21 Trapped

Alyx was shocked for some time seeing how he was being treated. His newly created black scaly exterior is losing its shine due to all the abuse and he was quickly covered in dust but there are no bruises to his body due to its toughness.

'What is he doing? Do they treat their offspring so roughly? Can't he be more gentle?' Alyx thought Ax knew the reason from the records. Although he knew they have weak familial bonds but this was too much for Alyx to believe.

*No, looks like this one is an exception. He appears to be forced to handle the newborns of the nest against his will. Looking at his wing size he should be of low status.*

Since there is a gradual deterioration in their genes from one generation to another many lose their draconic features, usually at first they lose their wings and slowly lose their intelligence and become simple beasts of diminutive stature. When they are independent it does not affect them much but in a colony they are discriminated and looked down upon and are forced to take up menial tasks in the nest. They are not treated as equals.

'So he is taking his frustration out on us. What will he do if they die?' Alyx was exasperated.

*These lizards have strong scales even as a newborn so they can handle this level of abuse. But there appears to be a lax monitoring on the eggs. They should be confident that no one can intrude into their nest.*

Artificial Dragons on MBN who establish a colony have a strong hierarchy. So it is common for some to be forced into work which they don't like.

Alyx knows about the arrogance of these lizards and expected them to not agree to any reconciliation but he wanted to find some information about the ruler of the nest and his personality. He expected it would be easier for him to approach the ruler of the nest as a newborn but now he is not sure.

Alyx was brought near a pit and got thrown in it. It was a shallow pit but Alyx still felt disoriented for some time after falling on his head.

When he got out of the stupor he could see it was a small chamber filled with food like fishes and corpses of other creatures stacked as mountains. There were a few newborns that were already feasting on them or just sleeping to the side. Some were even fighting over food even with the entire chamber being stacked full with food. The first thought that Alyx noticed was the unbearable stench. He immediately severed the connection to his nose.

'How are they able to eat that and how are they tolerating this stench? Aren't Dragons supposed to have heightened senses, even if they are just an imitation?'

*Well they deteriorated over time and now they have senses just a little better than other creatures around here. These newborns are so hungry that they will eat anything*

'I'm not going to eat that. Those fishes at the Lizardmen's village were at least edible after barbequing them but this is just like eating from a dumpster.'

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There are many artificial creations on MBN other than Dragons, few of them are even indistinguishable from the original like some tribes of Lizardmen are also descendants from an artificial creation. Neo has already mastered the creation of many species and even successfully combined a few of them to create a stronger species. His aim is to make the ultimate creation in the universe and spends all his time on it.

Most of the experiments on MBN are carried out by Neo but he also has many students under him. As a leading figure in the field many flock to learn from him both Aons and members of other civilizations. He accepts a student only if he has an advantage in doing it either in the form of tuition fee or if they provide him with rare materials for his research. They are allowed to help him in his research and do their own research in their free time. Neo also collaborates with other eminent researchers in his field to do experiments. This is the reason for existence of various types of creatures on MBN.

All these experimental creatures are released onto MBN and they are also put under observation to collect data on various aspects like their stability, capabilities of their offspring…etc. Usually this work is left to his students.

Neo and his collaborators rarely interfere in the matters of their experiments so that they can obtain data with minimal interference at natural conditions. A few skirmishes are acceptable to them but the extinction of an entire batch of experiment is not acceptable to them. Measures to prevent such wars are given to low level Aons as missions as they don't have much influence since they are weak. If an order is given directly by them then the war can be stopped immediately but they also want them to fight and do all kinds of activities without any restriction so that they can get more data on their capabilities. If excessive force is used then undesirable outcome is achieved so they limit their involvement in their daily activities.

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Alyx understood the objective of the mission so he wants to complete it with as low deaths as possible to get a good rating from Neo and gain huge CP. He wanted to prioritize the creations of Neo so that he won't leave a bad impression. He wanted to know the origin of the ruler of the Artificial Dragons in Q10, Mordos, for this purpose he infiltrated them. Due to lack of authority he is unable to determine who created Mordos from the information available to him.

But now he is struck in this dumpster and unable to do anything. All around him the newborns had the same routine eat, sleep and then occasionally fight each other.

'We are wasting our time by staying here let's just leave. We just have to assume that Mordos is Neo's creation and not kill him.'

*It would make it more difficult for us. The easiest approach is to just kill him and the tribe leaders of Lizardmen who want a war but if he is alive then the colony will continue to exist and it's just a matter of time before they start hunting the Lizardmen to extinction.*

'Looks like we have no choice but to go with that plan you said the other day.'

*Even though it will give us the best result but it might not go as smoothly as I explained.*