[Mana-Sense] had been upgraded once before. In that time, it had achieved a more in-depth range of colours it could see, averages splitting up into more colourful divergences. The things seeming so simply turned into more and more complex parts, the Core’s mind able to understand that there was a complexity not seen before.

It had been a hard path to take before, the Entity not having been able to distinguish truth for miles. There had been ups and downs when it had come to making the [System] grant it another level in the skill. Yet it had been once before. And doing it again would be a small difficulty in the long run.

What was required to get an increase in understanding? The barriers had to be pushed, the segments not understood had to be without any confusion, and the level of knowledge had to increase more than halfway. Nearly everything needed to be learned naturally before the System would even think about filling in the blanks.

Because that was what the [System] did. It had done it before and it would do it again and again and again. There was no real truth behind what it wanted to see, much being okay as long as the knowledge came in plenty. And the Core understood how little such an idea made sense, the Entity having trouble getting it around its head itself. But… only with examples did it make more sense.

Looking back at the gain of [Arcane-Manipulation], three factors had been fulfilled before all had been granted in their fullness. Though, there were only four full paths that needed to be completed to fill out the first level of that skill. The first and most obvious path was the creation of the Arcane and the ability to know that it was. That was something which the Core had done without flaw, the idea behind the different types of Mana having been considered for a long time. The next was the creation of Physical Arcane, which was the main focus of the low-level skill. Here it was less about knowing the right technique to do it and more about the simple achievement of making it at all. Using intent, the Entity had cheated on this path a little, but that hadn't mattered much in the end, with the product being much the same.

The next step was the Manipulation of the Physical Arcane. Here it came down to knowing how to move it around but also on how to refine the process to a point where the complexity was quite extraordinary. Here, the Core had forced itself through a strenuous training process, creating the spheres inside spheres with an ever-more complex set of movements. It had been quite the spectacle to get through and it had more than fulfilled the requirements. Maybe even more than it was meant to, though that could have attributed to the next step being ignored.

Reinforcement was the last of the four paths that needed to be considered thoroughly when getting the skill of [Arcane-Manipulation]. As stated before, the physical Arcane was what had been focused on the most, that branch of the field being the simplest of them all. And in that field, Reinforcing the created material was paramount to moving or manipulating the object made. If not, it would simple wither into dust at the slightest touch.

This had again been slightly disregarded through the efforts of Intent making up the difference, yet the Core had not known anything about the last crucial path needed to be made. Yet… the Skill had still been gained. By knowing three out of four paths down to its heart, the [System] had judged the Core worthy of knowing everything there was to know at that level. It had been quite the experience, the knowledge gained being just as good.

Yet it had also set a baseline. Three out of four needed to be known before everything else would be filled up from the outside. It was quite the handicap given, but the Core cared little. It was given a larger chance to improve without fear of reaching a roadblock at the last step, and it would forever be grateful for it.

However… there was still fear. This lack of needing to know had only been witnessed at the accessing of skill and on the first improvement of one. It was still unknown if the fact would remain when the second level was reached. Would the Core still need to only know three thirds? It could have even been moved to four-fifths. Or maybe the handicap was removed entirely. There was no way to truly know yet. The Entity still needed to reach what it so needed.

And what did it need? Well… it needed to see deeper inside the physical manifestation of Mana that could be witnessed on organic and inorganic bodies. It needed to see it all in such detail that it could see the minor differences given out by the environment through a process only given a few hours of time to work its magic. Evolution was a process able to take months, years, or even decades, and the Core wanted to see it before a single day had passed. Or maybe just a week, since three of the older ants had lived long enough for that. Though… they had different bodies than the general group, making them the opposite of useful. The differences were not made through evolution on them but the attainment of higher stats.

It wanted to see more detail. That was one of the paths that were required in the next increase in skill level. What else was there to see? Perhaps a more obvious way to see the difference between Arcane and colour? It was a whole new branch of Mana to find the difference from. Instead of just seeing the different colours, there was a whole new dimension of information to think about. Three spatial dimensions, one colour dimension, and then a dimension to think about Arcane and perhaps even more? It was quite the thing to turn one’s head around, but the Core Knew it had to try at the very least.

