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.

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

of Rhimestone, ensuring some solid safety. This way,

"Rhimestone?"

raised my brow in mild

Rhimestone was an incredibly

was also

finger across the wall, the guard nodded in

made of Rhimestone. Because of it, we don't have to worry about the facility if

if they

trying my best to memorize the

place might turn out to be more useful than I

isolated from the other areas?" I

probably make up for the sudden time

of greed. This place could be

Are you asking whether the mana fluctuations and the like reach outside

"Yea."

case, no. Everything in this place is completely isolated. Take a

guard pointed towards the corner of the room, where

reaches a certain level, it will trigger a defensive mechanism

have a chance to flee? I assume this must happen in a

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

as he looked at the researchers in

end up surviving, the system will deactivate as soon as it judges that

"...I see."

ruthless

the threat would not go outside of

the people here, I did feel that Inferno

sacrifice their own, after

pity to lose

the information was actually quite useful

I had previously envisioned became much more

to the next

out to me, moving towards the door of the

glance at

"Yes."