Floppy ate... something. I don't know what. While I was thinking of my next move, it seems he dug something up. And ate it. Now, all I can see is a spew of fire from his mouth and his pained wriggling. I have no clue what is going on.

This is totally not good.

Breaching my mana into his body, I get a general feel for what is happening. His internal organs are liquidizing. They are literally melting. Whatever he ate before he started to spasm has raised his internal temperatures to an extreme level. I think he is dying.

I won't let that happen, however, so I begin probing my mana into his organs, I attempt to reform them. But...

They are already reforming on their own. What?

I probed further, searching his entire body. Inside him was some sort of invasive red tinted mana emerging from a stone he managed to eat.

An elemental stone! He must have eaten a fire charged elemental stone. That doesn't explain why he is changing so suddenly. I continued to watch inside of him, specifically at the stone. It is getting smaller.

It's being integrated into him. I can see it burning out all of its mana into his body. Its an extreme amount, a much higher level than the water stone I absorbed. Shit!

Too much mana and 'boom'!

I need to drain some mana before that happens...

But...

I don't know if that is something I can even do!

Shit. Shit. Shit. What do I do when I consume things directly?

Ah, fuck, he's wriggling even more. Think. Think.

What do I do? I turn material into raw mana, than absorb-

No... That wont work. He will just be consumed.

Fuck. Fuck. Oh Fuck fuck fuck...

How did I add mana to him again... maybe...

Shit, he's already being way to overloaded. I can't think anymore, I have to try this.

Doing the opposite of what I did when I provided him mana, I pulled mana from the link in between us. It was...

Slow. A very slow drain. Just like I cannot pour in a huge amount neither can I drain the same. Shit...

I can't just ease out the mana. I need to rip, tug, and pull. Tugging at the connection I pull at it with my mind. With the directed focus, the drain rate increased. However, it wasn't to a point of confidence.

I can only hope its enough.

Fuck. It better be enough...

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Floppy has changed. And survived. I suppose I should have mentioned that first but...

I am a little bit more baffled by the change. He has grown, doubling in length and adding some centimeters to width. Several spines line his body, sharpening his appearance. And then there is the ashy carapace that surrounds his body, with small glowing embers dotting his smokey visage. Each fades in and out as he breaths. He is monstrously beautiful. I'm a bit proud, but, if I had a heart it would have suffered several attacks.

He is currently sleeping, obviously exhausted. I am not sure HOW he is breathing, however. As far as I understand, worms breathe through the mucus on their skin. Looking inside him, I see little holes dotting his body. They rapidly open and close, sucking up air deep into his body. There are hundreds of them.

Honestly, it amazes me. His birth as a pincer worm, then his change to something I had been referring to as a "Grotworm," and then finally to this is baffling. Mana blows away all biological conventions of evolution, making hundreds of thousands of changes in mere minutes.

What a power. If I had hair, they would be standing sharp as a blade.

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Oh! He just did some sort of sneeze and a puff of black smoke came from his mouth.

Fuck he's cute. I don't think anyone else would see him that way, however. I guess he has the looks only a parent could love. More specifically, the looks only a negligent parent could love.

I am a fucking idiot. Making him dig with the orders of "Just don't hurt yourself," is absolutely stupid. I am absolutely stupid. In the future, I need to think through my decisions and stop throwing about whims. I am attached to my monsters. I have already sent some to their deaths...

Maybe that is just the nature of dungeon monsters. Their purpose is to die to defend me. I mean, aside from curiosity, that's why I created floppy. As a pawn to be thrown away to protect myself.

Am I so vain?

I mean, they would never exist without me. And if I no longer live-

Or exist-

They would have never experienced life. Do I owe it to them, to sacrifice themselves in the name of further life?

I don't know. I just don't know. My knowledge of "Dungeon cores," from games and fiction is limited. People invade for treasure and experiences, and the stupid and weak die and pass on their essence. Could I watch my children be butchered, all in the name of the children who could exist later?

