Cultivating [Moss] was a very curious process. Or, it was certainly one that the Core found interesting, able to see the [Giant-Ants] working in tandem to create the best environment for the plants constantly. Never did a minute go by without one creature making minor adjustments to the water levels to keep it at ideal conditions. The Core was still unsure of what exactly counted but the creatures clearly knew, the group so hard-working to make sure that it was maintained.

Even with the minor steps present in making sure everything was as it needed to be, the process was with so many caveats that the Entity was never sure exactly what needed to be done. And, since it was from a position where it got direct readings of everything, it was perhaps a mild embarrassment when compared to the creatures with such weak but so well-used senses. Perhaps it just wasn't attuned enough to what it was seeing, or maybe the instincts present in it weren't as well-made. There was no way to know.

…. Or, maybe there was? Instincts were hard to keep in any real context, yet there had to be some clear signs of how the different creatures acted. As an example, the Core had access to Mana at a top level, able to manipulate it and sense it to the utmost. And while it still had much to work within that area, it was better than doing it when compared to the ant.

This was most obvious in how its skills were structured. It might not have had many, but all of them were focused on tasks that required Mana. [Mana-Manipulation] and [Mana-sense] literally had it in their names, while [Appraisal] and [Healing] used it to their full effects. The Core was centred around the concept of that mysterious energy, just like its instincts were.

Would it not make sense for the [Giant-Ants] to have the same? The Core was not entirely sure what skills could be had when put into a purely physical state, but it was sure that it could figure it out within a minute or two. It just needed to figure out how to see the [Skill-Screen] of one of the creatures. It had never really tried to do such a thing before, but it was sure that doing so was as easy as changing the intent behind the [Appraisal]. After all, it could get the basic descriptions of the ants if it tried, so why not get a different version of an advanced [Screen]?

After some minor mental focusing, the Core tried it out, sending an [Appraisal] towards one of the few remaining Ants in the vicinity.

Skill-Name

Rarity

Description

Cost

Bite

Common

Allows the user to bite with a high power

10SP

Agile-Movement

Uncommon

Allows the user to move more seamlessly

Passive

Farming

Uncommon

Allows the user to more efficiently cultivate [Plants]

Passive

The effect was quite a sight, the Core not realising that more skills would be shown. However, that was more the fault of the Entity than it was the [Giant-Ants], the creatures having quite the impressive set of skills. The Core should have realised that there would be quite some curious things inside. It should have guessed that the act of [Biting] had a skill to it. The damage done during it had caused much more damage than it would have guessed before. That also explained why there was such a difference of damage at times, it being due to whether or not the creatures were using the skill. With the relatively high [Stamina] cost, it would make sense to conserve it, after all.

[Agile-Movement] wasn't a skill that the Core had seen coming. From the naming schemes seen previously, it had guessed there was a skill much like it, yet never had it actually thought to see such a skill in the hands of an ant. [Skills] were a part of a creature's true colours, what set them apart from so many other creatures. Any skill worthy of being recognized by the [System] did not only mean that the creatures were good at them but that they understood it to a level where a casual observer would have no chance at understanding them. The Core, as a perfect example, had no chance of ever truly understanding what it felt like to move and therefore not able to get any movement-related [Skills].

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The [Giant-Ants] was meant to be in a similar category, able to move but not to the level where they could be called agile or anything like it. They bumbled around, balanced enough to not make much sound, but was that truly enough to call them agile? Was it the requirements that the Entity thought they needed to have which were wrong or was it the system that had been built by a supposed god that had a flaw?

While it wanted to call the latter as being true, the Core knew that there was little to no chance of it. The Entity liked to think of itself as smart, but the truth was that it was still young. Most of the information at its disposal was based on loose conjecture, forced upon it due to there being no better alternative. It did not make sense in the current moment, yes, but perhaps that was due to it not knowing the exact requirements. Perhaps they were based around another system or perhaps the existence of a moveable body, to begin with, help around the issue. There was no way to truly know since the Core was with no other creatures with similar bodies and skills.

Moving on to the actual skill it had been invested in since the start was the [Farming] skill. It showed off the ability to help the user cultivate [Plants] specifically. The Core wondered if the description for it could change with time to allow for other living creations to be done similarly. Or maybe there instead was a set of similar skills entirely that allowed for more speciality? It wondered about that.

