I examined my surroundings with a grin on my face. A gentle breeze blew through my hair, blowing it back and cooling the temperature at the top of the Onyx Obelisk, a dungeon, and prison I had quietly controlled for over two months.

The top of the obelisk was a gigantic, flat surface. It stretched for a massive distance, due to it having been made originally for giants. At the moment I wasn't in my giant form, instead, I was in my devilish form. I floated just over a jet-black surface made of the same obsidian that the walls of the prison were made of.

This place was still. There were no lifeforms up here, and the only things moving were the breeze and I. It was a nice, quiet place. And apparently this still spot was also the hiding place of a potent artifact, one that would allow me to receive an extremely potent power-up. That was why I was here. I began a concentrated search of my surroundings, eager to find what I came here for.

While one of me was focused on retrieving the artifact that would boost our power immensely, another me, was elsewhere.

I found myself standing a short distance away from a gigantic building in the city of Undermoon. This building housed one of my stranger cults, and my intense hearing coupled with the boost given to me by my new "Earth Control" ability picked up the assorted lurid noises that came from deep within it even from outside of it.

I starred at the building owned by the bizarre cult-leader Rinor for a second more before I took my first steps towards it. It was situated at the center of an intersection within the city, and despite the building's eerie reputation for drugs, sex, and worse, the street it was located on was a popular one.

As I approached the building I noted the density of the crowd on the street. Dozens of dark elves and the unfortunate creatures they kept within the city, slaves, monsters, and a handful of dark extraplanars, wandered the area in front of the building. They walked to and from other buildings in the area, a large number of much smaller buildings than the one I was stepping towards, but they avoided going where I was going.

I chuckled as I watched even a minotaur, a large cow-headed and thick-furred otherwise almost-human creature, take a look at the building and then sheepishly look away. The minotaur was a powerfully built being, one which wore armor and carried a gleaming battle-ax. But none of that mattered in the face of the reputation the building had with the people of Undermoon.

None of this stopped me from walking closer and closer to the building. And after what felt like an eternity of walking and watching how others reacted to the building, I found myself in front of it. I was separated from its interior by one final obstacle: a simple door.

A few moments of less than productive searching for the artifact led me to a simple conclusion: it was time to try magic, to find magic. Which was why I was currently speeding through my codex to find a spell that would help me identify magic with my eyes. Finding such a spell wasn't difficult and unsurprisingly it came from the oracular school of magic.

[Spell Type: Oracular

Spell Name: Detect Magic

Effect: Your vision is empowered and you are able to see strands and auras of magic. Even positive magic that only affects the caster is revealed to you in an aura of brilliant lights and mesmerizing colors that surrounds them.

Cost: 500 magical energy per cast.]

I chuckled at the paultry cost, and wordlessly cast the spell. I went blind for an instant, my vision vanishing while the magic synchronized with my vision and then reset my ability to see.

Well, that was inconvenient. I thought, mildly annoyed by that. A second after my vision recovered and I began to see the faint outlines of distant magic, I rose a hand to the side of my head and evoked the same permanency magical effect that made Menanam a real person instead of just an illusion. And now to find this thing. I thought, greedily, focused on the artifact.

I walked up to the door and then through the thing. "I don't need to mind these sorts of obstacles." I told myself as I walked through the barrier that was keeping me out of the building and into a place that was technically my territory.

Beyond the door, I was greeted by the sight of an empty foyer. It wasn't a big or fancy one, but it was uninhabited. I looked around it for a few seconds, studying the sights that surrounded me. Some of them were odd and impressive in their own, foreign to me, sort of way.

The thing that was the most noticeable was that at the center of the room whoever designed this place had placed a large statue as a sort of centerpiece. The statue was beautifully made, and composed of something rare in the world beneath the world: white, Carrara marble.

The statue was a monument to lust. It was a gigantic carving depicting two elven forms, one male and one female, in the middle of vigorous lovemaking. The male was seated and an animalistic grin was etched on his face. The female was straddling him, a pleasured expression on her face. I looked at the thing, studying it for a moment, before taking a second to examine what else was in the foyer.

Another thing I noticed was a strange number of holes located in the walls of this foyer. Holes lined the walls of this place, thick, circular things perfect for exchanging written messages, dropping off a blade, or a number of other uses.

The number of them suggested they were intentional and used for something that truly everyone in this community must have needed. Or wanted. I wonder what these holes are for... I mused, curiously and innocently.

After that I went ahead and dove ahead into the first inhabited chamber of the building. A gigantic one where countless dark elves and an assortment of non-elven partners were having audible, and intense sex.

