With the [Blood-Moss] being so little, the Core wasn't able to simulate an actual scenario where the Ant walked across it. Instead, it stayed with one foot on the plant, never moving around. There were concerns that the realism of the test would be strained, the fact matter of constant contact being quite unrealistic.

How fast was the plant at recognizing friend from foe? Would it siphon the tiniest bit of energy from the other creature before realizing who it was and then stop? If so, wouldn't each step cause the same reaction, making the allies hurt just as much as the enemies in the long run? Prolonged contact where they were forced to stay together… it would ruin them quickly. Quicker than what could be dealt with naturally.

However, such concerns were momentarily put to rest, the plant seeming to recognize the ally for who they were. At least with the prolonged contact, no energy or skills being used on the ant. It seemed that the split Core inside the creature truly was able to recognize somebody who was an ally. The Entity wondered if the inverse would be the same, an enemy recognized at the same point. And what if each touched the moss at the same time? Would both be siphoned from or would it be one or none?

The questions kept piling on with no real chance of knowing what was true or false. It was quite hard to get through, yet the Core knew that progress was being made at some level. It still wanted to test out the last bits of questions, though, even if it would require getting in a [Wild] creature. But even that could take place, more ideas needed to be considered.

First. How would the Core make the plant grow? It could always put it beside the other Moss, making it grow passively for many weeks or months. It would certainly be an easy choice, simply making the ants work with it the same way as before. Though… the creatures hadn't been too keen on that before, one even putting the piece of [Blood-Moss] found earlier beside the other pieces, keeping it away. It did not want them together but separated. And while the Entity might not have been too allowing of individual choice, it would allow the separation. It would be easier to keep track of growth anyway.

Yet the question remained. Would the Core just allow it to grow passively and accept that? Earlier, there had been such promise seen. The growth had been ten times as fast as the other [Moss], from the moment that the [Siphon] and [Growth] skill was allowed to show off their maximum capabilities. What would normally take ten days could take but one, as long as the Moss was fed?

If the Core allowed the [Moss] to [Siphon] from its allies, it could gather so much more. The defences could be increased to absurd levels, with every part of the room being covered with the plant. Or… maybe only some parts of the room, since other parts still needed to be vacant for future expansion ideas. Not that filling up the room even sounded that possible at the current moment, the rate not being that high. It would certainly take more than a few months or even years to reach that level of insanity. Yet a three-meter long and one-meter wide patch just beside the entrance? That was more than possible within a few days.

Thinking about the future more than the pain of one individual ant, the Core designated one to stand on the Moss indefinitely while the plant underneath the foot was also ordered to continually [Siphon] energy without pause, making sure to use its growth as efficiently as possible. After allowing the ability to run for a few minutes just like that, the Entity grew to an understanding of how much was taken away each second, forming a semi-permanent tendril of Mana over to the creature being killed slowly, and then [Healing] the amount being taken away. The [Giant-Ant] likely felt nothing through the whole experience. Other than boredom, of course, but the Core did not care the slightest bit about that. Instead, it made sure that the creature would stay in place for the next few days so that the Moss could grow peacefully. It expected great things to happen soon.

With that experiment done, however, there were new things to think about. The most prominent of these were the ideas surrounding the subtypes of races. The Core knew that it had a few under its belt, the Core being a [Dungeon-Core]. The Ants by its side also had one, being called the [Giant-Ants]. Then there was the [Moss] which had originally been found, lacking anything close to a prefix. The Entity had simply thought the race to not have one until the moment came around where it showed that [Blood-Moss] existed. Both were about the same level in growth, size, and abilities, ignoring the small [Siphon] adjustment made on the latter creature. Both were just about equal.

Which begged the question of how exactly the second sub-type of the race had come to be? What process allowed one creature to become something else? It was without logic. At least to the Core, as the Entity was not able to bend its mind around the fact that something could change its race while staying the same level. While the [Moss] was one stat-point away from being identified as such, there was still the question of how that one difference allowed for such an important change in biology. What factor had been put in and how had it been in?

How did one change one’s race? Was it an effect of time? And how did that make sense? The [Blood-Moss] seen was not more powerful so that couldn't have been it, right? The [System] would have recognized the improvements for what they were and granted it a higher level. Yet that was not the case.

The Mana inside wasn't that different. A few spots were more clustered together, barely enough to call it different to start with. The original creature could have even had an inside looking like it at point, the randomness factor of Patterns allowing for such a change to occur on a temporary scale. Yet that scale had been changed to permanent, the [Blood-Moss] now having those lumps inside permanently. It had been the place of origin where change would occur. How?

The question of ‘how’ did not stop popping up again and again. And it was for good reason, the Core truly now aware of how it worked. The ability to force a change on itself without improving in any way… thinking about it in such a way, the Entity could not but think of how it had destroyed its Mana-Pattern to reform it into one that suited it better. That had been from thought, however. There was hardly any chance of the Moss being able to do that. No… it would have had to be from something much more complex. Something intelligent.

Another thought hit the Core’s mind at that point. It had called something intelligent before, something that seemed so simple yet also so infinitely complex, as if it held the secrets to the universe and time itself. And even if the Entity still thought it did, this did not stop it from being smart as well. From being able to change and manipulate without ever directly thinking about it.

The Mana. Mana was able to do so much. Was it hard to believe that the simple act of being surrounded by it would be able to change a creature? The colours inside the creature told stories that spanned aeons, so why would it lie to such an extent? If the fabric of a creature changed, be that by mere chance, something would have to stick, the inside recognizing the change as a positive. Or maybe it would be changed to the point where the original schematic was changed as well?

