The skill was taken with open arms, the Core not hating the name in any way. The hardship went through to get it, the work put into it… there was so much to unpack. So many creatures had been forced through a painful and short life, yet the trade was the ability to help so many others with one of the resources vital to their survival. A few deaths for the lives of everybody else. While it was something that would only come true with time, the Core felt that it worked just fine as an argument. Opening up the Skill-Screen, the Entity was baffled at what it saw. It was even more beautiful when looking at it directly.

[Stamina-Recovery]

Rarity

Description

Cost

Rare

Allows the user to increase another creature's Stamina-Recovery by several magnitudes for a longer duration of time.

10MP

It was a great sight to see, though the name was quite unimaginative. The skill boosted recovery of a specific stat, so that was all the skill-name was? The other names were quite a bit more abstract than that, to the point where the Core had imagined such to be the norm. Yet… it seemed not. It wasn't like it was going to complain, however, the creature was more than happy with what it had received. It could now increase both [Health] and [Stamina] in other creatures, even if one of them was for several seconds. The Core did note that the skill didn't mention how long the skill would take to finish. Perhaps that was one thing that needed to be put in when the alterations finally began. For the current time, however, the flaw was so little, only impacting a single skill, that it was without reason to restructure the whole system for its benefit.

However, the skill itself was quite something, the information coming with it being interesting as well. The techniques used to slow down the output of Mana already sent out was quite ingenious if only rather hard to implement on a general scale. It needed to work with all the processes around it, having an equal amount of power allocated to it while not coming into a repetitive loop of slowing everything down even further. So… separate powers but connected through the effects? It was hard to truly think about, the sheer concept being way out of what had been done with the other skills. However, the Core was sure it would understand it better with more time. And even if it didn't, there were still minor alterations that were possible.

However, the increase of intensity was not one of them, the distribution was not close to working linearly. It was only at the points where all the factors equalled out, becoming a true zero, that it would work. And while there were possibly other places further out where that was possible, the actual brain-work needed to calculate it was way too high and wouldn't even work regardless, since there were no creatures currently available for testing it out. It would be an endeavour with no positives.

But the skill was more than good in its current form, the Core still very happy with what it had gained. There were likely some quirks that needed to be figured out, centred around figuring out the perfect timing of deployment during fights. The Entity was taking a much more supportive role than anything, after all, making sure that traps were in good order while also healing and helping the creatures recover from battle. Yes, it had not done much of either yet, but it was sure the time would come soon.

More time passed yet again, as the Core watched over the [Giant-Ants]. There were a few more tests that it did technically want to get through, yet felt that the requirements for most was not something it wanted to have at the current time. It had already killed a few too many of its own, gathering a kill count above its enemies. While progress might be gained through it, there was some ethical part of the Core that didn't appreciate it. Why was that so?

The Core was not entirely sure why exactly it had anything against others dying. It had killed many of its own, purely for the gain of its power. The Entity had never looked too much away when it mashed the ant's brains out, be they from its own or the attacking side. Yes, it had been traumatised for… a long time during its first kill, yet that had been more out of fear of what was happening to itself. It didn't fear for what happened to the creature. It wasn't close to selfless enough for that.

Neither did it blink at killing its own recently, the only reason for not killing the ones that had lived for a long time being due to the negatives attached. If it did, it would be a waste of both training, experience, and growth. There were hardly enough to truly tend to the [Moss] effectively while still keeping watch in good numbers, so taking one from either position would have been seen as bad strategically. It wasn't due to some love for either one, but due to the positions needing to be filled. Never in its life had the Core truly cared for them.

Yet… why did that change the moment that it watched the cells tear open, the moment that it watched the nerves opening up in full as every part of the body tore itself open, and the creature moved its head just enough to show off it had felt everything before dying the instant after, the mix of wounds and sensations causing an overload to the mind? The Core had not been able to feel it, only watching the process unfold. So… why did it think it felt the pain as well? Empathy existed. It knew that the moment from when it was born, the feeling making it easier to understand that the same thing could happen to the Entity as well, Yet, never had it been used to feel sorry for another creature.

Why? Why had it changed? What switch in the mind had made the Core so focused on the pain of another, not wanting to make it happen again. Oh, why had she made him do it?

… Wait, what had the Core just thought? What… what part of its mind had that come from? For a brief moment, a memory of lights and colours had flickered. Focusing on that emotion, the Core tried to bring it back. It wanted to see it again. It needed to-

The only response was the pain of its life, the Core screaming out into the air. It could feel what it could only describe as its soul tearing at itself, hurting from within. Its physical body gained features. Everything hurt. It hurt so much. The Core just wanted it to stop.

