Now in a dark environment, the two quickly got their bearings and started to look around. After the two started to look around, the first thing they noticed was the walls. The wall seemed to be made of a yellowish brown stone, no one knows what exactly the material is. Researchers have tried to figure this out for a very long time, only after many attempts no one has ever been able to scratch let alone take a piece away to try and identify it.
It is the same material found in all the laboratories. While not able to identify it, it is believed that this is the reason why normal scout magic doesn’t work. Not just scout magic, no sensory magic is known to work. Without these abilities, the only way to explore these halls is to do it the old fashion way, with your life on the line. While once believed that because the majority of laboratories were buried underground. This gave rise to the theory that pressure was deforming the halls, creating unevenness in the walls, ceiling, and ground.
Yet, other than deforming under the pressure of the surrounding ground, those laboratories don’t have any other changes. Even with the deformities, the properties of the material doesn’t change. It wasn’t until much later after this theory was proven false. A laboratory was found with a hidden entrance, it was hidden above ground on a mountain. The reason for this theory was because of the unevenness that let some fall into a trap and others to escape the trap seemingly with coincidence. When that laboratory had the same unevenness. It was said to have given everyone a chill, those uneven floors were man made, the time and effort put into the traps in the laboratories was what gave rise to the mad in Mad Blacksmith Izic.
The two couldn’t help but glance at the walls, to the right had the sketch of a snake. On the left was writing. And to the front was a door. Observing both walls the sketching of the snake is rather ominous, it is carved in such a way that the tail and the head are connected. With further inspection, it appears to be eating its own tail.
To the left with the writing couldn’t be made out, as the language used wasn’t one she knew. Turning to John, “Do you know what either of these mean?”
“Yes, the snake means Ouroboros. And what is written is, every beginning starts with an end, every end brings a new beginning. Why? What happens between the end and the beginning?” After a moment, John spoke up again, “As for the meaning of Ouroboros, it is said to be a symbol written about in passages in the language of the gods. Said to represent life. An unending cycle, as in reincarnation. There is more, but I don’t remember the entirety of it. Only that it was said to be in the very first message left by The Will of the World.”
Pondering over what he was saying, himself, he paused before continuing with his findings, “As for the written part, it is written in the language of the gods. But it isn’t any of the common phrases. I only know it by the fact the same words are used in the other common legacies left behind in the language of the gods.”
“Language of the gods? Isn’t that language only used in reference to the messages left behind by the Will of the World?”
“Yes, mainly the northern races. But not limited to them, throughout history it is said that at least once, every race on the continent has found a message from the Will of the World. But the messages from the north are the most widespread. With past messages being left behind, it is how those who can read any of the language of the gods have learned.”
“That is to say, this was left behind by the Will of the World?”
With a heavy heart, “No, I don’t think so. I have never heard the phrases used here before. The way it is written is different. This seems more like a mad rambling, like the person who wrote it only tried to copy the style. While the majority of messages left behind by the Will of the World have been warnings. Each warning marks the end of an epoch. Outside the first message that was pieced together after the fact. Each warning was only understood after by the traces left behind next to the messages.”
As if thinking about a famous legend, she couldn’t help but ask with a grim expression, “You mean the extinction story was true?”
A village was found in the past. It wasn’t easy to determine who it was, but a number of skeletons of different races were found surrounding a flat stone with writing of the second-oldest record of the language of the gods. The bones had long fallen out of place, but there were enough traces to see from men, women, old, or young. Every single person there was prostrating to the writing. There was a stone with writing that was left behind asking for forgiveness for their mistakes. The stone was with the person closest to the rock, with the language of the gods. The bones were strong, signifying someone that was Grade S.
As for the legitimacy of the story, it was impossible to know. Each epoch was said to bring about the destruction and recreation to all those in it. While traces can still be found today, only unique messages left are found. Thus, the story is likely to be argued for and against to the end of time. As they looked around, she couldn’t help but think back.
The notebook didn’t talk much about what they would find inside the laboratory. It was mainly just a collection of information that led to the discovery of said laboratory. When they first found the laboratory, she was able to get her hands on the notebook and discovered that this place might be special.
While any finished product would be a wondrous discovery, as its power alone would be monumental. Though labeled as such, finished products have a way of turning one's luck for the worst. With the Adventurer’s Guild, this isn’t much of a problem anymore. The notebook speaks of information that this finished product is different.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Nothing conclusive is written, and everything is heavily theorized. She came to the same conclusion as the notebook writer, it was written that if this laboratory isn’t the last, it would be one of the very last ones made. Where this information came from is unknown. Not all the notebook was intact, and many parts that likely had this information had been lost to time. Bits and pieces still intact talk in a way that leads the reader to the same conclusion, this place is different from the rest. From the things found in the entrance room alone, it could be said the owner of the notebook might be right.
