Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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"Elves? Now that's a word I haven't heard of in a while."

"So you do know about them."

"Only by word, never seen one… Though I don't think anyone alive has ever seen one either."

"The word used to be recurrent here in the South… Uhh... How do I put it? The Horizon Woods Forest used to be an Elven settlement before the establishment of the Old Empire."

"But they left shortly before it began… That was also around the time the Karkavan appeared, taking their place in the forest. It's no wonder their customs and way of life are similar to theirs, it's probably the best way to view how they used to be."

"Anyhow, that was hundreds of years ago still, we're talking about the Old Empire here..."

"I see, but how do you know about all of this?..."

"Likely for the same reason you asked me, you saw something they made, haven't you? I can hear and see many things, and as I sat down, waiting for time to pass, playing with the nuns whenever they passed by me, I heard things, that's all."

"Well…"

"It's nothing surprising, their story is long, extremely so, but it's a disappointing one as well."

"They used to rule over the entire forest under the shade of their Great Tree, but one day, it died."

"Slowly, their civilization collapsed, slowly scattering, dying, or fleeing somewhere else until only a single group was left. Which was when the Karkavan appeared."

"Their ruins are all over the place, although most of them were disassembled by now, you see, the Corps of the past wasn't very keen on preserving their culture, not when there were such valuable materials to be used…"

"The Wall itself is partially made from the dried wood of their Great Tree, a material so rigid that when properly treated it becomes exceptionally robust and resistant to wear."

"Some of its roots were repurposed into tunnels and even sewers, that's how it was."

"Besides… They weren't even the ones to destroy most of it, that is something the Old Empire should be credited for."

"Of everything the Corps disassembled, leaving behind extensive records of their existence, 95% of it had been decimated by the people of the Old Empire with no records of it whatsoever, making it hard to estimate just how large their Empire truly was."

"I used to hear talks about Artifacts being found and the studies onto them, but those kinds of things slowly vanished over time… By the time the Corps had degraded, I barely ever heard anything on the topic."

"Still, not like it matters, there was extensive research onto their culture and way of life, and anything of importance had been deduced and implemented onto the Corps' technology."

"Much of the technology the Corps developed was brought from the central parts of the Continent, which in turn originated from the Old Empire."

"That transformed upon contact with the relics excavated in the Southern region, the very same Old Empire artifacts, which in turn, were likely inspired by the local Ancient Elven Empire which was also directly studied by the Corps."

"In one way or another, their inheritance continues, and so it will continue, for centuries to come. That's how it usually goes."

"Even when the Entire Corps fell, their descendants still persevered, carrying on the torch of a thousand years of history and development."

"That's life for you." David said with a weak nod, proud of his own words

"... You got quite emotional there at the end." Dale joked as he strapped David back at his waist

"Don't shatter my moment like that man!"

Rolling his eyes, Dale turned to the Crystal before pulling his spear and 'trimming' it a bit.

/Splatter!/

After clearing all of the mutated creatures and the overgrowth of plants surrounding the strange rock, Dale approached it by flying atop Caladbolg, touching it as he tried something.

"Hm…"

[???]

'As I thought, I can't shove this onto my inventory… And it's likely because I can't see its status description.'

'While I can inspect the "water" on the pond, I can't due so for this Crystal… It's similar to the torn I collected from the Commander's body, before it turned into Failure.'

'Anyhow, this is likely a High-Class material or item, there isn't much I can do with it now, time to leave, this time, for real.'

With everything on his list crossed out, Dale turned back, leaving the cavern with its mysteries behind…

Not before taking one last look around, just to be sure there weren't any hidden entrances or mysteries he forgot to check, but there were none.

Satisfied with his thorough search, he arrived at the surface not too long after…

If there was one thing he was disappointed with today's trip was the fact he hadn't Leveled Up to 80, but given his progress, Dale wasn't in a hurry to advance.

There would still be many other opportunities to gather experience, for now, he had better things to attend to.

