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Chapter 48: Using Panels to the Extreme
🕑 Added 2021-11-07 07:12:12 +0000 UTCYes, the Core had gone on the offensive before. Multiple times, really, each bringing death and destruction for both sides. Mainly the Queen’s however, which did prove the experience to be a good one. The losses on both sides might have been something, yet the strategic advantage gained by it was quite substantial. The near-hundreds of ants killed had delayed the Queen’s efforts to attack by a huge margin, other methods used to distract the Core instead. The horde of undead would have liked been ordered to attack the Entity directly instead of the small group of ants if not for the offensive approach taken.
But that wouldn't hold much anymore. As was obvious by now, the Queen had likely already considered that the undead had failed in their attacks. And with the diversions being a failure, the [Queen of Hollows] would likely go in the previous approach again, simply killing all the ants instead of trying to use them as time-bombs. This meant that the Core wouldn't truly get anything out of continuous ant assaults other than losing precious resources. While there was still a chance that a level three or four could be created, it was very unlikely that the Core would be testing out those chances, fearing the risk if it was wrong. The idea of losing creatures with nothing to gain from it was… excruciating. A waste of resources was just that. A waste.
This was why the Core had updated itself into trying out a new type of strategy. Since ants wouldn't survive the ordeal of attacking the Queen's colony, the Core would be forced to do that itself. Which… begged the question of how it was going to do that. It couldn't move around much, after all, still forced to live within the domain that it had created for itself. If beyond the walls, no sight would be had.
But the way that the domain was created was the exact thing that would allow it the power needed to move. The domain was a barrier not handled by the Mana sent out but by Panels of Mana already in place. By positioning in different ways, always making sure they were tightly put together, it allowed the Entity to have a wall where everything within was a part of its domain. It allowed freedom by constricting the movement of Mana that it owned, stopping it from rooting around and becoming so thin in density that the Core couldn't use it for anything.
And those Panels… there was no real limit with them. With time and effort, everything could be filled out. Larger areas took more time, sure, but the small ones with a width barely more than a centimetre or two were so easy to fill and make that there was nothing that needed to be thought about while doing it. The potential pressure on such small lines was minuscule and allowed the Panels around it to be just as pitiful. While the Core hadn't exactly used this concept before, it certainly would do now, having found the perfect use for it.
Long-distance searching. Or maybe it would be better to call it a Sonar of sorts where the origin point was already stretched out a lot. The Core hadn't figured out a name for the method yet but was sure that something would be thought of before long. Until then, there was still the ideas that came with it. What would the Entity possibly use this idea of thin lines for that could send out bursts of Mana at the ends? Well, it would be using that method to figure out the exact location of the Queen's domain.
If there was anything bad about the ants being sent outside the Core’s Domain, it would be the lack of ability to observe their comings and goings. There was previously nothing that could allow the Entity to see what was happening outside, pretty just making it blind to the world's current happenings. With the use of the thin Line-Sonars… no that was a stupid name. With the previously mentioned method of searching, the Core would be able to constantly keep an eye out on the ants. And maybe not even use them, the ability to manipulate areas close by its domain helping it havoc through more personal means.
What would happen if the Ant Queen’s roof suddenly collapsed? Would the creature be able to react in time or would they be smashed to nothing under the weight of hundreds of tons? Or maybe the Entity would even be able to kill the creatures under the leader or maybe even learn the secrets of the [Runic Language] or…
There were a lot of things the Core wanted to try out when doing the project, many things that it hoped that it would be able to achieve. In the meantime, the actual creation of the line was still something kept in concept, more in-depth ideas needed to be made first. The thing that needed to be thought of above all was how the line was meant to locate the Queen’s Colony in the quickest way possible. Would it just go a random direction and hope to find it?
No, of course, it wouldn't. The Core already knew the general direction that the colony was located in and could therefore point the Line in that direction. Sonars would be best for after the first two hundred meters and then every fifty after that. It would allow for the smaller burst while also making it possible to make sure that an actual amount of Mana got through.
Because that was one thing that needed to be thought about. One of the benefits of the thinner lines was that they held very little Mana and would therefore not need much in the Panelling department. That left the Entity with the question of how it was hoping to cram nearly a hundred Mana-Points worth of Mana into one place in the line without it bursting open instantly.
The answer to that was rest stops. Places where the line would widen up into a larger sphere, more than able to take up the required Mana. It would have more dense Panelling around it, yes, but the amount of work required for that smaller spot was so much better than widening the line itself, the costs of simply adding one more centimetre to the radius being more than the Core needed or wanted to think about. There was much to think about and the Entity was barely getting started.
