That was a welcome break from the digging.

Back in the gladiatorial ring on the first floor, the first bug had struggled and clawed her way through the pool of violence, using her still-flexible carapace to slither and snake through the combatants. Then she'd managed to get to the top to claim her sip of the mana, which of course she did so immediately, and had promptly been consumed in the deep, glowing light of evolution.

I threw several protective strands of mana around her, helping to guide her off the platform in her last few steps before the light consumed her so the other bugs wouldn't kill her. A minute passed. Two.

A message finally crawled across my awareness as she collapsed in a lump of pale light in one corner of the first floor.

Your creature, a Praying Mantis, is undergoing evolution!

Please select your desired path.

Hunting Mantis (Common): Born and raised in violence, this creature ventures forth with a deep desire to prove itself better than its brethren, using its massive claws and camouflage to strike unwary foes.