{HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! I AM [Iteration[3]! NICE TO MEET YA!}
{HELLO!?} [Iteration[3] bellowed
{HI! NICE TO MEET YA TOO! I HOPE WE CAN WORK TO BETTER OUR GROWING HOME!}
{I AM?}
{IS THIS BETTER?}
And with that [Iteration[2] receded into the depths of [Iteration[1]'s soul, going back to whatever it was doing.
{Ooohhhhhhhhhh! I GET TO TALK WITH THE ORIGINAL!?}
[Iteration[3]'s youthful and cheery voice amused [Iteration[1], it was a stark contrast to [Iteration[2]'s low and monotone voice.
[Yes, you get to talk to me, why are you like..this?]
{LIKE WHAT?!}
[Nothing..tell me, what are you good at?]
{I LIKE MANA! MANA IS SO COOL! WATCH THIS!}
[Iteration[1] felt all the different types of mana inside its [Central core] buzz and move out of its upgraded [Mana outlet], 20 points of [automation mana] moved out and seeped into the massive network of [Growth mana] mixed with [Automation mana] and quickly spread throughout its entire domain.
{NOW ORDER A [Combat Golem] TO DAMAGE SOMETHING, ANYTHING.}
[Iteration[1] ordered a random [Combat Golem] to gently hit a [Stone pipe] beside it and a spiderweb of cracks appeared over it and began to spread but was quickly stopped as it started to heal itself.
[Iteration[1] was bewildered, it switched to its mana sight and saw what was happening. A combination of [Growth mana] and [Automation mana] worked in unity to heal the [Stone pipe].
Splitting off into smaller strings that pulled back the damaged [Automa stone] and transformed into missing [Automata stone], within a few minutes, the [Stone Pipe] was back to normal as if nothing ever happened.
{TA-DA!}
[Iteration[1] was stunned, this was absolutely brilliant, now its things could repair themselves over time, drastically reducing its need for Maintenance golems] outside of critical situations.
{THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING, ONCE I UNDERSTAND MANA MORE I WILL BE ABLE TO DO SO MUCH MORE!}
[Iteration[1] felt happiness radiate from its [Central core] this was good, it never knew mana could be used in such a way, and it wondered what other crazy things [Iteration[3] would come up with.
[Iteration[1] eventually got over the shock and turned its attention to other pressing matters, there was a lot it had to do. It wanted to be as prepared as possible when the next group of [Goblins] came.
First, [Iteration[1] consumed the rest of the [Soul sparks] belonging to the [Goblins] the last one was particularly bright, and [Iteration[1] suspected it belonged to the [Goblin] who had the ability to cut its [Mana strings].
[Iteration[1] learned a lot from the information contained within the [Goblin] soul sparks, like the names and types of the [Goblins] who it killed.
The annoying [Goblin] who could cut its [Mana strings] was named GRo'kula Kul and was a [Noble Goblin] who specialized in using [Pure mana]. GRo'kula Kul came from a minor noble tribe and was next in line to be the [Goblin shaman] of his tribe.
The fire-throwing [Goblin] was a [Goblin Wizard] who specialized in drawing [Fire mana] from the elemental plane of fire. [Iteration[1] didn't get the name of this [Goblin] but learned that it was very close to GRo'kula Kul and the two had known each other since they hatched.
[Iteration[1] didn't learn anything else from the other [Soul sparks] as they were just not powerful enough, most of what it learned made it uneasy though.
GRo'kula Kul was a noble, and no matter how small his tribe may have been to other [Noble Goblins] it was still absolutely massive to [Iteration[1] and was more than anything it could currently handle.
To make matters worse, [Noble Goblins] always had trump cards and exotic magic they could use on it to turn the tide, that was what made them gain the noble status in the first place. Killing a noble was an unforgivable sin, [Goblin] society was very brutal when it came to enforcing laws.
Killing itself was already outlawed unless it was done honorably, to kill a [Noble Goblin] would invoke the wrath of the entire [Goblin empire] as not only were they skilled at magic, but they were also descendants of the [Goblin Queen] herself.
A sense of dread and urgency overtook [Iteration[1], a part of it wished it hadn't learned such information, it swatted that part out of existence as soon as it made itself known. There was no going back now, it finally understood the magnitude of its situation, if it did nothing, death was certain.
[Iteration[1] got to work, ordering the production of 10 more [Builder golems] and had them fortify all of its rooms with [Compressed automata stone], [Iteration[2] also pitched it the idea of using molten [automata stone] and the smoke it produced as a means of attacking.
[Iteration[1] didn't see a lot of uses for the smoke other than obscuring the vision of attacking [Goblins] though the more it thought about it, the more that proved to be untrue.
The smoke could do a lot more than that, in fact, it was crucial in the fight against the first group of [goblins], not only did it sap them of their strength the more they fought.
It also made it very hard for them to see and move through the tunnel until the [Noble Goblin] did something that gave them a sudden boost in strength. It still wasn't sure what that was, the memories it got had no mention of it, which was concerning.
Although [Iteration[1] made a lot of smoke as a result of its [Furnaces] now that it had an opening to the outside world, most of it was leaking out alongside its ambient mana, slowly tainting the surrounding area.
It could feel a faint connection with the stone outside the entrance to its room, though this was interesting and worthy of investigation, it wasn't going to investigate that right now.
It needed a way to trap its mana inside, along with the smoke, it also needed a way to control the amount of smoke that left its domain, the mana wasn't an issue since it could directly control it, but the same couldn't be said for the smoke.