As Rethys wandered on westwards towards the passages towards the lower ritual rooms, he couldn't help but appreciate the new powers that he now had access to.
He had taken the time while traveling through the catacombs to test his new abilities, and the results more than satisfied him. Apart from the magic-disarming spell, which he dubbed "Dispersion", he now had two more spells, one offensive and the other defensive.
The offensive spell was a more optimized version of his normal ability to send his Origin ether to his target's minds to incapacitate them. Now instead of needing physical contact, he could aim his hand towards them and summon the spell, disabling any target from a safe distance and even costing less energy than his usual emission strategy. Sometimes however, it showed the weakness of spellcasting, as some creatures required multiple casts to be taken down. Regardless each use of the spell, did weaken them greatly, making the rest of the encounter go easier, and prompting Rethys to name the spell Enfeeble.
The defense spell, which he simply called Barrier, was a shield of his element that he devised against any magical threats he might run across during his stay here. The barrier of Origin ether stuck to Rethys and would prevent any magic-based attacks from getting to him, weakening them with its element's abilities and blocking the rest with sheer ether density. He couldn't tell how strong the shield would be, but judging by its sheer cost in energy, he doubted any magic from any regular catacomb dweller could get through it.
He hadn't yet run into any creature that wielded magic with anything resembling proficiency, the best among them being capable of dangerous, but still clumsy emission. Sevi herself said that while they could infuse intent into their magic, it was dumb, basic intent, and it could not drive truly powerful magic.
Strangely enough, the only being he had found in the Yvtari catacombs that was capable of true magic was Sevi herself. And though he had grown to appreciate both her help and company, he couldn't deny that having some method of magic defense gave him some much needed peace of mind.
Using these newly acquired abilities, Rethys could now travel more freely around the catacombs, and reliably confront more creatures than he ever could. Being able to explore and fight more made him confident that he could find out more, even if this venture with the runic lexicon turned out to be a bust. The catacombs were extremely expansive, after all, and though he had explored much and freed many creatures, he was still only scratching the surface along the peripheries of the underground complex.
Still, once he was done acknowledging how far he had come, the extreme carefulness that kept him alive thus far in these catacombs returned.
As he further entered areas he had never explored before, his readiness for the unexpected flared as every sound and sight around him became a possible threat. His thoughts ceased wandering over magic, and a sense of cold detachment descended upon him stronger than ever
It seemed that the effect of emotional suppression that he experienced on a constant basis at this point was not caused by the entity or its control, but rather of the very nature of Rethys' element. He wondered know which aspect of his element promoted such a condition, but shrugged away these thoughts as unimportant for the task at hand.
'I'm still myself, so I don't have to worry about this for now.' He concluded, hoping dearly that such was the case.
As he passed unfamiliar areas, he started seeing unfamiliar soul signals belonging to types of creatures he had never encountered before. Most were similar iterations to what he usually encountered, only with one or two different core features that defined them. He had avoided most, only engaging with those he recognized and only when his energy accommodated an easy fight where he incapacitated then released the target in question.
His carefulness still brought uncomfortably close to creatures he had no business being near, the strangest and most dangerous among them being what seemed to be an immense mass of souls and bones bound together with metallic chains. The disturbing creature moved along using dozens of skeletal arms that dragged it along at a literal snail's pace, its chains and bones rattling as it crawled slowly along the stone hallways. And though the creature seemed barely threatening, what with its very awkward and almost stationary nature, Rethys saw fit to avoid it entirely.
Eventually he reached the westernmost fringes of the catacombs again, close to the opening to the sea cliffs that he liked to visit, though much more southwards.
After carefully avoiding many of the guarded passages that would have led to the inner mausoleum, he finally found one different from the others. This passage downward was not only unguarded, but also radiated a different aura entirely from the others.
Looking down at the stairs descending into darkness, he didn't feel the usual aura of overwhelming dread and extreme danger. This atmosphere instead was one of very noticeable but nonetheless innocuous pressure.
'It smells weird.' Rethys thought, noting the strange, sour smell that hung in the air around him.
Descending down the long stairway, he was eventually met with the sight of a large metal wall slotted between the stone tiles of the underground structure. It resembled the entrances to the workshops he had been in, and the sight of the metallic wall, or rather door, to his magical senses confirmed his hypothesis.
It shone like a beacon to his senses, almost overwhelming even his enhanced ability. The door was just like Sevi had described, heavily enchanted, and physically impenetrable. Rethys could tell it was made of some magical metal, but since he knew of only one magical metal, he decided to dismiss that piece of information.
