VOL 2 Chatper 54: Hidden test.
Once inside the refuge, Erik sat down at his workbench and began to carefully analyze the staff. Meanwhile, the wolves lay down beneath the table, close to his legs, and Ebonique settled on his head in her smallest form. At that moment, she asked curiously.
"So, what did you find out about that staff?"
"Well, actually, this staff is quite curious. It's actually a magical artifact made from relatively common materials, but it's unnecessarily complex for its single function, which is to display different stellar cards."
As he spoke, Erik channeled his mana into the staff, causing various holograms to appear in the air around him, each showing a different stellar card. He continued explaining calmly.
"That got me really curious, so I started carefully analyzing the inscribed runes and found something peculiar. The staff is only pretending to use all of its runes to display this hologram, and it actually has more functions. It's just that these are locked and seem to have different kinds of conditions that must be met to activate."
"Hoho, that sounds like you have a plan." Ebonique commented with a mischievous voice, and Erik responded with an evil grin.
"Of course I do. Tonight, we're going all out, hahaha!"
Erik laughed cheerfully and began working on the staff without paying attention to the passing time. After a while, he could hear the wolves "snoring" beside him in their puppy forms, which made him shake his head. Those two refused to sleep anywhere other than by his side.
In the past, Erik had tried making them sleep in their doghouses in the garden or on his own bed. But in the end, they always got up in the middle of the night and came back to lie down beside him while he worked. So he simply gave up and let them do as they pleased, since, in a way, they were quite adorable.
The rest of the night passed with Erik modifying the staff, using different types of materials he kept in his storage rings to deactivate runes and carve new ones. He took great care not to damage the set of runes responsible for its various functionalities, focusing solely on those that evaluated the activation conditions.
The process of modifying the scepter was quite complex and somewhat exhausting for Erik, since the runes in charge of evaluating the activation conditions were located in different parts of the staff and seemed deliberately obfuscated. On many occasions, they did not even connect directly to the function they were supposed to activate.
On the contrary, they seemed to have an inheritance system, where they interconnected through sets of child runes that did different things simultaneously, making the entire modification even more complicated—something Erik expected, so he did not complain and continued his work in silence, occasionally munching on cookies.
…
When the first rays of light began to peek over the horizon and birdsong started to fill the air, a nearly maniacal laughter echoed throughout the refuge. The wolves looked around in confusion as they grew in size, preparing for combat.
"There's no need to laugh like that, Ebonique. It wasn't that big of a deal."
Erik commented, rolling his eyes at an excited, 30-centimeter-tall Ebonique surrounded by jet-black electric sparks, who was laughing maniacally as she circled around a beautiful, floating staff on Erik's workbench.
"Hahahaha, but you really did it! You completely erased the security those idiots who created the staff put in place. Their faces must be hilarious right now, hahaha!"
Ebonique remarked, genuinely amused, in a mocking tone that could not hide the pride she felt as she looked at her beloved contractor. Erik merely shook his head, sporting an ironic smile on his face, then he spoke while taking hold of the staff that floated over the table.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that."
"Why do you say that?" Ebonique asked, confused, as she lay back down on Erik's head. He began examining the staff and explained in a calm, assured tone.
"Because, even though bypassing the staff's security to activate all its functions at will was a bit challenging, it wasn't that extreme. Moreover, it was made of materials that are quite easy to work with and not too costly, which makes me think that in that palace there must be different kinds of trials, and this staff is the key to solving them."
"Doesn't that make your achievement even greater, Erik?" Ebonique asked, even prouder, as though she herself had been the one who modified the staff. Erik replied calmly while running a finger over each carved rune.
"Not really because if no one was supposed to modify the staff as I did, someone should have stopped me when I tried. But that didn't happen. Also, do you remember what Master Iyanda said?"
"The only rule is not to use anything above Illuminated-level?" Ebonique answered with a question, looking somewhat confused. Erik nodded and explained.
"Exactly. There was only one rule, allowing even stealing and 'murder', so I think modifying the staff was some kind of 'hidden test' or something along those lines. It's probable that exploring the ruin requires different kinds of talents and skills, so the way to evaluate them would be through different levels of difficulty when traversing the palace.
