With my protection gone, I had to act fast; I snaked my Creeper Thorn-self as best I could over to the center of the clearing, spreading out as best I could.

All the noise around us meant that it was unlikely to be obvious where an attack would come from, so rather than be entirely reactive, I needed to be proactive

Before I continue, though, there were some deductions I made that needed to be clearly stated.

1. Mana, at least currently, was going to act as a currency. This isn't like many isekai save a few of the dungeon ones, where the energy or materials played a key part. In his case, it was a summon material as well as likely to replace what gold did for most things. Alternatively, it also served as food for summons: this explained why the Ranbi were able to generate mana so long as they were eating or clearing grass.

2. Of my two monster types, they seemed to have very specific roles: Ranbi were better fit to fight and clear terrain, whilst Creeper Thorn (except my Manifested Form) were traditionally tough and better at strangling an opponent than moving or casting magic. Using this logic, my battle strategy was to try and bait enemies into the clearing to get grabbed and then attack alongside the ranbi.

3. Retreating into the dungeon chamber was my last and final option. Although it was possible to hide down there, there was no way to escape. Moving down there might trap me even if it forced an enemy to charge at me from one single direction. The hardened stone was definitely too hard for Ranbi to dig through, after all.

These three things cemented how I'd need to be cautious of Kave's other predators. The Ranbi paired up to continue eating since pairing gave them some additional level of protection if something ambushed them from the grass. Ordering the creatures around is possible with merely thinking the command for now, but it's likely only due to them being summoned and connected to me. My weaknesses meant that I would need to bait an enemy in and simply try to out-heal their damage.

[Quests]://Survive_Day_One

You're alone with traps and surrounded by danger. Most people would give up hope.

Survive for 24 hours.

Bonus Condition: Defeat 5 enemies personally or with allies.

This was the first time I saw a Bonus Condition but I wasn't terribly sure just how strong I was to know the real threat of it.

But I didn't need to wait long to get my first demonstration: from the brush, a Ranbi burst out opposite of my pair. Unlike them, it was colored deep dark green, similar to the grasses all around it. The rabbit bounded forward and bent its ears forward, scowling at the other ranbi yet surging forward at Kaden.

Vice.

My new body may have moved odd but my consciousness and mentality being consistent let me take firm control over it. The best way to describe utilizing Manifested Forms is to imagine playing a VR system or a console your whole life, then putting on a new glove, headset, or putting a different controller in. It was a lot of the same ideas but simply done differently.

Even weaker than the traditional Creeper Thorn, I was able to snare and bind the ranbi in a flash. I pulled it taught and felt the expenditure of my SP. For every 5 seconds of grappling a foe, it drained 1 SP.

With my current maximum of five, it meant that I could strangle an enemy for up to 25 seconds. That might be long enough to make some creatures pass out or suffer even negative effects but with my current strength, it was little more than a way to tie up a foe trying to tear away at me. The wild ranbi kicks and tries to nip at the vine but I merely snake tighter and maneuver to pull and expose its neck to a tighter hold.

And seconds later, my ranbi came into the fray.

The first of my two storms up and plant their forelegs, swinging their rear around and kicking out at the gut of the green hare. Ranbi kicked for territorial disputes so the force is enough to knock the wind out of the already-viced monster, aiding the strangulation efforts considerably.

Ranbi #2 came in with a much more polished strategy: biting. It bit on the exposed neck of the other ranbi but given their lack of predatory teeth, it was more like a cute war-nuzzle. Both of them tussling around only added to the confusion of the situation but also helped distract the invader from the #1 repositioning.

And when it delivered its next Back-Kick, the green bunny fell still.

Enemy Slain Defended the Dungeon: +1 Favor

Kill rewarded to: Ranbi #1

Favor must be currency?

It was a simple thought back then which isn't entirely wrong. Nothing I had seen up until then used Favor. Given it was part of my dungeon's interface and given for "defending" it, however, then it was evident that Favor was yet another resource to consider.

