As a certain sentient B tore through the tunnels with an entire four other essence generators that protected them from the one or two shots of acid that came from the slime plains and any other kinds of slimes in the tunnels themselves, Falc was panicking.

  

  CHEATER.

  His instincts had gone completely silent, it wasn't complaining about a single thing except a certain singular thing that it was repeating constantly. He could feel at what it was directed at as well, even in a non-aspect related manner, it was directed at the quintet of sentients that was burrowing through his defenses.

  There were no complaints about his crystalline body not being at the deepest depths of the dungeon, there was none except-

  

  CHEATER.

  Yea, that.

  The thing was that he had no clue what he was supposed to do! All of the slimes in the tunnels were made before the new wind-earth era and the regular slime apostle 2 candidate's creation, while there were one or two D-4 weaves floating about, that was the best inside.

  And even with him directing them all towards the sentients, they still couldn't do a thing when faced with the weird sentient that used mana. He even sent one of the better slimes to lob up a shot of acid from the slime plains, but the problem was that the wind-earth weaves available couldn't go as high as it needed to.

  The most dangerous thing that he could use were the suicidal slimes that sprayed acid in all directions, and that was just because if they could get off an attack it would be difficult to block all of it.

  

  CHEATER.

  If the five essence generators could go through the tunnels and the test box then there would be nothing stopping them, Falc had yet to grant anything beyond that any occupants. And he really regretted it now, even if he had never even thought of such a matter before now.

  At least he knew a singular thing for certain, whatever the five essence generators were doing, it wasn't good. Both according to the fact that his instincts were seemingly angry, and his own reasoning of a sentient getting closer to his core being bad.

  He was betting on the tunnels being a grand line of defense for a while longer, even if he had been working on things beyond it for a while now.

  If it was really so easy to breakthrough it for sentients if they really wanted to, then all the mana he was putting in the slime plains- While probably well spent before the current predicament- Had far greater reasons to be elsewhere. Like, maybe in a... D-4x3 slime with a 150% size wind-earth skill weave inside?

  

  CHEATER.

  Anyways, he was certain that he needed, like really needed, to use the mana to save his own non-existent skin.

  ...He would copy prototype, at least in a half-assed manner. He had a good bit of himself free because he wasn't constantly producing a bunch of slimes, but if he took everything else in as well. If he took all the superfluous things he had spent parts of himself on.

  The essence archiving, the cleaning mechanisms, all of that; if he took all of that back then he would have his full 20 [Common] selves to make a slime. That would mean that the amount he would need to compress the mana would be far less than normal, meaning that he could probably save on both mana and time for basically the same effect.

  But he didn't expect whatever slime he was going to make would survive contact, to then how would he be able to make a highly compressed wind-earth weave without making equally compressed regular weaves. But he also didn't have the time to carefully and calmly try things to make certain that it wouldn't waste mana, but if he made a waste of space then he would've wasted the very limited mana he could spend.

  There was a lot of distance between him and the sentients, certainly, but each failed product would mean that they could get closer without paying any price.

  

  CHEATER.

  The word grated at him as his mind constantly worried about what to do, if he didn't do anything then he couldn't be sure about what would happen, but if he did something then he risked losing a chance either way. Then it was certain that he had to do something but then it also carried the risking of wasting a chance to do said something, but then how would he know for certain he wasn't going to waste it?!

  Well, he couldn't, how could he? Yea, how could he be certain?

  Was there anything he could remember that let him know? Had he ever somehow been able to know what would happen in an experiment? Well, of course he could be pretty sure what would happen if he were to ever make a D-20x5 slime one day, with each cycle of compression the slime became more and more resistant and with each extra weave it also became less vulnerable.

  So reasonably a D-20x5 slime would probably be considerably less vulnerable, how much more he could probably also predict if he had ever tested the specific amount endurance a slime had on the basis of the two factors.

  Then if he considered the factors needed to make a dust weave viable and then considered how he could set up the required factors with means he knew of based off of previous experiments, then he could be fairly certain of the created creature's efficacy.

  At least more certain than if he experimented as he usually did.

  

  CHEATER.

  Purposefully ignoring his instincts' statement, while collecting mana beyond what his mana pool would normally allow he started to consider how to create a wind-earth weave an entire round of compression greater than the weaves supporting it...

  The real and crucial problem with the amalgamated aspect being used for an weave was its centre, wind-earth mana constantly tried to pry itself away from whatever design Falc had on it and if he ever left it without something to constrain it directly it would converge and free itself whether or not any other wind-earth mana was still bound.

