History Literature / ChrysalisRinoZ

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[[folder:A - C]]
* TheAgeless: Dungeon monsters don't appear to age at all (although most of them have short lifespans simply because they're all surrounded by carnivores). Anthony relies on this when creating the aphid queen, figuring that he'll only need to do it once if they're careful.
* AllYourPowersCombined: After parallel Skills like Fire Magic Affinity and Water Magic Affinity have been raised to a sufficiently high rank, they can be fused together -- permanently losing access to the original skills, but gaining a single skill that combines all of them. The strength of the resulting skill depends on which tier they were pushed to first. Anthony ends up fusing tier-5 fire, water, earth, and air affinities, gaining All Element Mana Specialty, which lets him maintain just a single (albeit complex) magical construct and yet freely launch any type of elemental magic out of it, from fireballs to water cannons to ice spears.
* AmicableAnts: Once Anthony finds his way back to the Colony, he quickly decides that they're a better family than humans ever were; wholeheartedly supportive and caring and trusting. As the ants expand throughout the Dungeon and come into contact with a variety of other species, it becomes clear that despite being monsters, they're better behaved than most of the surface races, with no politics nor selfishness, and Anthony can never quite comprehend why the whole world isn't thrilled to see them. The "Travelling Tolly" snippets give a glimpse of approximately ten years in the future, with a highly integrated society of humans and ants.
* AntAssault: Despite the story being full of literal assaults by or on ants, it actually defies this trope, setting aside the mindless swarming and victories through weight of numbers. Anthony embraces his new life and considers the Colony his family, so he is not satisfied with their old tactics, due to the number of casualties that they inevitably incur. Instead, he empowers the ants to use tactics, strategy, communication, and diplomacy, greatly escalating their threat potential; they're still entirely willing to die for the Colony, but they'd rather make their enemies die instead. They're willing to peacefully coexist if humans will leave them alone, though.
* AntiGrinding: The Dungeon tries to keep its various monsters somewhat fair and balanced. LevelGrinding is entirely possible, but eventually it becomes necessary to face stronger foes.
** Evolving induces a substantial penalty to experience and Biomass rewards, ensuring that it's not efficient for higher-tier monsters to just hang around on the upper strata steamrolling everything.
** Levels are capped by evolutionary tier; level 5 for the first tier, ten for the second, then twenty, forty, etc.
** The cost of mutation grows very rapidly, with every level costing one more Biomass point than the one before it -- and eventually a monster will need to "reset" the organ to a better base material, which means starting the mutations over from the beginning. The maximum level of mutation is also capped by evolutionary tier.
** Higher-tier monsters require more ambient mana just to survive, so even with great patience, there are limits on how far it's possible to grow without descending and facing stronger enemies.
* AntWar: When the Colony hears that there is a termite nest within the Dungeon, they all feel a deep necessity to exterminate it as soon as possible. The termites are no pushover, though, and it becomes a war of attrition, between armies that are each capable of tunnelling, swarming, and rapidly replenishing their numbers.
* ArrowsOnFire: The Abyssal Legion is able to make flaming arrows [[JustifiedTrope practical]] by using tiny slivers of magma crystal attached to the arrowheads, loaded with fire-attuned mana that lets them pour out lava. However, the crystals are quite rare and valuable, so they're not standard equipment, and at least one historian calls it "a trick that might have been better had it never been learned at all".
* AttackOnOneIsAnAttackOnAll: Played very straight with the Colony, which is community-minded to a literally inhuman degree, but really taken to extremes with their larvae, where natural instincts combine with practicality to make the ants very protective indeed. Even Anthony, who retains many un-ant-like patterns of thinking, becomes incensed when ants are killed; after all, they're family, direct siblings in most cases.
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** Anthony's chomp skills risk being [[{{Pun}} bitten]] by this as he upgrades and fuses them. "Omen Chomp" and "Doom Chomp" are very potent and destructive, but rapidly drain his Stamina, so he can only really use them when his Collective Will Vestibule is well supplied.
** He also has access to various gravity magic forms that can do cool things, such as the gravity bolas that flies into the distance and attempts to drag the target with it. But they're mostly pretty inefficient compared to the simple gravity bolt that weighs an enemy down and makes it easy to finish off with a bite.
* TheBeastmaster: One of the many uses of a monster core is to reconstitute it into a pet monster, which will faithfully obey the one who created it. The Sophos have made an art of this, compensating for their limited physical capabilities by carefully engineering and customising powerful monsters to serve and protect them.
* BeastOfBattle: When Isaac levels up his Spearman class all the way to 40 alongside the ants, the System offers him an upgrade to Ant Lancer. It's like being a knight on horseback -- if the horse had chitin instead of skin, and giant scissors on its face, and the ability to run along walls and ceilings and spray acid, and was [[SapientSteed fully sapient]]. Reasonably enough, he goes to consult the ants before deciding whether to accept the upgrade.
* BenevolentAlienInvasion: This is effectively the feeling in [[spoiler:the underground city of Rylleh]] after attracting the Colony's attention and being swiftly conquered. Their portal gates are dismantled so they're not a vector for attack, but otherwise they're mostly being allowed to live their lives, with the ants filling in the shortfall of supplies and ensuring that the dungeon waves are a non-issue. And providing rapid construction, utterly incorruptible leadership, access to rare materials harvested from the Dungeon...
* TheBerserker: The System has various options for this.
** The "Four Blade Berserker" monster automatically goes berserk in combat, as an inherent part of its nature, "increasing its strength but causing it to struggle to tell friend from foe."
** Morrelia has a Berserker class that lets her enter a powerful rage while she can maintain her anger, but leaves her fatigued afterward.
** Sarah has a darker variant in her Asura heart, feeding on ''any'' negative emotion to pump her strength to massive heights, but increasingly robbing her of reason, to the point where she is likely to turn on her allies. Once she eventually runs out of targets and calms down, she generally falls unconscious for a while, and doesn't remember everything she did when she awakens -- which she finds quite stressful.
---> The heart fed on her negative emotions, her rage, pain and fear, magnified them, liquified them and sent them pumping throughout her body until every inch of her frame was suffused with them. She could feel it now. The pain of betrayal, the anger of broken trust, the fear of losing herself again. She could feel it all echo through every cell of her body until she was drunk with it.\\\
And it made her ''strong''.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: Anthony often comes across as foolish and comedic; even on the occasions even he goes LargeHam (eg [[spoiler:at the sentencing of Jim, where he decries "wretched worms, with your hearts filled with wretched evil and wretchedness"]]), it's so over-the-top that it's easy to just laugh. But he's actually entirely serious about killing and eating anyone who threatens the Colony. He'll quip, and pun, and make jokes that are [[ToughRoom lost on his Pangeran audience]], and then when all is said and done, he feasts on the entrails of his foes.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Ant hatchlings start around one metre long, and can easily add half again, or even double, with each evolution. They don't seem to suffer from the breathing problems or square-cube difficulties that might be expected, possibly because they're innately magical beings.
* BigEater: Monsters need to eat to satisfy mundane hunger, but they also accrue biomass points that can be used to mutate their body parts into superior forms.
** Anthony frequently eats as much as possible, especially from higher ranked monsters with higher biomass density, and later discovers stomach mutations that allow eating even more, so that accruing points is easier.
** Crinis goes further and has an extradimensional stomach with nigh-infinite capacity. Unfortunately for Anthony, who is usually carrying her, she still takes on all the weight.
** Tiny has three loves, eating, sleeping and fighting. Anthony can't tell where he puts it all, but even when they have to run for their lives, he'll grab a limb off what he was eating, for the road, rather than just abandon it. When they come across a fungus species that Tiny isn't enthusiastic about eating -- he tries it and just shrugs -- Anthony "can only assume it tastes like radioactive waste."
** The ant Queen has organs that turn biomass into eggs, so she eats huge amounts every day to enable the Colony's rapid growth. She can also use it to mutate herself, which Anthony wants her to do, but she prefers to just pour it all into her children.
** Grokus is a demon obsessed with eating, and has been stocking up all the biomass he can find for years. He's actually able to use it to achieve NighInvulnerability, with a skill that lets him spend biomass points to rapidly heal from any injury. And an aura that drains health from nearby enemies, essentially eating them alive.
** The ancient monster Yarrum the Eternal Worm is apparently capable of eating an entire city in a single bite, with an appetite second only to Tarriflyx the Hunger -- "Though there was quite a distance between the two."
* BlobMonster: The Colony experiments on centipede cores, and produces a "centi-sludge" variant that is basically a pile of moving shadow flesh goo. Easily hacked apart, ''but'' that doesn't harm them much, because the pieces will be absorbed and reused by any other centi-sludges in the area. Oh, and they can extend tendrils full of toxins.
* BlindObedience: Anthony gets an uncomfortable amount of this from Crinis, the Colony, and ''especially'' from Beyn the preacher.
** Even accidentally throwing a shield at Beyn during combat, almost killing him, just makes him think he's been assigned to carry it and protect others, despite it being really too heavy for him (and Anthony, who tries to stay away from Beyn's devotion as much as possible, doesn't even realise he thinks that).
** When the ants turn up at the village of Renewal and carry many of them away to the Colony, the villagers make no protest against the beings whom many of them worship, despite having been warned not to interact with the workers. [[spoiler:Turns out that after gaining sapience, the ants became smart enough to ignore Anthony's pheromone barrier and recognize the humans as a food source; Anthony arrives JustInTime to prevent a massacre. On the other hand, their complete lack of resistance actually saved their lives, since it meant the ants carried them back to the Queen so she could get the experience, instead of killing them immediately and just bringing back the biomass.]]
* BloodKnight: Tiny the gorilla has only three loves: eating, sleeping, and above all fighting -- preferably with his fists. Unfortunately, he has no sense of self-preservation in pursuing a fight, requiring constant intervention to keep him from getting killed. The fact that every evolution reduces his Cunning stat doesn't help, either...
* BoringButPractical:
** In his first few evolutions, Anthony skips over the options to upgrade his stomach, focusing on more interesting options like additional brains, and even contemplating gaining wings. Eventually, however, as he watches what monsters like Crinis can do, he realises that a more efficient stomach -- one that can hold more of a large haul, or take a smaller penalty for eating weak enemies -- is an important asset for gaining strength quickly. He eventually makes it a standard requirement for all new hatchlings, when they evolve the first time, to make their stomachs mutable.
** When his legs are mutated to +10 and he's offered a choice of mutation advancements, he considers options like rapid mana absorption, bladed feet, or grasshopper-style leaps, but ultimately settles for just making them run faster.
---> Very basic and utility upgrade. Even if it doesn't work out exactly the way I want, I can't imagine complaining about being able to move faster. Whether running into danger or out, going faster is always a good option.
** Of all the possible materials for a golgari's "true skin", granite is neither impressive nor particularly strong. But because it's cheap and plentiful, it's very easy to repair, and Granin doesn't mind being underestimated.
** Among the many skills that can be purchased with points gained from levelling up, from magical affinities to ethereal blades of light, there are basics like dodging better, enduring hits better, and keeping one's balance. Nothing at all fancy, but a solid combination for taking less damage in extended combat.
* BrainBleach: With the amount of brutal combat that goes on in the Dungeon, both for food and LevelGrinding, and with Anthony inheriting human sensibilities, it's not surprising that there's things Anthony would like to un-see.
--> I mean, was that strictly necessary, Tiny? You could have just punched it in the face, but no, pulling it inside out from its mouth. That’s an image I have to live with now, thanks.
* BringIt: Anthony's confidence in his family leads him to be defiant even to [[spoiler:the spectral presence of Arconidem the Demon God]].
--> '''Anthony:''' You got a problem? Come down here and catch these face hands!
* BrownNote: At one point, Anthony asks Allocrix to close his eye, and Al is bemused but tries it -- with the result that Anthony collapses on the ground screaming.
--> '''Anthony''': [HOLY MOTHER OF GANDALF! OPEN! OPEN IT!]\\
A moment later I come back to myself, twitching on the ground. The horror. The sheer horror of it. I couldn't even close my own eyes so I couldn't see it…
* BugWar: Inverted; the Abyssal Legion launches a campaign against the Colony, but the insects are, of course, the ''protagonists''. And they would really rather not exterminate humanity; coexistence is much more productive. The Legion is relentless, though...
* CantCatchUp: Anthony's bodyguards firmly believe that their role should be to remain hidden until the moment they need to spring into action to save him, but he repeatedly insists that they need to be more proactive about levelling up, or they won't be effective when that time comes.
--> '''Anthony:''' Yeah, I'm sure you're meant to live the most sacrificial lives in the history of the Colony. Always on duty, never resting, never a moment of peace. It's all super noble and everything, but let me ask you this question. If I evolve and I'm tier six, whilst you’re all still tier four, what exactly are you going to protect me from that I can't handle myself?
* CaptainObvious: When Anthony's "gravity bomb" is raging, dragging in a whole crowd of monsters, whipping up tremendous winds, pulling on all the grass and trees, and ''howling'' all the while, Anthony sends Morrelia a warning message to "Hold on! You don't want to fall into that!"
--> '''Morrelia''': [You think?!]
* TheCavalry: When Anthony is [[spoiler:in a prison cell and facing a deathmatch tournament that he probably can't win]], he starts to feel an itching in his Collective Will Vestibule, as one ant comes into range, then two, then ten, then a hundred, then a thousand...
--> In the back of my mind I can sense a flood of connections reaching out across space to whisper in my ear, each of them saying the same thing.\\
"We're coming."
* ChainOfPeople: A forest of ants form living chains to seize a heavily injured Anthony and anchor him to the ground, preventing him from falling into his own gravity bomb [[spoiler:along with Garralosh]].
* ChainsawGood: Crinis' tentacles have "Ripping Spines" that can rapidly move back and forth to approximate the effect of a chainsaw. Even monstrous crocodiles are paralysed with fear when they see their compatriot undergo the 'Crinis experience'.
--> She'll probably get a few more levels of Dismembering from this.
* CharacterWitness: Enid attempts to provide this for the Colony, testifying of how the town of Renewal is safe and prosperous under the ants' care and supervision, but Titus is unmoved.
* ChargedAttack: When assembling a spell, Anthony has the option to compress the mana involved, which takes more time and effort, but produces a dramatically more potent result.
