Master Of None

The entrance to the library was somewhat guarded. The demons had clearly made some stone blockades in case of any attacks. Unfortunately. They proved useless when there were no demons to guard them.

The soldiers that had found the entrance were sitting near it waiting. They had refused to go deeper in to it due to the dangers. "This is where I will leave you. I am not the right person to explore this place." The demon soldier that had guided them left the group there.

"I thought we would get a little bit of a tour." Leon felt that he might want to reconsider following the group. However, he felt that this was part of what he had to do as a member of Genesis. He had to help where he could even in a small way.

"It is unsettling." Su had to agree with this. "But we will see what we can do."

Moving through the entrance, Walker spotted the bones of demons left behind. There were multiple rune patterns and circles that had been broken. "This was left fairly well defended before someone found this place. If the ancient race wanted to protect it so much, it makes me wonder why."

The knowledge of the ancient ruins was already proving to be a major boon for every race, especially Genesis because of the mage tower. It was providing a major increase in rune knowledge along with plenty more bonuses to the research of the world itself.

"There are no pictures on the walls or anything. Are we sure this is the race's ruins we have found before?' Gil noticed that the usual pictures they had seen on the walls of the ruins were no where to be seen.

"These are the same. Look, the demons scraped away the paints to look at the runes." Remey found a small corner next to a pillar that was still covered in paint. The rune carvings also had small boots of paint in them that had degraded long ago.

"That was the last doorway. There were seven seals that had stopped the demons from coming here. That's more than a few." Walker was not very comfortable with what they were about to look in to. Onyx had already taken a position on his shoulder. Midnight was sticking close to him because she could feel his worry.

The main entrance was finally revealed to be a large stone structure. Each brick added had runes on it that were making the mana solidify in to a more solid barrier. The door was non existent. The demons had clearly pulled it off its hinges to make access easier. Or there had been a seal that the group didn't realize.

"I see why this place is dangerous." Walker looked out in to the library. It had many altering levels. The entire place was not some small library. It was a massive underground chamber with twisting and turning bookcases.

"It's some library maze or labyrinth." Gil thought he could almost see the far wall but was proven wrong when he used his skill to look out further.

"No, that's not it. There's moving earth elemental mana all under our feet. This library-" the ground trembled slightly as the shelves lowered and raised. Some books were hidden away while others became visible. Notably, some of the shelves moved to close off pathways or create others.

"So this is why they don't want to come here. It's dangerous because you could get stuck for a long time." Walker knew that this would take a massive amount of time to map out. Add in the fact that each map was only possible for one setting of the library, then it would multiply by how many different forms the library had. No matter what, this was years of work.

"Onyx, Midnight. Go and get the people that have the best chance to map this out. I want to be sure that we can begin work before the reinforcements that Clara sent are here. If we have a base of knowledge for them we can help even more." Walker thought it better to get a higher point of view and attempted to step in to the air. The moment his feet left the ground a large amount of mana built up in the air.

The torrent of winds hit him and knocked him to the ground. Gil narrowly managed to catch him. "I take it you won't be doing that again. I couldn't even feel that coming. Whatever runes they used have a faster speed than my feeling of wind elemental mana do. I'm sure that Zephyr could do something but she would use a lot of mana to stop that."

"I won't don't worry." Walker stood up and dusted himself off. "I think we will be taking a walk. But what book to look at?" Walker felt that it would be impossible to know if the books that had the right information were still here or not. If the demons took them with them when they left, then there was no hope.

"Do you remember how the mage tower has weird bookshelves?" Remey pointed this out and motioned toward the closest bookshelf at the entrance. The slight glow of mana was all over it and the books.

"It's the same. They have runes to protect the books. And there are books that can't leave certain floors of the mage tower." Walker moved and grabbed a book. He slowly stepped back until the book was wrenched from his grip by an unseen force. The book floated back to the spot on the shelf while runes glowed in the air.

"Then we have our answers. We need to research this place. Find the thing that controls the movement of the library before the researchers get here. If we can do that we can change things when we need it." Su placed the goals they had clearly. Everyone agreed.

"Here is what I have for supplies." Walker had backpacks in his storage in case the party ever needed them. Now was the lucky time for their use. "I can hand out water and food for us if we get stuck. I will throw a few mana crystals in too since we might need to supply mana to open certain books. The mage tower has a few like that."

Alma and Gil tried to stay together but under the watchful eye of Walker, they each had a backpack on their backs before they could claim that they only needed one. "We can split up and explore. Onyx should be able to communicate with us to a degree when he gets back with Midnight. I sent them because they can move faster to get everyone."

"So what do I do when I find something? I won't play games here, I punch things and light them on fire. I don't do the whole magic control things thing." Remey knew that she was in the same boat as others. She could not use skills to control a moving earth maze.

"She has a point. I could see Alma controlling things with her pants but I have a spear and some water elemental skills." Leon felt a little useless in this expedition.

"That's why we will need Onyx. he can help communicate when he is here and we can meet back up. In theory, we will be able to reach the same place even if it takes some time." Walker knew they could be down here for a longer time than he desired. The camp they set up was going to collect dust without them there. It was unfortunate but necessary.

"I keep wondering, why do we find so much trouble underground? The ancient ruins where the undead were, the deep caves, the recent ruins where we found the monster eggs, and now this. I feel like we keep ending up underground." A small breeze moved around Gil while he complained but no one argued his claim. They just had to accept that they had this kind of luck.

"Watch out for when things change. There are restrictions here and that must be to hide the knowledge or some other things. Just be careful and respectful. If the worst happens do your best to get back here and leave." Walker would not tell any of them to stay behind if they got yurt. Fleeing was not a bad thing.

"We won't get separated right away. We can try to stay together." Su knew this would be futile in a way. Yet, it made her feel better seeing the nods of agreement.

"It's been a constant surprise since I met you. When I first thought that I was being sent for negotiations, I was annoyed but glad to make a name for myself. To be king of the merfolk one day. I never would have thought I would be doing more work now." Leon laughed a little before taking the first step in to the maze of bookshelves.

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