The colony forgot.
By dawn, the tunnels hummed with routine. Workers marched in ceaseless lines, carrying soil, food, and eggs. Soldiers stood sentinel, their antennae twitching at nothing. The centipede attack might as well have been a dream—except for Arik's broken leg and the golden script still burned into his mind.
The broken leg healed crooked.
Arik tested it gingerly, his weight shifting across the uneven joint. Pain flared, but less than before. The system's golden script pulsed in approval:
[Karma: 30/100.]
[New Trial: "Feast for the Forgotten."]
[Lead a foraging party to secure 5x food units.]
[Reward: Karma +20 | Unlock "Legion's Pulse" (Pheromone Manipulation II).]
Food. The colony's larder was dwindling. Arik had seen it—the fungus gardens withering, the aphid herds thinning. Hunger was a slow, silent predator, and the queen's pheromones had begun to reek of desperation.
But foraging meant leaving the hive.
It meant sunlight.
The Surface
Arik had never seen the sky.
When he emerged from the tunnel, the world erupted in sensory chaos. Blinding light. Sweltering heat. Wind that carried a thousand alien scents—rotten fruit, distant rain, the musk of predators.The world exploded into color: emerald grass blades, sapphire sky, a rotting mango oozing amber nectar.
The queen's pheromones guided the foraging party: six workers, Arik among them.
Follow the scent trails. Harvest. Return.
But the old trails had been washed away by recent rains. The workers milled aimlessly, antennae brushing dirt.
Arik exhaled, releasing the Scent of Unity—citrus and iron. The workers stiffened, then turned toward him.
Good. Now… think.
He closed his eyes (ants didn't have eyelids, but he'd learned to focus inward). The system's golden script flickered:
[System Alert: Hostile Signatures Detected.]
[Upgrade Available: "Environmental Scan" (Cost: 15 Karma).]
[Unlock to identify threats/resources within 20 meters.]
Arik hesitated. His hard-earned karma glowed like a lifeline. But the workers beside him milled aimlessly, their instincts scrambled by washed-out pheromone trails.
I need this.
He spent the karma.
[Karma: 15/100.]
[Environmental Scan Unlocked.]
[Activate by focusing on a scent/vibration.]
Arik inhaled, filtering the chaos:
Rotting mango (12 meters northeast): High sugar, high risk—wasp nest adjacent.
Aphid herd (8 meters southwest): Guarded by ladybug larvae.
Unknown fungus (5 meters underground): Toxicity: 87%.
The aphids called to him.
The Trial
Ladybug larvae patrolled the milkweed, their jagged legs carving furrows in the soil. Arik pulsed the Scent of Unity, corralling the workers into a formation.
The aphid herd clustered on a milkweed stem, their plump bodies exuding honeydew. But between them and the ants loomed three ladybug larvae—armored, hungry, and fast.
Arik's workers froze, instincts warring. Aphids were food. Ladybugs were death.
[Sub-Trial: "Swift and Silent."]
[Steal 5 aphids without alerting guards.]
[Reward: Karma +10 | Bonus for zero casualties.]
Arik studied the larvae. They patrolled in staggered loops, their movements rhythmic. Five seconds between gaps.
He split his workers: three to distract, three to harvest. A gamble—ants didn't do tactics. They followed scent trails, not strategy.
But the Scent of Unity twisted the air, coercing, convincing.
The distraction team lunged at a nearby leaf, vibrating their antennae furiously. The larvae turned, mandibles clicking.
Now.
The harvest team swarmed the aphids. Arik guided them, mandibles clamping onto the fattest targets. Honeydew spurted, sticky and sweet. One aphid screamed—a high-pitched buzz—but the larvae were too far, too slow.
[Aphids Secured: 5/5.]
[Karma +10.]
The workers retreated, hauling their twitching prizes. Arik lingered, watching the larvae retreat.
Too easy.
Then the milkweed shivered.
The Web
It was invisible until it wasn't—a lattice of silk strung between stems, glinting in the sun. And at its center, a creature out of nightmare: a jumping spider, its eight eyes locking onto Arik.
[ALERT: Tier 2 Predator Detected.]
[Recommendation: Flee.]
But the spider was already airborne.
Arik dropped flat, the spider's legs grazing his antennae. The workers scattered, aphids abandoned. The Scent of Unity shattered, replaced by raw panic.
No. Not again.
The spider skittered after the slowest worker, fangs dripping. Arik's mind raced.
Spiders track vibration. Sound. So…
He slammed his damaged leg against a pebble.
Thud.
The spider pivoted, drawn to the noise. Arik bolted in the opposite direction, leading it away from the workers.
[Karma +5 (Sacrificial Distraction).]
The spider pursued relentlessly. Arik's broken leg screamed, but he wove through grass blades, exploiting his small size. Then—
A shadow. A chirp.
A sparrow landed inches away, its head cocked.
The Calculus of Prey
Two predators. One ant.
The spider froze, sensing the larger threat. The sparrow hopped closer, beak snapping.
Arik didn't wait.
He plunged into a crack in the soil, tumbling into darkness. Above, the spider's legs scrabbled against the sparrow's talons.
[Survival Bonus: Karma +15.]
Alone in the dirt, Arik trembled. His workers were gone. The aphids lost.
But the system glowed.
[Trial "Feast for the Forgotten" Completed.]
[Karma: 60/100.]
[Reward: "Legion's Pulse" Unlocked.]
[Emit pheromones to coordinate 10 nearby ants for 5 minutes.]
Arik curled tighter. What's the point?
Then he smelled it—a faint, familiar sweetness.
Honeydew.
One worker had survived, dragging an aphid through the crack. It dropped the prize at Arik's feet, antennae bowed.
[New Title Earned: "Broodkeeper."]
[Effect: Larvae develop 10% faster under your care.]
The worker didn't understand. But it obeyed.