While the Wasps drag the snake's body between the Vines, I take a moment to unwind my overworked consciousness. So much happened in the last hours, the guilt, the pledge, the fight; I need to settle down and just think.

Even if I don't want to, my focus lingers on the broken bodies of my creatures; the mutilated Wasps, the dull Moss, the rent Vines. A few minutes later, I force my perception away.

After making sure everything is running smoothly within my domain, and verifying the ravenous creatures are satisfied with their catch, I let my attention dim everywhere but my core room.

As I rest, I feel my new Title stir inside my heart, leading some kind of change. The mana flowing throughout my core expands, swirling around, picking up the wood fragments covering the bottom of the sphere, and building up a miniature storm above my heart. Even the two Wasps' bodies are dragged along as the winds grow. My perception starts to shake before extending and shrinking every few seconds, like a regular and steady pulse. One moment, I can perceive my entire dungeon, the moment after, I cannot see anything.

The strange process doesn't stop, and in the few moments of clarity between the beats, I notice my heart shining bright and shifting colors.

Before today, the tiny gem was dark brown, with deep green lines. However, under my watch, the vibrant green overtakes the dark tone, shining within the small room as the Luminous Moss does everywhere else. Gradually, the gemstone changes to a beautiful green color resembling my past leaves.

As fast as the process started, it ends, leaving behind the now glowing emerald core with intricate brown veins. When this happens, my new Title quiets down within, and my consciousness stabilizes. The storm dies soon after, and the wood scraps bury my core once again.

What was this about?

Confused, I focus and observe my domain. Yet, even after a few minutes, nothing stands out about my ability to reason or perceive the world. It doesn't seem my awareness changed at all after what happened.

I check my status to see if something is different there.

The Life Sworn Dungeon - Unnamed

Species: Viridescent Dungeon Core (Unique)

Titles: The Ballsy, The Life Sworn.

Traits: A leaf amongst thousands, Throughout abundance.

Current Mana: 5.7/40

Mana Regeneration: +3/hour

Nothing.

My new Title overtook the first, which is not a surprise. There is a massive difference between the two, and I know the most powerful one usually shows up there. However, there is nothing here about what happened to my consciousness.

Mmm, now that I think about it. Within the description of the Title, the Akashic Records said something about hidden aspects of my variant.

...As a result of the hidden aspects of your Variant species and your devotion to Life itself, you were able to develop a growing natural environment inside your own domain, even when doing so didn't provide you any additional power...

Why would this be strange? Are the other dungeons different?

Within the knowledge I received about my new species, the first day after my evolution, there wasn't much about the distinction between my variant and a regular one. I thought the Trait was the only thing, but it seems like I was mistaken. Unfortunately, I have no idea how the other members of my species develop. From this message, it's clear I did something different. What that is, though, I don't know. Everything I chose to do was obvious, wasn't it?

After pondering for a few minutes, I realize I am just wasting my time on things I cannot discover just because I want to. Also, the mystery of why I am different is not even that important right now. I have better things to do.

Without any delay, I read the entire description of my Title again, and quickly understand why it's not active yet. Some of the species I grasp are not inhabiting my dungeon right now. Many of the various mundane insects and spiders have gone extinct since I created them en masse, and both my Bright Slugs and Stixrant Frogs are not thriving at all.

Keeping a few monsters I generated myself is not enough to satisfy the Title's requirement. All these species need to truly flourish, being able to grow and reproduce within my domain.

Unfortunately, this is not something I can fix that easily. I will need much more mana and time than I have now.

In the end, I can only do one useful thing, attempt to unlock the Dark element.

Not losing any time, I bring out a fraction of my mana outside my core, keeping it as far away from my heart as possible. Focusing all my consciousness on it, I start to shape it.

The feeling of coming in contact with the snake's dark cloud is still vivid within my mind, and the ability falling apart in front of my consciousness gives me some hope of success. The process was the reverse of what I need to do now, and I can take inspiration from that.

Ignoring everything else and focusing on the task, I try to push the neutral mana to the precise state. My instincts guide me in the process, but the element is vague within my memories, and I can only blindly attempt to copy the right feeling.

I fail, time and time again. The energy keeps faltering and breaking apart mid-way, transforming back to its neutral nature.

I had much more experience with the other elements I unlocked before, having already used them many times as innate abilities in my long life throughout the various evolutions. Except for Fire. The Azure Scorching branded that attunement into my soul when it burned my roots and devoured my leaves, when it took everything away.

For me, even Life, a high tier element I gained as a Verdant Elder Tree, was much easier to attune than this one.

While I keep struggling for hours, I feel my consciousness slowly sharpen as mana regenerates, and the process becomes more and more manageable. The small drop darkens a little further every time before unraveling back to neutral, and the feeling inches ever so close to the right one.

Finally, after thousands and thousands of attempts, it snaps in place, and I gain a drop of ink-black Dark-Attuned mana.

