《Core》 Chapter 1 I couldn''t believe it. I died, like in a web novel or corny TV show. I was overtaking a truck on the highway on my way home from work when the straps holding the steel loaded on his trailer snapped as they started to fall. Right on top of me. The next thing I knew there were steel bars bouncing around my car. Then the ground and sky blurred together as I felt a sense of weightlessness, with everything from inside the centre console floating around me. The last thing I saw was an upside-down tree before everything went black. I raged over my death, screaming and ranting about anything and everything I felt was responsible, myself included. Then I drowned in sorrow and regrets. I had more than a few of those, and all were of things I could have done better. After all that was acceptance. So what if I could have tried harder? So what if I could have gone to university? Or get a better job? It didn''t matter now, nothing did. I lived, I did nothing. I died, it changed nothing. Everyone in the world would carry-on fine. Probably only a few hundred people would hear about it and less than half would care. As I began to relax and let myself drift off in this endless dark I felt something. Like a small tug at my attention. Then like someone or something was dragging me along. I imagined it was like being sucked into a vacuum cleaner. As I was being pulled along to god knows where I finally saw something other than darkness.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Installation of System and related Memories will commence momentarily
After reading the words written in the void before me I felt pain. It was as if someone had hit me over the head with a brick hard enough to stun but not knock me out. Then came a rush of memories that I was sure weren''t mine. Memories of plants and creatures I had never seen before. Languages I had never heard were repeated endlessly in my mind to the point I could understand them and probably hold a short conversation. Sensations washed over me in a flood till they felt as natural as breathing. Then information about a range of topics so vast it was like I was forced to read every book in a library till I could recite each book word for word. When it was finally over I could see more words in front of me. I was tired but managed to read them just before I fell unconscious.
Running System Check... Conscious Thought Detected Applying required System changes Chapter 2 When I woke up it was still endlessly dark, but there was a sensation of being bound and under a large amount of pressure. Not to mention I had the mother of all headaches. Floating in my vision were the words from before. Somehow I knew I could dismiss them with a thought and recall them just as easily. I also could understand the language they were in despite seeing it for the first time. Pausing for a moment to compose myself, I called out ''Status'' in my mind. With a flash of sharp pain, the words before me changed.
Type: Dungeon Core Size: 1.0 ¡Á 0.5 ¡Á 0.5 Color: Colorless Rank: --- Rank Territory: --- Mana Generation: 9.3 per min Mana Retention: 3.73 per min Current Mana: 387.92 Divine Artifact Tool made for the Generation and Dispersion of Mana - Ether Conversion - Matter Conversion Dungeon Core A Construct that changes its surroundings and makes use of monsters and traps to defend itself - Perception - Language Comprehension - Creation Skills available Crystal Body has a crystalline body structure - Slash Resistance - Pierce Resistance - Blunt Weakness Sentient Capable of own thought - Extra starting race of own choice - Creatures spawn with basic instincts - Resistance to Mind magics - Bonus perks available Reincarnated Soul Possess memories of past life/lives to draw inspiration from The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. - Resistance to Soul magics - Customization Skills available Spoiler: Spoiler Ether Conversion (A1/P) - Matter Conversion (A/P2) - Mana Dispersion (A1/P) - Perception (P) - Language Comprehension (P) - Create Terrain (A) - Modify Terrain (A) - Create Creature (A) - Create Flora (A) - Implant Soulstone (A) - Create Item (A/P3) - Create Custom Creature (A) - Create Custom Flora (A) - Evolution (A/P?) 1: can increase or decrease, but not halt, when activated. Incurs a cooldown based on duration active for (Ether Conversion can only be increased) 2: can only convert foreign non-living matter passively if it is untouched for 1 day (26hours) 3: can only passively create Drop Items up to an equal rank of the creature killed, creatures corpse is immediately converted into Mana in the process 4: can only passively evolve creatures/flora when they meet certain conditions for a lesser effect Spoiler: Spoiler Slash 20% Pierce 20% Blunt -20% Mind 20% Soul 20%
