Two months, two entire months, had passed as the Humans and I worked.

In the sixty days, I continued creating the VECs, creating a new one every two days with what mana I had left over going towards creating Invictus.

By day thirty-two, I finally reached fifty total VECs that now floated around my core like small pulsating black stars while I generated 486 Mana every day.

Around the seventh day, the portal opened near a small settlement within a mile from the portal, and when the Humans entered the IKEA to gather food, furniture, and supplies, they came across scavengers from the settlement.

After some debating, the Council decided to inform the people of the unknown settlement if they'd like to leave and join them.

As you can guess, they jumped at the opportunity to leave IKEA.

Now, there were one hundred and thirty-six humans in the Ark Settlement.

As for the thirteen thousand and eight hundred and four Mana points I had gathered over the past twenty-eight days, all of it has gone towards developing and creating the Ruins of Invictus outside the Dome, and I have been making some real progress.

The sheer amount of mana I had allowed me to add as much detail as I wanted to the ruins I constructed, and at my current progress, I can say that I am around...6% completion of the Ruins.

At this rate, it will take me a little over a year before I finish the ruins, but that's only if I do not continue increasing my Mana Generation.

My work has slowly been wrapping around the dome, as I planned on slowly revealing the outer 'World' hidden outside the Dome little by little, which will give me time to finish creating the city while also allowing the Humans to begin exploring once they can make it past the biomes.

I had once again changed the level range of the monsters so that the weakest would be closer to the Humans, while the strongest would be further away and closer to the ruins and the other side of the biome.

I did this because I did not want the Humans to skirt around the edge before I could finish.

...

Three more days passed, and I once again moved the portal, having decided that moving the portal once a week would be the best way to keep the attacks from the Staff controlled.

They slowly ramped up their attacks with each day the portal reopened, and I feel a week is the longest time the Humans can last against the Staff before casualties occur and I have to intervene.

The Staff noticeably don't provide much EXP, but even someone with a few levels on them is capable of taking on multiple staff at a time, with the Warriors and Mages able to on a small army of Staff with no problems.

As the Council decided, they moved the settlement closer to the western gate, leaving behind a lot of furniture that was later used to make walls to hold back the Staff.

Of course, the walls were not great, but against the Staff, they were somewhat decent, though I think they would fare much better if they actually used the wood they harvested from the Jungle to build an actual wall.

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The highest level among them was surprisingly Bright, who was an Aspiring Mage sitting at level 48 and only continuing to grow stronger the further he and his group delved into the Jungle.

Jay was not far behind him, sitting at level 45 as an Aspiring Warrior.

That wasn't all, however, as even Clair has begun helping with scouting out the Jungle, getting levels herself, and now sitting at a comfortable level 28.

They have also begun scouting out the other Biomes, but that has been a much slower process than the Jungle, as the other biomes were sometimes harsher than what the Jungle offered.

The Desert featured buried scorpions the size of a car, centipedes with acid that could melt through flesh, and snakes with venom that could prove lethal, and that was not even mentioning the scorching heat that made anyone who ventured into the dunes lightheaded and dehydrated.

The Swamp was filled with giant snakes, man-eating frogs, leeches, giant crocodiles, giant mosquitoes, and so much more. As it turns out, the Humans refuse to go back into the swamp due to the serious risk of disease or death from an ambush, which says a lot about the stealth of some of the monsters that inhabit the swamp. If Humans would rather deal with giant buried scorpions that can suddenly come from beneath their very feet.

Lastly, there was the Tundra, which featured a bitter, teeth-clattering cold that sunk into the bones of all who entered. It had many dangerous predators but also plenty of prey. Just like with the Swamp, the Humans were by no means prepared to fight in the blizzards that sweep through the woods that make up a large majority of the Tundra, nor the wolves, bears, and some other predators that thrive in the cold environment.

Luckily for the humans, they have yet to come across an Elemental. If they had, they would be dead.

The Elementals only continue to prove to be the strongest due to their near immunity to physical damage, which has made them kings of their biomes.

The Elementals only continued to grow stronger with each new animal or dinosaur that challenged them or intruded into their territory, and to my surprise, more Elementals began appearing with the Biomes, though they were few in number.

I figured the Elementals might fight, but they seemed to stay clear of one another, remaining isolated in their respective territories.

At this moment, there were seven Earth Elementals, four Water Elementals, Six Sand Elementals, eight Ice Elementals, five Air Elementals, and three Fire Elementals.

They did not fight one another, nor did the other Natural monsters, which confused me.

Surely, the Spirit Trees would fight one another to ensure they had the resources they needed to survive, but instead, it seemed any Spirit Trees that were near one another actually...connected with one another, forming some kind of root network in which they could share resources, such as water, nutrients, and energy.

I fear what they may be capable of once enough Spirit Trees connect with one another.

Will they form a gestalt consciousness or a hive mind? Or would they simply be independent yet work together when one is in need of help?

I wonder if the trees could evolve; surely they could if they have levels, though I wonder what possibilities exist for a tree when it comes to evolution.

Would they become a Treant? A Dryad? A tree of myth, such as a Wish Tree or the legendary tree, Yggdrasil, that carried all nine realms on its branches?

So many possibilities.

Of course, there were the Sprites, who remained quite low-leveled due to their pacifistic nature, though I noticed that they actually seemed to level up passively from mana and age, like the Spirit Trees.

Speaking of which, there were dozens in the Jungle, yet none of the Humans seem to be able to see or notice them.

They formed a kind of clan, even building a strange kind of village that was incredibly small in a tree.

Hmm...perhaps I could set the Monster Spawner to spawn Elementals or the Sprites? However, if I did that, the balance of power would likely deviate even further from where it currently is, as Elementals proved to be too strong.

While I debated with myself on various things to do, the Humans gathered for yet another meeting.

Meanwhile, inside the IKEA, two machines in an empty field could be seen fighting against a literal tidal wave of Staff while a small drone hovered in the air not far away, recording everything.