"Marigold... Marigold... The ancient manual has disappeared! It was here in the chest, but now it is gone..."
Thunderous shouts filled with anger and worry shook the gloomy walls of an old basement.
It was a place primarily devoid of light, but many objects could be glimpsed where the light was present. The room was filled with potions, empty vials, ancient tomes, and even artifacts.
But the energetic man was utterly engrossed in the baleful discovery.
A few seconds after the shouts, a woman well advanced in years descended the old wooden stairs and, in a few moments, reached the chest, still incredulous at the man's words.
"Impossible... we had sealed that damn manual with many Chaos Runes and Formations... How could this happen? HOW?"
Seized with rage, the energetic man threw the chest against the wall, cursing like a madman: "Damn dwarf... That drunkard's guarantees are worthless. That old bastard... next time I catch him..."
"August, calm down! You know his skills are first-rate... So there must be another reason... Maybe... it went back to him..."
Placated by his companion's words, August regained some clarity: "Impossible... we never brought him to this place. Besides, there are several layers of protection... it's impossible."
August was unconvinced by Marigold's words and denied firmly.
"I know he can't reach this place, but... have you forgotten that we found that damned tome inside his room more than one-time years ago? I still can't understand how that's possible, but it happened..."
"Right..." August shook his head worriedly: "However... that brat is still on the road... so..."
"Actually... he came back a few days ago... River met him at that time..."
The room turned deadly silent for a long minute after her words, but the duo's worries were madly piling up. In the end, the old man couldn't stand still anymore and took out a strange artifact from his space ring.
Both of their gaze fell over the small compass, and soon, a bright light erupted from one of the tiny metal tips.
"He is still alive..."
"Oh... that scared me..."
Evidently, the artifact was someone related to the person they were talking about, and the result made them calm down.
"Marigold... we can't let him touch that thing..."
"I know... we must find it. That tome should be somewhere in the house..."
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"Mmm..."
Atlas rested for a couple of minutes because his arms were still a little sore, but nothing so worrisome.
The place was dark, but with a light source, the area lit up, revealing a treacherous tunnel in the depth of the cave.
The entrance was almost the size of a person, with a path leading elsewhere. The only problem was that as he peered toward the depths, Atlas noticed that the walls were getting narrower and narrower.
Atlas looked back toward the chasm and up along that steep wall, but in the end, climbing back to the stronghold was simply madness. He could have tried, but it was way more risky than exploring the cave. So, he started walking inside, accompanied by the bright light of the torch.
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"I'm moving straight... and the passage seems to be going further and further..."
Atlas had walked without a pause for almost ten minutes. His pace was slow, but indeed, the absence of even a single thing for all that time brought a bit of doubt in his heart.
Exploring that place turned out to be simpler than he had anticipated at the beginning. Still, at some point, the passage became so narrow that Atlas was forced to crouch down to continue further.
Ten more minutes passed. The tunnel had brought the young man deeper below the stronghold, yet a doorway was still far from him, and the passage had become even more narrow.
He could have turned back and tried to climb the wall, but the young man knew well that it was a dangerous choice, so he continued, overcoming his fears.
Twenty minutes passed, but still nothing.
More and more time passed, but after almost two hours from the start of his exploration, something finally changed.
Indeed, a slight icy breeze struck the young man's face with ferocity, but Atlas did not complain and instead rejoiced because that wind could only indicate that there was an open space not too far from him.
"Hahaha... I knew it! Finally, I can get out of this damned passage."
Although bored from the long and uncomfortable expedition, the young man began to crawl faster and reached the small opening after a few minutes.
Although with difficulty, his body passed through, and Atlas found himself inside a room.
"Finally... HAHAHA..."
The torch's light could not fully illuminate the area, so he scoured it scrupulously without a moment's pause.
"What a strange place... The walls were clearly excavated with tools... But what kind of fool would want to reach an area located so in-depth?"
At one point, while scouring the area, his eyes noticed a strange hollow stone container.
"It is clearly the work of someone. The cuts on the stone are too linear and precise. But something is clearly missing..."
Fascinated by the strange object, Atlas paused to observe it, but his foot touched something at one point.
A peculiar sound echoed through the cavern, generating a strange echo.
"Mhm?"
Attracted by the noise, he brought the source of light closer to the object and noticed a small circular crystal with the exact measurements of the hole.
"What a peculiar black crystal... I have never seen such a crystal in the books..."
Atlas picked it up and noticed that the crystal was as cold as a piece of ice. He held it in his hand for a couple of seconds, studying it carefully, but soon, it began to warm up.
"What's going on?"
He didn't know what was happening to the object but soon realized that holding that thing in his hand was rapidly awakening a weird power. Indeed, in a couple of breaths, the crystal turned even hotter when the young man felt his internal energy leave his body rapidly.
Disturbed by the fact, he instinctively dropped the crystal to the ground.
Fortunately, the crystal was solid and did not shatter, but after the previous contact, something had changed on the smooth surface of the object. In fact, a faint white light had appeared inside it.
"What a strange object... Surely, it is not a simple crystal. What could it be?"
Atlas stared insistently at the crystal for a while and then lifted it once more, but he did not pick it up with his hands and instead wrapped it in a thick black cloth.
It was an attempt, but the cloth managed to isolate the crystal's draining power, allowing Atlas to hold it in his hands.
"There are no special marks on the surface... the creator of this object is certainly an expert. You can catch a glimpse of a partial rune inside, but it is too small to distinguish significant features. What a pity..."
The young man curiously analyzed the object but did not gain much information from it, so he placed the crystal back inside the hole at the top of the stone.
Tak!
The crystal fits perfectly inside the cavity, but nothing strange happened.
Atlas expected to see something interesting, but he was disappointed.
However, he then thought about what had happened earlier, and an idea came to his mind.
"Maybe... it uses Chaos Energy as its energy source. That's probably why that faint white light appeared."
Perhaps he was right. Much more energy was needed to see any change. So, without a second thought, Atlas placed his hand on the crystal for a couple of seconds, and surprisingly, the light inside the crystal became much more intense.
The result convinced the young man, who, bit by bit, released his energy into the crystal. It was a long and strenuous process, but Atlas didn't hold back and consumed the chaos stones and a Regenerating Potion when needed to speed up the process.
It took him a couple of minutes, but in the end, the sucking power ended, and the bright light started expanding from the crystal to the whole stony container.
Even before he could react, small cyan veins departed from the borders of the small container. They didn't spread across the wall randomly but followed a clear path toward the side.
The light wasn't so intense to illuminate the vast area around him, yet it gradually gave the young man a better view of the wall's form and position.
The process was slow, but soon, the veins reached their target.
On the other side of the area was another strange stony container identical to the one from before. However, the crystal was already placed inside.
Of course, the object was utterly black and devoid of white light. Hence, Atlas carefully walked along the wall, following the thin veins, and reached the other crystal to infuse the necessary energy inside.
Another few minutes passed, and finally, the other crystal lit up, causing the same result.
The celestial veins expanded more until they reached another crystal.
Another few minutes passed, and finally, another crystal lit up. However, this time, no celestial veins came out of the container, but a sharp noise broke the silence of the cave.
The previously dark walls of the cave brightened, and a faint bluish light illuminated the cave slightly, revealing part of its contents.
At first, the light remained blue for a while but slowly changed color, becoming brighter and brighter.
Illuminated by a white light, every corner of the cave revealed itself, stunning Atlas with its wonders...
"Amazing..."