And then it did. All was quiet. Everything was without sound. The [Giant-Ants] close to the Core went on their legs yet again, the pressure felt from before having forced them down on their stomachs. All was as it was before. The Core decided to dig no deeper.

[Title] Description has been updated!

New information for [The Ancient One] has been added.

The Core almost didn't look at it, for the fear that pain would arise once again. However, it knew that the truth of the matter would be shown no matter how little it wished for it. The Entity could only hope it would be briefer.

Title-Name

Rarity

Description

Effects

Dungeon-Core

Uncommon

You are born from Mana, moulded from Mana, and allowed to think through Mana.

Increase Wisdom by 2

Ancient One

Legendary

You are older than the earth the entities stand on, but you are still able to walk among them. Yet, your age brings with it many memories, some best left forgotten. But you will remember them nonetheless.

Increase Wisdom, Intelligence, and Willpower by 20%

Memories… that was what it was. A memory. The Core knew it had memories, yet it had somehow also believed to be in control of each of them. Never did it realise that there would be more, that some were forgotten. How long had it lived? The [Title] that it had carried since the near-start told it as much as it needed to know. Yet, it knew that pressing on would make more come as well. The [Title] did not lie, after all.

Age was becoming more and more prominent. The Core only briefly wondered why it hadn't used all that time to not grow more powerful. It was sure that reasons were there, nestled inside its memories somewhere. But, until the point where such a memory arose naturally, it would not press for the knowledge, for it knew the consequences that such a thing would bring. And it was too painful to even think about. Instead, it looked over to the entrance, noting that a certain [Giant-Ant] was a bit late. A minute more than usual had passed for the schedule to match up.

How long had the creature been running back and forth? The Core approximated it to be around an hour, only really paying attention to the most recent times. It only needed to add a certain amount of extra time with each notice, after all. Yet, at least it thought it did. The current show certainly promised something.

And, after two more full minutes of waiting around, the creature finally decided to show itself. The first impression was the front right foot stepping into the circle of sight. The Core had guessed this would be followed by a front left foot doing the same, yet that never truly came. There was no front on both sides, only one remaining. Checking the [Status Screen] for the creature, the reason became obvious.

It had been attacked. And since its pace had increased, there was only one thing that it could mean. There was an enemy backdrop as well. Rasing the alarms quickly, all [Giant-Ants] were ordered to take their positions.

The Core noted that there was something clenched between the mandibles of the creature coming back, yet it just seemed to be some patch of [Moss]. The Entity, not wanting to waste what had been found, used [Healing] and [Stamina-Recovery] on the creature before ordering it to lie the plant next to the others so that it could join the fight that was already starting up quite a bit.

Or, could it really be called that much of a fight? The attackers came only five seconds after the first ant had come across the barrier. Yet… the potential of the attack was certainly not as high as before, the creatures from the outside being forced to line up to get inside. And with how quick the first was to get its legs and stomach impaled from the spikes in the ground, letting one of the Core’s ants get the neck without much difficulty, it was looking rather good.

However, this idea seemed to be not as consistent as previously thought. The first [Wild] ant had certainly met its demise through the spikes, yet the next creature was not so unlucky. This was not due to the creature being able to move carefully or anything. It was simply because the ground had already been raised with the help of its dead brethren, allowing it to avoid the shape ends without much difficultly. While scratches were still had on the bottom of their legs, it was to a level where there was next to no chance of it even being felt.

The second creature met its demise not too soon after, one of the larger defenders swooping in before it could get too far inside. The mandibles were wrapped around the stomach, the superior length allowing it to throw the creature back. While this did not kill it, it hurt it enough for the large ant to take it out by itself, even if this did require ten full seconds. And within those ten seconds, two more attackers were already coming in.

The third and fourth were killed with the help of death from above, the prepared stones doing their job perfectly by smashing the bodies to a pulp. However, the fifth creature was allowed entrance, since the last part of the stone attack was hardly needed, another large ant was ready to take the attacker head-on, using the same technique as the previous one. And the sixth met the same fate as well.

But… the attackers did not stop. There were still more, no hint at them running out of numbers. Just how many had the ant left to get over to them? Was this the time where the Core would find its demise?

It refused the notion. The normal [Dungeon-Born] ants were getting into the fight now, forced to use their own bodies to fend off the creatures. The order this time was to ignore bodily harm in exchange for the destruction of the enemies. This was backed up by each creature getting a minimum of one [Stamina-Recovery] and one [Heal] each. It allowed them to bite more often, while also taking hits that would have previously left them downed.

Everything seemed good. Even if the progress was without end, nobody on the Core’s side was losing their lives. That is… until Mana came into the question. The Core was running out faster than anticipated.