The Core did attempt to reach more paths that it could perhaps improve on to quicken the growth for another level-increase. What else needed to be sensed? Something more specific about the colours instead of trying to separate them? If so, what would that be? Perhaps a more in-depth understanding of their meaning? Fundamental knowledge that could improve the understanding of sights. That sounded advanced enough to work. So that was exactly what the Core decided to improve on.

Three paths. The separation of colours into smaller ones, the ability to differ Arcane from the colours, and then the knowledge of what each colour meant. Of those three, the Core needed to figure out the latter two. Already, it sounded near impossible. But there was a higher chance of completing that than going for all three. So… one step at a time. The Entity knew it just needed to split the task up, even more, to make it more manageable.

What needed to be known from Arcane and colour? Both were separate ways of looking at the same thing. Mana. It came in many forms, the natural and Arcane being only two of many others, though the names and appearance were hard to pin down at the current moment. Trying to even describe how Arcane looked was near-impossible. It wasn't blue like the Mana inside the Core yet it wasn’t not blue either. It was a step in-between the two shapes, more translucent and without form than anything. It had mass, it had a piece of space it occupied, yet the form that it had was hard to note down to one. The main feature wasn't the colouring of it, so to say. It was how it felt.

Mana had different feels to it. Knowing what was what when only talking about the colour spectrum was quite hard to do when only based on the feeling it gave off. For many of those colours were quite similar. Blue or black, yellow or red. It didn't matter. While there was some form of feeling to it, the overlap was so significant that a single colour was near-impossible to call-out based on it. Yet… the [Arcane] was different. It felt like another level than the coloured. It wasn’t more powerful or less powerful either. It was simply a side-step from what was normally felt as if another piece of the body was pressed when being near it.

When the Core focused on the feeling of the Mana when handling it, there was a higher weight to the Arcane. It moved as smoothly as colour, yet the metaphysical weight behind it was clearer. It was burdened by the conformity that was a specific colour. It was closer to Pure Mana, given only a slight push into a dimension of Energy so unexplored it was hard to truly pin it down. While Colour was the hands, the Arcane was the feet. Both could be felt when pressed against yet there was no hardship in figuring out what was what. The Core knew it by instinct. It just had to feel for it.

That was the problem. It wasn’t an unconscious decision to spread out that part of its mind, it being normally closed up. The Core had to consciously look out for it before the results would come rolling in. That was a hated part of its mentality. It hadn't been used much before, no different feedback coming through that part of its mind. It was all the same, to the point where it did nothing but provide an extra sensation that was entirely unneeded. There was already plenty of focuses that told about it using Mana, so closing down the places that were lacking any utility had seemed so smart at the time. Now that it actually needed to start using it again, the Core couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer madness of holding it open.

How did it normally do it with all the other sensations? Nothing was holding them up, no part of its mind was forced to constantly think about it. Yet here the Entity was, having to do it by hand to get the feed inside. Continually testing itself to make sure it could feel the difference between the colour and the Arcane, it just felt like no progress was being made.

The answer to the question had already been found. To have the difference, one needed to open the sensation of feeling the Mana. It was more than just the roughness, more than how grating it could be. Weight needed to be taken into question. How did it feel when a tendril was wrapped around it? Only then could the Core tell what it was. Yet it needed to be able to tell without even thinking about it. There were no openings for hesitation about the answer. Everything had to be spot-on within the first second of having the open gates. There was a requirement for it to be instinctual. Yet that seemed hard to create in a minute or two.

So… the Core just stood its ground, refusing to truly stop. Again and again, it tested out what was what, how it could feel the difference, focusing on the emotions and the weight of it all until there was nothing else to think about. Nothing was allowed to rest. There was no real Mana-Cost, after all. Everything was possible to do over and over again without having to worry. It was perfect to uphold, no piece of the mind even needing to gather the Mana in the air. The processes with the training already did that perfectly well.