You can now acquire the patterns of Dark-Attuned creatures slain inside your domain.

The message is a soft summer breeze flowing between my leaves.

After admiring the droplet for a few moments, I let the mana unravel, knowing I will be able to replicate the success much faster now that I know the right feeling.

To understand how many hours I spent studying the element, I check my current mana again.

Current Mana: 33.2/40

Nine hours. I spent nine hours on this. From how difficult it was, I was sure it was much more than that; at least a season or two, if not a whole year. Which, now that I think about it, is impossible. One of the separate thoughts still active would have stopped me if that was the case since neglecting my dungeon for so long would have been a disaster.

As I sweep my consciousness around, I see that everything is progressing well. The Wasps never stopped taking bites out of the snake body and delivering them to the Queen and the tiny pale grubs. Most of the glowing Moss and Vines are healing and spreading again where the fight took place, and the mundane creatures inside the tunnel are more lively than ever since the Wasps are ignoring them for the moment.

Because I unlocked the Dark element, I examine the waters, but I do not find any creature that is not mine lurking around. To gain the species' pattern, I will have to wait until another snake comes hunting near the hidden hole. I can only hope it will be soon since I doubt the body of the last one will satisfy the Wasps for long. The Queen is still laying eggs inside the blue nest, and the tiny grubs asking for food are only increasing.

For now, I can wait. I have monsters to create, a food chain to build, and a dungeon to expand.

Five days fly by as I lose myself in the motions.

After generating enough Bright Slugs to let them reproduce safely, I added a few more Stixrant Frogs inside the pond as well. That was necessary since the amphibians do not have a place where they can safely rest, and without one, they will be an easy hunt for the Wasps and snakes.

For now, I can order the voracious insects to leave the green Frogs be. However, if possible, I would rather avoid managing my creatures' life so much.

Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about the lurking predators from the outside. Three Frogs already lost their lives to the reptiles, and if this keeps happening, many more will join the fallen.

The rest of the time was spent creating more crevices within the dense wood and growing my domain inside the waters. I missed the task, and expanding is always a nice feeling, no matter the species.

However, now, I have to stop for a bit. The second snake's body is completely gone, and my Wasps are ready to hunt again. I am aware of the two reptiles lurking around between the blue Vines inside the pond, and I want to observe the battle that will soon follow. This will be retribution for the Frogs, and I am rather excited about finally gaining the pattern after two missed chances.

In those five days, the swarm surpassed a hundred adult Natatory Wasps, and many of them need to rest outside the nest since they do not have enough space inside. I am afraid I will have to order the Queen to stop laying eggs sooner or later since I don't have an ecosystem stable enough to sustain the rate at which they reproduce. Nor do I have enough space to expand the nest.

Even if they are more than a hundred, only sixty or so fly upwards toward the pond, while the others stay to protect the nest. It's still an incredible number, double the amount of Wasps who fought the second reptile and won. Still, from that fight, I know that quantity is not everything. Most of the insects couldn't attack the snake without hindering the others, and a similar amount to the first fight died as well.

This time, even before my monsters can move between the Vines, I send them the position of the snakes. Both of them, just to be sure. The swarm stops as they receive the information. Afterward, they group together, exchange information touching each other feelers, and fly upwards.

As they reach the plants, I realize they are separating themselves into two groups instead of staying together. From this, it's clear they want to hunt both creatures at the same time, which I don't think is a good idea. However, as they demonstrated in the last fight, they know how to fight and find food better than me. I would never have thought about running away from that ability.

A few tense minutes go by while both groups join the waters and sneak between the thick dark-blue Vines, ignoring some of the vulnerable Stixrant Frogs per my command. This time, to see each battle, I have to divide my consciousness into two separate parts.

Both hunting teams surround the snakes, and one Wasp for each creature moves undetected near them. Identical scenes to the second hunt unfold as the Wasps bite the respective tails before darting away immediately after.

One of the snakes instantly goes on the offensive, trying to attack back, while the other is much more composed and waits it out, enduring small bites and harmless stings, never falling for the bait.

As the fight goes on, the difference between the two strategies becomes apparent. My Wasps are much more comfortable with the furious and reckless snake, baiting the creature out of position and striking the soft belly when they can, while the other group makes almost no progress with the second one.

Soon, the first snake sags, tired, and uses the dark cloud as the last resort. In response, my defenders swim away from it without any casualties and wait for the ability to end. Incredibly, until now, not a single Wasp died. It's clear the whole swarm learned a lot from the last fight; even those that didn't join the hunt or were not born yet are swimming around and dodging attacks with ease as the others do.

Knowing the spent snake will probably stay inside for a few minutes anyway, I focus on the second one as much as I can.

Soon, one of the Wasps grows impatient and tries to attack the creature while it's not distracted. However, the crafty reptile recognizes the opportunity and devours the rash insect in a fluid movement. The others grind their mandibles menacingly and attack together. However, the creature surrounds itself with the ink-black cloud in response, and the mana around my core swirls faster as I see my defenders ignore the danger and just rush inside.

