What started off slowly, became a snail crawl. John might not understand how the premonitions worked, however, as the one conducting the probing she had used her gifts from time to time. While there were very few chances to use them so straightforwardly, it wasn’t like she hadn’t experimented. She couldn’t speak for anyone else, but she rather highly treasured her own life. In the same way she tested the changes of using blood magic, she too had tried to understand how her premonitions worked. The difference was that one was straightforward and the other was more mythical.
Unlike with blood magic, premonitions were more passive than active. She couldn’t just use it and tell the future. It was more conditional. For instance, when the conditions were unmet, she would not really feel much. Regardless of what she was doing, she could feel a small amount of unease and uncertainty. The problem with that approach was that they were easily hidden by her current emotions. Time and time again the world would show those living in it that even if you did everything right, at any moment something can just go wrong. When conditions were met, she would feel a larger amount of unease. Depending on the situation, it is even possible to trigger hypothetical situations.
Though to do that, her condition had to be near perfect, because she needed to first enter a meditative state and be able to maintain that meditative state. As nice as that sounds, it was an extremely hard thing to do, as this implied one being able to enter a meditative state while in life-threatening danger. Like two contradicting substances somehow meeting and not having adverse effects, it was not something she had enough control to do or test. Therefore, the best she could do was relax and probe the path forward with a bit of mana to increase her sensitivity to the possibilities.
What she felt down this path was a large amount of death that was overwhelming. While she said the danger was the lowest, it didn’t mean there was no danger. If there wasn't, how is it that this path had killed so many before?
As she moved slowly forward, she had her mana moving silently through her body. While the mana cycled through her body, she felt full of energy. Part of that caused her to slowly, over time, to lose a small amount of her mana. The longer she stayed in this battle ready state, the more her nerves started to get the better of her and the exhaustion from using her concentration became. If continued for too long, she would likely start to get goosebumps and would start to produce a slight shaking. She had learned over time that overwhelming her body only left her more exposed. Using the perfect amount of mana could help lower the body's physical responses to stimuli. Too much or too little just caused problems.
This meant that if someone jumped out from around a corner, she wouldn’t show any obvious reactions. What it didn’t mean was that she didn’t still feel that stimuli, in fact, the stimuli were amplified. This might sound like a negative but as the old man had taught her, no matter the response, all the body’s natural responses were from countless generations. These ancestors, that developed these responses, used them to survive. It was ultimately up to her to figure out how to control the response so that it didn’t overwhelm her to the point she was helpless to these feelings.
Jessica focused as hard as she could on the feelings she was currently having as she kept her sights locked to scanning her surroundings. After what felt like an eternity, but was likely only a few minutes. She came to an abrupt stop. John didn’t interrupt her as he quickly noticed why she had stopped. While the light was very bleak, it didn’t mean it didn’t offer them any aid.
Up ahead, against the wall, was something that was of a bright and different color than the rest of the surroundings. It wasn’t very easy to see, as the object wasn’t very large. As they drew closer she tried not to focus on the object as she wasn’t sure if there was anything dangerous in the surrounding area. But as they drew closer, it also started to draw more of her attention.
Finally, when the two met, she couldn’t help but crouch as she sighed lightly. The white bones were clean of any tissue or anything else. While there was mostly white, it wasn’t completely white, as there was a large amount of discoloration on different portions of the skeleton. It was likely with just the slightest touch the bones would decompose into dust. The only thing that was keeping them together was likely the fact they haven’t been met with any outside force.
There wasn’t any visible damage to the bones itself. In the distance, she could see a number of white objects in the shadowy hall. She couldn’t help but frown heavily. She felt a hand on her shoulder lightly pad her as if to soothe her, “We should keep going. We can come back and bring them with us, and bury them outside after we return.”
From then on, they continued to move for a set period of time. As they were in a sealed space without a sky or horizon, it was impossible to tell the time. While they had an item to tell the time, it wasn’t very useful for doing anything but allowing them to know how much time had passed. It wasn’t completely accurate, either. The laboratory would interfere, this item was able to deal with a small portion of the interference. So while the time was wrong, in the end it would still give the owner a somewhat accurate timetable to work with.
After the first set, they continued to find more just like the first. All of them were completely clean, without anything left but the discolored bones. By the time they found the fifth set, they stopped.
“We will stop here and camp out.” John spoke with a heavy tone. They were currently in between two points that were clear of any bones. He could still see a distant object in front of them and behind them. Pulling out a round object, he was able to get a rough estimation of the time they had been moving. He frowned slightly by his discovery.
They had only been traveling for maybe about eight hours. Each time they were met with a set of bones, they would slow down and check the surroundings carefully. Only two of the five sets they had seen showed empty compartments where a trap had been set off. This gave them a bit of information, but because the traps themselves had lost the protection from the compartment, unlike the bones, something caused them to not only deteriorate but also disappear.
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All that was left was a set of bones, only a few showed any damage. Because of the lack of evidence of any damage to the bones or any scrap metal, it was very difficult to determine how they died. With a heavy sigh, he closed his eyelids. They felt incredibly heavy. Unlike other laboratories, this one was closed off and didn’t show many signs of exploration.
