Corwyn looked at the weapon now lying in his lap for a good minute, astonished. He had expected to be faster in creating a weapon than before, but this difference was almost unbelievable. It felt like his ability couldn't be compared to what it was before. This made him ecstatic, but also curious. It shouldn't be that easy to improve one's ability to such an extreme extent in only about two months of time. He had never heard of an ability user having that kind of improvement speed.
But the more Corwyn pondered over it, the more obvious the truth seemed to him. Most of the ability users employed as mages by the cities didn't train their ability all that much, since they only performed the same task over and over again. And those who actually trained their ability did so in an environment full of Arcor, where the training conditions were ideal and not really demanding. They would probably not think that their training is more efficient when they enter an area with sparse Arcor.
However, wouldn't that mean that the majority of ability users throughout the desert didn't even reach a tenth of their potential? That thought seemed just too unreal. But the proof lay right in front of Corwyn's eyes. And he as well hadn't reached his full potential yet, that he was sure of. Suddenly, he was desperate to find out how far his ability could still improve. Corwyn immersed himself into practice for two hours straight, until he finally felt tired and went to bed.
Over the next two days, Corwyn continued to refine his weapon creating, and the results were quite satisfactory. As things stood at the moment, he could create about 10 swords in a row until he started to feel the fatigue. Two months ago, this would have been entirely impossible for him to do. Overjoyed, he told the news to Teo, Hanaan and Dalios. Teo was excited as he thought about the future possibilities Corwyn's ability could provide out loud. Hanaan was astonished at Corwyn's unbelievable progress, but as always, he quickly composed himself and congratulated him with a smile. Dalios only raised his eyebrows for a bit, and said a single word: "Amazing". His expression didn't change at all. If it were possible, Corwyn would even pay 50 silver coins to have a look inside Dalios' head, but held himself back from saying that out loud.
They continued on chatting for a while, until the caravan abruptly halted. Those at the back of the caravan were startled and wondered why they had stopped. Jarrok started to explain before they even had the chance to ask.
"Ya see that thing over there? In the distance, to the left side of our route?"
Everyone's head spun about 45 degrees to the left simultaneously, furrowing their brows and staring hard into the direction Jarrok had pointed at. They couldn't make out anything at first, but soon, something actually entered their view. It looked like the remains of a building, but nothing more than the top of the roof was visible. Could it be one of those ancient ruins the people often spoke about on the city market?
Corwyn couldn't help himself but be curious. They were only a few days of march away from the next major city, so one ought to believe that every ruin in the vicinity of the city had to be discovered already. But the one in front of their eyes didn't look like it, since if it had been discovered, it would have probably been already dug out of the sand.
Maybe it had been discovered, but the wind swept the sand back into the hole and burrowed it again? Corwyn had no way of knowing except by going over there and seeing for himself. He walked up to Jarrok and asked:
"Squad leader, am I allowed to go and check this ruin out?"
Jarrok shot Corwyn an apprehending glance, but only for a moment. He then grumbled and said:
"Suit ya self!"
Corwyn thanked him briefly, then started to walk in the direction of the ruin, Teo, Hanaan and Dalios close behind him. Rogar and some other expedition members were also on their way. Both groups met at about halfway to their destination. When Rogar saw Corwyn was among the four of them, he immediately walked over.
"Are you also interested in this ruin, Corwyn?"
"Well, of course I'm interested. It is pretty rare to encounter ruins out in the desert, even more so near an Arcor vein between cities. If it has not been discovered yet, there might be something really interesting to find."
"I agree with you on that. In addition, we are an expedition party with the goal to go into some ancient ruins. Even if those over there aren't our target, there is no way we can just leave them alone."
"Do you think someone else has discovered it some time ago?"
Rogar thought about it, but he shook his head shortly after.
"No, I don't think so. I have never heard of a single ruin being found on this route, and I have been in the adventurer business for years. It is quite unlikely that someone has discovered it before."
Hearing this from Rogar, who was indeed a senior adventurer among the group, Corwyn became excited again. Never in his life did he have the opportunity to explore a ruin. It was definitely his lucky day. Not much later, they had already arrived at the piece of a roof pocking out of the sand. It was a nearly flat kind of roof, with no particular design at all. However, what made it stand out was its color, a bright emerald green. It appeared to be a small roof, most likely from a tower or something similar. Out of the stone wall right under it, an opening was visible, but nothing more could be discerned since it was filled with sand.
"A temple?"
Rogar muttered. Everyone present turned their heads towards their leader. Did he just say "a temple"? Weren't temples one of the most precious pieces of ruins one could find? Had they really just stumbled over such a treasure?
