[Stamina] was a very peculiar subject to think about. It was the movement system in its entirety, everything relying on it. If a creature wanted to walk, it would take Stamina gradually. If it ran, it would take more. Each jump, each step, each bite took a small or large bit of stamina out of a very limited pool. This total could be improved upon with attribute points, but that didn't matter much for the argument.

What did matter was the fact that it required so much? Or, no, that didn't do it justice. Every physical action required stamina. It was safe to say that the most used resource in the entire was [Stamina]. The Core could hardly think that a lack of movement was the usual, after all. Most creatures had to move with how many resources there were engineered towards such a goal. There had to be something for such to make sense.

[Stamina] was not quite like [Mana] and [Health]. Which did make sense, seeing as the three pools governed over different aspects of life. Even if the Core did not have much in the way of organs, it still had Health, just like any other living being did. It showcased the ability to move, the ability to think, or maybe even both. Mana was the ability to interact with one of the most vital energies in existence, or at least that’s what the Core believed it was, everything around it able to be broken down into it and then remade using that very same energy. And stamina was the way that the body moved. Health might have been the thing that gave it the overall ability, yet without stamina, no movement would be able to commence. A lack of it left a creature without anything at all, trapped inside their minds. Or still somewhat able to manipulate the physical world, if they had Mana, but that didn't help the argument.

Currently, the Core had been able to convert Mana into Health. The process itself was relatively efficient, to the point where the Entity could do it at a gain of some level. It gave more health than it lost Mana, at the very least, to a point where it reached five to one at the optimal conditions. There was a good chance that those very conditions would not be reached during regular fighting or events, but they didn't matter that much anyway.

What mattered was how the Core had reached those results. It had used the intent of the Mana to reach them. With the help of a focused mind, and a healthy amount of Mana as well, the Core had managed to directly insert the health into the veins of the creatures. The Mana-Veins, that is. Not the veins meant to pump blood or the muscles meant to keep them moving, or the organs meant to keep them healthy. It had used the Mana as a medium to hit something not related to it. It had used the very body of the creature and had simply convinced the Mana to run one way.

Which begged a single question forth. Could the Core do it the other way as well? Could it command the Mana to instead move towards the [Stamina]? It was a hard question to ask, the actual logistics not truly known. What was stamina even? Where was it held? Mana was in the Mana-Veins and Health was outright the state of the body in general. When the Core wanted to increase the Health of a creature, the Entity simply thought of the body being recovered and nothing more. If it did the same tactic, what would it need to focus on?

For that, there was no clear answer. Yet… did there really need to be? Through recent events, the intent had been more deeply understood. It was not close to a powerful tool, yet it was more than the most versatile one there was. It was impossible to know the results, but the results would be gained with enough focus. It was hard to control, yet the chance for control was there, even if it ate up the Core’s health in the process.

It was possible without the idea about it. If the Entity willed the Stamina to increase, the Mana would find a way to do it. The Core was sure of it. It needed to be sure of it. For, as of that very moment, there was little else that made sense to it.

A small movement on the outskirts of the entrance made it known that the creatures had returned for a moment, just as the time for it occurred. The creatures did move quickly but they also moved at the same speed. The Entity had half a mind to figure out how long they could keep up that speed. The [Giant-Ants] had previously shown off their ability to do so much to, to run and move at speed so much faster. Yet, even when told to run, they always did the same speed as when they were told to run. While the Core had never truly wondered about it too much, it had started to make out a smaller theory. Perhaps it was due to their Stamina-Regeneration holding up at that very speed? There was one way to test it, making the creatures run around for as long as possible, but the Core had never found a good way to do it. The space required for no stops to occur was a bit larger than it wanted to sacrifice for such a simple question.

Moving onto the other line of tests, the Core brought forth one of the [Giant-Ants] not tending to the Moss. This one had stood still for a few minutes now, passively watching over the operations. From what the Entity could be seen, it would not impede progress to take the lead with it for a few minutes. Calling the creature over, it stood still in front of the Core.

Not for long, however, with the creature soon using the [Bite] skill, again and again, never letting itself have enough time to recover. The reasoning behind it was easy enough, the Core wanting it to get tired as quickly as possible. Not enough for it to reach zero, yet anything under ten would be preferable. And… that was what the Entity got in the end, along with a creature that had completely and utterly exhausted itself. It could barely even stand, more unbalanced than when it had first been created.