"For example, they might evaluate puzzle-solving ability and participants' strength at the first difficulty level—the 'correct' way—waiting for each necessary condition to be met to activate the staff's functions and continue. Meanwhile, modifying the staff to pass through the palace in easy mode, as I did, would be a way to evaluate Artificing skills, since making those modifications requires a bit of skill and experience."
"That makes sense…"
Ebonique commented quietly with understanding, feeling that humans were quite interesting to be able to think of something like that and leave the clues so visible, but at the same time difficult to see. She made a mental note to apply something like that to her domain, and immediately after she commented in a cheerful voice.
"But now, let's go to the palace and win this tournament. Take out those stellar cards that must be the key to finding it, right?"
"Hehehe, exactly. The first trial was to find a specific location using the clues left in the stellar cards, but we don't have to waste time doing that." Erik responded with a cunning smile on his face, prompting Ebonique to ask with evident excitement in her tone.
"Your modifications?"
"Exactly. It turns out the condition to activate the staff's first ability was to be in a specific area of the planet." Erik smiled as he showed Ebonique the crystal tablet connected to the observer probes, where a specific point on the map was marked.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ebonique rose from Erik's head, intending to leave the refuge, but she stopped abruptly when Erik asked in an amused tone.
"Why are you so excited? Who said we had to go there?"
"Didn't you just say so?" Ebonique asked, confused, looking at Erik, who returned her gaze with a sly grin on his face.
"I never said that. I only said that was the condition, but I haven't yet told you which ability the staff unlocks."
"Which one?" Ebonique asked curiously and excitedly, to which Erik answered cunningly.
"Teleportation."
A single word was more than enough for Ebonique to understand everything, causing her to laugh heartily and spin around Erik.
"Hahahahaha, so the palaces aren't on the surface! No wonder we couldn't find anything."
"You're right. The teleportation coordinates point to deep underground, about 5 kilometers down, to be exact." Erik responded, amused, and Ebonique replied, her eyes shining like lanterns.
"How clever. But let's not waste any more time and go. I want to see that palace."
"Of course."
After that, Erik stepped out of his refuge and deactivated all the defense and camouflage systems, causing all the small spheres around to return inside the refuge. At that moment, it shrank back down, turning once again into a small silver sphere, which he quickly stored in his storage ring.
With everything packed, Erik took one last look at his now empty camp, with Ebonique on his head and the wolves on his shoulders. At that moment, he asked the excited creatures, with an almost adventurous attitude.
"Ready?"
"Ready! Let's conquer a palace!!" Ebonique responded with great enthusiasm, accompanied by the wolves' cheerful barking, making Erik laugh heartily as he nodded and joined in on the fun.
"Then let's go!!"
With those words, Erik activated the staff in his hand, causing it to glow for a moment and release different images of stars. Then it conjured various runes in the air that circled the group, emitting a powerful flash that made them all disappear from the area, restoring the place to its peaceful and pristine appearance, full of nature and life.
…
…
…
In the middle of the meeting hall, all the Master-level individuals present looked at a silent Ngozi, who wore a grim expression as she spoke with the director, who was all smiles, looking genuinely amused and pleased.
"What are we going to do about that boy Erik, Director? Now that he's hacked the staff, all the other trials mean nothing to him." Ngozi commented in a dark tone, crossing her arms and looking directly into the director's eyes.
"Hahahaha, he really hacked that staff like it was nothing…"
The director commented, laughing, causing an ironic smile to appear on the faces of the others present, except for Eleonora, Sigrún, and Seraphina. Their delicate faces were filled only with pride and vanity as they looked at everyone else with hauteur and glowing smiles.
"This isn't a laughing matter, Director. That boy Erik just blatantly cheated. We must stop him." Ngozi retorted with a serious and dissatisfied tone. The director replied, amused.
"Erik didn't cheat, Ngozi. As he himself said, the only rule was not to use items above the Illuminated-level, something he hasn't done. And really, hacking that staff isn't something just anyone can do—it requires true skill. So let's just pretend it really was a hidden test and let him be. Or do you want to be the one to suffer the embarrassment of going back on your words in public? Because I don't, hahahaha!"
While the director laughed gleefully at the whole situation, Ngozi could only sigh in defeat. She then looked at Eleonora and asked with a complex expression.
"How did you teach that little monster, Eleonora? That staff was made by a very well-known and talented Arcane-level artificer. If word gets out that Erik hacked it in a single night, his reputation could plummet."