But what it wondered about more was the fact that the ants had this skill to begin with. Checking through all the creatures close by, every single one of them had the [Farming] skill by their name. Even those who had not once in their entire lives gone close to the [Moss] had it, leading the Core to believe that it was part of the package when they were born. Or spawned in by the Entity, if that gave it more sense. As was beginning to get obvious, the skills that they had were not something they learned over time but had known the instant they started existing. The question then came to be if they knew it because of the Ant that had been originally killed by the Core knew it or because it was part of the instincts they had as an [Race]. Yet again, and the Entity truly loved to think this, there was no way to currently know as there were not any other creatures of the same race that it could [Appraise] which were not under its direct control.

That was something it needed to have checked out at some point, even if there was no current action that would allow for such a thing. It was at least something to do, time moving slower with each set of [Moss] slowly growing.

How long had passed already with the process? It had been more than minutes, at the very least. Perhaps a full hour? With how little action had occurred in the last time, it was getting harder and harder to accurately portray the shifts between focus.

The Core had been so focused on the group of ants previously sent out that it had completely forgotten to have a more time-oriented manner of thinking. Not that it truly thought it would need such a thing, experience having told it it would only be a couple of minutes before the ants would return again, bringing new goods to show off.

The [Moss] from before had been gained in this way, after all. And, since that had been such a colossal success, the Core had simply ordered the [Giant-Ants] to watch out for more as they travelled out yet again. But… there had been a time-limit as well. After a certain point in time, they returned as a group no matter what they were busying themself with.

While that actual accepted duration was flexible according to the distance to the Core, there should have been no way for them to have travelled so far that they would be held back for over forty minutes.

Something was wrong. That much should have been obvious from the start, yet there had been a mental blockage in that regard. The idea that they were simply having trouble carrying an item or had lost their way seemed obvious answers to the conundrum, yet time was once again showing off another chance. The Core was thinking back to how the ants had moved away.

The Core had never truly specified where exactly the creatures needed to move. The Entity wanted them to leave its sight and go out to explore, never caring much for a certain direction. The random choice would bring different results, after all, and there was little else that the Core currently wanted. But… those random choices likewise had the potential of going hay-wire, the consequences of such actions perhaps being higher than previously intended.

Previously, the ants had gone down a part of the cave that had never seemed like anything special. When the Core had temporarily broadened its sight to encompass the area, there had been hints of new materials and the like, but it had never shown itself as anything special. Which turned out to be false, since it also had plant life around it. There had been much joy from that.

But, that direction had yet again only been chosen because of the Ants closest to the edge in that direction. When the Core had yet again given the orders, they had chosen a different way out. One that actually had a history prior to their exit. One that started much more than it ever should have.

It was the direction that the first Ant had come from. Even with so much time passed, that original ant had still pushed down on patches of dirt, making its feet-prints markers of the rush towards the Core that had been made. It was still so filled with history that there was a slight fear when looking at it for too long. No matter what, it had been the place where the Core had first tasted a close encounter with death.

And it had sent a group of ants in that direction without even thinking about it. The Core had already concluded the potential of hundreds being in such a way, yet it had done nothing about it, hardly even thinking of the potential consequences. And, here it was, unsure if its creatures were still alive or not, knowing that trouble was coming no matter what since such a long time had passed without a word. Not even a damaged ant had returned. If there had been an altercation, it would have left them with no survivors.

Going by the assumption of their demise, would it be wise to build up more creatures? The Core had ideas about filling up to the max count again, yet… it didn't truly want to risk it. If the max was still there, if there had been no creatures killed, then it would have another [Unstable] creature on its hands. That… that was to be avoided at all costs.

So… sitting back again, the Core was forced to wait patiently, not wanting to think about what was going outside but also not knowing what to do inside. Progress was low, [Moss] was growing, and the Entity could do nothing but watch it all unfold. Was that the fate of a core?

It sure seemed like it. Nothing could be done, no wild ideas springing to its mind. It could sit and wonder about so many things, yet without the group outside coming back or showing signs of being dead, there were straight limits on what could be done.

Then a wild [Giant-Ant] came into the Core’s sight, more legs coming in from behind, and chaos ensued quickly. All was without reason, and the Entity looked back at the lack of action with a small bit of nostalgia.