It was a towering colossal column of pure blindingly bright blue code. It stretched from the polished floor all the way up into the infinite dark of the ceiling. Millions of lines of raw Ethereal script cascaded down the pillar in a constant waterfall of data.
It hummed with a sound that vibrated deep in Sebastian's molars. This was the beating heart of the world. This was the Admin Terminal that controlled every single law of physics, every oxygen tax, and every monster spawn on Server 112.
And suspended right in the dead center of the glowing pillar, protected by layers of translucent digital shielding, was a massive perfectly cut sphere of deep azure crystal.
The Regional Core.
"There you are," Sebastian whispered, a dark victorious smile spreading beneath his blank visor.
