Ethan walked up the steps of the castle. He wore a slim magician's robe with and an armband on one side signifying his rank within the King’s Research Group. His hair was also cut short and his face clean-shaven. When he entered one of the side rooms someone called out to him.

“There you are. I am meaning to discuss the archeological dig with you. I want you to go,” he said. The man also wore similar robes but with a differently-designed armband.

“You know I don’t. I have my own projects to finish. If they are in need of supervisors and artifact experts then why don’t you let Arron go?”

“That is because Arron is not you. You are under the age of thirty and that means you have more opportunities for promotion. He just turned thirty last month. If you do not take it then I will have to recommend someone else to take on the task and I am sure that they will be more grateful to do so. How goes your personal projects anyways? You do know that the pieces of those ancient blueprints were originally from one of the older dig sites.”

“Yes. I am aware of the history of this piece of technology. And to answer your question. I have transcribed much of the runes functions for the golem already, but some of the pieces deal with an older understanding of how runes work. It is like trying to cook a soup without a lid. I don’t know where the lid is, so I have to be very careful with how hot I let the soup be before it bubbles over.”

“Ethan. You are very smart and taking a leave to join the army has given you more time to experience the world than most of the other researchers will during their time stuck in workshops. Will you please go to the dig site? I’ll also make sure that you aren’t disturbed for at least a month so you can test those runes for a while and figure them out. It is good to be ambitious.”

Ethan let out a sigh. “Fine. I’ll go. Just let me pack up my stuff. I can ride there in three days. Will there be any others from our group there?”

“Nope. I was there last week, but you will be the only one representing us there. It was quite busy earlier in the year and there was quite the rush to claim an artifact to study from there. Listen. I’m not expecting much from you, but you can learn from the unearthed tombs and so on. There are many ancient runes along those walls, and they are staying there because we can’t and don’t want to remove the structural elements from the area. Maybe you will get some inspiration.”

“I guess I will see you in two weeks then. Don’t mess with my lab while I’m gone,” said Ethan stepping back towards the door.

“Don’t worry I will make sure that it is locked up safe. If you want you could even bring your rune drawings from the golem to the site. It will be great to compare. From what I have learned about the site and golem is that they were both constructed and designed during the same time period during the current kingdom's rule.”

“I will do that. See you later.”

“Bye.”

------

Ethan rode out of the city and in three days he arrived at the archaeological dig. He had also changed into something less formal, but still wore his armband signifying his rank. After tying up his horse he surveyed the area.

The workers had been digging up the pit for weeks now. Seeing the tents set up he approached the ones currently inside and introduced himself.

“Hello. I am Ethan. I am here to look around and inspect the dig site.”

One of the men stepped up. He wore mining clothes and had a simple beard. “Hello. My name is Don. I run this mess.” He shook Ethan’s hand. “As per our agreement with those in charge you are free to look around and ask any questions you like of those working. Don’t disturb them for too long though. They may get grumpy because they do have quotas to fill. I would recommend you start at the red tent over there.” He pointed to one, four tents down from where they were. “It has all of the most recent finds that are either in the process of cleaning or have already been cleaned. Make sure you follow and instructions from the workers there if you want to touch anything. The items can be very fragile. As for when you look around I would recommend starting at the church first. It was the building unearthed first.”

“Can you tell me a little more about how they found this place? I know it is quite old.”

“Yeah. They had first found parts of a church. A local man who originally owned this place found the steeple and then started digging from there. The other researchers say that this place was probably covered by a landslide from higher up on the hill where the capital now resides.”

“Thank you for the information. I will leave you to your work.”

“Have a good day then sir.”

“You too sir.”

Ethan nodded and headed off to the red tent where he met the ones in charge of it.

“I suppose Don already gave you the spiel then. This bucket you are free to look through without gloves just be careful with the sharp ones and the ones with moving parts. They will all go to one of the museums or in the display halls of one of the noble houses depending on what the others want,” she said.

“Thanks,” said Ethan as he started to look over the items.

“I will bring out some of the others just give me a moment.”

Ethan nodded as he started moving around the items in the box to get a better look. The first item he took out was a ceremonial knife used in some animal sacrifice rituals that had long since gone out of date. It was a nice piece of craftsmanship but had long since dulled and chipped. The next items he removed were some wooden and stone toys. The wooden ones had also fallen into disrepair, but the stone ones still worked.

‘There might be some collectors interested in buying up this junk but none of it is magical.’ He turned to the woman who was bringing out the other items.

“Do you have any new rune carved items or broken artifacts that have been recently found?”

