IWUAaDNW: Discovery 1.2, Initiative 6.4, Word of God

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· Small Lesser Ant – 2 mana, +1 upkeep
The small, the brave, the loyal! (`･ω･´)ゞ
Special ability: Burrow – Ants can be used to dig hallways, rooms and other holes
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[...]

It turned out I had already screwed myself over with that upkeep thing; each minion (and apparently special room) cost a certain amount of mana per day just to stay alive.

—IWUAaDNW: Discovery 1.2



The amount of mana that was coming out of me was based on my daily upkeep, and not on my income.

“That makes a lot of sense,” Amnassah said. “Pure mana may be ‘pure’ in comparison to the mana one may find inside the pools of individuals, but it isn’t entirely free of essence. Mostly, it contains minute amounts of what we alchemists call biomic essence… for instance, when Miss Taylor first appeared here, this land was desolate and dry, and now here,” he motioned around himself, at the grass field that surrounded me. “This grass had most likely existed here before; grass tends to come back from the dead quite easily. But the insects? The insects were spontaneously generated from the biomic essence contained within Taylor’s pure mana. It is entirely likely that we will eventually experience outbreaks of pixie mist and perhaps the spontaneous birth of pixie-type creatures, as well as birds, around us at some point.”

“You’re talking about dungeon biomes,” Jaya said. “Little blotches of life that resemble a specific floor.”

“Precisely… well not precisely, it doesn’t resemble the floor as much as both the floor and it fit within the same… essential flavor of pure mana, so it speak.” Turning back to me, he said, “If what you’re saying is correct, then the biomic essence comes from your rooms and minions. Pure mana––truly pure mana… shall we call it, raw life essence, flows from you and enters your rooms and minions, and then once a day it is expressed in a singular release of mana, colored by those minions. That’s… truly ingenious.” He smiled. “Truly, dungeons are magnificent machines.”

—IWUAaDNW: Initiative 6.4