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.

to me, the

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

"Rhimestone?"

raised my brow in mild

incredibly sturdy

was also

his 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 malfunction. The walls over here can withstand the full-blown

be stupid if they didn't do

best to memorize the layout of

to

from the other areas?"

probably

of greed. This place could be instrumental to

whether the mana fluctuations and the like

"Yea."

In that case, no. Everything in this place is

guard pointed towards the corner of

density in 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

a chance to

the distance before shaking his head. "They'll be sealed inside, and probably die. We don't want to take any

flashed across the guard's eyes as he looked at

soon as it judges that the mana density in the room is at safe

"...I see."

ruthless of

order to make sure the threat would not go outside of the room, they were prepared to have anyone inside

about what happened to the people here, I did feel

were ready to sacrifice their own, after

be a pity to

information was actually

I had previously envisioned became

we go to the

to me, moving towards the

one last glance

"Yes."