So the first sphere would come after two hundred meters. After its use, would the Core then dismantle the creation or leave it there for the future. The Mana required to make it could be recycled and speed up the building process but it could similarly also bear the risk of leaks and that the dismantling process itself could take more time than what would be saved by doing it. There were a lot of minor details that needed to be optimized.
But, thinking about it more, the spheres were allowed to stay in place. In an emergency where the lines were too filled up, it would be good to have areas where the Mana could be forced into without it blowing up in the Core’s non-existent face. And a large sphere would actually be quite the idea to have if side-lines were ever created, meant in a way where the lines would split up into multiple. There was a lower chance of finding it straight ahead, after all, and the Core would perhaps need to make a few turns now and again.
But to supply those parts with the same levels seen before, the Core would need to either widen the original line or reinforce the Mana-Panels to make sure they would burst, which would highly increase the… things were getting another layer when the idea of multiple lines in one came around. But they would be needed and the Core needed to think about it more. The costs of such things would increase but the act of only having them before the split would… not be incredibly bad. And since that would happen early on to not leave empty spots, it wouldn't be too bad.
The rate at which the Lines would need to grow seemed quite hard to figure out at the start, making the Core wonder if it just needed to think about something like that later on when the actual schematic began to unfold itself. Creating a thick line early would bring the risk of just wasting time if it turned out that the first direction was the right one. And expanding the line didn't seem too complex to do, though it would certainly take a while. But… not longer than it would take to make the width as large, to begin with, which made the searching more efficient the longer it went on. Some alterations would be hard later on, but the Core was relatively sure that modifications could be restricted to the first two hundred and fifty meters, the split after that likely taking most of the requirements away further on. Though that would also mean that the sphere would need to be bigger than the other places to accommodate for the more openings.
Then came the question of what angle the new openings needed to be at if there needed to be the idea of adding five in that single sphere or just two more later on with each of the new tubes if they didn't prove sufficient to finding the colony either. And then it just grew into a large problem when the Core considered the idea of the layer beyond that not being able to find it either, causing a fractal-like creation to start to form inside the Core’s mind. Not that it wanted to question why it knew what a fractal was, making it just-
No. Wait. It very much wanted to know what a fractal was. Trying hard to hone in on whatever part of its mind that knew of that word, it pushed as well as it could yet found noting. The word itself was just there one second, leaving no trace of its origins. The Core should have expected something like that, it supposed. Not every new word from memories would lead it onto a journey of self-discovery and a large sum of points at the end.
However. Getting back to the idea of lines, the Core thought that it had a good enough idea to start. Or… maybe not, now that it had a moment more to think. Where in its domain would it start it from? That was a question that could be answered by answering another question. Where in the Core’s domain was there the least amount of caves in a specific direction? If the Core wanted to go in the direction that intruders had come from, which height would be best if the Entity didn't want to come into contact with empty air.
Because empty air would likely break the whole operation. The requirements for making panels on anything other than solid material was more than just hard, and having a whole ten meters just hanging in the air would leave it unstable. Much less would it be if any magically attuned creatures came by and decided to open up on the line to feast upon the energies within? The Core more than understood the implications left by that and how annoying it would be to fix since it would likely force the Core into diverting the line far away from that placement.
Which was why it was best to let it all remain in the stone, packed between tons and tons of material that would have to be moved before anybody could access the meagre amounts running through the Core’s Domain. At that point, any creature powerful enough to both locate and dig a hole through the ground to feast on the Energy more than just deserved it. It would be a whole class above the Entity, able to kill everything in its path. Any creature able to dig more than five meters into the ground with no hardships attached could decimate everything and anything that the Core had built through its life.
Which made it even scarier to think about when the Core absently started thinking of names it had never heard before, names of creatures that were more powerful than anything else. Squids able to drown towns bears able to topple nations, and a snake that could grow long enough to bind itself around the world… all just seemed to exist. At least that’s what the thought inside the Cores head said, though it had never been proven to be totally accurate. Inaccuracies could happen from time to time and the Entity most certainly hoped that this was one of them. The thought that some creatures were larger than their entire domain was a frightening one.
But also one that had to accept, the fear of them not helping anything. By doing nothing but stiffen at the thought of danger, the Core did nothing but help it grow and fester. Inaction was the same as failure, the lack of a reaction to danger meaning death most of the time. And while that hadn't happened yet, it sure would if it continued being scared of powerful entities. It needed to fight, needed to fight with the idea that it would win. Thinking that one would lose before the fight started only meant that its outcome was already decided. And it wasn't in one’s own favour.
