As I mentioned before, the following is an addition to chapter 14.
The next chapter for AS should be out sometime later today. ♛———♛—————————♛———♛
Garrelt had to catch his own hand to stop it from shaking.
He had seen a great many impossible things since that fateful expedition into the Deep that first brought them to Alpha. Things that shouldn’t have existed. Things that had no place in the world as he understood it.
Alpha had always been dangerous. Garrelt had known that from the start.
The Core’s machines, his weapons, his command over the Deep, the way he treated impossible problems like minor inconveniences — all of it pointed to something far beyond a strange dungeon spirit with too much personality. Some part of Garrelt had accepted, almost casually, that Alpha would one day become a power on the level of the great clans or sects.
Or thought he had.
Only now did he begin to understand how badly he had underestimated the creature pretending to be a Dungeon Core.
Alpha wasn’t merely climbing the mountain.
He was looking to rebuild it entirely, right under everyone’s feet
The realization settled in Garrelt’s gut like cold iron.
He drew in a slow breath and let it out just as carefully, trying to keep his expression steady and unsure how well he succeeded.
His gaze drifted toward Hugo and the doctor, searching for something — anything — that might prove he was overthinking
That hope died quickly.
Hugo stood rigid, his usual ease gone. His jaw had tightened, and his eyes had gone distant in a way Garrelt recognized too well. Hugo had seen it too. Maybe not the full shape of it, but close enough.
Dr. Maria, meanwhile, wore a blank expression, stripped of the calm, knowing confidence that usually defined her. Garrelt had seen that look only once before — immediately after her trial, when she had been sentenced to Alpha’s servitude.
It was the look of someone who had already accepted what came next.
That, more than anything else, terrified him.
Beside them, Kailin let out a thin, nervous chuckle, her eyes darting between the others.
“It—it’s not that bad, right?” she asked.
No one answered.
Her smile tightened as she searched their faces, looking for any sign that she had misread the room. “I mean… you’d still need a lot of people to operate that many puppets… right?”
The silence stretched.
Kailin’s smile faltered. She swallowed hard.
“Anyway!” Alpha cut in, his tone suddenly bright.
All four of them flinched.
The [Wasp] perched atop the construct’s shoulder lifted one delicate leg, as if brushing the entire conversation aside. “We’re not here to discuss dusty old machines and everyone’s sudden existential dread.” His red optic turned toward Kailin. “Ms. Sharp, I believe you wanted to show the good doctor an example of your skill, yes?”
Kailin blinked rapidly, her thoughts scrambling to catch up with the abrupt shift.
“Ah—yes,” she said, her voice catching before she forced it steady. “Yes, I can. Well, I mean, I would, but…”
Her attention drifted toward the shrinking pile of debris at the center of the room.
The constructs had already cleared most of the wreckage while they spoke. Charred metal, cracked glass, and twisted tubing had been sorted into neat, orderly piles with unsettling efficiency. What remained of her field furnace looked less like a tool and more like something dragged out of a monster’s stomach.
“I only brought the one pill furnace,” Kailin said, grimacing. “And that was a field unit, meant for emergency work. Not really something you’d find in a proper lab.”
She glanced toward Maria, and some of her earlier focus returned.
“If I were going to show you properly, we’d need to go back to my shop.” She straightened slightly as she spoke, slipping back into familiar ground. “The dedicated furnace there would be better. And I’d need the rest of my tools. Measuring arrays, solvent stands, aspect separators, containment flasks—”
Alpha laughed.
The construct beneath the [Wasp] lifted one hand, and with a motion Kailin was certain was purely for theatrical effect, snapped its fingers.
The room rumbled as seams of white light traced themselves along the back wall. More followed, running from floor to ceiling in clean, vertical lines. Panels shifted with soft clicks, and the stone surface peeled away to reveal what could only be described as a fully realized alchemical laboratory.
Workbenches of polished black metal lined the space in layered rows, each fitted with clamps, burners, lenses, etched plates, and glassware as clear as the most delicate crystal. Slender arms hung folded along ceiling tracks. Racks of tools gleamed beneath steady white light. Copper-lined chambers, nested burners, containment hoods, reagent racks, and sealed cabinets stood arranged in neat order. Some of the equipment was familiar enough for Kailin to recognize its purpose. Much of it was not. Smooth, alien devices sat beside more traditional burners and array-marked stands, each linked by clean conduits that vanished beneath the floor.
Compared to the field setup she had destroyed, the lab made her previous bench look like a child’s toy.
She almost instinctively rushed forward, only for Hugo to catch her by the hem of her robe and drag her back.
With another low rumble, the entire laboratory began to move, sliding forward on hidden tracks, carrying benches, cabinets, stations, and equipment into the basement as a single, seamless unit. It extended into the room section by section until it claimed nearly half the basement’s original space, and settled into place with a final click.
Behind it, the wall sealed shut once more, the seams fading until no trace remained.
A heartbeat later, it looked as though the lab had always been there.
As soon as Hugo released her robe, Kailin made a sound that was not quite a squeal, then bolted forward.
She rushed past the construct and into the new workspace.
The three humans left behind exchanged glances.
No words passed between them, but Alpha recognized the look well enough.
They would be having private words later.
Alpha pretended he hadn’t noticed as they turned and followed Kailin into the lab.
Let them have their concerns.
For now, there was work to do.