Zack was still working on the external arena when Archie stepped away from the others and spoke to him privately.

"Zack, I was wondering if we could talk about something?" Archie asked, keeping his words to their telepathic connection rather than speak them out loud.

Diverting his focus wasn't too difficult, so at the request Zack opened a side passage to allow Archie and him some privacy. If what Archie wanted to discuss was important enough to warrant telepathy, it warranted actual privacy, too.

"What's up?" Zack asked, as Archie stepped one of the tunnels that connected the upper levels to the lower. Despite having Glitch's portal network to connect every room in the dungeon, there were rules Zack had to follow in its construction. Technically speaking, there needed to be a direct path from every room into his core room. It was an essential part of how his mana distribution functioned. Without it, his rooms would quickly starve of fresh mana, and he would lose the ability to absorb aether within those spaces. His solution was a network of hidden tunnels that led from one room to another.

"I've been thinking about Matt," Archie explained.

"Oh."

Matt was the one core that Archie hadn't been able to save during his excursion to the Waterloo Aetherology campus. He'd been able to rescue Glitch and Iris, even stole Enza from Snow, but Matt had been outside his ability to move without getting caught. Supposedly he was a dungeon core, like Zack, but where the two of them differed was in their size. Zack's core was larger now than it had been upon waking up, having nearly quadrupled in scale.

Matt's core put him to shame by an order of magnitude.

"I think I want to try and rescue him again, or at the very least establish a more concrete avenue of communication," Archie explained. "I realize that if he is a dungeon core, the two of you might not be able to exist in the same space as one another. Your clashing influences might have a negative impact on the world around you, let alone what it might do to your cores."

Zack shuddered at the memory of his influence going up against Ember's, a forge core that was used against him like a weapon. He still never figured out who sent her to him…

"I think that's a valid concern," Zack admitted. "Especially if he's as powerful as you think he is."

"We have no reason to suspect he's stronger than you, but we do know that a core's size is in direct proportion to the power it contains," Archie noted, bringing up Zack's growth again.

Zack mentally nodded. "I wish there was something we could do to help him, but I can't help but feel that leaving him behind was the right choice…"

"And that's part of what has me thinking on it again," Archie explained. "He's a child, Zack, that was brainwashed into believing he is a monster. He has unfathomable power that he doesn't fully understand, and was abused at the hands of a man we know is capable of great cruelty. I can't even begin to imagine the sort of damage that might have been done to him as a result of this experience."

"Archie…"

"We might not be able to do anything for him right now," Archie continued, "but there has to be something we can do for him eventually, no?"

Zack stared silently at the rabbit for a long moment, while he continued to shape the arena outside his influence. "What do you want me to do?" he finally asked. He suspected Archie was going somewhere with this, but it wouldn't pay to beat around the bush instead of just getting to the point.

To his surprise, Archie sighed and shook his head. "That's just the thing, Zack. I'm not sure there's anything we can do for him. I'm not sure my description of his core did it justice. It's too big for me to move without assistance, and even if I had help there is no way for us to sneak out with that core. Rescuing him could very well be off the table, too, as it's clear he established the aetherology lab as his dungeon."

Zack had never tried to actually leave his dungeon before, so he wasn't sure what would happen to a core if it. Still, he held no illusions about it being anything other than unpleasant. The dungeon, in many ways, was Zack's true body. His mana flowed through it like blood, keeping it and the creatures within alive and functional. If the same was true for Matt, then pulling him out of his dungeon could have disastrous consequences for him. Zack considered asking the Akashic System to explain what would happen, but decided against it. He really didn't want to know what sort of horrors awaited him if he separated his heart from his body.

"Well, if every solution we have at our disposal is off limits, there really isn't anything we can do," Zack explained. "Iris is working on a proposal to help reveal core sapience to the world—I should probably go check in on that—but until she's finished and we've made a formal announcement there isn't a whole lot we can do."

"Actually, there is one thing we can do. I'll admit, it relies more on Glitch than on you…" Archie started, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Zack mentally frowned and prodded the rabbit to continue.

"What if we connected Matt to our portal network? In addition to helping Glitch broaden their horizon, it would allow us to share resoures with Matt. He's a child, Zack. He's scared and thinks he's alone. I'm fairly certain he believes I abandoned him. It weighs on my conscience and I need to do something to help him."

Zack watched the rabbit in quiet contemplation for a few moments, diverting a small portion of his awareness towards completing his current projects as he did. He could sense in alarming detail how the arena was very nearly complete, including an array of specialized spawners to help bolster the strength of his influence.

