Len took off his sword belt, removing the scabbard for his now useless sword. He looped it to create a holster for his hammer before wrapping it around his waist.

He picked up the crossbow, tested it and made sure it was loaded.

"You done now?" Rick asked. hammer on his shoulder and shield held in his off hand.

"Yeah yeah, lets go clear the rest of the library," Len said.

Rick led them away from the engineering section and towards the stairs, taking the lead with his heater shield raised.

Len checked his crossbow once more. No damn safety, don't need to shoot him in the ass.

They emerged onto the next floor. The level was different from the others they'd explored. Bookshelves still lined the walls, but they were fewer in number. What caught Len's attention, however, were the books themselves.

"Rick," he whispered, gesturing to the nearest shelf. "Look at these."

The tomes here weren't bound in simple leather or cloth. Instead, Len saw books with covers that shimmered like polished metal, others that seemed to be carved from stone.

"Uncommon?" Rick asked.

"Yeah looks like it," Len said.

"Well looks like we know how some of them survived through this," Rick said.

Len followed closely behind Rick as they moved through the floor, his crossbow at the ready. The shelves of uncommon books flanked them on either side, their unusual covers glinting in the dim light. Len's eyes darted from side to side, watching for any signs of movement or danger.

As they approached a wooden door, Len noticed something different about it. Unlike the others they'd encountered, this one had faint markings etched into its surface.

'Enchantment' hung from a plaque.

He tapped Rick's shoulder, signaling him to stop.

"Hold up," Len whispered. "This door's got some kind of enchantment on it."

Rick nodded, keeping his shield raised as Len stepped closer to examine the door. The markings were barely visible, but Len could sense the latent magic within them. Curious, he placed his hand on the wall next to the door and channeled a small amount of mana into it.

The effect was immediate. The faint etchings on the door's surface blazed to life, glowing with an ethereal blue light. Intricate patterns and symbols spread across the wood, revealing a complex enchantment that Len had never seen before.

"Well, that's interesting," Len murmured, studying the newly revealed magical script. He traced the patterns with his eyes, trying to decipher their meaning. The enchantment seemed to be some sort of protective ward, but its exact purpose remained unclear.

Len studied the glowing enchantment on the door, his brow furrowed in concentration. As he traced the patterns with his eyes, he began to understand its purpose.

"It's a trap," he muttered to Rick. "Anyone who tries to force these doors open is in for a nasty surprise."

Rick grunted in acknowledgment, keeping his shield raised and his eyes on their surroundings.

Len stepped back from the door, his gaze sweeping across the adjacent wall. He spotted a section where the enchantment's lines didn't extend.

"Over here," he said, moving to the side of the door. "We can bypass it completely."

Len ran his fingers along the smooth stone, feeling for any hidden enchantments. Satisfied that the area was clear, he began to mark out a rough rectangle on the wall.

"What are you doing?" Rick asked, glancing over his shoulder.

"Making our own entrance," Len replied, focusing on his work.

He traced the outline again, this time activating the mana blade enchantment on the utility knife, leaving behind deep and precise lines.

He pulled Rick back, putting the rectangle infront of his left shoulder.

"I'll punch it through and we go," Len said.

"Gotcha," Rick rolled his shoulders—ready.

Len placed his palm flat against the center of the rectangle. He closed his eyes, concentrating on gathering mana into his hand. The energy built up, making his skin tingle.

With a sharp exhalation, Len released the pent-up mana. It surged through his palm and into the stone in the shape of the section he'd cut out. There was a moment of resistance, then a loud crack as the section of wall suddenly disintegrated.

Len crafted air barriers over his eyes as the dust from the destroyed wall exploded outward. Rick charged forward, his hammer at the ready.

Len followed Rick through the dust that filled the opening, his crossbow at the ready.

"Gargoyle!" Rick yelled. Len stepped on books into the room, they'd gone through a bookshelf, one of many built into the walls. Others lay in rows, seamlessly fused with the floor, all were made from the same reflective black stone.

The room was dimly lit, with an eerie glow emanating from enchanted runes carved into the walls between shelves of enchanted books.