I wait for the Akashic Records messages, yet, no death comes, and within my perception, I see the clever snake slither away from its own ability while the insects are blind inside it.

I send them its position, but I already know it's too late, and the snake will soon flee outside my domain.

Rather annoyed, I switch back to the first one. And I am just in time to see the creature rush outside the ink-black cloud and try to eat one of my defenders. The Wasp easily dodges its bite, and instead of engaging the still dangerous predator, my swarm waits and keeps baiting it.

After a few more minutes, the snake doesn't have enough energy to even move, and my creatures take advantage of its vulnerability to swarm and kill it without any member lost.

Congratulations! You have acquired a pattern, Dark Cloud Basilisk.

Dark Cloud Basilisk (Uncommon): Basilisks are nasty creatures found everywhere; they can live deep within the ocean, inside volcanoes or magma, and some variants even nest among the clouds. Every species of the family can breathe underwater, has high environmental resistances, and is gifted with strange magical abilities able to turn a fight in a moment. The Cloud Basilisk is a proud member of the Basilisk family. While some of its cousins have fangs with deadly venom or possess eyes that can turn enemies to stone, the Cloud Basilisk can surround itself with its own element and use it almost at will when fully grown. Even snakelets of the species are dangerous since they often fight until their death without even considering a retreat. However, adults slowly lose this reckless behavior if they don't die too soon because of it, making them even more crafty and deadly as they age.

The Dark Cloud Basilisk is a Dark Variant, able to conjure a dark fog that blinds everything inside except the snake itself.

While the swarm regroups and drags the Basilisk's body to the hole leading down the tunnel, I read the description of my new creature.

If my Wasps have been fighting younglings all this time, how big are the adult ones? Maybe they don't become much bigger as they grow, and the escaped one was an adult.

However, why in Life's name do Basilisks live inside my old trunk? I've been taking everything in stride, thinking I would discover the reason sooner or later, but this is beyond strange. An entire ecosystem exists inside my old body, and there is no way all these creatures just lived here when I was an Elder Tree.

How did they spread so fast?

While I try to find a plausible explanation, I analyze the waters, searching for a good spot to create the new species.

I almost start the process when my consciousness and instincts scream at me, and my focus snaps on my core room.

Above my heart, at the center of the hollow sphere, a strange mix of elements is condensing out of nowhere and forming a small fissure.

Feeling in danger, I call every single Wasp inside my room while keeping most of my perception on the odd phenomena. And my terror spikes when a familiar set of elements comes out of the hole as the mana stabilizes.

Fire and Destruction.

Licks of Azure flames reach out, dissipating within a few centimeters away from the opening.

My Wasps rush inside one by one, echoing my fury and terror while grinding their mandibles and biting at the air. Those hateful blue fires keep sputtering out of the strange portal, and every second feels like an eternity while I wait for something to happen.

Am I about to die?

Abruptly, a shape comes out of it, and the mana breaks apart immediately after, the hole closing in and cutting the blue fires off.

Echoing my thoughts, my Wasps rush as one toward the figure, stinger first, ready to impale the creature.

Dread fills my core at the scene, and before I can think about it a second time, I order my Wasps to not attack the figure.

What did I just do?

My creatures veer left and right as my message reaches them, some even crashing on each other.

The shape keeps falling down between all my defenders before hitting the wood cuttings.

Everything within the room stays still as I fight with my dungeon core instincts. I want that creature out. Now. Anything linked with those damn flames is nothing positive. Yet, my own instincts scream at me at the idea of ordering its death.

Buying time, I observe the figure and quickly notice it's not a monster but one of the mortal races. Which one, I have no idea. They are all pretty much identical to me.

Its body is scorched, with new and old burn scars marring its features. The mortal has wings as well, but they are broken and shriveled on its back.

It twitches, and my Wasps rush toward the threat before stopping immediately after as my instincts take control again.

Damn.

I don't like this situation. At all. Yet, my own instincts keep fighting against me, and this time they don't want to give up.

Slowly, the burned mortal pushes its body up with its arms, taking a seating position on the wood, and whispers, "I am still alive? Where...?"

It watches its hands before raising its head.

While the buzz and fly all around, my Wasps instantly react at the eye contact, some snapping their mandibles in its direction, others faking a charge.

Within my perception, I see the mortal eyes widen before rolling backward.

Is it dead? Just like that?

No. Its chest is beating, and the mortal is faintly breathing as well.

I try to order its death once more, but my instincts fight me again. Every thought that would cause its end is obstructed. I cannot push it out of my dungeon either, or that would have been a better solution.

Without any other option, I instruct a few Wasps to carry the sleeping mortal to their nest and keep it on tight watch. I might not be able to do anything about it, but I don't want a potential enemy near my vulnerable core.