I really hope it gets easier with time, it feels like I''ve just been kicked in the temple. After waiting for the throbbing to dull a bit, I read it through a couple of times to be sure I had a pretty good grasp of it. According to the System, I was a Sentient Item. Not even a race, but an Artifact. A rather tiny one at that. I wasn''t too keen on the fact I was a glorified mist machine of the Gods, but I suppose there where worse items I could have been. Judging by the effects of the Traits ''Sentient'' and ''Reincarnated Soul'' I could guess I was somewhat special. It seemed that Dungeon Cores were run by a form of AI-type programming instead of actual intelligent life. They had preset commands and limited reactions to situations. Essentially just a build maze, fill it with traps and creatures, kill all that enter and if all else fails, bribe with loot. Rather basic really. Chapter 3 By now the headache was beginning to subside, thankfully, making it easier to continue. The Skills were kind of self-explanatory by this point, and what ones weren''t the System Memories that were hammered into me (for lack of a better term) explained to an extent. Ether was a natural energy that permeated the world in a similar way as air only physical barriers didn''t affect it. Sentient Creatures could absorb a small amount and convert it into a usable Mana but the efficiency was so low it was pitiful. Ether was also harmful to them in larger amounts. By contrast, a fatally large amount for them was a drop in the pond for me. Since more than half of the mana I generated was released to the world, if I didn''t produce a decent amount in the first place I''d never get anything done. The reasons why were a little vague. I guess since a Dungeon Core is technically an item they didn''t really need that info. I could infer from my new memories that Raw Mana was easier for Sentient Creatures to make their own, as such I assumed it was the work of a God trying to help them. The rest were rather straightforward with few exceptions. They allowed me to build, populate and manage my dungeon. A normal Core''s creatures were essentially golems. They stood around like statues until a perceived threat came within a certain range of them. The only way to improve them was to insert a Manastone into them and let them evolve passively. A Manastone would give them a stripped down version of the cores own AI, it was an expensive process so it would only do it to a couple of them and use them as bosses. It could also allow them to leave the dungeon for a limited time without a large drop in ability or dying straight away. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. What that meant for me with my peculiar traits lineup I wasn''t sure, but I assumed my creatures would end up with some semblance of sentience with basic instincts. And that was before I used a Soulstone on them. Soulstones were a significant upgrade from a Manastone. From the little I had, I knew that with a Soulstone creatures could stay outside a dungeon for much longer and as long as their Soulstone was inside the dungeon they could be resurrected. What they would do for me I had no real idea, I could guess a little but that''s it. Evolution was normally a slow passive process the dungeon would have no control over past the creatures environment. And my traits have given me access to an active version with greater effects. I had no doubt that it will be difficult to use though. Same with my custom monster skills. The System didn''t give any real info on its limits other than what I can perceive. Huh, perhaps I should have gone to uni after all. Chapter 4 Reviewing my mana, it has been close to two hours since I ''awoke''. Deciding to get it over with in one hit, I brought up the System messages that I ignored earlier.
Random Race assigned Small humanoid with a diminutive horn, vestigial wings and long tail. Mischevious, manipulative and cunning but physically inept, even inferior to goblins. They rely on their intellect to see them through most situations, if that fails, they always have an escape plan. Despite being demons they aren''t inherently malevolent and are subservient to those they recognise as superior. Highly adaptable and capable of evolving into other demon species. Strength - 2 Vitality - 3 Agility - 4 Dexterity - 4 Intelligence - 5 Wisdom - 3
While I didn''t know the exact difference between each point, or how they affected the individual. I did know that a lvl1 human had an average of 8, with some difference based on their lifestyle. Imps barely made it into the iron rank with an average of 4.2. Being 60cm tall with reddish hued skin they weren''t exactly the most intimidating on creatures. They were rather apt as a dungeon creature, however. A dungeon could give them more complex instructions with less strain on their own processing ability. I had discovered that as soon as they were assigned as my starting race, I inherently knew that they were viewed with scorn and judged in a case by case matter. Seen as an intelligent rodent by most races, even other Demon species saw them as expendable fodder at best. Moving on as another headache began to throb, I looked at the last message.
