"Glenn, check this out," Isadora called out to Glenn, who was crouching next to the giant lizard's corpse, wondering which piece was the best to harvest and cook. He joined her and looked at the wall she was pointing at.

"My magic is perturbed around here, as if there was more Blumar," She said as she looked at the rock wall. Glenn couldn't find anything different with it visually. It was dark stone, like most of the entire chain of mountains that were the Dark Wall.

"I can give it a try," He shrugged as he flicked a wave of Gravity Manipulation at the wall, ripping the dark stone off. He frowned as his spell was almost dispelled. Behind the stone, layer was indeed a thick vein of Blumar.

"Good find. How did you even think about doing that?" Glenn asked as he used his magic to free up the Blumar vein. It was strangely circular, like a big horizontal pillar wide enough to crush a few men side by side.

"Well, I have this spell to control Mana density, which indicated an incredibly low rate in this area. I threw in a small Lux, and then..." She nodded at the Blumar as her eyebrows creased, "But I didn't expect it to be such a massive vein. And from the direction it's headed, it almost looks like it's connected to the Cube."

Glenn moistened his lips and grimaced, "Considering the Cube wasn't initially here, it wouldn't make sense for there to be connections to it in the Dark Wall. Unless the Cube brought these connections with it, and I just didn't notice them before. Which is a scenario that definitely makes more sense."

Isadora sighed, "We can try to dig it out, but piercing it will be as tough as breaking through the Cube's doors. Why the hell would there be so much Blumar here anyway?"

“That's the question, isn't it? Glenn answered her words in assent. He unsheathed Nelg in his longsword form and split the Blumar. The sword cut through the deep-blue stone almost effortlessly, guided by Glenn's increasingly expert hand. Isadora gasped, her jaw hanging low as she watched the supposedly toughest material being ridiculed by Glenn's sword.

"Are you selling that weapon?" Isadora eventually asked as Glenn pulled his sword back to hack once more, "I'd be willing to pay you with every credit I have, and more. Hell, I'd even—"

Her words were muffled when a sudden torrent of natural Mana burst out of the hole Glenn suddenly created in the Blumar pillar. Glenn and Isadora flew back, their defenses raised. The Mana eventually settled down to a standard amount, leaving Glenn and Isadora very confused.

"What the hell was that?" Lioras ran up to them in worry, interrupting his "extremely important researching process of the possible Dragonoid patriarch and dragon descendant". Nora also dashed next to them, her eyes sharp and her hand clenching her hilt.

Isadora pointed at the Blumar Glenn carved open and scowled, "Glenn cut that open—"

"He cut what now?" Lioras' eyes widened as he interrupted the one-eyed lady, "Isn't that Blumar? How the hell did he cut that open without specialized equipment? Even a Saint would have a hard time cutting through that!"

Glenn gazed at the scholar before sweeping at the Blumar with his sword once again, cleanly cutting through another chunk. It was Lioras and Nora's turn to watch, flabbergasted, as Glenn's sword sliced the Blumar effortlessly. Nora rubbed her eyes in disbelief before pointing at the sword.

"How much? How much are you selling this for?" She asked in awe. Isadora's expression hardened and she stepped forward.

"I asked first."

Lioras looked at the cut in the Blumar, adjusting his glasses' position as he did so. "Incredible...The Seeker organization would also pay you much more than these two individuals, sir Glenn. What would be your asking price?"

Glenn looked at three of them for a long time, before throwing his sword in the air and making it disappear in a cloud of magical particles, drawing it back to safety inside his soul. Instantly, the scholar and the two ladies warrior's expression changed to unparalleled disappointment.

"A soul weapon, of course..." Lioras shook his head, "I should have guessed. I did hear the rumors of the Smith creating another of these, but I never thought they were real. To think that it was in your hands, sir Glenn..." The scholar smiled dejectedly, "You're truly fortunate."

Nora tsked and kicked a piece of stone away, "That means I can't even kill you for it...Damn it!"

Strangely, Isadora had that same expression Nora bore.

'I think they were all ready to kill you for Nelg,' Diamanes remarked, 'It's slightly disheartening, but not surprising. They're humans, after all.'

Glenn sighed and turned back to the Blumar vein, pillar, or whatever it truly was.

