The fight between the [Infested] and the level one ant was quite simpler than the other one. Within the first thirty seconds, everything had been decided. Both came at each other, just like before. However, the impact was quite different, the superior mass holding out and making it possible for the larger to flip the other on its back. While this could have been recovered from normally, the speed at which four legs were taken care of left no chance of mercy to come around. It was all a waiting game from there, the [Infested Giant-Ant] simply waiting for everything to replenish to full before then ripping off the head of the smaller ant to save time.

The Core thought the experience brutal to see, yet it could similarly know comfortably that the creature was following orders to a tee. The main focus of the infested was to replenish its energy by itself instead of being helped by the Entity. If there were no enemies to fight, it would make sense to prolong the death of another to make sure that oneself was in full spirits afterwards. It might have been seen as cruel in some ways, yet the Core knew that it was more than just a good thing. In fact, it might even have been the smartest strategy since straight offensive had been thought of.

While some issues were likely to spring up about resting while on the battlefield, the Core knew that it was all worth it. The possibility of further splintering of responsibility allowed for the Entity to think in more offensive lines of thoughts. Instead of having to constantly check for weakened allies, it could check for weakened enemies. Rocks could fall from the skies, spears piercing from the sides, and spawned in ants could come from down under. It was all turning into a fest of brutal slaughter. Yet that would only work when independence was achieved through the activation of the [Drain] skill.

The cost of the [Infested] was likely still too high to replicate, however, making the Entity made than a little uncompressed. How was such a thing fiar? It sought influence in security, yet the only thing it could gain was the gathering of one. It needed an army of strong, independent ants, yet a single creature of such a calibre was already hard enough. What would it cost? Two hundred Mana per spawn? Or maybe even three hundred when all the new Mana-Veins were added in. While they might not have taken up too much space, the complexity of nodes exponentially made the costs grow. It was more than abhorrent to wonder about.

So the Core refrained from doing just that, knowing that trying to guess the costs was a step too far into conjecture. There was no real basis for anything yet, too many signs being without comparison. The data gained from only three known costs, that being the first two levels of a regular Ant and the two variations of Moss, was not close to auctionable for future predictions. Everything needed to be known beforehand, the Pattern already guessed at some level. When the costs could be predicted without the death of a creature, the Cor would have already been able to make it from scratch. Perhaps if it upgraded [Mana-Sense] a few more times, that would be possible, yet there was no real chance of that at the current moment. It had already taken weeks to get it to the second upgrade. How long would it take for the third or fourth? What would it even need to know for such a thing to occur?

The requirements were so high and out of the Core’s space of mind that it could hardly begin to comprehend it. Even if it knew them, [Mana-Manipulation] and the other Mana-related skills weren't high enough to show off the complexity that was required to be studied. Perhaps the Core even needed to know more about the ways to find the difference between the types of Arcane? It was quite possible, though the Entity still didn't know anything but the Physical archetype. It was truly a mysterious field to study, even more so with the limited ideas. In the future, it would be realised. For now? Other things would be pondered about.

With the death of the level one ant, the group was yet again down to twelve creatures in total. Because of that, the Core had thought it was time to yet again spawn in a level two ant and start the process of pondering about other skills. There were most certainly other fields needing to be studied, after all, and simply doing the same thing over and over again wouldn't prove that fruitful. Yet, there was one last thing that needed to be tested. One matter that had been thought about for some time now, yet hadn't been answered no matter how much it interested the Core.

The [Infested Giant-Ant] was quite the work no matter how it was looked at, its entire body being covered with the Moss. Yet, one might have asked how it was all connected, how it all functioned as one being? Well… that was easy enough, the Core having pondered that very question the first time it had noticed the fact that the [Blood-Moss] was separated from the same thing seen on the ground below. How could the plant possibly survive from being on the skin of a creature? And if it was simply through the use of [Siphon], how was the creature still alive?

Through trial and error and a small bit of prodding, it had been realised that the truth was a bit of a match. [Siphon] was quite manipulative as a skill, it having the basis for results in the fact that it could move around Mana-Veins inside the body of another. It would simply divert the energy through creating phantom pathways that allowed the energy to enter the Moss instead of some vital organ. This was not normally that deep, the skill only made to do it passively. However, there was one effect that needed to be thought about.

What happened after prolonged contact? Here it was not talked about in the way of a few seconds but hours, days, weeks where both creatures did nothing but stand still as one suckled on the other. It was quite an unusual situation, made even more unusual by the effects that were had on the body of the ant. Those phantom pathways that had been thought of before. With their semi-permanence in the system, the body had reacted positively, making way and building up around it, making sure that it would stay permanently while also providing easy access to the organ meant to be on the other end. At that point [Siphon] wasn't even needed by the Moss, the body already thinking it a part of the creature.

Yet it didn't stop there. For while many parts of the Moss had been perfectly connected, some parts were impossible to form in the same way. It could be due to their positioning, some upper parts of the legs stopped from having it since the muscle was in the way. Instead, the body had done it more smartly, detaching a sort of tendril within to handle those affairs. It moved quite smoothly, able to bend and stretch over to the Moss for however many turns was needed. It was an ever-elongating Mana-Vein, able to sustain that part of the creature no matter what. And it had been shown that it worked both ways, the Moss able to send back energy gathered from its victims, even though the energy normally came through the permanent connections instead.

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Which is where, however, that one question formed above all. If the Vein connecting the Moss was more based on Mana than anything else, and that it had been shown to change shape based on length, would it be possible to use a meter away from the body? Or could it even be used to more than that? The possibility was quite something. With a shoulder hit, the [Infested] ant would be able to detach a part of itself, sending it over to stick to a creature’s body, slowly draining all the energy out without a single thought needed. While such a process worked its magic, the attacker could then run in circles, doing nothing but distracting the creature while the effects showed up for real. It was an ideal dream.