The Core needed to make sure that it expected its success in the long run. Going in with the idea of losing did nothing to help but going in with the expectation of winning brought the fighting spirit needed to take the final steps. Wondering about what secrets could lie everywhere, wondering what dangers every step had by them did nothing but cause a lack of reaction. The steps needed to be taken, else it would all grow to a standstill and the Core would simply succumb to the lack of motion. Progression was the only way forward.
Having found the answer to a previous question, the Core decided to have the line begin at the inner part of the New Room. It was nearly ten meters below the cave system above, making it more than possible to use for a good while. Bursts of wide-shot Mana hadn't shown many caves down by that level in the needed direction, making it more than possible to use for two hundred meters or so. Anything beyond that was pure guesswork, though. Yet the Core would get to that when it needed to. For now, it would work without the boundaries possible and simply begin to dig forward.
Opening up a small part of the wall down by the New Room, the Core began up the process of destroying rock. Meanwhile, it also decided that calling the New Room the New Room was very problematic in the long run. New rooms would come around in a lot of numbers soon, the actual count likely able to go into the tens or even hundreds with time. When the time came where expansion was required for the creatures to live there, the Core would more than just create a new room or two. It would make one for each of the races just to make sure that their living conditions were ideal to promote growth. And that meant that a lot of New Rooms would be named.
Hence the need to name them before things got out of hand. Already, one of the two current ones had a name, the first being the Main Domain. It was the main domain since the Core already lived there specifically and had nearly all of its operations inside there. Nothing really happened outside of that sphere, though that made sense since there was plenty of space to use. The removal of the Moss had truly done the Entity a load of good with that.
Yet that didn't leave the other room with a new one. It needed some way to be identified later on and the Core didn’t want to be forced into using numbers. Calling room number one and another room number two and so on and so on would prove more than a little annoying after a while. Numbers might prove useful later on when some rooms came to have a similar or identical function but that wouldn't be agreed on just yet. For now, The Entity needed a unique way to refer to the new room.
What was inside the room? Stone and dirt, mainly. Not the most outstanding features seeing as every else also had that. More places than it was originally supposed to, actually, since a certain variant of [Giant-Ants] couldn't stop themselves from throwing their new skin around so much. But, nonetheless, it wasn't a distinguishing feature and therefore not important to current needs.
What about functions? That couldn't be the same at all. The Main Domain specialised in defending the Core and also allowing for testing to occur within its walls. While that was also true for the new room, there wasn't much reason to test anything inside there. The whole floor was covered with Moss, making it hard to do much without having the risk of damaging that foilage. Instead, that part of the place was more focused on making sure that the allies coming in were safe and sound.
Not in a health-related manner. The status could be seen quite easily with [Appraisal] and didn't really need an entire room for that. No… it was meant in a more hidden Mana. Walls and set isolated mini-corridors had been set up as isolation rooms for returning creatures to make sure they weren't infected with any Black Mana which could damage everything. It was something of security checking place, made to make sure that nothing bad came in.
Security room. A great name if it didn't sound so bad. While it technically described the main function of the room, the Core felt like it could do better. Maybe something like an airlock, an… The Core didn't really need to think more, already knowing that the first new one was good enough. It functioned a lot like an airlock, making sure nothing bad came in and out. The Airlock Room? Or maybe just the Airlock. And the Entity did need to change the ‘air’ part to something else. Manalock? Energy lock? Both sounded dumb but the first was better suitable.
The Manalock. A room where creatures were briefly locked inside a sealed corridor to make sure they weren't bringing in anything which could cause harm. A great and easy way to think of it. How the Core was sure it would use that name a lot.
Anyway. The wall in the new room seemed to have buckled under the manipulations, allowing for the tunnelling to start up. After that, it was easy enough. Panels were created, not too much Mana put anywhere. With so tight a space to fit into, the actual process was much faster than anything done before, ten whole meters dug in before the Core even knew what was happening.
And it only sped up after that. Ten meters were over with before the Entity even knew it, the small requirements for the creations quite something. Yes, the speed at which Mana was sent in was quite worrying, the Core perhaps thinking it would have to use a different transportation approach later on due to the possible strain on the Panels. Yet that was ignored when it became clear there was nothing to worry about. As long as the speed and consistency were upheld, no errors were had and the process was allowed t continue unheeded.
The first hundred meters went by like that. And the Core loved it, knowing that a simple design was allowing for so much. Who knew what would happen later on? Certainly not the Entity itself, lest it would have likely stopped at that point, happy with what had been found.
