‘It just jumped in without a comment,’ the Queen observed. She had a lack of surprise to her tone, one that was more disappointed in herself for not realising that it would happen than it happening. Not that the Core personally felt anything different. It had watched every small step made by that small creature, how it had jumped over the creeping vines in the earth, and had looked carefully at the beast as it dived right into the small patch of water that the Entity had access to.

‘At least we know where the creature wants to reside,’ the Core offered as a positive to the current situation. ‘[Otters] want to be in water instead of being with their owners. We now know one more thing about the creatures.’

‘Perhaps we should take a closer look at how they walk when I’ve torn all their skin off them,’ the Queen replied, more cold than usual. ‘Those beasts are meant to be the smarter ones yet it just couldn’t help but get out into the water and swim right away.’

It couldn’t have gotten that far, now that the Core thought about it. While the water current was most surely more powerful than anything else in the immediate area, it still moved slow enough that a five-second head-start didn’t mean incredibly much. Through the power of a larger burst of Mana in the specific direction of where the water was leading towards, the Entity found the small creature lazing along. Though… within a few more seconds, it would be out of the range that the Core would be able to sense it in. That wasn’t the greatest fact in the world, making the Core send out an order for it to return as quickly as possible

‘I assume you’re making it come back?’ the Queen stated, the ant likely more than able to observe the larger amounts of Energy being pushed out to make contact between the creature and the Core possible.

‘Indeed I am,’ the Core said, withdrawing the connection as soon as it saw a sign of the [Otter] obeying. With the near-instant withdrawal from the Domain, it had started to wonder if there wasn’t any power over the creature. The instant response was perfect to show off that it did. ‘Since the current is against it, however, I do believe that it will run across the shore. It could be a minute or two before it gets back.’

‘That would make sense. I can’t imagine the creatures to be too quick on their feet. You saw how short their legs were, right?’ the Queen questioned, to which the Core sent a positive. ‘I think these creatures might be best suited for water overall. There is no real chance that they can put up too much of a fight on the ground. Perhaps we should think into-’

The Queen was stopped before she could finish her sentence, the arrival of a certain creature bringing pause to the conversations. Checking the time yet again, the Core was surprised to find that a mere five seconds had passed since the order to return had been issued. It had travelled something close to forty meters upstream in such a small time? What a fascinating discovery. Though, checking the status screen of the creature yet again, the Core was dismayed that such a journey had been quite resource intensive.

Character Screen

Name:

-

Gender:

Male

Level:

3

Class:

-

Race:

Otter

Title:

Dungeon-Born

Health:

140/140

H-Regen:

0.13/sec

Mana:

-/-

M-Regen:

0/sec

Stamina:

154/220

S-Regen:

0.21/sec

Cost:

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

125 MP

Basic Stats

Strength:

14

Wisdom:

6

Vitality:

13

Intelligence:

9

Dex:

21

Willpower:

5

It had spent nearly a fourth of its energy in such a small time. The Core would have a hard time reaching the same expenditures with the other creatures under its wing, though the [Giant-Ants] would likely put up a good fight if using the [Bite] skill was allowed. Yet, doing it purely through the use of movement? That was unheard of.

... The Core slowly realized that the [Otter] had likely used the same trick as the ants, using some form of skill or another. It was likely one meant to enhance speed above all, though it did come at some level of costs. Was it an instant bonus or one that did it for a certain duration? And how steep a cost was required for it to work? Twenty Stamina-Points? Maybe thirty. Getting more curious by the second, the Core brought up the [Skill Screen] for the creatures, wondering why it hadn’t done so sooner.

Skill-Name

Rarity

Description

Cost

Bite

Common

Allows the user to bit with a high power

5SP

Fluid-Movement

Uncommon

Allows the user to move more seamlessly. Is more effective in water

Passive

Boost Movement

Rare

Increases overall [Movement-Speed] by 100% for 6 seconds

30SP

That was certainly something. At the top of the list was [Bite], the very same skill that the ants had used during their battles. The difference with that one, however, was clear enough, seeing as it had a lower cost compared to the one [Giant-Ants] used. Instead of a whole ten Stamina-Points with each use, the [Otters] only needed to spend five.

