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Aha. He remembered.

Oh boy, did he remember!

There was an ancient workshop at the heart of this cave system. A workshop that had once belonged to one of the greatest integrators to ever live.

Karugetti the Wise.

In fact, as far as historically revered geniuses were concerned, it was just him and Skapa at the top.

Nibas dreamt of being in that same category, one day. Standing tall, shoulder to shoulder with those giants.

And to think that he’d stumbled upon one of their workshops. Granted, it hadn’t exactly been in the best condition, but still. There’d been a massive crater in it where he suspected that a Fusion Forge once resided. He wanted to put a new one there, both to honor Karugetti and to see if, perhaps, he might be able to discover something interesting about that particular location. A man of Karugetti’s stature probably hadn’t chosen the site of his Fusion Forge randomly. Maybe there was something special about it.

Hmm.

So why hadn’t he ever gotten around to doing that, then? Nibas paused to think. The weird dragon man was saying something again, but Nibas wasn’t listening.

There’d definitely been a reason. He wouldn’t have abandoned such an incredible place without cause, surely.

On second thought, maybe he would have. He was kind of an air-headed guy sometimes, wasn’t he? Easily distracted with new and exciting projects. Too true, sadly. Too true.

No, but there had to have been a reason--

The shaking ground brought him back to reality, and he sensed the attack coming from above.

Tch! Interrupting his important thinking time!

The wolf’s mouth barreled through the cave ceiling, coated in black and as massive as a whale’s. Ready to devour him whole.

Morgunov jumped up and clobbered the beast with a right hook.

The wolf’s teeth nicked his shoulder before it was sent flying into the far wall.

Morgunov landed with a heavy thud on both feet, cracking the ground below him as he flexed his gloved right hand, feeling the power and pain surging through it. That glove was the third generation of the Demon’s Grip, and it had the ability to not just increase the muscle strength of his arm, but also the weight of his entire body, starting from the hand.

At its full strength, which was what he’d just used, that punch should’ve had enough force behind it to obliterate the wolf’s entire body like a popped balloon, but he could already sense the damn dog getting back up again.

Morgunov scowled.