"Are you really sure that this is going to be important?" the hatchling asks again as we munch down on some Biomass.
"Of course it is! Mutations are extremely important! Supremely important! Raw stats are only one aspect of the strength of a monster, and those are decided by evolutionary tier. Mutations give us access to all sorts of things that can completely change what we are capable of. Depending on the mutations you pick going forward, you'll become a completely different ant! You need to think harder about what you want to do with yourself from this point forward."
Obviously I made the hatchling evolve with maxed mutations for her first go through, not wanting to miss out on that sweet 10% bonus. The amount of evolutionary energy available going from tier one to two was piddly, and ten percent of piddly is, I think, piddly-diddly, but turning your antennae up at free evolutionary energy is a fool's game. And we members of the Colony are not fools!
Having said that, for the first time in her existence, the hatchling had struggled to be decisive when the time came to pick her first set of mutations, so I made some fairly generic suggestions and we went with those. My knowledge of the intricacies of the System has vastly improved since the early days, both from my own experience and from consulting with Granin and his triad. After considering the disposition of the hatchling, what I believed she might need in the future, and potential going forward, I made selections that I think will work out well for her.
I just wasn't going to do it a second time.
I'm not lazy! It's very important that each ant have a clear picture in their mind of the creature they want to be! I'm not going to stand here and imperiously dictate another's future to them. In this Colony, we have the right to self-determination! Not only is it a right, it's a sacred tradition!
"You have to max out your mutations, you need that bonus ten percent energy. And anyway, you're far more capable with mutations than you are without them."
"There's just so many options…" she looks a little blank and I can tell that she's going through the list. "I want them all!"
[Looks like you've got a friend here, Invidia…]
[Sssheeee can't havesssss them! I will havess them firssst!]
[I know, buddy.]
"You can't have them all," I tell her bluntly, "you have to pick. Think about the sort of work that you want to do. You want to fight? There's mutations that are great for that. You want to mine? There's mutations for that. Smelt? Be a smith? Care for the young? Lay eggs? Research? Cast magic? There's mutations for all of this stuff."
"How can an eye mutation help me cast magic?" she retorts.
"Mana sensitive lenses, look it up."
…
"Oh."
"I actually took a mutation that helps me absorb mana through my legs," I tell her, lifting a leg for emphasis. "helps keep my core topped off when I'm doing some serious spell slinging. There are all kinds of things you can do. Vibrant is obsessed with speed and has taken heaps of mutations to help her move quicker. I'm pretty sure she actually took mutations to make her carapace more aerodynamic."
"What does that mean?"
"Like… smoother. She doesn't get as much resistance from the air when she's moving quick. She's a good example actually. To become the kind of monster she wanted to be, she had to consider all of her mutations to that end. Her eyes have to be able to see at high speeds, her brain needs to function faster, her reactions have to be quicker, she needs particular musculature in her legs, she adjusted her carapace, she probably has a mutated metabolism and respiratory system to provide the level of energy she needs. On top of all that, she's a powerful soldier with strong jaws and tough defence. This is the kind of thing you can achieve when you really think about what it is that you want."
"What about you, Senior?" the hatchling asks shrewdly. "You don't seem to have specialised at all."
"I'm greedy," I shrug around a mouthful of Biomass, "I really wanted to be able to cast magic, but I didn't want to be too weak in terms of my physical attributes. I wanted the best of both worlds. It's good in some ways, I can cast magic pretty well, and I can fight up close and personal. But I can't cast as well as Invidia over there, since he is completely specialised on it, and I'm not nearly as physically powerful as Tiny, even though they are on the same evolutionary tier as me. There are trade-offs."
"Doesn't sound worth it," she muses, "I think I'd rather be the best at something rather than average at everything."
"I thought you already were the best," I tease.
"I am!" she flares. "I'm just going to be more the best!"
"Well. If you want to be exceptional, then you'll need to specialise. Go hard at one thing and focus on it with mutations and evolutions."
"But what do I pick?" she mutters.
"There's an almost infinite number of combinations and specialisations you could go with. If you want to be good at spell casting and mana manipulation, there's a variety of things you can do. You could purchase mana organs and use those, you could go for manual spell weaving, you can specialise in one kind of mana or make yourself more of a generalist. Same with physical builds. You can focus on speed, defence, offense, and you can do all of those in a variety of ways. There really is nothing for it but to get deep into the menus and think about what you find there."
The hatchling takes on a considering aspect as she digests my words. As a champion of the Colony, I'm very keen to see what she decides to go with, what aspect she decides to select. As I look at her thinking about her own future, I get the feeling that no matter what she goes with, it's going to be interesting.