I have more mana than ever, but that’s no reason to be wasteful. I need to protect my core. The moths should be able to deal with bugs or even a small rodent if I send them as a swarm. That’s good, however, a snake could probably snatch my core and run away before they pierce its thick hide. Similarly, a single rodent could be beaten, but if there is more, I am done for. I need better defences before anything.

I could try making the moth's nest… spawner more powerful, but that seems outside my budget. Quite odd, forming another one wouldn’t take nearly as much. Another issue is that night’s butterflies are rather fragile. I need something tougher. Let's think… beetles have a hard exoskeleton, and their pincers can be formidable. Better yet, ants, they have venom and even large animals would fall to a swarm. Aside from ants, there are other mean insects, like wasps. Their stings could deter even a human.

Yet, I don’t want to rely on a deterrent or venom. Something with thicker hide, pain tolerance, or resistance to venom could crush my defences, and I only have enough mana for small mammals or birds. Let’s focus on ground troops, as they are generally tougher.

Rats are the obvious option. They can dig, swim, climb and their front teeth will deliver a mean bite. Quite possibly all rodents could do that, but as cute squirrel army sounds, I am quite comfortable taking the risk at this point. Rats it is. I send my mana just below the floorboards and start forming a spawner.

There it is again. This strange tiredness tells me I don’t have more mana to invest. I suppose it is to be expected. A wasp spawner wouldn’t take this much, but they wouldn’t be any help with my other task.

It feels nice to be a dungeon. Feels like there is a world of possibilities ahead. For now, I am barely a shed, but I already like this way more than the body I had before. All the maintenance is done with mana, rather than doctors. I might be eating bugs and spiders, but even that just kind of happens. Seems I really can just relax and wait for my rats to finish brewing. I was slowly drifting away into my thoughts. Not quite sleeping, but daydreaming.

Suddenly, something comes from the moths. They want to leave? Not leave for good, just a trip. Oh, it seems it’s night, and they want to go hunting, but require my permission. Yeah, I don’t see any harm in that, as long as most stay. Off they go, it seems that it took some mana. I had to slow down repairs to keep myself conscious. I am not sure what happens when I spend all of my mana. Probably sleep or death. Let's not find out.

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More importantly. Looks like moths can be my clock, finally some sense of time. Come to think of it, before having them I was blind. Only able to feel my shape and things inside. With them, I can see a bit. As if watching through their eyes. That’s definitely a step-up. I suppose I should inspect myself. Wooden structure. 3 metres all, but only 1 meter long and wide. 2.5 m tall room with a single door. 30 cm room attic, the rest is room and flooring. Also, in the corners, my planks extend deeper into the earth. I suppose that’s to keep me from falling over in anything stronger than a breeze. I wonder where I am. Probably outdoors, as I am a building and do experience the elements, but I can’t seem to see anything outside.

There is no window to look through, and I do have a door, but perhaps best to keep this one closed. Below the door there is a tiny gap. The source of all those delicious intruders. There are also almost unperceivable gaps between the planks. Just enough to let the air creep thought. Good, I wouldn’t like my guardians to suffocate.

Speaking of guardians: The hunting party is back. Some died, but the rest brought mana. Seems that the hunting trips paid off. I have to do it more often. Aside from mana, some form of a pulp was added to the nest. It would take a while for growth to be notable, but it’s not costing me anything, so let’s see where it goes.

Moths spawn fast enough to offset losses due to hunting trips, and as nice as little bugs are, I rather the mana. After 8 days I already maxed out on them. Oh, it seems there is a maximum to spawner production. Seems to explain why individual moths don’t take any energy, just the nest.

It took 15 more days, with 15 trips, for rat spawners to form. During that time the repairs finished, so I had a bit more available mana. The trips were varied in outcomes, but overall, they were portable in terms of mana. A certain idea started to form in my mind. A cartography room, or some other map room. Something to keep track of nearby resources and send them there, but It would take mana to form, and the idea could use more dwelling on.

For now, I got some mana, and I got rats. Rats who can dig and even chew through wood. I had them create some tunnels through my walls, and below me. It took so much mana to adapt to changed structural load, and annex the underground areas, but was worth it. I took even more mana to turn one of the rooms they dug up into a stone crypt… no, not a crypt, but a sanctuary. Sanctuary for my core. Most people won’t go punching holes in the ceiling, but a few times spiders climbed towards it. I would definitely feel safer with rats blocking the way, rather than moths, so I had them carry me into this hidden temple.

Overall, the whole project took 36 days. Add 23 it took to make the rat spawner, and whatever time before it, let’s put it at 3 days. That’s 62 days. 62 days and I am feeling fully comfortable. I have no comparison point, but a little over two months to settle into a new form and a new world. Felt like a good time.