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.

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

walls of the facility are made of Rhimestone, ensuring some

"Rhimestone?"

brow

was an incredibly sturdy

was also

across the wall, the guard nodded in

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

stupid if they didn't

my best to

out to

from the other

could probably make up

of greed. This place could be

whether the mana fluctuations and the

"Yea."

this place is

towards the corner of the room, where a lone

mana density reaches a certain level, it will trigger a

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

guard looked at the duergars working on the artifacts in the distance before shaking his head. "They'll be sealed inside, and probably die. We don't want to take any risks. For better or worse, everyone here knows how the system

guard's eyes as he looked at the researchers

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

"...I see."

quite ruthless of

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

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

to sacrifice their own,

to lose so many

information was actually quite useful to

I had previously envisioned

we go to

guard called out to me, moving towards the door of

one last glance at the facility,

"Yes."