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Before the two of you lies a massive metal contraption connected to countless tubes and pistons, somehow coming across as sleek and refined rather than a chaotic mess despite the fact that the mechanisms and their purpose are totally unknown to you. You step away from the light to circle around what you're certain is the engine, careful not to trip on any of the pipes crisscrossing the floor, and try to discern what's wrong with it to the best of your ability. <span class="mu-r">You and Val examine it together for fifteen minutes, poking, prodding, pulling, and even experimentally knocking on it to no avail. Whatever is wrong with it eludes you completely.</span>
"Not sure what the problem is. But give me some time. I think I could figure out how it works if I do some minor disassembly. Don't worry, I'll remember how to put it all back together." Val speaks up, showing a keen interest in the device.
"Go ahead. I'll keep the lights on, I suppose." You shrug, feeling a little disappointed that you weren't able to wrap your head around Eldingarian secrets. You bet those little bastards made it intentionally confusing, just to keep others from copying their tech!
Val kneels down and pulls out a toolkit you hadn't known was on him, and he begins to calmly and carefully begin the disassembly process. You're quiet for a bit to allow him to concentrate on his work, before boredom takes a hold of you once more. You can't help but talk, finding silence to be uncomfortable.
"So, uh...you know a lot about Monsters and Chakras and all that stuff?" You ask Val curiously.
"Mm. Yes." He replies. You pause, waiting for him to say something more on the subject, but it never comes. Damn it, man.
"Where do Monsters come from, you think?" You prod further.
"Animals." He replies. "Monsters are to Animals as Demons are to Humans. Something corrupts their essence, and their body is warped as a result. It's the Chakras specifically that have to be corrupted to initiate the transformation - you can survive having corrupted essence in you as long as it doesn't integrate with your Chakra."
"What's the source of that corruption, then?" Your brow reflexively twitches at the mention of Demons. The scum that hunt down humans and abandoned their humanity to do so, as far as you're aware.
"We don't know." He sighs, pulling a rubber gasket out of the engine and turning it over to examine it. "But we do know that there's a disproportionate amount of monsters the closer you get to the Northern and Southern Wastes. One supposed witness stated that they watched a moose walking the snows up at the Northern Wastes that collapsed, before violently mutating and coming back as a monster."
"So it's involuntary?" You ask.