Just below the [Bite] skill was another one that seemed quite similar to the one had by the [Giant-Ants], only this one had a bonus to movement underwater. And the name was slightly different as well… the Core decided not to comment on the decisions surrounding that naming scheme, instead of moving down to the last skill on the list.

[Boost Movement]. The name implied what exactly it did, the increase being quite extreme. Yet the duration was likewise short, making the Core try to think up scenarios where it would prove helpsome. Long-distance travelling was out of the question instantly since the overall benefits in the long term wouldn’t be met by using the skill. One would need to rest more and therefore waste more time when using the skill. Instead, it could prove beneficial in the short term. During fights, it wouldn’t be too bad to have an upper hand on sheer movement speed. Being able to ring around an enemy before they noticed anything and then bite their throats was quite the benefit to have. More than one enemy at the time would make it slightly less beneficial yet the Core was thinking about it with quite a pessimistic attitude at that point. It had allowed a creature to move nearly ten meters each second without any acceleration being taken into account. What was the top speed when using the skill? The Core was very interested in finding out just that when it likewise figured out how to get a part of the river over to give the [Otters] some living space while still inside the Domain.

‘They might not be that powerful on the land,’ the Core began, looking on as the creature shook the water out of its fur. ‘But they are most certainly a strong predator in the water. Is there any chance we could make it possible to force humanoids down into their habitat to give us the upper hand?’

‘The enlightened are not too keen on going into water-themed areas. Most of them prefer to say hot and warm. And those that don’t are either too far north or down in the sea, making it a bad idea for us to even think about making an entire area water-based,’ the Queen explained, quick to answer as always. The Core should have known though, it all seemed just a little too perfect.

‘Does that mean we have to accept the creatures not being at their most powerful state when defending this place?’ the Core questioned. ‘Letting them die in scenarios they could have won doesn’t seem right to me.’

‘Well, why don’t you just even the playing field then?’ the Queen offered, seemingly prepared to answer the ENtity’s concerns. ‘And I meant that in a different way than what you offered to do. Instead of changing the environment so it suits the [Otters], why not change the [Otters] to suit the environment? As I do believe, the entire point of acquiring [Force Evolution] was to save us from these kinds of scenarios. Are you not curious what kinds of creatures you can make with this?’

The Core, thinking it over again, found no issue with the idea. [Force Evolution] had gone underused, after all. While so much time had been spent on it already, the Entity was still in full swing when it came to trying new mixes. What happened when a large amount of [Green Mana] was mixed in with the [Black Mana]? Could [Unliving] variants be created? Would it be possible to have a [Undead] plant? The Entity wanted to know soon, though it would first and foremost try with the creature it had at hand. The [Otter] had found the [Entangling Oak Tree] rather interesting, seeming to bite at the swerving roots that could be found in the air. The tree did not directly attack back, instead of shaking off the creature by using one of its other roots. The smaller mammal wasn’t hurt by the experience

‘That is not a bad idea,’ the Core sent back to the Queen. With a small command, it made the [Otter] move towards the Intelligent Ant, stopping just a few meters before and staying as still as possible. It still cycled air but it wasn’t doing much else. ‘Do you have any suggestions on what mixings to try out?’

‘I advise you don’t use too much [Green Mana] no matter what. And no materials with an excess of [Brown Mana] either. Either of those can hit the nervous system in ways that can cause excessive pain. One of the consequences of trying that on living creatures is that they can die before the process finishes, and I am not entirely sure you would be able to use that for much,’ the Queen responded, making a few good points. While the Core was very much able to absorb the Patterns of dead creatures if they died before the process finished it likely meant that they had not changed enough to warrant the system changing its designation. From that fact alone, it was likely a useless ordeal.

‘So I can choose everything else myself?’ the Core asked, just to be sure that it understood it correctly.

‘I will alert you if you get to a mix that will end up in the creature dying painfully but otherwise yes. Do as you will, little rock.’