I continued to probe Dongung's knowledge of technology and the state of the outside world along the way. The vent was quite long and I had noticed that most of the intersections connecting to other ventilation paths were blocked by the sudden forming of walls from the ceiling soil. They became thick and extremely durable as soon as they were formed leaving me very little time to react when they would appear and it doesn't help that I can't use my magic to move them out the way. The secondary purpose of this strange vent I suspected was exactly this, to funnel me into a predetermined location. I'll wilt without sunlight and whatever acid they used has weakened me in several significant ways that I cannot tamper with the makeshift walls. All of that combined meant this was a pretty unfavorable situation but it also means I had plenty of time to talk to Dongung and Untou while following the narrow path.

Surprisingly, the outside world was in a pretty unfavorable state as well. Both Untou and Dongung shared stories that were quite unbelievable and I had to hold myself back from removing my focus from walking to dive into the unconscious memories of the silenced to confirm their observations and anecdotes. Apparently, one day the moon grew a face of human skin and promised to rip humanity away from their empty shells and ascend them to their truest form. From then on, the moon would introduce all sorts of supernatural phenomenon such as monsters and magic which quickly ravaged the world with their sudden introduction into the landscape. The first generation of monsters were so powerful and cunning that they conquered the majority of the world leaving very few cities, including the one this facility is operating in, as the last sanctuaries for humanity. Honestly, it was an interesting tale but the more I think about it, the more I find that I'm not too concerned with it. I'm not human and I will find out the validity of this when we see the outside world ourselves.

The conversation on technology proved to be moot in comparison. The only experience they had with any new apparatus were purely skeptical outside of the incinerator and therefore wasn't worth much. I wanted to know more about how magic worked but we arrived at a dead end before I could come up with what to ask. There was a steel gate at the floor of the vent and I stopped just before it after noticing it seemed rather loose contrasting the others that were bolted down.

Untou: "OH, they want us to get on top of it and fall in"

Dongung: "Well we're not idiots so what do we do?"

Dongung is right, I'm not sure how humans determine intelligence but I know I am smarter than this. Looking through the gate, I saw some sort of machine with a vat of acid in the center pointing up at the ventilation we resided. A tube connected to the vat pumped it full of the liquid and I took a few minutes to think about how to approach this. I could draw blood from myself and wish for a way to escape... wait no! I already wasted my full supply improving my senses and driving out Samwise and that assassin. Any more would be suicide.... I have no ideas and as such, I look for a second and third opinion.

Untou: "We could... Go down, beat them up, and steal their blood?... Wait how do we get down?"

Dongung: "There isn't anywhere we can latch ourselves onto down there since it's all metal walls, ceilings, and floor tiles...."

Untou: "Oh! What if we pull the dirt from here and drag it down with us like a slide!"

Dongung: "His magic doesn't work right now pumpkin so that wouldn't work. What if we.... Politely introduce ourselves? Show them we're not hostile?"

Untou: "They're bad people mama! They'll try to snatch us if we let them!"

Dongung: "Right, right"

Hearing them go back and forth with each other, I am here silently contemplating myself on our next course of action. It's likely that there are guards and other personnel stationed down there. This whole thing seems like a set up for a trap and I don't have many cards to play to counter it. Perhaps I really should try to make a wish....

Untou: "Oh wait I got a good one!! What if we use some of the silent pieces of our body! We'll like, fake our death!"

I disagree with that plan, if they'll know immediately that it's a fake when they don't see the main core I said.

Dongung: "What's the difference between a normal and main core?"

That question made me rather irritable, it seemed obvious to me due to the knowledge granted by the monotone voice. The main core is bigger and more disorganized, it's not a fully round sphere like it is with Sprouts I said.

Untou: "What if we like.... smashed a bunch together then?"

That.... didn't sound half bad. It was more foolproof than doing nothing I suppose. I went to work pulling out and combining the cores of the sprouts whose subconscious have long since died using a large amount of melted vines and other parts that have faded in use to bind the cores together. I then shifted my weight and put the shrub on top the vent while backing away slightly to keep the rest of my body out of sight. The vent quickly collapsed under the weight and I heard a distinct sizzle as the melted vines burned away, the vat revealed the attached core splitting apart and fading as it was melted completely. Voices I didn't recognize but Dongung thought were scientists spoke to each other after the process in a congratulatory manner.

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Deep voiced Scientist: "Well? You doubted me when I informed you that the extraction team wasn't necessary and here we are." He says with a confident tone.

Sickly sounding Scientist: "I... This was a fluke! You set me up!" The other man said with disbelief

Deep voiced Scientist: "The threat was as real as any but your mistake was misjudging the danger of the threat." I could feel his words as he chastised his colleague "Now I will have to speak with multiple arbiters because you decided to waste our already limited funds on calling an elite hit squad at what amounts to an everyday pest."

Sickly sounding Scientist: "Y-you don't know what that crazy bat has been doin' to those things! They could've learned how to create clones or some other magical phenomena! You can't-" Desperation was heard clearly in his voice before he was cut off.

Deep voiced Scientist: "Your cold must've made you delirious, you shouldn't have come into work today. Here's an idea, since i'm going to have the displeasure of going through all the paper work you've so graciously forced upon me, how about you work overtime and clean up the mess you've made in here."

Sickly sounding Scientist: "You piece of shit, don't you know I've caught a fever?"

Deep voiced Scientist: "I've never heard of a cold preventing you from using a mop and a wastebin. The building closes at 5, which is... an hour from now. Check with security if you get locked in and make sure you record the data collected from melting that swarm else I got nothing to present to the Arbiters and we'll all be in hot water if that happens."

After that cold sentence I heard the vat being dumped as several footsteps grow further from the room and then the only sound heard was the disgruntled shuffling of the sickly scientist.

Dongung: "That worked! Untou you never told me you were a genius!"

Untou: "Wait but, you always said I was smart though?"

Dongung: "Ugh... Hey bud thing controlling us, now's our chance!"

I waited for the scientist to take away the machine then as he exited the room, I dropped in. It took an hour for him to finish his duties which means that luckily, the facility was closed. Unluckily he's still in the building so I'll still need to be careful, this turn of events does give me more confidence however. Locating the door at the end of the room, I moved myself towards it. Noticing that it was locked, I searched around the room for a place to progress but then Dongung pointed something out to me.

Dongung: "Hey... I think that's a stasis box on that table over there!"

I traversed onto the side table near the edge of the room and felt around. My roots came over a particularly large box around 4 feet in height to be exact, almost matching my size. I opened it and began feeling the materials within waiting for Dongung or Untou to recognize any equipment that may help us.

Dongung: "I think I felt a healing circlet! Or a mana one. I heard it increases your magical efficiency when you wear it so it might return your magic! or it'll just recover some of your injuries! Not sure of which but I say its worth a shot"

That doesn't sound promising, what makes you so sure it's not some kind of cursed item I ask.

Dongung: "Who would put a cursed item in a stasis box of all things? That's like putting sawblades into a med kit!"

How multi-purpose are these boxes I wonder, even if it only comes down to their main function, I wondered what they really did since being unaffected by the Concept Incinerator seems to be just a side effect from the memories I'm reading. Nonetheless, it was worth a try, I absorb the circlet into my body and felt the connection to my core strengthen to its original state though I didn't feel any healthier. Feels like my magic has returned, though that doesn't help the situation as much as I hoped, it does fill me with even more confidence than ever though.

"Minor active skill: Mana Recharge has been gained."

That's new, I haven't really thought about my mana capacity before now since Control Earth hasn't exhausted me that much. I'm sure that'll be helpful later, for now however, time to begin my escape in full.