** A water cannon spell knocks monsters down and can wash them away. A ''compressed'' water cannon just bisects them.
---> The trick I found in my test run is that I can't quite transform Mana and then compress it fast enough to keep up with the demands of the spell. Meaning, I ran out of juice and the spell failed only a few seconds after I cast it. Those few seconds had been enough to drill a hole three feet in the tunnel walls though, so I'm expecting good things.
** A regular gravity bolt pins weaker monsters to the ground, and hinders the movement of stronger ones. A ''compressed'' gravity bolt, however, fatally crushes them.
** Compressing a simple sphere of gravity mana gives Anthony his signature NuclearOption, the "gravity bomb", which essentially creates a temporary black hole.
* ChildhoodFriends: It's a pretty short childhood, but Vibrant hatches at around the same time Crinis is reconstituted, and they both spend much of their time riding around on Anthony's back until they've matured. They can't really talk at first, but they still manage to communicate, and they remain good friends later, despite being separated by their different responsibilities.
--> '''Vibrant''': Hello Crin-Crin! Are you ready for more tag? I sure am!
* ClassifiedInformation: The first five strata of the Dungeon are reasonably well understood, even though only a small fraction of the non-monster population have visited them (and even fewer can survive it for long). However, what little information exists beyond those five is officially classified.
--> (Inquisitor Note: Information of the lower strata is strictly forbidden. The remaining pages are sealed to the scroll.)
* ClingyJealousGirl: Despite the complete lack of monster romance of any sort, Crinis still manages to largely fit into this trope, including ''literally'' clinging to Anthony and not letting go after [[spoiler:he's rescued from the Golgari]].
--> '''Crinis''': [I'm with you, Master!]\\
'''Anthony''': [Stop choking me!]
* ConflictingLoyalties: When the Colony comes into conflict with the Legion, Morrelia feels very torn. She has spent months with the Colony, knows that they are peaceful, and considers many of the ants and their human allies to be friends. But she also has obligations to the Legion, having signed up to fight for them, and knows that the Legion's desire to eradicate the Colony ''might'' be justified if there is a risk of the ants becoming aggressive in future.
--> Morrelia felt sick. The thought of the dead Colony members weighed heavily on her, and the thought of Anthony, filled with a thirst for revenge fighting and killing her fellow Legionaries was awful. Who was right? Who was wrong? She wasn't sure what she should do in this moment.
* CoolButInefficient: Garralosh seems to have created her children's evolutionary paths by just picking whatever sounded cool. Crocodiles that gain extra tails as they evolve? Why not? Fire breath? Absolutely! Two heads? Better than one! The resulting crocodiles can become quite powerful if they evolve far enough, but that really only happens due to her supervision.
* CoupDeGrace: Subverted when Anthony pins down a Rhinosergradon into helplessness, then chomps down -- and still can't get through its armour. He has to bite it so many times that he wears himself out and has to ''rest on its back for five minutes'' before finally penetrating its hide and killing it.
* CrazyJealousGuy: This is Anthony's theory about the root cause of [[spoiler:James betraying the Colony; James is possessive of Sarah, and felt that a) the Colony was allowing her to put herself at risk, and b) she was coming to rely on the ants more than him.]]
--> '''Anthony''': [You know my view. He wanted you to depend on him, [[spoiler:but you came to rely on the Colony instead. In his eyes, the ants need to be removed, then you will be forced to run back to him for support.]]]
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Anthony has big plans for executing [[spoiler:Jim the earthworm, eg cutting him in half and letting each half regrow, so that he can be fed to grubs repeatedly, or "tenderising" him so he's easier to chew]]. Sarah talks him down, though.
--> No cruelty? Noooooooooooooo! NOOOOOOOO! Those words are like poison to Dark Anthony, a knife wound straight in the heart! I can already feel my power weakening. The darkness, it's receding, its fading! It's not fair, the time was so short!\\
[Fine,] I tell her begrudgingly. [It won't be cruel.]
* CurbStompBattle:
** One of Anthony's early farms is overtaken by a monstrous toad, which quickly slaughters all the other monsters present. Tiny is excited about the prospect of a more challenging fight, until he explodes it in one punch.
** Anthony's first tournament match-up is ''very'' poorly chosen, all brawn and defence, no brains -- or flexibility. It doesn't land a single hit before Anthony is able to pin it down (even though it's still quite hard to actually kill).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:D - E]]
* DarkAndTroubledPast:
** The voice of the System believes that Anthony had an awful life on Earth, but he insists that being abandoned by his parents at age fifteen, then starving to death because he gave his last food to his pet ant farm (which partially inspired his reincarnation) wasn't so serious... nonetheless, he is grateful to be on Pangera instead.
---> '''Gandalf''': [Could have been worse?!]\\
'''Anthony''': Sure! … Could have had my leg cut off.\\
…\\
'''Gandalf''': [Didn't that happen too?]\\
'''Anthony''': Well… A bit.
** Morrelia suddenly lost her younger brother [[spoiler:when he didn't survive the Legion baptism]], shortly before she was eligible to join the Legion, and it shattered their family. Her father became withdrawn, her mother went away to work for the Legion full-time, and Morrelia turned away from the Legion to become an independent mercenary for several years. By the time Anthony meets her, she's abrasive, cynical, and hardened. It's even hinted that the tragedy may have contributed to the rage that qualifies her for the Berserker class.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The second stratum is a place of darkness and poison, with even the ambient mana veins emitting the blackness of Shadow Mana instead of the blue glow that they have in the first stratum. However, there's nothing particularly evil about it; sure, it's a dog-eat-dog environment where monsters endlessly compete and devour each other to see which species will come out on top, but all of the Dungeon is like that.
* DavidVsGoliath: Compared to the titan that is Garralosh, Anthony is tiny, weak, and fragile. However, he's reasonably fast, and his gravity bomb spell lets him punch above his weight class.
* DeaderThanDead: The One Tree infuses her children with slivers of her own soul, and if one is killed, she can reuse the sliver to recreate them. Unless [[SoulEating the sliver is destroyed too]]...
* TheDeadHaveNames: The Legion keeps a memorial wall, where they carve the names of those who do not survive the "baptism" -- or who choose a quick clean death instead of going through it. Titus himself chisels in Trelik's name after administering such an execution. [[spoiler:But carving in his own son's name, after Romanus didn't survive the baptism, was surely harder.]]
* DeadlyDodging: The charge of a Rhinosergradon is practically unstoppable. When Anthony ducks under it (by digging a hole with earth magic), it doesn't stop until its horn is firmly embedded in a wall, leaving it as a sitting duck.
* DeathOfAThousandCuts:
** After crushing a powerful lizard into the ground with Gravity Bolts, Anthony finishes it off with his mandibles -- but it's so well armoured that he has to bite it twenty times before he finally breaks through.
** He later bites a Rhinosergradon, pinned down by Gravity Bolts, so many times that he gets worn out and has to ''rest on his opponent's back for five minutes'' before he can finish the job.
* DeathSeeker: Leeroy and the Immortals want to die for the good of the Colony, but with so many resources invested in them, their peers all want to keep them alive, and keep working to save them (and they're still too loyal for actual suicide). They end up as an elite fighting unit because they have so many power-ups, and have taken only a single casualty, but they still yearn to make a HeroicSacrifice.
--> '''Immortals''': '''WE SEEK!'''
* DefeatMeansFriendship:
** For a fairly loose definition of "friendship", this applies to [[spoiler:Brixin the demon]], who, once defeated but not killed, is eager to piggyback on the Colony's successes.
** In general, after killing a monster and retrieving its core, the System gives options to either absorb the core, or reconstitute it. In the latter case, the result will be an infant monster "pet" that is bonded to the owner and must obey them. Anthony picks up Tiny this way, without really knowing what he's doing, but later he is more deliberate about it, studying and carefully customising the core that will become Crinis after the colony killed the original tentacle monster.
* DigAttack: Jim has just enough time to start freaking out about the blade beast in front of him, before the ground gives way under its legs and it's dragged underground by dozens of mandibles.
--> '''Anthony''': I wouldn't worry about it.
* DisadvantageousDisintegration: It's technically still possible to extract biomass from the super-compressed results of a Gravity Bomb, but it takes so much effort that Anthony generally doesn't bother, and it's often contaminated by the environment.
--> Oh sure, I could try eating this ball. It has the croc in it, after all. Also, a good chunk of dirt, muddy water, leaves, sticks and goodness knows what else that got pulled in there.\\
Even Tiny is eyeing the ball a little sceptically.\\
["Uh… anyone want to try eating that?"]\\
"Nope!"\\
[Bad.]\\
[I'm afraid I must decline, Master.]\\
That's what I thought…
* DiscOneNuke: Anthony gets lucky with one of his early evolutions, and gets access to a Gravity Mana Gland, which would normally belong to a higher tier of magic. Not only does this allow disproportionately powerful spells for his evolutionary level, such as the gravity bomb (which lets him take down monsters far more powerful than himself, like [[spoiler:Garralosh and her children]]), regular use of it also nudges the System toward giving him other high-tier options sooner than might have otherwise been the case, such as mind magic and healing magic.
* TheDisembodied: [[spoiler:Anthony's Tier 7 evolution options include the "Formless One", which would see him giving up his body and existing as pure energy distributed amongst the cores of every ant. He's freaked out by the prospect, though, and lacking real information on what he would gain by it, he rejects the option.]]
* DopeSlap: Whenever Anthony is being troublesome or foolish, which realistically is most of the time, he can expect a good THWACK on the head from his mother's antennae. It's all out of love.
--> Oof! Still hurts! Maybe after my next evolution and my carapace is upgraded these won't be quite so sharp? Or perhaps I should concentrate a build-up of extra dense carapace on the top of my head? I eye the Queen's antennae carefully. I'm certain she's chosen some form of mutation that makes them hit harder.
* DrawAggro: When Anthony needs just two more levels to evolve, he decides to kill two birds with one stone and attack Garralosh's horde from behind, in a way that will draw the ire of her backers -- thus making it easier and safer for the Colony to hit the horde from the front.
--> '''Isaac:''' You want to draw the attention, and lightning, of the Ka'armodo onto your head?\\
'''Anthony:''' That's right.\\
'''Isaac:''' I love it. I won't stand next to you, but I love it.
* DrivenByEnvy: This is Invidia's entire nature. He wants others' knowledge, levels, their lives... But with the pet bond making him loyal to Anthony, it actually works out quite well.
* DroolDeluge: When the party is feeling the pressure of the Garralosh Praeceptorem's aura, Anthony tries giving them a pep talk by talking about how much biomass they'll get from eating the croc, how it's so dense they'll probably get a point from every bite -- then interrupts himself to ask, "Why is it raining?" Turns out that Tiny was standing over him and paying very close attention to his talk about food.
--> Before I'd even finished speaking, he was drooling a river all over my precious Diamond Carapace!
* DualWielding: When Morrelia's [[TheBerserker berserk rage]] activates, she snatches a second sword from its sheath on her back before rushing forward. Since she doesn't care about self-defence or finesse while in that state, [[JustifiedTrope it's only logical]].
* DumbMuscle:
** Not only does Tiny the Lightning Fist Ape play this completely straight, he actually ''becomes less intelligent'' every time he evolves, in exchange for extraordinarily high bonuses to physical strength. Anthony affectionately refers to him with such terms as "thicker than a concrete milkshake" and "the Cunning of brick forged out of smaller bricks that were themselves made of the distilled energy of pure stupid," but Tiny still serves a very valuable role in dishing out damage to both individuals and groups; even the thick hides of Garralosh's children can't entirely stop his fists.
---> '''Anthony''': I'm actually impressed, Tiny. You may be thick as three bricks fused into one, but you know what you like and you've stuck with it.
** The Rhinosergradon is covered all over in armour so tough and so all-encompassing that even a CoupDeGrace can't work, and can build up so much momentum when charging forward that it's considered to be an unstoppable force. However, it has so little brainpower that that unstoppable charge is the only strategy it knows how to use.
** When designing shadow monster pets, the Core Shaper ants deliberately reduce their Cunning so as to have more energy available for physical enhancements. Since the pets are meant to be entirely controlled and directed by their ant handlers, they don't need to be independently smart.
* EarnYourBadEnding: Anthony points out that [[spoiler:the Golgari leadership]] put quite a lot of work into forcing a confrontation that has ended badly for them.
--> '''Anthony''': [You had so many opportunities to prevent this outcome. You could have [[spoiler:left me alone in the Dungeon]], but no. You could have [[spoiler:treated me with dignity]], but no. You could have [[spoiler:taken my bargain when it was offered]], but no. You're going to get the bad ending that you worked so hard to achieve.]
* EliteArmy:
** The Abyssal Legion are relatively few in number, but their PoweredArmor lets them slaughter their way through hordes of monsters. Even the Colony greatly struggles to inflict any damage on them.
** The ants are in turn outnumbered by the termites, but are individually more powerful due to their standardized training and focus on helping every Colony member -- and they have ''superb'' coordination and cooperation.
* EliteMooks: Monsters are occasionally spawned with stronger abilities than usual and a tendency to draw other monsters to follow them; the usual term for them is "champions" or "brutes".
** Anthony hasn't heard of champions when Vibrant is born, but he notices how energetic she is and the fact that she was somehow born with a core, so he takes her onto his team and feeds her more resources, letting her take maxed-out special evolutions from the start. It doesn't take long before she's stronger and faster than he is (physically, at least). As she grows further, she becomes a ''de facto'' leader within the Colony, other ants instinctively following her around and forming a personal army.
** By the time Brilliant hatches, showing signs of unusual activity and energy levels as a grub, Anthony knows about champions, and he makes sure to give her similar personal attention -- but struggles to handle her BrattyHalfPint personality. Nonetheless, he manages to keep her from getting killed by her own insatiable curiosity, allowing her to develop into a MadScientist worthy of her name.
* EliteTweak: Anthony doesn't initially have a guide to the System, but he makes some important discoveries as he goes along, which get incorporated into the Colony's training programs.
** Drinking mana-infused water enables a monster, next time it reaches its maximum level, to condense a core instead of evolving. The core will then provide additional energy for each future evolution. So, drinking mana water at the first evolutionary stage is crucial to strong development.