Due to your Trait ''Sentient'', you have been granted an additional race Please select from the following categories - Beast - Slime - Demi-Human - Undead - Elemental
I immediately ruled out Undead and slime. Undead as I didn''t know the world around me and couldn''t rule out that they would cause some church to destroy me as part of a Crusade, I was nervous enough about having Imps. Slimes I ruled out as they were considered as the weakest by many stories and games from my world. There were a few that had slimes evolve into grossly overpowered creatures, but I didn''t know if this world was one of them. I decided to play it safe. That left Beast, Demi-Human and Elemental. The Elemental category contained only Golems and Spirits so I ruled that one out as well, golems I viewed as a detriment due to their inability to take independent action and spirits would take too long to raise to a useable level. Imps could fight, barely, from day one and Spirits generally couldn''t affect the world around them. That left Beast and Demi-Human. Thinking that if both my races could communicate and work together would be best, I looked through the Demi-Human tab. The length of the list was astounding. There were many that I recognized such as goblin, kobold and harpy and much more that I didn''t. It became apparent rather quickly that Demi-Human was a catch-all phrase for anything with intelligence and humanoid features. Going through the list and then narrowing it down by removing ones I didn''t like for various reasons, I was left with these.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. - Gnoll - Harpy - Kobold - Sahuagin Sahuagin were reputed to be extremely aggressive, not just to others but even amongst their own family. Cannibalistic and ritualistic, they would weed out members of their society that didn''t meet a standard. They bred in large numbers and had voracious appetites, viewing others as only a food source. At this point I was leaning towards removing them as they would essentially wipe out any other species. I also didn''t have much knowledge about under water ecology so it was probable I wouldn''t create a suitable habitat for them. Kobolds were descendants of dragons and what they considered ''the lower races''. They were extremely powerful, territorial and prideful. Having the potential to evolve into drakes and eventually dragons, they scorn anyone not of draconic heritage but will live alongside them. If an individual or group they don''t approve of tries to settle within approximately a weeks walk of their villages, they will match on it in full force and raze it within hours. Although things would be rough between them and the imps, there was great potential for merging demonic and draconic bloodlines. The downsides were that would take an extremely long time, and I doubted there pride would allow them to live under the heel of a dungeon. Leaving them as a possibility, I looked over my last 2 preferences. Harpies looked like teenage girls with wings, talons and tail of birds. They were social creatures, moving around in large flocks. Though they required males of other species to breed, they practiced monogamy and mated for life. The partner of a Harpy was seen by all as a member of their flock. Extreamely territorial of their nests, and only laying one egg every few years, they would never forgive someone who harms their eggs and young quite often spent decades hunting the perpetrator. A task made easy with their eidetic memory. They were, however, rather gullible and easily mislead though the chances of the same trick working a second time were very minimal. Another possibility, and a better one than kobolds for the moment. Gnolls, however, were not well known and about the only thing I heard about them were they could be savage when roused. Even the System stated that even the mindless and unfeeling undead would hesitate before striking at them, as provoking one group would cause all packs to unite and strike with a savagery unimaginable of sentient creatures. They lived a tribal life in packs and were primarily scavengers first, hunters second. They were said to be rather adept at tool making and traps. My mind was pretty much set from then on, though I decided to look through the beasts section just incase. Though there was everything in there from fish and their monster variants, through everything I had ever heard of, to loads more I didn''t. One entry even sounded like a certain extremely hostile alien species out of a Si-Fi series. And although there was a lot there I would have liked that would allow for the same achievements, Demi-Humans had ''utility'' that beast races lacked. I made my choice, followed by a mental curse as I blacked out again.
You have selected Demi-Human > Gnoll Gnoll - Aard Sub-Race Assigned Gnolls of the Aard species are typically shyer than other Gnolls. This is due in part to being the smallest species of Gnoll, and in part due to not needing to be as aggessivet to acuire their dietary preferences. While mainly feeding on insects, they will also eat small game if they catch it. They are territorial and live in small family groups with around 2 - 3 pups at foot. Once the young mature, they leave to start their own family group within the same general territory. Unlike other Gnolls, the Aard are more comfortable in forests and swamps than the plains and ruins there larger cousins seem to prefer. Strength - 9 Vitality - 8 Agility - 12 Dexterity - 14 Intelligence - 5 Wisdom - 6 The following species are being committed to core memory -Demon - Imp -Gnoll - Aard -Fauna - Local Unranked -Flora - Local Unranked
Chapter 5 Once I was aware again, I decided to make a habit of checking my mana levels before did anything else.
