He extended his hands, summoning the mana orb from his inventory. In an instant, the shimmering sphere appeared, dropping gently into his palms.
Once again, Jake was momentarily mesmerized by the stunning display of magical energy swirling and dancing inside the sphere. The glow emanating from the orb was so intense it flooded the basement with bluish light, washing over the walls and banishing the shadows that had clung to every corner.
Jake focused on Mana Core, the skill he had learned some time ago. As soon as he issued a mental command to use it, a system message popped up in his mind.
You are about to use the mana orb to create a Mana Core. Be advised that using the mana orb for this purpose will render it unusable for personal gains. You won’t be able to extract any mana from the orb, as all the mana contained within will be used solely for the sustenance of your lair, feeding all the structures and developing creatures.
A certain amount of Biomass is required to create the Mana Core. If you don’t have any stashes of Biomass, the necessary amount will be drawn from your own vitality, leading to a reduction in your health points.
If you do not wish to lose any HP, you can process Biomass manually. By processing Biomass manually, you can gather the required amount and transport it to the designated location of your future lair.
Cost: 10 Biomass (–10% HP)
Use the mana orb to create a Mana Core: Y/N
The influx of new information was a bit overwhelming. He was on the brink of a thrilling new venture, which filled him with excitement. However, that excitement was tinged with a hint of fear as well because uncertainty often accompanies the unknown. His gaze returned to the last few lines of text, absorbing the details once more.
It seemed he was going to lose one-tenth of his HP. However, the text mentioned that if he wanted to avoid losing any health, he could manually process and bring Biomass—whatever that might be. The problem was he had no idea what it meant. He was in the very early stages of creating the lair, so everything was new to him, and he didn’t quite understand how everything worked yet.
Since he had no clue how to process Biomass, his only choice was to accept a loss of health. This likely meant some damage would be done to his body. He wasn’t sure if the HP loss was permanent or not. If it turned out not to be, it wasn’t a big deal at all, considering his body’s regenerative abilities could heal any damage he sustained pretty quickly.
Jake paused, a swell of doubt washing over him. What if the damage was truly permanent? The thought of living with only 90% health—down from a pristine 100%—worried him a bit. It meant his body would be more vulnerable to the attacks of his enemies.
In the end, he decided that a permanent loss of 10% HP wasn’t all that much. Even if the loss was permanent, he could live with that. So he thought, “Yes.”
Immediately, something began to happen. At first, he couldn’t quite understand what exactly was taking place. It seemed that his body was shifting or changing. He thought he was transforming into some new form. It was strange because the text hadn’t warned him about anything like that.
A moment later, he realized he was wrong in his initial assumptions. He wasn’t actually transforming. Instead, it felt like his flesh was pooling on his back, chest, arms, and legs. As he continued to stand still, holding the glowing mana orb in his hands, he sensed something moving along his body.
A moment later, he saw several lumps of flesh creep down across his shoulders, along his lower arms, and then toward his cupped hands holding the mana orb. One of the fleshy lumps reached the backs of his hands and began to stretch down, forming a slender stem.
Other lumps merged with the stem, making it thicker and longer. Eventually, it reached the floor and attached itself. More and more lumps of his flesh detached from his body, merging with the stem to reinforce it. Jake also noticed a pool of black substance, formerly his flesh, spreading outward about three feet around the base of the stem, where it connected to the floor.
Several additional lumps of his flesh slithered down his lower arms. Unlike the earlier ones, these didn’t strengthen the stem. Instead, they adhered to its top, forcing his palms apart. They then climbed up the mana orb, enveloping the bottom half of it.
No more lumps of his flesh detached from his body. The process seemed to be complete. Jake realized that since the orb was now connected to the stem, there was no need to hold it anymore. He carefully pulled his hands away from the orb, ready to catch it if it started to fall. Yet that didn’t happen. The mana orb was now securely attached to the top of the stem.
Jake took a step back to examine the strange creation formed from his flesh. It stood about one and a half feet tall and resembled a stem approximately two inches wide. Its base was attached to a solidified pool of black substance that expanded roughly three feet in diameter on the floor.
The top of the stem resembled a large flower, its fleshy petals snugly wrapped around the bottom half of the mana orb. He knew the orb was heavy, and the stem appeared too thin, yet it was seemingly able to hold the orb without any trouble. The stem was as pitch-black as his body, which wasn’t all that surprising, considering it was crafted from his own flesh.
Suddenly, a system message popped up in his mind.
The Mana Core has been formed. +10 GP
The following creation has been unlocked: Larvae.
Jake kept eyeing the pitch-black stem before him, known as the Mana Core. It swayed gently from side to side like seaweed underwater. Before summoning its description, he decided to check something else first.
He lowered his gaze to examine himself. He had definitely lost some weight. Certain areas of his body now had less armored flesh, leaving him more exposed and vulnerable to attacks.
Still, it wasn’t all that bad. He felt the mana inside his body actively working to regenerate the lost flesh, indicating that the loss wasn’t permanent after all. Some of it had contributed to the Mana Core, but the body mass he had just lost was already returning, and his HP was steadily increasing.
He returned his full attention to the Mana Core and with a thought, called up its stats.
Available structures: None
Available creatures: Larva
Evolve to Rank II: Not Enough GP
After the Mana Core is evolved to Rank II, the following structures will be available for creation:
Alright, Jake thought, looking at the Mana Core. Let’s see what this all means.
The Mana Core’s stats still hovered before him. He decided to check each line for more information.