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/Later that day, underneath the Mage Tower…/

"... And then you returned? Was that what you did?" Qrubin asked Dale after hearing his story about the Drula Mines

"Yes, the door was locked and the Crystal was strange, so I cleaned it up before returning here to ask some questions."

'And also because I forgot to talk about some things…'

"Hm… How surprising… Yes, you would be correct to assume I know something about it, although it's been so long since I heard of that project I forgot it even existed."

"It was shut down long before the Wall fell, my daughter wasn't even born then…" He said deeply as he closed his eye

"Can you tell us more about it? We're quite curious…"

"Not a problem, I imagine you two do deserve it… But I'll keep it brief since there is a lot of historical and cultural information related to this and it would take a few days of classes to cover through it all…"

"In short, what you found was one of the many branches of a long-lasting project named "Vault"."

"This project was simple, find, document, store, and research Relics from Ruins, preserving them for future study and reference until we can properly disassemble and reconstruct them with minimum effort and maximum effect, remaining faithful to their original design and craft. While understanding every intricacy of the process."

"Teams would be built to look for those relics, what you all found was one such place. An ancient Elven sacred land, deep beneath the earth, it was unusual and special even for their standards…"

"Don't even ask me how they found it, those guys were unusual even for their time, a bunch of lunatics trying to do strange things all the time, they were a bother to the previous Division Commander and eventually me as well…"

"They were good people… They weren't right in the head but they were good…" Qrubin said with some melancholy

""...""

Dale and David said nothing at his words… Did Qrubin realize he was a half-lich right now?

"Anyhow, what you all found was likely one of the security doors, it's High-Class Construct Magic, one of my creations, it's scattered throughout the Corp's high-priority areas, sealing them off from outside interference."

"They're a bother." David said with a scoff as he looked away

"Haha… That means they're working… Well… The Commander always said they were useless… His argument was that a door is just as strong as its hinges and where they're nailed at… I agreed with him, my genius surpassed the times by too much…" He said as he remembered the past, becoming melancholic again

"..."

"I imagine you're interested in what's on the other side? Well… Likely the research those fellows did on the Crystal together with any Artifacts they found in the region, it was standard to leave all Artifacts on site until they were researched, after that they would be sent to the Southern Wall for storage."

"Speaking of that, if you can, I would greatly recommend you to figure out a way to get there, just saying, because even if the Wall fell, whatever's inside will remain safe as it was made isolated from the rest of the Wall."

"It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say you could restore the Corps with just those… After all, they're the summit of our research, if you can get the papers as well…"

"... Ahem, I'm dreaming a bit too far into the future."

Qrubin became pensive, and after a minute of moving his eye around, he said:

"Unfortunately, I don't know much about the research or the key they used for the door, but there is a way to bypass all of the doors. More than one in fact…"

"You can either work around the Circuits of the Magic Construct, something our little friend can do, or you can use my Master Key… Since you know… It wouldn't be okay if the superiors didn't have a way to bypass such restrictions, it would make things dangerous."

"Each Division Commander had their own Master Keys but they worked solely for their own Divisions, so even if you have one of them right now, it'll only work within the territory of the Southern Wall, distant experiments such as the one you just found likely use custom Circuits for the Construct…"

"Anyhow, mine is a bit different, it works everywhere… The Commander never liked it…"

"Hm… If you can get it, there's nowhere in the Sothern Wall you can't get!"

"That's good to hear... But the Wall isn't accessible right now, so we'll leave it for later."

"Right, I heard of it... The Wall has been occupied by 'that' thing... Sigh..."

"For the more that it is a bother, that creature is also a blessing as its presence alone prevents excessive movement in and out of the Wall, so maybe it's for the best if you keep it there for now."

"... Not like I can take it down whenever..."

"Humph, Devils that remain still are the easiest to deal with, we've taken down a dozen before with Units weaker than you, it's definitely feasible, you just don't have the right tools for the job."

"Regardless, was that all for today? I'm still working on what to teach you so come back later for that..."

"Not quite, I still have some things left to ask you..." He said as he opened his inventory

It was time to make some progress in Resko's infrastructure.

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Notes