Chapter 4 – Pursuit of Understanding

  Inside the building, there was a small reception room. Two stone benches were lined up on one side of the room. On the other side, there was a counter next to a door. Above the counter were words carved into the green marble wall.

  “Does your skill give you any insight into what kind of building this is?” Jack asked.

  Rayne shook her head. “That is normally a Builder’s skill. Don’t you have that profession?”

  “It’s still level one,” Jack said as he walked over to the counter. “I only got a few blueprints right now. Maybe I’ll get something once I start to level it, but I guess it will be a while for that.”

  “What about that writing? Can you read it?”

  Jack shook his head. “All I can tell is it is in Karzasic, but I don’t know any of the words up there. Should we get the others?”

  “Not yet,” Rayne said, moving over to the door on the other side of the room. “I want to look around a little bit.”

  Rayne stood by the door waiting. Jack sighed. “We really need to find that trial for all of you.”

  Jack placed his hand on the door, and it slid open at his touch. The next room was larger with several pedestals coming out of the floor and shelves built into the wall. Most of the spaces were empty except for a few that still held strange items that looked to be on display. Underneath each shelf and pedestal was more of the script that Jack couldn’t make out.

  “It kind of reminds me of a museum,” Jack said. They both immediately walked to the nearest pedestal still displaying an item.

  “What is a museum?”

  “A place where we display things from the past. Works of art, historical findings, extinct animals… those kinds of things.”

  “Like a Legacy Hall?” Rayne asked.

  “Maybe,” Jack said. “What is a Legacy Hall?”

  “A place that celebrates the legacy of an individual or group. It usually contains examples of their work or the history of their people. You can often find one made for people who have ascended to one of the higher realms or kingdoms that have been around for a very long time. The elven homeland has several I believe.”

  “Then yeah,” Jack said, examining the item closer without touching it. The item looked reminiscent of the puzzle cube Jack had to use to get through the Trial of Reason. This looked to be a smaller version of it that could fit in the palm of his hand but still had the nine squares on each side with symbols etched onto the surface of each. Unlike the one in the Trial, this puzzle box appeared lifeless, but Jack didn’t trust it. “It would be something like that. I don’t know if this is also one, but that would be my first guess. Maybe Daniel would know more.”

  “If it is a Legacy Hall, then it might be worth it to bring the others here,” Rayne said reaching out to pick up the cube, but Jack stopped her before she could touch it.

  “It’s probably best if we don’t touch anything in here,” Jack said. “At least not this one.”

  “You recognize it?”

  “It’s similar to something that I…,” Jack started but was stopped from saying anymore as his words fizzled out. Instead, he changed what he was going to say. “I can’t speak on it exactly, but I’ve seen something like this before. Best leave it alone for now.”

  Part of the contract Jack made during the Trial was to become a member of the Akashic Order, an organization that had long abandoned this world and uphold the tenants of that Order. He originally thought it was just a simple agreement, but ever since joining the Order he had been unable to share certain information about the Akashic Order or the Trial. Ever since finding the city of Kharzast, the restrictions on what he was able to talk about had lessened. He could now speak about things that the others had seen or figured out themselves, but there were still some things he couldn’t share.

  Rayne looked at the cube again with more interest. “Fine. Let’s see what else is in here before we bring the others. Hopefully, we might get a sense of what these things are. If it is a Legacy Hall, then everything in here should be tied to the person or group’s path.”

  They found a few more items displayed on the other shelves and podiums but without being able to understand the language involved, their purpose was no less a mystery as the cube was.

  Undaunted, they continued to search the building, opening every room they could find. Just as Rayne had believed, the size of the building from the outside was deceptive to what they saw on the inside. From the outside, the building appeared to be a two-story building squeezed between its neighboring buildings like a townhouse. But once inside, the floors appeared too wide to fit in the given space and they had to climb four floors before reaching the top of the building.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  The first floor was the only one that held a collection of strange objects. They were still avoiding touching anything directly, but Jack eventually agreed to try his Analyze skills on several of the items to see if they could get a better understanding of them. Unfortunately, Jack’s skill level in Analyze was still low and the ability didn’t allow him to see much. Most items only gave the message.

  *Analysis failed: Skill strength too low*

  The only exception to this was the puzzle cube they had come across at the beginning of their search.

  *Analysis Successful: Toy Runic Cube (Rare)*

  Educational toy created by the Akashic Order for teaching the Runic language. Suitable for children and newly integrated members of the Order. Capable of teaching the Runic Language to a basic understanding.

  It appeared to be mostly harmless and possibly incredibly useful in the current situation, but they left the puzzle cube alone for now. There was still no telling what might happen if something was removed from its location.

