Chapter 41: Treasure

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The old treasury was hidden in the mountains. The obscure ruins were covered with vines. Walls made of stacked metal and large rocks were riddled with scars. These scars were characters left behind by the passage of time, and what could be made out of those characters were the words ‘great changes with time’.

The history of this ancient ruins could be traced back to the period of the Gondor Empire. Its solemn and imposing style was far from what the Anzu people of today were familiar with. In Gawain’s memory, when the northern pioneering army found this place, it was already in ruins. And the structure then did not seem any ‘younger’ than how it looked like now.

Gawain, Rebecca, Amber and Knight Byron entered the mountain from the largest arched door. The flickering light of the torches lit up the corridors on both sides unsteadily. It seemed like those “soul corridors” that led the dead to their eternal resting place. Amber complained, “If only Aunt Herti came along instead. What good is it to bring you along? You’re called a mage, but you can’t even use an illumination spell?”

Rebecca flushed red in the face. “Fireballs… fireballs can also be used for illumination…”

It was a pity however that her tone was not convincing at all.

Knight Byron was walking not far behind Gawain. He looked at the ancient stone walls and notches on the wall whose purpose could no longer be determined, and he could not help but be reminded of the time when he was a mercenary many years ago. “How old are these ruins?”

“I don’t know.” Gawain shook his head. “The first time we discovered it, it was already in ruins. Back then, the more knowledgeable people of the party said that this was the remains of the “Meteoric Era”. That was the middle to later period of the great advancement of magic in the Gondor Empire. The great magical well, ‘Well of Deep Blue’, had successfully activated, and it roused a wave of expansion in the empire, where a large number of fortresses and research facilities were built at various frontiers in order to find super large magic focal points like ‘Deep Blue’, but then all those facilities were all abandoned one after another.”

Rebecca thought it was incredible. “Did they not find even one magic focal point?”

“No. They could not find a magic focal point like Deep Blue.” Gawain recalled the history from his memory. “The power of the Well of Deep Blue is beyond your imagination. That is the super large magical power source in the center of the continent. The energy it outputs every day can even sustain all of Anzu’s current mage towers’ operation for a month. Scholars in later generations believed that the explosion of the Well of Deep Blue in Gondor in 1739 actually caused the Dark Wave. Although the explosion did not blow up the whole empire right then, it ripped a large hole in the elemental plane. The imbalance of elemental power accumulated until the second year before triggering the Dark Wave. However, this conjecture could not be proven. The whole Well of Deep Blue and magic focal point ‘Deep Blue’ has been completely destroyed, and no one could investigate it.”

“Wow…” Being a mage, Rebecca naturally understood how amazing the ancient magical power well actually was. She was even more shocked that humans were once able to control that level of power. “Gondor Empire was so powerful back then…”

“In any case, all the magic focal points in the continent did not appeal to the people of Gondor. After barely finding a few medium-sized magic focal points, Gondor stopped the exploration of more distant areas. A large number of fortresses and research facilities were abandoned. This should also be one of the facilities that were abandoned in those times, and it is probably a combined facility.”

Amber suddenly became nervous. “Then… there’s not going to be any out of control ancient magic monsters or magic traps or anything like that, right?!”

Gawain glanced at the nervous half-elf. “For someone who dares to dig ancestral graves, why are you afraid of an abandoned facility over a thousand years old?”

“They’re not the same! Even if someone were to come out from his coffin, he’s still only a person. But if something pops out in this ancient facility, we won’t even know what it might be! I heard that ancient facilities still kept synthesized monsters and colossus, that were created by mad mages, sealed… ”

Gawain’s vein popped out at his temples. “Sorry to disappoint you that when I came out of my coffin, I was only a person. Rumors of the Dark Range and horror stories of ancient facilities. Where do you get all your inaccurate information from?”

Amber thought for a moment, and she suddenly said mysteriously. “I’ll tell you. Actually, I’m really chosen by the Goddess of the Night. Sometimes when I pray, the Goddess will reveal something to me. It was all from her… ”

Rebecca rolled a thumb-sized mini fireball and threw it at Amber. Amber was caught off guard, and it blackened her face. She instantly cried out, “Damn, are you crazy! Throwing a fireball so suddenly is dangerous, okay!”

Rebecca shrugged. “… It doesn’t seem like she was the chosen one.”

Gawain could not be bothered to deal with these two who could not get along.

Because the ancient door was right before them.

Reaching the end of the corridor, a heavy giant gate made of purplish-black metal stood before them. This giant gate was of the typical Gondor “Meteoric Era” style. It was solemn, and the surface was carved with abstract relief of soldiers and city walls.

