I moved through the seemingly infinite thorny corridors, searching for the labyrinth's exit. Suddenly I was attacked.
As I stepped around the corner a thorny whip came screaming right at my face. I ducked and rolled to the side.
Another whip smashed the ground right next to me, cracking the stone slab.
As I was standing up I was attacked again. The whip produced a cracking sound as it hit my left pauldron. I was thrown off balance but at least I was able to see my enemy now.
Crouching in front of me was a purplish tree the size of a peasant's cottage. It had bright neon green glowing eyes and a mouth. It produced a cackling sound every few seconds as if the current situation was somehow funny. It reminded me of ents from videogames I played in my childhood. The creature walked on tiny but sturdy roots and attacked with three massive thorny whips that extended out of the top of its trunk. It used those like a lasso, circling them above, preparing for another attack.
So, I decided to, like any sensible gamer, shoot for the glowing eyes.
The crossbow bolt whistled through the air, penetrating deep into its glowing eye cavities.
The walking three shuddered upon being hit and its cackling devolved into a panic scream.
Long cracks extended out from the damaged eye and the neon green light slowly consumed the creature, leaving behind only a pile of bark and rotten logs.
I didn't even have to wait for it to bleed out. Now, that's magic!
I peeked around the same corner and noticed a massive group of these creatures dawdling around the labyrinth exit.
I finally found it. Now I just need to get out.
I started disassembling my crossbow on the spot.
When it comes to my weapons I always prioritise reliability. After that has been achieved I strive for flexibility.
This crossbow for example is highly modular.
Back in my previous life I learned that repeating crossbows already existed during the warring states period in China and only became more advanced as time went on.
My version is not particularly advanced but it is quite mechanically complex. I wanted high penetrating power and a high rate of fire, after all.
To achieve this I use a lever under the rail. The lever pushes the string back behind a notch. I then feed the bolts from a hopper on the top and I release the string using a trigger.
This allows me to shoot approximately one bolt per second. It loses the ability to penetrate full plate but I am dealing with rotting, walking trees here.
As I finish my last modification I notice a couple of ents approach me. Their thorny branches lashing out on everything around them.
Time for some well-deserved payback!
I push toward them while unleashing a storm of projectiles.
Their miserable screeches resound all around me as I cut my way through.
I am finally standing at the labyrinth exit. The hall behind me is littered with piles of rotten wood.
Annihilated. Every single one of them.
I check my body for damage and luckily other than a dented pauldron everything seems to be fine. The poison coating those thorns is very dangerous. It pays to be careful.
I enter a desolate courtyard. Paved with a once beautiful stone mosaic, built in the shape of a circle growing around a now withered giant purple tree.
Thorny withered tree with a tough exterior. Its wood has a purplish texture and atop its trunk sits a small head with neon green eyes and mouth.
Wait, what?
The tree, the scale of a mid-sized church, moved its head in my direction.
"Password?!" it bellowed at me with a raspy wooden voice.
"Open sesame?"
I throw out a last ditch effort at avoiding an altercation with something the size of a downtown apartment block.
The tree just roars at me in reply, creating an enormous air blast that clears the arena of any and all debris.
I look around for a way out and notice a large metal double door behind the tree giant. An entry into the spire!
However, I soon noticed another detail. A shiny golden key hangs from one of the giant's branches. Dancing in the wind, its glimmer is almost blinding.
C'mon! Not again. I should've known to bring some herbicide because this is becoming kind of ridiculous.
The tree smashed down on the spot where I had been previously standing. The ground shook as a car sized crater was suddenly imprinted onto the courtyard.
I got hit by the debris as I slid away. A strong pain shot through my right leg but I persevered.
Searching my bag for an incendiary grenade, I found none.
Another attack was coming! This time a stomp.
There was no way I could dodge that by running away. The giant's size meant he could just readjust his stomp. No amount of human steps would carry me out of the danger zone.
So I ran toward him instead, hoping to escape under his massive trunk.
I had already sent a few stray shots toward its head but the creature was too big. The strategy I used on the "smaller" ents did not work this time.
I barely managed to roll out of the way as the house-sized foot slammed onto the ground. I could feel pieces of stone peppering my back and a familiar pain shot through my leg. The landing produced a blast that knocked me a horse's length away.
With no time to inspect the damages I decided for a desperate strategy.
