Hazel and Astrid climbed the stairs leading to the final floor. Their footsteps echoed through the stairwell with each step.
Even though torches were hanging from the wall as they ascended, none of them were lit. Because of that, they had to rely on the magic torch once again so they could see where they were going.
“What do you expect we’ll find on the final floor?” Hazel asked.
“I’m not sure,” Astrid replied. “Though, I hope it's something that will assist us in getting out of this dungeon.”
“You and me both,”
They’ve been traveling around this vast dungeon for around a week or so, which left three weeks left before they completed the thirty-day option. And something told Hazel that they were going to be here for a little longer.
Finally making it to the top of the stairs, the dark elf and human mage soon stepped into the final floor, to which they were greeted with a fascinating sight.
“It’s…a Research room?” Hazel muttered, scanning the floor they just entered.
It appeared that the final floor of the Tower Fort was some kind of research room. A very large one, at that. There were some desks, workbenches, and even tables filled with all kinds of things like research papers, tools, and more.
Thanks to the giant circular stained glass window on the wall to their left, some of the illumination from space filled the room, allowing the pair to see the dozens of bookshelves planted all over the walls. It practically looked like a library with how many shelves there were.
Located in the center was a bifurcated stairwell that led to more bookshelves. Just from seeing the shelves from where she stood, Hazel guessed that there were at least a thousand books or so within this floor alone.
Walking inside, Hazel and Astrid looked around, taking note of how massive it was. And also messy.
“Look at all the paper scattered around the floor…” Hazel said while accidentally stepping on a sheet, making a crinkling sound.
“When was the last time the owner cleaned this place?” Astrid grumbled, watching her step to avoid walking on any of the papers on the floor.
“Well, this world was destroyed and turned into a Fractured world, so probably a while…”
“Duly noted…” Astrid sighed. “We should split up for now to cover more ground. Since the giant window is giving us enough light on the floor, we don’t have to rely on that magic torch.”
“Good idea,” Hazel nodded before pointing in a direction. “I’ll take over that area, then. Sound good?”
The Dark elf shrugged. “Fine with me. Let’s just hope that climbing this Tower Fort was worth it.”
“I hope that it is…”
With a new plan set, Hazel and Astrid separately dealt with their sections of the room. Astrid walked over to some bookshelves on the wall, while Hazel made her way to the workbench, hoping to find something there.
The workbench was littered with items from books, sheets of papers either rolled up or wrinkled, and tools from a magnifying glass to rods of red wax. Curious, Haze lifted one of the sheets of paper.
She tilted her head curiously. “A blueprint?”
The paper she held in her hand appeared to be some kind of blueprint schematic of some kind of turret machine. From what the schematic was displaying, it was a turret that stood on three legs and fired Mana Bolts.
Even though she could read the schematic, her understanding of what it was trying to explain or show flew over her head. At least in terms of the technical aspects of it like the materials and how everything was built.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Looks like this researcher was also an inventor,” Hazel muttered, putting the blueprint down before reaching for another one.
As she did, her eyes widened. Much like the previous sheet, it was some kind of blueprint for an invention, but instead of a turret, it was a robot. Or according to the schematic, a highly advanced golem.
The golem looked humanoid and androgynous with joints that resembled a doll. Some of the technical details talked about how the joints were created and formed to create the golem along with certain enhancements or advantages it would have compared to regular humans from super strength and speed, and even advanced cognition.
Just from reading the schematics alone, Hazel was very intrigued. However, even with this paper, she had no experience in building a golem. Or anything, for that matter. And she assumed that it wasn’t simple to learn either.
She could attempt to study the fundamentals and build it, but there was no telling when she could have the time to do something like that. Especially with her current predicament of trying to leave the dungeon and return home.
Despite how much Hazel wanted to make a golem, she simply had no time to invest in such an activity. Realizing this, her heart sank as she placed the blueprint back on the workbench. Since the workbench didn’t have anything worth Hazel’s time at the moment, she walked away and moved on to something else.
That was when she spotted an office desk to her right near the window. Walking over to it, she admired the mahogany wood that was used to craft the desk, gliding her hand across the surface and feeling its smooth texture.
Much like everything else, there were books and papers scattered all over it. Hazel wasn’t feeling eager to look through them, since she figured that none of them was worth her time. However, taking a closer look, one of the papers caught her eye.
And it was because she had seen a similar sheet of paper like it before.
“Is that…?” Hazel instinctively reached out and grabbed the parchment as if it had a mind of its own.
And as soon as she did, a panel suddenly appeared.
[Would you like to learn the “Telekinesis” spell?]
Her eyes widened in surprise and joy. It was a Grimoire page! And that spell it offered was even more interesting.
“Telekinesis? So I can control things with my mind?!” Her eyes sparkled while staring at the Grimoire page.
Telekinesis was one of the most powerful and amazing abilities anyone could ever have. To be able to move things with your mind, you would become a formidable opponent to anyone. From levitating pebbles to lifting an entire building without even touching it; possibilities were endless with this spell.
And Hazel managed to come across such an item. Her grin deepened. She knew that there was something about this tower that made her want to take a look. And she was glad that she followed her instincts.
“Hey, Astrid, look what I found!” Hazel turned around and called out to her dark elf partner, eager to show off the grimoire page.
However, Astrid was nowhere to be seen. She was supposed to check out the bookshelves on her head, but Hazel didn’t see her.
She looked around, trying to find where the dark elf was. That was when she spotted the ranger under the arched stairwell. It appeared that she was doing something, but Hazel couldn’t see from her current spot.
A little curious, Hazel then walked over to Astrid and saw what exactly she was doing. Getting close, she saw the dark elf kneeling while working on something. The mage could hear clicks and clacks as if she were working on a clock or something.
However, once Hazel was right in front of Astrid, she realized that it wasn’t a clock that the dark elf was working on, but a chest. And it appeared that she was picking the lock.
“Looks like you found something interesting,” Hazel noted, watching Astrid continue to try and pick the lock of the chest.
“I found two somethings,” Astrid replied, focusing on the chest without turning back to look at Hazel.
Hazel leaned her head to the side. “Two?”
“Yeah,” The dark elf stopped picking for a moment and pointed her finger to their right.
Following Astrid’s finger, Hazel turned and spotted a small chamber further under the arched stairwell. But it wasn’t the chamber that the ranger was referring to but something inside it.
Walking into the Chamber, Hazel looked down and witnessed a giant magic circle on the floor. It appeared to have been made using white chalk as Hazel closely examined it. She noted that the symbols and shapes inscribed in the circle were very detailed and precisely written.
At first, Hazel had no clue as to what this magic circle was for, so she tried to identify it. And what she discovered made her heart jump.
A magic circle created by Mages to summon and command Familiars from other worlds.
It was a Summoning Circle. Something that would allow Hazel to summon a familiar to assist her in battle.
After reading the description of the magic circle, Hazel grinned with excitement. After struggling to figure out how she was supposed to summon a familiar, the answer was now right before her very eyes.
And she immediately knew what needed to be done.