Gren paused his movements, confusion showing in his gait.

"What the fuck," he said aloud. He was baffled. This area was just mapped not two weeks ago. The conclusion was that the mana levels were middling, and yet, the mana levels of the area had risen enough to trigger that shitty device at his waist. It was as if...

The fucker was malfunctioning. There is no way mana levels could rise to such an extreme degree unless a powerful being died. This was the area known as "Soft Dirt-Planes," and the most powerful beings here would be the wargs straying in from the forest. Even that happening was rare. So the chances are of a powerful being dying here would be next to nil.

"So," Gren thought, "it must be broken!"

Except, all the parts looked quite in working order.

"It had to be broken!"

Except it still dung its dainty ding.

"Holy shit!" Gren said aloud, excitement displaying in his voice. He had come across a jackpot; somewhere in this forest was a corpse that may as well be made out of solid gold.

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I have been looking into the blueprint process, and it elucidated great findings. Specifically, I can modify the blueprints in any way I please.

The results of my experiments? A completely normal earth-worm.

No pincers, just floppy goodness. That set me to do some experimentation.

Specifically? The rabbits. They were almost useless combat-wise. The conclusion?

Thicker and more scales and a horn. Putting that into practice, however, was quite difficult. Adding the horn had been easy, as well as adjusting the scales. There was a problem, however.

The rabbit would likely snap its neck if it tried to pierce something. Scale rabbits are fast, just about as fast as a normal rabbit. But looking at the spine and neck of a rabbit, they are extremely vulnerable. If I were to create a rabbit without modifying the internals first, I would be essentially creating a self-throwing spear that breaks after use.

So I begun my work. Making blueprints, however, is difficult and time-consuming seeing as I have to form specific parts of the body to see how it functions. So, rather than waste any excess mana generated over that time I would just create small, inactive water stones as a form of mana banking.

And then I began to work.

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The "thing" did not know what it was. It had just been created, but, it was different from all it saw around it. Its siblings were soft and furry, with barely any scales. It was different, however. Much more different. Scales lined almost every part of its body, except its underbelly. And a bony like bump protruded from its head.

It felt powerful too, as if every muscle in its body could explode into action. It felt solid, as if it could move in ways its instinct would warn against.

And?

It was confused.

And so were its brothers and sisters.

They looked and sniffed upon the strange child the great had gave upon them. It smelt like them. Its under felt like them. Its tail was bushy, just like them.

It, however, was not quite them. It shared enough to be treated just like the other spawned, but, when it tried to follow one of its biggers it was grunted away.

And so it roamed by itself, feasting upon the great grass around it. In its quest to eat, it filled itself quickly.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

And once it was full? It roamed. All about the great hall it was born in. Every crack and crevice was ventured. Until it found the end of paradise. Two great stone paths, leading to mystery. It chose one at random, meeting a room even greater than its home.

It pensively moved in, its heart pounding as it traced the room predators. And, it spotted something. A two spiked floppy thing. In an instant of seeing the creature, it sparked an urge unknown to its instincts.

And it charges. Its powerful muscles exploded in a surge of energy, and it charged.

It was fast, sprinting a quarter of the room in seconds. Then, it planted its skull right into the creature, crushing it to death immediately. Whatever instinct had told it, was being ignored by the urge it was feeling. The thought not to fight and to charge was overridden by an unknown force.

And then, it looked upon the crushed corpse of the floppy creature. And begun to chew.

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Maybe making the rabbit an omnivore was a bit overkill. I mean, two sources of food would assist with the extreme amounts of energy needed to produce speed and power like that. But...

It kind of ruined the visage of "cute."

I mean, I already removed most of that visage in the first place when I created my horned rabbit. From a practical standpoint, it would mean a much more successful species. While mana can circumvent traditional nutritional needs, it also means mana is being wasted that can be used to grow. So this would mean faster growth for the species.

Natural armor and weaponry as well as a stronger spine and muscles meant that the horned rabbit could additionally serve as a strong hunter. And I guess that is what I need in the long term. Strong hunters.

And it still was still kind of cute.

I guess most species in the dungeon should be either omnivorous or pure carnivores, for practical reasons. So this is just the natural change that needs to happen. The insects already were omnivores, so I may as well make the rabbits just the same. It would be a good idea to have some normal rabbits as well, especially since creating a basic infant horned rabbit was about fourteen mana.

And, once I raise the horned rabbit population, I could lift the attack embargo on the regular ones. I already lifted it on Smidt, the first horned rabbit, just to start raising his combat potential. And so he didn't butcher creatures who could not fight back.

With that set, I moved onto my next two projects. Floor expansion and core mobility. I need to create a second floor. And once I create it, I need to be able to move there. Especially so since I cannot move myself. I had in mind a specialty creature. It would be a one off, designed from a beetle. Sixteen legs for stability, a large body, and a sphere-shaped place in his carapace to rest in. Additionally, I would take inspiration from a mantis, and give the creature scythe like appendages.

That would have to wait, however, as most of my mana needs to be spent on creating a sizable horned rabbit population. I formed ten, draining almost all of my mana. I then called over Floppy to the core room to help me dig out the second floor.

Then? Work begun.

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I was too ambitious to think a second floor would be viable at this point. I dug further down and came across a new, harder layer of stone. I think it's either marble or something similar. All I know is that Floppy can hardly scratch the stone and it takes almost ten times longer to dig this stone than the layer above it.

I did dig some, however. It's hard precisely because it's already been somewhat mana hardened. I guess erosion is less efficient with mana involved. That does bring some interesting thoughts, however.

Mountains here are probably insane.

It's not like I am seeing a mountain anytime soon, but...

It's still cool.

I guess I better add some more spaces on the first floor. Some natural water features might be an idea.

In fact, that is a great idea. I could carve off another path in the entry hall to a small pond. I'm sure if I leave water stones in the open to fill a pool adventurers may try and steal them. That's why I'll have several small underwater channels with water stones at the end.

And then... I'll put some worms in there or something?

I guess it's something to pass the time while I regenerate mana...

So, I ordered Floppy to dig. I myself would work on some more artistry. Specifically, with my new stone. I could create small chunks and carve them into... something. I am not sure what to make, but, it's practice all the same in more precise mana manipulation.

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Grendigory sweep-ed his fingers upon his recently drawn map. The area was last inspected two weeks ago when he passed by. Yet, for the life of him, he could not figure out where a powerful beast would choose to keel over. There were no natural surface caves in the area and it was almost entirely plains. How could he miss something so important?

In fact, the natural fauna should have attempted to find it too? To raise the overall levels enough to ding a jibberwockle would require a C+ beast at minimum. According to his timeline, the average C+ beast would release enough mana after a week of decomposition. To raise levels to the "low-middle" range that was detected would require at least that much.

Or, something far greater died here, with a fresher corpse.

"Oooh!" he said aloud, greed welling within him. Fresh monster meat...

High-grade mana cores. So much potential for money. Even if it was just a C+ monster, depending on the species, it could make him enough money to do nothing for a month!

But a B Rank...

Grendigory could only shiver in hope and glee...