"What do you mean 'sort of?' It's alive, or it's not. How can it be in between?" Boarslayer said with a frown. It should be obvious that something couldn't be both alive and not at the same time.

Dr. Maria agreed. Even the undead were not truly alive. They were corpses animated by a living will. They were extremely obvious once you knew what to look for. "Mr. Alpha, would you kindly explain? As a medical professional, I have honed a particular set of skills over my long years, and everything tells me these tokens are indeed living." The doctor held up one of the tokens to her eye and peered at it intently, as if it would expose its secrets if she stared long enough.

"Gladly!" Alpha answered.

At his words, a mechanical arm lowered from the ceiling and connected to the machine near the tank. With a gurgling sound, some of the strange bronze fluid quickly filled a small container at the end of the arm. The Alphantonso V, controlled by Alpha, then walked toward the machine and lifted the filled container up with several nanite tendrils.

Alpha carried the container to the three and held it up. "What I mean is simple. The MUDs aren't alive. But what they're made of is."

Antchaser narrowed his eyes. "Isn't that the same thing, though?" he asked, confused.

"Not in this case!" was Alpha's response. "Here, let me show you." At his words, a pillar of liquid metal flowed up from the ground between them and formed a solid table. Alpha then placed the container of bronze liquid on the table's surface.

Antchaser stared at it, unsure what exactly the substance was. For all intents and purposes, it looked and moved like slightly metallic mud. His rather sensitive nose could even detect a deep, earthy, if a bit sweet, scent — like perfectly aged compost.

"Is it supposed to be doing something?" he asked.

"Not in a deactivated state like this. Buuuut if we do this…" one of the ants' tendrils split into several smaller ones, and the blob of 'mud' cut into several smaller pieces, pushing them away from each other.

For a moment, nothing happened. Until each of the blobs began to drift toward each other, thin lines of bronze 'mud' extending from each individual blob until they met in the middle. In only a few seconds, the cut-up pieces had recombined into a greater whole.

Dr. Maria slammed her palms onto the table and leaned down, staring at the — now still — puddle of mud. Her eyes flickered back, and a wide grin split her face. "It's a slime!… Hmmm, no, no, not a slime. Slimes can't heal like that. Fascinating."

"What's a slime?" Boarslayer asked.

Without taking her eyes off the blobs, the doctor responded, "They're a type of macroscopic amoeba common in the Western Marches. They feed off decaying matter and tiny insects and grow no bigger than your fist. They're perfectly harmless, though they're somewhat of a pest in the area. The thing to remember is that they're single-celled organisms. Each individual is essentially a fluid-filled sack with selective permeability. They can't be split or combined like… whatever this is."

"But wait! They're more!" Alpha said. A slot on the table slid open, and a small beast core rose from the opening. The 'mud' glob quivered, then slowly enveloped the beast core with the same reaching motion as before.

Dr. Maria stared, dumbfounded. "I… think I understand," she whispered. The doctor then took the MUD token in both hands and twisted, frowning when the motion accomplished nothing. She tried again, putting more force behind it as she visibly strained until finally, with a crisp snap, the token broke into two halves.

She grinned at the broken MUD and gingerly placed them on the table next to the blob of metallic 'mud.' After a moment, the token halves shook slightly, and a small amount of the same metallic 'mud' flowed out of them, joining the greater whole. Soon, all that was left was an indistinguishably larger pile of mud and two chalk-white token halves.

Dr. Maria's grin grew wider, and she laughed. "I see! I see! So that's how you did it. It all makes sense now."

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Boarslayer threw her arms into the air. "Well, I'm glad one of us gets it, because I'm still totally lost!" she complained.

Antchaser nodded and frowned. The puzzle was slowly taking shape, but he realized he was still lacking crucial details.

"Here! Let me show you!" Thankfully, Alpha was more than happy to fill in the gaps.

The table's surface flashed to life, revealing itself as a screen. The image displayed was the blob of metallic mud. Suddenly, the image zoomed in until it was filled with the swirling bronze liquid. Then it zoomed in repeatedly until the image of the blob was replaced… seeds? No, not seeds. Antchaser could see the millions, perhaps billions, of tiny metallic, crystal-flecked, apple seed-shaped objects moving around inside the mud. Occasionally, a tiny wiggling amoeba-like creature would extend itself out of the shell to grab a piece of debris and pull it in.