The Energy of the world never did it intentionally, perhaps? The simple existence allowed the living and the dead to be influenced by it, all the same, the impurities, if that was even the right name for it, festering into the flesh and mind of all. It was the reason for the change, yet the hand did not move with purpose.

It moved at random. It was without thought but the power was with much behind it. There was no mass large enough to equal that of constant waves. A creature's body could not resist the call of action that was the intrusion of foreign Mana. It would assimilate, turning two to one with new experiences for each side. It would be a beautiful combination of chaos and order, creating sub-types without reason and depth. Most would falter, fall to their knees, wither and die, and pass before ever thinking of seeing greatness. For that was the folly of the random path. It was without end, and without an end, there was no success. The only change that would cause death along the way.

For how could one expect success in all possible manners when only a few even allowed for such a reality? It was the pinnacle of optimism, a form of thought best left for the weak and hopeless. But the Core was anything but that. It understood the truth, however small a part of it could be seen at that moment. It was not the full idea of the universe, not even coming close to a fraction of a fraction, yet it could still see. It understood that Mana was all and all was Mana. It could understand the change that was upon it, upon all, upon all that was, were, and would be. It was a change best left for the universe to take care of, for randomness would be the true successful change.

Yet such a flawed view of truth was without the power that the Core sought so strongly. It did not want to know the reason for change just for the pure knowledge. Its goals had reached a level beyond that, beyond the simple gathering of more. It did not want the locations. It wanted the route. It wanted to know each step, to be able to replicate it, to harness it, to use it for itself. It wanted to see the process an infinite amount of times and be able to mirror the process without fail. It wanted to learn and assimilate and be with the truth. There was no room for lies. There was the only truth, the implications of falseness being without an ideal.

The Core had to shut itself down for a moment, not sure what came over it. There was so much thought, one coming after the other in a rapid sequence of revelations. It was as if something had driven it to the brink of breaking just to shove it back into the idea that had festered for so long. It was inside the box again, forced to barely try and understand what its own thoughts had been.

Or those thoughts had at least been in the same positions as its own. Were they made from the Cores own desires and thoughts? Most likely. Yet the will to bend them down the path of truth seemed foreign. Perhaps the System? It seemed hellbent on bringing on such a choice, wanting progress in favour of believing what was untrue. That was something to think about. but not at that moment. The revelations were too recent to not regather to a more conceivable form.

Mana was the decider for evolution, the change of a race into something else. The effect was constant, persistent, and the rate could change with the density of Mana around a creature. It was always there yet could come in different amounts. The effects could change as well, the colour, intensity, and variety of the Mana around changing what could happen. It was true randomness witnessed anew. And the Core was barely scratching the surface.

The changes were without any chance of returning to what was before it started. For there was no start, change always coming. Even the snapshots of creation that were the Core’s patterns of creatures would change over time. There were no two identical ants inside its domain, after all, the position in the universe changing them on a micro-scale just enough to be without similarly in the full grasp of the word.

Yet the alterations were not obvious yet. Time had not settled for long enough to make it obvious. But with the Mana around, it would not be long before it did. And when it truly started, when the [System] would realise another sub-type had sprung up? Greatness would be seen, with the birth of another small section of the race. Thirteen creatures sat around with thirteen races ables to be created.

But not all were with an equal chance of survival. The change was great. Change fostered growth in its purest form, the living only able to reach new tops while leaving the sides unexplored. Yet the change that was evolution also promised danger. The danger could not always be avoided.

Who would be able to say what change would ruin the whole? Even the slightest alteration to a beating heart could make it worsen over time, a balance carefully constructed going out of tune with a few beats. Yet a change could also strengthen what already was or replace it with new designs that made it all improve in the long run. There was nothing that couldn't go wrong and nothing that couldn't go right. It was all about chance. A change in one scenario could make one weak and the same change in another could make a god spring to life. There was no idea of the result until it had already transpired.

Yet this still left the Core in quite the ideal situation. Manipulations through Mana? It had [Mana-Manipulation] already. It could speed it up by the increasing intensity of Mana, forcing it to assimilate quicker. Intent could work its way until it truly became possible to do it on command. Yet when the logistics became obvious, the ideals would be much better. To turn an ant into something more. What came after [Giant-Ants]? The name did not imply it was the maximum size. The Core could make them grow bigger. Or maybe it could make them smarter, quicker, or even have the Will to resist hesitation? It could make them grow new limbs, make it all better in every way. It just had to know the secrets.

It had to know how it worked, which factors affected what, and how the individual sub-types would grow when given a certain type of pushing. Normally, such experimentation would be without an end, the results always changing with each new experimented creature. Yet here the Core was in a pondering situation. For it could create creatures identical to one another. It had the Patterns required for it. Yes, they would grow to be different in time, yet two newly created ants were without a difference. Both would show the same results with the same changes. The changes would be constant with the same input. It would become better. The Core knew it. It just had to figure out the secrets still.

It had not known how to spot small differences as well. From the theory created on the spot, aided by unknown forces, the Core knew that the ants around it had differences in their hearts, in their organs, and their exoskeletons. It was all there to see in plain view, yet no such thing had been seen with the eyes of the Core. Why? Were the changes too small to witness at the current moment? If so, the Entity would have to go deeper.

It had to go so deep that the Mana was larger than the mountains. It had to see each part of Mana that created a single hair. It needed to go deeper than that. It needed to see the truth.