Fuck. Death is inevitable, right? If it is in the name of life, I guess I will have to defend myself.

I don't like it though. I, however, would be stupid to assume whatever is outside of my hole won't be able to destroy me. Defend my children by defending myself. I guess that is the best plan I have right now.

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The first thing I did to begin my grand plan was to summon more creatures. Thirty pincer worms ready for orders. I observed then, and, chose five of the liveliest ones out of the bunch to receive a steady stream of mana.

Thirty mana down and my passive generation would be stunted until they grew into grotworms. Spending another twenty-five, I summoned a large fist-sized water stone and placed it near myself. This would fill my core up and defend me as I planned.

With my mana pool drained and its growth stunted, I moved to something that would cost very little. All the dirt walls of the dungeon were converted into stone. The walls specifically were a foot thick, and extremely hard. It seems sustained contact with mana on stone solidifies it, causing it to be even more durable. It would be a problem to dig out for everything except myself, seeing as how I can convert my own creations back into mana extremely easily.

If I were to assume, before I consume stone I claim it, then absorb it. I guess that is likely why it takes much longer.

Anyways, with all the walls of the dungeon now solid stone, aside from a small amount of dirt left near the entrance for camouflage, I moved to spread a thick layer of dirt on the ground. The whole floor was covered in it. My remaining five mana went into spreading as much grass seeds throughout the dirt as possible.

And once that was finished? My mind collapsed into a rest.

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I woke up to myself buried under two feet of water. I proverbially stretched my arms and begun to look around. The water stone had been working well, slowly filling the five-meter pond. I am not sure if I am going to disable it once it gets to the slope part of the other five meters, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

Continuing my look around, I noted the abundance of short, thick grass. It was almost uniform, ten centimeters tall, and almost completely spread about the dungeon. Now, while looking through the grass I noted a deficiency.

Of worms. I could only sense connections to eighteen worms, rather than thirty-one. Floppy was fine. He was still sleeping, but a lot more lightly. Checking the others I noted the five worms I selected to become grotworms had evolved as expected.

But...

I counted more than five grotworms. There were six grotworms. Five pristine, un-scarred worms. And one battle-hardened worm covered in many pincer wounds. I almost instantly started referring to that guy as "veteran."

There was something I didn't account for when creating the worms. They were omnivores. And cannibalistic.

Neat? I'm not sure why I don't care about them killing each other. I cared about floppy's potential death but...

Not this? Perhaps it is some sort of dungeon instinct to allow development. Or I am really just apathetic to every creature but floppy. Probably the former.

Continuing my tour, I noted the surviving, un-evolved worms would feast on the grass. These guys were pretty versatile survivors.

Double neat. It seems like I could create some sort of basic ecosystem, and fill in the blanks with mana. I guess I would also receive some extra energy from what little sun and moisture that comes through the entrance!

For now, though, I need to widen the diversity of species in my dungeon. I am certain other insects have entered while I was not noticing, so I need to be perceptive on that part.

While I wait, however, I could do some experimentation!

Call me stupid, but I am just a little bit enamored with floppy's evolution. And I mean...

I do have access to a mana stone recipe for experimentation...

And a perfectly good, battle-hardened grotworm...

At least I could control the circumstances for an evolution this way. And potential prevent future heart attacks.

Fuck it. I must be a mad scientist at heart if I am so stupidly doing this right after floppy's incident.

I won't be stupid with this, however. So, I began by pouring a grand total of three mana points worth of mana into creating a small water stone. I then ordered veteran to come as close to the pond as possible, just in case.

Next, I ordered him to eat the stone. And...

Nothing happened. I sense his mana levels went up a small amount... but...

Nothing. So, I spent a whole ten mana on a water stone. I then ordered him to eat it once more. And...

Nothing once more. What the fuck? Veterans mana levels rose, more than the previous stone...

Yet nothing?

Fuck this. Go big or go home. Spending a whole forty-seven points on a fist-sized stone I ordered him to eat it.

And then promptly passed out from mana exhaustion.

I am an idiot.