The only problem was the actual process. It was simple, it was without much more thought than what was needed to move its eye around its domain, but it was also so damn boring. Every second had to be in constant focus, lest the Entity would lose too much on those times. It needed for it all to be by pure instinct. How could it attain such a level of skill when it did nothing but mindlessly do it? It had to focus, had to get into the mind of something that needed to experiment.

An hour wasn't enough to attain such a focus. So the Core continued for two more. And when that didn't grant the needed skill either? Then it was five whole hours of interrupted testing, just for the sake of keeping up a single sensation that refused to hold itself open. Conscious thought was needed at every step, lest the Core would be unable to tell the difference between Arcane and colour. And that was so utterly hated that the intent of death might have slipped out. More than once had the creatures closest to the Entity stopped in their tracks, the emotions from the centre springing out through the sheer overload of the mental prison. But it all calmed down a short time after, the lack of focus ruining the training.

Five hours turned into a whole day. The Core was in no need to sleep, no need to rest. It could move with the same ferocity for a long time, never feeling more tired than it normally did. The pressure of the creatures was still under the maximum, so there were none to worry about. It all worked without flaw, just so that another damned second could be spent checking if something was [Arcane] or if it was coloured. Hate, frustration, and utter helpless was felt without pause. And the Core hated every second of it.

There was no reprieve. No moments spent doing nothing, just to allow for the mind to rest. For it needed no rest, after all. It was an only weakness that stopped constant work, stopped the Entity from moving around at the speed it knew it could if it just stopped taking small breaks. So much work could be done with only another hour to the minute. So much was there to grasp, yet it all had to be spent checking if something was a piece of coloured Mana or if it was an example of Physical Arcane. There was no rest for the wicked.

There was no rest at all. The Core wished for it, longed for it, yet not a single moment was allowed. The Entity had repeated its desires for a stopped break so many times that it had felt something close to anxiety. It had gone through the whole emotional circuit, feeling happy, sad, angry, and so much more, never able to truly stay in place. There had been bargaining steps, where some small success was looked at as a reason to give in to breaks. Yet such ideas were squashed before they ever came to fruition. Only true perfection would allow for the upgrade of the skill so true perfection would be attained before anything else. It was only fair that way. It was the only way. The Entity knew that. It just couldn't believe it.

Was this colour or Arcane? It was Arcane. Was this colour or Arcane? It was Arcane again. Then it was colour four times before having a back and forth three times in a row before then again settling on Arcane a few times. Each brought the creature lower and lower. At least it felt like that, each step having brought it lower for a long time. There was no rest, after all. No allowance to grow up again. It was-

A ping to the entrance! A creature! The Cor hardly needed to think before it began digging into the creation. Coloured Mana, no sign of Arcane, mainly Green and Brown though also having some signs of red at the edges. It was… a piece of flora. Barely enough for [Appraisal] to even work on it.

Creeping Root-Stalk

Uncommon plant found in the wild

… The Core was not happy, having stopped its training for such a simple thing. What could be gained from a single stalk of a single plant? Sure, there was always some gain to be had, yet the things lost from pausing was just as bad. It was without… Wait. Thinking about it again, what had the Core done upon seeing a new signal pop up into its domain. What thoughts had come before anything else?

Thinking back for but a moment, memory hard to regather due to the recent experience but certainly possible with a few moments of refreshing, again and again, the Core finally realized an important fact. It had done it! Through the actions of nothing but reflex, it had determined the creature to be without Arcane, only being a piece of coloured Mana assimilated into a creature. Was it a very simple way to look at it? Most definitely. Details had been sparse after the first two observations, the colouring of the Mana not truly providing more information than the idea that the creature was alive. That would be fixed later. For now, the Core was happy.

The first of two paths had been completed. It understood the difference between Arcane and colour while also being able to see the difference instantly. Nothing else could be done at the current moment, allowing it to move on to the second part without any love lost.