Lan had to reinforce the walls and the ceiling before beginning to do any modeling in this chamber. The standard compression of them would not suffice at sizes this big.

'Come to think of it, this chamber is quite big to still be called just a 'chamber'... I think 'Floor' would be more appropriate. The first two still remain chambers though... Maybe I could collectively call them 'entrance'? Sounds good enough.'

Following his thoughts, Lan named them as such. The first two chambers would be the entrance, a 'tutorial' he supposed. But the ones following the third, as each one would be bigger, would be called 'floors'.

After that, the Core continued reinforcing. It was a tedious process, repeating the same action over and over: Use mana to reinforce and wait for mana to recharge.

Meanwhile, the first floor, with the abundant mana stimulating the growth of all things, was gradually being covered in vegetation.

Among said vegetation, mosses, mushrooms, and various underground lichens were not the only 'native' plants anymore. And it was because of Lans' further digging that it happened.

Earlier, when the floor was being dug out, Lan didn't pay much attention to various ores and curious things underground: He simply had no need for them, as he could probably create them with the help of earth mana if the need arose.

However, certain things useful to him were resting underground which he missed. Fortunately, they were compressed into the bottom of the Floor, otherwise intact.

As for what those things were, they were fossils.

Plant fossils to be precise. It was quite obvious that if he continuously dug down, he would find things long buried underground. This thought never occurred to him, however.

As a result of all this, mana was now being infused into long-forgotten fern fossils.

At first, nothing happened, but then, as if a spark of life was lit by mana, which then turned into a raging fire of life. The stone-like surface cracked, and tiny green sprouts burst forth, rapidly growing.

They quickly enlarged, becoming the size of bushes, some even growing further to become akin to towering trees.

In the end, the floor ended up looking kind of weird, half of it giving off a cave-like feeling with mosses and lichens, and the other half giving out the impression of a jungle.

Eventually, Lan noticed the peculiarity, much to his surprise and delight.

'And I was just racking my Core for ideas on how to make something different from the entrance. Who would've thought that a jungle would spring out of nowhere... All that's missing is a tiger or two. Not that there are any in the forest though...'

Just as the Core was thinking this, a wave of panic and terror could be felt from multiple of his mental connections on the surface. This distracted Lan and prompted him to immediately look upward.

Even before he saw the situation, while he was getting closer he felt a big mental presence inside his domain, the amounts of mental mana radiating off of it comparable to the Lightning Horn. And it was not connected to him obviously. Which also meant that the intruder had quite a developed intelligence.

As Lan's attention finally arrived on the surface, it didn't take long for him to find the source of the disturbance.

A large... Cat was moving from the edges of his domain with a brisk pace, a half-eaten corpse of a fox lay behind it. How it managed to consume it so quickly remained a mystery, however, as Lan was given no time to ponder, for the predator was walking straight toward the entrance to the underground.

The cougar, as Lan finally found the resemblance to an Earthen animal, soon stepped through the entrance, right into the first chamber.

All small living beings skittered away into their burrows and hiding spots. The residing wolf couple, however, could afford no such luxury, standing on guard side to side, their pups behind them.

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The cougar already noticed them, both sides locked gazes. The tension was palpable.

This day would not be the last for the wolven pair, however, as the intruder spared them only a single glance, continuing to move forward to its' true target: a place with more mana.

While the inhabitants of the first chamber could be said to sigh in relief, the big cat already arrived in the second one, moving out of the tunnel, and cautiously moving through now more apparently present vegetation.

It didn't take long for it to come face to face with a second group of potential foes: The deer herd that was settled in this dungeon from the very beginning.

The Lightning Horn, Steelhorns, and Greater Deer were already alert, seemingly alerted, perhaps sensing the unease of other dwellers of the underground, perhaps owing to being connected to the Core as well.

The herd was previously grazing near the central pillar of the chamber, soft light illuminating their surroundings from above. But it didn't take them long to assemble themselves into a formation, not a circular one this time though.