Rogar quickly shook his head though before anyone could say anything.
"There is no use in getting overly excited before we even have gone inside. First things first, we need to dig out that sand!"
"Shall we get back and bring some shovels?"
"There is no need. We have someone here who has the ability to manipulate sand."
The moment Rogar mouthed those words out, one of the men he brought over moved forward. Corwyn could feel the surrounding Arcor steadily flowing towards that man. Once he had gathered enough Arcor, the man began to move the sand out of the opening in the tower wall. Over and over again, big gushes of sand came out, and gradually, more and more of the building was revealed.
There was not only one opening in the tower wall. On each of the four sides, there was one. Behind the openings was a big hole, most likely a funnel going down all the way into the main part of the building. In order to go down, they fixed a rope around a heavy block of iron Corwyn had manifested with his ability. One after another, they slid down the rope, climbing deeper and deeper into the funnel. Rogar was the first to hit the bottom, closely followed by the rest. They must have dived around 20 yards into the deep.
Naturally, it was too dark for them to see anything, but they quickly lighted up some oil lamps they carried with them. Unfortunately, the space in front and behind of them was buried in sand as well. They had to wait again for the sand ability user among them to move the sand out of the way, which was now considerably harder than before because now, there was no exit for him to move the sand through. He had no other choice but to move all the sand into a corner in order to unveil the rest of the chamber. The frustrating part was, because they wanted to see every corner of it, he would later have to move the sand into another corner again.
The others waited patiently for the sand ability user to finish. Meanwhile, Corwyn instigated a conversation in order to break the silence.
"I really wonder what the function of this building was. You suspected it to be a temple?"
The question was obviously pinned at Rogar. He answered quickly.
"Indeed. That emerald colored roof, and a long tower leading down into a vast chamber. It fits the description of a temple from ancient times perfectly."
"In that case, what were those temples used for? Was there actually some kind of god they were praying to? Or was it the humans of back then worshipping the Tehr here?"
"I don't know of any kind of god, and I have read many books about the age of the desert kingdom when I was young, but nothing like that was ever mentioned. About the Tehr, I have even less knowledge. They have always been a mysterious existence, so them being adored by humanity could very well be true, but if they have truly existed, what use is there in building a temple to worship them, if they are alive and walk alongside everyone else?"
"You are right, that would indeed be kind of strange."
Corwyn fell deep into thought. Teo used this opening in their conversation to propose his own idea.
"The Tehr were supposed to be a race that helped humanity, right? What if this was the place where they waited for humans to ask them for help?"
"I don't think so. If they did that, wouldn't they have been practically swarmed with requests every day? I can't imagine how stressful that must have been!"
It was Hanaan who had answered him. Teo had to admit his words made sense. The Tehr were a legendary existence who made humanity prosper for multiple centuries. He couldn't imagine them to run errands for everyone who asked them to.
Everyone sank into their own thoughts for some time, when the sand ability user finally called them.
"Okay, I'm done, so you can have a look now!"
They all moved their gazes into the direction where tons of sand had been just a few minutes ago. What lay before them was a vast space, but even in the dim light of the oil lamps, they could discern that this chamber wasn't anything simple.
Stairs made of the finest marble led up to a huge altar, while the floor was decorated with countless magnificent pictures. The altar had no furniture any longer, but its height and size were on a completely different level compared to the few normal shrines Corwyn had seen back in Quorin, giving it the impression of having an important function.
But the most impressive feature of the chamber was the number of inscriptions carved into the walls. All around the group, inscriptions filled every space available, reflecting the light of the lamps, giving them a secretive aura.
Corwyn walked up close to those inscriptions. As he got close enough, he discovered it was written in a language unknown to him. The others were all walking to another part of the wall, but quickly encountered the same problem. They couldn't read a single word of it. It seemed like everything written here was in an ancient language no one knew of anymore.
Rogar was the first one to break the silence.
"I guess this proves that this place was built by the legendary Tehr. Except them, no other race than humanity has ever lived in these lands. However, since we can't read those inscriptions, we have no way to confirm this theory."
What he said was true, sadly as it was. Everyone nodded, and Rogar gave the order to move the sand so that they could inspect the other side of the chamber. A few minutes later, it was done and they moved over to the opposite side. It looked the same for the most part of it, with inscriptions on the walls and white pillars supporting the ceiling. The only difference was a large table out of marble standing in the middle of the wide hall. Corwyn walked over to the table, and surprisingly found a few inscriptions on it as well. But what surprised him even more was the fact he could actually read what was carved into there. Carefully, he began to read it, but soon a different kind of question mark was popping up inside his head.
(What does this even mean?)