Magna took a closer look at the architectural style, with a keen interest in the various runes that were on the walls. They reminded him of the dwarven runes for the enchantments, but seemed different nonetheless. Her appearance clearly stood out from the dwarf runes he already knew.
Only then did he notice that he didn’t go down the last step to him in the hall, but seemed to linger on it. Was it scary? Could the golems probably not be able to enter dungeons?
Did the elemental feel something that was missing? The whole place had been deserted for eons. Dust was gathering on the walls everywhere. Should he run into any constructs down here like those in certain dwarf ruins that he knew from games and novels? Did the dwarf races of this world own such things or did they also devote themselves to golem technologies? Did they create the city themselves?
In the end, curiosity overcame caution and his decision to explore this dungeon became rock solid. He told Xo to go back upstairs. This should help the other elementals to stabilize the chambers. Then you should explore the corridors as well as mine shafts. He had to find out whether there were still resources to be gained there or whether they should seal the complex as a whole.
He had to ask himself if it was really the smartest idea to explore the unknown dungeon alone or if he should have waited for his companion, after all it was often Leica that had pulled his ass out of the embers at a crucial moment, like couldn't it unsettle him? On the other hand, he also finally needed some independence. This bond was not allowed to become dependent on co. It would have become deeply unhealthy.
This was one of the reasons why he decided to move on his own this time. Down there the stairs led into a large anteroom, which was like a small hall. From this a few corridors went in different directions, whereby he first decided on the one in the direction of the gorge itself. He really wanted to know how deep he had come, if you could tell from there.
The hall opened into a wide balcony with a half-intact railing facing the inside of the gorge. Curiously, he threw a few lumens around so that he could see the surroundings. His mana eyes pierced the darkness with no apparent effort. In his field of vision were various balconies, bridges to other protrusions, stairs, crossings that were much narrower than the bridge at the upper end of the gorge. Dwellings that were clearly built into the canyon walls. Basically, a city sprawled out in the canyon walls right before his eyes. Could this be the origin of the race from the lost city? Probably not, because the architectural style was fundamentally different. Deep sea dwellers maybe? The city had been deserted for eons.
For this reason he decided to follow a narrow path along the gorge to another platform. After all, wasn't something living in these ruins just because it had become a dungeon - couldn't dungeons naturally build around abandoned cities?
When he arrived at the next building, he decided to investigate the place more closely. Not every building could be a dwelling. There he met his first surprise, because the place itself seemed to have been taken over by the dust, but otherwise various furniture, shelves and other things that had been exposed to a normal time decay were still there. This gave the impression that the ruin had not aged a day since its inhabitants disappeared! That was absolutely insane or could the flow of time within a dungeon be different?
Many items that appeared to be made of metal often had words such as high quality, mana, penetrations, and other embellishments on them. So he even started collecting simple cutlery in his attic again.
Was there probably even a library down there? He didn't understand a word of the dwarven language, but books can also have value, even if you couldn't read them directly.
Maybe they even had dictionaries or a book to help them learn the basic characters of their letters? A new language had many advantages, such as studying its language and all of the teaching that came with it. But also the ability to communicate covertly with some dwarfs?
He searched very carefully every dwelling he found just after the stairs. First he wanted to secure the area around the exit, but also search it. He suffered his greatest gain, but also greatest loss, in the first dwelling in the bedroom, because there was a real mattress there. Basically his biggest win. Unfortunately, her condition was more like a crack mattress of a homeless junkie and was therefore not something he wanted to spend his night on.
The buildings nearby apparently served different purposes. On closer inspection, the first building had been something like the guard for the stairs. The rooms were very sparsely furnished. What had driven these dwarves away? He hadn't found any bodies yet.
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Even in the immediate vicinity he could not see a single sign of life. There was no activity anywhere. Not even enemies were in sight. No constructs, no golems and no undead so far! No, this shrouded silence was a lot creepier than expected.
Since he was just as concerned about his security as he was about possible loot, he decided to conduct the search in an expanding radius. However, none of the buildings in the immediate vicinity contained any special content. Corridors also seemed to lead deeper into the rock. Damn it, how big was this city? How was he supposed to explore a whole city on his own? Somehow he wanted a few friends or team members in such a place for a proper search, and he wasn't interested in taking one of the strangely fragile-looking bridges to the other side of the gorge.
Ultimately, he only searched the buildings that were directly on the gorge itself. This included those below and above him. Dishes, various pieces of furniture, unknown runes, rancid mattresses, rotten sofas and many other things that had no direct value. He could think of an analogy or two about the sofas, but he didn't own a tower for wizards because he had decided against this cliché early on.
