Ozymandias presence loom over the mouse sleeping quarter. It was still sleeping. In the dungeon, the sense of time was vague as there was no apparent sunlight as it was underground. But Ozymandias could see the outside. As far as he knew, it had been two nights and a day since the mouse had fallen asleep after its fight with the corrupted rat. As of now, dawn was approaching.
The mouse had remain unchanged in its physicality even after its awakening. The only thing that physical change it appears was that the mouse had somewhat sleekier coat. Ozymandias also noticed that all its wounds had healed even the scratch over its left eye, leaving only faint scars.
Ozymandias connection with the mouse felt the same as with the other dungeon monster. In the first and second ring, he could only sense their physical sensation like hunger and pain and commanding them was hard as the dungeon creatures still relies on their instinct even when he directs them. Communication was a no go for creatures of such level.
After the third ring advancement only could he feel what little emotions and thoughts the creature had. As for command and communication, he had not initiated such things yet.
Ozymandias prodded the mouse with his mana. It's physical was in a good condition. His objective was the mana core. It was station near its heart.
Ozymandias confirmed that the mouse initial mana storage capacity was fifteen units of mana. It was more than twice the capacity of the first Scorpion, the creature with the largest initial mana storage capacity until now among his dungeon monsters. Mana storage capacity was different for different species and individuals. Scorpions ranged from four to five mana, Spiders at three to four, beetles at one and three and wasp at two to four of mana units in their initial mana core. No flies, ants or maggots had awakened a core so far and Ozymandias had also left said creatures after many failed experiments.
After checking in, he withdrew his presence from the mouse tunnel. There was another awakened creature he had not checked with mana yet. Ozymandias tab into his connection link with the spider. He wanted to try something.
"Come." The command directly hit the spider brain through their link.
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Ozymandias felt a myriad of emotions coming from the spider. Fear at first, then confusion and lastly calm. Having calm down, the spider came down from her web and landed before the core.
"Roll over."
The next moment, the spider flipped over with its eight legs curled up and its body rounded, rolling onto its back and exposing its belly, much like a dog would when asking for a belly rub. The spider's legs would flail about in a silly, uncoordinated manner as it rolls around.
"It work. I can command them properly now."
Ozymandias continued to give several other commands. The spider tried to do as he command but it did feel short on some.
Ozymandias also noticed that it's mana core had slightly gotten bigger. It was one-hundredth to its body size before but now it had grown twice its former size but not in proportion to its size as it still remains one-hundredth.
A third mana ring had formed, forming a outer circle and fainter than the inner rings, which had gotten much denser. The spider was the creature with the highest mana storage capacity in the dungeon. It had the base capacity of ten unit in its first ring, twenty in its second and a thrity-four in its third, making a total of sixty-four unit of mana in its mana core. Having checked her out, he let the spider to go up to her web again.
Ozymandias had nothing to do. In order to pass the time, he began to count the creatures in his domain. When dawn break, he had counted every creatures in his domain. Two hundred ants, give or take as these tiny creatures left and entered his domain every second, thirty-six matured flies, five hundred maggots and four normal beetles. His dungeon monsters counted at two scorpions, one spider, four wasps and a mouse.
His mana capacity had also increased albeitly and he was at full storage. Thus, he decided to experiment. He began to give his mana to the awakened creatures and the beetles the whole day.
When the sun set, the scorpions, who had advanced to their second ring already had awakened their third ring, the wasp were on their breakthrough and the four beetles had awakened their core. As for the spider, she had advanced but it was slow.
The newly advanced scorpions were about 3 inches long, having grew from 2 inches. Their exoskeleton were darker and thicker. Their claws were sharper, more like blades.
Ozymandias tried the same thing he did with the spider on the scorpions. They responded like the spider except for the fact that they couldn't roll over.
Having found out that he could advanced his creatures manually, Ozymandias decided to do that the whole night as well. Due to the constant supply of prana and better mana conversion, his mana storage was not at risk of getting empty soon.
That night, he spent almost half the mana he had in his storage but it was worthwhile. The Spider had gone into a cocoon again. The Scorpions had gone into their pits. The wasps had break into the third ring and the beetles were all second ring. As for the mouse, it was nearing its second ring.
But life always finds to teach a big spender in the harshest way......
When dawn arrive, Ozymandias felt something big approaching his dungeon. He look outside.
A foot long legless creature with black scales and a head that look similar to a Lizard was slinking through the sandy floor of the desert and it was heading towards the direction where the mouth of the tunnel that led to his dungeon was located.
It was a Viper.