That single incident exposed the existence of several hidden spies operating inside the base.

Thankfully, because the Embers had already entered emergency Hibernation Period, none of the traitors managed to successfully send information back to the Capital.

The moment Elder Veena heard about the failed pigeon incident, she immediately ordered a complete internal investigation across the entire hideout.

And surprisingly—

She personally added Rose into the investigation team.

At first, many members opposed the decision. After all, Rose was still young and her powers were unstable.

But those doubts quickly disappeared.

With Rose casually talking to suspicious members while Tansy secretly monitored movements using her clones, the two girls became terrifyingly efficient together.

Several more hidden informants were discovered within days.

Some were leaking supply information.

Others were secretly gathering details about Rose and Tansy’s supernatural abilities for the Capital.

For the first time, the higher-ups of the Embers fully realized something frightening—

Separately, Rose and Tansy were dangerous.

But together?

They were practically built for intelligence warfare.

┉┈ ◈ ◉ ◈ ┈┉

Finally, Tyler.

Out of the three, he changed the most during the past year.

Almost nobody entered Tyler’s laboratory anymore. The small underground research center originally belonged to several researchers in the base, but after Elder Veena and Elder Alan gave him authority over it, the place slowly became his personal workspace.

People avoided going near it unless necessary.

Every few days, strange noises could be heard from inside.

Sometimes loud explosions.

Sometimes metal cutting sounds.

Sometimes electrical buzzing that lasted for hours. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Once, purple smoke leaked from under the doors for nearly three hours straight. After that, nobody even bothered asking questions anymore.

Tyler himself rarely came out except during meals or important meetings.

The only people allowed inside regularly were Tansy and Rose.

Most of the time, Tansy was called in because of her clones.

Not for fighting or anything important.

Tyler mostly used them to move heavy equipment around the lab.

"Carry this."

"Move that box."

"Hold this here."

"Don’t touch that."

At first, Tansy thought Tyler had some grand reason for needing her ability.

Later she realized he simply liked having extra workers around.

Naturally, she got annoyed more than once.

Still, her clones really were useful inside the lab, especially when Tyler started building larger machines.

Meanwhile, Elder Alan Runner rarely visited despite being extremely interested in Tyler’s work. As one of the Embers’ Council Elders, Alan was constantly busy managing hidden bases during the Hibernation Period.

That left Tyler almost completely unsupervised.

At first, many researchers inside the base strongly opposed Tyler monopolizing the laboratory and resources.

Especially because he refused to properly explain what he was building.

So naturally—

They tried sabotaging him.

One group secretly disconnected the laboratory’s main electricity supply late at night, assuming Tyler’s experiments would shut down within hours.

Tyler simply activated a backup generator.

The researchers smirked afterward.

Because they knew something Tyler supposedly didn’t.

The backup generator only had enough fuel for one week.

So they waited confidently.

One week passed.

Then another.

Then a month.

Then several months.

Eventually...

Almost an entire year passed.

Meanwhile, Tyler’s laboratory continued operating perfectly fine.

The researchers slowly realized something horrifying.

Tyler no longer depended on the base’s electricity.

Inside the laboratory, Tyler had already refined a stable Carbonyx crystal core capable of continuously producing energy.

Using scavenged materials, old machinery, and countless copied components created from the Copper Pot, he built a miniature independent power arc network for the entire laboratory.

Completely by himself.

By the time others understood what happened—

It was already too late.

Most of the researchers simply gave up trying to interfere anymore.

┉┈ ◈ ◉ ◈ ┈┉

Today, exactly an Year passed...

Rose casually opened the laboratory door and walked inside.

A year had changed her greatly.

She had grown noticeably taller and more beautiful compared to before. Yet there was still a youthful softness around her face, showing she was still growing.

Her long hair swayed gently as she entered the dimly lit laboratory.

The place looked even messier than usual.

Mechanical parts covered the floor.

Strange glowing devices floated in the air.

Several giant objects were hidden beneath enormous cloth covers.

Rose already knew some terrifying inventions were hidden underneath those covers, so she wisely avoided touching them this time.

Instead, she curiously wandered deeper into the lab.

Soon, she spotted Tyler sleeping peacefully on a sofa near the center area.

"...Again?" she muttered.

Beside him floated a sleek black long gun.

No—

Calling it a gun almost felt wrong.

The weapon looked futuristic and strangely elegant, with glowing energy lines running across its surface.

And somehow...

It was floating completely on its own.

Rose’s eyes instantly sparkled.

"Oho..."

A dangerous grin appeared on her face.

Very carefully, she picked up a pair of noise-cancellation headphones lying nearby and gently placed them over Tyler’s ears.

Tyler shifted slightly in his sleep.

But didn’t wake up.

Rose grinned victoriously.

Then she slowly grabbed the floating gun.

Surprisingly, it felt lighter than expected.

Trying not to make noise, she hurried toward the testing area located at the far end of the laboratory.

Several damaged targets already stood there covered with burn marks and holes.

Rose excitedly aimed the weapon toward one target’s face.

"Pew pew..." she whispered dramatically.

The moment her finger touched the trigger—

The entire gun lit up.

Brilliant RGB-colored energy surged across its body while a terrifying amount of power rapidly accumulated at the barrel.

Rose’s smile slowly disappeared.

"...Uh oh."

SCREEEEEEEE—

A horrifying high-pitched sound echoed throughout the laboratory.

Then—

BOOOOOOM!

A beam of concentrated laser energy exploded forward instantly.

The target’s head vaporized completely.

The laser didn’t stop there.

It pierced straight through the reinforced laboratory wall—

And continued drilling deep into the underground stone behind it.

Everything became silent.

Rose’s mouth slowly dropped open.

Smoke rose from the massive glowing hole left behind.

"...What the heck..."

She slowly turned around toward Tyler in panic.

Surely that explosion should have awakened him.

But instead—

Tyler simply continued sleeping peacefully on the sofa with the headphones on his ears.