Instead, they assembled into three rows, Lightning Horn at the front, followed by Steelhorns and Greater Deer.

The cougar, emerging from the undergrowth, was immediately met with the fierce gaze of the herd's leader. Recognizing a strong foe, the feline tensed its' stance and yowled threateningly.

It was at a severe disadvantage in numbers, however, it was far stronger than any member of the herd, except maybe for the Lightning Horn. The stalemate did not last long, however, as arcs of lightning gathered on the tips of the Lightning Horns'... Horns in response to the threat and a lightning bolt is shot out soon after.

While it previously had a record of killing a black wolf instantly, the cougar was not so easy to fell. As soon as the horns lit up, the cougar as if sensing the danger, immediately sprang into a dash, moving forward and to the side.

As expected, the bolt missed, leaving a charred patch of grass. On the contrary, the cougar was near the Lightning Horn, right in the melee range.

What happened next, was an exchange in a matter of moments.

The cougar, carrying its' momentum, attacked from the side with its' claws, aiming to slit the Leader's neck.

The Lightning Horn reacted quickly, lowering its' antlers, aiming to both defend its' neck and repel the attacker. However, it didn't react quickly enough.

While the head wasn't fully lowered, the attack already arrived, tearing a claw mark across the Lightning Horns' face, turning half of it into a bleeding mess.

While the cervine was in intense pain, unimpeded, with a burst of strength, it quickly moved forward and using its' horns, tossed the predator over itself, as the feline hadn't yet moved away after attacking.

Although not impaled or seriously wounded, the cougar flew over the Lightning Horn's back, and behind it.

When it was still in the air though, the Leader of the Herd hadn't yet finished his attack.

Without any chance to dodge, it was wide open to a kick of hind legs that arrived with the force of a sledgehammer.

The feline was flung further through the air with much force, slamming into the central pillar, the herd quickly rearranging themselves away from it.

As the cougar fell to the ground, it quickly got back up, disregarding the fact that several of its ribs were broken, and its' spine was almost snapped. The evolution granted it impressive resilience though, as after receiving a normally lethal attack, it could still continue the battle.

As such, no side remained unscathed during the first exchange, both trading blows.

As the predator glanced over the herd once more, having fully understood the Lightning Horns' threat, it searched for an easier target: the Steelhorns.

It quickly dashed away once again, a lightning bolt landing where it was just a second ago.

Avoiding the Lightning Horn, it dashed past it, sweeping towards one of the unprepared Steelhorns. This time, it didn't have time to react.

The feline claws tore through the Steelhorn neck with close to no resistance, leaving the animal no chance of survival.

As the predator with bloodied claws dashed away from the herd, the mortally wounded Steelhorn fell over. Noticing this, the Lightning Horn let out an enraged bellow.

Its' horns seemed to shine as an even larger amount of mana converged on their tips.

Without leaving a chance to react, an even greater lightning blot tore through the air towards the cougar, being even faster, even bigger.

As a result, the cougar was hit, being blasted backward with a yowl of great pain.

The dust soon settled, and the result was shown: The cougar was still alive, albeit barely, its' side charred, blood dripping from it, the predator was breathing heavily as it got up with great difficulty.

Such power didn't come to the Lightning Horn without a cost though, as it now swayed unsteadily, as if about to fall, being completely exhausted its' mana.

In conclusion, both sides' main battle power was down for the count, but the herd had a great advantage in the form of well... The rest of the completely fine deer.

Realizing it won't succeed in its' hunt for the first time in its' life, the cougar quickly escaped, with as much agility as its' injuries allowed.

Since it could not win now, it could only come back stronger, and that would only be possible if it was still alive.

The defeated predator ran in the direction of mana instinctively, which turned out to be the tunnel to the newly finished first floor.

Lan though was bewildered at the whole situation.

'...I was joking that the jungle needs tigers y'know...'