A thousand metal arms worked on dozens of projects, lending an air of controlled chaos to the scene filling the gargantuan complex.

The Controlled Research and Experimentation Laboratory — or just the ‘Lab’ as those in the know had taken to calling it — was a sprawling labyrinth of testing, manufacturing, and growing labs. Built into solid rock nearly a kilometer underneath the ant colony proper, it was quickly becoming the center for Alpha’s research. It had to be built so far away to prevent the ants from inadvertently digging into it.

This was especially important because as Alpha’s manufacturing ability increased, so did his ability to expand and build, which in turn further increased his capabilities. It was less like a snowball and more like your father when he went through his hobbyist phase and wouldn’t stop buying new toys.

And Alpha has a lot of new toys…

Moreover, the possibilities would only increase if this new project turned out how he thought it would. All that was missing was —

“Ah! Good! You’re here!” Alpha spoke through the Lab speakers as the doors to the rail platform slid open. The transport rail was the newest addition to the Lab. It was far more efficient than having ants transport everything down the long corridors. As Antchaser, Dr. Maria, and Boarslayer stepped into the reception chamber, Antchaser stepped forward and stood in a red circle painted in the middle of the room.

A metal arm unfolded from the ceiling and pointed itself at the goblin. A wide blue beam shot from the tip of the arm and scanned the man, circling around to capture every angle. When the light turned green, Antchaser stepped out of the ring and walked toward a closed door opposite the entrance they had entered. He pressed his hand against a flat screen beside it, and the screen flashed green once more. The door opened, and the goblin walked through before it shut behind him.

One after another, Dr. Maria and Boarslayer repeated the process until all three were on the other side of the security checkpoint.

Alpha honestly doubted that any of them could have been compromised — not quite at this point in the game — but it was always good to establish procedures early. As the checkpoint door closed behind them, an ant walked around the corner and greeted them. Alpha could have just spoken to them through the various speakers, but he’d found the natives responded far better when he interacted ‘face-to-face.’

“What did you want us to see, sir?” Antchaser asked as the ant led them down the hallway.

“Well, you see…” came the response. “Thanks to new information gathered by monitoring the inmates, I’ve made a recent breakthrough regarding a previous project we had originally scrapped.”

“The nascent Dragon Pool?” Antchaser asked.

Ant Alpha nodded. Hugo and his little group might have thought the goblins weren’t aware of the Dragon Pool, but in fact, Alpha had been closely monitoring them specifically to track the effects of prolonged exposure. Of course, the goblins had known about the Dragon Pool, but the Mud Drake’s presence had been a heavy deterrent. What water they could collect had to be from far downstream, where it had less impact.

“But I thought we agreed it was still too soon to get much use out of it? The Dragon Pool won’t mature for quite some time. We’re talking about a scale of decades, if not centuries. If it’s tampered with too soon, it could collapse.” Dr. Maria said.

She wasn’t wrong. When the goblins first told him about the so-called ‘Dragon Pool’, it had piqued his interest. But light testing had been… disappointing. It was not that the properties of the Dragon Pool were uninteresting; they were simply far too weak. A quick injection of the basic healing liquid found in any Federation first-aid kit was more effective in the short term. And even that didn’t compare to proper medical nanites. Even the Dragon Pool’s water-cleaning properties were ultimately unimportant for his current projects.

At the end of the day, it wasn’t worth damaging the Dragon Pool with extensive testing, given what it might one day become.

“So what’s changed?” Boarslayer asked.

Alpha mentally grinned and responded. “First, let me ask you a question. What are spiritual tablets?”

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Antchaser and Dr. Maria shared, “They’re small clay tablets that can hold minor arrays. They’re related to jade tablets, but far inferior in quality and often one-time use. The materials used to make them are way more common, though, so they’re quite cheaper than jade tablets.” Antchaser answered.

Alpha nodded. That was roughly what he’d been able to pry out of his… interviews with a few of the inmates. “And how are they made?” Alpha continued.

“Ehhhh…” Antchaser scratched his head. He honestly did not know. He’d never worked on something like that before. Maybe someone in the village would know, but not him.

