Aside from the pond which I tried to make as natural looking as possible I also laced a few berry bushes. Then I used another camping set to create a camping spot between the entrance and the pond. Before I would be worried about people spending to long but now, I have faith that by the time most divers get that far Clyde's party will be able to forcefully evict them if they linger too long. Not that I'm in a hurry to reveal that ability. It's just that I've come to realize I may need to be more open with Clyde in the future. Not because I want too but because Clyde's mental stats will soon reach a point where he can start to sense my presence. Technically he already can but he needs to concentrate and most importantly actually have a reason to try and detect me. As far as he knows though, my influence does not extend beyond the dungeon sense I have yet to give him a reason to suspect otherwise.
Speaking of my influence, I have started to notice single blades of grass here and there. Not a lot but enough for me to realize my presence has already had an effect. Looking closely, I can see lots of seeds of various different plants scattered around lying dormant. They seem to be waiting for something. There is both life and water mana gathered around the other plants. So, at first, I thought that was it. The only mana escaping the dungeon though is neutral mana. Looking even closer I realized the seeds themselves were taking in neutral mana and releasing life mana in a cycle similar to creating oxygen through photosynthesis. I thought they needed life mana just like everything else, but it seems the humble grass in all its various forms, despite being one of the smallest, least interesting, and most overlooked plant types Is the most essential.
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Those blades of grass aren't growing there because of the life mana. The life mana is there because those plants combined my neutral mana with the little bit of excess water mana given off by Darrel and water mages like him keeping the town stocked with water. They then use that life mana to grow. Except they produce slightly more than they can actually consume. I guess that answers one question I had I mean mana doesn't just create itself, so life mana had to come from somewhere. It's pretty easy to understand the origins of the other mana types. It's just neutral mana interacting with the environment. Life, death, and similar forms of mana have always been a true mystery to me though.
Mysteries of mana aside. I have a brand-new floor to design, and they are starting to get big enough for me to let my creativity shine. They're still relatively small even now but at 160m x 160m x 160m they're not as cramped as they once were. Still the fact that I now need a whopping 327,680 world energy per room does present a bit of a challenge.
