How did Mana-Veins work exactly? That was the question the Core had pondered for a long time. The things weren't exactly made of physical matter, the outer shell barely a layer of coloured Mana as it was. The entire thing was just enough to push other Mass out of the way so that it could move through the body efficiently. Yet, there was still some manoeuvrability in place that went changed constantly. The actual length of any parts changed alongside movements of the body. If there came a curve, one part would shorten while the other would lengthen, preserving the total length while also allowing for optimized distance. Shorter spaces allowed for quick travel, after all, and there was no chance the Mana wouldn't exploit that for its gain.

Yet… what happened if the vein was pulled on? Would it adapt like before, giving more to work with? That was very obviously a yes, such a thing already being seen in full effect. Much of the inside was held relatively loose, giving more than enough to be pulled onto a certain length without any hassle. It could be held eleven meters away at full tightness without issue, only problems being crated after that maximum had been reached. Truly, it was a work of art.

But what happened when two points were pulled on? Would it be half in possible length? There had to be some parts that couldn't be pulled out fully from one point, the centre organ being one of them. Even when the full eleven meters were pulled on, only a quarter of that node was in full stretch. If the Core did the same at two opposite ends, there was a chance that more than five and a half meters could be gained. And what about four ends? Could those each reach three full meters? It was a question for the ages to test out.

That was the idea, at least, though the Core knew it first had to test if it was even possible to use the [Drain] skill from multiple sides and if it would truly bring better results. There was always the chance of it only giving out half as much energy from each side than normal when two of them were at play. Maximum outputs still existed, after all, and there were some wonders about how it worked.

Bringing over two new level two ants to test out on, while also letting the first go out of respect, the Core was quick to try out more and more. The connections were established with great precision, even the locations being the same. And, with heavy minds attached, the [Drain] skill was activated.

Nothing came for a brief moment before it then exploded into a fiery ten whole Health stolen each second. The inner organs of the [Infested Giant-Ant] had trouble getting through such a large amount of energy, the creature taking a few steps back to reduce the flow to a manageable level quickly. Even with the elongated veins putting out the energy, the centre node had started doing it as well, the system being overloaded with energy. There was nothing to heal, after all, and no chance of making the Moss grow, forcing the energy to circulate inside the veins present. And that might have worked at the start, yet the constant increases did nothing but pure more and more pressure on it all. The Entity knew that the creature would blow up soon, if not for some way to stop it. It would take one thought about diverting it over to the filled-up stamina before issues would come in hot.

Perhaps there was a way to send it back out again? Instead of just sending it into the air, the Core thought about using the thing as a battery of sorts. The Moss had already proven itself worthy of holding up Mana-Veins, no matter how shaky they were to control over longer distances, yet that distance could still be controlled somewhat. It two creatures was brought in, already damaged, perhaps…

Ordering another two [Giant-Ants] to get close, the Core made them bite two of each other’s legs off and also made some minor damage in the inner organs. It wasn't enough to do more than half the health of each, yet it still counted for something. Making them bunch together, the Entity proceeded to form a Maan-Tendril out of the air, connecting one end to the damaged ants and the other to the legs of the [Infested] creature. Mixing that in with an order o [Drain] those with health and give it to those without, the Core was able to see quite the redistribution.

It all went through the middle ant, the [Infesed Giant-Ant] putting it through its entire system of Mana-Veins to make sure no damages were there to fix before then letting it run equally through to the two ants standing by quietly. When already having the intent of healing and regaining points, the Health and Stamina of the two ants were remade, allowing them to stand on all six feet within the minute. There was quite the problem about efficiency, the sending in and out costing more than half of the total energy, but there was still a system possible here. Though… it still required the Core to make some manipulations of its own.

Could that be out phase? Instead of making the connection with [Mana-Manipulation], would it be possible to order the Moss into doing it, jumping onto the bodies of the weak and sending out energy for them? It would allow for long distances and also make the [Infested] something of a mobile medic. There would be the requirement of an enemy standing by to get [Drained], but that could be done with enough teamwork surrounding the biting of legs. Two ants could heal four up from half health. It was a beautiful idea, though it would be hard to make work in practice with so low numbers. Nevertheless, the orders were sent in to add the technique to the ants set of skills. It could work in making them more independent and so the Core would seek to let them do it.

With that done, however, it became a more relaxed going for the Entity. Things were dialled a small bit back, experiments being put on hold as the whole domain needed to return to its former glory. Too many things had gone unchecked for so long, to the point where some mistakes might even have started to become a real problem.

As an example, there was the growth of [Moss]. Both variants, of course, the [Blood-Moss] being the worst offender by far, however. The stretch of land reserved for its use had long since been filled up, leaving the Core with some minor gardening to take care of. While it did not mind good growth, there was a time and place for everything. And since that variant of Moss required so much larger a size before it began producing more Mana than it was using, the Core was still forced to let the normal variant grow.

