T2, Chapter Seventy Seven, Realm Event, Part Four
Island hopping was the best way to describe what we were doing. Umbra's assumption that she had discussed days earlier was mainly proving correct. Three days of travel and island clearing had passed, or at least it felt like three days. With no sun and only distant stars, it was hard to tell. We were on our eleventh island in total. The process of clearing islands had slowed a lot, not because of the increasing difficulty of monsters, not yet, at least. The hardest part of the island was finding the treasure. I growled as I thought about the last island. Who hid a necklace in a rat burrow? That had been a nightmare to find.
Losing an arrow, I lowered my bow, eyeing the Ekern as it fell from the sky. The sharp-beaked bird had the same qualities as a crow except for its silver fur and ridged beak that could saw through even Umbra's scales. We hoped that the flock of them around the island had been a clue to something special being here.
I glanced at Umbra as I asked. She was looking around the sky and, after a moment, replied.
That was all I needed to hear, and I stored my bow and went to start harvesting the corpses. Thirty-odd bodies were laid out over the square-shaped island, as were my arrows. The monsters weren't hard to kill. In fact, it was quite easy. I didn't bother pulling out the cores as I tapped one of the bodies. Its corpse disappeared, storing itself in my realm storage, where an extensive collection of corpses already sat.
The dragon thought as she looked at the nearby islands and the plain sandy one they were currently on.
I looked around at the nearby islands, thoughtful.
That piqued my interest, and I gazed at the island. Sure enough, smooth stone and brick stood out under the island, relatively intact.
Once all the birds were stored, the annoying part arrived. The treasure. Even with the island being small and with only sand covering most of its surface, it still took the better part of an hour for us to find where it was. The item was hidden in the corner of the island. A glass orb full of sand inside the sand itself. Finding it, Umbra picked it up with her talons as we both identified it.
[Behemoth Sand Glass - Rare - Inside this glass, sand from a long-dead giant desert wurm resides. If shaken while imbuing mana, a remnant part of its soul comes alive inside until the mana has run out.]
Umbra shook the glass orb, and sure enough, the sand formed into a long, multi-spined creature that was long enough almost to circle the orb, which was the size of my head
The monster, or maybe creature, dove around in the sand, and it was fascinating to watch. After a moment, I looked at my bond.
Umbra agreed, and after a moment more of watching the creature, she stored it in her realm storage. Looking down at the sand, I was ankle-deep in it. I studied the fine grains with no idea if the sand was any good, but it was smooth and pleasant sand. Pulling a bucket out of my storage, I couldn't quite remember where I got it. Then I did what any normal person would and started shoveling bucketfuls into my endless realm storage. Looking up to my quizzical bond, I explained.
Those words got Umbra helping, and soon, we'd managed a sizable pit in the sand. There wasn't any way we'd collect it all without being here for days, and we didn't need it all anyway, but we had more than enough for a good pit of our own. Mounting up on Umbra's back, I stretched.
The trip only took twenty minutes, and to my slight surprise, the top of the island was fairly bland. A grassy hill in the center of the island, with slopes on all sides, led to trees on the edge of the island. There wasn't a single sign of any ruins. It just looked like someone had taken a scoop of the earth out of the ground.
I waited, keeping an eye out, but the island sat almost alone. Other than the two stone paths that linked it to nearby islands, which were a distance away, there was just open space.
I said thoughtfully. Those kinds of monsters were usually easy enough to take down if they were expected.
Umbra made a growl of agreement, and we started our descent, aiming for the grass mound. Seeing as nothing jumped out of the trees or the land itself didn't form into a golem, I wondered what we would be fighting. I stayed on Umbra's back as she settled down, but I did untie myself from her spine ridges. Her back was the best position I could be in until we knew more. As she moved around carefully, my interest in the island and what was under it grew into unease as nothing aggressive appeared. After ten minutes of searching and waiting, still nothing appeared. Growing bored, I sighed and turned, looking around, befuddled. I said mentally,
The dragon under me looked around, tasting the air with her nose and tongue rumbling in Thought before continuing forward for another minute without a response. When she did reply, it was with a pointed claw.
I looked where she was pointing and stared. A staircase was set into the ground under a tree. It was a large set of stairs, but none were near big enough to fit a dragon, and time had done work on the stone that outlined it. Bricks, broken and whole, were covered in mold, dirt, and dust. Looking at it, I had to agree with Umbra. The top of this island had to be an entrance to this place. I could only see a few dozen feet down with the light the distant stars gave, but even that gave me no clue of what to expect.
Tapping my mask thoughtfully, I spoke my thoughts into the bond. I shrugged my shoulders. Nothing about this event was normal. If I tried to assume anything anymore, I might end up in a new world.
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I giggled and looked at my bond, who had turned her head. I tapped my head, earning a tink sound from the metal. I thought for a moment. I wanted to see what was inside.
Umbra growled, and I knew her first thought would be to object. I almost wanted to agree with her, especially after seeing that horror, but this was the first island with a complete structure that we visited, and it screamed that something good was waiting inside. Convincing my bond was the hard part.
Umbra scowled, lifting a claw, then jabbed it into the ground, ripping up a clump, growling, and stalking around the area.
I thought about it. I could agree with that; I'd give her what she wanted anyway, and I'd be careful and slow. Sliding down the side of my dragon, I focused on Primal Shift. The shift in forms felt the same. If I focused on the feeling of the change, I could hear my bones creaking and feel as I gained mass and size. The time it took was less than a dozen seconds. The shortest time measured was still seven, which seems to be its fastest, but not near the almost instant speed of Kulni.
