I advance through the dark pipe, and eventually find it stretches straight down. If I didn’t have a way to descend, it would be over right here, but I can go down using my Storage Gates as footing.
Tap tap tap, I go down calmly like they’re stairs, and see this is deeper than I thought.
Ether mills are often seen in dungeons, and their layout tends to be similar, so I looked into it beforehand this time.
I believe this pipe serves to send ether to the outside, so if there is an ether tank or high density mana jewels laying around on the other side… My hopes are high, but what I see when I reach the bottom is a big door.
“Kyuru?”
Lucky tilts its head.
The pipe leads to a door. So this pipe isn’t to distribute ether, it’s for people to enter and leave? What is the meaning of this? Sadly, I don’t have the answer.
Could this pipe be a dummy to make it seem like ether was being transported, and this area was originally made for people to cross…?
This reeks of criminal activity. Perhaps the people who made this facility were hiding something.
Among the skills that can be attained through awakening surgery, there are floating and flying skills that would allow someone to come down through this pipe. Perhaps people of this world used said skills to traverse this pipe, or had specialized magic items.
“Can you turn big, Lucky? It might be dangerous up ahead.”
“Kyuru.”
Lucky grows to two meters, so we should be able to handle an attack if there are monsters beyond this door. That said, we need to do something about the door itself first… It seems pretty sturdy, so let’s try rock cannons.
Bam bam bam bam.
I fire four, but the door doesn’t break. However, the same can’t be said for the pillars supporting it on each side.
When they crumble, the sturdy door falls back with a very loud sound.
The echoing sound makes me brace without thinking, but nothing happens.
Nothing comes flying from the other side, other than the dust that makes us cough.
The other side of the door seems weathered, but untouched. It looks like this is an undiscovered area.
It’s recommended that we report a facility like this to the association immediately, but… It’s not obligatory. It used to be, but after a certain country went through a bad time because of high rank seekers, it became a recommendation.
And so, no one can stop me from exploring. Fufufu, let us take the first step towards the unknown.
———————————
What lays ahead is madness.
Enough virtue (malice) to eat away at the man’s spirit. A shadow of its former self.
The gaze of an eyeless shell will pierce Zenjurou, and it will awaken.
Thanks. 🖖