Carl returns to the green room and presses Zev for details about his upcoming panel. Zev explains that the moderator is Circe Took, a mantis hive queen, former hunter, and the mother of Xindy, the daughter Carl killed. Zev also tells Carl that other active crawlers are attending CrawlCon, including the Popov brothers, Chirag Ali, and Tserendolgor. When Carl worries about Donut and Lucia Mar, Zev says Donut is safe for the moment and implies Carl is the one facing immediate danger when he returns to the dungeon.

Before leaving, Zev admits that her own situation is grim: her home system has gone dark, she may be branded a traitor, and her family was killed because she refused to wear a pin. After Zev disappears, the gnoll guards Frito and Moxo install a high-tier restorative bed and an Ultimate Training Room. Frito quietly tells Carl that the room is unusually valuable and hints that Carl should exploit it while he can, though Carl will not be able to steal the equipment before returning.

Carl tests the bed, refuses to eat the crawler’s biscuit without his interface, and discovers that his Valtay portal ability still works on the training room door. Inside, he finds a far more advanced system than the one he knows: it allows longer training, multiple skills, progress visualization, and access to combined workshops. Carl summons his sapper’s table and meets an AI badger trainer who can actually discuss Carl’s ideas instead of merely running drills. Carl asks about a complicated weapon concept, learns he lacks the right facilities to complete it, and pivots to improving the adhesive side of his sticky bombs. Carl spends the remaining time training practical bomb-making methods and then raises Powerful Strike from nine to ten, while also learning more about how his racial traits and gear interact with skill caps.

When it is time for the panel, Frito and Moxo escort Carl through a repurposed studio, where he briefly meets Dr. Ratchet, who is using the room’s dungeon-linked power for his own demonstration and wishes Carl luck. The guards then lead Carl through sweltering service corridors and up a ladder into a zero zone, where all enhancements temporarily shut off and Carl feels abruptly weaker. In Studio Three, Carl’s strength returns, and he notices an unsettling moment of half-recognizing the written language on the door. Inside, a sleek porter bot named Biff tells Carl he is the only virtual panelist present, while the gnoll guards settle in the corner to watch and smoke. Carl takes his assigned seat beside the empty space meant for Circe Took, and the chapter ends with the panel about to begin.