  Then it would cascade because of the wind-earth mana degrading the mana that still bound the other wind-earth mana, finally freeing all the wind-earth mana and letting it do what it wished without any restraint.

  The edges of the weave were easy to handle, he could even use the weaves below and beneath to easily converge a few weaves to do a singular weave's job. He could even get more than three weaves to work together, but the centre was constrained by the fact it could only be supported by two weaves- The ones directly above and below it.

  While the three-weave system he had originally created was quite suitable when considering quality overall, it was not efficient when considering that any form of increased tenacity was a waste when making a slime. At least at the currently level it was a complete waste, whether that would remain the case later Falc could not possibly know and he did not care enough to speculate about it either.

  

  CHEATER.

  Could you shut the hell up?!

  ...

  If he could somehow harness the suppressive power of the two weaves above and below it in their entirety- Instead of the little -sized bit that had direct access to wind-earth weave- Then he might be able to do get a D-5 wind-earth to work with about a singular D-5 weave's worth of mana.

  But then the question was whether he should use the transcended wind-earth , without knowing specifically how unstable it was due to not having any experimental data about it. It was certain however that it was greater in quality than a standard wind-earth , at a mere extra 0.4 mp when in an uncompressed state.

  ...He wouldn't do it, it was too risky. The increased power was worth quite a lot, most definitely. But it wasn't worth a chance, at least not right now. But maybe he could take some inspiration from the wind-earth imprisonment methods improved through transcendence, it could be what edged the creation over the line from a lesson in futility to bare-bones ability.

  But what he saw did not impress him much, the strings that directly came from the upper and lower weaves were still there. Whatever process transcenders took part in, it had not suddenly fundamentally changed what had remained before it.

  But Falc would have to admit that it was interesting how a bit off from the directly accessible weave a string of mana came to the wind-earth weave diagonally and went through the skill weave and connected with the weave below it. And a little bit away from where it passed through the weave, multiple strings of mana came out of it both above and below it and latched on to the wind-earth mana.

  

  CHEATER.

  While such a thing would probably not be viable when used with regular slime weaves, both because of the lack of worth a slime's endurance held and the lack of room to thread the strings through. But when considering a bit of wind-earth mana in the form of an skill weave... Maybe it could be possible to make a regular weave-sized wind-earth ?

  Obviously he couldn't risk it right now, but the idea did seem interesting- Exceptionally so. But he'd have to keep it nestled away safely in some corner of his mind, for if he could dissuade the invaders.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  They were still going through the tunnels at a steady pace, he didn't exactly have cycles worth of time but he had some to spare before they passed through it.

  The real question was whether or not he could find any way to increase the chances of this entire investment to not be a total waste, prototype's little transcender bonus did show him something interesting. But that unique little trick wasn't the most important part, instead it was the expansion of range by gaining support diagonally.

  While there was a limited amount of space for the strings to connect, if he could reach said threshold then he could obviously attain a far greater stabilizing effect than previously. But whether or not to use the previously stated little trick...

  He would have to trust in prototype and slime apostle 1's superiority- Most of that trust being directed at the latter- Because if it were more effective than regular binding measures, then it would obviously be a wondrous discovery.

  It would probably also be more mana efficient also.

  He began to rapidly formulate a new slime schematic, contemplating constantly how to bring his new, probably a little faulty, extrapolated theoretical knowledge into being.

  

  CHEATER.

  Luckily it wasn't his first time doing something like this, having created the C++ weave once in a time long since passed even if not forgotten. But while he had a bit of experience in the subject of theoretical mana positioning, the addition of multiple layers interacting did make it a bit more troublesome to keep track of all of it.

  Luckily it was not hard to keep a model of the fantasized product in his mind to make sure no strings of mana crossed each other.

  It did still take some time however, time he could afford fortunately.

  He decided to make the slime in the section just after the test box, obviously with an elder slime nuclei to support his management of it for a frankly insignificant price.

  He had a good few slimes just residing inside the test box which could act as genuine water shield, so it would be best not to risk any explosive ramifications acting upon the experimental slime's life.

  While the formulation of the schematic was troublesome, following through on it was merely trivial. It took less time for the sentients to go through a mere 2 meters of stone for him to bring the slime into being, a show of unreasonable proficiency considering it was literally just a slime.

