-- Aster 10 days ago --

I found myself making my way back to the library to see if my dumb idea was even possible. I didn't have much time left, 3 days and they were counting down fast. 'There has to be something here, some kind of record for someone trying this. If I don't find anything today I'm going to end up trying to hunt down old people, and I'd rather not do that.' I'd been searching for the last hour just mumbling to myself. "Where are you? I know there has to be something."

I was amazed by how many books were still locked out to me, even though I was level 29, a keeper, and a quester. Makes me wonder if the rest will even unlock once I hit 30, or if there is some arbitrary rule for them to be accessed. I found some promising titles Alternate Energy Sources or What is Leveling Anyway but they were all sealed. It was starting to drive me crazy.

'Focus Aster. We need to find something to force this, I know that leveling is just a build-up of energy, and once it reaches a certain limit it's used to rebuild the body, but I have no idea what kind of power, or how much?'

I've been hunting for hours now, but the only books I've found are volumes on ways people killed themselves. I kept running into the same title so many times, Experiments to Die For, I decided to check it out. At this point, I was having trouble focusing anyway, and was morbidly curious.

Finding the book's location I made my way through the library, the size of the place was only emphasized by the fact it took me 20 minutes to even reach the section the book was located, not to mention taking another 20 to even find the book.

"I don't have time for this." I reached up with my card downloading the book and made my way to one of the tables to read it.

Each entry was filled with a lot of diagrams, pictures, and technical explanations I did not understand. Thankfully each entry had a summary at the end of each article. The first thing in the manuscript was a disclaimer.

Due to the sensitive nature, no names will be given.

Subject, a level 26 Rogue, attempted to use a trebuchet to travel. It has been proven that if a person creates a 6-foot cushion of air one can survive, although it involves exact timing to be effective. The subject attempted to use the device, only to find that the g-forces involved with the launch disoriented the subject to the point that they were unable to orient correctly. This incorrect orientation lead the subject to land at high speeds against the stone ground causing immediate death on impact. Subject claims they were trying to revolutionize travel. This would only work for going over highly dangerous zones, and would be limited in distance.

The images that came along with the report were fairly graphic, and a little disturbing. I shivered at the idea and turned to the next report.

Subject, a level 23 Mage, attempts to become a fire elemental. The subject found a field outside of An Le Notre, built a massive pyre with the help of multiple mages. According to reports, the fire hit temperatures of 3000 degrees with the other help. The subject believed he could absorb the fire into himself becoming a fire elemental. Witnesses say the subject prepared himself as the pyre built, and walked into the fire. At first, it appeared to be working, but after approximately 3 seconds they let out a scream and disintegrated. The subject never returned and it is believed the pain was too much breaking his mind.

That...is a terrible way to go. I mean why would they even want to become an elemental anyway?

Subject, a level 26 warrior, believed water training would give him an edge. The subject found a large pool of water and jumped in to train. The subject found some success in the resistance training, but was prone to continue beyond their limits drowning in the pool. The subject continued training in the pool constantly increasing time under the water before either drowning or pulling himself out. Eventually, the warrior found he no longer needed to surface after a 3-day training session, after closer examination it turned out the subject learned to unconsciously breathe through his skin.

I skipped around looking for anything that might be useful. It was somewhere in the middle of the book I found something.

Subject, a level 24 Mage, attempted to survive jumping into an electrical storm. The subject believed it would deepen his understanding of lightning after he had recently increased in level. They found an area known for storms and enlisted the help of multiple mages to create a highly concentrated electrical field. Once the storm began the mage opened all his mana channels and pulled, attracting every lighting bolt in the area. The subject and other participants were unsure how much electrical discharge struck him, but estimate at least a couple hundred. By all accounts, the subject should have perished, but was saved by the other mages quickly bringing him to a crystal. They disappeared as his hand touched the gem, finding himself fully healed. The subject claims he felt a slightly better connection with the element ,but claims it was extremely minor.

'How did the crystal save him? The article clearly stated he had just leveled up so how could he do so again so soon?' I had an idea why. 'Ok. I have a lead but I don't have a group to summon a storm or even bring me to a crystal. There's got to be something else.'

I closed the book and headed back to the nearest terminal, I only had the vaguest idea of what I was looking for, and decided to change my approach focusing on only keeper information, thinking the answer had to be there.

I found myself just scrolling and scrolling adding more keywords. 'Maybe I'm overthinking this.' I input just 2 words: Keeper Artifacts. I was surprised when I got 5 hits, and they were simply labeled Keeper Artifacts vol. 1 - vol. 5.

'How was it that easy?'

It looked that volumes 4 and 5 were locked till level 30 but it might not be an issue if I could find what I was looking for in the first 3. It took some time to find the books but I was in high hopes when I started to read.

