Chương 48: Chapter 47 - Mmmmm Marbles.

Nythera stumbled down the dark passageways, the flux inside the complex lay still, inert. She guided herself forward with hands against the cold walls. Couldn't they have installed some kind of lighting? Or maybe a "go here" sign. Nearly ten minutes of meandering through the straight tunnel before light finally showed through, a dim red glow in the distance. You'd think I'd be at the edge of the island by now, let alone this monument. She sighed. Someone fucked around with the space in here.

As she closed the gap, the red glow grew stronger, painting everything in the same hue. Reaching the end of the tunnel, a simple look around revealed that whatever the depot was, it wasn't normal. A massive chamber opened before here, mirroring the shape of the ovaloid monument, balcony after balcony stretched into the sky. Are those clouds? She stared incredulously at white mist in the far reaches of the sky. Before her lay a black expanse of hardstone, lining the walls around here was cabinet after cabinet.

There must be thousands… She glanced at her thumb. I am sorry little one. Walking up to the first series of cabinets, they towered above her, from the ground all the way to the balconied floor above her. Fifteen cabinets high, nearly triple her height.

"This is discrimination" she muttered and began the lengthy process of opening one after another. I have to hurry, God's Wrath is coming, but there's literally thousands of these. She pulled out yet another cabinet full of sandy rations. Dozens of boxes later, after having used her Aether Culverin as a step stool to reach the higher cabinets, she slumped to the ground.

"Nothing… Nothing but sandy marble food." She pouted, throwing a piece to the ground where it shattered into dust. Pacing around, she searched for a way up to the higher layers, but found no ladder or stair.

"Alright fine, you think you can keep me out of there? As if" She poised herself right under the edge of the balcony above here. Bending her knees, she jumped with all the force of 30 Strength, catapulting her right into the balcony. She grasped the edge and pulled herself up over the lip. Wonderful Before her lay thousands of cabinets in exactly the same configuration as the ones beneath her.

"Were my ancestors all insane? Who stores stuff like this?" she muttered. Once again she began the process, her health had actually ticked down several points from all the thumb pricking on the floor below. As she looked over the first cabinet, greed shone in eyes. I need every damn cabinet on this floor. Three sparks glittered up at her. Cabinet to cabinet she went ravenously. Even if some only had a single spark, she would still proceed to the next as if her life depended on it.

If I find whoever designed this place, I will kill them myself and then I will thank them for all the sparks. She barely cleared a fifth of the layer before her greed took ahold of her once again. If I'm getting sparks here, I wonder… is it embers on the next floor? She poised beneath the balcony edge, ready to jump to the next floor.

"Here… we… go…" She jumped and heaved herself onto the next balcony, this one was by far the largest, being half way up the ovaloid.

"Embers… Embers… free embers…" she mumbled as she ripped open the first cabinet. It fell to the ground, the weight surprising her and landed right on her foot.

"OW" she pulled it out "What the flux is this shit?" cursing. A giant, dark purple block lay in the center. Blindingly bright flux radiated off it. What in the blazes… oh.

"Fluxstone, really? This whole floor is fluxstone?" she asked herself. She knew fluxstone to be valuable, but only when it came to building walls and castles. Pulling a dozen more off the shelves, all she could find was more fluxstone. This layer is completely worseless. She once again poised herself by the end, a more and more intimidating drop at one side. If I fall it will not be fun, could break a leg from this height.

She leaped up to the third balcony, it was much smaller than the one beneath it and comparable in scale to the first floor. This time I'll strike it rich! She hurried over to the cabinets, ripping them out of the wall, careful to keep her feet clear just in case. Cold, jagged blue coins greeted her. Shit, shards… guess they're all mine! She stuffed her pockets. While they weren't worth more than sparks, they were still money and Kronan knew she needed money.

Hundreds of shards later a thought beyond greed occurred in her mind. What about Wrath? If I spend too long dallying in here the storm will hit… damn it. She looked longingly over the rows of hundreds upon hundreds of cabinets, waiting to be looted. She sighed. Poised yet again by the precipice, she jumped up to the next layer without sparing so much as a glance down.

"Power, what a pain in the ass" she wheezed, clambering over the lip.