Amber wiped away the black soot from her face, her eyes flashing as she stared at the gate before her. “This thing… Could it be made up entirely of purple steel?!”

“Yes. But for every piece that you scrape of this, I’ll have Rebecca convert it to fireball and cast it in your face.” Gawain knocked Amber’s head with the handle of the Sword of Pioneers. “So put away those audacious ideas of yours. It would be wiser for you to wait honestly for me to pay you your salary.”

Amber tilted her head and muttered, “… Old miser…”

Gawain heard her mutter, but he ignored her. Instead, he stepped back and took out the important “key”.

It was the platinum disc left behind from seven hundred years ago.

Rebecca was a little worried. “It’s been so many years. Can this thing really work?”

Gawain looked at her with a smile. “This is technology from the Gondor Empire. As long as the main structure of the facility doesn’t collapse, its main gate will not fail.”

As if to prove that what he said was true, the complex veined patterns on the platinum disc lit up one by one just as his words fell. Then strands of light streaked along the relief on the heavy metal gate as well.

When the light filled the entire gate, mechanical sounds came from the door and the rock walls on both sides. Everyone felt the ground trembling slightly under their feet, and with this tremor, the door slowly opened..

Gawain, Rebecca, and the others were already prepared. When the door was opened, they covered their noses and stepped aside. At the same time, Gawain activated the knight’s basic skill, “Breath of Protection”. An invisible barrier protected everyone. This skill had the same effect as the basic spell used by mages, “Wind Shield”, though it was a different method. Though it could only provide limited defense, it could effectively maintain clean air within the barrier. In places like these ancient ruins, this ability protected the caster from those poisonous gases.

There were no poisonous gas traps in this ancient ruin. But there might be accumulation of gases in such a confined space that had been closed for seven hundred years. Another layer of protection would always be helpful.

It took a few minutes before Gawain lifted the protection and nodded to the others. He stepped through the gate first. Knight Byron followed after.

Amber hesitated, but in the end, she gave up the idea of scraping a piece of metal from the door while the others were not paying attention—because the purple steel was too hard, and her dagger could not cut it.

Inside the gate was a large rectangular hall. Closed doors were seen in all four directions of the large hall, and the old assets were all piled right in this hall.

The sealed environment in the hall and the runes set up in many spots within the hall ensured that the things kept here would rust at the slowest rate. Many of them were still well preserved today.

Stacks of metal ingots, crystals of various colors, swords, armors, and several large boxes as tall as half an average person were stacked in the center.

Gawain stepped forward and stuck the Sword of Pioneers into the gap of the box. Prying forcefully, the box was then opened.

One of the boxes was filled with gold and silver coins that were still dazzling while the other boxes contained neatly arranged light purple crystals, military crystals that had been energized.

The most valuable items were not the gold and silver coins, but the crystals.

The ancient Gondor Empire had dominated the continent with advanced magic. The magical power from the Well of Deep Blue provided the empire’s mages with almost an endless supply of energy to be utilized. Even a crappy mage could find success in such conditions. Thus Gondor Empire had achieved something that was almost unthinkable to the four kingdoms today.

The mass production of “super gears”.

Ordinary swords and armors do not come with magic. No matter how strong and sharp they were, they were just ordinary equipment. Only the enchanted equipment containing super power could be called “super gears”. In Anzu today, enchanted weapons and equipment were only things that could be issued by the military. And they might not even be given in the military. But in Gondor’s time, each soldier was equipped with a longsword enchanted with sharpening and a crystal as standard issues.

The thumb-sized crystal was pre-set with the basic shield and the explosive spell mould, which operate automatically, able to distinguish between the enemy and the wearer. Even soldiers with no spellcasting ability could use it. The shield would be activated upon receiving attacks. Upon exhaustion, the shield would grow hot and flash as a warning. Then when forcefully thrown away, it would explode upon clearing a safe distance away from the wearer and nearby friendlies. The way Gawain saw it, this was an incredibly advanced weapon.

If it were not for the dire situation back then where they really could not carry anymore items, the pioneers would definitely not leave them behind. The party had already brought with them all the more valuable things that they could carry, and they had no choice but to let go of these crystals.

Gawain reached for a crystal, and rubbed it lightly.

This might be a way for ordinary people to use magic, but this would not be a long term solution.

Only by activating the Well of Deep Blue could this crystal be infused at no cost. Now that the Well of Deep Blue had been destroyed, there would be one less ancient crystal with every use.

But at least for now, these crystals would become the cornerstone for the stability of the territory.