Merlin spun to stare at the source of the ancient voice. However, the young woman with violet hair and baggy blue robes was not what he expected to see. Her voice matched that of an old crone, while her visage was that of youthful energy.
“It’s been a long time since someone made it here.” The woman said as she cast her gaze over her guest. “The method you used was most unusual.”
Merlin’s grip intensified on his staff as he prepared for the woman to turn hostile. She replied to his tension with a sad smile as she set off down one of the aisles of bookshelves. After several steps, she beckoned for Merlin to follow her.
‘Do I have a choice?’ Merlin wondered as he considered his options. He could try running to find an exit or a way back. But the woman had appeared from thin air, so he doubted he could escape her. With his spells sealed, there was no chance he could win a confrontation. So that left him with relying on her mercy for now. He nodded his head slowly and trailed along behind her. She led him through the maze of towering bookshelves as books and pages flew overhead. Merlin could not help but let his curiosity wander as he studied their titles. ‘This goes beyond our current knowledge of the game.’
He silently considered the possibility that this library held every speck of knowledge about the game since its creation. From the titles, he could guess that there had been eras before the previous one with their own set of gods to rule over the lands.
‘You would think we would’ve heard something about that by now.’ Merlin frowned as he considered the implications. ‘What happened for that knowledge to be lost? Did people just erase the writings or landmarks?’
The woman in front of him chuckled as she guessed at the questions Merlin asked himself by his expression. However, she shook her head at his questioning her gaze. Merlin sighed as he realised he would not get any answers from her. However, that made him more determined to track down the traces of these lost eras.
“Ah, this is what we’re looking for.” The woman said as she stopped, waving her hand at the books to their right. A thick, red leather-bound book flew off a shelf several feet above them and gracefully landed in the woman’s hand. The book opened, and the pages turned at a blinding speed until they stopped on a specific page. The woman’s eyes widened as she nodded while glancing at Merlin.
“Andrewn’s tomb. Otherwise known as the Valley of Hope. Better known as the Valley of Lies. A scar of the first Era.” The woman sighed as she snapped the book closed. She tapped her chin lightly as she sent the book back to its place while she regarded Merlin carefully. She pursed her lips while pondering the correct action in this scenario.
“Is something wrong?” Merlin asked with a curious gaze. Her earlier ramble had allowed him to learn two possible names of the location he had found. So he was eager to discover more if it allowed him to seize whatever power it guarded. freeweɓnvel.com
“You could say that,” The librarian nodded as she clapped her hands. Several books converged on their location from different sections of the library before opening to the pages she required. “You’ve brought yourself to this mental plane seeking answers. Your magic is of the 6th Era. However, the spell you attempted to break is from the 4th.”
Merlin frowned at her expression that said this explained everything. “What does that mean, and why would I end up here?”
“Hm, essentially, your magic is not compatible with each other. One Era of a difference doesn’t affect much, but two… well, that’s like slamming yourself against a wall without the tools to knock it down. “That’s what I’m here for.”
Merlin cocked an eyebrow as he hit on an idea about the nature of his host. ‘It’s possible she’s an AI admin. Placed here in this library to fix bugs.’ Merlin chuckled. ‘If that’s true, then they’ve blended the function with the game world quite well. The Eras before our own were probably simulations of what could happen in this game. Tests for game balance and how well areas fitted with what they wanted to achieve.’
‘This librarian is basically admitting there are artefacts and spells left over from the testing phases. Who knows how they would interact with our version of the game!’ Merlin felt ecstatic to discover such a secret. He could only hope that he would be able to use these remnants to gain advantages over the other players. “Hm, I’ll rewrite a conversion into the Valley’s story. This won’t take long.” The librarian said as thousands of lines of golden letters flew from several pages and forced their way onto a single book!
The process only took several seconds but was enough to leave Merlin in awe. Suddenly, his sight began to fade, and a quick blink returned him to his location in the tunnel. His mind was suddenly flooded with insights into the last piece of mana he had attempted to understand.
‘I see. The conversion the librarian spoke of has made it possible to interact with this area now.’ He frowned as he analysed the insights. ‘This place is supposed to teach lessons. Only by completing them can I seize the reward at the end.’
‘This test seems easy enough. But if I hadn’t seized the mana, it would’ve taken some time to figure it out.’ Merlin chuckled as he understood his spell would allow him to cheat his way through. The answers were hidden in the ambient world mana, and he just had to glean that information to save himself a significant headache.
“This is the enlightened path. You can safely navigate the future by looking at past travelled paths.” Merlin understood this was supposed to teach people to learn from their past mistakes to prevent them from making the same ones in the future.
The way the trial brought that lesson to life was by disabling the ‘warp’ feature if a player regularly illuminated the path behind them. Merlin steeled his determination as he put the answer into practice. Within ten minutes, he reached the end of the tunnel.
As he entered the next room, he repeated the action of seizing the answer from the mana, and a smug grin appeared on his face. The second trial taught the importance of control over emotions, thoughts, speech and actions.
The third sought to teach the importance of one’s self. Ego and ambition went hand in hand with personal power. But too much ego and self-confidence would lead to someone’s downfall.
The fourth taught the importance of action and self-freedom. However, it warned about the chaos that could be born from it.
The fifth taught personal growth and the natural order, while the sixth taught the importance of teamwork and justice. By the time Merlin finished the sixth, he had found himself panting and covered in a cold sweat. It was only now he realised these tests were supposed to take a long time to complete.
However, he had blitzed them in less than a day inside the game. A smile crept across his face as the circle carved in the floor of the final room slid open, revealing a spiral staircase. ‘This should lead to the treasury. I should rest a bit in case there’s a hidden guardian.’
Merlin summoned several potions from his inventory with a crooked grin. Learning the secret of alchemical creations in the game had been an enormous boon to Camelot. Grinding had become more manageable, with less of a need to return to the city to heal up.
However, their research into recovering DP in the field had stalled. But Merlin was confident Arthur and himself could overcome any challenge thrown at them. ‘There’s still a lot for Mordread to learn before I can replace Arthur.’ Merlin sighed as he slowly descended the staircase after several minutes.
‘We need to consider forcefully implanting the belief of our Pantheon into our neighbours now. The question is, who do we go after first? What races will bring the most benefits to our Pantheon?’ Merlin groaned as he pondered that question for the umpteenth time. Personally, if they could locate the Skardians, he would move to shut Colt down now before he could gain further momentum. It felt like a slap to his face every time he learned of Colt’s progress. However, compared to himself, Colt was still wet behind the ears. So they had to take care of him before he gained too many talented people to surround himself with. Which would make up for his shortcomings.
Merlin’s focus was broken as he reached the bottom of the stairs. A simple set of wooden plank doors waited for him with no signs of any traps. Just to be safe, he still cast his analysis spells and tapped into the world mana. ‘It’s clear.’ Merlin’s brow twitched after a few minutes.
With a deep breath, Merlin pushed on the doors. They were eerily silent as they swung open effortlessly. The room beyond them was no bigger than a large wardrobe where a single black stone cube hovered over an altar. Merlin’s gaze wandered to the statue of a man behind it and the stone sarcophagus at its feet.
‘Andrewn.’ Merlin sighed as he laid eyes on the man’s resting place. ‘But what’s the item?’
Merlin’s curiosity was piqued as he placed a hand on the cube and appraised it.
[Truth Holding Cube]
[Type: Lost Divine Artefact]
[Tier 1]
[Upgradeable]
[Description: Store two spells in this cube. Spells cast from the Truth Holding Cube cost 50% less DP to activate.]
[Enforce your Truth upon the world.]