"Let's concentrate on that, please," Glenn called out to his companions, who were still shaking their heads in dismay, "I thought I might have been mistaken when cutting through it, but no, this Blumar thing is hollow."

Lioras raised an eyebrow, "Hollow?" He approached his magical light closer to the opening in the Blumar, keeping it at a safe distance so that it wouldn't be accidentally dispelled. Indeed, there was enough space inside the Blumar...vein, pillar, tunnel, whatever to let them enter it.

"Incredible...I've never heard of a naturally hollow Blumar formation..." Lioras gulped as he scribbled madly inside his notebook. Nora shook her head and slapped his back.

"That means it's not natural, scholar. So calm down and ready yourself, because once we're in there, it's limited access to Aura and magic." She grumbled before jumping inside the opening. Lioras' face paled slightly and he heavily swallowed before following her in. Isadora looked at Glenn and shrugged, before also going in. Glenn closed the procession, tensing up as he felt his hair standing on end from the Blumar's influence.

'No big spells there! Hey, but is that the return of the mighty Sun Finger?' Diamanes proclaimed with an exaggeratedly excited voice. Glenn didn't even bother replying as his right arm began to suddenly glow with warm, sun-like light. Lioras, who was struggling to keep his Lux from dispelling made a relieved noise.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Body casting...that's rare in mages," Nora remarked.

Glenn gritted his teeth, tense, "Let's just say I've already been in that situation before. Let me tell you: if Doyle Malory is out of his seal, and I'm still too weak to fight him, I'm running away without hesitation."

Nora and Isadora nodded, their expressions unchanging.

"Of course."

"That goes without saying."

Lioras blinked in confusion, "No, no, what do you mean you're running away? What about me—?"

"Aren't you an Expert Magi?" Glenn retorted in an annoyed tone, "You're one rank above me, please, have the skills that come with it."

The scholar whimpered, "Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have accepted that promotion..."

The group continued through the Blumar tunnel without further conversations, their bodies tensing up and their fingers clenching their weapons tightly. Well, in Lioras' case, it was mostly clenched on nothing. Isadora had a short saber she kept just in case. Nora had her katana, and Glenn, of course, had Nelg. The tunnel made a few turns until eventually stopping at a deep, dark hole that even Glenn's Sun Touch couldn't lighten.

"We jump in?" Nora proposed. Lioras gasped and hurriedly placed himself between the hole and the group, "Wait! No, we...we can't just jump in like that! Miss Nora, we magi are not as resilient, our legs will certainly break if the fall is too highhhhhhhh!!!!" Lioras screamed as he was suddenly grabbed by Nora and pulled into the hole with her.

Isadora and Glenn exchanged a glance before following in. Glenn's Sun Touch lit their way down perfectly, revealing that they fell right inside the Blumar Cube. Glenn hurriedly used Gravity Manipulation to slow his fall, until the proximity with the Blumar floor made it impossible. Isadora's light wings also exploded in Mana particles when she got too close to the floor, around two meters away from it.

"Excellent," Nora said as she dusted her shoulders off. Lioras was kneeling on the floor, holding his chest in fear.

"By the Divine Sage..." He heaved as he looked up, unable to find the entry they came from, "Shouldn't we have attached a rope to leave us with an exit route, at least?"

Glenn, Nora, and Isadora froze.

That... certainly would have been a good idea.

Huh.

'Oh well.'

"It's too late for us to regret," Nora said as she corrected the position of her katana at her hilt, "Let us proceed and be done with this. Maybe we'll manage to get out of here the same way the Cube landed here."

Isadora nodded, "That would be for the best. I hardly see us dig through the meters-thick Blumar walls with Glenn's sword."

"Likewise," Glenn agreed, his eyes glued to something in the distance, "On the other hand, I have to say. This isn't like before."

"What do you mean?" Lioras asked, finally done recovering from his fright. Glenn pointed at the glowing dome in the distance. The bronze construction had first been inert when Glenn and Sahro found it in the Blumar Quarry, but now, it was glowing with countless, intricated blue lines.

"Oh, it's not supposed to glow?" Nora realized as she clenched her katana tighter.

Glenn nodded tensely, "That...might be a result of something we did back then to escape with my comrade. What that means is that I'm not exactly certain of how things will proceed from now on. Stay on your toes."