** Evolving doubles the maximum mana capacity of the core, so it's important to absorb enough captured cores to maximise the core's capacity first. For selected elite individuals, it's also worth absorbing a Special or even Rare core to supercharge it (though it risks ExplosiveOverclocking if pushed too far). Pushing a core to its limits this way has a cumulative effect with each evolution, since it keeps doubling all previous gains.[[note]]Eg a monster that starts with 10MP, and evolves three times without reinforcing it, will double it three times, to 20, then 40, then 80MP, and all its evolutions will be based on that limited amount of energy. But if it can triple its core size by absorbing others, then it can push its core to 30MP before evolving, double it to 60MP by evolving, reinforce it to 180, evolve again to 360, reinforce up to 720, and then evolve again to 1440MP. If it can push itself to ''quadruple'' the original core size by absorbing special cores, then the final result is 40MP * 2 * 4 * 2 * 4 * 2=5120MP.[[/note]]
** It takes several evolutions before Anthony discovers it, but maximising all mutations gives bonus evolutionary energy.
* EmotionlessReptile: Rassan'tep is able to keep several junior ka'armodo in line just by hinting that their preferred course of action (pressing the assault on Anthony) might be "hot-blooded" -- practically a curse word among their people. One of those juniors was so close to losing her cool that she nearly scratched an itch, which would have been a severe social faux pas.
* EmptyLevels:
** Weak classes tend to have awful stat gains, such as [Farmer] granting 0.2 Toughness per level and 0.1 for every other stat (apparently it does grant a reasonable amount of Stamina, but that's a hidden metric). Since combat and killing gives far more experience than any other activity, this is a vicious cycle, where people with weak classes are not strong enough to advance or change those classes.
** For monsters, levelling up doesn't increase stats at all, it merely grants skill points, used to purchase and upgrade skills. Which is very useful at lower levels, but as a monster advances, the number of opportunities to meaningfully spend those skill points diminishes. Skill upgrades and fusions become further apart as skills advance, and diversifying into brand new skills can easily lead to MasterOfNone territory. The only real driving force to gain levels is the fact that they're required in order to evolve -- but at higher tiers, that can mean gaining ''hundreds'' of levels to qualify, gaining nothing along the way except more skill points.
* EnemyMine: Despite having been in conflict before, Anthony considers calling on [[spoiler:the Abyssal Legion for help in dealing with the soul-eating termites]], figuring that [[EveryoneHasStandards they'll want to do something about this]].
* EnergyAbsorption: Anthony can't find a way to permanently heal [[spoiler:Tiny's shadow magic infection]], but evolving causes it to be consumed and turned into extra evolutionary energy.
* EtTuBrute: Vibrant and Crinis are basically ChildhoodFriends, having grown up together while riding on Anthony's back. But when Vibrant is about to escape from the torpor enforcers, it's Crinis who trips her up and holds her still.
--> '''Vibrant''': Crin-Crin? ... why... would... you?
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Odin Malum was a ProfessionalKiller on Earth, and has no qualms about it, but he still finds the carnage on the third stratum, billions of larvae an hour destroying each other, to be distasteful.
--> Loss of life was something Odin could relate to, given his previous line of work, but each death was supposed to be significant. It should mean something, when a creature dies. Most of these larvae wouldn’t make it past tier two, and none would remember them, or even notice their passing.
* EvilGloating: Anthony, of all people, indulges in some of this after [[spoiler:Jim is captured and trussed up]].
--> '''Anthony''': [How does that feel, [[spoiler:Jim? Are you scared? Feeling helpless? Like a grub? Just wriggling on the ground, unable to protect yourself when the big bad golgari come? That must be terrible Jim. Awful!]] However will you cope? MUAHAHAHAHAAA!]
* ExactWords: Demons are sapient, but not friendly, and when they reach a high enough evolutionary tier, they can rise above the rabble to become cunning, scheming aristocrats. The third strata, where they live, may seem more civilised than the previous ones, but many a careless adventurer has fallen prey to their guile. The Abyssal Legion training manual says of them, "If a Demon tells you something, it's probably true, just never in the way that you expect."
* ExploitedImmunity:
** The Gravity Domain spell greatly increases the weight of those in the area of effect -- except the allies of the caster. Which means that when Anthony uses it, pinning monsters helplessly to the ground, Tiny can then go around smashing them without any hindrance.
** Having a much higher Will stat than your average monster, Anthony is better able to resist the effects of Tiny's [[MakeMeWannaShout stunning scream]]. Several times, he has Tiny scream into a melee that includes him, knowing that he'll recover better than the monsters all around.
* ExplosiveBreeder: A mature ant queen, supplied with plenty of Biomass, can lay 600 eggs per day, which hatch within weeks and can evolve to maturity within a few days after that. That would be enough to make them quite intimidating. But when you then consider that some of them can choose to evolve into more queens, making their growth ''exponential''...well, it's understandable that the Legion wants to preemptively wipe them out.
* ExplosiveOverclocking: Monsters can absorb the cores of their defeated enemies, to reinforce their own cores and increase the amount of energy available for their next evolution, up to a cap based on their current evolutionary tier. However, stronger enemies can leave "special" or even "rare" cores, which allow the consuming monster to go past the cap and get an extra boost -- but overloading one's own system in this way causes burning pain, which gradually fades but never completely goes away until the monster evolves and is able to cope with the energy. Then Anthony tries absorbing ''both'' a special and rare core...[[spoiler:and nearly ''pops'' from the excess of energy, having to be wrapped up in Crinis' tentacles just to keep him together long enough to wade through the evolution menus. The voice of the System is impressed, telling him that he really should have died from that.]]
* EyeBeams: Invidia has a single eye laser ([[GreenEyedMonster green]], naturally), which makes sense, as he's a single floating eyeball. It's extremely destructive, but he needs time to recover afterward, and it's unsafe to use in enclosed spaces.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:F - I]]
* FailedAttemptAtDrama: Ants don't really understand drama, or sarcasm, which rather undercuts Anthony at times.
--> "Anyone else think our guests look thirsty?" I ask nobody in particular. "Let's give them a drink."\\
A moment of silence.\\
"Should we release the acid?" comes a hesitant scent from behind the ceiling above me.\\
"Yes. That's what I meant when I said give them a drink. I don't mean for them to actually drink the acid, but rather insinuating… never mind. Just tip it out."
* FamilyOfChoice:
** Sarah is thoroughly adopted by the Colony, at Anthony's insistence as a fellow reincarnator. She struggles to relax and accept the unconditional love and support that they offer, but it does go a long way to helping her face her fears and heal from her traumatic time in the Dungeon.
** Anthony himself, though he's biologically one of the Colony, has a lifetime of experience as a human that sets him apart from them in many ways, and is even offered several evolutionary options that would grant him additional bonuses in exchange for giving up his species and cutting ties with them. He chooses, though, to embrace his new siblings and mother, throwing himself wholeheartedly into his second family (especially as his first, human, family didn't work out so well).
* FantasticRacism: The System divides "monsters", which are spawned from the Dungeon, from "non-monsters", which breed independently, and most non-monsters, such as humans, take that division very seriously, treating all of the Dungeon's creations as acceptable targets -- no matter how intelligent they are, or how they behave. Possibly the saddest case is the Sophos, who actually predated the Dungeon, but lived far enough underground that the System coopted them and treated them as monsters instead of surface races, stripping them of their ability to reproduce (except by intermittent Dungeon spawning) and forcing them to live on Biomass. Most surface races now mistrust them as a result.
* FascistsBedTime: PlayedForLaughs when some of the ants take Anthony's admonishments for regular mandatory rest breaks ''very'' seriously.
** They form a shadow organization, utilizing unlit hidden tunnels to rapidly travel through the nest in search of those workaholics who have kept awake for days, knocking them out with special pheromones and putting them to bed. Serious offenders may even find themselves facing carapace waxing and aromatherapy!
---> '''Nameless one''': Working hard I see...\\
But work time is.. OVER!
** And then the humans of Renewal begin to discover that they've been truly adopted, when they too start "disappearing" if they don't meet sleep quotas. They're torn between being pleased and horrified.
* FastballSpecial: When Crinis is still small enough to sit on Anthony's head, he's able to throw her into a melee with his antennae. Since she doesn't have legs, but does have masses of independently mobile tentacles covered in ripping spines, suitable for shredding every monster nearby, this is quite an effective strategy.
--> Crinis slingshot has been loaded!
* FeedItWithFire: Naturally, in a LitRPG setting, anything that doesn't kill you tends to make you stronger. Notably, while the dungeon waves are cause for most nations to batten down the hatches and try to survive the unending tide of spawning monsters, the Colony -- which is capable of hatching thousands of new ants every day -- treats waves as a source of plentiful biomass and experience, helping them to rapidly expand.
* FictionalGenevaConventions: When Crinis is itching to go to town on Anthony's enemies, he ponders whether Pangera has any Geneva equivalent, but decides it's unlikely.
--> Any laws regarding being partially rendered by a void beast from the depths of madness and despair? Probably not, now that I think about it. This world doesn't muck around when it comes to the war between surface and Dungeon creatures.
* FireForgedFriends: Morrelia is very suspicious of Anthony at their first meeting, but before they go their separate ways, a wave of monsters approaches the village. Watching the ants pitch in to help fight it off goes a long way toward persuading her to give them a chance (the chapter in question is even named "Battle of Unity"). Anthony also gains a lot of respect for her combat prowess. Then she joins him in investigating Garralosh, including fighting a lot of lesser monsters together on the way. By the end of Morrelia's time with the Colony, she's still not exactly their best friend, but she's convinced that they're willing to deal peacefully with humans. [[spoiler:To the point where she deliberately sabotages her father's assault on them, not wanting him to kill them all.]]
* FishingForMooks: The marsh expanse is too dangerous to just wander around, but Anthony and his pets can sit in a side tunnel and have Tiny throw rocks at passing monsters, which invariably come charging after them and get slaughtered in the confined space.
* FlashStep: The ''Regulus Bestiae saltus'' monster looks "thin as an anorexic stick on an Atkins diet" and is able to launch a devastating strike faster than the eye can follow, though it can't maintain that speed all the time. Fortunately, Anthony has enough enhanced reflexes himself that it can't easily hit a critical point, and his carapace blunts the effect of anything less.
* TheFundamentalist: Beyn's preaching is actually fairly light on fire and brimstone, but his fanatical worship of the ants goes to extremes. Enid gives him a lot of credit for the village of Renewal being successful, since his powerful sermons about following the ants' examples of selflessness and hard work do a lot to bring the community together -- but she doesn't much enjoy being around him, and Anthony can only handle him in small doses.
--> '''Beyn''': We have been delivered from Monsters, by Monsters! Our insect saviours, led by the Great One, have defended us, provided for us and granted us sanctuary in these times of fear and death. A ''miracle'' has occurred here! The Great One is a miracle sent to grant us succour in our time of most dire need! The monsters rise, friends! They rise but they shall be defeated! Our guardians shall overcome them. They shall roll back the tides of darkness that sweep over the lands and we shall be ''saved''!
* GenderBender: Downplayed; Anthony takes quite some time to realise that all the ants are biologically female, and is initially startled by it, but soon shrugs it off since it's rarely important (especially as monsters do not use sexual reproduction), and the story continues to use male pronouns.
* GenocideDilemma: Titus has made his choice, and most of the Legionaries serving with him likewise; they're content to completely massacre any monster species, including sapient ones, to prevent them arising later as a threat. Morrelia, however, is more torn, especially as she has seen firsthand that the Colony is not acting as a threat -- but still, she takes seriously her father's greater experience, and isn't ignorant of the Colony's potential for exponential growth. Especially once she learns that the Ancients have the ability to control other monster species; there have been previous attempts to raise servant species, but the Ancients caused them to break free and slaughter their masters.
--> The Colony was peaceful, she knew that, yet the Legion insisted that they be wiped out before they became a greater threat. The ants were peaceful for now, but what about in the future? What if Anthony died, and the Colony were left without the leader that held them back? What then?
* GiantWallOfWateryDoom: This is one of the traps at the Colony's gate. With twenty million litres of ''acid'', not water, for extra impact. Oh, and they have holding tanks underneath, so given enough time, they can pump the acid back up and reset the trap.
* GildedCage: Sarah has been a combination guest and prisoner of the Worm Cult for decades. Since she was previously alone and fallen into madness, she's content with her lot and grateful to them. [[spoiler:Until times change, and they start becoming less hospitable...]]
* GlassCannon: As a Lightning Fist Ape, Tiny has extreme strength, but paired with only moderate toughness. He's very useful, especially against elite monsters, but needs supervision to stop him from getting himself killed by charging at opponents -- or groups of opponents -- that are too much for him. Anthony partially addresses the problem by recruiting a dedicated magic user, as a healer and BarrierWarrior.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Morrelia's eyes glow with red light when she's berserking -- along with her whole body manifesting a glowing red aura that smells like blood. Anthony is impressed.
* GoodThingYouCanHeal: The Legion's secret cure for mana saturation sickness is to place a prospective Legionary in a basin of liquid mana, with powerful healing enchantments inscribed into it. For 24 hours, their cells are constantly and painfully broken down by the mana overload and rebuilt by the basin, until they emerge reborn as Dungeon denizens, stronger and faster and adapted to high mana concentrations. And the process only has a 20% mortality rate! [[spoiler:(Including Morrelia's brother.)]]
* GoodVersusGood: The Colony is pacifying the Dungeon, protecting the neighbours, and seeking peaceful food supplies, albeit being quite willing to use lethal force in self defence. The Abyssal Legion put their lives on the line daily to curb monster outbreaks and keep the surface dwellers safe. Unfortunately, from the Legion's point of view, the Colony is a spectacularly dangerous monster outbreak... Morrelia feels particularly torn; her father is a senior Legionary, but she has lived among the refugees of her home country and seen the ants repeatedly save them from final extermination.
* GravityMaster: Anthony gets lucky enough to access a gland that slowly turns regular mana into a supply of gravity mana, providing him with various interesting effects, from the "gravity domain" that makes nearby enemies (but not allies) overwhelmingly heavy, to the "gravity bomb" that launches a temporary miniature black hole. [[spoiler:At his tier 7 evolution, he reforges the gravity gland into a "Resonant Well Stone", allowing him to recharge it from ambient gravitational fields, and reforges his carapace and mandibles into "Gravity Compressed Diamond" to greatly improve his affinity to gravity mana.]]
