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.

I was having, standing next to me, the guard patted the side of

of Rhimestone, ensuring some solid

"Rhimestone?"

brow in mild

Rhimestone was an incredibly

was also ridiculously

across the wall, the guard

This whole place is made of Rhimestone. Because of it, we don't have to worry about the facility

if they

my best to memorize the

might turn out to be more

place isolated from the other areas?" I

probably make up for the

was no longer a matter of greed.

mana fluctuations and the like reach outside of this

"Yea."

this place is

towards the corner of

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

the ones stuck inside? Do they have a chance to flee? I assume this must happen

his head. "They'll be sealed inside, and probably die. We don't want to

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

deactivate as soon as it judges that

"...I see."

ruthless of

make sure the threat would not go outside of the

people here, I did feel that Inferno

were ready to sacrifice

pity to lose so

the information was actually quite useful to

I had previously envisioned became much more

to the next

moving towards the door

glance at the facility,

"Yes."