The Insider System

Chapter 360: Stashed Away Pt.1

Chapter 360: Stashed Away Pt.1

No one spoke as the door opened even as they saw Hampton come hovering out of the room. "Why didn't you mention the tunnel had collapsed?" Lake knew who Hampton was talking to and gave the adventurer who had gone inside to talk to Hampton a few minutes ago a look. "You cut me off and told me to deliver the message as soon as you got done talking."

Seeing the man blame the mage, Lake looked back at the older man's face expecting some type of scowl to appear but instead it seemed Hampton knew what the man had said was true because he quickly changed the subject. "Well being stuck down here means I have to change the plan, give me a few minutes to think."

After Hampton said this Lake realized now that the door was down there was a good chance he would be able to get a good look of what had been behind the door and used Mana Vision to look behind Hampton. This actually resulted in another failure but not for a reason he had known of, the amount of mana in the room behind Hampton was so high Lake was unable to see anything.

This wasn't the first time he had seen an area that had increased mana since the top of the sprite at the Alchemist guild had been this way but he was pretty sure the room behind the door was even more extreme than the area at the top of the spire had been because he had never seen this much interference before. Turning Mana Vision off he used just his normal eyes to try and see what was in the room.

The door was large so there were plenty of things he could see but figuring out what they were without getting closer would be kind of hard because they were nothing like he had seen before. It wasn't surprising to him that a Demigod would need or have weird things but not being able to even guess a vague use made him realize just how much he didn't know.

...

Donny couldn't help himself and gasped slightly once his eyes were finally able to make out what the thing on the closest table to them was. To someone who had never read a book it would probably just look like a small loop made of stone but you would regret passing it by for the rest of your life if you made this mistake.

"Do you know what that stuff is?" Donny wasn't surprised when he was asked this question since his gasp would give away the fact he had identified something but he really didn't want to say what he had seen because the others would want it if he told them what it was. "Maybe, we'll have to get closer for me to make sure."

Moving his eyes to the next table Donny saw something he didn't recognize which was some type of metal tanks with pipes going between them. It looked like it was probably something related to alchemy but he didn't know enough about potions to know if he was right or not.

The next things he could see were too far back and partially blocked by stuff in the room so he couldn't make anything else out and turned his attention to the formation that was on the ground near the door. Like the guy had said earlier it was glowing a brown color but Donny didn't think it was normal Earth magic from the color being slightly brighter.

This probably meant that this formation was using the element of the Demigod to power itself. Getting to know how this offshoot element was different was probably going to be interesting but he didn't expect it to be anything too crazy since he had never heard anyone talk about this Demigods magic prowess or really any stories about them at all from before they disappeared.

He couldn't help but think this would mean they were hoping to champion something plain that wouldn't cause much of a stir up. He knew this could be wrong though so he still planned to keep his eyes out for evidence of what the element would have been if they went inside the lab.

He felt there was also a good chance Hampton would know if he got a chance to ask the older man. "Hey if you used your skill could we walk out of here?" Donny was aware the older man was asking the younger mage this and looked to hear what the answer was since they wouldn't be going inside if the young man said yes to this.

...

"Maybe but if we try there's a good chance all the loose dirt above us will fall and crush us." Lake had no idea how well Ghost Touch would work on what was pretty much gravel above them and he felt some stones would get through and some of them wouldn't make it. If they were willing to use Earth Magic this wouldn't be the case anymore but a new threat which was the phantoms would take the place of falling earth.

"It would still be a better option than trying to go through the door. There's no way we'll find a way out in there." This came from the mayor and Lake agreed with it until Hampton opened his mouth again. "We could find the source of the phantoms inside though and that would allow us to use Earth magic to get out of here and it would be worth going inside to look around a bit before we leave so we know what we should come back with in the future."

Lake thought this argument made it sound like Hampton just wanted to go in no matter what but he still thought it was a good idea as long as they didn't go in too deep or get too close to anything dangerous. It seemed everyone else here thought it was a good idea as well as Lake looked around to look at the faces of everyone.

...

Donny couldn't help but to look at the guard as Hampton said this because they really should leave if they had the best interests of the people back at the fortress in their hearts but he knew the items just a few feet inside this lab were too much for a normal person to resist. He had already caught himself thinking things like 'I could use that looking stone to help the people in the Metal Domain' so he was sure the others were doing this as well and he wouldn't be surprised if the guard thought this and was right.

Getting a single item that was inside the lab that could be used in combat could be more than worth the extra time they had spent here. "If we're going in we should send just a few people. I'll leave who you'll be taking in with you up to you Hampton."

...

As soon as the mayor said this Lake knew he would be going and when Hampton started pointing at people he was proven correct when he was the first one. Lake then watched as Hampton pointed at Donny then the guard he had saved back in the Metal Domain and then finally the adventurer they had sent through the door earlier.

"I'll take the four most useful people with me and leave the rest to guard you while I'm gone." After Hampton said this Lake started to look at the others with a smile at the compliment they had just received. After a few seconds of sharing these looks Hampton put an end to it by saying. "Get moving you four."

Lake didn't move right away because he could tell the others were more than willing to go first and he wanted to be last for safety reasons but eventually he passed into the lab and felt like his head was going to pop from the massive increase in mana. This was him over exaggerating a bit but that was what it felt like for a brief second.

His body quickly got used to the feeling and he instantly started to walk towards the first table in the room to inspect the items. "Don't get close to anything just yet. We'll do that on the way out." Lake was a bit disappointed by this but he guessed it didn't really matter when he figured out what the items were as long as he was able to touch a few before they left.

He knew Hampton would probably be watching him like a hawk to keep that from happening though so he was going to have to be really sneaky if he was going to get anything. "Are we going to go towards the light in the back of the room?"

...

Donny couldn't help himself and went ahead and asked what he was sure everyone was wondering. "Yeah, a deep purple light is pretty suspicious when everything else is glowing brown. There's a good chance it's what causes the phantoms so we have to head that way."