* {{Greed}}: Technically, Invidia is an envy demon, but in practice, it translates into a burning desire to ''have everything'', whether material or abstract.
--> '''Invidia''': [You have knowledge. I shall have it.]\\
'''Anthony''': [Yeah, yeah. We were just talking about your home strata. You want to get back to Demon… Town… or whatever?]\\
'''Invidia''': [I will follow the Master.]\\
'''Anthony''': [Well, yeah. You know what? Just go back to practicing healing.]\\
'''Invidia''': [Level ups. They will be mine!]
* HappyFunBall:
** Anthony's ball-shaped pet monster, Crinis, is so sweet and affectionate and shy! Just a compliment from her beloved master is enough to send her into a tizzy, possibly even collapsing in a quivering heap. Those who ''threaten'' her master, on the other hand, will probably get the (brief) chance to see her unfold into a mass of independently mobile razor-barbed tentacles of shadow flesh, imbued with fear magic and tipped with "soul seeker cilia" that drive into an enemy's brain and push them over the brink of sanity, before tossing them into the maw of teeth that makes up her centre. Anthony crafts a custom evolution for her, which he names "Special Death Ball", and the System extrapolates from it to give later evolutions names like "Gratuitous Murder Sphere".
---> '''Anthony''': Such an innocent looking little ball of endless despair. Who could possibly imagine that this tennis ball sized black orb would contain so much terror?
** The first monster he encounters in the Shadow Sea is a basketball-sized rock formation, somewhat like coral, with tiny tentacles poking out.
---> It'd almost be adorable, if not for the staring eyes that tip half of the stalks, and the mouths full of razor fangs atop the others.
* HappinessInSlavery: All pets are bound to obey and be loyal to their masters, and even the Sophos, consummate masters of the associated Skills, have not found any way to break the bond. This is clearly visible when Invidia, an Envy Demon, wants to take everything -- except what is Master's, because that is off limits. Crinis, however, needs no binding. She ''adores'' her master, is infuriated when anyone fails to respect him, wants to attach herself to him and throw herself in the way of anything that could hurt him, and is traumatised by the very idea of practising her attacks on him.
* HealingShiv: Anthony is excited when he learns that some of the healer caste of ants have obtained mutations that turn their acid spray into regenerative fluid.
--> They've literally got medic guns! The things that are possible in this world, I tell you.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: The Legion does not force any candidate to go through with the horrifically painful process of becoming a full Legionary. But they don't allow anyone to walk away with knowledge about that process, either. If someone wants to back out, all they have to do is volunteer and receive a quick death instead.
* HeroicSacrifice:
** This is the instinct of all ants, even when sacrifice isn't necessary, much to Anthony's concern. [[spoiler:Even when they become sapient, ants still emerge from their pupae declaring their readiness to die for the Colony, until they're reeducated to save death for when it's actually needed.]]
** [[spoiler:Grant being killed by Garralosh and thus buying time]] actually had a legitimate purpose, though.
** Subverted [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]] with the Immortals. [[spoiler:They all took the Phoenix Flame evolutionary upgrade, but didn't ReadTheFinePrint; instead of taking their enemies with them, it revived them with full health.]]
** Possibly played straight before the story starts, although it could be argued to instead be a StupidSacrifice, when Anthony gave his last food to his ant farm, and starved to death. He still doesn't see any problem with this.
* HeroSecretService: Operation Silent Shield. [[spoiler: Anthony is powerful enough to be an important strategic military asset, but often gets himself into scrapes, so the Council trained a group of twenty elite ants with a special stealth organ that allows them to surround and guard him without being noticed. Anthony eventually spots them and is exasperated, but instead of trying to send them away, he just tells them that they need to do more LevelGrinding to keep up with him.]]
* HisNameIs: Subverted when fellow reincarnator Janice, on her deathbed, is about to tell Anthony her name, and he doesn't want to know.
--> '''Janice''': [… My… My… Name… My …. Name… was…]\\
'''Anthony''': [Her name, was [[spoiler:Grant]].]\\
CHOMP!
* HitAndRunTactics:
** The ants use guerrilla warfare to slow the advance of Garralosh's horde.
*** Their opening strike includes a gravity bomb from Anthony, followed by full salvos of acid from a team of scouts, then soaking the horde with water magic and blasting them with lightning, Crinis striking from concealment -- and then, when the horde approaches, they fall back underground through small tunnels, where only the smallest of monsters can follow, until they reach open chambers where enemies can emerge one at a time and be set upon from all sides (including the ceiling). And then they collapse the tunnels.
*** They later discover that the mages controlling the horde have a limited range, and the monsters will turn back when they hit the limit, making it possible to lure the horde to the edge and then farm them with minimal threat.
** Anthony and his pets use the third stratum demons as a training opportunity, by coming in fast, fighting until the demons' numbers start to get overwhelming, then dropping a gravity bomb to cover their retreat.
* HordeOfAlienLocusts: Titus of the Abyssal Legion considers the Colony to be essentially this type of threat, capable of growing exponentially to consume all biomass in their path. The more they expand, the more queens they can hatch and feed, which lets them expand faster... Since even ''regular'' ant colonies have been able to consume nations before if not rapidly exterminated, he may have a point.
* HorrifyingTheHorror: Once Crinis goes to work with her barbed tentacles like a chainsaw, it's not unusual for even creatures like giant monstrous spiders to flee in fear. (It's also not unusual for them to fail to get away.)
* IfIWantedYouDead: This is an important contribution to Wallace's surrender; he knows full well that if the ants wanted to eat everyone, they could have done it already, so he's willing to believe that surrender brings at least a small chance of survival.
* InstantWakingSkills: Unlike Earth ants, which take multiple power-naps, Pangeran monster ants benefit from a full eight hours of torpor. However, once that eight hours is up, they're immediately ready for action.
--> HIYAH! I'm up! I'm ready! It's time to take on a new day.
* InsultBackfire: Not that Anthony was trying to hurt Crinis' feelings or anything, but when he tells her that she should remain motionless while meeting with their latest prisoners, because "I can't imagine anything you might do that wouldn't be scary to most organisms," she's pleased by the compliment.
* {{Intangibility}}: It costs mana, but the "Immaterial Flesh" of some fourth strata monsters is able to pass through solid objects. Crinis gets the opportunity to replace her "Shadow Flesh" with it, too.
* IThinkYouBrokeHim: Whenever Anthony is generous with his praise, Crinis is so overwhelmed at her Master's approval that she freezes in place, often falling over.
--> I'll need to give controlled doses of positive reinforcement over the next week or so to build up some level of tolerance within her, because this is just ridiculous.
* ItsAllMyFault: Sarah blames herself for [[spoiler:Jim selling the Colony out to the Golgari]], believing that he did it for her. Anthony insists that he didn't really, that ultimately it was just selfishness, and that she shouldn't feel responsible for it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:J - M]]
* JackOfAllStats:
** Crinis' evolutions tend to offer equal or similar bonuses to all her basic stats. She is dangerous in melee, but can't deal as much heavy damage as Tiny's punches. She has access to shadow magic and mind magic, but without Anthony's devastating gravity bomb or Invidia's enhanced parallel processing brains. Her shadow flesh gives her toughness beyond what is usual for first-strata monsters, and can be easily regenerated, but it can't match demonic chitin, or Anthony's diamond carapace. What she really excels at is fighting large numbers of weaker enemies, with her many semi-autonomous tentacle clusters capable of slaughtering even the most desperate ZergRush.
** Anthony himself is something of a generalist against [[spoiler:the Worm Cult's tournament. He's not as tough as the Rhinosergradon, but he's smarter and has more options. He's not as fast as the Clawed Leaping Beast, but he's tough enough, with his limited precognition, to survive its initial pounce and lay a beatdown on it. He doesn't have the spellcasting skill of the Envy Demon, but he has enough physical prowess to pop it like a balloon when he gets close enough. And he doesn't have the debilitating aura of the Death Creeper, but he has his own trump card, the Gravity Bomb.]]
* JustInTime: The Dungeon wave and Garralosh's influence results in a tremendous horde of monsters rushing through a tunnel at once; even though Anthony and Tiny are much stronger than them individually, there are just [[ZergRush too many to fight]]. Until Crinis announces that her growth phase is finished and she's ready for combat at last, whereupon she rips through the monsters like a combine harvester.
* KickedUpstairs: Leeroy believes she's being entrusted with the Eldest's safety because she's the strongest fighter of the Council. It's actually to keep her out of the way so she doesn't disrupt complex plans.
* KillSteal: The Dungeon operates on strict "last hit gets all the experience" rules.
** Anthony and the Colony exploit this extensively for farming experience, with stronger combatants disabling enemies and bringing them to hatchlings -- or to the Queen -- for a finishing blow. (Especially important since stronger monsters get smaller XP rewards, so the most efficient option is to have a strong ant disable the enemy and a weak ant kill it.)
** Anthony gets quite alarmed when Morrelia seems likely to land the final blow on [[spoiler:a Garralosh Praeceptorum]], and rushes to finish it off himself, not wanting to miss out on so much experience.
** When his team sees a hippo-turtle [[EnemyCivilWar get into a fight with some crocodiles]], they ''could'' just sit back and watch, but instead, they intervene -- taking the opportunity to kill off ''both'' sides and get all the rewards.
* KilledMidSentence: Janice is initially unwilling to tell Anthony her name, but as she's dying, she tries to get it out. Anthony doesn't let her finish, though, interrupting her words and finishing her off to avenge [[spoiler:Grant's sacrifice]].
* KillingIntent: With enough levels, beings can become powerful enough that their presence and attention can become tangible. Commander Titus is particularly notable for displaying murderous intent that "weighed on everyone like a ton of bricks." Powerful monsters can also exert an aura that crushes the wills of weaker monsters and dominates them.
* KlatchianCoffee: Overexposure to high levels of ambient mana without a proper adjustment period results in "the blues" -- named not for any depression, but because the sufferer's skin literally gains a blue tinge. It's actually quite the opposite of depressing, although it is a form of poisoning and thus highly dangerous.
--> Through it all, they felt no pain, only a giddy, inexhaustible nervous energy. The blues didn't make people feel tired, as the name might suggest. Rather, the Mana suffusing their body and brain numbed them and gave them the jitters, as if they'd been drinking five cups of coffee every hour. They couldn't sleep, couldn't rest, couldn't think clearly, they were both more exhausted than they'd ever been in their lives and completely unable to rest.
* KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect: The Golgari look down on their magic-using Shaper caste, even though magic is vitally important to their society, eg enabling the portal gates that give them access to the Dungeon. Granin believes it's an attitude carried over from the first appearance of the Dungeon, which led the Golgari to look at magic as a foreign intrusion into their society.
* LanternJawOfJustice: Beyn's first impression of the newcomers to the village of Renewal is that their leader's "shoulders were broad, her arms thick and her jaw could possibly cut bread." Anthony later thinks to himself that her jawline could probably cut ''steel''.
--> Whoever her parents were, they had some serious jaw genes going on.
* LaserGuidedKarma: When his side of the deal is complete, Anthony cautions Queen Verita to consider her next actions carefully, explaining the meaning of the phrase "tit for tat". [[spoiler:It doesn't help; she still tries to have him killed by her guards to cover up his involvement in her return to the throne, and he responds by wrecking her palace and emptying her treasury before fleeing.]]
--> '''Anthony''': [It means that should one be treated well, they will return that goodwill, but should one be treated poorly, similarly it will be returned in kind.]
* LaughThemselvesSick:
** When Sarah sees Anthony's early attempts at gravity-based flight, she collapses on the ground, incoherent with laughter even over telepathy.
---> [Ha-hah! I mean… the legs… I can’t!]\\
Her stubby legs rise up and kick helplessly.\\
[It’s not that funny! Look, none of my siblings are laughing!]\\
They are, however, continuing to not look at me directly.
** When Granin learns about the Colony Paragon evolutionary chain, he collapses on the ground catatonic for several minutes, then laughs uncontrollably for several more, before gradually regaining the ability to speak.
---> '''Granin:''' I'd laugh some more, but it's unhealthy.
* LeeroyJenkins:
** Tiny, being a BloodKnight, is always eager to skip the planning and go straight to the punching.
---> I think the best course of action is to [[FishingForMooks lure them into the tunnel group by group]], keeping the combat out of sight so we don't draw the lot of them down on our heads at once. Nice and steady, that's the play.\\\
So why is Tiny over there punching a titan-croc in the face?
** Lampshaded with an ant who never really adjusts to the "dying is bad" mindset, and continually wants to make a HeroicSacrifice for the Colony; Anthony names her "Leeroy".
** Anthony is not intentionally suicidal, but does sometimes tend to rush into things. Fortunately, the Colony is ''very good'' at organising, planning, and picking up the slack.
---> '''Anthony''': Look, I'm just as ready to leap into some hare-brained invasion of a stratum that is far too strong for me at the drop of a hat, but that doesn't seem like a good policy for the Colony as a whole!
** He's also willing to follow Tiny's lead on occasion and forgo complex plans in favour of just charging in and smashing everything, such as when cleansing an underground expanse of crocodiles.
---> Actually. You know what? Who cares!? Instead of chipping away at the enemy tactically over an extended period of time, THIS stratagem has a little more chest hair! I'm with you Tiny! Bring it on!
* LiteralDisarming: In their first meeting, Beyn thinks Anthony is a gift of experience from the Dungeon and hits him with a ceremonial mace -- so Anthony bites his arm off. The Queen heals the stump, but it's not so easy for humans to grow limbs back.
--> I mean, he hit me on the head with his stupid mace! What exactly did he think was going to happen?
* LiteralistSnarking: Lord Korbell, confident in his city's defences, proudly declares that no ant will ever set foot in Ironwall.
--> '''Wallace''': Well, of course. They don't have feet.\\
''<ants flood into the city>''
* LizardFolk: The Ka'armodo are one of the races who pre-date the Dungeon, and resemble large bipedal lizards, with either two arms or four, depending on age. They are also very proud, which leads most of them to be condescending and dismissive toward the Colony -- except for [[spoiler:the followers of the Red Truth, such as Ivran'tep and Rassan'tep, who want to help Anthony reach the core of the world and ascend to the rank of Ancient]].
