The destroyed parts of the tree didn’t destroy the Mana-Walls, as the Core had feared. Not that the Panels kept them inside either, the material just… being flung right outside of its sight. Most came to rest in the water, some hit the walls of the hill, and some disappeared away from where the Core could guess their location. It was gruesome but it was also just about what had been expected. At least from the Queen’s side, as was put out so obviously.

‘This is what happens when you think it a good idea to change the Mana-Cost without thinking,’ the Queen stated. She didn’t sound angry or sad at the Entity’s apparent bad choice yet she wasn’t seeming to be happy about it. ‘The costs of any spell, no matter how simple it might seem to you, needs to be done in very specific amounts. There needs to be balance at every part of the skill or it blows up spectacularly. This that you see here is just a mild version of what can happen if you change things around. It could get self-sufficient, growing so big that this entire forest gets destroyed, just because you wanted to mess around with a few things.’

‘Could I destroy the whole forest?’ the Core said since that was the first thing that came upon its mind.

‘No, little rock. Yet again, I am using an exaggeration to get the point over right. Please try to remember that,’ the Queen said, her tone becoming duller with time. It seemed like she had given up slightly on making the lesson memorable as if she had realized who she was giving it to. ‘Changing around the power-output yourself can end very badly if you’re unlucky. If anything more than what the spell can give you is needed, just use it repeatedly. If that doesn’t work for you either, accept your failure and do nothing else about it.’

‘But how is the skill supposed to work at the higher tiers then? You said that the highest parts needed a minimum of ten thousand Mana. Am I meant to use the skill four hundred times in a row?’ the Core questioned, not sure that things were lining upright. Information from the past was making the whole thing seem contradictory.

‘Lucky for both of us, the [System] takes care of that process. It’s the reason why those tiers even exist for a reason. There is a lot of middle-ground in between them that nobody should ever try to cast at since it would cause more than simple death to anybody hit. Any creatures where the skill was performed on them would be forced to endure a near-eternity of pain, their minds slowed down as their bodies rapidly decay. It is a terrible thing and you need to remember that it can happen with just the slightest change in the formula. And, no, I am not exaggerating on that point.’

… That was not something that the Core wanted to hear. Previously, during its attempt to gain [Stamina-Recovery], it had figured out the massive amounts of pain that a creature was subjected to if it failed to absorb the Mana inserted into it. With those times, it had been a quick death, never lasting more than a quarter of a second. Yet, if what the Queen said was true, such an experience would be elongated into several seconds, minutes, or maybe even hours, as the brain was slowed down and forced to feel every single nerve erupting. Oh, what would it have felt like if the Entity had tried to put more Mana into the spell while it was a [Giant-Ant] being upgraded? The Core didn’t think it would be able to continue at that point, the idea of causing so much pain to one of its own being quite hard to accept. It understood the need of it yet doing it without purpose was so much more wrong than it would ever be able to fathom.

Torture. Pure and utter torture. That was what a creature would be forced through, just for the goal of having them feel pain. There wouldn’t be any reward at the end, nobody to congratulate them about making it through. Instead, they would be met with a death that was just as painful at the start, made to enter oblivion with no ability for coherent thought. The Core found the idea hideous. It understood that some had gone through it, knew that more would end up like that. Yet, it also knew that it would do its damndest to make sure that it wasn’t the reason behind it. Each creature would be taken care of with a calm hand. Nobody would suffer without reason.

‘I think I understand why you wanted me to try it out on the trees first,’ the Core stated, as it looked upon the last remaining husk of the tree. The small stump at the bottom remained since it had tried to be shot downwards. With dirt and stoneworking as perfect dampeners, it barely got anywhere, forced to be a smoking piece of wood just a mere half meter down.

Looking upon it, the Core found nothing but charcoal and burning wood. The friction and compressing of it moving through the air, no matter how short, had been more than enough to cause such an extreme reaction. The Entity was slightly worried how far some pieces could have gone if all the Wood had been filled with such energy. It understood that the five hundred Mana had to go somewhere yet this… was more than it had expected. The Entity knew it shouldn’t have been surprised but still. Looking upon the damage caused by something so minor when compared to the levels it usually worked with was quite the remastering of its sights. If Mana could do something so large with so little, what could the Core do when it put out all the energy at once? What limits were there to its power if it sought pure destruction?

‘You don’t say,’ the Queen ant answered sarcastically. Her words brought the Core out of its self-centred mantra as it started to overview how long must have passed by. It was but a few seconds yet it had felt like a few minutes. Truly, it needed to focus itself on the current situation lest it would be lost itself in its thoughts. With more than one intelligent being present, it couldn’t just quiet down for days on end. it had commitments to uphold ideals that needed to be when off. And one of those ideals was to have an actual understanding of what was going on around it. ‘The most important thing is that you understand your mistakes. If not, we’ll have to do it all again.’