"I was already doing that without you asking," Isadora muttered, eyeing the structure suspiciously. The group approached the dome slowly, taking measured steps and verifying that there were no enemies present in the area. They eventually reached the dome's entry. Glenn carefully stepped in, his boots echoing on the metal. The walls were run over by these blue energy lines, making it look like some sort of futuristic passage.

The others carefully followed him in, only to suddenly disappear. Glenn's heart missed a beat as he turned on his feet, the exit closing out instantly.

"Fuck. What the fucking fuck." He blurted out, his mind racing to find an explanation. The others were teleported. But they were inside a Blumar structure—and the Dark Wall was supposedly making teleportation impossible. Vilroy and the Seeker group also disappeared instantly, which confirmed his theory that they were teleported away. Where? That was an excellent question. Perhaps deeper inside the structure? Certainly, if he remembered correctly what Lioras' Recorder indicated.

"We didn't need these losers anyway," Diamanes sneered aloud, as serene as ever. Glenn drew a short breath and wrapped his fingers tighter around Nelg's hilt.

"There was a robot-like voice back then..." Glenn muttered as he took one step after another inside the structure, "...And the Project: Sword of Damocles' author mentioned transferring his consciousness into the Laboratory."

He paused and looked at the ceiling, before tentatively trying, "Hey?"

His voice echoed inside the bronze tunnel. Glenn clicked his tongue and resumed his exploration. He soon came across the same intersection that he did back then. The left passage was closed at the end, while the right led to Doyle Malory's prison.

"Maybe try the left passage?" Diamanes proposed, "Now that there is power coursing through the system, maybe the door will be opened?"

Glenn nodded, "That's what I'm thinking too. And I'd honestly love nothing more but to push the eventuality of a meeting with the Lightbringer to as late as possible."

"Oh, come on, I thought you were excited to have an incredible opponent to fight!" Diamanes exclaimed in disappointment.

"That was until I remembered that I can't even breakthrough because of the damned Blumar in this place. Fuck, let's hope that monster is still inside his seal and not moving," He sent a short prayer to Onnea and proceeded into the left hallway, guided by the blue energy lines. Only the sound of his boots stepping on the cold metal echoed in the structure, making each moment increasingly more unbearable. Glenn wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead.

"It feels like something really bad is going to happen, somehow?" Glenn whispered, shivering.

"Why are you whispering?" Diamanes asked.

"Why not?"

"..."

Glenn eventually reached the end of the hallway, where the same door that blocked him and Sahro still was. Glenn pursed his lips and sighed heavily.

"I should have known..." He was about to turn back but the door suddenly clicked. Glenn frowned and took a closer look at it, wondering what made the noise, until the gate clicked even more. The bronze-like metal that was definitely not bronze slid down, revealing the room beyond. Glenn's mouth took on the shape of an o.

"Oh-ho..." He curiously peeked his head inside the room, wondering what was hidden there. There were countless things in the room, be it worktables, bookshelves, alchemical instruments, and engineering tools, but they were nothing compared to the centerpiece. All the blue energy lines connected into one single point, a gently pulsing metal chair.

And sitting on that chair, connected to it through metal tubes, was a man. Well, no, it was humanoid, but not even a single part of it was human in reality. Its body was a balanced mix of metal and Blumar, forming a delicate yet intimidating human-sized and shaped frame. An ancient yet sleek masterpiece that inspired respect for its maker and awe for its design.

[PRESENCE IDENTIFIED: LOADING CONSCIOUSNESS IN PROJECT GUNDAM] The robot voice that Glenn heard back when he was expelled from the Laboratory echoed once again all around him from dissimulated speakers. Glenn took a step back, his sword tightly clenched.

"Fuck me..." He gulped heavily as he watched the robot light up with blue energy and stand up from his metal chair.

//So I am once again...

The robot looked at its metal, Blumar limbs and shook its head. Its face was rigid, incapable of expressing anything. He glanced at Glenn.

//Ah...Old friend...

It spoke in an emotional voice, taking a single step in Glenn's direction.

Only to fall to its knees and deactivate.

Glenn blinked.

"What?"

"What?" He repeated, unable to believe what just happened, "What?"

The teleportation of his colleagues, the mysterious presence in the dome, a fucking cool, ancient sentient robot with probably all the knowledge in the world, and it just...didn't have any battery left?

What?