After taking the elevator to the Detainment Section, Stelle couldn't help frowning as soon as she stepped out.
The last time she had come here, the Starcrusher Swarm Royal Insect had ambushed her.
This time, however, the place had been cleaned up nicely. It no longer looked like a ruin.
The lights had been switched on, too.
Unlike last time, when the whole place had looked like something out of a horror movie.
Morien and Stelle followed Ruan Mei to an enormous cylindrical cultivation tank.
"Here it is."
Ruan Mei stopped and stepped aside, revealing the translucent tank behind her and the enormous blue beetle submerged inside.
The blue beetle was larger than a person. It seemed to be asleep, floating silently in the tank without moving.
This was the replica of an Emanator of [Propagation] that Ruan Mei had cultivated, briefly brought into existence in an incomplete form.
Its prototype was a Giant Borer that had inherited the Insect Emperor's Jaws and could use its mouthparts to concentrate the Death Ray That Shatters Celestial Bodies.
In life, it had often used shattered stars as breeding grounds for its offspring, and had been one of the nightmares that plagued worlds during the Swarm Disaster.
"So small," Morien said.
"It's only a replica, after all. Besides, a complete Skaracabaz wouldn't fit inside the Space Station," Ruan Mei explained.
"I heard that the smaller a member of the swarm is, the higher its rank. Isn't that right?" Stelle asked curiously.
She thought she had heard Argenti mention it.
"That was only true of the lineage you encountered back then," Morien explained with a smile. "There are countless kinds of swarms. Some prize size, while others prize smallness."
"Ohhh." Stelle nodded.
Another piece of useless knowledge acquired.
Morien stood before the enormous cultivation