And it had grown more than one would have guessed. The smooth lines separating the different parts of the place had been filled up with the [Moss], the space needing to be used for its full potential. Likewise, the outermost walls had started to become greener, as the Moss began to take up that space as well. This wasn't exactly ideal, since the ants still needed to patrol beside those walls, forcing the Core to put in the order for the ground right beside the walls to be regularly trimmed down. However, the Moss on the wall was allowed to stay, since it did nothing but provide an extractor layer of defence in the long run. And with that type of exemption, it would perhaps not be too long before the Moss would reach the roof. At that point, the chance for true growth would come along, even if the creatures would have a harder time making sure it was all kept just wet enough to grow the fastest.

How long until it could take up the entire ceiling? With the current rate, the Core guessed it to be somewhere around five to six months. Though, that would likely slow down a bit since maintenance would be thought about first. And since not all parts of the sides were going towards the middle, there instead only being one starting point, it would outright take the growth rate so long to fill up the entire area of the circle they resided in. The Entity did not hate the wait, however, still happy to have a measurement for a time beside it. Too many times had it forgotten that temporal change, after all. Letting it sit idly by was akin to the Core outright asking to forget it.

And there was more to do as well. With the normal Moss trimmed to perfection, the potential of growth to the sides was unstoppable. There only needed to be an ideal end to it and things would progress well. Filling up the water-hole, the Core moved back to the original [Blood-Moss] problem. Getting rid of the problematic parts had been quite easy, though the next part was a bit… on a different scale of difficulty. How did one move a hundred-kilo piece of plant thirty meters to the right without damaging anything while also only having the strength of twelve albeit giant ants? Well… at that moment, the Entity was not entirely sure what the answer could be.

The Entity knew that twelve ants were strong, yet they couldn't keep such a weight up in the air for long while also keeping the weight balanced. The moss couldn't survive by hanging onto itself, after all, meaning that a few of the creatures would have been forced to stand under it to even out the life. And… that would not have been close to practical in any sense of the word, forcing the Core to think of something else that had any chance of actually working?

But what could it be? Well, there was only one other factor capable of moving things around intentionally and that was the Core itself. And what method of movement had been used before? [Arcane-Manipulation]. While it did require quite a bit of manoeuvring, and a brief moment where there was fear about the [Blood-Moss] tearing itself apart, the Entity was successfully able to have a thick plate under the entire mass of moss. While it did require quite a bit of reinforcement to make it survive and a similar amount to move it around, there was no real trouble surrounding the relocation after that. Or… at least not in the grander aspects.

How did one create holes in Moss so that it would avoid spikes? Simply telling it to do that was quite an impossible feat, since the plant had no idea what to do either. Simply cutting holes at the appropriate places did help on some level, but other more prominent spaces were filled up with vital bumps that would prove problematic to remove. Which then forced some more fancy folding to take place, making the Moss reconnect at the point to allow for the movement of the bumps to safer locations. It was quite the endeavour to get through, but the result was a full ten meters of open road where the Moss would get any who tried to walk atop it. With how long an ant to trespass such an area, and when mixing it in with the spikes, much Health would be removed before the enemy even had a chance.

And the [Blood-Moss] was, of course, not restrained into the entrance. On the sides around it, there was the beautiful plant as well, making sure that any intrusions through the wall would be met with a floor that would do nothing more than kill every last creature which stepped on it. On those longer stretches, the Moss had not yet reached the good sizes, but a dedicated [Infested] ant was on the case and already making sure that it was supplied with the Mana it needed to grow at an incredible rate.

The defences were truly starting to look better, though some sides could have gotten more work done to them. The Core still deliberated on creating spikes throughout the entire side where the enemy had come from previously, not sure if it would be practical or not. Space within the Core’s domain was still sparse, the moss taking up rather large chunks. While other things could be built underneath and besides at some level, it was not the same as being allowed to stay there individually.

However… there was one idea which the Core wanted to work with. It required the opposite of what it had thought of before. Instead of creating more things, it wanted to dig out a chunk of stone. From the information gathered through the [Mana-Sense] skill being increased, it knew of a quite peculiar phenomenon happening in the wild. It was called a ditch, it was an elongated part of the ground where it would be a meter or two more down. This would normally prove quite useless in a normal situation, and the Core had realised that fact very quickly. However, by using it just beside the walls where the enemy could come from, any intruders through the wall would be forced to go through quite the jump. From how far up in meters could ants survive? The Core hoped it was three, for the ditch made the distance four meters.

And… that was that. The defences were up and running. While some minor improvements could be added, the Core thought it best to save those for when the Moss had grown more. It needed more space to work with, after all, and the plant growing up would allow for more of that.

Yet, and this was just a random thought, was there not another way to reach a higher maximum space? Did the Core not have another method to have a larger range to work with?

Oh, it most certainly did. And that was to [Level Up]