“I sadly don’t have any in the tents. The unearthing of interesting items has been random and requires luck. The current items have already been claimed and taken away to their buyers. I could provide you with a list of people if you wish to contact them, but you can only wait for new ones to be found by others or yourself.”

“That is too bad but expected. I will see what you brought out anyways before I go.”

“Put on these gloves then and hold each item gently.”

She set down the second box and Ethan started going over it with the gloves now on. This new box was larger than the first and filled higher too. Resting on the top was a bag filled with ceramic pieces. He lifted it up carefully and examined it. The pieces were glazed with some paints that had at one point in time depicted an interesting event. The color had faded from parts of the ceramic, and it was also chipped along the edges of the pieces.

Going through the box he found additional ritual knives that were in better shape than the last. He also found a heating rune plate that would have been used for cooking and fireplaces. It was a neat piece of ancient technology, but he could get many copies of it back at the capital.

‘I guess I can’t be that lucky. I will have to ask the excavators more about the rune devices they found later. These pieces will be nice for the others, but they aren’t what I am looking for.’

He turned to the woman after setting down the item he was holding. “Do you know where I can find the carved rune walls?”

“You can find them if you follow the left path around the excavated area and then take the second side street on your right. It is on the buildings there.”

“Thank you for your assistance.”

“I am happy to be of service.”

Ethan left her to her work and walked down the wooden stairs the excavators had built into the pit. He followed the path he had been told to follow and looked around. The miners had already dealt with this area, so he was undisturbed. Most of the buildings were houses that were simple one-story fired clay and brick houses.

Looking down the main road that had been dug out he saw the church Don had mentioned. It was the only building made of stone. It was twice as wide in either direction than any of the houses and had a tall arched roof with a spire. On one side of the church, the wall had collapsed. Any glass that might have been in the windows was long gone. Making a note to visit it next Ethan moved on.

After turning down the side street Ethan found the houses she had mentioned. Carved into the walls were hundreds of rune designs between all four sides of the three houses. The reacting agents were gone leaving only the cuts and marks of where runes should be finished. The old walls had cracked with time, but Ethan started recording the runes he didn’t recognize anyways.

Taking out his notebook and charcoal he began drawing the most distinctive runes he could find. Some of them he could guess at their functions, but testing would be required. Others looked like a foreign language, a jumbled mess, random scribbles. He continued writing like the other rune scholars that came here before him. None would share what they brought back with them from this place so he would have to do the work himself.

After some time, he watched a worker walk through the side street.

“Excuse me. Could you answer some questions about these buildings?”

“Depends on the questions. The others always ask about this place and the church. I remember most of the information.”

“Good. Do you have a catalog of what items were brought out from these houses or at least remember what the most notable items from them were?”

“That I do know. There were some tablets with ancient writing carved into them. They were in various states of disrepair as all things from here seem to be but the scholars currently visiting seemed very excited to return home to translate them. There were also some old swords. One was an artifact sword with some legible pieces of runes on it. In some boxes buried further under the houses, there were also cellars with gold coins in them. The entire dig site was very happy when that happened. We all got bonuses for that find. It also gave us the idea to further dig under the church which has more recently led us to search the catacombs that were beneath it.”

“What have you found in the catacombs?”

“Lots of bones of course. Some additional tablets. I heard from some scholars before they left that they held a record of some of the notable people from history buried there. I wasn’t that interested in the conversation after that. They also found ancient jewelry and offerings for the dead. The less valuable stuff was left as is while the nicer stuff is currently being cleaned up before being put on display by the King at some event later.”

“Thank you for the information. I will leave you to your work then.”

The worker left and Ethan returned to transcribing runes. He continued doing so for some time before his hands were tired and he took a break. After getting some food he left the spot and walked to the church.

The interior of the church was filled with workers. He entered through the side that had collapsed and stepped over the broken stones. The workers didn’t pay attention to him, and he didn’t mind them. In the front of the church stood a raised stone dais that held layers of engraved art. Ethan recognized that some of the designs were runic in nature but not all of them. The wooden doors despite their age showed that they also held artistic marks at one point in time as well.

To the left of the dais, the workers funneled down the tunnel that led to the catacombs. Ethan joined them after looking around for another minute. The pews and chairs had been left largely untouched by the workers. Ethan could almost imagine a time when they were all filled, and prayers were sung to the Old Gods of the world.

Ethan had to duck as he entered the tunnel. The workers had lined the explored halls with torches. Ethan took out his own light device and poured some mana into it. The mana stone glowed brighter but not as harsh as the torches. The workers glanced at him as he activated the device but returned to their work.

