Swoosh!

Isaac and Miyu stepped through the shattered gate and vanished.

"They're... not coming after us, right?" I asked.

Naneow seized the angel on the floor by the collar, hurled him aside, and slipped into the gate.

I followed immediately. As I passed through the transparent threshold, faint ripples stirred in the air, and darkness wrapped around me. It felt like walking through an endless tunnel or some sort of teleportation spell. Distance warped, stretched, and twisted itself. A vast span felt compressed into mere steps. Even as I moved, the domain of my inventory held steady. I could no longer sense pursuit from the angels. The more I thought about it, the more terrifyingly vast this power seemed.

If the inventory truly followed my will, then I could trap them. I could enclose every last angel inside. No matter how many enemies appeared, they would be rendered helpless once that space swallowed them.

This wasn't a skill. It wasn't even in the same dimension as other powers I'd used. If I deepened my understanding, perhaps even someone stronger than the marquis could be bound.

How did Isaac discover this? More importantly, if the inventory obeyed only my will, then how did he steal it? How did he wrap it around himself and wield it as if he owned it?

The tunnel ended. My foot pressed against solid ground.

Tap.

"Isaac. How did you take my inventory?"

Isaac did not reply.

Instead, I only heard the crow's excited, mocking caw. "Caw! Caw!"

The darkness faded away, and before us stood a mountain with no beginning and no end.

When magnificence reached its peak, it became austere. The mountain was a heap of countless gemstones, so many that they resembled grains of sand on a beach. At first glance, everything looked no different from Earth itself. The light from the jewels washed over me, wrapping me in brilliance.

"Caw! Caw!"

Isaac buried himself in the radiance, or rather, into the very mountain of jewels. The heap was so immense that a dozen men might suffocate within it and still go unnoticed. Around him, fragments of my inventory floated like greedy hands, scooping gems into themselves.

"It's floor five..." Naneow murmured, eyes locked on the stone monument ahead where the number was carved.

She strode forward confidently, her steps brimming with excitement. Isaac had gone in a different direction, but the gleam in Naneow's eyes was the same as his.

"You two—?"

"Caw! Caw!"

"Five is a splendid number! A most splendid number! Hee! Ho! Hee! Ho!" Isaac sang as he shoveled gemstones into a small floating dome beside him.

"Isaac. I asked how you took my inventory."

"Inventory! Two hundredfold yet remains of your inventory! Uh... hehe. I'll explain later."

"..."

Naneow had lost herself as well. She strode up the jeweled slope, treading over strange artifacts with rapture on her face. She walked past a goblet smoking with black mist, and dice rolling on their own, laughing faintly. A scarlet fleece glowed like embers beside a frame draped in black cloth.

Naneow's voice trembled as she swallowed hard, admiring each ominous relic with awe. "Exquisite... beautiful... perfect..."

Her gaze only deepened with every step, as if she could never look enough.

Is it a charm trap?

Neither she nor Isaac showed any will to press forward.

"Naneow. Snap out of it," I barked.

When she replied, she sounded dazed. "This is... real."

"Real?"

"These... these are treasures you'd be lucky to uncover even once in a lifetime of excavating the greatest ruins. It's as if the relics of the entire world have been gathered here..."

Naneow said no more, her eyes devouring every artifact. Isaac flapped gleefully among the jewels, wings thrashing in glittering heaps.

I was shocked to see even Naneow reacting in this manner. Looking back, there was a possibility that even all this was a trap. However, even the two with the most experience seemed lost.

Do I have to help them? No, no one I've met has the perception and judgment of these two.

If Isaac and Naneow were both impressed with the treasures, then they must be real.

"This is it... This is—!"

Naneow continued to appreciate the artifacts even as she quickly packed them. Seeing Isaac fluttering in the mountain of jewels was also amusing.

"..."

They continued their frenzy without incident. The chests did not bite. No flames burst, no poison darts shot forth, and no curses detonated. Nothing happened at all.

Is it safe?

It seemed that there were truly no traps.

I scanned the floor. "Mm."

No matter how I looked at it, Leandro must have ignored this mountain of treasure and gone straight to the far side. Even so, I couldn't just leave the others behind. I picked up a gleaming gold ingot and slipped it into my inventory, then carefully examined the surroundings.

[Skill: Accounting Lv. 1 activated.]

[— The target's value is far too high to be appraised by this skill.

— It is utterly beyond your means.

— The measurable threshold has exceeded beyond compare.]

[Skill: Antiquarian Lv. 1 activated.]

[— Unable to measure.

— One fact is clear: it is a genuine relic beyond your current level.]

[Skill: Antiquarian Lv. 1 activated.]

[— One of the artifacts possessing consciousness regards you with disdain.]

What?

My jaw dropped.

With disdain?

I stared at the piles of mysterious relics. If even one possessed self-awareness, then it must be of staggering value.

Which one judged me?

I could not tell. Perhaps it was buried deep or cloaked in invisibility. For now, I focused on gathering the scattered jewels that littered the ground.

Isaac's scolding voice rang in my head. "Hey! Don't waste space on that junk. Take this instead!"

Naneow arched an eyebrow and tossed a strange talisman toward me. "Yeah, that's a bit... Then how about this one?"

Startled, I accepted it.

Is this... true treasure?

Ding!

[Through another's forced guidance, you have selected a jewel of overwhelming value.]

[Accounting Lv. 1 has gained slight experience.]

[Experience has slightly increased.]

Ding!

[...You have obtained a relic of remarkable worth.]

[Antiquarian Lv. 1 has gained the faintest trace of experience.]

Her sack already overflowing, Naneow gestured toward my inventory. "Can I just put them in here?"

I nodded. Isaac, too, seemed to have exhausted the stolen portion of my inventory.

