New [Skill] has been acquired!

You have learned: [Arcane-Manipulation]

New [Skill] has been acquired!

You have learned: [Pain-Tolerance]

Two new skills had been learned. It was more than initially expected, the Core only having been going for one of them. It had been known since the very early one that the Mana being used was a bit different from the one inside itself yet still not enough changed in the way of colouring. It supposed [Arcane] was what that was, a new type of Mana never seen before. The name was quite mystical, yet it knew little about what it did. Looking inside of itself, it brought out the description for the skill, along with all other skills in its repertoire.

Skill-Name

Rarity

Description

Cost

Mana-Sense

Rare

Allows for the user to sense [Mana Currents]

Passive

Mana-Manipulation

Rare

Allows for the user to manipulate [Mana Currents]

Passive

Appraisal

Rare

Allows the user to gather information regarding items or entities

10MP

Healing

Uncommon

Allows the user to heal a specific target

20MP

Arcane-Manipulation

Rare

Allows the user to manipulate the Arcane branch of magic with more skill

Passive

Pain-Tolerance

Uncommon

Allows the user to bear through pain more effectively

Passive

Many skills were being gained, but the Core hardly minded that fact. It was interesting to see every one of them, figuring out what they could do and if there was any way to synergize them. As an example, [Arcane-Manipulation], [Mana-Manipulation], and [Mana-Sense] all worked within the same area, making it possible for each affinity with each skill to enhance the skill of all others. It was a wonderful addition. Extremely so when the [Arcane] would be used again.

But, there was still more to attempt. And for more attempts, it first needed to gather information from the different skills. Arcane was another branch of magic, as the Core had previously guessed, but the rest of the description was quite different from the one given by [Mana-Manipulation]. Instead of allowing the user to use it, the skill simply enhanced the skill already present in the field. It made sense to make it in such a way since the former manipulation skill was required to get the latter one to begin with. The Core could hardly imagine a scenario where it would be able to do such a thing. Though… perhaps there were some ideas about the skill being known instinctively? That was an idea to put down for later since it did not apply to the current situation.

The skill itself was a boon to have, and the extra bout of information gained from the skill was something that was greatly appreciated. There had been some minor holes in the basics of how the energy worked that made so much more sense when filled out. The Core had never thought about the conversion in such a way… it would take so much less time to do in the future. It just knew it from that point on. Perhaps it was not an instant conversion, but it was sure that it could do it quicker. And, there was also something about increasing the tensile strength of the conjured matter that the Core had previously overlooked. That had to be checked out as well.

Onto the other skill gained, however, there was still much to think about. [Pain-Toelerance] was not exactly a skill that the Core had expected to exist, never seeing much of a hint about it. The Entity had learned to control sensations before and had learned to accept them to a certain level as well. Why did it not gain a skill for them? Was it due to the negativity surrounding pain as a whole?

Perhaps pain was a more abstract thing, not clearly defined by a single sensation. The Core could certainly say that it would be able to handle mental aches as well as the physical version more easily, yet those two sensations were quite different when looking at it from the right perspective. Both could be described as painful, yet they both also hit wildly different areas of the mind. One was direct and the other was more feedback from something the mind was connected to. It was… interesting to say the least.

And the method to gain the skill was perhaps not to simply gain enough knowledge and understanding about it but more along the lines of learning it through a situation that required it. The Core had done so with [Arcane-Manipulation], pushing itself to the point of mental fracturing just so that the [System] would see the effort put into reaching the goal. And it had worked for both, to the point where the Entity had something cooking up that would allow it to have a similar experience.

Skills were gained through hardship and understanding of what one was doing. That much had become clear. But, to further increase the skills, to make the system acknowledge progress in them? That had never been gained through pure hardship but through an immaculate understanding of what was going on to the finest. It was where the user refined their skill to the point where nothing more could be done. Only then did the [System] upgrade it to the next level. Yet in that next level, more was given and so much more was allowed to be improved upon. The Core was still not sure if the pattern would continue indefinitely, but it knew that it was how it worked for the lower levels. It could only hope that it would improve later on as well. While the idea of higher requirements was a given, some manner of possible growth was more than a nice addition.

