The ant is about the size of a dog. Not a small dog, but not a large one, either. It stands a little smaller than my knees. I tilt my head at it.

  Its carapace is a dark grey, almost stone like, with some hints of brown and red in there. It has long mandible, and they look kinda wicked. Ready to bite into flesh, at least. I tilt my head at the critter, and Richard, my partner for today’s exploration, mimics the motion.

  And then the ant mimics us, too.

  I tilt my head the other way.

  The ant tilts its head the other way, too.

  Very slowly, I kneel down, and stretch my hand out to it. It moves a little closer, antennae twitching faintly. I wait, patiently.

  Richard chirps. It’s a noise that doesn’t get translated, despite the nature of the system. The ant looks at her, then curiously at my hand. Its antennae twitch. What a curious little creature.

  Another chirp. Another twitch. “What’s going on?” I ask.

  The hiy’ht tilts their head, speaking quietly. “She says we smell like enemies. But we don’t look like enemies.”

  I nod, then very gently push my hand out further. Very slowly, I cast [Suppression] on myself, trying to mute my smell.

  A twitch, something changed. The ant flinches back a bit. Dang it. Wrong one. I shift my suppression, trying out a few different modes, until Richard whispers again. “Like that,” she says. “Hold it.”

  The hiy’ht returns to chittering at the ant, who seems even calmer now. It takes another step towards me, bumping an antenna into my hand. It’s a little fuzzy, covered in tiny hairs. It feels strange, but I don’t mind too much.

  Animals are different from humans. It might be an ant. Maybe there are another hundred thousand out there, but right now, it’s a little critter. And it’s cute. I tilt my head again, and it mimics the motion. I wish I could talk to it. The system rears its head before I can voice it.

  [Ascension Quest: Ecosystem Balancing. Earn the assistance and favour of a reasonably dominant force on the first floor. Help them acquire adequate territory in the caverns.]

  I blink. Then I look at the ant.

  A reasonably dominant force.

  “Richard, did you also…?” I ask.

  She nods, slowly. “Yes. An ascension quest.”

  Gently, a smile spreads across my lips. The ant chitters, touching another antennae to my hand, and I reach out a little further, brushing it across the critter’s head. It makes a noise that seems eerily close to purring.

  I don’t fully understand the mechanics of the tower yet. There are clearly multiple steps to ascension. An aspect of time, I’m guessing, since integration took a while on Earth. An aspect of discovery, since we only got the quest when finding the ant. Maybe the city, Espiree, could have also provided it, but maybe we hadn’t fulfilled the time requirement then?

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  There are more aspects yet. One of change. We need to change something in the tower. About the ecosystem, about the forces in it. Changing the world, for better or for worse, is an indication of progress, after all. And finally, an aspect of challenge. I’d wager that once we complete the challenge, we’ll be able to see the ascension wells again, and then find one.

  The ant purrs, and I rub the top of its head. A few bits of mushroom are clumped in the fine hairs there, and I shake them loose, brushing them off. The ant chitters happily. Richard hums with amusement.

  “She wants to mark you as a friend,” the hiy’ht informs me.

  I look at the critter, then nod. “Sure.”

  [The Creeping Darkness reminds you that you have a companion in your shadow!]

  I have to hold back a snicker at the message. “Don’t worry, Kuro. No one’s replacing you. Just setting us up for success.”

  No reply comes. The ant beckons me forward, and I lean in. Her antenna taps against my forehead, and I feel a thin tether of mana. It’s weak and thin, but it feels heavy. I analyze it for a moment before letting it connect.

  A tether forms between me, the ant, and thousands upon thousands more of the creatures.

  It’s such a thin connection, though, that despite knowing there are thousands of creatures in it, it’s quiet. There’s no rush, no push. All I feel is a knowledge that they exist if I focus on it, kind of like realizing there are other people living in the same city as you. And even that fades if I don’t focus on it.

  What it does do, other than giving me vague impressions of ants existing, is giving me vague impressions of what the ant in front of me, specifically, is thinking. She seems pleased that I cleaned away some of the spores clumping her hairs. She also seems glad that I no longer smell like an enemy.

  I tilt my head, wondering if she can hear me, too. She nods, confirming my curiosity.

  The ant isn’t super smart. She can’t form full sentence like, say, Richard or me, but she’s much sharper than, say, a dog. In fact…

  [Worker - 5]

  The ant has a job. Not just a species and a supremacy level, but a job, and probably a class too, but since she gives me a somewhat offended huff when I check the job, I don’t try again. Instead, I thank her by brushing some more spores from her hair, and picking out a few pieces of spider web, and my rude infraction against polite ant-culture is forgotten.

  Eventually, I step back a bit, and Richard also gets a tap from an antenna. My connection to her is a lot duller. I don’t feel any emotions from Richard, just a vague awareness that she is an acquaintance of a friend. How funny.

  We look at each other, and the hiy’ht smiles. “I am glad we did not fight.”

  I nod. “Let’s get the others,” I say. “We should give this ascension quest a shot.”

  Richard nods. “Yes,” she confirms, then turns to the ant, chittering a bit again. After a few seconds, the little critter nods, and Richard turns to me. “She’ll wait here, she says. She’s a little scared of our ‘hive’,” the hiy’ht explains, sounding a bit amused.

  Again, I nod, smiling faintly. Ants are such silly critters indeed. “Let’s get the others then.”

  - - -

  “Oh you’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Norman says. “I finally get used to living in the tunnels and now you want us to come with you, find a colony of monster ants, and try to win their favour so that the tower deems us worthy to ascend?!”

  I shrug. “Would you rather try to exterminate the hive?” As the words leave my mouth they taste terrible, as if I just asked him to kick puppies. I hope he’ll say no, for his own good.

  Norman just throws his hands up, helplessly. “I don’t know, okay? Shit. I don’t know at all. Fine, let’s go to the stupid monster ants. Whatever could go wrong?”

  With a smile, I give a nod. “Exactly, glad you understand. Alright, let’s go.”

  And then, I turn around, and walk. The others follow, some more begrudgingly than others. That’s okay. I’m sure the ants will be more pleasant company.

  is 40 Chapters ahead!!!