The bearded dragon was back. Ozymandias noticed that the Lizard had trace of his mana in its body and the what little mana it had was hurtling towards its heart. The Lizard was in its initial state of forming a mana core.

  The bearded dragon had eaten many of the creatures in the dungeon and most particularly, dungeon monsters that had created cores. It's diet for the last few days has hastened the formation of a mana core.

  Ozymandias had thought that the Lizard will never revisit his domain again due to the fright he had given the creature with his sudden outburst but it seems the creature was too slow witted and gluttonous to heed the danger. In the end, it was a particularly a good sign for Ozymandias.

  "It's a win for me." Ozymandias thought snugly. He did not realize about the consequences of this particular strain of thought of his.

  That night, the gourmet of a Lizard ate the remaining two mana cored beetle monster and even a recently mana cored beetle, leaving behind only four normal beetles in the domain when it left. It didn't attack the two scorpions, who were hiding in the sand, the double-ringed spider who was hiding in her web above Ozymandias' core and the three single-ringed wasps as they had made their homes in the roof of the den.

  If Ozymandias had sent his monsters to fend off the Lizard, he felt that he will have lost most of them. It was a good call on his part. Moreover his control over his dungeon monsters were not particularly good. The dungeon monsters did not have heightened intelligence so when he did command them, they often acted on their instinct and did not completely understood his commands.

  The current dungeon monsters had no particular traits except for their bigger size, a little increase in the potency of their poisons (as seen from the fight against the corrupted rat) and the mana core in their body as well as their species' traits. So they would have been useless against the bearded dragon.

  Ozymandias had grasp the truth behind the bearded lizard fire breathing ability. There was a special sac store between the windpipe and the oesophagus. The sac contain an unknown red fluid which ignited upon contact with air. This fluid was the source of its flame. Also, it seems the Lizard was pretty fire resistant.

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  Even though the Lizard had costed him dearly, Ozymandias did not wallow in despair. It was a good investment. The beetles were of no use to him currently. It was not good at fighting nor did any creatures preyed on them because of their sheer size and hard exoskeleton. The beetles were not at the verge of extinction either in his domain. There were lots of eggs buried under the soil, which he had been carefully nurturing. Something tells him that the beetle grubs were a better source of food than maggots for his creatures.

  Ozymandias looked into his mana storage. His storage capacity was increasing but he was not near for another ring to appear. The first ring remained the same at 200 units but the second ring had increased to 400 in two days. Currently, he had 457 units of mana in his core. Upon ascending to a double ring, he was able to gather prana and refined them into mana more easily. He still hadn't figured out how his mana storage expanded but he had a hunch.

  He noticed the spider above him had cocoon itself. Something was happening. The spider half the size of Ozymandias' core, which was the size of a dove egg.

  Ozymandias prodded the cocoon with his mana. He realised what was going on. The spider was about to awaken its third core.

  It was just like the first time the spider created its first core. That time, it had cocoon itself and felt asleep. When it emerged again, it had moulted, albeit bigger than before and looking more refined than before.

  However, the phenomenon had not occur when it's second ring was created. He cannot say for the spider as it had already advanced to the second ring when he awoke but he had noticed the time the deceased double-ringed scorpion advancement.

  As time flew by, the spider began to squirm under the cocoon. It seems like it's body was expanding. After what seems like eternity, the spider emerge out of the cocoon, leaving it's moulted husk behind. It had grown twice its size, equalling the size of the dungeon core. It's carapace looked darker and shinier. No trace of hairs remain in its body. It's eyes gleamed with a newfound intelligence.

  Ozymandias felt a newfound connection with the creature. He could sense what it was feeling and read it's thought. Right now, it was hungry.

  Silently, the spider landed on the ground with the help of its web string. The spider was acting strangely. It had never hunted proactively before instead prey on insects that got trapped in its web.

  The spider caught a juicy maggot with its mandibles, piercing into the maggot and began to suck on its juicy inside. The spider, having drank it's fill from the maggot did not retreat back to its web. Instead, it's many eyes landed on one of the coreless beetle. The spider turned around, its rear facing the beetle.

  Ozymandias was no longer surprised at the next thing that happened. From the rear end of the spider, web flung out directed towards the beetle. The web slung across a distance of about a foot and landed on the beetle like a net. The web was thick and sticky, trapping the beetle instantly.

  The spider rush towards the trapped beetle and wrap it up into a cocoon with spider silk. With its mandibles, the spider lifted the cocoon which was its own size and took it up to its own web.

  As the spider reach its web with the cocoon, Ozymandias felt a new connection.

  The mouse had created its own core.