With the addition of a fighting force my options had drastically expanded. I checked the entrance again straining all my senses to perceive any sort of threat that may lie beyond in the dark tunnel but all was quiet. The entrance itself was between two and three meters tall and a little less than that wide. It was giving me worried flashes of a great big beefy ogre squeezing into my chamber and making me fail the 'don't die' part of the agreement I had with whatever made me the way I am.

If I could die that would almost certainly also apply to my mist suited friend. As a result I'm not sure I'm ready to risk it out in the wider world. First things first, the little guy seemed to have the right Idea. If they cant find me, they cant kill me. Maybe in the pool of water or up in the ceiling somehow?

"Maybe if I sink myself into the pool of water? If I can push Dooown! Nope. Float up? Also no. Hey buddy! A little help?" The hare approached the edge of the pool and reached out with a paw but couldn't cross the distance even though I was just a little over head height to the guy the pool kept me just out of reach. It could maybe pounce on me but that seemed like a risky idea when there really wasn't a clear immediate threat to my safety. For now I was stuck where I was.

That left my defense to more of a question of tactics. The room I was in was about ten meters in diameter and about five meters tall. There were little stalactites on the dome like ceiling that were only a few centimeters in length at their largest while the floor was mostly level with a very slight slope toward the center of the room. The walls were also a different type of stone to the floor the latter being more brittle even though my Domain still just referred to them both as simply 'Stone'. Maybe I could booby trap the room. Rabbits were avid diggers so maybe a series of pit traps or fox holes to supplement my monsters ability to deal with intruders.

I gave the order and my Dire Hare picked a spot a short distance from the entrance and gave the ground a few test thumps then reared up on its hind legs and came crashing down with all its might with a crunch. It preceded to alternate between heavy stomps with its hind legs, a series of quick blows with its fore paws, then one of those big slams.

After a few hours of this it seemed to get into a rhythm giving me time to look inward again to see if there were other things I could do myself. Diving in seemed easier then it had the first time with less whooshing and vertigo. Now instead of a swirling vortex of lights it was like I was surrounded by fluffy clouds. Now what to check. The system had said I earned an achivem...

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Achievements Effect Achivement Get [https://i.imgur.com/FZSz3pa.png] Option of Variant monster to a population to provide Leadership bonuses to nearby monsters of the same type.

And suddenly it was there, only this time it wasn't stuck to the end of my non existent nose, it was off to the side stuck to what appeared to be the inside wall of my Core. I could move it around at will and close and re-open it and even leave it in here and head back out and it would just stay there which was quite useful. Concentrating on this idea of a Variant monster brought up an overly complicated window with tons of dials and sliders that seemed a bit much on top of which was a label that indicated that there was only one Variant available. I wasn't sure if making one now might be jumping the gun a little.

What other windows could I find. Maybe something more informational.

Chambers Bonus Core (1 Prime Shell) Core Bound Monster: Mist-walker Dire Hare(1/6 No leadership) pending...

Well that was interesting. So that's one more thing to put on the list make more rooms and gain bonuses. It seemed straight forward enough but like much of the system left a lot to be desired in terms of explanation as to what exactly I could do or any real suggestion on what I should do.

There was a sudden surge of energy. The day had turned over and a series of things happened all at once. The Mana that had been building up in the Core chamber condensed around my Core compressing into a cloudy light blue slightly glowing pearl that then dropped with an unceremonious plop into the pool below me. A window popped up indicating I had one cloud Mana pearl in my Mana Well, whatever that meant. Another pair of ears emerged from my little storm as a second Mist-walker Dire Hare gave a big stretch and then joined its compatriot digging away at the ground. Lastly a very disconcerting message popped up.

Mana metabolized. You are become traceable. Prepare to defend and become.

Oh. Oh no.