The creatures that reside near me tend to pick up a unique type of energy signature. My theory at the time, and it seems to have held to this day, was that my nucleus emits a neutral form of energy that is easily influenced by surrounding energies. As the size of my nucleus grew, I noticed it poured out ever more amounts of pure energy. It made it rather easy for me to discern what creatures were new to the area versus those who stayed nearby for long periods.

Such methods of identification was how I saw the new creatures consume the old. It was no longer a transfer of energy, though I noticed those actions still happening in the caves and strange box areas inside what I assumed were above ground caves. Rather, this new method tore the energy straight from the creature. I watched as the older creatures were put into a strange bowl. The newer creatures would surround the bowl, transfer some energy into it, and then wait.

Inside the bowl, I watched as the rampant energies tore through the old creature, detaching sections of energy and refining it into a more condensed form. I saw the ‘leftover’ energy dumped onto my territory after the new creature collected the purified energy. The act disgusted me. Unlike earlier, there was no return to the surroundings or release. As far as I understood, the creature was condensed into a form no bigger than a pebble and then stored away without any freedom for extended periods of time.

That was the moment I realized the event might not have been an event after all. As an ‘Unknown Crystal Nucleus’, I didn’t really have any enemies per se. Or at least I’d yet to come across any. Most of my misery was self inflicted and as my nucleus produced energy from, as far as I could tell, nothing, I was never too worried about having energy transferred away from me. However seeing the creature store the other creature away for long periods of time, the once faded sense of fear touched on the fringes of my mind again.

What would happen if the creatures took my nucleus and kept it locked away somewhere? Could I even react? Such thoughts brought back the memories of all the events I watched up to now. The things I once considered exciting to watch and entertainment, were they all resisting capture? Were they just unable to run away like I did from the ‘threat’ at the start? I didn’t have any answers for those questions, however, somehow, I decided the answer in the back of my mind.

Such events instilled a new goal for me. I should be prepared to resist if the creatures ever discover my nucleus. Driven by that desire to be prepared, I experimented in a more direct fashion. I revisited [Energy Fabricator] and found I was able to construct...things. It required [Lesser Energy Manipulation] in conjunction with [Lesser Energy Perception] and [Energy Fabricator], however it did work. By collecting extensive amounts of mana and compressing it inside [Lesser Spatial Storage], I could use [Energy Fabricator] to warp that energy into shapes and forms.

Sadly, the forms disintegrated the moment I brought them outside of [Lesser Spatial Storage], however I felt progress with the skill I left alone for years. That was all that mattered. While my experiments pushed understanding of both myself and energy forward, I never failed to keep an eye on the new creatures. They had stayed long enough to where my energy signature started appearing on them. How many years does such a thing take?

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I was unsure myself at the time. Before I extended my territory, it seemed to take years and often, another ‘event’ would kick off before the creatures even managed to absorb the signature. However, ever since I extended my territory to essentially be right under them, it appeared to take only 2 to 3 years.

Though I disliked what the new creatures did, I also realized it might be essential to them. I would see them use the preserved energy pebbles from time to time when other creatures seemed hurt or when one creature’s energy spiked to a whole new degree of purity. As such, I chose to remain a neutral observer. I used them as a case for study.

My observations led me to an interesting find. About 10 months after the take over, I witnessed one of the creatures detach from an independent creature. The process was fascinating as I watched the new energy form from what was practically a spark into something solid. The creature carrying it around infused its energy into the spark at a constant rate for months and oddly enough, the spark managed to convert that into its mixture as if it were natural.

Though I continued my experiments on the side, I spent quite a bit of my time following that spark as it grew larger. After a certain point, realization hit me. This was a new creature. The energy was similar to the one that carried it, however was still different. What did this mean? It meant that the initial spark and mix I keep seeing across the caves are the creatures attempting to produce more of themselves.

I had always wondered where the creatures came from. They always seemed to visit in large numbers, and with how many of them get dispersed every time, I was always rather surprised to find more come years later. The mystery was solved! My [Lesser Energy Perception] focused on another spark being carried around. Judging by its size, the spark would likely detach in 2 or 3 months.

As I was capable of seeing the energy, and energy manipulation seemed to be my thing, I for the first time, reached out to the creatures. I waited until their inactive cycle to begin. I wasn’t sure what would happen, so I wanted the creature to be as calm as possible when I started.

Using [Lesser Energy Tendril], I reached out from my territory. Unlike the granite surrounding my nucleus which was saturated with terra energy, the caves the creatures built on top of my territory were practically hollow of energy, as if the entire thing were dead. My tendril slipped through the sperations and reached the inactive creature. Unsure of what to actually do, I inserted my tendril into the creature, ignoring what little resistance its energy put up against me.

Disappointment flooded me as both the spark of energy and the original creature’s energy dispersed in an instant. Though I watched carefully, I was still somewhat baffled at the results. It was as if the energy raced away from my tendril the moment it overwhelmed the creature’s resistance.

The explosive movement of energy tore the rest of the energy inside the creature apart, taking the spark along with it. Perhaps there was too much energy inside the tendril? My attention turned from the site, leaving the now alone creature in the same cave that seemed frozen in place for some reason, and instead on another inactive creature in a different cave.

Just as before, I used [Lesser Energy Tendril] to bypass the separations. This time though, I remained slow and focused as hard as possible on the creature’s energy flow. As my tendril touched it, I found the energy resist as the previous creature’s did. I held my tendril in place, hoping to see a change somehow, yet all that happened was the creature itself becoming active.

For fear of it ruining the experiment, I used another series of tendrils to wrap around the creature and hold it still. My initial tendril was still feeling resistance, however I noticed the energy circulating inside the creature start to wrap around my tendril as if surrendering access. I pushed forward, hesitating only just before the spark.

My tendril brushed against the spark and I observed it scatter into the carrying creature’s body. Another failure was all I could amount it to. Considering the creature that carried it remained intact, there was at least progress. I dismissed [Lesser Energy Tendril] and withdrew my attention back to my cavern. The experiment clearly showed that without a higher degree of control, I likely wouldn’t be able to fiddle with the creature’s energy in any meaningful way.