I lit a bundle of bolts on fire and dumped them directly into the hopper. Bad for the weapon but the situation didn't allow for better handling.
The purplish wood expands upon coming in contact with heat.
So, I shot under the giant's wooden armpits and knee. The wood rippled as it came into contact with the flames and new branches sprouted out, quickly consuming the flames. However, I didn't give up. I just kept shooting in the same spots.
I dumped two more stacks of burning arrows into the hopper and, by the time a wooden match would have burned out, I ran out. The crossbow was burning and the string was close to snapping but the damage was done.
The giant angrily roared. It tried to squash me beneath itself but it couldn't move. The newly sprouted branches grew out of its joints, preventing any movement.
I didn't have much time before the giant broke free.
I pulled a glass bottle out of my leather bag. The container was filled with a freshly mixed gunpowder that I planned to use for traps and tactical breaches.
Well, desperate times call for desperate measures.
The giant's head was no longer swaying but I could hear the newly sprouted branches cracking under the wooden titan's massive weight.
I used fabric and a stray arrow to fashion a last resort explosive arrow. I dumped the last of my dragon's spit onto it, emptying my lighter.
I lit up the cloth and shot the arrow directly at the enormous monster's immobilised head.
The explosion was thundering. Everything shook as the tree emitted its final roar. The bright green cracks extended all over the creature's body as the smoke cleared. The monstrous head was utterly obliterated. There was a deep smoking crater in what used to be its face.
I stood at the sidelines as the tree decomposed in front of my very eyes. The bits of bark kept falling down like some sort of bizarre wooden rain.
I disposed of my charred crossbow and sifted through the remains of the giant tree.
After a bit I stepped up to the spire entrance, inserting the golden key into the keyhole. This started a hidden mechanism, accompanied by the sound of mechanical clicking, the doors slowly revealed the castle's inner hall.
Finally: Thornburg Castle Ruin.
The inside of the castle was illuminated by tall stained glass windows on both sides of the corridor.
I limped forward through the hall. After a hundred steps the hall widened into an auditorium. Judging by the light I was standing right outside the enormous glass dome I saw earlier.
The auditorium was packed with multiple layers of seats. In the middle was a small podium. The layout was awfully familiar to the one you could find in lecture rooms at Polygon.
Suddenly a sound of ear-piercing laughter echoed all around the room.
My bag was forcefully opened by a strong telekinetic force and the brass topographic model and the rusted buckle flew out of my possession.
I was too weak to resist. I simply observed as a ball of black stained glass, the size of a child, floated down from below the ceiling.
"Welcome dear guest! Welcome to the Tower Of Thorns!"
I unsheathed my saber, pointing it at the floating attacker.
"Shouldn't you ask me for the password first?" I tried to stall for time.
"But you already got the password right, haha. Also thanks for cleaning the yard. Those golems broke like a century ago-they only knew how to attack."
Now I was confused. Was this thing being sarcastic?
The ball of dark glass kept floating in front of me. On the surface turned toward me I could see a projection of a smiling face. It was like a real face was trapped inside the ball of glass. Upon closer inspection I noticed that the ball was wearing a black top hat and there was a red scarf suspended below its glassy face.
Was this thing a foe or a friend?
"Stow your metal stick away, dear guest. You're safe here."
I sheath my sword.
The strange looking ball led me into the room that was hiding beneath the magnificent glass dome.
The room was an enormous circular workshop. With rusted machines littering the ground. As you walked towards the middle, you ascended up the stairs until you arrived at the center of the room. There lay a single bed. It was one of those beds with an adjustable resting position. The bed was lined with decaying leather but upon sitting on it I realized that time hadn't managed to rob me of its soft comforts.
"There is almost nothing of value left in this husk of a tower. Everything has either decayed or been stolen," the strange ball lamented.
I looked around and noticed a golden glimmer coming from under one of the decayed leather cushions.
I pulled out the object. The shine originated from a golden skull. The skull was clearly human. It was unclear whether the object was cast or coated in gold. However, the anatomical accuracy was marvelous.
"You can keep that. It's just a candle holder. What's important is that you lay on this bed so that I can transfer you the ownership of this ruin."
"Wait, why should I comply? At least give me the full Weldian alphabet first."
The ball projected an exasperated face: "You've been speaking the Weldian language this entire time. Otherwise I would have simply crushed you after our first meeting."