Thankfully, Dr. Maria picked up the slack. “They’re pretty simple to make, in all honesty. Spirit stones are ground into a fine powder and mixed with high-quality, refined clay and a few other binding reagents—typically the blood of a spirit beast, though the alchemists’ own can suffice—to create ‘spiritual clay.’ Once prepared, this clay has several uses, but one of the most common are shaped tablets engraved with an array, forming a ‘spiritual tablet.’”

Antchaser and Boarslayer both stared at Dr. Maria.

She raised a brow and looked between them. “What? [Tablets of Minor Regeneration] are one of my best sellers back in Halirosa. Though I feel like I must clarify, while Antchaser called them ‘cheap,’ that is only relativity speaking. As one of their primary components is spirit stones, the price for spiritual tablets can still be quite steep. Typically, they’re seen as emergency items.”

Again, Alpha nodded. “And what is the feasibility of manufacturing our own?”

Dr. Maria frowned and tapped her chin. “Hmmm, not very? Not right now, at least. While I don’t doubt there’s a spirit stone mine in a cavern, this size — there typically is — finding it is a whole other matter. We could search for years and never turn anything up. Not without the proper equipment. We could technically use beast core instead, but that’s a waste and unsustainable.”

“I see, I see,” Alpha said as he led the group through a final set of doors.

The lab they entered was newly built and filled to the brim with various pipes and tanks. The centerpiece of the lab was a large glass tank filled with a swirling, dark brown liquid. It wasn’t a ‘dirty’ brown, but a smooth, clean, almost metallic color, giving the impression of liquid bronze.

Antchaser would have found it kind of… pretty… if he had any idea what it was. It was certainly mesmerizing.

“What are we looking at, Mr. Alpha? This feeling… it almost feels like…” Boarslayer trailed off.

“I’m glad you asked! Come, come! Take a look!” Alpha said, a bit of excited giddiness creeping into his voice.

The three exchanged looks and approached the tank. Dozens of wide screens were attached to the upper portion of the tank, filled with charts and graphs that none of them could read. A strange machine sat at the bottom of the tank, a thin pipe connecting the two.

“Antchaser, if you would do the honor?” Alpha said, gesturing to the machine.

Ant Chaser shrugged and stepped forward. The control screen was similar to the type the goblins had been taught to use during the months of time-dilated training in the dungeon. Mostly to operate the machine that would clean and repair their new equipment. A copy had even been installed in the village, so he was familiar enough with the artifact to not stumble around trying to figure out what to do.

The machine clicked to life a moment later as a low rumble shook the room. An unseen gate opened and some of the bronze liquid poured from the tank into the machine. When the liquid finally reached the center portion of the machine, the large upper section of a previously unnoticed press slammed down, the high-pitched whine of steam escaping from between its two halves.

With the sound of grinding metal, the press lifted, and the front portion of the machine rolled back. A small tray was pushed forward, and at its center sat a small, coin-sized hexagonal disk. It was smooth and almost metallic brown in color, similar to that of the liquid, though without the swirling shades.

Antchaser reached down and picked it up, surprised at how light it felt.

He turned it around in his hand a few times, staring at the intricate array lines covering its surface. Antchaser might not have known much about arrays, but he knew enough to feel like something felt… odd... about the lines. It was almost like some of them were… incomplete. Several simply ran off the edges of the disk. As if whatever they connected to wasn’t there.

The goblin turned to Alpha and raised the disk with a raised brow.

“Mr. Alpha, what’ exactly is th—”

Yonk!

Before he could finish his sentence, Dr. Maria charged at him and snatched the disk from his hand.

With the fever of a madwoman, she turned the disk over in her hands, tracing the array lines and muttering to herself. After examining the disk from every angle, she held it between her fingers and channeled a small amount of Spirit Energy into it.

The array lines flashed to life, light pooling at the edges, while a larger light glowed brightly at the top of the disk. After a moment, the energy faded, and Dr. Maria’s eyes widened. Again, she channeled energy into the disk, and again it lit up.

Again.

And again.

Only after the tenth time did something finally give, and the disk crumbled away into dust.

Dr. Maria stared at her dust-covered hand for a long moment, muttering to herself, until finally, she snapped around. Her bloodshot eyes nearly bulging out of her head, the manic woman pointed at Alpha and demanded, “YOU! What did you do?!”

Alpha only laughed.

“May I present the [Modular Utility Disks], or MUD, for short.”