Hindrance, Concept

What Lan observed on the surface was that when it once again became dark, wolves came back around. This time they brought back some friends.

Now, a total of 16 wolves were approaching the herd of deer quietly. Some of the wolves looked starved and emaciated, with ribs being visible. Others still bore not yet healed wounds. It was obvious why two separate packs joined forces. Because otherwise, they would die.

The newly evolved deer were not caught off guard this time, however. Whether by virtue of enhanced perception or experience of the past encounter, they were already wide awake and on guard, gathered into a defensive circle.

Although the wolves held a numerical advantage, the deer were now stronger than any single wolf. Even a single Greater deer could kill a wolf one-on-one not to mention Steelhorns and the Lightning Horn. 

In the end, there were 16 wolves against a Lightning Horn, four Steelhorns, and eight Greater Deer females, with males once again being the outer circle of the defense.

The wolves did not keep themselves waiting. The black-furred beasts again paired up during the attack, forming 8 pairs. One such pair executed their tried-and-true tactic: attack from both sides, aiming for a Steelhorn. This time, however, this did not go well for them.

Once they started running, out of their expectations, the Steelhorn took the initiative. It quickly moved with speeds surpassing those of the wolves, taking them by surprise, running its horns through one of the predators, cleanly piercing it, and then throwing the mortally wounded wolf with a shake of its head.

The other wolf, which was pouncing toward the Steelhorn's side during this, did not succeed in its attack, missing the Steelhorn entirely, and then being kicked with the hind legs of supposed prey, crushing its neck and skull. To say the least, it didn't have a chance of survival.

Such scenes were happening all over the clearing, wolves that were aiming for the Steelhorns being pierced and crushed, some even being torn apart.

And the unfortunate pair which targeted the Lightning Horn had it even more badly. During the initial charge, arcs of electricity quickly converged on Lightning Horn's antler tip, then forming into a lightning bolt and shooting towards one of the wolves. Without even a chance to react, it was turned into a burnt corpse.

The second wolf managed to partly dodge the subsequent charge of the Lightning Horn, however, its side was grazed by the still electrified antlers, paralyzing and sending the wolf tumbling to the ground, helpless. It wouldn't get up from the ground ever again, as it was finished off with a stomp of Lightning Horn's stomp.

Lan, who was observing the battle, noticed an abnormality in mental mana though. The amount of mana that was generated during the battle, and particularly during the wolves' demise was large, however, less than half of it was actually absorbed by the Core.

Closely examining the flow of it, Lan found the source of the problem. Mental mana was actually actively dissipating while it was pulled down, and while it moved quickly on the surface, it was slowed down when passing through the ground. While it was passing by through the underground tunnels though, it was once again pulled along without much trouble, moving through the routes leading closer to the core, and then once again worming its way through the dirt and stone.

Lan was left without much time to ponder on it though, as he felt a feeling of intense panic through one of his mental connections to the deer, and then the said connection dimmed down to the point where it was almost invisible.

Looking back to the surface, he quickly found the source of said feeling. One of the Greater Deer was in the end taken down by the fortunate pair of wolves, which were somehow successful in their attack. And now, they were dragging the corpse back with surprising agility, seemingly not slowed down at all.

They were the only fortunate ones though, as the rest of the wolves who were not yet dead, quickly met their end.

This battle ultimately ended in the herd's victory, massacring the assailants, but Lan was not that happy, as one of his claimed Greater Deer died.

The annoyance quickly turned to puzzlement, however, as the mental mana of the deer, which was pulled down to the Core already, was not absorbed, instead flowing on the surface of it, not dissipating, maintaining its integrity.

Lan tried to move it, and it was freely under his control, just like his own mental mana. Not yet sure what to do with it, he left it alone, the Core once again examined the surface.

Most of the herd was intact, with only one Steelhorn having superficial scratches. It would seem that their defensive capabilities were greatly improved during evolution.

While Lan was scanning the rest of the domain, he came across a peculiar scene. That pair of wolves did not leave the area completely, instead devouring the corpse of the Greater Deer on the spot.

Examining it curiously, he noticed an interesting detail, the mana contained in the flesh of the Greater Deer was flowing into them with the consumption of it. And when they split and devoured its' heart, an intense surge of mana flowed into the pair, healing their wounds, and strengthening them, not dissimilar to the evolution process. They no longer looked starved, but now their fur was lush and full of vitality, the animals had even gained in size.

'While this came out of the blue, this must be an important part of the local ecology. One can evolve through the consumption of flesh, and herbivores must have a way to gain mana too, probably through the consumption of mana-infused plants. The prey eat plants and slowly gain mana, predators consume the prey, and if prey manages to kill the predator, then the mana of the killed is slowly dispersed in the surroundings, thus yielding mana-infused plants.'

'And while it's nice knowing this, how to apply this remains to be seen...'

While he was thinking of this, quite an obvious idea popped into Lan's head. If the wolves were in his domain, why wouldn't he claim them? Acting on the thought, he focused cycled mana onto them.

As expected, the mental link was immediately established. And the fact that Lan now had both large predators and prey under his control, gave him some more new ideas.

'I already had the idea of establishing an environment of conflict, now it seems all the more feasible. But, I will be wasting a major amount of mental mana if I were to carry this out on the surface, as mana will be lost during transport...'

'And the fact that the majority of my domain is underground remains. It's settled then. I will make an underground world, where every living being will be fighting for its survival!'

Immediately acting on it, Lan quickly focused on the newly gained mental mana, noticing that his Core had grown to 51 cm in the process, enlarging his domain once again.

Once Lan focused on the surface, he arrived at a dilemma: Where exactly to begin digging down?

Thinking that just a hole in the ground, while looking pretty bad, is also prone to flooding during rain, he thought up a plan.

The plan was to rise up a hill in the middle of the clearing, and then to start digging from the side of that hill, making a cave leading downwards.

Starting up the plan, Lan first commanded the deer to move from the center of the clearing, in order not to bury them. Then, he began focusing on earth mana, tugging on it, pulling it out from the depths and up.

With a slight trembling of the ground, which startled the herd a bit, the ground started gradually moving upwards, as if it was there was a bubble of air below it.

By the time it slowly rose to the height Lan planned, which was ten meters above the ground at its' highest, he still had around half the mental mana remaining.

Already knowing where to use it, he slowly began carving an entrance in the base of the hill, slowly carving the way in.

The sun was already rising when Lan finished digging. The finished product was crude, Lan admitted it, but it was only the beginning.

For now, the entrance looked like a circular hole in the hill, which then led to a relatively large but short corridor, only two meters in length, which led to a large and spacious chamber with a spherical ceiling seven meters high and a floor which was mostly flat, but a part of it that was near the wall opposite the entrance was tilted downwards as if leading to a tunnel, which was not present.

'Welp, quite ugly and unnatural-looking, but it is a start. I would've done more if I hadn't run out of mana... I'll improve it later. For now, let's welcome the first residents!'

With that said, he commanded the herd of various deer to move inside. Soon the 'cave' welcomed its first dwellers.

But this was a humble beginning of something far greater.