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

are made of Rhimestone, ensuring some solid safety. This way,

"Rhimestone?"

raised my brow

I remember, Rhimestone was an incredibly sturdy rock that

was also ridiculously

his finger across the wall, the guard nodded in

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 attack

be stupid if they didn't do

best to memorize the

place might turn out to be more useful than

from the

his answer, I could probably make up for the

longer a matter of greed.

asking whether the mana fluctuations and the like reach outside

"Yea."

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

towards the corner of the room, where a

a certain level, it will trigger a defensive mechanism and activate the security system, which in turn will shut the whole place

ones stuck inside? Do they have a chance to flee? I assume this must happen in a matter of

The 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

across the guard's eyes as he

if they do end up surviving, the system will deactivate as soon as it

"...I see."

ruthless

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

happened to the people here, I

were ready to sacrifice their own,

be a pity to lose so many talented

information was actually quite useful

previously envisioned became

we go to

out to me, moving towards the door of

one last glance

"Yes."