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.

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

some solid safety. This way, our researchers can conduct

"Rhimestone?"

brow in

I remember, Rhimestone was an incredibly

was also

finger across the wall, the

facility if the artifacts ever do

stupid if they didn't

to memorize the layout of

might turn out to be more useful than

place isolated from the

could probably make

of greed. This

whether the mana fluctuations

"Yea."

no. Everything in this place is completely isolated. Take

corner of the room, where

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

have a chance to flee?

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

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

surviving, the system will deactivate as soon as it judges that the mana density in the room

"...I see."

quite ruthless of

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

ready to sacrifice their own,

would be a pity to lose so many talented

was actually

plan that I had previously envisioned became much more

we go to

me, moving towards the door

one last glance at the

"Yes."