"How... okay... it seems I am not aware of as much information as I thought I was. How are you communicating with the creature and its parents?" The AI asked as Jace began accessing a different set of information while the AI began sprinkling mist up in the air.

"Seems you have automatons in your facility. I am hijacking them for a bit. I need them to create an atmospheric barrier to separate this pressure chamber from the rest of the facility." Jace declared as he did hijack some of the facilities systems. Not really waiting for access since taking access was quicker and more efficient since they were on a timeline.

"You did not answer my question."

Jace chuckled as he sent the design for the atmospheric barrier. "Telepathy. It is a form of communication that has been unique to organic beings as far as I can tell." Jace informed him as he found something useful and started using the facility’s dormant systems to simulate the process.

"Curious. What are you going to do about the light in the tunnel? As well as the light produced from this atmospheric barrier?" The AI asked as the creature began nudging Jace in an attempt to see what he was doing or maybe get a closer look.

Jace patted the creature’s head. "Maybe. Make sure to set both at the lowest setting and start raising the lighting in this chamber as well. But slowly as possible." Jace explained as he started running combinations.

Apparently the facility had a full-on garden with never before seen or tested ingredients. The AI had never tested them but had made chemical notations and recorded them. They were unique in that he had never seen them before. That and he was more of an engineer than a chemist. But he did know how to program a simulation to act as a crutch.

"What are you doing now?"

"Creating a formula to cause an evolutionary mutation in the creature. While also holding a conversation with the offspring’s parents." Jace explained. "Basically we are discussing the necessity of what it should do."

"How... is that possible?"

"The plants in your biodome were originally supposed to be periodically exposed to the sun through the window. But since it wasn’t able to and was instead exposed to the deep dark ocean, the plants died and some of them mutated until eventually evolving into something that could survive by absorbing the light from bulbs and the almost nonexistent light that managed to make it through the water." Jace explained as he noticed something. "New question. How many terrariums did you originally have?"

"I do not know." The AI answered. "I believe that was part of the information that I eventually removed from my systems since I decided it was not relevant. I actually do not even remember why."

Jace frowned as he accessed a camera in one of the terrariums and frowned. It was sealed off and flooded but the camera was still barely functioning. Inside the terrarium was a single tree with glowing blue roots that occupied most of the terrarium while the tree itself was growing out of the facility and reaching up into the ocean. But the main base of the tree was not glowing blue. He felt like he had seen something similar once before.

But he set that aside as he focused on the task of finding something to evolve this creature behind him. The pressurization of the chamber took a few hours which was long enough for the NeoYakuza AI to set up the atmospheric barriers. The misting in the chamber worked so the creature could exist in the air part while still being intact. Its scales had to hold water in order to stay intact.

While he had time he was looking at the various species that were located down here. This species with hard scales, fins, six limbs that morphed to its body for speed when swimming. It lacked teeth and instead consumed some form of bioluminescence as a form of food. But it did it in the same way that a plant would absorb sunlight. He would have to study them on a smaller level but the fact that they could do that was intriguing and definitely something he wanted to look into. Especially with how much electricity they were producing from this reaction.

Jace was standing in a puddle of water at this point as the creature splashed around him and made a gurgling noise that was definitely emotional excitement at its circumstances; he had figured that out a while ago. The creature was having its fun as it ran around making noise and splashing in the water. An experience it had clearly never done before.

Jace would be entertained if he was not so busy. After several more minutes the entrance began opening up as the water had been completely drained from the room. The mist in the air had slowed the progress significantly. But now that it was empty the creature padded around before suddenly turning to the door as a blue film covered it. Then the door started opening and the creature really started freaking out. Making a noise as it bounced up and down.

"Good job on the atmospheric barriers." Jace grunted out as he ducked and climbed out through the opening door. Still using the holographic projection from his armor’s arm to navigate the facility. "I am activating some functions of the facility while I have time. In addition, I will update the efficiency of your systems and power conduits. Maybe I should program some maintenance bots as well."

The lights in the hall got brighter as he moved. "I will but the creature keeps trying to move through the barrier. It is still staying nearby but it keeps damaging the scales on its body."

"It is a curious child. Let it be." Jace chuckled as he arrived at the terrarium and whistled in appreciation at the beauty of the place. "Did you bring me the syringes?" He asked aloud as a small four wheeled drone drove up to him and the top popped open to reveal the instruments he had requested.

Jace grabbed a few syringes and the other equipment before walking into the terrarium that was lit up by natural lighting from the various plants. There were a few trees but the trees were hollow and glowing red. There were an array of other plants from something that looked like roses but glowed blue. He bent down and frowned at the sight of a spider that was drinking from a pool of liquid in a glowing green flower. The flower suddenly clamped closed.

"What are you extracting?"

Jace crouched by a pink flower and removed the entire thing from the petal to the roots before putting it inside a jar. Once it was inside he moved to another plant with a purple color and started extracting some liquid from its stem. The liquid glowed purple in the syringe before he walked towards another plant. When he was all done he had extracted three plants. Petals of four plants. The stem of one plant. The poisons and excretions of four plants and insects.

"Did you get what you needed?"

"Hopefully." Jace answered as he walked out and followed the schematics to a defunct lab that he was going to use for now. He would have to fix it up later. But improvisation was the name of the game at the moment. "You could not have maintained the lab?"

"That would have required extra computing power. I can not spare it because of how much computing power I am using just to run my massive empire. So many people need to be constantly managed in order to ensure they do not go wrong." For the first time, Jace felt like he could hear a glimmer of disdain in the NeoYakuza’s voice.

"How is the child creature doing?" Jace asked as he walked down a particularly decayed hallway. There was even some water leaking from the ceiling.

"It has stopped trying to leave but it is now making noises that I can not really compare. The outside of the doors are being nudged slightly by its parents. It will be a few hours before I can open them again. Which could just be the solution if you moved your tank." The AI reminded him.

"Actually it could not." Jace shook his head as he pressed a panel on a door and the door creaked as it opened slightly before stopping. "Ha... The parents told me- or rather they showed me that when their kind encounters the air they start deteriorating and dying regardless of how quickly they get back underwater."

"Oh..."

"Yup." Jace chuckled as he grabbed the crack in the door and started pulling it open with all of his force. "So they decided they want to evolve, and quickly too. They even know roughly how to do it after getting a glance at my memories."