"So think of a blue square?"

"No," Levi corrected patiently. "Focus on the text as being square, and turn it blue and circle-shaped. Without changing it. Just shift its nature."

Javier's brow tightened further in annoyance. "How do you make something square that isn't square, and then turn it circular without changing it? It don't make a bit of sense."

"Try."

Javier's eyes shifted focus into his system windows.

"Square. Then blue circle."

"I heard you the first time. Shush."

Levi waited, Dax's giant lobster claws still clicking out the seconds.

Then Javier's mouth opened in surprise, his expression of skepticism giving way to pure shocked disbelief.

"How...?"

Javier's hands moved in a blur as he set his station up again, placing the sawdust bed, the token, the scales. This time each scale was placed with perfect precision, no rearranging or adjustments required. He paused at that step, staring down at the scales with an expression of puzzlement that bordered on awe. Then he threw the leather over it, slammed it all with the hammer, and flipped the collection over.

His movements were so fast and smooth as he spread the quickly-thickening sludge across the bottom of the plate that it formed a perfectly flat surface without any of the struggling Levi had witnessed previously.

Then the crafter raised his goggles and stared, hands beginning to tremble faintly. "How?" he whispered again.

"I told you. I knew people who knew things."

"It was always fighting me," Javier continued, a note of wonder in his voice. "I didn't realize how much. I thought I was good at ignoring it, that my mistakes were natural, but... this whole time..." He shook his head, then started testing the set of his piece in almost a daze.

"It should automatically prompt you to reactivate it when you hover on a recipe and take out the ingredients to begin it." A manual trigger existed, but he'd never memorized its specifics. It was faster to use the recipe-trigger as a quick and dirty shortcut.

Javier stared into his interface, picking up and setting down items, visibly practicing turning it off and back on again, the look of wonder never leaving his face.

"You don't realize what you've done," he said at last, looking back up to Levi. "This... this will change everything."

"Glad to hear it. Don't suppose you've remembered anything more about the people who've been brought through here the past couple days?"

Javier hesitated, emotions visibly warring on his face, then he pursed his lips and nodded. "A lot of people came through. Much more than usual. Dozens at least. I didn't look, I didn't ask, but... I do think some of them wanted to turn back. A couple were crying." Seeing Levi's darkening expression he hurried to explain, "It's not uncommon, people don't realize exactly what they're signing up for, and once they start they're not allowed to leave until the training is done. It's all in the contract, but... most people don't read what they're agreeing to."

For a moment, Levi tried to believe that Javier was right, that this was some kind of elite training center instead of a prison. But the way Crackle shifted on his shoulder, the way Skarm tensed, he knew it wasn't.

"You should leave." Levi's voice came out cold. "You don't want to be here when I leave."

"What, why? This is the best place to practice. The steady supply of materials, I can't get this anywhere else."

As if to prove his point, another Beast token appeared on the table as though it had been sitting there all along.

For a moment, Levi stared mutely at the item. He'd spent enough days loitering in treasure rooms over the past weeks, he expected that he'd have noticed if the dungeon just spontaneously generated more treasure while he was inside. Monsters, yes, it would occasionally spawn in new monsters to replace those that were killed, but never treasure.

"Happens all the time. Why do you think I stay here to work? Aside from the quiet and peaceful atmosphere, it's not the best setup. The table's too low, and it's solid with no way to sit at it properly. My knees always cramp up and any time I bring storage shelving in it disappears on me. But I couldn't make half the progress without the regularity of new ingredients."

"You can come back in a few days. But I wouldn't stay here if I were you. In fact, get anyone in the village who's not part of this to evacuate. When I come out, I'll be coming hot."

"What are you saying?"

Levi's hands were fists and he didn't try to relax them. "There is no contract. At least not for everyone. Possibly not for anyone. I know for a fact that at least two--"

Crackle buzzed against his shoulder, tapping five times in quick succession.

"Five?"

Crackle hummed in agreement.

"At least five of those people were brought entirely against their will, my wife and son among them."

Javier went very still.

"And I strongly suspect I'll find more than a few of the others were likewise unwilling trainees."

"Oh. God." Javier's scraper clattered to the floor as it fell from his hand. "So all this time, I've been..."

"Enabling slavers? Yes."

"I didn't know. I swear, I had no idea. I still don't know... but..." his voice quieted with horror. "The things that they've... it does fit."

"I believe you. And that's the only reason I'm giving you this warning. Get yourself away. Get anyone not involved away. I don't know exactly what I'll do when this is over, but I can guess it won't be safe for anyone in our way."

He had a few ideas for how to deal with a dozen too-strong Awakened, though the presence of Javier at level 26 and with a Tamer class made him reconsider some of his assumptions. He'd gotten in with a distraction, but he couldn't guarantee he'd be able to get out the same way.

A quick glance at his minion screen showed that Gremlin Two had been killed at some point after Levi's immediate team entered the dungeon, leaving none of his allies alive out in the compound. If it were just himself and his family slipping out, he might have been willing to try stealth.

But if Javier's implications were correct, he was looking at dozens of likely prisoners, perhaps even more depending on how long this operation had been underway. Slipping away wasn't going to be a viable option if they had such a large group with them.

"How long do I have?" Javier's voice broke into Levi's thoughts, grim determination in his tone.

"Depending on how far away they're being held, a few hours."

"That won't be much time to get people away."

"How regularly do the higher level people come through to clear the place?"

Javier grunted. "Due in a few hours."

"It'll be before then."

Javier began tidying up and packing his tools and ingredients away into various pouches and bags about his person. Dax stalked over to help, handing things up to his master, and Levi found the sudden absence of his metronome-like clicking momentarily disconcerting.

Last, Javier stacked the completed scale pieces on the table in front of him. Thirty or so in total, some flatter, some more curved. He frowned down at them for a long moment, then looked up to Levi.

"I want you to have these."

"Armor crafting isn't my specialty. I wouldn't know what to do with them."

"But you know people. You can have it completed. I'd rather it go to someone trying to help people. I don't know what my future might look like, but something tells me it's going to be very different from now on."

"You're not wrong." Levi paused a moment, then dug in his bag for one of the now-crumpled pamphlets Cassandra had given him back when they were recruiting. "Here's an overview of some basics. Share them with anyone who needs to know. And... don't stop creating. The world is going to need high level creators soon. I know this lot is likely an irredeemable mess, but apart from the kidnapping part they have the right idea. Gather people, train them, equip them."

Javier nodded slowly.

"And if you have family, friends, anyone you care about... stay together. What's coming in a few months, you don't want them to face it alone."

"What's coming? You mean something other than monster filled dungeons popping up all over?"

"Yes. Much, much worse. The dungeons, well, these dungeons currently, will seem like a casual warmup in comparison."

"I'll spread the word." Javier waved a hand, and Dax flapped his wings once, hopping over to join him. "Thank you."

With that, the crafter swung himself up on top of his winged crustacean minion. With a quick hop and run, Dax ducked through the hallway leading to the previous room, then launched himself into the air.

Levi watched with faint amusement as the landbound predators jumped and snapped fruitlessly at the flying duo, all the way until they dove into the return portal and disappeared.