* LoopholeAbuse:
** When the team finds a 15-metre crocodile, [[BloodKnight Tiny]] wants to fight it, but Anthony wants to be more cautious, and strictly orders him to "plant your big ape butt right here in the dirt". Tiny is displeased, but complies -- hard enough to make a noise that attracts the crocodile's attention. Anthony can't say for sure whether it's deliberate.
---> If he didn't have the Cunning of brick forged out of smaller bricks that were themselves made of the distilled energy of pure stupid, I'd believe he might be capable of such an act of duplicity. I think he just got lucky.
** The System gives experience faster for actions used in combat, rather than just training, but its definition of "combat" is apparently quite fuzzy.
---> I can shape the earth beneath Torrina's feet over and over again, and hey, that counts.
* LostMyAppetite: Upon seeing the results of an empowered gravity well, Anthony is too disgusted to feel like eating the unlucky (flattened) monsters. The chapter is even titled, "I May Never Eat Pancakes Again."
--> For some reason… I'm just not hungry.
* LuredIntoATrap:
** Anthony follows Vibrant's scent trail, and has to fight off an ambush. Turns out that [[spoiler:the ka'armodo had their pet termites lay a false pheromone trail, so that whichever ants followed it could be isolated and killed for experience. Fortunately, Anthony's intervention turns the tables, slaughtering termites and ka'armodo with a gravity bomb and creating an opening for Vibrant to escape.]]
** He later advances deep into termite territory, and instead of immediately facing him head-on, they send just enough troops to keep him busy while quietly englobing him on all sides. Except that Anthony [[OutGambitted intended all along for them to do that]], and has already planned with the Colony to take advantage of their forces being out of position, to conquer their territory and break the trap from the outside.
* LuxuryPrisonSuite: The ants don't really have any experience with prisoners, so when they do take some, they end up placing them in suites that are decorated in the same way as they would to house their allies. The door also isn't locked, although that's more because it's unnecessary; "If someone can escape from the middle of a nest with tens of thousands of monsters flooding every tunnel, room and surface within, fair play to them, they deserve to get out."
--> I reach out with mind mana and find the two people within the, as it turns out, quite extensive chambers. Wherever the ants have taken their interior decorating tips from (I suspect Enid), they've really taken the style to heart. As I enter the rooms in which our not-quite-willing guests have been stationed, I find them once again to be lavishly decorated with fine, carved wooden furniture, lush woven rugs and plump cushions on every chair.
* MadeOfDiamond: Due to Anthony's choice of mutations, his carapace is ''literally'' diamond, starting out as just tiny glittering points and expanding with each mutation until he's entirely coated in diamond armour (and later reinforced with a supportive inner plating that makes it thicker and less brittle). It doesn't actually make him invulnerable, especially against magic, but it does let him shrug off many lesser physical attacks.
* MadLove: Morrelia doesn't actually ''hate'' Isaac, but she doesn't return his interest, and can't get him to leave her alone as long as she's on the surface, ever since he [[PowerIsSexy saw how strong she is]]. His desire to become strong enough to impress her eventually drives him deeper and deeper into the Dungeon, following the Colony through a string of wars, always driven by the hope of catching up to her level. (She isn't aware of most of it.)
--> '''Morrelia''': I just want to go one day without having to punch you.\\
'''Isaac''': I thought those were love taps!
* MadScientist:
** Anthony mentions feeling a little like a mad scientist after creating [[spoiler:the first batch of ''Formica Sapiens'']].
** Brilliant starts out as just a BrattyHalfPint, obsessed with knowing everything there is to know, which translates into constantly running away and getting into dangerous situations. But her insatiable curiosity eventually produces results, albeit with a generous helping of maniacal cackling, as she expands the Colony's understanding of dimensional magic. [[spoiler:She devises the magical 'hook' that catches Jim the earthworm, and makes great strides in understanding the portal gates used by other races to travel quickly around the Dungeon.]]
* MagikarpPower: Insect monsters in general tend to have this potential, starting with masses of very weak drones, then with higher-tier evolutions being quite powerful -- but it largely goes unrealised, focusing instead on ZergRush tactics. The Colony, however, has a strong emphasis on helping all its members to gain experience and levels; they don't even allow new ants to leave the nursery without forming a core and evolving twice. As a result, when ants start reaching tier six ''en masse'', Granin notes that they're getting unusually good evolution options, because the System expects tier six ants to be extremely rare.
--> '''Granin''': We have a monster type achieving heights that the Dungeon considers rare, and thus rewards, as well as them having weak starting positions, which accelerates the quality of their evolutions. Across every caste, their options have been good. It's almost unheard of.
* {{Magitek}}: Magical devices based on monster cores (which naturally gather and concentrate mana) are expensive but widespread. Queen Verita's palace has core-based lights, partly as a display of wealth, and the ants devise heating enchantments for their brood chambers, since actual fire isn't desirable underground due to the smoke. The Travelling Tolly chapters show a mana-powered high speed elevator.
* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: To a certain extent this is justified, given how much can be accomplished with monster {{Healing Factor}}s and [[WhiteMage healing magic]]. ("Having my legs get eaten is still irritating.") Still, Mendant is unimpressed with how blasé Anthony is about being blown up and sliced apart to the point where what's left of him has to be carried into the hospital.
--> '''Anthony''': Some sort of laser thing. Absolute rubbish. Anyway, spot of healing, I'll be fine. Hit me up Mendant and I'll be on my way.\\
'''Mendant''': You'll be here for at least a day. I'm assuming your healing gland is empty?\\
'''Anthony''': I think it needs to regrow…
* MakeMeWannaShout: Various monsters, including Tiny, can produce a shout powerful enough to rattle brains. Anthony even meets a flower that can do it. Crinis has a variant, too, but hers is less of a shockwave, more of a horrific scream born of a nightmare and [[SupernaturalFearInducer imbued with fear magic]].
* MamaBear: Ants may not have traditional family roles, especially monster ants with asexual reproduction, but their first queen still views them all as her children, and she goes on the warpath when [[spoiler:they are threatened by Garralosh. She still doesn't have the raw power to win, but she's able to break through Garralosh's armour and draw blood, the first wound Garralosh has suffered in many years.]]
* ManEatingPlant: Quite a bit of the vegetation in the Dungeon is just as vicious as the animal life, although it tends to use less direct methods, such as lying in ambush or using mental attacks, instead of a frontal assault with brute force.
--> Vines string across the tunnel, dangling moss in our faces and the rock walls are barely visible beneath layers of leaves and shrubs. Here and there are truly ''massive'' flowers and ferns that sway with the breeze.\\\
Hang on… we’re underground. There is no breeze!\\\
The lightbulb goes on in my head just as the many plants and vines start shifting and moving, almost unfolding as they reveal hideous plant mouths laced with razor sharp teeth.
* ManlyTears: Subverted when Anthony feels like shedding "a single, manly tear" at seeing Crinis' progress toward self-reliance and independence -- but monsters can't cry, so he doesn't.
* MeaningfulName: Ants have typically not had names before; even the Queen has only her title. When Anthony trains the twenty, though, he gives them individual names related to their evolutions -- [[PunnyName each including "ant" somewhere]], such as Propellant the fire mage.
* MirrorMatch: Crinis gets into a fight against a second "[=JellyMaw=]", resulting in a conflict that looks like "an enormous pile of shoelaces actively tying themselves into knots." For even more similarity, the second monster turns out to also be a pet. (And the owner isn't happy about losing it.)
* MissingTime: When Sarah uses her Asura to become TheBerserker, she'll eventually fall unconscious, then wake without remembering what she did during her rage. Which, knowing what she's [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath capable of doing]] even [[FriendOrFoe to allies]] in [[UnstoppableRage that state]], is quite stressful for her.
--> '''Anthony''': [Hey Sarah. Welcome back to the world of the waking.]\\
'''Sarah''': [Wait! What happened!? Is everyone okay?!]
* MookHorrorShow:
** When Crinis fights, Anthony frequently regrets having panoramic vision and no eyelids, with the forest of chainsaw-like blades, barbs, and teeth creating a grisly scene indeed. Many of her victims [[EatenAlive aren't even fully dead]] when they're tossed into her mouth.
---> '''Anthony''': I swear by the shining white beard of he with the pointiest hat that I'm giving myself eyelids the next time I evolve. It's not right that someone should be made to see this!
** It's possibly even worse when she devours another monster of her own species.
---> What I saw then, was not meant for mortal eyes. The process of one [=JellyMaw=] consuming another is, I can only imagine, the sort of thing dark gods whisper to each other at their evil clubs of nefariousness to make each other shiver. It was loud. It was messy. It was not quick.
* MoralMyopia:
** Irette Plamine claims that Anthony has proved he is nothing more than a monster by [[spoiler:leading a raid on the Golgari, taking valuable materials and liberating Sarah, after he escapes from his kidnapping and imprisonment and being forced into a death tournament]] -- ignoring how her own ProudWarriorRace is obsessive about holding grudges and avenging perceived slights. If Anthony weren't ''more'' restrained and patient and ethical than she is, then she would already be dead.
** [[spoiler:Jim the earthworm]] thinks it's fine for him to kill infant ants, if it's okay for the ants to kill and eat other monsters, but is then outraged at the idea that the ants might want to kill ''him'' in turn. Nevermind the fact that the ants aren't hostile to anyone with peaceful intentions...
* {{Mordor}}: The fifth stratum is very rarely visited by anyone from the surface races. The high mana levels, very dangerous to non-monster life, would be bad enough. The local monsters are worse, a significant step up from the previous stratum; that's par for the course in the Dungeon. But the fact that the whole place is a poisonous wasteland inimical to life, believed to have been corrupted by Theorazzn, the ancient monster of decay...yeah, few people even ''try'' to cross it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:N - Q]]
* TheNeedsOfTheMany: Sacrificing for the collective is inherent to ant psychology. One of Anthony's major challenges is to persuade the ants to look for ''alternatives'' to sacrificing themselves. Rassan'tep also notes the ants' lack of ego when he observes their armies ''crawling over each other'' to reach their destinations without a second thought -- something his own ProudWarriorRace would never dream of doing.
* NegativesAsAPositive: Crinis loves to gush about her Master, how he's strong, wise, savage, cruel, relentless, merciless, and ambitious. Anthony is taken aback when she gets to the "savage" and "cruel" parts, but in fairness, all of those traits ''do'' help a monster survive and thrive in a Dungeon where everything is a carnivore. Crinis doesn't even realise that he might find her description upsetting.
* NewLifeInAnotherWorldBonus: Anthony doesn't have any specific extra skills, but having a human mind in a monster ant body puts him in a uniquely powerful position. Monsters are naturally stronger and more magical than non-monster races, but intelligent monsters are rare and generally have other limitations, eg demons are sapient, but are hardwired to be obsessed with different vices, like greed, or slaughter. The deep Dungeon contains a number of intelligent species, but they can't survive in the weak mana closer to the surface. Anthony doesn't have any of those drawbacks, leaving him free to {{munchkin}} the System as far as it allows. Furthermore, ants in particular are {{workaholic}} social insects with a firm belief in TheNeedsOfTheMany, so he has a colony full of fanatically loyal allies. ''And'' they're one of the few monster species capable of independently breeding ([[ExplosiveBreeder exponentially fast]], in fact) instead of just waiting for random spawns from the Dungeon, so they can go in a matter of months from hundreds of ants to hundreds of thousands. It's a perfect storm of converging factors that set Anthony up for greatness; with a little bit of guidance from him, it doesn't take long for the Colony to become a new rising power in the world.
* NoBiologicalSex: All monsters seem to qualify; Anthony and Tiny use male pronouns, Crinis and Vibrant use female ones, but that's basically just preference. Earth ant workers are technically sterile females, but Pangera's monsters don't use sexual reproduction ''at all''. Even the ant Queen has organs to directly convert consumed biomass into eggs, with no male involvement, and that ability is rare; most other monster species just spontaneously appear at spawn points, and there is no mention of any of them having genitals or libido.
* NobodyPoops: While contemplating the nature of Biomass, Anthony observes that his body doesn't produce any waste products at all, despite regularly consuming more than his own body weight, and concludes that he has no idea what's going on.
--> I don't know! I just eat things!
* NotAfraidToDie: When the worker ants are called to combat, they are fearless.
--> I turn and charge alongside my siblings. All around me now, they're silent with only the occasional clack of mandibles and the faint rasping of carapace. To my antennae though, they are roaring.\\
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! ENEMY! ENEMY! FIGHT!
* NothingIsScarier: Humans who visit the depths of the anthill are frequently unnerved by just how quiet it is. Nothing but the ticking steps of many ant legs. This is because all their speech is in pheromones; the air is actually full of conversations, but to those who can't interpret them, it just seems like an ominous silence.
* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Anthony isn't particularly interested in surface politics, or the morality of overturning a coup and restoring Queen Verita to her throne. He just cares that she has promised him a load of monster cores, which he can use to strengthen himself, his pets, and the other ants. [[spoiler:And when it [[RashEquilibrium goes sour]], he makes sure he gets away with the payment.]]
* NowYouTellMe: Eating a new species of biomass for the first time unlocks the "basic profile" of that species, summarising their attributes and abilities. Which would have been very helpful to know ''before'' fighting one to the death.
--> '''System''': [Os Lacerti: Bone Lizard, This monster is famed for the powerful armour covering its body, its immense physical strength and the devastating power of the clubbed tail. Although not too powerful, the beast is capable of simple earth magic spells, be careful.]\\
'''Anthony''': Yeah, now they tell us.
* NuclearOption: It takes time and substantial concentration to prepare a gravity bomb, and friendly fire is a big problem, and sufficiently powerful mages can unpick the spell in flight, but nothing Anthony's ever successfully hit with one has remained unscathed. And it keeps powering up as he gets stronger. It's his go-to weapon for enemies that just don't seem to be meaningfully hurt by regular attacks.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Before the Colony becomes widely known, they're able to pretend that their human allies are controlling them, to make them less frightening to others. A human commanding a monster army is still terrifying, but is a more comprehensible kind of threat than the Colony acting independently.
* ObviouslyNotFine:
** Anthony tries to reassure himself when [[spoiler:the first ''Formica Sapiens'' are hatching]]. It doesn't work.
---> In, out, in, out. Relax, Anthony, it's fine. You've either elevated your colony to the peak of the world or doomed them to collapse in savage internal strife that pits sibling against sibling.\\
No stress.