Their was a nice breakdown of all the artifacts, and what the items did. Most of the objects had a further explanation with more information on them. There are hundreds of different items listed, some of the more interesting ones were:

Military Issue Special forces Badge: Creates an impenetrable energy shield that completely covers a person's body and looks like a badge.

Light Sword: Weapon with a blade made of solid light, able to cut through most materials with extreme heat.

Umbrella of Descent: Slows and protects a person from falling and debris.

Sonic Axe: Axe with Sonic edge used to cut trees and frequency can be increased to cut multiple trees.

Plasma Rifle: Rifle that fires superheat plasma.

Chameleon Cloak: Renders person wearing the cloak invisible.

Portable house: Shelter that can be worn as a backpack then later inflated to a small house. Mainly used for shelter or research.

Water Purifier: Cleans and purifies large bodies of water.

Life Accelerator: Used to accelerate plant growth, draining current nutrients in the soil.

Atmospheric Generator: Used to clean air of any toxins rendering air breathable.

Portable Shield: Sets up a round dome that can be used to hold an atmosphere

Soil Converter: Renders soil usable for planting.

Waste Recycler: Recycles waste to be reused.

LFR: Low-frequency radio with unlimited range.

Food Printer: Once load with the material can print any food.

Nanite Swarm: Item used to render an object to its base components.

Nuclear Bomb: Uses a chain reaction to create a highly dangerous explosion that can be used to wipe out cities. Creates radioactive fallout, irradiating land it is used on and the surrounding areas.

Ray Gun: Uses highly concentrate beams of light to pierce through materials.

There were a lot more items in the First Volume, but none stood out. When I opened the other volumes I found they weren't lists of artifacts.

Vol. 2 was just an entire book on vehicles, and each one didn't appear to be very practical. Vehicles on 4 rubber wheels could work in a city, but the second it was outside the walls it would easily be destroyed. They needed to be more like the trains and buses. Heavily fortified and enchanted, from what I could tell none of these were, and none of the vehicles had anything I could use.

Vol. 3 was less of a list of existing artifacts, and more of a list of types of energy sources, and how to build them. Solar Panels, hydroelectric generators, wind turbines, nuclear power, geothermal, fission, algae solar? The list went on and on, even one talking about harvesting helium from a star. Was that even possible? None of these I would be able to use, I especially wouldn't have time to build anything remotely like this.

After going through each book I felt...disappointed. 'Everything seems so...mundane. Why are the keepers' artifacts so simple?' The only things that had any potential for me were the stuff in the first book.

The low-frequency radio with unlimited range seemed useful but made me wonder why there weren't more of them or if it even worked.

The nuclear bomb sounded interesting but didn't know if I believed its claim of being able to wipe out a city. All the defenses and enchantments fortifying the location made it seem unrealistic, no matter the size of the explosion. I also didn't understand why it mentions irradiating the land. I mean radiation fades after a week or 2.

The ray gun looked interesting. When I turned to the article I found a picture of a silver gun with a spike instead of a barrel and a green handle. 'Weird.' Let's see it says it shoots high-intensity light and can penetrate anything. Contains something called a nuclear battery, and the light is made of a combination of hard light and mirrors. I did not understand the rest of the explanation, but I might be able to use it.

The more I looked over the descriptions the more I was confused why these were considered artifacts. I mean I could recreate most of these with my smithing, or even with a skill.

'What is a nanite swarm?' Looking up its picture it kind of reminded me of a monster crystal.

'Why isn't there a cheat artifact that just levels me up?'

I let out a long sigh. "Maybe I can use one of these." I listed down some of the items I thought would be my best bet.

'Let's see if these are even still around.'

I spent the next couple of hours going through histories, fairy tales, memoir's, mentions, and first-hand accounts of each of the artifacts. Many of these artifacts never even had a single mention and other's were barely used, the light sword was used by a hero a long time ago, then was held as a ceremonial weapon for another 200 years, then it disappeared, was found, then disappeared, and then found again in the palm of a statue in city hall. Right now it is held in a high-security vault somewhere.

I found information on the special forces badge, it was last seen in a museum a few cities away. It used to be used by the head of security there for a hundred years until it apparently failed and was deemed untrustworthy. The shield has been in the museum ever since. "Makes sense, no one wants a faulty shield."

Eventually, I found 2 artifacts in the same location that might work. The ray gun was thought to be in a private collection, which happened to be located in An Le Notre, and the last seen instance of the ax was there as well.

"Looks like once a month he opens his collection to the public." I pulled out my phone searching for the collection. I scrolled through the website quickly finding bother the gun and ax. Both were tarnished and dirty, but there was no mistaking them.

'When is it open next? In 3 weeks. Fuck! Guess I'm breaking in.'