Ethan followed the main path the workers had set up and eventually found what they were currently working on. Shovel and picks banged against the dirt as they tried to dig out a collapsed part of the catacombs. He quickly moved on to the other side routes within the catacombs. Piles of skulls lined the walls and boxes and urns sat in the depressions of the tunnels. The urns were well preserved, but bugs had gotten to most of the wood. The paint was still vibrant while being dusty.

Ethan began moving the urns around. Some had already been opened and emptied while others still locked. In the first few boxes were more remains. The search was slow, and Ethan sped it up with his [Detect Metal] spell. The ground beneath him lit up with flickers of light from the trace metals in the ground below. He turned his attention to the catacombs around him.

He started navigating his way around the tunnels until he hit a wall and saw several large metal pieces near it. The pieces each glowed brightly but their shape was hard to discern. Ethan checked the sides of the wall and determined that the metal items were further behind on the other side of the wall.

He looked left then right. The catacomb tunnel on either side looked identical. Deciding to start with his dominant hand’s side he turned left and followed the path. It turned slightly and bent but ultimately started going further away from the metal’s location. Turning himself around he followed the path the other way. It too led to a dead end.

‘Secret passage perhaps? Maybe it is connected to the rest from the other side that has caved in. I might as well check it out first. There aren’t any mages around here after all and I can claim some items here as long as I make a report of them later.’

Ethan looked around one more time to check if anyone was around before turning to mist. His form floated through the wall before landing in a new room. Looking around he froze and turned back into his solid form.

Resting against the opposite side of the wall he had phased through sat an old corpse. The body was dressed in the mage garb of a group that was an interesting group to Ethan.

‘The Black Blood Cult. Few records remain of their group, and they were wiped out completely a thousand years ago after a peasant mage brought an entire tomb of people back from death and destroyed several small towns and gathered many followers before being wiped out.’

Ethan began looking around the room he had been dropped in closer. Sitting on the head of the body was a gold crown, but Ethan left it there. On the sidewall, a bookshelf sat crooked. He started going through the books and checking for damage. There were only a few books, but one caught his eye.

The book did not have a title on its spine and when he checked the cover it didn’t have a label either. The pages were not dirty, and they did not have any dust on them when he picked them up. When he did so his hands leaked dark mana and the power released swirled into the pages as it opened up to the first page. He started flipping through the pages as his heart raced. The first pages contained various attack spells [Cloud of Daggers], [Shadow Knife]. The other pages continued on with darkness-based spells for weapons and then covered curses.

‘This is a holy grail for someone like me. I cannot let the others on this dig site know that I have it. I only need to hide it for the rest of my stay. It is only a week and then I can learn these in their entirety. I will learn all of the spells then destroy the book. From its state, it must be warded from damage so I will need to find a way to destroy it while learning from it. When I get back I will have so much stuff to do. I hope Andy can extend my break and divert my workload for two months instead.’

Ethan resumed flipping through the pages memorizing the titles to start with so he could start with the most interesting spells first. As he read two more spells stuck out at him. They were [Memory Manipulation] and [Create False Soul]. There was of course the usual necromancy spells further into the book. Eventually, Ethan reached the end of the book. He felt as though no time had passed since he opened the book and all the time in the world had passed.

Closing the book, he put the book in his bag and started going over the other books. The others were less magical in nature, so he left them on the shelves. They were mostly the history of the organization and some on the town. He did find a small scroll with some runes on it. After looking it over he decided to pocket it at well.

As Ethan started to go over the other items in the room he heard a bang. It startled him and he looked around. The thuds came louder and from down the hall. Peeking his head out he saw several pickaxes sticking through the side. Pulling his head back he retreated into the room.

‘I guess I am happy with what I found. I should get going though.’

With another cast of his spell, he returned to the explored section of the cave. HE heard the noises again, but they were muffled. With the help of [Detect Life], he found his way to the miners opening up the path. The miners seeing that the opening was started they brought their picks down quicker with each blow. Soon they had opened up a hole large enough for even the larger men to fit through.

Ethan returned outside after they finished. If there was anything else interesting down there he would have to ask Don later. Throughout the rest of the week, Ethan returned to the houses carved with runes and filled in his notebook full of them until he had to buy another to fill as well.

The miners and crew continued to explore the newly opened section and bring up new items. They did bring up an old artifact armor set that intrigued him, so Ethan had them set it aside for him. For a fee, he was able to loan the armor for the next year as he researched its runes. When the time was done he would then be responsible for returning it to the crown. During the rest of his time, Ethan never removed the book from his bag. Several times he awoke in the night and felt an urge to start learning its knowledge, but he put it off each time. Soon the day finally came for him to leave. He thanked Don and some of the other workers he had personally talked to during his time. Returning to his horse that had been taken care of by the stable hands he returned to the capital with the goods in hand.