** Donnelan the mage insists that "I'm... FINE!" while he's so intoxicated that he's been trying to drink from a bowl of nuts, for the past fifteen minutes. Mirryn immediately calls him out.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Wallace is reluctant to agree to [[spoiler:Rylleh's spatial gates being dismantled]], but it's made clear to him that he can either agree to it, or he can watch the ants raze everything.
--> '''Beyn''': [[spoiler:The gates ''will'' come down within the next hour, Captain.]] There are two ways that can happen. With your people aiding us, or we tear the city apart and destroy them ourselves.
* OneManArmy:
** Senior Legionaries such as Commander Titus try not to take the front lines, because they don't want the newer younger recruits to get used to just relying on their leaders to fix everything, but when they do step forward, their power is on a whole different level. Titus' axe has been shown to cut through ''anything'', including [[spoiler:Anthony, every other ant with him, and their reinforced gate, in one blow]] -- and it doesn't actually have to touch the target, it projects the blade beyond itself.
** Anthony, as he evolves, quickly reaches a level of power where he can singlehandedly chew through hordes of mooks. He never ''does'' fight singlehandedly, though, if he can help it, preferring to have at least his pets and preferably several hundred of his family with him.
* [[OneManIndustrialRevolution One-Man Antdustrial Revolution]]: Played with; Anthony doesn't provide any of the technical information, but he does push the Colony into seeking out the right experts to learn it themselves. When Beyn first has the opportunity to come inside the anthill, he passes room after room of forges, workbenches, and similar signs of growing industry.
* OneWordTitle: As a bug-related word that relates to change, given how the protagonist is a force of change.
* OpenSaysMe: When Minerva finally completes her term as Consul, and gets time off work, she rips the (reinforced bulkhead) door off Morrelia's room in her haste to come hug her daughter.
* {{Otaku}}: As part of their inherent nature, every demon has a fixation on one of the seven deadly sins or a similar vice. Within the framework of their obsession, they can often be fairly reasonable and civilised (eg [[spoiler:Allocrix]] is content to hang around and help out so long as he's learning new things), but they will prioritise fulfilling it over everything else, often acting in a way that seems (by non-demon standards) to be against their own interests; this has given them a reputation for making deals and following the ExactWords, but ignoring the spirit of them. (Slaughter demons, for example, make very unreliable allies.)
* OverprotectiveDad: When Titus hears that Isaac has been pestering Morrelia and proposing every day, his KillingIntent ''explodes rocks'' all around him.
--> '''Titus''': ''What'', was that ''name'' again?
* ParalysisByAnalysis: Crinis is so fixated on pleasing Anthony that she just holds onto all her skill and biomass points, not purchasing any skills or mutations, in case she picks something that he wouldn't have wanted.
--> [''All of them''! You haven't spent a single thing?]\\
[I'm sorry, Master! I didn’t want to spend them incorrectly!]
* PerceptionFilter: The ants of Operation Silent Shield develop a special stealth organ that causes everyone to ignore them. Anthony is able to sense them via the Collective Will Vestibule, but when using his normal senses, even touching them goes unnoticed.
--> Idly, I bump up against the wall and even though I don't actually reach the heated surface my brain doesn't seem to register it.
* PercussiveTherapy: After the tension and danger of [[spoiler:killing Garralosh]], Anthony and his pets relax by heading into the Dungeon and smashing things.
--> Time for these stupid monsters to become my stress relief!
* PhlebotinumOverdose: Humans exposed to the Dungeon's high levels of ambient mana will eventually suffer "mana sickness", which will become fatal if untreated. The deeper they go, the higher the mana levels, and the more rapidly the sickness develops. There are, however, ways for them to adapt, either by eating biomass for a partial uncontrolled mutation into a monster, or a risky process of rebuilding their bodies to operate on higher mana levels -- which is not only fatal for a small fraction of participants, but also means that, like a highly evolved monster, those who survive the treatment can no longer live in the thin mana at the surface.
* PhlebotinumOverload: Abyssal Armour suits incorporate monster cores to help them draw in ambient mana, but during dungeon waves, when mana becomes more intense, that can result in drawing so much that they overheat and have to be vented.
--> With so many performing the vent at the same time, the air in front of the line shimmered with heat haze, but Morrelia didn't care. The cores mounted on the back plates of the armour no longer felt like they were going to melt through the metal and into her back, which was all she cared about at the moment.
* PhysicalGod: [[spoiler:In his tier seven evolution, Anthony is offered a "Larval Deity" path, where he would spend tier 7 as a giant larva and then emerge at tier 8 as a being powerful enough for the System to consider it a deity. He turns it down because he doesn't want to make the Colony wait on him hand and foot for six months.]]
* PlayAlongPrisoner: When [[spoiler:Anthony is captured by the Golgari]], his legs are cut off so he can't run, and the journey back takes five days of dragging him around. Once they arrive, he demonstrates that he can regenerate his legs in seconds.
* PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou: After Sarah [[spoiler:loses control while fighting the Golgari, causing her to attack and injure the Queen]], Anthony suggests that she approach the Queen about it, and she resolves to take whatever punishment the Queen prescribes. [[spoiler:The Queen dismisses the idea of blaming her, and thwacks her on the head for being foolish. Then thwacks Anthony for sending her.]]
* PoisonousPerson: One of Anthony's tier seven evolution options would change his body into toxic fifth-strata materials. He'd be almost entirely immune to poison himself, but everyone around him -- including his family -- would suffer the effects, so he [[DefiedTrope firmly rejects it]].
* PoweredArmor: Abyssal Armour suits are driven, not by the wearer's muscles, but by their mana -- which is why regular humans can't use one. They're also covered in enchantments, nigh-indestructible, and the Legionaries wear them for days at a time while training.
* PowerIsSexy: Odin's calm composure and ruthless self control crack when he comes face to face with Sarah's powerful bear form, leaving him fumbling over his words.
--> '''Odin:''' [Are you the most perfect killing machine the world has ever seen?]
* ThePowerOfFriendship: Anthony obtains a literal power in the form of the Collective Will Vestibule, which draws strength from the faith and goodwill of all ants within its range, rapidly refreshing both his health and Stamina. With enough ants around, he basically never gets tired.
* ThePowerOfTrust: The Queen implicitly trusts her children to act in the best interests of the Colony. As a result, [[spoiler:Anthony is able to easily persuade her to bring the Colony to the surface, escaping both the wave and -- unwittingly -- the Abyssal Legion, which was hunting for them and would have slaughtered them all if they had stayed put.]]
* PowerUpgradingDeformation: Humans who eat monster biomass undergo a form of mutation, gaining some of the monster's appearance and the ability to survive the Dungeon's elevated mana levels. The process appears not to be controllable, though, leaving them misshapen; one such specimen is unable to stop himself from constantly slobbering acid.
* PredatorTurnedProtector: The ordinary behaviour of any monster is to view everyone as a source of experience and biomass, but after [[spoiler:the kingdom of Liria is massacred by Garralosh]], the refugees take a chance on the ants who had previously passed them by without eating them. Anthony is exasperated by the risk they're taking, but allows them to stay, where they form the town of Renewal. It's not long before the Colony's aggressive pacification of the surrounding wildlife makes the villagers a good deal safer than they could be anywhere else. [[spoiler:After the Colony gains sapience, there is a brief hiccup where they nearly ignore Anthony's perimeter and eat the villagers anyway, but they're eventually helped to see the value of an alliance, with the humans bringing a wealth of knowledge about skills and industry. And then the ants kill Garralosh, winning them the undying gratitude of the humans.]] Story snippets from years in the future show the two species highly integrated.
* PrisonerExchange: Subverted; Titus tries to ransom [[spoiler: Morrelia]], but Enid correctly points out that the Legion has killed every ant they've laid hands on and so they have no one to exchange.
* AProtagonistShallLeadThem: Due to [[spoiler:altering the ants enough to be recognised by the System as a new species]], Anthony becomes the ''de facto'' leader of the Colony. The ants' extreme [[TheNeedsOfTheMany selflessness]] means that formal authority isn't really a part of their society, and he certainly doesn't try to micromanage them, but "the Eldest" commands great respect, and they all listen to what he has to say, as he works to make them an ascendant power in the world.
* PsychicNosebleed: In the final grueling lead-up to graduation, defending against a Dungeon wave, Donnelan the mage is so wrung-out and exhausted with constant combat that he is bleeding from his eyes. He reports it to the centurion, and gets...a five-minute rest.
* PummelingTheCorpse: Tiny doesn't much like being poisoned, and keeps beating the plant monsters responsible well past the point where they're already dead.
* {{Pyromaniac}}: Propellant takes her attachment to fire magic well beyond mere academic interest, basing her whole philosophy and life outlook on it.
--> '''Propellant:''' Ant mages! Prepare to burn! Burn it all! ALL OF IT TO THE GROUND! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
* QuantityVsQuality:
** A typical ant colony takes the quantity route, but Anthony's influence causes them to trade off a bit of it, basically dropping it back to ten, in exchange for a lot of quality. They can still grow exponentially, though a little slower than before (eg longer hatching times), but they're now gaining far more levels, mutations, and Skills, so every ant can make far more impact. [[spoiler:Plus, being sapient means that they have ''strategy''. They are still willing to die for the Colony, but they're now smart enough to supplement that with ranged barrages of acid and magic, walls, gates, traps, tactical and feigned retreats, ambushes, attacks on supply lines, and diplomacy. Even when they charge forward in a mass, it's now planned and synchronised rather than haphazard.]]
** The System generally favours QualityOverQuantity, with each evolutionary stage giving a substantial power boost compared to the previous one; a high-level monster like Anthony or especially Crinis can mow down hordes of mooks. However, if the power gap is not too extreme, eg a one-tier difference, then mobbing an enemy from all sides can still be highly effective.
** Granin is insistent that Anthony should focus on evolving himself as far as possible, but Anthony wants to share the experience around to his pets and close associates too.
* QuintessentialBritishGentleman: The Sophos appear to be modelled on this stereotype, at least in their manner of speech.
--> '''Formosus Bellus Pulcher''': [No it isn't the worm you BLIGHTER! Humph! No respect these days, that's the trouble with the Dungeon nowadays, no RESPECT at all!]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:R - S]]
* RainbowPimpGear: Defied by Anthony when one of his evolutions offers an option to reset his carapace and mandibles' base material to Fetid Diamond, for greatly improved hardness, automatic recovery, and a built-in toxin -- but instead of being shiny, it's a dull yellow-green. Anthony immediately and forcefully rejects it.
* RashEquilibrium: After Anthony helps [[spoiler:the queen of Liria to return to her throne]], she declares, "You can only blame yourself for trusting too easily, creature!" and summons her guards. Tiny then breaks into the room, having already taken all the cores that were promised as payment, and they make their escape. Anthony reflects while running away that it would have been a bit embarrassing if she had actually honoured their deal right to the end after the Colony had already broken in and looted everything (but it was clear from everything she said and did that she wouldn't actually keep faith with a monster).
* RecognizableBySound: Wallace isn't sure what the monster array is detecting, at first, but then he hears a steady clicking, and knows it's ants.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers:
** Once Tiny gains enough Cunning to manage his own evolutions, Granin and Anthony insist that he upgrade his bones, not just his muscles, or else he'll break himself when he punches things.
** Vibrant's personal army is all about going fast, but that doesn't just require increased movement speed; there's a whole suite of mutations to enable it. Faster sensory processing cortexes, boosted nervous system, high-speed vision, every part of them has to be optimised for travelling at speeds beyond what a baseline ant can handle.
* RevelingInTheNewForm: Anthony's initial reaction to reincarnation as an ant is, "I've been reborn as a WHAT?!" But it doesn't take long for him to decide that ants are much better than humans -- especially the unconditional love and acceptance that all the ants in the Colony have for each other.
--> You'd think hands would be great for shifting dirt, but nope, mandibles is where it's at. The two face-hands are excellent for both cutting into the unyielding rock, and gathering up loose soil into a clump.
* {{Revenge}}: Anthony loses two legs to an ambush by a resilient hippo-turtle monster, which he finds [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction irritating]]. Once the team finally brings it down and settles in to eat, Anthony starts with its legs.
* RevengeBeforeReason: When Anthony [[spoiler:gets captured by the Golgari]], he antagonises and embarrasses their leader, who swears revenge on him, and has political connections. As a result, when Anthony offers to trade [[spoiler:knowledge about gravity magic for his release from the tournament]], which would otherwise be accepted in a heartbeat, he's turned down.
* RocketJump: Anthony apparently played VideoGame/{{Doom}} in his first life, and he's familiar with the concept. He uses Invidia's explosions on several occasions to propel him toward an enemy faster than they expect (starting with Invidia himself).
* RunningGag:
** Anthony always refers to his acid-shooting abdomen with various synonyms for "business end", frequently confusing allies who don't know what a "commercial district" or "global financial markets" are.
** He calls the voice of the System, who speaks to him before he's reincarnated and again at each evolution, "Gandalf". "Gandalf" himself is bemused by this.
---> [This name you have for me is amusing. You continue to insist on using it?]\\
It's not as if I know your real name now, is it?
** Every time Anthony uses biomass points to mutate his body, the affected parts suffer a severe itch, proportional to the amount of mutation. And every time, he forgets about the itch until he's actually kicked off the process. For bonus points, no other monsters seem to suffer from it.
---> [Would you like to confirm these choices?]\\
Awwwww yeah!\\
Wait a sec...\\
Noooorrrr-FLETABINNNNN!
** And thanks to Crinis' regularly scheduled MookHorrorShow, he keeps telling himself over and over that next time he evolves, he's going to add eyelids. When it actually comes time to evolve, though, he never remembers.
* SapientEatSapient:
** Quite a lot of monsters are ''not'' particularly intelligent, but when the Colony starts encountering some who are, like third-strata demons, they still get eaten after death. (Since the demons achieved all their levels and Skills by eating other demons, it's not really surprising that they don't make a fuss about this.)
** Vibrant gets a taste of humanity [[spoiler:when she's only partially sapient, before the change to ''Formica Sapiens'']] and finds them delicious.
* SearchingForTheLostRelative: When he's reborn as an ant hatchling, alone in a tunnel, it doesn't take long for Anthony to realise that he must have come from a colony somewhere. Then he comes across a pheromone trail leading deeper into the Dungeon...