Rick swung out his hammer to meet a wave of the black material rushing towards them. His enchantment activated, shattering the stone and hurling it back across the room towards their enemy.

This one was made entirely of metal, its joints large spheres, covered in enchantments that glowed faintly in the dim light.

Len's eyes were drawn to the gargoyle's hands. Each finger ended in a different tool, resembling those used for carving enchantments into various materials. The creature's left arm was adorned with glowing red enchantments, while its right arm bore blue ones. Its chest was emblazoned with golden runes, and both legs were covered in brown markings.

Rick charged forward as the creature raised it's red enchantment covered arm.

Len moved to the side to get a clear line-of-sight.

The gargoyle raised its red runed arm unleashing a beam of fire . The temperature in the room shot up, and Len felt sweat immediately bead on his forehead.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Rick reacted quickly, interposing his shield between them and the fiery blast. The magical flames licked around the edges of the shield, but Rick held firm. Len could see the metal of the shield starting to heat up, turning a dull red at the edges.

The gargoyle's head snapped to Len as it jumped towards the shelves in the middle of the room, the creature's blue arm lit up. A barrage of ice darts shot out. Len fired, hitting the creature and making it crash into a bookshelf as it tried to escape.

The bolts slammed into a mana barrier he threw up.

Rick advanced towards the bookshelves, his shield smoking, while the ground around him had melted under the wrath of the creature's flames.

"I'll push it out, you hit its joints and slow it," Rick said.

"Gotcha," Len said.

The creature moved between shelves, he heard the satisfying clang of the bolt hitting its target. However, his satisfaction was short-lived as he saw the bolt simply skitter across the gargoyle's armored surface, leaving barely a scratch.

Should've got the spellcasting staff.

Len crouched behind a bookshelf, his crossbow loaded and ready. He could hear the metallic scraping of the gargoyle as it moved through the stacks. Rick's heavy footsteps echoed from the other side of the room, coordinating their efforts to corner the creature.

A flash of metal caught Len's eye. He pivoted, aimed, and fired in one fluid motion. The bolt struck true, embedding itself in the joint of the gargoyle's leg. The creature stumbled, its movements becoming more labored.

"Got it in the leg!" Len called out to Rick. He quickly reloaded, scanning for his next opportunity.

The gargoyle emerged from behind a shelf, its red arm glowing ominously. Len ducked as a jet of flame scorched the air above him.

Rick appeared beside the gargoyle, his hammer swinging out. The creature slammed its foot on the ground, sending out a wave of stone.

Rick's shield flared with angry red light, breaking the wave as Rick's hammer connected throwing the gargoyle through two bookshelves.

It raised its blue hand at Rick.

Len fired another bolt, hitting the creature's elbow throwing off its aim as it shot up a shelf and into the ceiling.

Len dropped his crossbow and ran for the gargoyle as it struggled to get up.

Rick ran from the other direction. It got to its feet, its chest glowing.

Len threw himself to the side, skidding over the ground, his feet pushing off of a shelf as lightning passed underneath him.

Rick's hammer hit the gargoyle in the side, sending it flying under Len, its chest blasting out lightning in a spiral before it hit the door to the enchanting section.

Triggering the enchantment they had so carefully circumvented.

A blinding flash filled the room, accompanied by a deafening boom. Len landed, the shockwave throwing him back a bit as hearing disappeared.

The shelves next to him had been smashed flat, the gargoyle's body turned into a projectile.

The gargoyle was part of a head, a core sticking out of metal, a bif of an arm and two legs.

Experience flowed, Len breathing out.

===

You have earned 5 EXP

===

"Well, hope the books could take that," Rick said.

"Lets have a look around and see what else we can find in here," Len said.

Rick grabbed up the gargoyle body, pulling out its core. He tucked the core away into a pocket, before grabbing the creature up by one hand and throwing it to the side.

Len moved through the shelves, looking for any loot other than the books.

Near where the gargoyle had first attacked, he spotted a workbench with tools scattered across its surface.

"Over here," he called to Rick.

"Help me with this will you?" He pointed to the part of the shelf that had collapsed over the workbench.