I wasn''t the best at maths but I guessed I hadn''t been out of it for as long this time, less than a quarter of the time in fact. Barely able to contain myself as I felt I was finally doing something, I began to focus on Modify Terrain and my suroundings. Stopping myself at the last minute, I decided to use Matter conversion instead. I discovered that it would automatically use the mana it converted to claim the space it freed up. I decided to leave any rocks that contained precious stones or ore. Leaving them cost more mana to claim but after I could move them around my territory at an almost negligible cost. The more common ores were distributed at ground level with copper at the front and as they went towards the back, tin and a couple of iron veins. The rare ores were along the rear most walls at varying heights. If someone came to mine them, they would have to work for it. One ore I placed almost exclusively on the ceiling: a rare combination of lightstone and electrum often called Dawnsteel since it gave of light similar to the sun at dawn and generated a small amount of heat. Incidentally I also found one called Duskiron that was a mix of moonstone and mythril, there wasn''t much and I quite liked the look of it so I fashioned a holder for my core from it. That it would draw Ether towards itself was an added bonus. Since it measured my territory in volume claimed not area covered, I made it roughly oval with a somewhat domed ceiling with the highest point at the back. Starting halfway around the edges of the room I made several smaller caves with very small openings between 30cm to anound 1m connected to the main room at uneven intervals and heights. In the larger caves I made freshwater springs fueled by ambient mana that would flow through the connecting tunnels without blocking them completely. The smaller caves had small pools along the edge filled by runoff from the larger ones. In the main cavern, the small streams would collect into 3 rivers meeting in the middle of the front half of the room to form a deep lake. In the bottom of the lake I placed a single vein of Dawnsteel causing small amounts of mist to rise and form small clouds above the back of the cavern. Using the lakeside as a divider, I populated the front with small bushes and the occasional small spindly looking tree. After the lake the trees began to be closer together and changed into larger, healthier looking trees. The bushes also changed to more fruit bearing varieties.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. In the center if the middle river, I placed a weeping mulberry tree that I altered to collect various energies including ether, life and elemental into its fruit. I then lightly scattered seeds and spores of all the varieties of herbs and fungi the system gave me before boosting the growth of all plants. Altering the Mulberry had given me an idea, so I boosted it''s growth some more till it was around 150-200m wide and hollowed out as much of the trunk as possible without killing it. Inside would be a more trap and puzzle focused area like from an old game I played as a kid in order to protect my core. It would also lead to any future floors I made. In all, that had cost all the mana from converting the space originally and around 12,500 of my own. Nearly half of That was spent on the mulberry tree alone and another 2,000 on increasing the plants overall growth. Using the last 14,000 I started populating my forest. I started with all number of flying and crawling insect that would survive, making sure there was an abundance for my Gnolls. Then I moved onto small animals like mice, rats and rabbits. I placed a few pairs of each in the smaller caves along the sides, implanting the knowledge, hopefully more gently that the System did to me, that though they could freely enter and leave the main cavern as they wished and that the other paths were strictly off limits. I then repeated the process with small lizards. The larger caves were housing the larger mammals such as foxes and deer. Observing them for a few moments to gauge the limits of their sentience, I was somewhat surprised. Though they could take care of themselves, it appered as though they had no sense of danger. Foxes just walked right up to rabbits and mice with out hiding and one by one carried them off. Picking one pair of each animal I decided to give them a manastone without designating an anchor point. Imeadietly most started to corral the rest of their kind back to the vicinity of their caves. Those that didn''t paired of and avoided the rest of their kin. Scattered around the main cavern I spawned some boarlike creature with thick, rough scales like crocodile. They also had a second set of tusks and unlike a regular boar, both sets butted downwards before one set curved around the front like a mammoths. The System called them a Western Plains Boar and said they have high strength and vitality but the lowest mental attributes of all creatures. First I changed their scales from a red and tan pattern to an dark, mottled green on their protruding scales With a lighter olive green on their softer undersides. Then I worsesend their eyesight and sharpened their tusks. Afterwards I decided to give a stone to each of them after which they became increasingly territorial to each other. A few even picked fights with rocks and trees. Having ran out of mana I decided to practice actively boosting my Ether Conversion until I had enough for my Gnolls And Imps. Chapter 6 Rousing from my semi-meditative state, I give a mental yawn and stretch. At least without a body, I don''t get a stiff neck for resting weird. Deciding to see how productive it had been, I braced as I mentally called ''Status''
Type: Dungeon Core Size: 1.2 x 0.7 x 0.7cm Color: Colorless Rank: Iron Rank Territory: 2.25km3 Mana Generation: 18.6 per min Mana Retention: 3.72 per min Current Mana: 16,934.5
Surprisingly, it was little more than a brief flash of pain. I could get used to this, with time. Moving on, my status has changed a little since I had last viewed it. It now showed the size of my territory as well as my rank. It seems I had also grown a bit. Not much, just 2mm in all directions, but for some reason I still felt happy about it none the less. Having forgotten about the bonus perks from my traits, I decided I better look into it. But first....