"What the flux is this shit." she pouted. There were a mere ten cabinets on this level, no more. They were all nearly 10x the size of the lower cabinets and spaced equidistant in the walls. I swear if I pull these open and they are all filled with giant fluxstone blocks. She strode up and unlocked one normally. Pulling it … trying to pull it open was its own affair. Pulling with all 30 Strength, she braced her legs on either side and forced the cabinet-crate out of the wall.

Inside the cabinet was divided into several sections with internal walls. She reached her hand in and felt cold metal at the bottom, a familiar sensation. Pulling her hand out of one of the subsections. She revealed a fistful of upgrade tokens. Another section, another swath of tokens. Augment, Upgrade, and Fusion were all present in. What no evolution tokens? Cheaping out on me now? Most of the sections within were empty. Leaving the crate on the ground she yanked out the next one in the line.

This one didn't budge. Not when she pulled with all her strength, not when she propped her legs on the door. Alright… She stood, looking over the crate. Completely stuck in the wall. Next one it is. The next one slid out without much issue. Rings, oh so many rings, clinked and clacked, shuffling about in a great mess as it hit the ground. A massive vat of nothing but rings. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The flux inside was mixed, hot and cold conflicting at random. Some rings gave off incredibly powerful emanation and some, almost none at all.

"I wish Talvik was here for once, what am I supposed to do with three hundred random rings." She muttered to herself. She reached for one of the stronger rings she could see, incredible energy emanated off it, clashing with the others. Electricity crackled as her finger approached. Power arced to her hand, singeing her skin.

"Ouch!" she pulled back. Reaching instead for a much weaker one, she pulled a different ring out of the pile. Hot to the touch, it released a power she could not identify. I am running out of time… She used her dagger to hook rings and drop them in Boxy, one after another, three at a time. The new items appeared on the inventory interface for a split second before the next knocked them down the list. [Ring of Minor Dexterity] [Ring of Stamina Efficacy] …

The dagger handle heated and cooled at random, and several rings burned into the metal itself, but she kept at it. This is too slow! She picked Boxy up and dragged it through the crate, lid open, careful to keep her hands away from the rings. They warned me about the Ember-Frost scale… does just touching an item count? Within minutes the center of the crate hollowed out, the only rings remaining were those that hid crammed in corners or along the floor.

Scraping them out of the corners on the point of her knife cost even more time. Rushing over to the next crate, she yanked it out of the wall with force. It came with ease. Peering in, a single tablet awaited her. Not this shit again, I don't have time!

"Mistvale Geological Survey Report" Nah, into the box you go. She bolted straight for the next box. Last one out you go! She ripped it out of the wall with all her force. The crate flew out of the wall. Oh shit… She had pulled with great force and urgency and the crate carried that force. Straight off the ledge. Shit shit shit. Staring down at it, the crate plummeted to the bottom of the structure. There were no more crates left untouched on the balcony, just the one she couldn't move, and the one full of tokens.

She got busy. Tokens by the fistful were unceremoniously dumped into Boxy. This is honestly way more than I need… I wonder how much Rowen would be willing to beg for a few of these. A grin spread across her face. Nice to me and you might just get a token. As soon as rattling the crate let loose no more sounds, she moved back to the heavy one, the last one in the walls. Alright you bastard, here we go. She rolled up her sleeves.

This time, she jerked it upwards as she pulled, trying to get it to inch forward out of the wall. One… Two… Three! The crate inched forward just a tad, no more than an inch. Did they fill this thing with rocks? One… Two… Three! She heaved again and a bit more slipped out of the wall. Something blue was visible, filling the crate to the brim. I am wasting so much time, Halt is going to kill me… Three tugs later, a good fourth of the crate had been pried out of the wall, enough to get a closer look at the contents.

Ingots. Oh so many bright blue ingots filled the space. She wiped the drool off. I might be richer than some kingdoms now… Into Boxy you go! She hummed a tune, lifting heavy ingot by heavy ingot and depositing them straight into Boxy. [3 Aetherian Ingots] Aetherian? Never heard of it, but I bet I could buy half a castle with just a single ingot. After a dozen were put into Boxy, pulling the crate out of the wall became far easier and she managed to get the rest of the ingots into Boxy without trouble.