However, it was also one that needed to be tested out. While the longer-range should have been possible, it would require a more specialized set of orders along with a slight change in tactics. It was doable but it would be hard to replicate naturally. Which was why the Core actually didn't attempt that, first wanting to see if it was even possible. Setting up the third fight between allies was great and all, but there was no need for slaughter the third time. It wasn't required for a test, after all. The Core understood that it could win against level two and win easily against level one. Level three and level four was still unknown but that would be saved for another time where it showed up as an actual threat. Until then, time would be spent testing out on enemies that were possible to actually meet in any capacity.

Having first spawned a new level two, the Core ordered it to get closer to the [Infested Giant-Ant]. There was a slight hesitation on those orders as if the creature knew what fate others with similar orders had received. The Entity sent reassuring thoughts about the creature's safety, yet that seemingly did nothing to stop the shaking. How annoying. The Core almost tried to force it to stop before realising what it was doing. Shaking was okay. It just needed to stand semi-still for the next attempt, and then it would be allowed to mingle with the others.

Those thoughts, in some weird way, did stop it from shaking. Which was weird since they hadn't been sent out or anything. There was no way the ant should have been able to hear it. Was the Core sending out Mana without realising it or had the fragment inside the ant decided to help its mentality alone by itself? There was no ability to know for sure, so the Entity just continued with its dealings, totally not trying to get a similar result from another creature standing close by. Ten seconds of angry thoughts did nothing similar though, so sadness was felt. However… that did make it shake its head. If that was a sign of being heard, the Core could not help but care, finding it impossible to replicate without finding failure at every step. A single reaction over a minute was not something that an entier branch of Magic could be based on. Random chance required several repetitions at specific intervals before it truly could be discounted.

Moving on, the [Infested Giant-Ant] was made to make contact with the regular ant, making sure that the required part was what touched it. With the orders already in place, the transfer was without a hassle, barely taking more than a moment to complete. While the [Blood-Moss] had been moved over to the ant, it still could use the small spears. These were good at a variety of things, even though their main function was the [Drain] ability. They could, as an example, make the Moss stick well to almost anything, the spears small enough to gain some kind of grip on a smooth surface. It was a wonderful thing.

And it was even more wonderful when the Core saw the transfer taking place. The Vein was stretched out quite far, nearing a full meter of distance between the initial contact-point and where the thing was currently, yet it was more than just surprising to see. Before the Entity’s right was a clear indication that Mana-Tendrils could be created without its help, that the concept of them was without the requirement of an intelligent mind. The randomness of the world was the true decider if everything would happen, and it was well on its way to make sure it lived up to the name.

Looking at the transfer in the time frame of ten full seconds, the Core was sad to see that the distance brought down the efficiency quite a bit. It should have been obvious from the start there was some bad welding in place with the tendril. The insides weren't held as tight as what the Entity did, making more and more slip out the further on it went. While nothing was lost at the half-meter goal, twenty percent of the total gain was lost on the latter half. It went from five Health per second taken down to four. It was unimaginable but it also had its limits.

It also begged the question of how exactly it grew. How many meters would it require to reach zero? Was there even such a place, the loss being small and small the further along one came? Or maybe the mana-vein would snap at some point, not able to elongate to such a degree. There was no way to truly know without trying it out. And that was exactly what the Core did, ordering the movement to the left.

With four swift steps, the [Infested Giant-Ant] reached a distance of two meters away from the regular ant. Here, their loss had furthered down to a three, only sixty percent of the original a hundred percent remaining. Not a good thing yet it hadn't fallen as quickly as before. Perhaps it was due to there being less to lose? If so, it spoke well of the future, even if the gain wasn't as high as before.

Another couple of steps allowed the distance of five meters away. Here came the split down the middle, two and a half points being gained every second. That was quite surprising, the Core not truly believing that such a distance could even be used in a normal fight. When ants fought, the distance between them was nearly always a maximum of a single meter. The mandibles needed to be close by, after all, since there was always a need to rip out the enemy's throat. That certainly couldn't be done from two meters away and much less five. Instead, one needed to be able to breathe on the other face, and this was completed quite nicely in moral situations.

But the Core hardly cared for such a thing at the current moment, wanting to know if there was a zero to be found. Moving the [Infested] creature another step back, it was ordered to not stop for a while. It took something close to twenty more steps, making the total distance be eight full meters before the gain was halved yet again, barely being one Health person. It was quite extraordinary what distance there was, to the point where the Entity wondered if an exploit had been found. If used right, it would soon turn into something of a running contest more than anything. There was no need to fight when staying a small distance away for two minutes would be enough to kill a creature. And would it work on two at the same time? That would be figured out soon. But before that, the Core needed to find the maximum length.

Perhaps it was nine? No, it truly wasn't, though the Mana began to fall quite drastically there. Neither was it ten meters. But eleven? That was where the limit was at. The Core hardly had any sign of warning before the Mana-Vein burst open, shooting out the energy meant for the creature. Some from both sides were taken, and health was lost near-equally. But that was also patched up quite nicely, the Core interfering by making the [Infested] and hurriedly return the distance and allowing the Moss to heal while staying on its side. There was nothing but time that successfully healed it, though it took quite a while.

Moving back, it was clear that eleven was the maximum for a single length. But was that the same for two and three of them at the same time? The Core was still unsure of how the maximum was calculated.