The death of the spider, along with all the ‘cleaning’ my pets and I had done on our journey was enough to push me to level 76, tantalisingly close to the goal. I was keen to get back out and hunting for experience, but the remains of the big spider were right in front of us and I refuse to …

In truth, the establishment of the Core Shapers by the Eldest proved over time to be a master stroke. At first, there were many who decried the resources being sent to the caste instead of being used to nourish the next generation. Perhaps at first, this was indeed the case. As hardworking and talented as Elegant and Bella were in …

Tiny was more than happy to abandon his post for something more exciting and I think Crinis was just relieved she was able to return to me without something dramatic occurring, such as me being sucked through a black hole into the hundredth strata, if that even exists. With the gang assembled, we set off into the deeper tunnels and …

I’ve been out here for hours and I still haven’t levelled up. Oops, here comes another one. Thirty metres down the tunnel, the dirt bulges before crumbling away to reveal a newly spawned shadow crawler. Despite having six legs, I really can’t approve of these things, their faces look like a mosquito, with a piercing snout almost a metre long. …

When word finally came back from the satellite nests the sense of relief in the Colony was noticeable. Burke herself was the first to receive the message and made sure to pass it on as quickly as she could. The smaller nests had held up well, suffering no more than a few probing attacks intended to keep them in place. …

They’d done it. After so much time and effort had been expended, they’d finally done it. The mage caste had put themselves through the ringer during the siege, they had battered their minds against the invaders until they bordered on shattering. It had been a painful regime of brutal mental warfare seemingly without end. What had made things even more …

My conversation with the bruan’chii Grove Keeper was disappointingly short, but enlightening. There was precious little time before the wave reached a full throated roar and the tree-people didn’t want to be caught out in the open. Apparently the ‘mother tree’ wasn’t able, or didn’t want to, maintain all the vegetation that she had caused to grow through the tunnels …

Discussions progressed at a rapid pace after my initial, rather embarrassing speech. There was a ton of things on the go around the Colony and still too much that we didn’t know. The status of the two satellite nests was still unknown, how exactly we were going to handle training the surge of hatchlings heading up to the surface, the …

The process of ‘peeling’, or ‘folding’ Dungeon veins in order to create low mana density zones within the Dungeon was possibly the most important technique developed in the history of sapient habitation of the world below. Without this method, it would be difficult enough to live at any depth during times of normal mana concentration. During a wave, it’s impossible …

My reaction must have given something away, Granin was always quite good at reading me. Amazingly so considering I don’t have facial muscles and therefore no expression to speak of. Perhaps his many decades of experience working with monsters has given him some sort of sixth sense in matters such as this. [What’s your level?] he asks. [Bit rude, just …