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

the facility are made of Rhimestone, ensuring some solid safety. This way, our researchers can conduct

"Rhimestone?"

raised my brow in

what I remember, Rhimestone was an incredibly sturdy rock that could

was also ridiculously

finger across the wall, the guard nodded

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

if they didn't do this

trying my best to

out to be more useful than

the other areas?" I

could probably make

greed. This place could be

mana fluctuations and the

"Yea."

it. In that case, no. Everything in this place

corner of the

room. When the mana density reaches a certain level, it will trigger a defensive mechanism and activate the security system, which in turn will shut the whole place

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

probably die. We don't want to take

eyes as he looked at

soon as it judges that the mana density in

"...I see."

quite ruthless of

to make sure the threat would not go outside of the room, they were prepared

people

were ready to sacrifice their own, after

would be a pity to

actually quite useful

plan that I had previously envisioned became

to

to me, moving towards

one last glance at the facility,

"Yes."