When the first physical sample arrived in Gear Time-Space, Saine had expected the World-Realm Emperor Monarch to send over materials from Source-Devouring Time-Space first.
Instead, the first thing to appear before him was an utterly unremarkable-looking piece of gray-silver mineral.
It was only half the size of an ordinary human's fist.
The containment apparatus around it, however, had already been replaced twice. As the final layer of gray seal slowly unfolded, even the steadily operating Laboratory Table suffered a momentary deflection in its energy flow.
"Don't touch it yet," Saine said.
He extended his right hand between the mineral and the outer apparatus.
A wisp of gray-blazing power drifted from his fingers. Rather than scorching the sample directly, it slowly spread around it, isolating the area where the change had just occurred.
Several lines finer than human hair lit up across the mineral's surface.
"Is it absorbing your power?" the dragon girl Mel could not help asking.
She stood at the outer edge, still holding the records accompanying the sample. They contained only a few brief remarks about the mineral's uses.
"It doesn't look like it," Lina said first from beside him.
Rather than touching the gray-blazing ripples directly, she pointed at the mechanical engravings farther out, which had not yet gone completely dark.
"What changed just now was the energy already present here. There was hardly any increase in fluctuations inside the mineral itself."
Saine nodded.
He moved his finger to the other side, and the wisps of energy lingering around the sample changed course along with it.
One of them circled the gray-silver mineral, then returned to a spot it had passed through earlier.
Lina's assessment was correct.
So far, the object had shown no obvious devouring properties.
"Put the operating records for the three nearby sets of