Standing up from the prone position I'd taken, I stretched and shook. Having a thick coat of fur demanded it. It was like clothes sitting wrong on the body, an annoyance that stuck in the back of the mind. Looking at my bond, I sat down.
Umbra rumbled the last words, snapping her teeth.
I believed her and raised a front paw in agreement while lowering my head. After a few more threats about my safety had been given, I turned my attention to the stairs and felt the bond as Umbra started to look through my eyes.
With caution but also curiosity that had followed me out of my forest home, I started my descent. I almost pointed out how walking downstairs on four paws was a little awkward, but my audience wouldn't quite understand, seeing as they had talons that might be able to shatter the brick. It was thirty feet of stairs down when the floor became a flat hallway. It was simple and empty. I didn't trust it for one second. The grayscale Night Eye provided made it more ominous, but after checking the ground and walls for traps, holes, and pressure plates, I moved forward slowly. The only noise was the claw-click on the stone as I tested each place before applying full weight. The first trap was a stone in the middle of the hallway that had had the mortar carved away to let any pressure push it down. It was hard to spot but easily avoided. Moving around it, I wondered what it did. The second trap was around a bend in the hallway. A thin line of steel wire at ankle height. My guess at what it did was in the right spot if the thin but long holes set into the wall next to it were a giveaway.
I said to Umbra. I hadn't felt a spark of mana either, not that I was the best at feeling mana in the air without meditation. Stepping over the line, I looked around.
My bond focused my attention upwards, and I glanced up and stared. It was, in fact, a door. A door set in the ceiling. Not just placed there but set into it like it was a wall.
The they in question were the designers of this place.
Umbra asked.
I sputtered a weird noise coming out of a muzzle and pushed on the bond. “
Looking at the wall, I frowned at the door, making up my mind,
A mental agreement from Umbra and nothing I could really do had me move on. The hallway continued for another dozen feet, reaching a second turn with a third trap that had another pressure plate and a door. This time, the door was on the wall, the far wall, hopefully marking the end of this place.
Checking it and the surrounding stone for traps, I received a system message.
[Through observance and trial, you have earned the passive skill - Eye for Traps]
I sat and blinked several times at the itching feeling that ran over my eyes. It stung like someone had thrown dirt into them, but the feeling rapidly faded after a second.
I explained to Umbra before she could get worried. It was strange, seeing as earning a skill had never really affected me like that. Picking some recommendations from the Progenitor skill had stung, but that was it. Tabling the issue for later, I sat on my hunches and examined the door handle. It was a metal ring. Simple enough. Grabbing it with my teeth, I pulled it. With a slight grinding noise and some strain, it slid open, and I danced back and to the side. Nothing jumped out, bolt monster or otherwise. Peering into the door, I looked at the room. It was small and curricular, not quite cramped, but that was because of a lack of furniture over anything else. The sole pedestal that sat in the center looked almost inviting. On it, a book with a worn green cover was placed. I couldn't make any of the writing out, but it screamed magic.
I asked my bond.
She confirmed my thoughts.
It had to be. There was nothing else that I would bet on.
There was a sigh through the bond, but my dragon had just as much greed as I did, so she answered,
I followed the recommendations and was glad about it. The sides of the room next to the door were clear to my eyes, but looking up was the reason I hesitated to enter. The roof was high enough to be out of my Night Eye skill range, but the sharp spikes that were dangling from the roof were tall enough.
I spoke in the bond but half to myself. The floor was a smooth stone polish. Was it a mana trap? This wasn't a dungeon, so it seemed doubtful, but there was a chance. Should I just go for it? Would I be fast enough? Four paws were faster than my usual sprint without Stalker’s Movement, and it was only about ten feet distant.
Umbra mused.
I judged the distance again and took a few steps back. There was no way to disarm those kinds of traps. If we had a class dedicated to dungeon delving or ruin exploration, sure, but I could only think of one solution on hand. Speed. Umbra let out a growl as she felt my intentions. That was as far as she got before I dove forward.
It was a little reckless, maybe a lot, but I trusted that I could avoid the spikes if they did fall. The first step into the room triggered nothing, and neither did the second or third. I stopped short a foot from the book and eyed the area around me dubiously.
Umbra snarled.
I winced as her words rattled around in my head. That was not, well, unfair of her. With no words that could soothe her, I looked at the book and the writing on it. I would deserve what awaited me above. The wording on the book cover was foreign and neither Common nor Elvish. It was a language that seemed to flow on the book's cover, making even what had to be just the name elegant. The black ink
simmered, and even with just my senses, I could tell it was magical.
I asked Umbra.
Her sour mood didn't lighten, but she eyed the book.
I turned my attention to her. Has that been mentioned to me before?
She snorted,
A book in an unknown language sounded exciting enough to take. Turning my head, I looked back at the door and seeing no way to get blocked off, I got ready to dash again, reaching out with one paw. Tapping the book, I stored it at the same moment I started forward. To my surprise, the spikes didn't fall from the ceiling, and the area didn't rumble. Nothing happened. Skidding to a stop outside, I stared around, befuddled, and my bond was equally surprised. My head tilted in a questioning manner, and I almost asked what was going on. That never happened; the rattling click and sound of multiple things hitting the ground sounded in front of me, and I looked forward. They shambled more, then walked out of the blackness dozens of gleaming white and old yellow bones. Skeletons.