* SecretSecretKeeper: After Anthony tells the Council what he knows about termites, which he only knows from his first life, [[spoiler:Cobalt stays behind and hints to him that they already know he's a reincarnator, and they're unconcerned. He's one of them now regardless.]]
* SensoryOverload: Termites don't actually have ears, but they're so sensitive to vibrations that they can detect another termite banging on a tunnel wall. So, when Tiny unleashes his [[MakeMeWannaShout overpowering scream]] at short range, it's enough to make their whole army stumble.
* ShockAndAwe: Along with his mighty fists, Tiny the ape gains electrical mana glands, allowing him to channel lightning through his punches, or even shoot lightning bolts as a ranged or area attack. This works especially well once Anthony gains water magic affinity and is able to douse hordes of enemies, making them more conductive. (Tiny finds it less satisfying to roast a roomful of enemies than to punch them, but it's still a fight, so he's content with it.)
* ShootTheMedicFirst: Once Anthony forces Operation Silent Shield to work with him more actively, one of their methods of intervention is to sneak-attack the healers of any groups he fights.
* ShoutOut:
** Within his first few days in the Dungeon, Anthony finds and eats a spider, internally ranting about how [[Literature/SoImASpiderSoWhat being a spider in the Dungeon is easy mode]].
---> '''Anthony''': All he has to do is sit inside his web and wait for the prey to be delivered, stuck and unable to fight! Practically free Biomass!
** When Anthony's "Dash" skill reaches level 5 and upgrades, it becomes "Rapid Dash. [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Like a flaming horse]] the user will be able to dash faster and with more precision".
** Upon first learning about the economic value of monster parts and cores, he resolves not to end up like [[VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld Anjanath]].
** When he jumps above an explosion to propel him toward a demon faster, he yells out, "IT'S [[RocketJump A ROCKET JUMP]] FOOL! [[VideoGame/{{Doom}} DOOM GUY]] LIVES IN MEEEEEEEEE!"
** Anthony loves his diamond carapace, but recognises that "If I get any more sparkly than this, [[Literature/TheTwilightSaga they'll think I'm a vampire]]! [[TakeThat The lame kind!]]"
** His first impression of the sword strapped to a Golgari's back is that it looks like a [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Buster Sword]].
** Before learning the species name of the Golgari, Anthony refers to them as (among other things) the Music/StoneTemplePilots.
** Coriinam Balta's silvery "true skin" earns him the nickname of "ComicBook/SilverSurfer" from Anthony.
** One of the other reincarnators he meets is [[VideoGame/EarthwormJim a giant earthworm named James]].
** When Anthony learns that Granin has been appointed by the Cult as his sponsor, his reaction is, "So, you're like… my trainer? What am I, a [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} pocket monster]]?" Naturally, Granin doesn't know what he's talking about.
** Smithant encounters a full set of Abyssal Legion armour, and starts fawning over it. "My gem... ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings my preciousss]].''"
** A pre-chapter note references Anthony misquoting [[Literature/BookOfExodus Exodus 22:18]], or possibly TabletopGame/Warhammer40000, "Suffer not [[spoiler:the termite]] to live."
** When unsuccessfully testing [[spoiler:the Altar of Self]], Anthony remarks that "the energy, unlike [[Literature/{{Dune}} the spice]], does not flow."
** The twin cities of the fourth stratum are made of [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver "heart gold" and "soul silver"]].
* SoldierVsWarrior: The termites are individually comparable in strength to the ants, and even more numerous, but the ants are far more disciplined and coordinated. Where the termites are a horde fighting on instinct, the ants fight in tight ranks, backed by mages, making careful use of area buff auras, firing well-drilled volleys of acid and magic, and rotated out to healers as needed. Even as the ants advance unstoppably forward, they're double-checking contingency plans and anticipating threats. The result is a very one-sided slaughter.
* SoulEating: Monsters can develop a "soul container" that draws in the souls of their defeated enemies and consumes them to power the monster's own growth. This is especially dangerous to the One Tree, who puts pieces of her soul into her children. [[spoiler:The Ka'armodo customise their termite swarm to have soul containers to be better at fighting her.]]
* SpamAttack: Tier-seven demons could probably fight a thousand tier-four ants each, but they still have a bad time when facing an artillery barrage, of mixed acid and magic, from ''ten'' thousand.
* SpeedDemon: This is Vibrant's defining feature. She can't tolerate staying still. She uses HitAndRunTactics faster than the eye can track. She not only skips mandatory rest periods, she's fast enough that the torpor enforcers can rarely catch her. As she mutates every part of her body to be ever faster, even her pheromone language starts to [[PaintingTheMedium drop all the spaces]].
--> '''Vibrant''': Gogogogogogogogogogogogogogogo!
* SquishyWizard: Invidia's physical prowess is minimal, but good luck hitting him, because his ability to cast spells is through the roof. Anthony considers him to be the perfect complement to Tiny's DumbMuscle, providing distractions and barriers and healing so that Tiny is free to achieve his full GlassCannon potential.
* StatusBuff:
** The Antmancers can't directly contribute much in a fight that the ants can't do better, but so long as they ''are'' fighting alongside each other, the Antmancer class gives a buff to all the stats of both species. It's worth having them in a fight just to boost the ants.
** Ant generals emanate an aura that buffs nearby ants, and stacks with the Antmancer bonus.
* StormOfBlades: Skilled swordsmen can project blades of light far beyond their actual weapon. True experts take this further, able to launch many strikes at once to hit an entire company.
--> "HOLD!" Rianus roared. "Folk Blademaster!"\\
That was all he could say before the rabbit creature flickered and vanished before them. An instant later, a slash rang out overhead, followed by a barrage of sword light, slivers of silver death, raining down from above.
* StunnedSilence: After Anthony [[spoiler:wipes his opponent out with a single gravity bomb, powerful enough that even the spectators feel themselves being dragged in]], the whole audience just silently stares at him.
* StupidSacrifice: Anthony has to spend a lot of time teaching the Colony to defy this. There's just no ''point'' throwing yourself into harm's way to protect your fellow ants, when you could instead join in a barrage of acid and win without casualties. Most of them eventually adjust to this new mindset, although Leeroy just can't make the transition and remains [[DeathSeeker intent on dying gloriously for the Colony]].
--> '''Anthony''': Ok. Let's try this again. The enemy is down there. We can see them, we are in a superior position where they cannot fight back. All of the advantages are ours. So, what are you going to do? What is your strategy?\\
'''Worker''': Well, I see the monster down there.\\
'''Anthony''': Right.\\
'''Worker''': I know that I have numerical superiority.\\
'''Anthony''': Right!\\
'''Worker''': I also know that we have a positional advantage here, and the ability to attack our opponent when they can't fight back.\\
'''Anthony''': Yeees?\\
'''Worker''': So, I will charge down to engage the enemy, forcing myself into its jaws so that by my sacrifice my fellow workers will be able to attack without being harmed!
* SuccessThroughInsanity: In Anthony's first conversation with "Gandalf", he learns that only souls who are a bit deranged to begin with are selected to reincarnate in the Dungeon, since a certain amount of madness is necessary to have a chance of surviving and thriving. Anthony isn't really sure how that applies to himself; lots of people get abandoned by their parents and starve to death because they gave away their last food, right?
--> '''Gandalf''': [I have found it takes a certain resilience of mind, a certain … Insanity, to allow a sentient creature such as a human to survive the transition to life in the Dungeon of this world without… breaking. I try to find souls such as yours, souls that have lived a life of deprivation and suffering. I find they are better equipped to handle the madness, slaughter and solitary life of a monster]
* SupernaturalFearInducer: Crinis invests heavily in fear magic, on top of her horrific base appearance, to the point where Anthony introduces her to Invidia as, "she's in charge of being terrifying and tentacles".
--> As tears began to roll down her face, Yasmine watched as each of those mouths opened impossibly wide, paused, then screamed, a piercing wail that blew through every mortal soul that heard it and rattled their minds like weathervanes.\\
That sound seeped through their ears, into their brains before it sunk into a deeper place, a primal place of fear and terror that every child knows and adults wish they could forget. For many, the madness that followed was almost a relief.
* SuperPrototype: To an extent, Anthony functions as this to the entire Colony, as do the Twenty. Justified by the fact that gaining maximum strength at each evolutionary stage requires a considerable investment of valuable resources; when scaling up to hundreds or thousands of ants, they can't afford to max them out quite so much. (But they do make use of the lessons learned to give it a solid try.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:T - Z]]
* TakingYouWithMe: Granin warns his superiors that if they push Anthony too far, then Granin will take steps to publicly expose the Cult of the Worm, resulting in his own execution and theirs.
* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Anthony is surprised and alarmed to discover that the biomass produced and freely offered by aphids contains a weak but cumulative poison. Having spotted it in time, though, he's able to work around it.
* TemptingFate: Lampshaded after Anthony gets exasperated with his pets' antics, and internally hopes that the next generation of ants will be more useful.
--> Did I just jinx myself? No flags! Shut up, Anthony!
* TentacledTerror: Anthony specifically introduces Crinis to his next pet as, "She's in charge of being terrifying and tentacles." As she grows, she can directly control hundreds of tentacles, with a thousand on autopilot. They are covered, not in suckers, but in Ripping Spines, which move back and forth like a [[ChainsawGood chainsaw]] once they seize her prey, and she doesn't always bother to completely kill monsters before tossing them into her maw and letting her stomach disintegrate them. Oh, and she invests heavily in [[SupernaturalFearInducer fear magic]], so even giant crocodiles and spiders are inclined to run away from her.
* TermiteTrouble: It's expensive for the Mother Tree to manifest a garden on the fiery third strata, but she does it anyway to contact the Colony, because the Ka'armodo have bred a tame termite swarm to bring her down. The Colony's reaction is deeply instinctive.
--> How can the Colony live knowing that a giant monster termite nest exists out there in Pangera? We can't! We must destroy it! They cannot be permitted to exist within the same Dungeon!\\
'''Anthony''': [[[{{Understatement}} I've heard of termites, yes.]]]
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Crinis tends to be a bit overprotective of Anthony and excessively vengeful toward his enemies.
--> [Master! Are you well? Are you hurt? I think I can feel a scratch on your carapace. WHO DID IT?! Tell me, and I will rend them into pieces and grind the remains into paste! Then I will dive into the mind of the paste and drive it insane for a thousand years! Death! Deaaaaaaaaaath!]
* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: The cults of the Ancients have only been able to gather fragmentary information about the monsters they worship, from dreams granted to the faithful -- many of whom suffered serious side effects from those brief glimpses. From those who view Zothoth and GoMadFromTheRevelation, to having one's [[EyeScream eyes burned out]] by seeing Carriflare, to one poor soul who glimpsed the realm of Tarriflyx the Hunger and [[{{Autocannibalism}} chewed off his own arm in his sleep]]. Piecing together the snippets has been a work of centuries.
--> Only when networked together did we arrive at the realisation that these may be more than just figments conjured by imagination, but rather glimpses at a reality we should never see.
* ThisIsUnforgivable:
** After the death of many brood, Anthony declares a vendetta against [[spoiler:James the giant earthworm, his former friend]].
---> '''Anthony''': There's no coming back from that, not with us.
** Consul Minerva severs all ties and support in response to [[spoiler:the Ka'armodo engineering a race of termite servants]].
---> '''Minerva''': Some lines you only have to cross once. There is no going back.
* ThrowingTheFight:
** Morrelia intentionally [[spoiler:berserks her way into the ant lines and gets herself captured, so that the ants will have a hostage to make her father back down]].
** When Rassan'tep sees [[spoiler:Anthony invading the entire termite colony with just his pets and Sarah]], he thinks he might have to manipulate things to deliberately lose, since he doesn't want to kill off such a promising candidate. However, he's pleasantly surprised when Anthony performs better than expected and wins more or less legitimately (although Rassan'tep did deliberately hold back insights that could have tipped the scales if shared with his colleagues).
* ToughRoom: It's [[JustifiedTrope understandable]] that Anthony's Earth-based jokes generally just attract blank stares or requests for explanation.
--> '''Anthony''': [All right, everyone, it's time to form up for the attack. Tiny in the front, Crinis with me, and Vibrant on the flank. Our mission is complete subjugation. All crocs must be handbags or tasteful jackets by the time we're done. Nothing too out there, I'm fashion conservative.]\\
[{{Beat}}]\\
'''Crinis''': [What is a jacket, Master? Explain it to me and I shall prepare a thousand for you this day!]
* TournamentArc: After being kidnapped, Anthony is forced into a series of death matches against other monsters, purportedly with the aim of strengthening the eventual winner by letting them take all the experience and biomass from their competitors. He wins several matches, surprising the sponsors, and turns one of the resulting monster cores into his third pet, before [[spoiler:breaking out and meeting up with the Colony.]]
* {{Turncoat}}: [[spoiler:Jim the giant earthworm]] turns out to be more self-interested than Anthony realised, betraying the Colony in hopes of eliminating it as a threat. In fairness, the Colony ''is'' pretty dangerous, but [[spoiler:helping enemy soldiers to break into the brood chambers and slaughter infants]] is something the ants [[ThisIsUnforgivable will not forgive or forget]].
* TurnsRed: The ''Regulus Bestiae saltus'' literally turns red when it gets angry, triggering a berserk flurry of blows, and corrosive blood. It deals some heavy damage, but ultimately, staying at close range is the wrong tactic against Anthony.
* UnreliableNarrator: The pre-chapter excerpts include an InUniverse example, with an extract from a letter by Poran Alact, complaining that the author of the Book of the Red Truth wasn't necessarily entirely reliable, and that the book should be subjected to the same standards of academic rigour as any other text.
* UnstableEquilibrium: A monster that makes serious mistakes in the early stages of its life will likely find that it CantCatchUp with one who was able to optimize things.
** The amount of growth possible with each evolution depends on the amount of energy in one's core. But the size of the core is based on how many other cores are absorbed -- and there are limits on how many cores can be absorbed between evolutions. So, a monster that fails to fully reinforce its core before evolving will be permanently disadvantaged. One that takes the option to evolve ''before'' forming a core is practically crippled. [[spoiler:Jim the earthworm made this mistake, and although he's an excellent digger and has good stealth, he's just not combat capable.]]