Archie's idea had some merit. A lot of merit, actually. One of Zack's biggest concerns was speaking on behalf of all core kind. He was the most active core that anyone in his circle knew of. Not even Glitch or Iris knew of any cores with as much active power as him. It was possible Matt could exceed him, but given what he knew of the oversized core, size did not directly equate to power and knowledge.

Still, the more cores on board with their plan, the more likely it was to succeed. Having a direct line of access to the Waterloo campus had additional benefits, too. They could keep appraised of what the aetherologists were up to, for starters. Zack held no illusions about Snow's death going unnoticed or unpunished. Someone would surely seek retribution sooner or later.

Beyond that, it really was just a matter of quantity. They had three cores in their group, and that was hardly enough to convince people that all cores were sapient. No, if they wanted to do this, they needed more. There were certainly worse places to start than with Matt.

"Okay," Zack said. "I think this idea is worth exploring, but it might have to be a lower priority for a little bit. For starters, we need to open the dungeon to delvers again. My advancement has slowed to a crawl without people running through my rooms. I know it's selfish of me to put that before Matt's safety, but I can't help anyone if I'm too busy fending off archmages.

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"We got lucky against Snow. He didn't realize my connection to the Akashic System was stronger than his, and I was able to catch him by surprise," Zack continued. "We have to assume we won't get lucky like that again."

Archie nodded in understanding. "That was much the same conclusion I reached. It's all well and good to want to help Matt, but it's another thing to hamstring ourselves in the process."

"Glad we're in agreement about that, but there is one other thing: I don't want you going back to Waterloo alone," Zack said. "Your powers are built for stealth, but what you're proposing isn't a stealth mission. It's diplomacy."

Archie again nodded, then tapped his chin in thought. "I'll admit I'm better at diplomacy than you are, but even still I am not made specifically with it in mind. Do you have a mob better at it than I am?"

"I don't," Zack admitted. "To be honest, I haven't figured out how to make sapient mobs with any degree of consistency. There's always a step in the process I seem to miss, and they end up mostly as puppets or proxies than anything else. I got close with Chorus, but she wasn't exactly there. She couldn't wholly act of her own device, but she could agree or disagree with orders."

"Why not ask the Akashic System, if it's that important?"

"Because this is one of the few lessons it won't teach me," Zack explained. He remembered the last time he asked about it, and rather than receive a direct answer the system simply pointed Zack towards Thumper, who had always been able to think on his feet when compared to other mobs. "If I had to guess, I think part of the process is my state of mind when creating the mob. When I first made you, part of the process involved me waking up slowly and wanting someone capable of protecting me. I think that desire imbued you with your own personality—though you're a lot less protective now than you were before."

"Hardly. I'll still protect you with my life, but I won't tolerate any of your less pleasant idiosyncracies," Archie said, crossing his arms and raising his nose haughtily. "Also, teasing you helps keep you mortal. It reminds you you're not perfect."

Zack mentally smirked but didn't argue the fact. "The point is, I don't have someone better suited to handling this task than you. I agree it's something that needs to be done, but I refuse to let you attempt it alone."

"Why not send Alex and the others with me, then?"

"Same problem as sending you, honestly. None of them are really suited for this task the way I need them to be," Zack explained. "Greg's too stoic, Chandra too sharp, and Alex… Well, I'm not putting Alex at risk again."

"What of Salazar?"

"I don't think this is something I want to ask of him. Not that I don't trust him, but this feels dangerously close to criminal for his involvement. He's an adventurer first and our ally second."

Archie frowned at Zack's obvious distrust, but didn't argue it. "This leaves us with a need for someone capable of greater movement and diplomatic accuity. In other words, you need to get off your lazy butt and get to work figuring out how to make sapient mobs."

"Don't remind me, it's a whole thing though. I promise I'll work on it after we deal with monsters in the city, okay?"

Archie nodded. "That's fair. It's not like you can divide your focus between multiple tasks at once."

Zack sputtered. "I absolutely can!"

The moment he said those words, Archie smirked knowingly. Had he a stomach, it would have dropped in defeat.

Both of them knew full well that Zack was able to divide his attention across his entire dungeon in order to work on multiple tasks at once. It was a skill he was growing increasingly adept at, in no small part thanks to the increased size of his dungeon. He wasn't limited to a mortal perspective, and could theoretically observe his entire structure at once if he so desired. Even though he was preoccupied with the spawner array in the arena, that was a simple and menial task that required very little active mental involvement. That meant he had more than enough attention to address the issue of sapient mobs again.