This time I obeyed and laid down on the bed. I tightly grabbed the armrests and purged any thoughts of revealing my true pedigree.
"Don't worry you're going to like this. You'll now see the glory of your Weldian ancestors."
Suddenly, the glass dome above me whirred to life. The different glass panes started switching their colours in an organised manner, constructing a tiling desktop environment. Every glass pane was like a pixel, using the natural light to shine a specific colour. There were only three colours. Red, green and blue with the addition of fully shaded panes that made for black.
The dome was an enormous computer display!
Right now it was displaying a terminal window.
"Stop gripping the armrests so tightly! You're going to crush the input board."
I looked around and after removing the leather covers I realized that there was a golden keyboard embedded into both armrests.
"This is a marvel of Weldian engineering! Nothing quite like this exists in the whole world!"
"So this is a computer?"
The ball projected the face of a dead man to simulate shock: "So you already knew?"
"Yeah. I assume the lever on the left allows you to switch between apps. The right is probably a keyboard."
I had to bite my tongue to prevent myself from saying "primitive."
The system truly was a marvel of engineering. However, in comparison to smartphones or satellite guided bomb strikes… Not so special.
This system was probably purely mechanical, seeing how it held up till today but access to it was still limited to this cathedral sized dome.
Still it felt amazing to finally come in touch with real technology again. It felt almost like I was young again, playing with my first computer terminal.
I navigated to the file system after a few tries. You hold down two buttons. One to signify that you're writing a word and the second to pick the rune. When you let go of the first button, the system will automatically insert a "space" which is represented by an underscore in the Weldian language. All the runes in a sentence are connected with a single unbroken line. You have another button that functions like a backspace. The mechanism has quite the delay between pressing and displaying a rune but it's not as bad as I expected. Upon closer inspection I realized that the stained glass panes are actually of a prism-shape that rotates in a grid to simulate the basic colors.
As I succeeded in navigation the entire dome went through a reset. All the prisms flipped, creating a wave animation.
"Hahaha, this is awesome!"
"It definitely is but please do make an ownership request soon…" the floating ball appealed to me.
*****
New Language Discovered: Weldian Phonetics
New Language Discovered: WN Programming Syntax
*****
There were hundreds of files here. An entire library worth of text. All displayed on this dome.
I thought only a moment had passed but all of a sudden it was night and I had to take a break. My [Predictive Linguistics] were of massive help. The ability allowed me to read by skimming but often I would soon forget what I had read. The limits of the human mind truly were constraining me.
The glass ball floated to me as I was taking care of my basic needs.
"Honoured guest…"
"Please call me Ren."
"Ah, Ren. Please ask for the ownership of this castle. I have existed for almost two thousand years. My master and his apprentices had died a long time ago, leaving me stranded here. An immortal slave is what I am. I keep taking care of this ever deteriorating husk of a tower. I've had enough! Help me commit suicide and I'll bestow upon you two magical relics. Otherwise I'll just…"
I didn't let the entity finish its threat.
"Sure, but I desperately desire this library."
"The quest for knowledge has always been a madman's endeavor. However, I will respect your wishes. Type in the following command and I'll show you everything."
I followed the floating creature's commands, transferring ownership to myself.
The system was now in my hands.
The glass ball suddenly cracked and a glowing shard appeared with a click. It was half sticking out of the robot's side.
"That shard contains my consciousness. I'll be dead the moment you pull it out. The first relic is hidden in my top hat. The second one is powering the computer. Good luck on your journey, Ren."
The entity displayed the face of a smiling man as I pulled the glowing shard out of its side. The floating ball immediately lost its power, falling and scattering all over the ground.
I carefully wrapped the shard and the golden skull, placing them in my bag. I brushed aside the many broken pieces of glass to collect the black top hat and the golden bracelet contained in it. This was all that was left of the entity. Was immortality truly this horrible? That one simply passed his days awaiting salvation?
I lamented the fact that the moment I eject the final relic I'll lose access to this incredible trove of knowledge.
My ability to understand any language passively has generated another drop of knowledge. The unnamed servant's blabbering and the files on the computer contained an incredible amount of useful information. Not just the Weldian alphabet but history, magic, and warfare tactics… Without the "absolute language comprehension" ability it would have taken me four to five years of continuous learning to truly understand the Weldian language.
So, I was bound to miss an incredible opportunity.
Unless…