Character Screen

Name:

-

Gender:

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Male

Level:

1

Class:

-

Race:

Giant-Ant

Title:

Dungeon-Born

Health:

130/130

H-Regen:

0.12/sec

Mana:

-/-

M-Regen:

0/sec

Stamina:

6/160

S-Regen:

0.15/sec

Cost:

90 MP

Basic Stats

Strength:

18

Wisdom:

5

Vitality:

12

Intelligence:

5

Dex:

15

Willpower:

5

With a score of what was seen, there were no wonders about why the legs shook so much. The Core would have likely been in a similar state when it had been so low on Mana, though likely more affected mentally than physically. Other than pain, it had never truly felt much from its physical shell. It knew it existed and it knew that it was the point of view into the world. Other than that, there wasn't much to it. The [Giant-Ant] before the Core, however, had a much more in-depth connection to its body. Every piece of it was likely screaming in tiredness, begging for relief in the form of rest. But, the Entity had ordered such to not even be thought about. If it did something like that, the test itself would be useless. No.... it would be the Core that would cure it of the lacking deposits.

The [Giant-Ant] was made to stand completely still. And, clearly did try its best to do so, yet the form was still a bit shaky. Not enough to cause problems, but it was still quite the experience. It was then that the Core began to gather up Mana, letting it all flow through the air and right into the innermost organ of the creature. It had initially wanted to try out the burst method from before, yet it decided that taking things slow would perhaps be the smartest choice. There was no need to screw anything up yet. Slow steps made it possible to win anything, even if it took much longer.

And… looking at the Screen, things seemed well. The progress was slow, but every two seconds did provide another Stamina-Point gained. It was quite the experience, already seeing the results unfold. The Core had been on a roll as of late. Perhaps it could pick things up and hurry along? While it did want to make sure it could all recover at the current speed, the technique currently used was easy when compared to the previous tasks. Training itself up was not one of the current goals. Since it had already seen that it worked, it was decided to cut things short and step the game up.

With a few [Bites], the Ant was right back down to low Stamina. It was quite the experience, seeing the clap of the mandibles. The waves of air pushed out made all the Mana close by wave away for a small second before returning right back into the game. It was… quite the experience to witness. But, that small reprieve from other duties was quickly squashed when the Core realised that the creature had been ready for several seconds, having already righted itself. Each second wasted was a second better spent on making sure it would work.

Starting the process up yet again, more Mana was put into the constant flow. It was allowed to run for forty full seconds, each of those seconds bringing one Stamina-Point. Progress was great. There were still no issues to be seen. Though… the creature did still seem tired. Even with points replaced, the legs still shook. Could it be that repeated emptying and filling up could bring negative results? It did make sense for such a mechanic to be in place, at the very least. Thinking about it smartly, the Core switched out the ant for another, but not before throwing it a [Heal]. That would likely take care of any extreme damages.

Another ant came without comment, completing the required [Bites], and letting itself be tested thoroughly. No shakes were seen this time, though that was likely due to it still having fourteen Stamina left. The Core was sure something similar to before would be seen had it been lower.

Now was the time for a more focused recovery. Instead of giving the creature a constant stream of Mana, the Core decided to move on to a much more burst-like manner of injection. Everything would be given in the span of an instant, letting the whole process be done with next to no focus after the initial send-off. It worked identically to the process made during the healing method, which was proof enough that it would work. The previous two had worked without flaw, and each of them had been taken directly from the same source. The only thing that needed to be made sure of was that there needed to be no other direction than the Stamina. The [Health] and [Mana] would not be allowed to change, lest it would be proof that focus had been flawed.

Then… with a great heave, the Core brought forth the Mana. Taking a moment to look at the bundle, the Entity made sure that each line was as tightly packed as possible. It was markedly easier to do when going after the previous maximum. Packing Mana into a higher density seemed to have been a requirement during the attainment of [Arcane-Manipulation], making the skill carry over to a more general use. It was likely not what was meant when gaining the skill, yet the Core did not complain in the least.

With great finesse, the bundle of compressed Mana was inserted into the central organ for distribution, and the Core went back to its original placement to overlook the results. Things looked good for the first half of a second, the Stamina being increased by something close to ten, before… it suddenly stopped.

By the time that the Core had looked away from the [Screen] and over to the creature, almost every vein on the Ants body had burst, compressed liquid spraying out onto the surrounding area. The inner organs had liquidated in the space of a single moment, and nothing wanted to stay inside.

… Oh.