They moved it to the side and Len inspected what was underneath.

He opened a leather roll. "Specialized carving tools." They were cut to different angles, perfect for etching precise enchantments into various materials.

"Pyronite, Rare grade. That'll allow you to keep carving for some time."

In a drawer beneath the workbench, he discovered a small box containing what appeared to be chalk. When he picked up a piece, it left faint golden traces in the air.

"Marking chalk," Len explained to Rick. He drew out a rough house in the air. "Be useful giving workers a guide to build along."

"Or give people a way to see an enchantment broken down without having to create a blueprint from mana," Rick said.

"Would've saved me a lot of headaches back when I was learning," Len said.

Len spotted something half-buried under some books - a small rectangular plate made of silvery metal. He brushed off the debris and held it up. "Transfer plate. You can copy enchantments from one item to another using this as a medium. This could be huge!" He examined the metal and enchantment. "Steel, Uncommon grade, can copy Common enchantments. We could set this up as its own factory creating enchantments."

"Its pretty slow though?" Rick asked.

"Yeah you need to give it time to charge, though you can speed that up with having a charging enchantment, add in some mechanical systems and you could be creating a couple of enchantments an hour. If we were able to copy the enchantment and apply it to that Orsite we found we could copy over Rare Enchantments."

Light reflecting off of something drew his eye.

A metal stand held what looked like a magnifying glass, but its lens shifted colors as Len approached. He picked it up, feeling two distinct enchantments resonating within it.

"This one's interesting," Len said, holding it up to examine a nearby book. "Shows the mana flows in objects and highlights existing enchantments. Could use it to avoid mistakes when working on complex pieces."

"Good haul," Rick said. "Should speed up teaching people and production."

"Yeah," Len held the transfer plate, leery to let it go. He added it to the other items he'd stacked up on the workbench. "None of its of immediate use right now. I'd like to head down to the first floor and get that spell casting staff."

Len and Rick made their way back down to the bottom floor, sloshing through the water back to the staff.

Len loaded up one gem with a mana bolt spell and put it between his back and his pack, making it easy to draw free if needed.

"Lets go see what the last floor has for us," He said to Rick.

They went back up through the library, past the engineering room with its scattered mechanical parts, through the alchemy section still reeking of chemicals, and beyond the enchanting room with its blown-out entrance.

They continued upwards to the highest floor.

Like the enchanting floor it had fewer books though they were all of a higher quality.

The shelves had been lined up in a way to make a path to a single doorway.

Len studied the doorway, his eyes following the motes of light that curved across its obsidian surface like stars wheeling through a night sky. The plaque above read 'Astral' in flowing script that seemed to shimmer just like the door itself.

He reached out with his mana sense, trying to get a read on the magic woven into the structure. The energy patterns were unlike anything he'd encountered before - they didn't flow in the usual ordered channels of standard enchantments, but rather seemed to twist and spiral in impossible geometries.

"Space magic," Len said.

"The door makes more sense now," Rick said.

"Cover me."

"Got you," Rick raised his hammer and shield, watching the area.

Len put down the crossbow and pulled out his staff. He closed his eyes as he brought up the spell he wished to cast in his mind's eye.

It formed in three dimensions instead of the normal two required for spells. He stripped away parts reducing the area of effect, tamping down on the overall mana cost.

He cast temporal stasis upon the staff, his mana charging downwards before he had to cut it, panting from the exertion.

Something clicked ahead, the stars shifted, coming into a line that cracked the night sky, parting it to reveal a set of night-sky stairs leading upwards..

"You good?" Rick asked without looking back.

"Just took a lot out of me," Len breathed in, dragging in mana. He slid his pack off.

"Take my pack too," Rick said.

Len held onto it and Rick pulled on the quick straps, releasing it from him. Len dropped it next to his pack. "Stay near me, I cast temporal stasis on the staff, if there's any space fuckery it should stop it."

"How big is the range?"

"About three meters," Len said.

"About to get so comfy with one another's personal spaces," Rick said.

"Something like that," Len looked at the door ahead and the stairs. "Lets got see what the Astral section has for us."