"Sure. Do it."

I couldn't outmatch their judgment. Considering the person whose essence I had absorbed to gain the Antiquarian skill, it was obvious.

I opened my inventory. One by one, I accepted the items they passed to me.

How much more do they intend to take?

The two of them sorted through the mountain with uncanny precision, never disagreeing on what was valuable and what was not.

"Be careful with that one!"

"This, this, this is it! Magnificent!"

[You are participating in an appraisal far beyond your skill level.]

[Antiquarian Lv. 1 experience increasing.]

[Accounting Lv. 1 experience increasing.]

I caught relic after relic, storing them swiftly as they flew into my hands.

These two... How far are they planning to go? How much time will this take?

Ding!

[Skill level increased!]

[Antiquarian Lv. 2 attained!]

[When discovering relics or ruins, experience gain is enhanced.]

[You are surrounded by relics.]

[Experience increasing.]

[Experience increasing...]

Ding!

[Skill level increased!]

[Accounting Lv. 3 attained!]

[The chance of lowering prices during transactions has increased.]

I finally asked, "But how much longer are you planning to keep piling them in?"

"We can't help it. This is the imperial reserve. When will we ever get such a chance again? Defenses are down too, so who would walk away empty-handed?"

"She's right."

"..."

"Even if these jewels are traps, some things you must accept. Would you forgo adornment just because the world is ending tomorrow?"

Of course you would. That's common sense. These maniacs... Do they not worry about the marquis at all?

***

Leandro studied the number engraved on the stone.

Third floor...

The tenth floor's meadow overlapped faintly with the sixth. The third resembled the seventh, yet its vast cavern felt softer and warmer.

Initially, he felt as if he were inside a colossal plant, but the farther he walked, the stranger the feeling became. A deep, slow vibration pressed against him from the ground, the walls, and the ceiling.

"..."

Leandro thought the vibration felt like heartbeats. As he advanced, he saw humans sealed within chambers. Each pulse resonated within them. Suspended, pierced by slick tendrils, they curled like unborn children. Males and females had been sculpted to perfection, glowing with youthful prime.

Leandro felt a suffocating sense of wrongness. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The numbers... don't match.

7, 906

8, 911

9, 920

11, 925

...

38, 1075

39, 1077

The sequence skipped numbers and was disjointed. Yet, the first digits were clearly identifiers.

The latter? Perhaps years. Birth years?

However, the humans were all in their twenties, carved to perfection. 1077 would mean seventy-one years of age. The higher the number, the older they were.

Drawn as if in a trance, Leandro gazed deeper into the glass. He saw blond, silver, blue, and red hair. The varied faces were flawless and symmetrical. They were not manufactured; no, they felt born of chance, of breeding and harvesting. A stench of blood and reproduction lingered in the air.

Regardless... I can't probe this now.

The heavy pulse drew closer.

***

I recited the number carved into the towering pillar. "The fourth floor."

At its base, I halted in awe. On both sides stretched a boundless library, shelves soaring higher than ten meters, disappearing into the distance. How could so many books exist in the world?

Isaac rose at once, wings beating him to the top shelves.

After scanning a diagonal book, he shouted, "They're real! Every last one!"

Naneow tested several shelves too and nodded.

"The books were all arranged by the author. After the mountain of treasure, this library contained a treasury of knowledge. Hardship ends, reward begins, huh?"

Naneo chuckled lightly, trying to ease the tension.

On the fourth floor, there was still no sign of the marquis or traces of battle since the alchemical floor. He had passed by without a glance.

"Yemera's Apocrypha! Here, Rainbows and Robots! Even the Confederation marked it as zero-tier forbidden! Ha! Faith in captivity, I loved that one!"

Isaac plucked books freely, tossing them down onto the table. Miyu fidgeted nervously beneath him until he lulled it into slumber and left it seated while he scoured the air. Each book was stacked neatly at my feet, as if guided by unseen magic.

Naneow darted here and there while pulling out volumes: Blood Ritual Magic, An Outline of Sequential Blood, Advice on Flowers, and The Silver Disgrace, before piling them at my side.

"These survived? They banned even a single line from spreading, and yet the originals endure..." Her muttering faded as she turned to me, sheepish. "If there's something you're searching for, I'll help. I'm fast with books."

Her words sparked a thought.

"Hmm..."

I lifted my gaze to the far horizon of shelves.

"You said they're sorted by author. Could you find something by Kevin Ashton?"

Isaac reacted first. "Hah. I almost forgot."

"Kevin Ashton? Done," Naneow replied.

The two of them vanished into the labyrinth. Though the shelves seemed infinite, they returned quickly, guiding me to a massive pillar.

Isaac's voice was strangely subdued. "Here."

Creak...

Naneow pulled a lever. The pillar shifted, revealing a shelf.

The crow whispered, "Kevin Ashton."

Ten books filled the slot, every one of them Ashton's. I gaped.

"All of these—!"

These rare books granted Wisdom with every page, and they were in front of me, ten volumes, side by side. My hopes had been fulfilled completely. I stepped forward with elation. But Isaac signaled Naneow.

Creak...

She pulled again. Another shelf rose.

"This too is Kevin Ashton."

"..."

I could hardly believe it. A second shel with another ten volumes. Twenty of Ashton's works in total.

"How...?" I wondered.

After all my searching, here they were, assembled deliberately within the imperial reserve. It felt as though they were placed for me to find them.

"And..."

Naneow kept pulling the lever, making the pillar rise higher.

Creak. Creak. Creak.

Third. Fourth. Fifth. Sixth. Seventh. Eighth. Ninth. Tenth.

The world seemed to flicker, making my head spin.

"That's all." Naneow turned to me. "Every one of them is by Kevin Ashton."