Looking away from the metal itself and into the magic it supported, Rethys came face to face with another marvel of magical craftsmanship, and this time he truly was overwhelmed with the sheer number of etherical signals that traveled through the metal from one circle to another. For unlike the previous magic circles he had disarmed, where he could disable each rune separately, each function seemed to have been given to a whole circle rather than a singular rune.
Nested enchantments, Sevi had called them, as circles constituted circles in a matter utterly incomprehensible to Rethys, but still wowing him with the sight of it. The enchantments even resembled those found in Sevi's sealing chamber, though quite a bit weaker, which still attested to their sheer intricacy and effectiveness.
'I've got this.' Impressed as he was however, Rethys would not be daunted by the task ahead.
He could tell that his Dispersion spell was enough to handle any of the enchantments before him, and Sevi had already described to him in length how to go about it. Her explanations were filled with magical jargon as usual, but repetition saw the young man learning basic runology almost by heart.
Methodically casting spell after spell towards the metal door, he eventually wore down all of its enchantments, leaving only ones that could not accomplish any function by their own. The large metal door now was nothing more than a heavy, magically charged, but completely inert slab of metal, and now came the truly difficult part.
Empowering his body with the talisman hanging from his neck, Rethys then began forcefully moving the great mass of metal, slowly pushing it across its frame. Not only was the door extremely heavy, as it was not meant at all to be pushed by hand, but Rethys could also not use his trusty infusion magic, as it would hamper his ability to cast spells almost entirely.
'It'll be hilarious if I couldn't get in because the door was too heavy.' Rethys grumbled inwardly.
With patience and plenty of effort however, the door began sliding slowly but surely, and as it opened into the area within, Rethys was hit by the full extent of this place's aura. This manifested first in the pressure that he felt earlier intensifying, resembling a powerful stench that hung in the ether. He even tried pinching his nose at first before realizing that the foul odor he was sensing was ethereal in nature.
He ignored it however, as he continued to push the metal door along its setting. He continued to push relentlessly until he left an opening that he felt was of just the right size, just large enough to squeeze through easily if he needed to escape in a hurry later while still preventing as many creatures as possible from following suit.
And as he stepped through the threshold to the new area, the first thing Rethys did was unleashing his senses to their maximal capacity. Looking around, he saw an expansive view of his surroundings, unimpeded by mundane obstructions such as darkness or walls. And as he finished his quick inspection, he realized three things.
The first was that the place was lit through what seemed to be magical lights affixed at regular intervals throughout its hallways. This was very good news for Rethys, as he could now focus less on his immediate surroundings in favor of detecting living things instead. It also meant that he would fight much better, as he would be able to rely on his eyes rather than senses and reflexes.
The second thing he realized was that this place was absolutely full of magical items of all sorts. The quick survey he did had him glimpsing all of the elements he knew of and more, as well as all sorts of differing and discordant flows of ether. The place was an absolute mess to his magical senses.
The third was that, much like the one currently staring at him, the creatures of this place seemed to either wander the halls in a strange manner, or stand idle at very specific places of each room. Following that logic, it only made sense then that one would stand guard at the entrance of the place, and be very surprised when it saw something pry it open and enter.
Quickly taking note of his more immediate surroundings, a large circular room that seemed like a sort of communal workshop, Rethys focused entirely on the large silhouette that peered at him from the dim light of the room. It was a large, hunched back creature that had its entire body covered with a hooded robe, with three bright blue lights gleaming from within the shadow of its hood.
'Damn it.' As he saw the robed creature's ether gathering towards its open hand, which was pointed right towards him.
But Rethys didn't give the creature time to finish whatever it was doing, and instantly pointed his hand towards it and unleashed the Enfeeble spell, which didn't seem to do much. He wasn't discouraged however, as he could tell his spell was successful, and repeatedly cast it again and again.
The creature, seemingly unaffected by all of the Origin element magic assaulting it, successfully finished its attack.
Rethys saw a spear of ice materializ in the air before the creature's hand before being thrown towards Rethys.
'It's strong and can cast Water magic.' He noted inwardly, noticing the element wafting off of the creature, as well as the thickness of its aura.
Dodging the flying chunk of ice, he continued repeatedly casting his spell while closing the distance between himself and the robed creature.
Rethys' state of mind saw him not feeling even the slightest shred of hesitation. He may have felt some fear at finally encountering a creature capable of casting magic, but that fear didn't affect him, it couldn't. If he did feel anything, it would be excitement at being able to test his magic spells and at seeing more of what the ether could do.