As they entered the courtyard they could see that it looked like once it might have been used for combat practice of some kind as there were pits filled with sand off to the sides, and targets chiseled into the back walls. They walked up to the doorway, surprised to find an actual physical wooden door. It was the first thing of an organic material they had seen that had lasted.
As Rowan went to open the door, the knob seemed to extend, before wrapping around his wrist. At this sight, Mason charged forwards and slashed at this extension of the knob. He easily cut through, separating two parts of the knob. The part around his wrist seemed to lose whatever life it had, simply becoming an oddly shaped brass bracelet. The part attached to the door however, retreated and the entire door seemed to hiss. They backed away, seeking to understand what was happening. When Rowan grabbed at the bracelet around his wrist, With just a tug he was able to break it off, so it was very brittle.
“What was that? Some kind of enchanted door? Perhaps we need some kind of permission to enter this building?”
“I don’t sense any mana emanating from the door. It’s not enchanted.”
“That thing hissed. I’m sure of it. This thing has got to be alive.”
“It’s a door. Doors can’t be alive.”
“Rowan why don’t you just chop it down okay?” That should resolve whatever problem there is.”
With this rowan took up his axe and approached warily. He swung from about as far away as he could, before saying [Power Strike] and chopping at the door. He was able to get a fair bit through as the door was only 3 inches thick. This time there was no hiss or even any sign that anything was unusual about the door. Mason decided to test something and pressed his sword against the door and a crater opened up to avoid his blade. “Hmm. Perhaps it is because my sword has that spirit slaying core? Maybe the door itself isn’t alive but rather there is a spirit within it manipulating it.”
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE HUMAN. I HAVE NOT SEEN YOUR KIND IN GENERATIONS.”
The entire group backed up.
“Did you hear that too?”
The message had not truly been in words but more in ideas and images.
Dally warily responded “You can speak? What are you?”
“MY KIND ARE THE RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS THE MAGES AT THIS ACADEMY WERE DOING PRIOR TO THEM DYING OUT. I AM THE OLDEST OF MY KIND, AND THE ONLY ONE WHO IS STILL ALIVE OF THE ORIGINALS. WE ARE A SPIRIT RACE, ONE WHO POSSES OBJECTS. WHERE DO YOU COME FROM?”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“We come from above this cavern. We discovered this place and came down here to escape some wolves.”
“I SUGGEST YOU LEAVE FROM THIS PLACE. NOTHING AWAITS YOU INSIDE BUT DEATH. THE PROTECTIONS OF THIS ACADEMY STILL STAND. WE ARE ONLY ABLE TO RESIDE HERE BECAUSE IT DOES NOT RECOGNIZE US AS LIVING BEINGS. I AM SORRY I ATTACKED YOU IMMEDIATELY, HOWEVER I WAS SCARED. PLEASE LEAVE FROM THIS PLACE.”
A thud came from the door. And then another.
“What is that? The protections of the academy?”
“NO THAT IS MY GREAT GREAT GREAT TOO MANY TO COUNT GREAT GRANDSON. I BELIEVE HE DESIRES TO GO WITH YOU AND EXPLORE. WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO TAKE HIM? HE IS NOT LIKE ME, HE CANNOT YET SPEAK. MY KIND GROWS MORE INTELLIGENT WITH AGE.”
“I mean yeah I suppose we could take him.” With this the doors opened enough to reveal a pile of items directly behind the door. A small pen rolled out from it. “Is that him?”
“YES. HE IS STILL QUITE SMALL, BUT HE HAS BEEN TRULY BORED FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS. IF YOU ARE WILLING TO TAKE HIM IT WOULD BE A GREAT HELP”
“Okay then.” Dally picked up the small pen, and held it awkwardly. “So are you okay going with us?” With this the pen seemed to do a small wiggle, which they took as a yes.
The group moved away from the door, deciding to head back to the citadel.
“Should we head back to the surface? Perhaps we could come back with a higher ranked team and try again later. I mean we already got 4, possibly 5 artifacts. Let’s not push it.”
“No! This is our big break okay? How often do you think ancient ruins are discovered? This is the type of ruin that can make a gold rank team! If we come back with higher ranked teams, we would be lucky to walk away with some coin.”
“You know they aren’t like that. The teams at our adventurers guild are good people.”
“Don’t be so naive. They won’t sabotage us or anything, but once we call them in they would think they deserve a larger share of the reward. Look how about this okay? We keep exploring until we find a threat we can’t take down.”
Rowan seemed ill at ease but he agreed after a long moment.
The group decided to sleep in the citadel as besides their fall they hadn’t slept since this morning. They trudged in and quickly laid out cloaks and the like, before slipping into sleep.
[Class requirements met - Looter]
Mason knew that earlier rowan had advised not to pick up extraneous classe, however this one seemed perfect for the situation.
[Level up - Level up - Level up - Level up - Looter]
[Skill gained - Determine Value]
[Skill gained - Metal detector]
[Level up - Level up - Warrior]
[Level up - Mage]
[Skill gained - Power Cut]
[Passive gained - Enhanced Strength]
[Skill gained - Sense Mana]
Wow. Four levels. Those artifacts must be worth a lot. With that he drifted off to sleep.