With my vision enhanced by the ability to see magic, searching the obelisk was made far easier. This was evidenced by the fact that a cursory search of my surroundings revealed a faint red string floating in the air, not far from me that grew thicker in the direction of the other end of the flat ceiling of the obelisk. I grinned and began to follow the string, knowing that it'd lead me to where I was intending to go.

A short float led me to the other side of the ceiling. And to the source of the strange red string that I was hoping to follow to my destination.

The string grew thicker and thicker until it dove into the ground of the obelisk's roof. I looked at it, and quickly inspected the area where the string dove into the ground. Nothing there stood out to me, so I quietly activated the conscious part of the earth control power, the part of it that enabled me to move earth, stone, and soil at will.

Get out of my way. I thought, excited to be so close to the strange artifact that should grant me immense power. And then nothing happened. I could feel my face drop, as I realized that the obsidian that made up the ceiling must not have been something that the lowest tier of earth control would work on, presumably because it was considered metal.

"Fine. Have it your way." I huffed, making my hand incorporeal and thrusting it into the floor where the red string had plunged into the ground. Unsurprisingly I almost immediately grabbed ahold of something, a shield, just beneath the stone I was on top of and pulled my hand back out of the ground.

The room I just entered was a gigantic one and the minute I entered it I was almost overwhelmed. The room was filled with incredibly potent sexual desires, not just in a physical and apparent sense but also as a sort of residue that tainted the place in energy that I could detect thanks to the domains and subdomains I could exert influence over. One such subdomain was especially delighted by this place's emotional footprint.

[This place is... delightful.] A new voice, one I had never heard before, whispered into my mind. I knew who it was, through intuition and common-sense, but I hadn't ever heard the voice of the subdomain of corruption before.

[Do you think so?] I asked it, respectfully and genuinely curiously. The subdomain fell quiet while it formulated a response to my question.

[Oh yes... there's an incredible amount of lust in here. All sorts of people who want nothing more than to fuck and be fucked. A perfect place for me.] The voice told me, lust dripping from each word it uttered.

At this point, I took my first real look at this place for the sake of familiarizing myself with my surroundings. It was during this time that I realized that this was probably a gigantic ballroom. A place intended for dance and not for unholy pleasures.

The debased ballroom was packed with people, all of whom were lustfully entertaining themselves. They moaned and groaned loudly, their pleasure-filled screams resounding loudly throughout the room, its acoustics probably designed for a live concrete, but not this kind.

I used this chance to idly examine the significant number of creatures, looking to find the one named Rinor.

When my hand was out of the ground, I was able to lay my eyes on the object I had just pulled free. I was holding a shield, one that radiated mystical energy, in my hand. I grinned at the object in my hand, while thoroughly analyzing it.

It was a shield that was roughly the same color as the floor it had been placed in. It was roughly 40 centimeters tall and wide, and it was made of carefully worked obsidian. It was a solid shield, clearly one capable of handling real blows, and there was a part of me that was tempted to take it and use it in combat. I chuckled at the image of myself as a sword and shield using type, knowing that that wasn't me.

After my amused reaction at that mental image, I quietly used my appraisal ability on the shield.

[New Item Knowledge Notification: The Bunker Shield

The Bunker Shield is an artifact that is used as the focus of a massive barrier that stretches entire kilometers in every direction.

This ancient artifact was created as part of a deal that was struck between an ancient archdevil and the founders of Namira, in the unimaginably distant past. It uses potent soul-energy to maintain a mighty barrier that feeds plants and maintains the environment within its reaches.

This artifact is the pinnacle of abjuration magic, and even being in its presence and examining its structure is enough for people to become more skilled abjuration magicians. It can create and maintain a barrier of immense, mythic proportions by using idle energy that is contained in nearly every living being.

Being in the presence of this artifact is making you a stronger caster of defensive, abjuration magic. The shield radiates a distinct, powerful, and lively energy.]

When I finished reading the notification I willed it away with a simple smile on my face. I refocused my vision on the legendary artifact in front of me and allowed my mind to reach out to the thing. It was radiating energy, almost as if it were alive somehow, so I decided to try and find out if it was. In my life, weirder things than an artifact being alive had happened so I didn't close my mind to the possibility that I was right.

Am I gonna be able to do this? I wondered as I tried a skill I often used on living creatures on the shield: I carefully opened my mind and began to build thin lines that could, in theory, allow the shield and I to mentally communicate. I closed my eyes, as if doing so would help me hear mental voices better, and waited to see if this would work.

I received an answer to that question at the same time as I received a notification.