Rather, he began to look further away from the exit. Most of the rooms facing the gorge appeared to be something like residential areas. Once he stepped into something that came close to a forge. There he had his first strange find. In a bracket on the wall was a machine, but clearly not a fighting machine, but a working machine with a hand that looked like a human and a stump that looked like Modular. Various adaptations were found on the walls to match the module.
The energy core should probably be provided by a mana crystal. The cockpit was also kept open. With which the driver's head would have been in the open. Was dwarven mana weak? Couldn't you run these machines by your own mana, as in many novels, games, and other references? And if they had them, were there any constructs? On the one hand, he really wanted to see some, but on the other, he imagined them to be very annoying! Unfortunately, it wasn't a game and with that he had nothing more than a single life to throw away. Maybe golem constructs? Artificial Intelligences? Finally, there were a few references to it in the reading. Maybe there was something more in the direction of steampunk? Finally he was able to make out some pipes, as well as other systems.
Magna didn't have much left, either he went deeper into the complex, crossed the various dilapidated bridges to the other side or left the dungeon again without having gathered any further knowledge. What else should he do? So he followed one of the corridors deeper into the interior. The bridges weren't a real option and without a little knowledge he would have wasted his time.
He didn't find any constructs, but very soon found bones and other remains. However, the finds were very different. While some might have resembled small humans as dwarfs, the others had clearly not been human. How long had the city been empty? Was there a war down here? If so, against whom?
Very soon more than just further corridors could be made out in the dark. Arriving in a larger cavern, there were dwellings on the walls, stairs, columns, buildings that hung from the ceiling, and various passages. The whole area looked very much like a former battlefield.
There were bones everywhere. Destroyed workers' machines, broken golems, dwarves in armor holding axes, hammers and other weapons, barricades - had these serpentine creatures waged a war with the dwarves?
The bones could have come from all sorts of creatures. He couldn't say for sure. It could just as well have been the lizards, people from other parts of the forest, orcs, trolls or even goblins?
Curiously, he walked through the rows of dead dwarfs, weapons, armor and other things finding their place in his attic. Especially after he picked up one of the axes and the metal below didn't show a single spark of rust.
In this way he continued on his way until something invisible stopped him from going on. It felt sticky to the skin and seemed to hold him tight.
Suddenly in a panic, he began to squirm in the invisible wall. If he couldn't see it with his mana eyes, then maybe with a lumen?
Several lights took shape around him. Before his eyes was a wide network that spanned large parts of the room.
"Spiders, it had to be spiders," he said. His whole skin tingles at the thought of spiders. There weren't many things he hated wholeheartedly, but spiders have always had a special place on his horror hit list.
To make matters worse, all his fidgeting had woken up a bit. From a corner at the other end of the room, what was probably the largest, hairiest and probably most disgusting creature he ever saw in his life began to move slowly.
Part of his mind wanted to go into a blind panic, which would not have done him a favor in this situation. Was it karma that he took out countless of them in his last life just to end up on their menu once?
Should he set fire to the whole damn network? Was there an alternative?
Reluctantly, he mentally reached for the Ultra Hot Fireball. The translucent fire took shape right next to one of the lumens, and the whole damn web caught fire! At the moment when it began to spread, he pulled the net as hard as he could, whereupon he was able to tear himself away with light burns.
His mind struggled to remain conscious as the system showered him with new messages related to his void. Without thinking too much, his thoughts reached into the attic, with which one of the healing potions came to light, which he opened with one hand, only to moisten his throat seconds later. He kept throwing the larger of the two simple healing spells at himself for reinforcement, because even if his own mana couldn't do him any damage, the burning nets could still do it.
When the flames reached, his new spider friend from the neighborhood was also set on fire. The fireball had not yet dissolved, so he decided to send it to the spider. Should she get used to his skill?
"GOD DAMN SPIDERS!" shouted Magna.
As soon as he regained his freedom, the fireball hit the spider, which itself was quickly set on fire. The whole chamber seemed alarmed by the sudden struggle and awakened to new life. So other spiders from the cave ceiling joined them for their interlude.
Of course, he wasn't just running into a former battlefield, but into a bloody nest full of spiders. Why couldn't it be unicorns? Why did it have to be spiders? It kept popping into his head! The spider had caught a lot of flames in the meantime. Falling brightly to the ground, the animal writhed in an unnaturally high-pitched shriek.
"Can it get any worse?!?" He asked himself aloud.