Collecting Treasures

Gene rushed into the Guild and reached the first item on the map. The run from outside to the first item cost him three minutes plus the two minutes he spent thinking. He only had forty minutes left. Bringing up the map, he walked through the room until he found he was standing in the right spot but he couldn't see the item. This probably meant the item was either above him or below him. It could also be invisible but he decided to try the more reasonable things first.

Looking up toward the ceiling, he couldn't see anything. It was just the roof as far as he could tell. Even if it were up there he wasn't sure how he could get to it. He decided to look at the ground to see what he could find. He studied the floor for three minutes and still didn't figure anything out. He knew his slow speed was more than likely the result of his "low" intelligence. He was frustrated by how slow he became and missed his supreme genius intellect. He realized that getting upset over something he couldn't control wouldn't do him any good.

He cast his eyes over the room looking for something he could use to test a couple of hypotheses. What caught his eye was a shelf containing a collection of geometric figures. There were two spheres, two pyramids, and two rectangular cubes. Unsure of why such objects were present in the otherwise empty hall, Xan walked over and grabbed the two balls. They were about the size of a baseball. The weight of the objects was slightly different from each other. Without too much thought, Xan tossed the balls toward the center of the room.

Even though the floor looked even to him, he noticed the two balls started rolling toward one side of the room as if the floor was slanted. The pair of balls also rolled around each other as the moved. Xan grabbed the other geometric figures and followed the balls. The balls rolled to the wall and stopped and fit into a pair of spherical holes.

Once inserted in their respective holes, a slat opened up. The opening had places for each of the pyramids. Once inserted, they looked like an hourglass. Nothing happened immediately so he tried twisting the hourglass shape. It worked, it turned out the pyramids acted as a handle he could turn. Foot sized rectangular cubes extended from the wall leading to the roof.

Seeing the foot-sized cubes, Xan understood their purpose was to act as a ladder. He started his climb up the wall until he reached the top ledge. There was just enough room for him to walk across the ledge if he hugged the wall. Before moving, he looked around and saw the path to the right would take him to a section of the roof that was hanging down. He saw two strange shadows and decided to try there first.

You would never see this overhang from the ground because of an optical illusion created by the architecture. The overhang was also almost directly above where the map said the first object was.

Reaching the roof section, he saw there was another depression where the two rectangular cubes he brought with him could fit. One depression was larger than the other and this matched the last two objects in his hands. Xan inserted the two objects and a circular stone wheel popped out.

"Righty tighty left loosely," he said to himself. Turning the wheel counter-clockwise, a circular section of the overhang came out like a door. Inside the overhang, there was another ladder. Xan climbed up the ladder but found his way was blocked. Something wasn't right, he realized. He didn't see any more depressions and he was out of geometric objects.

"Ah, I left the door open!" he remembered. Climbing back down, he closed the door which sealed itself. Once he closed the door and it locked in place, the roof above him moved open revealing a hidden room of some kind.

Xan climbed back up the ladder and looked around the already lit room. On a table, there was a collection of four boxes; as soon as he touched the four boxes a notification window popped up scaring the biscuits out of him. "Congratulations, you have acquired "tools of the trade" specialized crafting tools for your sub-career," Just as he touched the object again, another pop-up box appeared once again startling him. "To store objects you have found in your inventory simply make an "I" in the air and double-tap the object you wish to store."

Feeling silly but in a rush, Xan made an "I" in the air and double-tapped each box. "To view items in your inventory, simply make an "I" in the air and say "view inventory," A pop-up informed him. Xan once more followed the instructions. A new window appeared and in the window, he saw thirty square boxes four of which contained the boxes he just acquired. He was very interested in this feature, but since he was in a hurry he made an "X" with his hand to close his inventory.

After another minute of searching, Xan found the door and exited the room where he found the tools. He saw the clock in his display window. He only had thirty-three minutes left. He had to hurry if he wanted to escape in time.

Xan ran down the hallway and barely stopped before the floor in front of him opened up. He was in a rush and almost fell through a trap door. He leaped over the trap door and was about to continue on his when he heard a voice. "Excuse me young man, you can't just run around someone's home. Please identify yourself," the voice said.

Turning around, he saw an apparition floating above the trap door. The apparition looked like an old man in blue and white robes. He had a kindly look on his face. Xan started feeling for something he could use as identification. Finally, he felt the insignia on his outer robes. It was actually a disc with the guild emblem and it was pinned to his robe. This was the guild insignia all members needed to carry.

The emblem carried a part of the spirit aura of the owner so it couldn't be faked. It also contained information such as ranking, level, and other data used within the sect. Most importantly, it could be used to identify a person as an actual member of the guild.

Xan took the emblem off and showed it to the apparition. "Is this good enough?" he asked. The apparition waved its right hand through the emblem and smiled. "Welcome, Xan Gower," it said. "Do you have the permission of your guild master to be here?" It asked.

"I'm afraid the guild master and everyone else in the guild is dead. I'm the only one left. I was being chased by our enemies in the forest but a bright light allowed me to escape both my pursuers and death. I returned to see if I could find anything I could use as the last member of the guild," he explained.

"Dead, everyone's dead?" the apparition asked in shock. Its eyes grew gloomy as it turned around and flew down through the trap door. "Wait for my return," it said coldly. Xan was upset with this waste of time. He needed to move not to sit around and wait for this ghost to confirm everyone was dead.

After a few minutes, the apparition returned looking very upset. "My whole sect is gone," it said. "You're the only one left? This is terrible so terrible," it lamented. "Sir, I must hurry, there are a bunch of vultures on their way to pick the guild clean. If there are any treasures I can use it would help me but I need to leave before they get here," Xan said in a hurry.

The apparition took in Xan for a few moments until it finally spoke. "You have superior talent, you indeed have a right to a few precious treasures. Very well, you may continue. However, if you are able to bring some of those vultures over, I will be very grateful to you. If you wish to talk with me, just hold your emblem and cast your thoughts into it. I will communicate with you through the emblem. No one will be able to hear our conversation. I can even appear before your eyes and only you will be able to see me," the apparition said as it disappeared.

Once the old man disappeared, Xan continued down the hallway and found a room. He carefully checked the door for traps and when he couldn't find any, he entered the room.

In the middle of the room on a pedestal, a cone of light circled an object. On the pedestal was an object that looked like a large coin. The coin said "New Guild Token." Without too much thought, he stored it in his inventory, gave the room a once over and exited. When he touched the object a pop-up appeared but he was in too much of a hurry to read it. Continuing down the hall, he came to another door.

Walking into the third room, he found an empty square-shaped space on the floor. It was big enough for a person to fit in. However, he couldn't see the bottom of the pit. "Should I jump," he wondered.