  Using D-6 mana for the regular weaves and D-7 mana for the wind-earth weave, 'Wind-earth experiment 1' was both brought into the world proper and actively registered into the schematic list.

  Working with all of his mana for a singular slime felt wonderful in total honesty, it reminded him of the old days when he could actually make a D-14 weave in a semi-reasonable time frame. And right now, if he had the courage, he could probably gather that much mana again.

  Not that he dared to, that was far too risky.

  Still, with that slime created he found with great glee that it didn't seem to be slowly edging closer towards its demise. How stable it actually was and how many shots it could produce before it turned to naught but dust and ash was still to be seen, but merely seeing it not actively die was more than enough to set the shoddy experiment as a success and increase the transcender process' reputation significantly.

  

  CHEATER.

  But if this would be enough to do anything, he couldn't be sure. He needed a sure-fire way to bring the sentients down no matter the cost, but his instincts would limit him from taking direct action so he wouldn't be able to use copious amounts of wind-earth mana...

  Maybe he'd be able to collapse the tunnel the sentients have been mining out? While it might indeed kill all of the slimes inside the tunnels, it was a small price to pay considering none of them were D-6 or anything. None of them even had multiple weaves, it was obvious how little it cost to create them.

  ...

  Huh, it seemed that his instincts found no issue with his plan to crush the sentients by collapsing the tunnels. When he had merely been planning to gift a group of sentients some complimentary wind-earth mana for their troubles, instincts had already gone out of its way to tell him that he was being a very naughty dungeon core.

  So, if it wasn't complaining already it probably meant that doing so would not be argued against!

  With that fact confirmed, he instantly got to work carving into his young self's hard work as to bring about a greater tomorrow- One where he was more likely to still draw in mana.

  It was a quick thing, reducing the stability of the tunnels. Honestly it wasn't even a bother on his end, its hollow interior was never even that stable to begin with. But he extended this little collapse beyond merely the tunnels, hungry for a more probable success.

  As such he set up the collapse over the entire tunnels instead of right above the sentients, while planning to fill in all the dead air where stone used to remain afterwards. It would be a shame if this decreased the amount of time he had to accumulate mana, but it would be less of a shame if one or two sentients were brought to the grave!

  It also seemed that the five had yet to realize his machinations, only having been given the chance when he finally sprung the impromptu trap.

  

  CHEATER.

  Shut up.

  Done reprimanding his instincts for their discourteous tone and having already taken initiative to reform the tunnels that had not yet been by passed in rapid fashion, Falc Navator examined the state of his presumed victims. The rubble of his daring act not being able to obscure his sight even slightly, he was shocked to see that the five were all still alive and kicking.

  With a barrier around them, the biggest of them with the weird armour hanging from their sides directly burst through what remained of the tunnels they had put so much effort in bypassing. After which the rest followed behind, finding themselves standing atop a giant pile of rock and pebble in the space that had provided their current footing.

  The results left much to be desired, it seemed as if the sentients were not even slightly detired from going further as seen from them just continuing to mine without hesitations. Well tell the whole truth, only sentient B seemed truly unperturbed as they were the only one that took true initiative to return to what they had done before.

  Nonetheless it was absolutely a troublesome fact... Not that he wouldn't do it again if the situation allowed. The mana used to create that barrier was not returning to the mana-using sentient, meaning that it had lost an amount of mana. While it was indeed taking in mana, the amount was not significant enough to fully recoup the cost of the barrier in a reasonable time frame.

  Falc watched on as they still continued, and he couldn't help but boil on the inside. He had put so much effort into that and it had done nothing, what a waste of time and mana it had been. It would've been so nice if he could just use dust mana to tear them down from their imaginary throne.

  Though then again, he wasn't certain if wind-earth mana would do much or not.

  But juvenile core could dream.

  

  CHEATER.

  If collapsing his own reaches wasn't out of the question, then he would have to make the most of it- That was for sure.

  But from what he could see just collapsing a few tunnels wasn't going dissuade the quintet, he needed more to truly make them know fear towards the unknown if they could do so.

  He needed to synthesize something a bit more dangerous, and of course if he could kill them all it wouldn't be that bad of a result either.

  But how?

  He had already found out a way to make three D-6 weaves keep a singular D-7 wind-earth weave in line, so he could probably go through the logical conclusion of making three D-8 or D-9 weaves and make a D-10 wind-earth weave.

  But would that really make a difference?

  ...

