Much like a living being, Aldar blood flows through veins running under its skin as mana veins, deep within its crust. Each of them circling the whole planet, sometimes intersecting with one another, creating a node over which life bloomed.
The role of the veins is unclear. Some say it's to evenly distribute mana everywhere on the surface. Others think it has no purpose and is only the result of the planet's rotation, partially trapping the mana escaping from its core.
We are sure of one thing, a vein influence extends to the surface. The rocks directly in contact with one slowly transform into a mana-infused material. This material can be anything from a mana crystal to Mithril, depending on the base mineral and how much mana it could absorb before reaching saturation.
On the surface, the fauna and flora are slightly healthier and greener. But the true magic of a mana vein can only be seen above a node. We call those places a mystic land, where magic beasts, spirits, and fairies thrive. The trees can even gain sentience, becoming Ent guardians, protecting the land from harm.
Many legends surround those places, but only one is worth paying attention to, the tale of the life tree. A tree capable of granting immortality to those eating its fruits. Even birthing new magic beings from its root and leaves.
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Molly was scared as her master was in a good mood. Not for herself, but for her family members being killed by the master's experiments, one by one.
The first insect was simply thrown inside the river, instantly vaporizing it. The poor thing didn't even have time to screech one last time before disappearing into oblivion. Not much could be learned from this, except that the physical body couldn't endure extreme mana exposure.
The second one was dismembered before each of its body parts was masterfully thrown inside the torrential mana at different depths for different periods. This experiment was way more interesting for the spirit since every limb reacted differently.
The closest only slightly changed, growing longer or changing color, while the farthest completely warped, resembling a limb no more and looking like a flesh blob covered in fur made of frozen needles.
The third and last experiment was done on three whole insects, gently deposed into the mana at different depths. The result was... weird, to say the least. The nearest from the river bank inflated like last time when the spirit overflooded them with mana. The next one transformed into a bipedal insect with eight limbs, four eyes, and a height of one meter thirty. It still had two shovel-like arms and the same general shape.
The spirit prompted it to come back and go into one of the cells on its own, for now, to examine it further later.
The last test subject ended up looking like a mess of different creatures, forcefully merged together without any aesthetic in mind. Some parts exude different types of mana. It had a horn made of fire on a hand-like appendage, a shadowy tongue on one of its heads, and a frozen tail somewhere on its torso. No need to say it died quickly.
"Interesting, it looks like mana on its own possesses mutating property on the physical body. So I don't need to focus my will on the mutating part but only on how the result should look. Now I need to figure out the mana threshold for each type of mutation. Too little and nothing will happen, while too much will result in a grotesque thing. I'll need more experiments to find the sweet spot. For now, let's check on the successful result waiting in its cell." The spirit soliloquized while floating toward its lab.
Molly grieved her fallen comrades for a minute before secluding herself in a chamber with a bunch of male insects. Her master will surely need more subjects, and she didn't want to end up being the sole survivor of her species.
In the meantime, the spirit arrived in the central chamber of its underground home, the lab. In one of the unclosed cells, a tall humanoid insect waited, unmoving, except for the breathing noise it made; you could mistake it for dead. The spirit asked it to come and lie down on the table in the middle of the room, but it didn't move an inch.
Thinking it was rebelling, the spirit probed its mind for answers. What could make it think it was alright to disobey its creator? As it was expecting a psyche full of anger and defiance, the spirit was confused when all it found was a cold void, lacking any memories and emotion.
After checking it for about an hour, the conclusion was clear. It was dead, brain dead, to be exact. A huge mana exposure followed by a sudden withdrawal fried its freshly mutated brain. Losing a promising test subject wasn't pleasant, but, at least, the spirit could still dissect it to further its understanding of possible insect anatomy for future mutation projects.
The spirit went off to find a new subject, talking to itself as usual. "I should try again, but with a step-by-step increase in mana density… Hmm, why are they all gathered in the same room? Weird..."
The spirit soon arrived at the entrance. Concerned by the occurring scene, it chose to not disturb them. Every insect of Molly's swarm had joined in on the fun, and the males were stacking themself on top of the females, creating multiple piles of giant screeching bugs.
"I need one with a stable mind, but they're all clearly too excited right now... Well, I'll just do the experiment myself. I wonder if it will affect me or not. I don't really know what my body is made of and if mana has an effect on it."
Once in front of the mana river, the spirit didn't hesitate before launching itself into it. It was the birth of the first underground shooting star as the mana density made the spirit shine like the sun while trapping it in its flow. Sadly, nobody was there to make a wish.