Arguably the most difficult aspect of a laboratory is finding the entrance. With the notebook, they found themselves at the entrance. With a heavy heart, John and her pushed open the large double doors. The rest of the laboratory was similar in nature to what she had seen before. As famous as laboratories were, she had gone inside one before, only that one was completed, and said to be the oldest laboratory. By that point it was used only for research, as after thousands of years the laboratory had changed hands many times. Nobody could find anything more and had given up on it.
All laboratories shared the same layout to a degree. The aged yellow stone walls stained with shades of brown were almost sandish in nature. With a hand, it would appear as if you brushed your hand against the sandpaper like appearance would cause irritation or come apart depending on its density. And yet the walls would hold true without changing for a vast amount of time. The most interesting part was the floor and the middle of the walls.
The floor was tiled and might or might not be hiding a hair trigger pressure plate. Because of the intricacies, there had never been a way to explore without triggering the traps. It was one thing to fall prey to an invisible wire, but if one triggered a pressure plate it was nearly impossible to tell, as laboratories had become famous for having floor tiles that depressed less than a tenth of an inch to trigger a trap. It only became possible when a trap that couldn’t reset itself was triggered. That these tiny triggers, that couldn’t be felt physically even when one triggered them, could be found.
Since everything was indestructible, it was impossible to see beyond the compartments that hid the traps in the walls. Thus, the mechanism inside would forever remain a mystery. Therefore, researchers focused on the inscriptions written in the middle of the walls. A small section in the middle of the wall that was about five inches wide that separated the top from the bottom of the halls. This small section was the same throughout the beginning of the laboratory. These lines would give off a soft glow that would light the entirety of the laboratory.
Mysterious as it was, the two were forced to use mana to enchant their eyes to see anything. The inscriptions seemed to have been damaged, as the glow given off was incredibly weak. This didn’t mean it was possible to damage the walls or light a fire or use mana with a normal efficiency to see in the dark. All the tools that made the laboratory famous seemed to continue working even when the usual aspects that were put in place to aid them were gone.
This made their journey incredibly difficult. From the entrance room to the first section of the laboratory was safe, so their journey through this passage was short and peaceful. Once they reached a crossroads, things became hectic. She had a disturbed look on her face as she sat down in the middle of the crossroads. John didn’t get in her way and stayed silently behind her.
After a minute with her eyes closed, she used her arms to shift her position and turned to face the left before doing the same as she turned to the right. John wasn’t sure at first what she was doing, but didn’t stop her. Part of the contract was that she was in charge of the exploration, and he didn’t have any right to interfere with anything she did. All he knew was when she sat down, he felt a dangerous aura flare up.
He couldn’t help but find his hand on the handle of his sword. But the aura wasn’t directed at him. He hadn’t ever felt this aura from her before, but he didn’t interrupt her as he felt a small bit of her mana branch off as it crawled towards the passage she was facing. The mana itself was that of a Grade F and wasn’t exactly harmless, but the amount wasn’t enough to do anything to him. Problem was, the aura inside the mana was making his heart beat fast and hard. He could feel his palms giving off the beginning signs of clamminess.
It only dawned on him at this moment. He didn’t know very much about dragons. Nor did he have much information on humans or otherwise with dragon blood in them. He only knew the legends about famous individuals and the rumors of dragons and their premonitions. Still, he couldn’t help but leave his hand on his weapon handle. It was the only way he could comfortably stand near her when she was seemingly inspecting the passages.
She did the same for all four passages. When she did the passage behind them, he deliberately moved behind her. Even if he found it strange, he didn’t stop her and let her do her thing. When she was done, he simply watched her with an inquisitive expression. Seemingly understanding the gaze, she answered a bit, “As already agreed, I won’t be sharing any personal information.”
Pausing slightly as she looked at the three paths she pointed to one as she explained her findings, “Of the three paths the path to the left and right are similar in nature, but there is a problem with the path forward. Both the left and right paths have dangerous feelings with very slight amounts of death. The problem is that the path forward is filled with death but very little danger.”
With a bit of hesitation he couldn’t help but ask, “I don’t quite understand, but you’re saying that the straight path has the least danger but the highest chance of death where the left and right have far lower chance of death with far more danger?”
With a frown she delved a bit deeper, rather reluctantly, “No. I am not at a level where I can feel death as a concept. That is something probably only a real dragon can do. I am not even half-dragon, I only have a portion of blood that is extremely poorly diluted. I have never even heard of anyone that is more than just a part dragon, like me. The death here is not death metaphorically, but physically. We are not the first to explore this laboratory.”
This wasn’t all that surprising as the notebook in his possession already talked about someone that spoke about their finding. It did make him a bit uneasy, but ultimately he brought her here for this, “You decide.”
It was really troublesome. She would be three to five feet in front of him. He was only close enough to offer aid in a timely manner. The more traps she went through, the more likely it was that John would die, but with her position, if she wasn’t careful, she couldn’t rule out the chance that the first to die might be her. For this reason, she ultimately chose to go straight.