The Author's POV

341 Taking the initiative [1]

Halting his steps in front of a large metallic door, the guard paused for a moment.

Placing his small blue hand by the side of the door, the metallic structure rumbled and slowly opened up.

Rumble-

Once the door was halfway open, the guard started talking.

"This over here is the artifact testing area. As you're probably aware, this place is dedicated to testing artifacts and their power."

"Oh? I've heard of this place."

Walking into the room, I pretended to be unamused by what I saw.

In truth, I was beyond shocked. With all sorts of complex machinery around the room, duergars could be seen testing all sorts of artifacts.

BANG-

Covered in sophisticated equipment, the duergars tested weird-looking artifacts against some sort of odd machinery. Displayed on the machine was all sorts of data which other duergars looked at by the side, taking notes on their holographic- looking devices.

Some of the artifacts were so powerful that I could sense the mana in the air convering towards it.

Keeping a straight face had never been more difficult for me.

'...I wonder if I can steal them.'

I thought to myself.

Oddly enough, that was the first thing I thought as I looked at the artifacts. I couldn't be blamed though.

Each one of the artifacts present would sell for astronomical prices back in the human domain.

To be honest, the probability of me being able to steal them was low, but a man could dream, right?

'Mhm... Actually, it's not impossible for me to steal them...'

A wild thought suddenly entered my mind.

If everything proceeded as planned, then, perhaps, I may be able to take some of the stuff here.

next to me,

ensuring some solid safety. This way, our

"Rhimestone?"

raised my brow in mild

remember, Rhimestone was an incredibly sturdy rock that could withstand heavy

also

his finger across the wall, the guard nodded

Rhimestone. Because of it, we don't have to worry about the facility if the artifacts ever do malfunction. The walls over

they didn't do

best to memorize the layout

might turn out to

this place isolated from the other areas?" I carefully

could probably make up for the sudden

no longer a matter of greed. This place could be

Are you asking whether the mana fluctuations and

"Yea."

In that case, no. Everything in this place is completely isolated. Take

of the

room. When the mana density reaches a certain level, it will trigger a defensive mechanism and activate the

what about the ones stuck inside? Do they have a chance

probably die. We don't

eyes as he looked

the system will deactivate as soon as it judges that the mana density in

"...I see."

quite ruthless of

threat would not go outside of the room, they were

I didn't really care about what happened to the people here, I did feel that Inferno had taken some

to sacrifice their

be a pity to

the information was actually quite useful

that I had previously envisioned became

we go to

me, moving towards the door of

one last glance at the facility,

"Yes."