Things Have Changed

The Eastern Territory, White Sand Hills.

An engineering team arrived at the mining area aboard a train several days ago. The destroyed mining facilities were now being rebuilt, and the White Sand Hills were immersed in an atmosphere of orderly activity. Lifting equipment, construction vehicles, building frameworks, and barricade nets were everywhere. Yet among all the construction sites, one place was the most unusual:

The enormous "Godfall Crater" near the White Water River.

The place where the Artificial God had fallen was now under tight surveillance by the Cecil Legion. Several temporary watchtowers and defensive positions stood along the rim, monitoring every movement within and around the vast pit. Near the "remains" at its bottom, a small research station had already been established.

All that remained of the terrifying Artificial God was a mangled skeleton. Twisted, mutated bone fragments stood in terrifying poses above the ground, while some lay buried beneath rubble and soil at the bottom of the crater. Large quantities of flesh remnants were scattered nearby. Those blasphemous Biological Tissues still retained a trace of vitality, as if they were somehow alive, maintaining a degree of activity and constantly emitting intense Magic Reactions.

There was no doubt that these unbelievable remnants were precious research samples.

Accompanied by several apprentices, soldiers, and officers, Pittman slowly walked among the enormous bone fragments. The old druid clasped his hands behind his back, his waist slightly bent, his gaze sweeping over the unsettling remains nearby. Metal frames supported the precarious skeletons, and signs planted in the sections divided by those frames bore labels such as "Sampled," "Unsampled," and "Cleared."

Pittman stopped and silently studied the skeletal structure before him. Some remaining flesh slowly writhed between the bones, producing faint, nauseating sounds and occasionally spasming—as if this tissue were still suffering phantom pain