Alpha gestured to the screen. "May I introduce Bolivina draconis," he said. "As far as my tests can confirm, they're a type of Foraminifera, a shell-bearing relative of the amoeba. As for what makes them so special? Common Foraminifera build their shells out of a variety of things. Mostly sand and organic materials. Bolivina draconis, on the other hand, takes a very different approach. Their shells are composed of equal parts crystalized Spirit Energy, and —"

"Dragon scale!" Dr. Maria cut him off.

Alpha laughed. "Correct, for the most part. I'd hesitate to call it 'dragon scale' as it's mostly crushed, microscopic debris. But yes, the large part of the organic materials Bolivina draconis uses for its shell seems to come from what the Mud Drake's naturally sheds as it moves about."

Dr. Maria laughed. "It all makes sense now. Tiny Spirit Stones, finer than dust. Draconic sheddings, which are one of the most universal array materials. And finally, tiny lifeforms lending a living will. It all combines to make the perfect recipe for a living array."

"But do these… things even have a will?" Antchaser asked as he stared at the screen.

Dr. Maria tilted her hand back and forth. "We say 'living will,' but what that truly means is a matter of philosophical debate. Some think it is the ability to think or the purposeful manipulation of Spirit Energy. Others believe it to be nothing more than an organism's 'desire' being reflected by the Spirit Energy. After all, plants and other 'non-thinking' entities are also said to have 'living wills.' The most widely accepted theory, and the one I hold to, is that it is the innate nature of a material to attract and be attracted by Spirit Energy. And as we already saw, these… Bolivina draconis fall handily into that category."

"How does the MUD token work in all of this, though?" Antchaser asked.

"Simple! At its core, the MUD is a luxury resort stuffed with all the commodities any up-and-coming Foraminifera could ever want!" Alpha explained, throwing his tendrils into the air.

The three others in the room stared at Alpha in silence.

Alpha coughed, "Right, as I was saying…" The image displayed on the table switched to the white shell of the MUD. When the image zoomed in, it revealed a complex labyrinth of crystalline pillars and threads. "The shell of the MUD is comprised of titanium glass, creating a perfect environment for the Bolivina draconis to thrive."

"Specialized workers also ensure the Foraminifera stay safe and the MUD clean." The image swirled, and suddenly the MUD was filled with thousands of Bolivina draconis, happily swimming along. Suddenly, a large black sphere — ten times the size of the shelled amoeba — floated into view. A black tendril extended out of the sphere and pulled a Bolivina draconis out from where it had wedged itself between two pillars.

"Finally, when Spirit Energy flows through the array lines, tiny pores on the surface, too small for the Bolivina draconis to escape, allow them to interact with the outside world." Again, the image shifted, showing the surface of the MUD, where thousands of tiny tendrils of Bolivina draconis flailed in the air along the deep groves of the array.

"And there you have it. That's the MUD in a nutshell." Alpha finished as the table went blank.

Boarslayer, Antchaser, and Dr. Maria stared at Alpha in silence. Finally, Dr. Maria laughed and shook her head. "I can't believe it. Do you know what you've done here? You've essentially made a mico-Sect Array. Except the 'disciples' in this instance are tiny microorganisms. It makes far more sense now why they can connect and communicate like they do. It's not much different from how the various arrays in a sect compound do so. If I hadn't seen it for myself, I would have never thought something like this was possible."

Boarslayer folded her arms and frowned. "That's why you said we need to change the planes for the Mud Drake, too, isn't it? If we kill it now, without a source of dragon materials, we also lose the Bolivina draconis."

Alpha nodded. "Correct. I'm sure I could eventually find a substitute, but when is a total unknown at the moment."

Antchaser started pacing. "At the same time, we can't just leave the Mud Drake alone, either. Eventually, it will become a problem we can no longer ignore, more so if it starts to wander away from the river for some reason."

"Whatever we decide to do, I suggest we think of it fast," Alpha responded.

Antchaser paused and raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

The table flickered once more, this time showing a sunlit sky and rocky mountains. Near the peak of one mountain, a group of individuals stood around a gapping cavern entrance.

As the image zoomed in, Alpha answered. "Because it seems our guests are early."