You have Impressed Arianne the Godess of Forests with your creation of the ''Great Forest Boar'' As a reward they have been raised to Iron Rank and she has given you her blessing Increased growth of plants Increased fertility within your territory Your creations unlock Nature Type abilities easier Related to the Plains Boars family. This particular species has been designed by a dungeon to better survive in forests. Clears deadwood and overgrown areas promoting new growth. Extremely territorial and will slash with it''s sharpened tusks at the slightest provocation. Has terrible eyesight but a sense of smell second to none. Strength - 8 Vitality - 10 Agility - 7 Dexterity - 3 Intelligence - 1 Wisdom - 1 Please choose from the following -Soul Manipulation -Dungeon Instances -Auto-Spawn
The Godesses blessing was an unexpected, but very welcome gift. One I was sure to make use of with the way I had been setting up my creatures. As a bonus the boars also went up a rank. Their size also increased by about 20%. Now they whieghed in at around 130kgs as apposed to around 110 before. Their scales were rougher, and their tusks were more wickedly curved coming to a deceptively sharp edge. They also had a greenish tint to them. Studying it, they seemed to contain trace amounts of copper so the colouration is likely from oxidization.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. For the perk I chose Soul Manipulation. Instances weren''t really necessary for my at this point in time, and the auto spawn wasn''t really useful since I had somewhat sentient creatures with increased fertility. Soul Manipulation didn''t really do much at this point, not only allowed me to perceive and perheps touch a soul but not really influence it. If I practiced enough though I could manifest a projection for moments at a time. Perhaps even bind souls to objects like I was. Not that I was planning to do it to others, I just figured it was a method of getting my own body. Leaving the multitude of ethical and literal issues of that train of thought behind, I decided to get on with it. Starting with the imps, first I increased their height to an average of around 120cm for females and 135cm for males, effectively doubling it. Next I increased their hair growth to human levels and removed a horn and centered the remaining horn to their hairline. Rounding out their face a little in order to keep an angled look while removing wrinkles got rid of the perpetual sneer and gave them an exotic look. I increased the size of their wings and corresponding muscles giving them limited short range flight. Lastly I changed their skin tone from a bright red to a coffee colored tan. All in all, the changes to the race cost nearly 10,000 mana. Spawning 6 pairs, since soulstones cost 100,000 mana each, I just gave them all manastones instead. Leaving the Imps to themselves, I moved onto my Gnolls. Since I used most of my mana on the imps, I wouldn''t be able to make any large changes to them. Thankfully, there weren''t many things I wanted to change. All I did was make their coat sleeker (more because I preferred it that way though I reasoned it would be easier to take care of), and the colors a little darker in order to blend into the forest a bit better. I also wanted to make them more naturally curious but I didn''t want to take away their shyness. Eventually I found a balance where they were curious but extremely cautious. A trait that I was sure would serve them well. Since the modifications were extremely minor, I spawned another 6 pairs with manastones for a total of just over 4,000. Stepping back (metaphoricaly of course) and observing all of my creatures, I noticed something that I missed earlier. The of the 2 deer I gave manastones to, only the buck had a herd while the doe was off on her own. Taking a look around, every other group animal every other herd or group animal was the same. The male leading and the female on it''s own. Unsure what the significance of this was, I decided to leave them for now and just made sure to remember to look in on them later.
In a forest thick with shadows and mist, a hooded figure knelt before a lightly glowing pond. Beneath their hood bright green eyes seemed to glow with their own inner light as they stared at the image reflected in the still waters, a slight smile on their lips. The threadbare rags making up their robes rustling slightly as the stroked the oversized boar with scales reminiscent of moss covered rocks. "And so the wheel turns again. Perhaps the two of you shall meet before long, Little Core?" A young, clear voice drifted gently from her lips. As she turned a manastone in her free hand, one could notice veins of crimson slowly dyeing the sky blue crystal purple. "But what other interesting changes will you make in the meantime, I wonder?" The woman giggled as she looked at the slowly changing stone in her hand. Chapter 7 Over the course of around a month, though I could have sworn it was longer, I alternated between boosting my ether conversion and tweaking the growth of the forest in several places. As such I now had an upper level consisting of entwined branches throughout the entire forest with cliffs and ledges and the occasional cave around the walls. I had also grown out the floor plan of my tree. It started as a large open room with a large hole in the centre floor and a matching hole in the roof with a walkway leading out to the middle of the hole. I had plans to make the centre an elevator of sorts that could only be used after certain things were done on each floor. Using this as a template I made two floors above this one with the same general design, the only difference being the direction the walkway originated. For the 4th floor, I made it half the size with a solid floor. I had plans to use it as a miniboss room. I then made 3 basement levels with the lower 2 around the same format as the boss room but different sizes. The 2nd basement floor was made with the same width as floor 1 to 3. The lowest level was made half the size again and contained my core. I intended to make it so that the elevator would only access my core room is if it was operated by my Imps or Gnolls willingly, without any coercion. I withheld my desire to continue onto the puzzle rooms for 2 reasons: 1. I wasn''t sure how to make them work. 2. The method of remodelling the interior of the tree was to manipulate it''s growth as I fuelled it with mana. It was a method that was becoming expensive rather quickly with ever diminishing effect. I decided to give it a soulstone and see if it could manage some of the details on its own. Gathering my mana, into a point within the upper section of the trunk, as I only hollowed out the lower half of the tree, I activated my soulstone skill with the intent of making the tree the Floor Boss. For the first time in a while, I got a system prompt without viewing my status.