  Falc let his thoughts stew as he collapsed the tunnels once more, watching the worrying encroachment towards the hole that led to the test box. There were many experimental slimes in there, most of them just as useless as the rest of their kind. And because the sentients were tunneling instead of crawling, the troublesome possibility of them not sliding downwards head-first became a reality.

  But they didn't stop there, Falc's inexperience had once again limited his imagination.

  How they knew that there was merely a wall of rock between them and the next portion without even a miniscule amount of light on the other side, he couldn't know. But they continued to dig through, bypassing the test box and soon reaching wind-earth experiment.

  Though once again surprised by the actions of his foes, he took direct control of the slime and forced it to blast out the D-7 acidic dust.

  Which was promptly avoided by the biggest sentient, then stopped by the mana-using sentient with a miniscule physical barrier even if said barrier was destroyed at a breakneck pace due to its momentum being taken away.

  After which- In less than 1/43200th of a cycle- The sentient that had avoided the acidic dust reached wind-earth experiment and with a single savage, abhorrent and dreadful motion of their legs the experimental slime, as well as the nuclei inside it, was completely destroyed.

  

  CHEATER.

  Finally we agree on something.

  Suddenly finding his instincts were on to something, Falc once again collapsed the path downwards while seething slightly about the experimental creature's failure.

  How was he even supposed to go against that perfect damn anti-slime measure?! Stop the acid with a barrier, and kill the slime before it could escape with high speed; the perfect combo for ruining Falc Navator's hopes and dreams.

  Then came B with their weird ability to redirect any shot acid as well, even if said ability had not yet been shown to work of acidic dust. The biggest sentient that could withstand D-4 acid- Without any kind of protective means- With little issue. The mana-using sentient could easily stop any propelled acid with a barrier, even if it seemed that their mana stores were limited.

  Then there was also the sentient that rapidly restored the damage that had been dealt to the biggest of them, nullifying all his efforts. Though he wasn't sure if they could still do so, he had only seen them heal the big sentient when said big sentient went against the first few slime apostle 2 candidate iterations.

  Though the fifth of the sentients was still a mystery to the juvenile core, she had not yet done a single thing of note in her time in his dominion. Well, except for communicating with people and pointing in the direction of the wall past the hole towards the test box.

  But ignoring all that, and once again collapsing his halls in a bid to exhaust the bipedal creatures, he tried to come up with a method to break through their practiced defenses.

  Watching on as the presumedly useless sentient was picked up by sentient B as the mana-using sentient was taken up by the big sentient's shoulders, he found no chinks in their figurative armour. Except falling rocks, those worked pretty well.

  ...He could directly mimic prototype's transcended weaves and just see how they fared in a practical scenario, he could also go all in on the still theoretical hoard method of creating an unbelievable amount of slimes and just producing acid and acidic dust to the point they couldn't evade or halt it with barriers.

  Though maybe if they had that weird air barrier the sentient that B fought against had it might not work, but then again who knew if B's weird ability could stop it also?

  But on the topic of 'Sentient A', didn't they try to block off sentient B with some kind of stone wall? Maybe Falc could do that? They mined through the tunnels at a snail's pace when compared to their current rapid descent, if he just closed off the way forward with hard rock... Wouldn't that buy him some time.

  Though he still needed to see what his instincts thought, just to make sure there didn't come another tangle with it that would waste his very precious time.

  

  CHEATER.

  Really? No issue? Didn't his instincts complain so heavily about him not breaching the surface? Why the silence?

  Falc was confused, but still... He poured out some mana and strangled the earth aspect into the quickly building up a wall, which was then promptly punched through in its nascent state by the largest sentient; before it could fully grow into a 10 meter thick layer of stone.

  

  CHEATER.

  While Falc once again collapsed his own creation, he just had to ask his instincts one thing; do you not care at all? Honestly?

  Without a single response to say otherwise, Falc started to formulate a new slime while also preparing a few areas for collapse. All the while deciding a place to return his dungeon to its natural form of an airless and semi-homogeneous volume of stone to prevent sentient arrogation from proceeding.

  As he did so, and as he came to watch a sentient swim through water with unexpected difficulty, a thought came to him. A demented thought, one that had long since been debunked before now. But somehow the current situation made him ask it again, despite it being a waste of time the like time.

  What if I just push some wind-earth mana onto them?

  He expected it to be shot down the same instant he thought it, for it to be declared of impossible by a certain part of himself.

  But he heard no protest.

  Falc 'Schematic mechanic' Navator instantly began to synthesize some wind-earth mana.