But my own questions left me curious as to why the quest's bonus was so low: asking me to kill a mere five enemies for a bonus seemed rather unusual. Based on the difficulty and time of it, it might have been better to have given me a total of somewhere in the range of 50 enemies. Whilst I uncoiled, I realized why the number was so low: SP.

Inspecting the Codex had taught me that every creature had "ranges" when initially born. From there, they were assigned a talent and destiny that leaned their stats. Leveling up was like any game or isekai and often brought new skills or unique rewards, but the baseline initial state of creatures was guaranteed to share similarities. In my Manifest Form's case, the shared traits available to a Creeper Thorn were Vice and Growth whilst Ranbi benefitted from Nibble and Back-Kick.

This is important because the initial states and abilities granted me the ability to see their costs within the species Codex entry.

[Codex] Ranbi

The Ravenous Rabbit of Kave Initial Level: 1 Initial MP: 5/5 Initial HP: 40/40 Initial SP: 10/10 Initial STR: 4 Initial CON: 6 Initial DEX: 6 Initial LUCK: 2 Initial INT: 3 Initial RES: 2 [Previous Entry] | [Manager Preview] | [Next Entry]

As a Dungeon Master, it was probably my ability to manifest in forms that gave me the skill to preview what abilities they're born with. It could also have been due to my mastery and ability to summon them. Either way, the preview had given me the info necessary.

[Manager] >>> [Skills] Nibble Initial Skill General-type An Attack Skill; useful for eating food, annoying others, or teaching young ones to not bite others. Rarely works.

Costs 2 SP. Back-Kick Initial Skill General-type An Attack Skill; common in quadrupeds, a well-time back-kick uses one or both legs. Leaves user exposed.

Costs 3 SP. [Manager] >>> [Ability] Herbivore Unique Personal-type Herbivores naturally can ingest grass, monsters eat mana.

Generate 1 Mana Resource if the majority of the day was spent eating grass.

Unlike Mana Points, Stamina recharged much slower and so far had no stats that actually modified it. My MP regeneration was around 5 MP per minute. This meant that I only had to wait four minutes to regenerate it all.

In stark contrast, my single spent point of SP took around 10 minutes — mostly the time I spent window-surfing and thinking things over — to regenerate. This meant that we might not be able to have enough SP to finish an enemy so cleanly if we spent so much.

Both of those things together were the worst kind of news possible, as the ranbi needed me to hold an enemy still and I needed them to inflict damage. Killing a single enemy alone was one thing, but if multiple enemies came then we would be in extreme danger. I hastily slipped through the menus over to the trap function, opening it up while crawling over the dead ranbi.

Dungeon of Kaden > [Trap]

Current resource availability filter enabled.

Current Trap Limit: 4

Dried Creeper Thorn

Cost: 1 Mana

Upkeep: 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 per day

Repair/Reset Cost: 0.5 Mana

Among the resources of Kave, there are few things of note. When stiffened, however, the invasive Creeper Thorn extends its dormant barbs to act similar to barbed wire. Shapeless,

3 feet length [Place] [Dungeon]

This was my first and possibly undebatably "strong" moment. In a field with tall grass all around, barbed wire had long been effectively used to stop wild creatures and protect the land. With the barbed wire in my previous life, humans had been able to conquer the vast open swathes of land and nearly end all rustling overnight. Funnily enough, that confidence made me pick the placement option without considering what might happen.

Instantly and vomit-inducingly, my spirit form was thrust out of my Manifested Form. The Creeper Thorn was still proudly laid over its ranbi throne, yet I got vaulted a good ten feet back and tumbled my way down the stairway into the dungeon. I might not have been exactly normal as a spirit, but it was a good lesson that I could still feel disoriented.

Once I'd climbed my way out, using the option spawned the wild and thorny vine in my hands. Given the shape of the clearing, I set them flush to the grass on the southern end. Or, at least, south if the stairs were north. Doing it like that meant that the stair hole acted as a partial blocker to severely limit the directions enemies might approach.

All four traps meant I used a lot of mana... but the rustling grass meant I was going to find out if it worked well or not.