‘No, I understand it fully,’ the Core assured the Queen. ‘I have no intention of trying such a thing again. Too many resources were wasted.’

‘That’s not the point I was trying to make but I guess this works just as well,’ the Queen said before going over to the ruined tree. Or was it even worth calling it such a thing now? It stood without height, without insides. The few pieces left were unrecognizable, even if the [System] even deemed it to be the same. ‘But, let’s not waste too much time on this subject. We need to move on and you already know the basic technique. How about you do it again? It shouldn't be too hard if you don’t repeat your earlier mistake.’

Like the Core would do such a thing. Planting the new Oak Tree with haste, the Entity did its best to prepare everything perfectly. It was the same depth as before, had the same lack of grass on top, and it even had the same location, though it was cleaned beforehand. With nothing else beyond that, the process started anew. The seedling grew into a sapling and then into a smaller tree barely five meters in height.

Then it went beyond that, each section of ageing allowing it to reach newer heights. The increases were huge, growing up to three meters at the start. Yet with each new boost, the increment grew smaller and smaller until there was barely any difference at all. Not that the Core was unhappy by such a result, though. It could look at the twenty-meter tall tree and be proud of its work.

‘I don’t think it will get much bigger in its current form,’ the Queen stated. ‘The race that it's in won’t allow any more increases to height. If you want it higher, we need to either force it further and risk it falling apart by the seams or we could try and evolve it. What do you say to that?’

‘Could we let it be instead?’ the Core asked. The tree was beautiful in the night, the Mana around having turned slightly darker. Yet the tissues inside were as shiny as ever, not bothered by the Darker Mana that roamed outside. If not for its previous experiences with the plant, it might have thought the creature alive. Yet… that was not the case. That wasn’t the case at all. It had no mind, no nervous system, or any other hint that it might have been capable of thought. And, most importantly, it had no connection to the Core directly, nothing that implied that it held command over it. And… perhaps that was the biggest clue at all. ‘You know, just allow it to stay here? It is my first successful creation with this method and I really do hope to have it stay that way. My track record for trying out new things is littered with death and I don’t want to include this one more than I need to.’

‘... I suppose it wouldn’t be too hard to work with. You can have all the sentimental items you want as long as we can progress with them,’ the Queen answered after a few seconds of contemplation. Yet again, her emotions did not seem angry at the Entity for the choice it had made, instead of seeming conflicted. What that meant, the Core did not know. Yet it knew not to push it. ‘You can just create another tree seed a few meters away. More is better than less since we don’t want the roots to get crossed early on. Some creatures could try and devour the other during the process. Or it could meld into one big tree, which I am not entirely sure you would want.’

The Queen was spot on with that assessment, the Core putting the new tree more than ten meters away. It wanted no chance of it dying without the Entity screwing up very badly. Like having another explosion that it didn’t try and contain in time.

Planting the new seed, the Core was quick to give it the ideal situation to live in. Yet, during the moment where it wanted to try and get to the next step, it grew contemplative.

‘When do I need to do something different?’ the Core asked the Queen, not sure what it was meant to be doing.

‘What do you mean, little rock? the Queen questioned. ‘You do the same thing as before. No changes, remember?’

‘Yes. No changes to the spell itself,’ the Core agreed. ‘But what about the surroundings? You said that had a very major factor. Since the Mana around us is the same, wouldn’t we get something very close to the tree from before?’

‘Very close? Yes. But not the same,’ the Queen corrected.

‘And that’s what I want to change. I want something radically different,’ the Core stated. ‘Since it's already starting to become night, perhaps I could put more Dark Mana around the seed and try to see what happens?’

‘I encourage you to mix it in with [Green Mana] to balance it out,’ the Queen suggested instead of shooting down the idea. ‘Pure Dark Mana is more likely to kill the creature than let it evolve. Extremely so if it doesn’t already have an established powerbase.’

The Core put that into consideration as it began to grow a mix of Mana around the seedling. With the Queen’s help, a balance of sorts was created. It wasn’t entirely perfect, in some manner of flux constantly. Yet it was more than enough to continue.

What happened next? Well… the Core wasn’t sure. The moment that the spell was put out, the [System] blurred the process, a screen appearing in the middle of the Entity’s sight. Yet, perhaps it wasn’t the worst thing to happen, the information inside quite the boon.

New [Skill] has been acquired!

You have learned: [Force Evolution]