  The second floor was like the first, but instead of objects on display, the second floor consisted of several paintings covering the walls. As they walked through the floor, Jack got the impression that the paintings were telling a story. Jack’s first thoughts were that the paintings might be a retelling of the founding of the Order, but it was difficult to make sense of what had happened if that was the case. There were several paintings of the city itself, and one that Jack recognized as a Foundation Crystal, but there were few pictures of the actual Order members. Jack saw several wearing the Familiar armor that the corpses in the Trial wore, but there was little detail in the faces of the individuals. Most paintings were non-sensical or maybe abstract, but of what? Jack couldn’t figure it out.

  Jack spent longer here than on any of the other floors, just trying to make sense of the images. The only thing all the paintings had in common was that the longer Jack continued to look at them the more he was certain they were moving. In the end, it was Rayne that pulled him from his almost hypnotic state and forced them to move onto the next floor.

  The third floor was another library filled with tomes. Rayne and Jack didn’t stay long after checking a few of the tomes. It was the same issue they were having with the other library in that everything was written in Karzasic.

  The fourth floor was different from all the others. Unlike the other floors, the fourth floor was a maze of small rooms with a magical diagram placed on the ground or on tablets in each. Not sure of the nature of the magical structures placed around the floor, they were more careful navigating this floor than the others. The fourth floor also had the least number of things on display. Only a few diagrams looked to still be active while most of the rooms were empty. Each diagram that they found also had a small stone slab embedded into the wall of the room that held it with Karzasic script written on it.

  “I think it’s about time to get the others,” Jack said.

  “There are a lot of potentially useful things here,” Rayne agreed. “But are we any closer to understanding what these things could be than before.”

  “The Karzasic language is the biggest barrier right now,” Jack said as they made their way back down the building. He checked his skill again. “And I am only at eighty percent to being fluent in Elvish now. Maybe once I can complete that quest, we can get some answers.”

  “Only eighty percent?” Rayne sighed. “Perhaps you should work with Sylvian again to help complete it.”

  “You really don’t like hearing other speak Elvish,” Jack commented. “Why doesn’t Sylvian mind as much?”

  Rayne shook her head. “You are getting better. The harmonics are starting to flow so it’s not as bad talking to you now, but there is still something off about it. Maybe humans can learn to speak Elvish with training. Most can’t truly speak it, like the dwarves who even when they are fluent are still always painful to listen to. The dwarves almost take pride in being able to speak Elvish as clearly but incorrectly as can be understood.”

  “I bet they do,” Jack laughed. “I wouldn’t put it past Savgar to do something like that. I still have a while before I am fluent though.”

  “The first language is usually the hardest to learn,” Rayne said. “It would have been faster if you chose Dwarven or Freodians as a first language. Those are closer to your English in terms of complexity, and Savgar has more experience teaching it than either me or Sylvian have teaching Elvish. He taught Victor after all.”

  “Yeah,” Jack admitted. “Savgar has offered and there are many others that know those languages as well, but Elvish just seemed like such an interesting language to learn. Besides, I figured that I could learn those anytime, and I plan to, but what are my chances of learning Elvish in the future. Not many people in our group can.”

  Rayne nodded. “Pursuit of understanding. I can respect that. But don’t let the System do all the work. Just because the System says you are fluent, that doesn’t mean you don’t still have things to learn. But I am not the best at teaching. Sylvian would be better.”

  “I see what you mean,” Jack said. “Savgar still spends a lot of time trying to learn more about English even though he is already fluent.”

  “A rare trait among the dwarves,” Rayne said. “Dwarves have their own focus, and it is rarely trying to understand others. Savgar isn’t the worst I ever had to deal with. And he is a member of the Ironbreath clan. A powerful ally if you can keep him as a friend. I am not sure why he insists on staying here to train you and that other human but take advantage of it while you can.”

  “I intend to once we can finally start developing the city,” Jack said. “Honestly, I am hoping that he might be willing to stay as a full member of the city, but while he is fine with staying and helping, he doesn’t want to commit to joining the city.”

  “Want may not be part of it,” Rayne said. They had made it back to the entrance to the building and had come to a stop outside it as they talked. “The Ironbreaths are a powerful clan among the dwarves, and he might have responsibilities that he can’t break.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” Jack said as he leaned against the wall of the building in thought. Savgar wasn’t a wayward soul trying to find a place in this world like the other humans and members of their little party were. The elves and tyrians were in just as much of a need to find a place to exist as Jack and the other humans were, but Savgar had a home and even though he had never mentioned it, he probably had family or friends waiting for him there.

  Jack was so lost in thought that he barely noticed when Teresa came running up to join them.

  “Finally found you two,” Teresa called to them as she got close. “I think I found that challenge you told us about!”