Moving on, there was much to test out. The idea of pain being easier to handle was more of a mindset than anything else, so the Core wasn't exactly sure if it had limited or not. It simply decreased how much the Entity felt about sensations instead of muting them. They were just… easier to handle, the details surrounding them matter more than anything else.

The [Arcane-Manipulation] however? There was much that hadn't been tried there. The ideas on how to handle the creation were first. Instead of first putting out the Mana and then pouring out intent to make it change, the Core used the actual conversion technique that the [System] had supplied. It was… different from most things done before, yet it worked flawlessly, so there was little to be angry about. It just put it as something less about intent than anything else. The restrictions of intent were quite different than much else. There were uses for it since it had just allowed the Core to discover a branch never thought about before. Yet, it had also just used this branch instead of purely doing it from its own, so when the Core learned more about it then it would make less sense to use the lacking curves of intent.

The more the Entity thought about it, the more it became obvious. Another branch of magic could be the method of communication used during the orders sent out to the creatures. There was no real clue on what it was or how it worked or even how the Core could test it out to a more extreme version, but it knew that it would do it at some point. The intent was the way to scour. Everything after that was the actual process of acquiring the skills needed to never use intent again.

It was quite an incredible a sight to see, as the Core finally began the experience of using the [Arcane] again. It felt so different to use when the conversion was as it was meant to be, to the point where it knew it would never use intent again. The latter wasn't close to efficient enough, there still being some higher costs attached. The Mana-Consumption in the actual process was as close to null as it could be. The Core… was more than a little shocked by that.

Nothing. Almost nothing. Sure, there were some particles used to make the surface, yet there was no chance that it was everything needed for the creation, right? The Core thought so, at the very least, not truly believing that the small square in front of it was really that easy to create. What if it tried to move it around?

…And there the problems came along. The other side of the ant dropped down, as the square was destroyed by the air resistance. It had been so fragile that the slightest push had caused its destruction. Oh, how the Core was happy to not have its worldview shattered in such a particular fashion. It would have taken in the extreme efficiency from before, with no doubt to it, but it would have likewise required such a restructuring of what it believed to be right and wrong that it was unbelievable.

The Core was finally beginning to have an idea of why the intent-based creation has required so much. It had been meant to carry water at the time. The Entity had demanded such a requirement. Therefore, the Mana had bent to its will from the start, reinforcing the structure without having to be asked directly. The Core had simply thought it an obvious design, one that would be transferred over to the new technique, but it seemed that intent-based creation had melded two techniques together instead.

Creation of Physical Arcane and Reinforcement of the Physical Arcane were two different disciplines within the same sub-genre of tasks needed to accomplish successful use of the field. The first had been tried out already, with the results being that the thing merely got destroyed into thin air the moment that it was moved. The latter, while useful, could not be used without the first already being there. One could not exist without the other, yet both had different reasons for it, making it not quite as balanced as one would originally believe.

There was no care for such a balance, however, the Core simply adjusted its outlook on what each could do instead. One first needed to create the physical form using the first technique with the attached conversion method before then supplying more Mana in a specific technique shown off by the [System] and partly by the experience with intent-based recreation. With it, the Core was able to then move a square one meter to the right without anything breaking.

It was a fantastic result, a perfect example of practical uses. And with the techniques currently in use, the Core could think about other things at the same time, not having to fully devote its mind to the task. There was a chance that it was partly helped along with the [Skill] but the Entity also liked to think that the techniques provided also gave out a meaningful boost.

Just as a test and not an actual attempt at making it work with the same complexity, the Entity conjured the spheres once again. The first four levels were made without any difficulty, to the point where the Core had to wonder if it had been sane during the first times. It was so… easy. It had lost health, had lost its mind briefly, and had humiliated itself time and time again, trying to do something it could have done so perfectly if it just knew the secrets. Sure, those secrets were only gained after and because of those humiliating defeats, yet the Core could not help but look back at itself and internally wince. It could only take the reaction to its own actions as proof that it had improved in more ways than one.

