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, the guard patted the side

are made of Rhimestone, ensuring some solid safety. This way, our researchers can conduct experiments without

"Rhimestone?"

brow

Rhimestone was an incredibly sturdy rock that could withstand

also

finger across the wall, the guard

we don't have to worry about the facility if the artifacts ever do malfunction. The

if they didn't

to memorize the layout of the

to

this place isolated from the other areas?" I carefully

I could probably make up

was no longer a matter of greed. This place could be instrumental to

the mana fluctuations and

"Yea."

this place is

towards the corner of the room, where

machine over there measures the mana density in the room. When the mana density reaches a certain level, it will trigger a defensive mechanism and activate the security system,

shuts down, what about the ones stuck inside? Do they have a chance to flee? I assume this must happen in

probably die. We don't want to take any risks. For better or worse, everyone here knows how the system works so they

across the guard's eyes as he looked at the researchers in

end up surviving, the system will deactivate as soon

"...I see."

quite ruthless of

outside of the

care about what happened to the people here, I

to sacrifice their

be a pity to lose so many talented

information was actually

previously envisioned became

go to the next

moving towards the door of the

glance at the facility,

"Yes."