"Why not start with Chorus as your base?" Archie asked, as Zack opened another doorway that led out of the passage and into one of the many labs he used to experiment on mobs. "You said yourself that she was closer to a sapient mob than your other attemtps. Surely that would be as good a place as any to start, no?"

"My concern is that she won't appreciate her ejection from my dungeon all together. You forget, first I locked her spider warren up, then reprogrammed them so they couldn't reproduce, then erased them. That's not the sort of history that engenders trust," Zack said.

Archie scrunched up his face but nodded. "Yes, I can see that being a problem. Well, if not her, what else do you have to start with?"

As they entered the sterile, boxy room that served as one of Zack's labs, he took a moment to consider the question. "I think Ember might be my best place to start from," he admitted.

Ember was the name of the forge drakonid that handled matters of equipment in the dungeon. Unlike the kobolds from which she was crafted, she had rocky skin and fire beneath her flesh. She was named after the core that was used as a weapon to assault Zack's dungeon, and she posessed a calmer personality than most other mobs. With an effort of will, Zack spawned her in the middle of the room.

The drakonid blinked slowly, then looked down her snout at Archie.

"There is certainly light behind those eyes that isn't there in the kobolds," Archie agreed, nodding in approval.

"Part of Ember's role is to outfit our customers with gear. I think part of that has lent her the ability to judge and make decisions on her own. I'm not sure if she's truly sapient, and I won't be able to test for certain until I give her a voice. I'm reluctant to take that step, though, because if I'm right and she's capable of true sapience, once I give her that ability I won't be able to take it away again."

Archie frowned. "What do you mean?" He cocked his head as he stared at Ember.

"Part of the process for creating a sapient mob is that they need to be able to make decisions on their own. That might be as simple as just giving them a level of adaptability, like your original self, or it might be giving them the ability to take initiative on crafting. The second part is giving them the ability to talk," Zack explained. "Those were the two objectives the Akashic System assigned me in order to create my first sapient mob, at least. As you well know, I can't directly affect my sapient mobs without consent. So if we're right about Ember and I try to make her fully sapient, I can't take that back if she doesn't suit our needs."

Archie nodded slowly and tapped his chin. "I see. Your reluctance is less to experiment, but rather to create more life."

Zack cringed but didn't argue. "Look, it's clear that you and I haven't always been the best to one another. Or, at least, I haven't always been the best to you. I'm not perfect, Archie. Having you around has made my faults all the more apparent, because you play off them so easily."

"You are scared what having a second me will bring out in you?" Archie asked.

"More like bring to light," Zack admitted. "My need to control stuff has always been there, even before you showed up. It just… Got worse around you."

"It takes a remarkable level of self awareness to admit the issue, at least," Archie lauded. "But you shouldn't allow this sort of fear to hold you back. It's possible the Akashic System has intended for you to have more sapient mobs by now than you currently do, and this reluctance to awaken them has only slowed your advancement."

"Ugh, how dare you make logical sense," Zack growled. "Fine. Of all the creatures in my dungeon, Ember is easily our best chance at a proper sapient. Stand back, please."

Archie did as he was instructed, giving Zack room to work. He started by conjuring a twisting ball of mana in the air, not dissimilar from his wisps. He played with the pitch and tone of the sounds it could produce, finding something that felt appropriate for the stone drakonid before him. When he was satisfied, he ordered Ember to open her mouth and accept her new voice.

To his surprise, Ember initially refused. It took assurance from Archie that it wouldn't hurt her for her to agree to accept the offer. The wisp glowed with green and orange light as it sunk into her throat, finding purchase in her neck. She blinked slowly and swallowed, as though trying to force the wisp further down.

"T… Test…" Ember growled, her voice hoarse and gravelly as she she tried to speak. She lifted a fist her mouth and coughed twice, as though she was trying to clear her throat. Her limbs moved slowly and stiffly, a side effect of her stone flesh. "Testing," she tried again, blinking twice as the word floated from her mouth. "I can… speak?"

"Yup! Happy birthday, Ember!" Zack said. His words caught her off-guard, and she staggered in surprise, looking around frantically for the source of the voice.

"Don't panic," Archie assured her. "It's just the voice in your head. He's annoying, but you'll get used to him."

Ember blinked slowly and shook her head, before peering down her snout at the rabbit again. "You are… Archie… The voice… Zack…"

"That's correct. I can practically see the smoke pouring from your ears as you think," Zack teased.

Ember looked up at Zack's disembodied awareness and narrowed her eyes dangerously, smoke pouring from her ears.

"I… I didn't mean that literally," Zack said, surprised at the sudden development.