Chrysalis Chapter 1721 - That’s Not A Thing

Returning to the nest is truly a relief. I finally have the opportunity to stretch out my limbs and grab some much-needed rest. Furthermore, I managed to convince Solant to grant me some extra reinforcements for the upcoming phase of the plan, which is a nice bonus.

In truth, I basically just walked up to several ant battalions and commanded them to fall in line behind me, but I'm sure it'll work out. Honestly, if she didn't anticipate me taking charge like that, her strategic planning skills are worse than I thought. Alongside the ants, I have the human priests tagging along, providing their useful aura buffs to the group.

“WE ARE NOT WORTHY OF YOUR LIGHT, GREAT ONE!”

I really wish they could be a bit quieter. Beyn’s behavior seems to deteriorate as time passes rather than improving. He is difficult enough to deal with on his own, but he never travels solo. A whole ensemble follows him, complete with incense, flashy robes, mandible clackers, and looks of terrifying intensity.

I am just trying to get some sleep over here!

“In humble supplication, we bow down!” the priests proclaim in a rhythmic, resonant chant.

“THE TRUE PATH IS REVEALED BY YOUR GLORY! WE WEEP WITH JOY TO TREAD UPON IT!”

“Endless joy! Endless joy!”

This has been going on for hours. How their vocal cords haven't given out yet is a complete mystery to me. It's just another disadvantage of inefficient, vocal communication. The superiority of Pheromones has never been more obvious than it is right now.

Well, while I do my best to tune them out, I’ve decided to focus on the second of my mysterious new organs. The Everflowing Well of Living Waters—quite the dramatic name for an organ. I’ve been hesitant to experiment with it because the whole "Living Water" concept makes me a bit uneasy. I mean, is it even safe to have that kind of substance inside my own anatomy?

It’s better to test it here in the safety of the nest.

Ignoring the continuous display of awkward devotion happening nearby, I shift my concentration inward toward the new organ.

It doesn’t look particularly impressive—just a ring made of a bluish, spongy-looking material. It resembles a type of porous stone. In terms of size, a human could probably wear it as a very strange hat. Given the massive amount of evolutionary energy required to create it, I expected something much more substantial.

Carefully, I extend a tiny thread of mana from my core toward it. I’m not sure what to expect when they touch, but... here goes nothing!

Flinching inwardly, I watch as the mana swirls into the Well and... disappears. No matter how hard I try to detect any activity from the ring, nothing happens. I can't even feel the mana I just injected! Where on earth did it go?

Feeling suspicious, I flick another wisp of mana at the organ, only to witness it vanish into the void as well.

Dammit!

This thing is supposed to generate more mana than it consumes, not just swallow everything I give it and make it vanish! Where is it putting my precious mana?

Getting annoyed, I feed it a larger burst of mana. Perhaps a mere hint of energy wasn't enough to jumpstart the process. A more significant, though still modest, amount of mana touches the organ and... vanishes just as fast as the previous attempts.

Alright... fine. FINE!

Clearly, the organ is either broken or it requires a specific threshold of mana before it starts producing an output. I can work with that. I was hoping to avoid risks by experimenting with small amounts of energy, but it looks like that isn't an option.

Accepting my situation, I begin to pull a steady stream of mana from my core, feeding it directly into the Well while watching intently. As far as my mana sense can tell, the energy I’m pumping in is just disappearing into nothingness. Even when my core is half depleted, I still see no sign of a return.

Instead of continuing to drain my personal reserves—which I need to keep topped off since I’m leaking mana in the fourth—I turn to external energy sources. I’ve been drawing in ambient energy at a steady pace to stay full, but I ramp up the effort and funnel a large portion of that mana into the new organ.

More and more mana is swallowed by the ring, and still, nothing comes out. I am right on the edge of giving up and taking this dud back to Granin to complain when I finally feel a reaction.

It’s incredibly faint, just a tiny blip on my mana sense, but something is finally coming out of the organ. It continues to draw in mana, and that weak response begins to grow, accelerating as time passes. Soon, I can feel exactly what is happening inside.

A thin layer of incredibly dense energy is clinging to the surface of the Everflowing Well. Liquid mana. I can actually feel the organ heating up within my body as it begins to discharge more and more of the substance.

And it is heavy. Controlling it with my mind is a struggle; it feels ten times more difficult to manipulate than standard mana. When I guide it into my core, it’s absorbed instantly, refilling my energy reserves at a rapid pace.

And there's even more coming!

Much like my regeneration network, this organ seems to function on an exponential scale, producing more energy the longer it runs. However, there’s a catch. As the minutes go by, I feel the reaction inside the well starting to lose momentum. It begins to sputter, as if it needs me to feed it even more mana to maintain the rising output.

Instead of feeding it more, I cut off the flow entirely and watch as the organ starts to cool down. It continues to produce liquid mana for a moment, but the quantity drops quickly until it becomes dormant again. Now coated in a layer of liquid mana about a centimeter thick, the ring has definitely produced more energy than I put in. I realize that if I had kept feeding it to push the reaction further, it would have generated significantly more.

Well, this is fascinating. The output scales up, but so do the requirements. I have to supply more and more energy over time to keep it going, and it rewards me with even more mana in return. Obviously, the liquid mana it generates could just be fed back into the organ, so I wouldn't even need to use my core or external sources.

This... I think this is completely insane. And I haven't even mutated it yet!

The more I contemplate it, the more I suspect there has to be a catch. Otherwise, I’ve just discovered a source of unlimited mana.