Inside the Spider Tower's capital within the Virtual World.

Within this monochrome tableau of black and white, the jagged, misshapen Knowledge Creatures rapidly transformed into uniform Spider Tower soldiers once equipped with unit forms. Yet under the constraints of the Static Zone, they were nothing more than stagnant shades of gray. Without the protection of the capital city or the nourishment of the River of Flowing Gold, taking even a single step forward would force them to drain every last drop of time within themselves.

Only primordial Knowledge Creatures could move freely within the Static Zone. Armed units were not recognized by the Virtual World. It's as though the Virtual World was declaring to the beasts, "You are not allowed to take the form of a sorcerer! Revert immediately! Refuse, and you will be frozen in time!"

Aside from the Spider Tower, no other faction armed their units in the Static Zone. There was a limit to how long creatures could sustain their unit form,...