One thousand two hundred kilometers away, in an underground lair.
Nutrient fluid boiled like scalding water. Inside over a dozen massive culture vats, mutated Synthetic Beasts writhed in agony. Their bodies rapidly expanded, tore apart, and swiftly regenerated; the sheer violence of it all was palpable even through the glass.
A Shadow Eclipse Dragon emerged from the darkness of a corner, its abdomen spasming before it spat out a murky, slime-covered crystal. Communication signals still couldn't be transmitted from the area near the workshop in Zone 18, leaving this primitive delivery method as the only option to bring information back.
The Black Wizard stepped forward and placed the crystal into a device. As Magic Power surged, light and shadows reassembled in mid-air. It projected intel on the two workshops: the extensively collapsed workshop dome, the deactivated Golems littering the ground like scrap metal, and the slowly subsiding energy fluctuation deep within Zone 18.