The spheres were destroyed without any real thought put into it, as the Core went another route. The complexity was nice and all, and more than proof that it was able to handle it all, but other kinds of extremes could be tested. Say… how much pressure would a cube be able to handle? Could a [Giant-Ant] bite it without it being destroyed?

There was only one way to find out. Creating a smaller cube, just about as big as the Core itself, and then reinforcing it a bit, one of the smaller ants was called forth. It was only level one, having been alive for less than an hour. More than a perfect baseline, if the Core had any comment on that. Which it did.

Giving out an order to bite down on the cube that had floated over to its face, the Ant did not hesitate to do so. Surprisingly enough… it did not hold for even a minute, the creature able to bite through with next to no resistance. The Core supposed it should have guessed that it would be something like that.

Creating another cube, this time with a bit more reinforcement, the order was given to biting once again. That turned out much the same, no resistance felt. So… another cube. That had similar results. And the next one again and the one after that were all destroyed. Thinking about it again, making a cube start with a strength barely able to hold up again being moved through the air was perhaps not the greatest plan in the world.

With another strategy to it, the Core took much larger steps. And in only three more attempts did it have trouble biting down on it. Not that it mattered much since the continued pressure allowed it through. The next one? Not so much. Or, not so much until it decided to use the [Bite] skill, which just about doubled the output of strength. So, after finding the strength needed to go through a regular ant's regular bite, it was time to move on to what it would take to survive an enhanced bite.

Which was very irritating to test out, since the Core constantly had to get more and more ants. There was a stamina cost, after all, and the Core was still not sure how to replenish that. Though… the specifics on figuring out how to do it were moved up to high priority. It was becoming more obvious that such a thing was needed.

Nevertheless, testing continued. And with it, more specifics were being made. Three full Mana was required to make the Cube survive being hit once by the ants. Five Mana was required for the Cube to survive once enhanced bite. It took way too long to figure out the specifics of that, the Core having to go back and forth to find the proper balance. It had been convinced that it would be six Mana for an enhanced bit since the strength seemed to multiply by two, but the cost to defend against it didn't double as well. It was weird yet the Core would not be angry about having an easier time defending itself against bites if needed.

After the regular ants found it impossible to bite through the cube, the time for the larger ones came along. There were only three, which made the last step of the process slightly harder to get through, but the first was easy enough. With the bigger size and therefore bigger mass, the creatures were able to put more pressure onto the cube. This made their regular bites require four full Mana before they couldn't get through. While it might not have seemed like a lot, it was still a twenty-five percent increase. It was nothing to scoff at. And while the second part took more time, the enhanced bites seemed to require some between six and seven mana. It was hard at that level to truly figure out the decimals required, but that was about the needed amount. The Core was at least able to replicate it given enough time.

There were more tests to make, those being what it would take to destroy it with two bites, be they enhanced or not, or even what it would take for three, four, five, and infinitely on. The Core knew it would never stop making tests about it if given the required time. Yet, it already knew what the ants could give in sudden pressure, and what the Cube could survive.

Then came the question of how it was meant to figure out even higher bounds. Which was what it tried to do by creating a standard set-up. The cube, the same size as always, would be placed onto the ground. One meter exactly above it, a piece of stone would be spawned in. The Core had previously figured the weight-to-size ratio, so it was more than able to get specific numbers down. The test was to change the weight of the stone dropped gradually to figure out how much weight could be handled, with the height staying the same to make sure that the pressure was the same when the same weight was put in.

The first step was making sure that the cube could withstand the weight dropped in on it while the same amount of reinforcement that was used during the enhanced bit of the larger ant was present. That turned out to be easy enough, the Core finding a balance somewhere around four point five kilos. It was not sounding like much yet. That, however, changed when the Core decided to simply increase the reinforcement to fifty Mana, while still keeping in mind that the previous amount that could be taken in was six Mana. The Core was looking for upper limits, and it would do its damnedest to find it.