The Author's POV - Chapter 341

Chapter 341 Taking The Initiative [1]

341 Taking the initiative [1]

Halting his steps in front of a large metallic door, the guard paused for a moment.

Placing his small blue hand by the side of the door, the metallic structure rumbled and slowly opened up.

Rumble-

Once the door was halfway open, the guard started talking.

“This over here is the artifact testing area. As you’re probably aware, this place is dedicated to testing artifacts and their power.”

“Oh? I’ve heard of this place.”

Walking into the room, I pretended to be unamused by what I saw.

In truth, I was beyond shocked. With all sorts of complex machinery around the room, duergars could be seen testing all sorts of artifacts.

BANG-

Covered in sophisticated equipment, the duergars tested weird-looking artifacts against some sort of odd machinery. Displayed on the machine was all sorts of data which other duergars looked at by the side, taking notes on their holographic- looking devices.

Some of the artifacts were so powerful that I could sense the mana in the air convering towards it.

Keeping a straight face had never been more difficult for me.

‘…I wonder if I can steal them.’

I thought to myself.

Oddly enough, that was the first thing I thought as I looked at the artifacts. I couldn’t be blamed though.

Each one of the artifacts present would sell for astronomical prices back in the human domain.

To be honest, the probability of me being able to steal them was low, but a man could dream, right?

‘Mhm… Actually, it’s not impossible for me to steal them…’

A wild thought suddenly entered my mind.

If everything proceeded as planned, then, perhaps, I may be able to take some of the stuff here.

Unaware of the thoughts I was having, standing next to me, the guard patted the side of the walls.

“The walls of the facility are made of Rhimestone, ensuring some solid safety. This way, our researchers can conduct experiments without restraint.”

“Rhimestone?”

I raised my brow in mild surprise.

From what I remember, Rhimestone was an incredibly sturdy rock that could withstand heavy impacts.

It was also ridiculously expensive.

Tracing his finger across the wall, the guard nodded in affirmation.

“That’s correct. This whole place is made of Rhimestone. Because of it, we don’t have to worry about the facility if the artifacts ever do malfunction. The walls over here can withstand the full-blown attack of an ranked artifact.”

“They’d be stupid if they didn’t do this much.”

I responded, trying my best to memorize the layout of the place.

This place might turn out to be more useful than I thought.

“Is this place isolated from the other areas?” I carefully asked.

Depending on his answer, I could probably make up for the sudden time increase.

Now, it was no longer a matter of greed. This place could be instrumental to my plans.

“Isolated? Are you asking whether the mana fluctuations and the like reach outside of this place?”

“Yea.”

“Ah, got it. In that case, no. Everything in this place is completely isolated. Take a look over there.”

The guard pointed towards the corner of the room, where a lone monitor stood.

“That machine over there measures the mana density in the room. When the mana density reaches a certain level, it will trigger a defensive mechanism and activate the security system, which in turn will shut the whole place down.”

“If it shuts down, what about the ones stuck inside? Do they have a chance to flee? I assume this must happen in a matter of seconds.”

“Ah, them?” The guard looked at the duergars working on the artifacts in the distance before shaking his head. “They’ll be sealed inside, and probably die. We don’t want to take any risks. For better or worse, everyone here knows how the system works so they come prepared to die at any time.”

Pity flashed across the guard’s eyes as he looked at the researchers in front of him.

“Either way, if they do end up surviving, the system will deactivate as soon as it judges that the mana density in the room is at safe levels.”

“…I see.”

‘That’s quite ruthless of them.’

In order to make sure the threat would not go outside of the room, they were prepared to have anyone inside die.

Though I didn’t really care about what happened to the people here, I did feel that Inferno had taken some excessive measures.

They were ready to sacrifice their own, after all.

It would be a pity to lose so many talented researchers.

Still, the information was actually quite useful to me.

The plan that I had previously envisioned became much more feasible.

“Shall we go to the next area?”

The guard called out to me, moving towards the door of the facility.

Taking one last glance at the facility, nodded.

“Yes.”

***

[Leviathan building, Lock]

Ci-Clank-!

“Haaa…”

Returning to his room, Kevin let out a long, extended sigh.

It took a while for him to calm her down as the news had truly shocked her, but Kevin did not regret telling the truth to Emma.

Remembering her relieved smile, a small smile of his own appeared on Kevin’s lips.

“I’m glad she’s feeling better.”

Because of what was happening with her family, Emma had been going through a lot of stress.

For her to finally show a happy smile, Kevin felt warmth in his heart.

“Huam… I’m tired.”

Yawning, Kevin headed towards his room.

This morning, he had trained with Jin and Donna for over six hours. Kevin was understandably tired.

Although it was only seven in the afternoon, Kevin decided to head to bed.

Pomf!

Slumping on the bed, Kevin felt the soft covers gently embrace him.

‘I should be able to rank up soon.’

Kevin thought as he stared at the ceiling of the room.

He had broken through to rank not too long ago, but he felt that he could already breakthrough to within a month’s time.

His rate of progress was nothing short of astonishing. The only one that could keep up with his speed was Jin.

With all of the resources at his disposal, thanks to his family, Jin’s rate of improvement was just as impressive.

Kevin estimated that by the end of the year, he and Jin would at least reach or rank.