Soul Forming... Soul Bonding to Host... Refining Host''s Consciousness... Estimated Time Remaining 52 hours
I went to leave things to run their course when I paused. It seemed that not all the system-relevent information I had was accessible from the get go. It seemed i had prerequisites to fulfill before I would have a lightbulb moment so to speak. Putting a hastily constructed plan into action, I hurriedly placed torches on all of the floors in my tree except my core room. Following that, I immersed my conscious thoughts into the soulstone and, for lack of a better term, uploaded my floorplans and trap descriptions to it with. Meeting resistance from the forming mind I spent mana to power through it.
Anomalies Found Purging... Analyzing... The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Directives Found Assimilating Directives... +5 hours Estimated Time Remaining 56:47:21
Taking a (figurative) breath I looked at my mana and froze. It had cost me 7,000 mana and it was still draining it as fast as I could gather it. The last thing I saw as I blacked out was a message saying I was under the effects of Mana Burnout.
Waking up in a rush, I checked my mana in reflex and cursed. Mana Burnout was still in effect, and would be for some days to come.
< Mana Burnout> Forces user unconscious for 1 day, more if mana is still being channeled, and halves mana generation and retention for 1 week Consciousness Refinement 4:47:18 Mana Burnout 7:25:59:57
Unsure how to feel about this, as discovering that my spur of the moment idea cost me 10,000 mana. I also discovered that some of my active abilities were locked and would remain so until the burnout passed. I had also been gauging the time wrong. The seconds, minutes and hours were the same as earth, but the length of days wasn''t. As for months and years, I couldn''t tell yet. Thinking of how I could have done that better, I had a look over my dungeon. My rodents had given birth to one litter and were about to have a second. The boars had paired up and had between 1 and 3 piglets a pair while all the deer had a well established fetus each. Thinking this was too fast, I looked through my traits, perks and skills until I found the cause. Arianne''s blessing, on top of a boost to nature-type abilities and fertility, it also has an unlisted effect that causes minor adjustments to the gestation period depending on the creatures personal strength and environmental conditions. Looking over the rest of my creatures, a saw that the lizards weren''t far off of having their clutches while most of the snakes had a ways to go yet. Except the rodents and deer, most of the creatures without manastones had died off in accidents or encounters with the boars. I was rather surprised by the fact that although the remaining foxes were two separate mated pairs, they were using the one den while the males worked together to provide for their females. But what had caught my attention were the kits, 2 of them stood out from the rest. They weren''t a different species, just a variant. Instead of grey like their parents and siblings, one was a mottled green and brown while the other was black with red highlights. Both were larger than their siblings by being half their size again, despite the fact that they were drinking less. They also seemed to be growing slightly faster than their siblings by about half a week or so. Making a mental note to check on them again once their eyes were open, I moved on. Observing my gnolls, I saw that they had paired off and kept to themselves but still came together often in a large tribal sort of gathering. It seems that these gatherings were to discuss resources, threats and problem solving methods. Listening in to their current meeting I learned that they were facing a food shortage as the pregnant females needs were increasing. The problem was only so much they could gathered at a time, and their hunting methods couldn''t take down large or more plentiful game. Enough for 1 mother-to-be but not for 2. I watched one male that wasn''t present at the current gathering. As I watched he would dig through the undergrowth and fallen leaves, when he found a scorpion or centepide he would bite of the stinger or claws then hold them in his other hand and keep digging. Occasionally he would trek back to camp and give his catch to his partner along with any birds eggs he found low enough to grab. After watching him for a while I noticed that he wasn''t catching enough for the both of them. I may have left my creations to their own devices, but doing nothing when I know about the problem leaves a bad aftertaste in the Ether.