It wasn’t like laboratories were devoid of the dead. In actual fact, it was common to come across the dead. While most didn’t abandon the bodies, it wasn’t once or twice one would come across a team that was wiped out. Usually when this happened someone else would take the items and supplies left behind, in exchange they would often take the deceased and bury them in exchange. Like an unwritten rule, of course not everyone followed this rule, but it still became less common to find sights like this.
As they continued to move, the picture became more complete. It wasn’t very long until they were allowed to see the story behind this group, or close enough to come to a conclusion. The more they saw, the harder it felt to breathe. The time it took them to cover certain distances became longer as their efficiency dropped. During this time, they had only come across a few traps that still functioned. Most of them were easy to spot as they were accompanied by a set or a few sets of bones.
This continued for a little over a week. By this point, the two had dark circles under their eyes from lack of a good night's sleep. As they started to become numb, it became easier to sleep, it didn’t stop them from waking up in the middle thanks to a nightmare. Yet as they moved, Jessica suddenly slowed down. Both of them had checked the surroundings as there were three sets of bones.
Of the three, both the one in the middle and to the left that had no visible damage, but both were leaning to the left where small holes in the wall could be seen on the right wall. There was one set of bones by the right wall that had a separation from the lower section of the foot. From this, they found an invisible wire that was barely off the ground. Without the obvious damage to the skeleton, it would've likely been impossible to find the wire.
Feeling a chilly wind travel down their backs. If either of the two dragged their feet or didn’t bring their foot up a certain distance as they walked. They, if left unaware, would have likely lost a foot. If not taken care of immediately, they likely would die. The invisible wires in laboratories were well known for being so fine that until one put pressure on the cut, it was possible to continue moving without any issues. Only when pressure was applied would the damage be shown.
After finishing the step, they would have a part of their body come apart and the second after be hit with so many different emotions that the fluctuation would have likely caused a delay in reaction. A clumsy or someone with a weak mentality was involved, it would be easy to die to the panic or shock. Even with timely aid, if one didn’t immediately stop the bleeding, it was possible they would bleed out in a matter of tens of seconds. This was the reason, anyone that wasn’t a graded being, has never been allowed into a laboratory. While unwritten, it was seen as abhorrent to bring anyone that wasn’t a graded being into a laboratory.
With mana one could stop or at least slow down the bleeding until they received help from a party member. It was imperative to keep a level head in a laboratory. In the entrance section of the laboratory, one would often find traps that were not essentially lethal. They were beyond dangerous and could and would often cripple you.
However, if one was a graded being and acted with a level head, the injury could be sustainable. It was often said that the first section was a test of courage and mindfulness. Though, the laboratory wouldn’t be a product of Mad Blacksmith Izic if there weren't also lethal traps. There was always a difference in strength between those in the same grade, as such those unqualified filled the bottom line of the casualty rate of most things.
“What is it?”
Jessica didn’t answer and crouched down. As she looked, her expression changed completely. With an ugly look she pointed at a piece of bone that was cut off with the body next to it.
It was only after he bent down to look did he see what she was looking at. The wire was barely off the ground, so it was barely able to cut off a portion of the foot of a normal stride. With the body next to the cut-off portion, he hadn’t paid too much attention. Only when he looked closer, he noticed that unlike the skeleton, the cut-off part of the bone was completely white. There was no discoloration, in fact, it was clear the two didn’t belong together. The skeleton with closer inspection was complete without any seeming damage.
After seeing the foot bone that was unlike the rest. With a new picture in mind she believed that if she had to guess, she believed that if she was able to move the skull, there might be cracks. At the moment, she couldn’t do anything. To collect the remains and lay them to rest would require them to put the bone dust in. It wasn’t something so easily done with what they had on hand.
With this discovery, they moved much slower than they had before that point. Each time they came across bones, they paid more attention to the remains. This caused their progression to flat line, but neither of the two said anything. Maybe it was a mistake. It took them two weeks to travel with barely finding any traps, the ones they did find were always found with a set of bones. The more they saw, the grimmer the two became.
As they moved slowly through the halls and crossroads, they were met with a total of thirty-two different sets of bones. The worst of it was the fact that all the bones were cleaned of any tissue or any other substance and were showing signs of discoloration. In another decade or century, it was likely that the remaining bones would no longer exist and just be part of the dust that covered the floor. Even without any outside airflow, not even bones could last forever.
Unlike these bones, the bones found in the extinction story, those were said to have showed very little discoloration. The supposed Grade S bones were not only completely intact, they were still together, showing their posture. That was to say that anyone above the C grade would have enough mana that their bones without outside interference would not decompose at all. For bones sealed in this tomb, because of the nature of the spatial entrance of the laboratory, it meant that the thirty-two people were not even Grade F. They weren’t people that had any reason to be here.
In the two weeks they traveled a great distance, it wasn’t hard to figure out why they were here, though. Outside the thirty-two sets of bones was another three sets. Unlike the originals, these three were without any discoloration. One of them was missing a tiny part of one of their foot bones.