Chrysalis

Chapter 959: Experiments in Floating

You know, I always considered buying wings. Ants have wings, after all. You might be thinking to yourself, "What!? No they don't!", but it's true. Male ants and young queens have wings. You can see them crawling about outside the nest after rain during mating season, or even just generally if you're lucky. They don't have a lot to do, these young royals. Eating and sleeping is pretty much all they're good for.

Until they eventually take flight.

Little ants, flying all over the place, looking for other young royals from other colonies of the same species to mate with. The males then go die in a ditch (rough life) while the queens rip their wings off with their own mandibles and then go start a new colony, because they're hardcore.

So it's not like ants fly a great deal, but they can! I've thought about it now and again; it'd be quite cool to be airborne, zipping about like a dragonfly. But there are a few problems that have prevented me from making the purchase.

Overall, it's quite expensive. The wings themselves don't cost much, but I'm sure you can imagine the difference in musculature between an ant that can fly and one that can't. Incidentally, young queens liquify their own flying muscles to feed the first batch of workers. That's dedication.

Adding all that bulk, adjusting the carapace to accommodate the new appendages, tying it all together, it's an absolute pain in the area zoned for commercial enterprise.

But now….

Heh.

Heheheheheheh.

GWEHEHEHEHEHEH.

I am the master of gravity! If I want to soar through the air, what's going to stop me? Nothing is what!

So as the other three hunt nearby, getting the experience they need to get closer to evolution, I take a little time apart to practise my new skillz.

Alright then, brains, let's do this!

Being careful with the energy saturating my gravity mana gland, I bring some forth with my main mind and begin to manipulate it. I'm still not ready to use the construct to generate it yet, no need to complicate the process more than it already is.

Once I have a nice, dense stream of mana flowing, I begin to weave it, my ever-present mind constructs chipping in to assist with the work. The main brain is dedicated to handling the weave, since it's mutated to work with this type of mana, and all goes smoothly through the first steps.

To create a gravity-field is… tricky. For one, it takes a lot of energy. Like, a lot. Then there's the issue of complexity. I continue to weave the mana in and out of itself in an endless pattern that rolls deeper and deeper within itself. That's right, for this one, I have to start with an intricate outer shell, and then go in. Even the omni-elemental construct allows me to build outwards!

Controlling the mana through the interference of multiple layers of that same energy type is fiddly, putting it mildly. I imagine it's something akin to keyhole surgery, slipping my control through ever narrowing gaps to create ever more intricate weaves.

Once all the complicated stuff is done, it's time to pump the thing full of juice.

The steady flow of power becomes a raging torrent. Within the spellform, the beating heart of the well begins to pound and my antennae begin to burn, sensing the rising gravitational pull.

As with a gravity bomb, controlling the amount of mana that gets sucked into the spell isn't easy, it feels like it pulls it out of me once it's past a certain point. I tie it off once I judge I've fed it enough, and the well is complete, hovering in the air, a spherical patch of something that warps the air around it.

I study it carefully with all of my senses, and I'm excited when I realise that my antennae are by far the best detectors, my mutation paying dividends. I can sense the energy with my mana sense, obviously, but that doesn't give me much of a clue as to how strong the gravitational field is. I can guess based on the density of mana, but with the antennae, I get a direct read.

Now let's see what this puppy can do.

Taking hold of the well with my mind, I begin to manipulate it, shifting it into position above my body. As I draw it closer, I can feel my weight begin to lift, my carapace rising slightly and my legs extending as I rise.

Holy moly! I'm doing it!

Take that, Pangera! You think your piddling mass can hold me down? No chance! This ant was born to fly, baby!

A little giddy with excitement, I bring the well a little closer, until it's only a few metres from my carapace, and I rise a little higher. The other thing that happens is my new hardened exo-skeleton begins to hum, resonating with the gravitational energy being provided.

Deep inside me, my new gravity mana organ begins to do the same, the energy flowing into it faster and thicker than before.

The holy feedback loop has been achieved! Finally, actual synergy!

This is going to be so sweet when I finally get the hang of it, I can't wait!

Unfortunately… this current test isn't a success.

I dangle there in the air, not quite off the ground, but not fully on it. My legs are extended, sure, but my claws are still touching the rock below. I feel like I've been hung from a coat hanger, I'm just flopping here.

I try to raise the well a little higher, to lift me up, but I don't go with it, the force isn't strong enough to take my whole mass off the ground.

A failure. The well needs more juice in it to get me into the air. I move to break apart the spell, but after a moment, I change my mind. It's actually kind of nice to dangle here a bit, give my legs a rest. It's relaxing, almost like I'm in a hammock.

Not to mention it recharges my gravity mana faster. May as well keep hanging out!