She hummed her tune all the way. Wait Wait…. OH YEAH She slammed Boxy shut and stuffed it in her cloak. I don't have time to flux around, Wrath will start any moment, what in the blazes am I doing? Glancing over the edge, Nythera teetered on the drop. Even with a class ascension, I jump this and I'll break both legs. She began her descent, carefully swinging herself into each balcony, beneath the last. A sense of haste mixed with the awkward mechanics of descending left her…

I ought to invest in some strength or dexterity, this is ridiculous. She picked herself up off the ground floor and ran to the crate she had flung down here before. What the … I don't believe it. They actually… She reached down and tried to lift one, but the shells were massive, and far heavier than the ingots. They had runic script running down the sides. This isn't Aurendorian, these are actual runic artillery shells. The shells had a mixed blue-grey alloy, every inch was coated in runic script.

They were so big only four fit into the box, two stacked on eachother. These cannot fit in Aether Culverin, or any other cannon I have ever seen. Wait She recalled the cannons that decorated Varnhold, the ex-Capital of The Crevasse. The palace had cannons capable of fitting shells like these. Purely decorative ones. She grabbed the front of the shell with both hands and hauled it over the lip of the crate. Boxy lay waiting, open, down below. It ain't going to fit. She let the shell crash back down. I'll be back.

She patted the shell, a look of sadness in her eyes. And sprinted for the door. How long have I been here? Has Gods' Wrath started? A minute later she threw the door open. Flux danced wildly while rain pelleted the island. Fire, Metal, Storm, so many flux types she couldn't name raced around, as if unleashed from a collar. Within seconds she stood, completely drenched. By Kronan… Lightning cracked down towards the island, smashing into a cluster of trees nearby.

It snaked along the ground, shattering tree after tree before finally relenting. Halt stood still. Hands clasped in silent meditation, bearing the brunt of the storm directly. Talvik perched on his shoulder. Metal feathers repelled wild flux with ease.

"Took you long enough, you are aware Wrath has been raging for at least half an hour already right?" Talvik scolded. Halt moved slowly, pointing in the direction of the ship "Good luck young one, I will wait on the ship for your arrival" he said.

"What, how am I …" Halt crouched down, his stone-plated legs flexed. And he was gone. Dirt and rock flew around here as he exploded into the air. You're kidding me. She stared into the sky. Halt was nowhere to be seen, lost in the raging storm above. Blue lightning arced down and smashed into the island again. She raced down the island, fighting against both weather and time. Jumping over charred stumps and shattered rock.

Flux fought vigorously, no longer weaving in its patterns, but acting as a wild beast, trying to strangle its rivals. Lightning flux accumulated rapidly. Wait a - She threw herself forwards. Energy arced down from the storm above slamming into a tree next to her. Wood shrapnel was sent flying, she kept as low as she could. Is it over? Shit A huge piece of wooden shrapnel stuck out of her back, someone was screaming. The piece had blue and red streaks running through it, left over energy from the lightning.

Oh I'm screaming. Pain arced from the piece in pulses, matching fluctuations in the wood as it matched the sky. It pierced straight through her tunic, but missed the Wildfire cloak that had been swept to the side. What am I supposed to do with a GIANT PIECE OF LIGHTNING WOOD STICKIN- Water filled her vision. And mouth. She was pushed back by a wave into a long-since-fallen tree stump. She tried to scream again, salt-water pouring into her wound. As the water level receded she lay against the stump.

I'm still minutes from the shore! Just how high is the sea level? That last wave had taken out a dozen trees and all of the foliage, she could see clearly through the woods now. Out in the distance of the channel, Sea Queen rocked and bucked over the clashing waves.

"Uh guys, am I supposed to swim to it?" She muttered under her breath. She tried to move her arms and legs, but even slight movements caused pain to lance through her. No way, Halt can't seriously want me to swim there. I can't jump like him, I'd have to swim. She slowly pulled herself to her feet, not daring to touch the wooden stake sticking out of her back. A whistling sound pierced the air, feet swiveled, whipping her head around. The ground lay, many meters below her and sinking fast. Huh?