** In the other direction, early access to "special" cores allows a monster to supercharge its core, gaining extra energy and stronger evolutionary paths. Overclocking one's core in this way is painful, and lethal if pushed too far, but highly effective. As the core grows and adapts, it becomes possible to supercharge it further with "rare" or even "mythic" cores, attaining heights of evolutionary energy and extra abilities that would never be achieved with a more conservative path. [[spoiler:Such as the Collective Will Vestibule organ, granted to Anthony as part of a rare evolution, and unlocking further powerful paths such as the "Larval Deity" when he absorbs a mythic core. Without that earlier boost, he would have been restricted to being a powerful-but-ordinary worker, soldier, or mage.]]
** Evolving imposes a penalty to the number of biomass points gained from less-evolved foes. A monster who doesn't max out their mutations before evolving will find that it's now even harder to collect the necessary points...[[spoiler: Anthony actually does manage to catch up on that one, maxing out his mutations before evolving to tier five -- and then he learns that he has permanently missed out on bonus evolutionary energy at each tier by not doing that sooner.]]
* UnwantedFalseFaith: Anthony doesn't mind the fact that the villagers of Renewal are grateful for the help the ants have given them, but led by Beyn the priest, they go far beyond simple gratitude and well into religious veneration of the "Great One", which he's far less comfortable with. Even Enid, who's far more sensible, can't deny that the things the Colony have done seem miraculous, which makes Anthony half-jokingly despair of humanity.
* VerbalBackspace: Anthony takes the chance to vent to Morrelia about the guy who nearly cut him in half, and how unfair it is for someone to be so ridiculously powerful -- until she tells him that that was her father.
--> '''Anthony:''' [Lovely guy. Charming even. I mean, so human. Such a warm personality and totally regular level of strength.]
* VictoryByEndurance: This is the Colony's strategy for fighting [[spoiler:the Golgari]], since the ants are individually weaker but far more numerous. They can afford to tire out ants taking extreme range acid potshots at the enemy, if it will slow them down at all; there are plenty more ants. And tunnel collapses, even if there are ways to counter them and avoid actual loss of life, will cost time and energy to deal with (whereas the ants, as natural diggers, can easily set them up).
* VictoryPose:
** After her first kill as a hatchling, Vibrant poses on top of the corpse. Since her foe was completely crippled and pinned by Anthony first, and still took her tiny mandibles a minute of dedicated biting, he's not exactly overwhelmed by her prowess, but she's cute.
** She later copies Anthony's pose, which (seeing her tiny form raising a leg in the air) makes him feel childish.
** After Anthony [[spoiler: kills a Death Creeper with a single gravity bomb in front of a flabbergasted audience]], he stands on his four rear legs and throws his forelegs wide.
* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: Despite the lack of monster romance, Crinis very much has the "violently protective" part down. It is not wise to attack Anthony in her presence.
--> The solid bone claw scrapes along my pristine Diamond Carapace and sparks fly, but the claw fails to penetrate through to my soft, fleshy insides. The carapace is triumphant!\\
[DEATH!] Crinis screams, and a boiling mass of tentacles lash out and wrap both legs of the double-croc.
* TheWarRoom: The General caste of ants eventually needs a dedicated space, especially once the carvers start producing comprehensive and highly detailed maps of the terrain and the tunnels. (Even with those maps, coordination is still a challenge.)
* WeakButSkilled: Invoked by Anthony when he [[spoiler:alters the Queen's core to produce brood with longer hatching times and less physical prowess, but much greater Cunning]], trusting that intelligence will triumph over raw power. [[spoiler:It works beyond his wildest dreams.]]
* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong:
** Anthony asks this when forming a separate team of combined humans and ants to slow down Garralosh's horde. Naturally, that's when the Ka'armodo's assistants start to seriously respond with high-level magic, including conjuring a cloud over him and bombarding him with lightning strikes.
** He asks it again when Victor wants to be cautious in the aftermath of a wave, breezily asserting that "There's nothing here to stop us right now."
---> Even I feel a slight chill in the air that descends in the face of my brazen overconfidence.
* WhatHaveIDone:
** Anthony is horrified to realise that rushing back carelessly and openly to warn the Colony of the approaching wave has resulted in a large group of monsters following, and many resulting deaths.
** And then has another freak-out, worrying himself into a tizzy and outright asking "WHAT HAVE I DONE?!" when he sees [[spoiler:the first ''Formica Sapiens'' about to hatch]].
** Also, when his Gravity Bomb gets a significant upgrade, firstly because he was able to take lots of time to shape it, and secondly because his Forceful Mana skill upgraded to Condensed Mana partway through, he's quite alarmed by the results.
---> What exactly has my Mana become? What is it that I have unleashed?!
** And yet again, "What have I created here?!" when he watches Crinis put her new "soul seeker cilia" to work, driving dungeon monsters into fits of horrified screaming -- and Crinis starts giggling.
* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Some of the skills available for purchase are less useful than others; Anthony has to trawl through long menus searching for the few gems.
--> This one? No…\\
How about—No…\\
Hmmmm… No.\\
Who would want to get better at that anyway?
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The System draws a line between the Old Races, including humans and a handful of others, vs monsters, and the Abyssal Legion considers all monsters to be acceptable targets -- even if fully sapient. Indeed, sapient species are considered to be high-priority threats. Some of the New Races have gathered enough clout to be left alone for practicality's sake, but there is always conflict between the New and Old.
* {{Workaholic}}: Every ant except Anthony works practically non-stop. Even their greetings are gentle chiding to work hard. They need a ''Gestapo-style police force'' to make them get enough hours of sleep. (Anthony is no slacker by human standards, but he does like breaks and vacations.)
* WorshippedForGreatDeeds: Everyone agrees that Beyn's fanatical worship of the ants is overblown and tiring, but even level-headed characters like Enid have a hard time completely ignoring his point of view when the ants ''have'' acted like saviours, taking scattered desperate refugees and making them a strong, secure, self-sufficient community.
--> '''Anthony:''' [You aren't starting to buy into Beyn's rubbish are you? I am certainly ''not'' a divine messenger of any kind.]\\
'''Enid:''' [If you keep producing miracles at the rate you have been, I'm not going to have much choice am I?]
* WorthlessYellowRocks: The Colony is entirely communal, with no currency or even trade. An extract from a merchant's letter mentions how some of his competitors tried to bribe the ants into giving better deals, and were left holding out purses while ants stared at them without comprehending.
* XanatosGambit: The ants use a multilayered defence strategy when fighting reaches their gates.
** If the flood of twenty million litres of acid gets the enemy, great! If, however, their mages shield against it, that will distract them and make it harder for them to contest the ant mages who are attempting to drop the ceiling on them, filled with giant metal spikes.
** Or the mages can keep focusing on the ceiling, while mundane soldiers pack together and rapidly carve trenches in the tunnel floor to divert the acid around themselves, letting it splash their armour but not wash them away. Except that it ''will'' dissolve away the covers holding back the swarms of centi-sludge monsters.
** And if the centi-sludges manage to poison the enemy, that's great, but if they don't, well, their BlobMonster physiology means that killing them for good takes a lot of work, which means the soldiers will be distracted when the ants sortie.
** And, of course, when the ants charge, they're using ranged attacks, so if they get someone, that's great, but if they don't, they don't immediately lose any ants, and they'll tie up the mages' concentration further, allowing Anthony to toss a condensed gravity bomb that will kill anything it hits if the mages aren't able to unpick it on the way.
** Oh, and if the enemy puts their all into it and stops everything thrown at them, that's okay; they'll have tired themselves out, and stalling is still a win, because the ants breed thousands of new hatchlings every day, and a dungeon wave is coming soon that the ants are better able to endure than their opponents are.
* XRaySparks: Upon encountering metallic-looking pigs, Anthony sends Tiny after them, since he can [[ShockAndAwe blast them with lightning]], with spectacular results.
--> I do ''not'' want to be caught in the middle of that… Still, it seems my hypothesis on the metallic skin being weak against Tiny rang true. Pretty sure that monster's skeleton was visible.
* {{Yandere}}: Since romance doesn't appear to be a feature of monster life, Crinis doesn't expect any from Anthony, nor does she seem to harbour any resentment toward the other pets, leaving her somewhere between Yandere and ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend. Nonetheless, her stammering dialogue shows that she is extremely devoted to Anthony, overprotective, very shy about her feelings, wanting to be and do whatever Master wants, and ''psychotically violent'' toward any monsters who would threaten Master, or fail to show proper respect, or whom Master tells her to kill.
* YouAreNotAlone: Sarah spent her first years on Pangera with no one to rely on but herself, and fell into madness and violence. Then, she was rescued by the Golgari, but essentially kept as a comfortable prisoner for decades. Anthony basically adopts her, insisting that the Colony is "''OUR'' family", which she likes but struggles to let herself accept.
--> '''Anthony''': You might have been on your own before, but now you have thousands of us who are on your side. You'll be taken care of, okay?\\
'''Sarah''': I can't get used to that, turning toward the things that I avoided for so long and embracing them. I just feel so scared.
* YouCanTurnBack: Titus offers the people of Renewal the opportunity to walk away from the Colony before the fighting starts, and Enid passes the offer on. The ants certainly wouldn't try to stop them if they chose to save themselves, but none of them do.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: This applies multiple times over to Anthony.
** He's dead on Earth, so can't return from Pangera. But he never had much of a home there, and wouldn't want to go back anyway.
** The more a monster evolves, the harder it becomes to survive in the relatively thin mana on the surface of Pangera. At tier six, Anthony is only able to visit the surface colony and the village of Renewal for a few hours during the peak of a mana-rich wave, largely to say goodbye.
** Once he reaches the fourth strata, [[spoiler:the Ancients take an interest in him and Call him to descend deeper and join them. He likens this to embedding a fish hook in his soul, physically preventing him from walking to higher strata and causing him intense pain if someone else carries him there]].
* YouOweMe: Invoked in desperation by [[spoiler:Jim the earthworm]], as the very last thing he's seen to say. But it's not clear what he might be owed, and he's ignored anyway.
* ZergRush:
** Played straight during the dungeon waves, when mana levels rise and monsters spawn endlessly out of the Dungeon walls. They start at level 1, and so they are mostly easy enough to kill, but they just keep coming, for ''weeks''. And then, the ones that spawned further away, and successfully competed with others to survive, come stomping along with some more experience and levels...
** Initially played straight by the Colony when Anthony first encounters his kin throwing themselves suicidally into fights and winning through weight of numbers. Later defied when [[spoiler:he modifies the Queen to produce more intelligent offspring]], causing the ants to use much more sophisticated strategies -- much to the horror of everyone who finds out.
** Played even straighter by dorylus ants; they're blind, but a dorylus queen can lay over a ''million'' eggs a month (vs the Colony's tens of thousands).
---> '''Donnelan''': Think of millions of monsters crawling across the ceiling, bursting out of the walls and scrambling on top of each other to kill you, what does it matter that they can't see?
[[/folder]]

* LaughThemselvesSick: When Sarah sees Anthony's early attempts at gravity-based flight, she collapses on the ground, incoherent with laughter even over telepathy.
--> [Ha-hah! I mean… the legs… I can’t!]\\

* LoopholeAbuse: When the team finds a 15-metre crocodile, [[BloodKnight Tiny]] wants to fight it, but Anthony wants to be more cautious, and strictly orders him to "plant your big ape butt right here in the dirt". Tiny is displeased, but complies -- hard enough to make a noise that attracts the crocodile's attention. Anthony can't say for sure whether it's deliberate.
--> If he didn't have the Cunning of brick forged out of smaller bricks that were themselves made of the distilled energy of pure stupid, I'd believe he might be capable of such an act of duplicity. I think he just got lucky.

** When Anthony learns that Granin has been appointed by the Cult as his sponsor, his reaction is, "What am I, a [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} pocket monster]]?" Naturally, Granin doesn't know what he's talking about.

* StatusBuffs:

** Anthony loves his diamond carapace, but recognises that "If I get any more sparkly than this, [[Literature/{{Twilight}} they'll think I'm a vampire!]] [[TakeThat The lame kind!]]"

** Anthony and the Colony exploit this extensively for farming experience, with stronger combatants disabling enemies and bringing them to weaker combatants -- or to the Queen -- for a finishing blow. (Especially important since stronger monsters get smaller XP rewards, so the most efficient option is to have a strong ant disable the enemy and a weak ant kill it.)
** He gets quite alarmed when Morrelia seems likely to land the final blow on [[spoiler:a Garralosh Praeceptorum]], and rushes to finish it off himself, not wanting to miss out on so much experience.
** When his team sees a hippo-turtle [[EnemyCivilWar get into a fight with some crocodiles]], they ''could'' just sit back and watch, but instead, they intervene -- taking the opportunity to kill off ''both'' sides.

--> '''Titus''': What was that name again?

* NewLifeInAnotherWorldBonus: Anthony doesn't have any specific extra skills, but having a human mind in a monster ant body puts him in a uniquely powerful position. Monsters are naturally stronger and more magical than non-monster races, but intelligent monsters are rare and generally have other limitations (eg demons are sapient, but are hardwired to be obsessed with different vices, like greed, or slaughter). Furthermore, ants in particular are social insects, so he has a colony full of allies, and they're one of the few monster species capable of independently breeding instead of just randomly spawning from the Dungeon. With a little bit of guidance, it doesn't take long for the Colony to become a new rising power in the world.

* HappyFunBall: Anthony's ball-shaped pet monster, Crinis, is so sweet and affectionate and shy! Just a compliment from her beloved master is enough to send her into a tizzy, possibly even collapsing in a quivering heap. Those who ''threaten'' her master, on the other hand, will probably get the (brief) chance to see her unfold into a mass of independently mobile razor-barbed tentacles of shadow flesh, imbued with fear magic and tipped with "soul seeker cilia" that drive into an enemy's brain and push them over the brink of sanity, before tossing them into the maw of teeth that makes up her centre. Anthony crafts a custom evolution for her, which he names "Special Death Ball", and the System extrapolates from it to give later evolutions names like "Gratuitous Murder Sphere".
--> '''Anthony''': Such an innocent looking little ball of endless despair. Who could possibly imagine that this tennis ball sized black orb would contain so much terror?

* StatusEffects: