I didn’t have the largest range since my Giant Salamander, whom I’ve named Guppy, needed water to survive. And it was even slower than Zeus on land, so I decided on a little place where three biomes intersected.

  The first being the lake Guppy was from, the second a tropical forest, and the third a rocky desert. All seemingly cut off from their original homes in perfectly straight lines and placed together like puzzle pieces. Even branches that would’ve hung into other sections were clipped off.

  The first thing I did was have Zeus create a mote in a circular shape, connecting them to the lake, filling it with water so that Guppy could move around. Allowing me to use them outside of the places where the lake touches the other two biomes

  Then I looked at my minion counter; only four out of seven slots were filled.

  That wouldn’t do.

  But I couldn’t move too far, or I would lose Guppy, the issue of him being too slow to properly do anything coming up again. Then I felt Bug Jacob bugging me, pun unintended, for the first time in a while. We had mostly settled into a balance with each other over the last….

  Has it really only been four days? That’s beside the point.

  Where he would point me in the right direction and I would follow, but this time I felt him asking to take control, so I let him, and he gave Guppy an order.

  Guppy then dove under the water and didn’t surface, so I checked on his status. And it was highlighted for some reason.

  Giant Construction Salamander

  HP: Green

  MP: Green

  EP: Green

  Notes: Why do you have to be so damn slow? Poison mucus, sticky spit. God, I wanna eat something, gahahahghahalskdjfasdjlfkhsdakjf.

  Hibernation: Green

  My best guess as to why it was like that was because of the new Hibernation status, but why would Bug Jacob suggest this? I experimented a bit by leaving the radius of control for Guppy, and I saw the Hibernation status go from green to yellow in about half an hour. But they didn’t automatically leave my minion list. And when I went back into range, the HIbernation status went back up to green.

  Oh, god damn bug Jacob, ten points for you! I might actually let you out of my closet occasionally.

  OOO

  While Guppy hibernated in some hole underwater, I was able to stock up on minions, but even with my increased minion cap, they were still so few. Then, when I returned and saw Zeus digging out more trenches, I had an idea.

  I got Zeus to dig a hole in the middle of the battlefield, surrounded by the mote, and put three Ravens in, covering them with a rock, making sure they had air holes. Then I released my control over them. I couldn’t put them into hibernation since they still counted as minions, but with this, I could have a backup supply in case… well, let’s be real, when I ran out of soldiers.

  So I started creating as many of those minion caches as possible, and on one of my runs, I spotted another Anteater. Even smaller and weaker than Zeus was, while I had an army of Ravens and a stronger Anteater.

  The math was simple; by the time I got back to my battlefield, I had a second Anteater named Thor, only losing a single Raven in the process. The Anteater must’ve been a baby; it was around the size of Guppy, and it could only use its lightning twice before fainting.

  Better than not having it, though.

  This taking up the entire third day, and at the beginning of the second, had a complete water mote surrounding four minion caches holding three Ravens each. Surrounding the trench were three lines of Sticky spit infused with poisonous mucus.

  I had discovered that Guppy had two types of spit. Sticky, one that stayed wet, and well… sticky. Then there was Hardening spit, the concrete like one that Zeus had a pain getting out of. Thankfully, it could be washed away by a mix of water and an excretion made by Guppy.

  Ew.

  Sadly, I couldn’t find much use for the Hardening Spit right now. I only used it to create a small wall around my cache of Ravens. It just took too long to create anything with it. But I found more ways to use it during the battle.

  After that day of hard work, I made all of my unpaid employees do I looked at my stats, planning to increase them. But as I failed to ignore the sadly dusty Mutations, an idea popped into my head.

  I used my skill Appraisal on one of them.

  Robust Silk Production, 1 Mutation Point: Allows for more efficient production of Silk, also increases the power of any skills connected to the use of Silk.

  I felt my little bug circulatory system pump wildly.

  Oh, ho, ho. This is what you’ve been hiding from me, System. You knew if I had known this, my power would’ve exceeded yours in less time than it takes to blink!

  Ahem… ignore my outburst.

  Then I proceeded to do that to all my mutations, till my mutation list looked like this.

  Mutation Points: 10

  Antenna: Basic, Mutations Available

  Complex Antenna, 1 Mutation Point: Increases the amount of smells Antenna can pick up on, and opens up more uses for Skills connected to Antenna.

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  Strong Antenna, 1 Mutation Point: Increases the range of the Antenna senses, and increases the power of Skills Connected to Antenna

  Wings: Quick, Mutations Available

  Wide Wings, 2 Mutation Points: Increases HP passively. And the power of skills connected to the Wings.

  Tarsus: Basic, Mutations Available

  Connecting Tarsus, 2 Mutation Points: Allows and increases the strength of mental/spiritual/physical connection to whatever the subject's Tarsus is touching.

  Abdomen: Basic, Mutations Available

  Robust Silk Production, 1 Mutation Point: Allows for more efficient production of Silk, and increases the power of Skills connected to the use of Silk.

  Complex Silk Production, 2 Mutation Points: Allows for more complex uses of Silk, and opens up more uses for Skills connected to Silk.

  See system, this is how you give a description.

  After giving the System its well deserved scolding, I thought over what I could do with this new information. I checked the number of days I had left to live; I knew it by heart, but I still did it.

  EP: Green (Days to live 2/7)

  I had the MuP to buy all the Mutations… I had three levels to survive, and I had two days to get them. In my mind, there was only one question. Live or die?

  I found a safe place in my little circle of death and mentally clicked on all the Mutations, the darkness of unconsciousness following.

  OOO

  What seemed like the very next moment, I was awake and breaking out of my teal cocoon, my body feeling alien again. Everything was bigger, and the feeling of the body parts themselves changed. But I let Bug Jacob tell me how to get used to them, the next moment I was crawling out of the pit I had hid in.

  Finding my minions all standing around stiffly, like statues.

  Did they do that when I didn’t give them orders? What would they do if they were attacked when I was away? Would they just… Take it?

  I decided not to follow that disturbing train of thought and started preparing that last little bit of defence I had come up with. I lined the battlefield in a lattice of Moon silk, the work significantly easier than I thought it would be.

  Those Mutations were definitely worth it; my MP and EP didn’t even dip into Orange when I was finished lining the entire battlefield, I even gained a level in the skill. And with that final touch, I let myself rest.

  Probably my final rest… no, no, no. Don’t even think of it like that. This is the final step, the last and only way. In the end, there’s only ever one way. You push through.

  My mind flashes to my brother at that thought, but I dismiss it.

  Only ever one way…

  Phase 2: First Strike

  My Ravens were flying back to the battlefield, having attracted an army of bugs from a dozen nearby Ant mounds. I originally thought I’d have to go with them, but with my new mutations, my range had increased at least ten times from what I've observed so far.

  I had my minions ready, Zeus on the outside of the motes, Thor, my new Anteater, inside with me, and the minion staches. I had him here so he could open the caches since I couldn’t move the rocks covering them. And Guppy was lazily swimming in the water filled mote separating the other two minions.

  Then the Ants arrived, covering the desert and forest floor like a carpet, barely an inch of the ground visible under their ugly wriggling bodies. Then they crashed into the first poisonous sticky trap, but it didn’t last long as enough ants got stuck that their siblings could crawl over their corpses.

  Zeus devoured as many as he could as they reached the second sticky line, the Ravens above bombarding the ants with blades of water. The ants passed over the second, then the third, in what seemed like a moment. Falling into the water mote beyond, trying to form bridges out of their buoyant bodies. But they were devoured happily by Guppy.

  But there were so many that the Salamander couldn’t get to all of them, and soon the middle of the mote was completely blocked by ant corpses. Significantly limiting Guppy's mobility to where the lake was touching the land, since he’d be devoured by the swarm if he went onto solid ground.

  But the Ants didn’t care about that; they formed a bridge from the corpses of their fellow colony members. Breaching the last geographic line of defence to my Weapons cache. I had Thor go out and face them, the young Anteater barely keeping them off.

  And while I wasn’t watching, Zeus had been swarmed. The Soldier Ants cutting past his thick fur and hide, my poor boy crying out with his surprisingly high pitched shrill.

  Damn it, I hadn’t wanted to do that this early.

  I allowed Zeus to use his lightning blast, killing off most of the remaining Ants; this wave finally at a manageable level. Only a trickle reaching Thor, but just as I thought that, I sensed the first wave of Junior Princes arrive.

  Phase 3: Upping the ANTe

  They came from forest cover, the humming of their wings beating together in unison nearly deafening.

  I had the Ravens herd the group towards Zeus, losing three in the process, then my GOAT blasted the Junior Prince away in a flash of light and ozone. The sweet ding of the system finally resonating in my ear.

  “Level up, +1 to Evolution Level, gain 3 mutation points.”

  One down, two to go.

  I sensed another swarm of Junior Princes incoming, but I had enough time to get Thor to open a cache of Raven. Then I had him swap out with Zeus, who was low on mana. And I did the same thing with the second swarm, except with Thor, when it arrived. But just as they were killed, a third swarm arrived, leaving no time to breathe as they approached me.

  Crap.

  I didn’t think; I had Thor blast them again before properly herding them with the Ravens, leaving about a quarter behind. Leaving Thor unconscious on the ground as I sensed a fourth swarm incoming.

  I distracted the Junior Princes from Thor with the Ravens, the birds quickly getting picked off. At the same time, I had Zeus open another minion cache, sent mana to Thor through the Moon silk lattice, and sent Zeus out to the front lines.

  The Ravens flew out the same moment the fourth swarm arrived, and I immediately had my minions guide the Ants towards Zeus. Killing the remnants of the third and all of the fourth swarm in one swoop, along with some of the ravens due to the sloppy desperation of the maneuvering. Zeus fainting from MP exhaustion as Thor stood.

  There was a small reprieve in the fighting, allowing me to awaken Zeus through the Moon Silk, the act nearly draining me of the rest of my MP. Another ding from the system resonated.

  “Level up, +1 to Moon Silk Level, Max Level reached.”

  Thanks, but not now System.

  My Antenna were somehow picking up an incoming fifth swarm through all the Death Pheromones in the air. Thankfully, they were only ground ants.

  No, wait… What’s that?

  I picked up on an oddity in the swarm, but I couldn’t make out what it was, though I didn’t have to wait long for an answer as the swarm arrived. It was a giant Soldier Ant the size of Thor, with a pair of chitin covered wings on its back.

  I used Appraisal on it.

  Senior Prince Cutter Ant

  HP: Green

  Lv: 17

  MP: Green

  Lv: 10

  EP: Green

  Lv: 25

  Then I hear a ding from the System. Nearly startling me out of my body.

  “Level up, +1 to Appraisal Level.”

  System…. Please be honest with me. How much enjoyment do you get out of my suffering?