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Early Evening - Late Fall : Deep Ocean (West of Central Sirathian Mountains)

*Sizzle* The sound of water boiling the instant it got close to my body filled my ears as I sat down under the corner of the structure.

At the moment, I was trying to let myself cool down so I could go inside the structure, but I wasn't letting that time go to waste.

While I sat there next to the lifeless head of the monster, I was doing everything I could to appease my curiosity.

-A creature with strength and mana comparable to an Ancient, yet it still lacked sentience?- It was a troublesome predicament since the creature was excessively far beyond every requirement that Mother had taught me, yet was still even farther from sentience than the lurkers. -So, why?-

Not allowing myself to believe it was simply an evolutionary anomaly, I used magic to crack open its skull and take a closer look myself. -This would be so much easier if the ambient mana didn't make reading my aura so damn blurry...-

Carefully pulling away the razor-sharp shards of bone, it became immediately apparent that the creature's brain looked massive, to the point that it was pressed tightly against the inside of its skull.

But even though it only made things more confusing, something else unusual caught my attention.

-The aura is so strong here. Is its mana core under its brain? -

Although not uncommon for a majority of monsters, for one of this level, it was incredibly out of place.

*Crackle* Carefully breaking open more of its skull, I quickly got to the point that I could pull its brain out while keeping it mostly intact.

-Well, here goes nothing...- It was at that instant that all of my questions were answered. Instead of pulling it out and looking at a large, solid brain, I pulled out a thin, bowl-like layer that masked the colossal mana core beneath it.

I genuinely couldn't believe my eyes at first.

-What the f*ck... How did its mana core get big enough to crush its own brain?!- It was the discovery that made the creature's abnormally low level of intelligence finally make sense.

-Is this why dragons and other strong creatures evolved to have their cores in the upper chest instead of their head?- But before I could really dig into that question, I was pulled out of my thoughts by the feeling of ice-cold water finally touching my body. *quiet-sizzle*

-Oh, I've cooled down that much already?- Quickly moving around a little bit, the residual heat in my body quickly vanished, and I got ready to go into the structure.

But as I turned in that direction, I glanced at the colossal mana core and felt my mouth water.

It was a core that was too big to fit in my mouth and too big to absorb before the pilgrimage, but I couldn't bring myself to just leave it there at the bottom of the ocean. -M..maybe I'll just hold it in my hand and absorb it whenever I get the chance...-

Quickly changing the course of action, I swam back over to the head and carefully pulled the core out before setting it down on the ground. -I'll pick you up once I finish exploring the structure...-

Slowly moving away, I swam to the front of the structure and stood on the extended platform.

Almost immediately, a small, snake-like sensor extended from the wall.

"Insert Mana." The voice was as robotic and monotone as always.

-Thank goodness it seems to still be normal...- As I idly injected some mana into the sensor, I looked up at the corner of the structure and saw the flattened corner. -I really hope nothing serious got damaged...-

{"Authorities: Approved"}

-That was fast...-

{"Welcome to Class B Containment Center 4856A1"}

-Huh? This isn't a laboratory? Wait, CONTAINMENT CENTER?!-

*Click-VWOOM* As the doors slowly opened, a disgusting amount of visible mana started oozing out, but that was only the beginning.

Once the door finished opening, a simply unfathomable amount of mana poured out. -Good lord... What the actual f*ck am I looking at.-

Not wanting to risk walking into a 'containment center' that screamed danger while in my humanoid form, I squeezed my way through the door and came into a tiny docking area only big enough for one or two small ships with a single large door on the opposite side. -That must be the entrance...-

But as I walked toward that door, I had an indescribable realization. -Wait... this isn't ambient mana, is it?- Paying extra close attention to the flow of it for a moment, I quickly realized it was actually an insanely dense aura, unlike anything I believed possible. -What the hell...-

At that point, I started questioning my life choices and genuinely wondered if dragons were really top of the food chain, but quickly calmed down after my gut told me what it likely was.

-I still might be wrong, but if it's what I think it is.

. I at least don't need to fear it killing me. . maybe...-

Finally getting to the other door, I gave another sensor some mana and was let into a massive room lined with computers and equipment similar to those in the laboratory. -Wow...-

It looked as if it was all untouched time without a single speck of dust anywhere to be seen and no visible damage at all.

To make things even better, almost every computer was still operational, the only issue being that, when I tried to log in, I would get a fairly simple error: 'Cannot Establish Connection To Local Database 4856A'

"Haah..." -Damn, I was really hoping one of the computers wouldn't need a connection.

..- Finally backing away from the final computer with a sigh, I looked around the room again and noticed a set of stairs leading to a door above the docking area, but this time, the door was far too small for my dragon form.

But oddly enough, I didn't hesitate too much when changing forms. -Worst comes to worst, I'll just change to my dragon form at the expense of what's in the room.

.. If whatever this structure is containing somehow isn't what I think it is and breaks free to kill me.

. the equipment in the room is the least of my worries. ..-

Finally finishing my transformation, I quickly walked up the stairs and gave yet another sensor some of my mana.

*Pshhh* The sound of a hydraulic filled the air as the half-meter-thick door was pulled into the wall.

-Holy sh*t...- Behind the door was a room the size of the docking area with walls lined with screens, buttons, lights, and dials similar to nuclear reactors on earth yet somehow unfathomably more complicated, but something else caught my attention first. -What is that?-

On a screen that took up an entire wall, I could see a video of a different area that was cluttered with countless complex devices and cables, all floating in some kind of liquid around a massive tube that emitted a familiar blue glow. -Is that the antimatter reactor?-

It was exactly what I had been looking for, the key to returning power to the laboratory, but instead of feeling joy, I felt incredibly burdened. -How the f*ck am I going to recreate that...-

With a quick glance at the hundreds of dials and levers, it immediately became clear that the project of returning power to the laboratory was going to be a much more time-consuming effort than I had hoped. -But I guess I was just being hopeful thinking it would be easy...-

After finally coming to terms with the effort, I spent a couple hours trying to get the gist of what the control panels were for before finally taking a step back when my mental exhaustion started catching up with me. "Hoooh..." -I should just save the details for later...-

Finally managing to pull myself away, I looked around the room again to check for anything broken and make sure none of the sensors were in the red before finally walking back into the 'main' research area.

But once I got there, I only felt more troubled.

-This place is a containment center, so where is the containment area?

- Just from taking the size of the structure from the outside and subtracting all of the areas I knew about, I was still left with an area about 40 meters wide and 80 meters tall that I had no knowledge of.

-I'm sure that the remaining area is the containment area, but where is...- *vwoooom* My thoughts were cut short by an immense suction of mana through the wall next to me.

"Oof.." As the mana tried to get pulled through my body, I felt my reserve thin and start absorbing everything it could as if there was a mana core. -It feels like dungeon breathing... Is this structure really containing the dungeon core?-

As I thought that, I looked down into the research area and noticed a small but out-of-place lever on the wall just under the edge of a desk.

-What does that do?- Without seeing any warnings or safeties signifying it was a dangerous lever, I casually walked down the stairs and flipped it.

*Pshhh* The noise of hydraulics filled the air again as the four separate panels that made up the wall were retracted. -Oh, it's glass behind the panels...-

Realizing how stupid I was for not thinking there was anything unusual about the seemingly empty wall, I face-palmed and let out a deep sigh. "Haahh..."

But when I finally looked back up and into the containment room on the other side of the glass wall, I started to question if my eyes were playing tricks on me. -WAIT, THAT'S THE DUNGEON CORE?!-