They approached the massive floating structure with each step bringing them closer to power that Achilles could feel pressing against his existence even from this distance.

"You should feel honored. Many wait centuries for this opportunity. Many die before their names reach the front of the queue. You have arrived at an auspicious time."

They reached the base of the structure where golden platforms rose from the floor to provide access to entrances positioned at various heights along its curved surface.

Sethos led Achilles onto one such platform, which began ascending toward a particular entrance with smooth motion.

Glass doors buzzing with Observable Force parted before them as they approached.

Achilles felt like he was literally entering an existential laboratory as he passed through those doors. The interior of the structure was filled with equipment and apparatus that defied easy categorization, devices constructed from materials he could not identify serving purposes he could only guess at.

Floating platforms held specimens and samples and resources that radiated authority suggesting they had once belonged to beings of tremendous power.

Within this place, he began to sense the heavy and suffocating power of a Gilded One.

It pressed against his existence with weight less weight than what Mansa Zulu had emanated during their brief encounter after Lamashtu’s death. This was not the overwhelming authority of an entity from the Unobservable but rather the concentrated presence of a being who had transcended THE Second Scale while remaining within Observable frameworks.

Sethos led him deeper into the laboratory.

They passed through sections dedicated to different aspects of Existential Engineering, chambers where modifications were performed and recovery areas where those who had undergone the process acclimated to their new configurations.

Staff members moved through these spaces with efficiency born of long practice, their amplified Egos burning with Pride that marked them as transformed by the very processes they now assisted with.

Finally, they arrived at an area that made Achilles’s Architect’s Perception sharpen with interest.

Dozens of corpses lay on sleek floating platforms arranged in concentric circles around a central workspace.

Primordial Architects. Antediluvian Ones. Formless Terrors. Undivided Ones. Representatives of lineages that his own stunted Observable Existence had never naturally produced, all reduced to specimens for study and dissection! Their bodies had been preserved through methods that maintained the integrity of their Civilizational foundations even in death, allowing whoever worked upon them to examine the intricacies of how their existence had been structured.

In the center of this place was a Gilded One.

She was adorned in a white-gold coat that fell to her ankles, the garment somehow seeming both clinical and regal in its design. Her gold hair dripped past her shoulders in waves that caught the ambient light with every subtle movement, each strand seeming to possess its own luminescence rather than merely reflecting external sources.

Her features were beautiful!

She was currently dissecting the corpse of a Calymmian Proterozoic Scale Primordial Architect.

Her hands moved with precision, instruments of gold and white light separating tissues and foundations with care that preserved the integrity of what she examined. The corpse’s chest cavity lay open before her, revealing a Heart of a Primordial Architect that pulsed with faint residual authority even in death.

She did not look up as Achilles entered her workspace.

She simply continued her dissection with focus.

Sethos bowed deeply toward the Gilded One before backing away to leave Achilles standing alone at the edge of the circle of floating platforms.

Surrounded by the corpses of beings whose lineages he shared.

Waiting for the attention of an entity whose power exceeded anything he had prepared himself to encounter!

---

Mansa Nguna continued her work calmly before Achilles, her golden instruments moving through the open chest cavity of the Calymmian Proterozoic Primordial Architect with precision. She did not turn around. She did not pause her dissection. She simply spoke into the air before her as if continuing a conversation that had already been in progress.

"I reviewed your record of existence since you arrived in this Observable Existence."

Her voice emerged with the unhurried quality of someone who had never needed to rush anything in their entire life. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"To reach the feet of a Gilded One within a single day of arrival in a foreign Observable Existence..."

One of her instruments traced something within the corpse’s chest with careful attention, her gold hair shifting slightly with the movement.

"What a unique little thing you are. Tell me, do you know what you came here for?"

Achilles looked at the back of her head with an expression that remained composed despite the suffocating pressure of her presence pressing against every aspect of his existence.

"The amplification of my Ego and Engineering. Beyond that, I know nothing else and find myself curious about what the process actually entails."

...!

Mansa Nguna set down her instruments with a soft sound that seemed to echo through the laboratory despite its quietness. She turned around.

She looked at him with hands folded beneath her chin and a smile that arrived on her features with the lazy ease of someone who had found something unexpectedly worth smiling about.

"Bounded Lifeforms are unique to dissect and study."

She began walking toward him with unhurried steps that carried her between the floating platforms and their preserved corpses with familiarity.

"Even now, after all the eons I have dedicated to this work, they teach me new things with regularity that I find genuinely remarkable. Every configuration is slightly different. Every Civilization leaves its own signature on the underlying structure. Every Heart of a Primordial Architect has grown according to its owner’s unique history."

She gestured broadly at the specimens surrounding them.

"There are different types of Engineering, of course. What I can offer ranges from foundational restructuring to capability amplification to Ego modification at various depths and complexities. But I always perform the most basic one when working with new recipients."

A slight shrug accompanied her next words.

"Or really, it is what I am allowed to do by the powers that be. There are restrictions on how deeply a Gilded One may modify a Bounded Lifeform without specific authorization from higher authorities, and I find those restrictions interesting to work within rather than frustrating. Constraints produce creativity, in my experience."

Her gold eyes settled on him with the focused attention of someone running calculations that went beyond what was visible on the surface.

"Pride is the Ego deemed the highest among the seven. You can see evidence of that assessment everywhere you look within this Observable Existence. Those who have received Pride Engineering carry themselves differently from those who received other modifications. Their resistance to THE Gamaidjan is more comprehensive. Their ability to wield Infinity without losing themselves in its depths is more stable."

She tilted her head with the slight angle of someone posing a question they already knew the answer to.

"So. Will you choose Pride for your Amplified Ego and the base of your Existential Engineering?"

Achilles held her gaze with eyes that swirled with differentiation and undifferentiation!

"Pride."

Mansa Nguna’s gold eyes shone. Her lazy smile widened!

"Alright. Pride it is."

She turned back toward her workspace and began preparing instruments with movements that combined efficiency with the casual energy of someone who enjoyed their work thoroughly.

"Pride always is. Haha."

She glanced back at him over her shoulder with gold hair shifting around her face.

"Find a table and strip."

...!