New Semester (9)
A low hum vibrated through the air, accompanied by a faint sense of vertigo. Moments later came a metallic clack, and the doors slid open to either side. Students peered through with a mixture of anticipation, caution, and curiosity, only to be met by a solid wall of thick stone.
"Huh?" Pino blurted out, though the sentiment was shared by nearly everyone. They rubbed their eyes and looked again, but the view remained unchanged. Had they misunderstood the facility's purpose? Or made some kind of mistake?
While questions swirled in their heads, the doors shut again with the same metallic sound. Chrome spoke first.
"If the first and second floors share the same layout, maybe the entrance on the second floor is blocked by something."
Ligret answered immediately. "Want me to smash it?"
"Let's check the other floors first. If they're the same, then we smash."
The next button they pressed was for the third floor. This time the entrance wasn't sealed by a wall. The layout resembled the first floor—several rooms connected by corridors—but unlike the open chambers below, every door here was shut tight and refused to open.
Pino clicked her tongue in irritation. "So the second floor is blocked off and the third floor has every important room locked? What the hell is this place?"
"Let's just break the doors down. We can't keep running in circles like this."
"But what if the golems outside attack once we start smashing things?"
Chrome scratched his head. Both arguments had merit, and deciding between them wasn't easy. Ultimately, the one with the strongest say in the group was Chrome himself—which also meant he bore the responsibility for whatever choice they made.
"Ligret. Smash it."
—After all, when the situation was this ambiguous, Chrome preferred charging ahead over hesitation.
"Got it."
Her reply was short. The crash that followed was anything but. Ligret had already drawn a war hammer from her waist and struck the sealed door. The thick metal panel crumpled inward with a deafening roar. She struck again, and again—three times in total—until the door, as thick as a grown man's wrist, tore free and crashed to the floor.
"Hey, at least warn us before—"
The other students' complaints died in their throats the moment they saw what lay inside.
At the center of the room were two large circular magic circles etched into the floor, plus a smaller one in the corner. A human-sized golem stood nearby. One of the large circles held a single lump of crushed gold, while the other was half-buried beneath a pile of gold dozens of times larger. The golem, shovel in hand, scooped up the scattered gold and dumped it onto the smaller circle. The gold vanished moments later.
That alone was strange enough, but what happened next was even more astonishing. Once the golem cleared enough gold from the second large circle, the exposed runes began to glow with a soft light. The light rose like fireflies, coalesced in midair, and solidified into another lump of gold. The cycle repeated endlessly: light leaked from the large circle and became gold, the golem carried the gold to the small circle, the gold disappeared, and when the pile on the large circle dwindled, the light would appear again.
"What… is this?" Pino muttered.
Chrome answered, "We'll know more once we check the other rooms."
The other rooms followed the same pattern. The only difference was the material placed on the circles. Various gemstones. Different models of golems. When gems sat on one circle, more gems appeared on the other. When golems were present, new golems materialized. Finished gems were shoveled onto the small circle just like the gold; the completed golems simply walked onto it themselves.
"It looks like whatever gets duplicated here is being sent outside the building," Chrome said.
The students recalled the bizarre sight they had seen from the entrance: endless fields of gold and jewels, and hordes of golems.
"You've got to be kidding me," Pino whispered, half in disbelief.
Place gold on the circle and it multiplied without end. Place gems and they multiplied. Even complex constructs like golems were being produced here with no materials and no oversight. The process was slower than with gold or gems, but the fact that golems appeared from nothing more than a flash of light was already absurd. Materializing mana wasn't impossible—Ligret's Feldous's Summoning Gloves worked on a similar principle—but a fully automated, large-scale system running without maintenance was anything but ordinary. It would require an inexhaustible power source.
—…Ah. So that's what this place is.
Star Lands were strongly tied to specific stars. The star influencing the Shadow Mine was none other than the Maok. The Star God of that star granted a powerful blessing that amplified magic. The earth, the air, the sky—everything here was saturated with mana. Overflowing mana made this impossible replication factory function without issue.
—Wait. This is a huge discovery. If we can use this facility, we could mass-produce funds and weapons as much as we want!
—Gold and gems are already incredible, but if we can duplicate other things too…
Any thought of a simple internal survey had long since vanished from the students' minds. The discovery was too outrageous, the potential too limitless. They were so stunned they even forgot, for a moment, who had sent them here in the first place.
While Chrome debated whether to correct their misunderstanding or let their enthusiasm run for now, the communication artifact in his possession emitted a signal tone.
> Hey, Midas! You there!?
"I'm here. What's going on?"
> The golems! It wasn't a mistake—their numbers really are decreasing! The ones gathered around us are moving off somewhere one after another!
"Be more specific."
> We don't know exactly either! But from the flashes and explosions in the distance, it looks like the golems are fighting something!
Chrome's expression hardened at the urgent voice and its implications. The golems were fighting? Against someone other than the academy students?
> How far have you gotten with the inside investigation? Something feels off—get out of there quickly!
"Understood. We're heading out now."
Chrome turned to the group. "Something's happening outside. We should leave for now."
The students, having overheard the exchange, nodded in agreement. The facility itself wasn't going anywhere, so there was no need to rush. As they approached the elevator, Chrome glanced back at the third floor one last time. The golden haze only appeared above the "original" materials on the circles. Gold and gems held value, but not enough to linger for. Golems were even less worth the effort.
—I'd like to check the second floor and the basement too, but the situation outside seems more urgent. We'll have to come back later.
The party boarded the elevator again and returned to the first floor amid the strange floating sensation. Once everyone had stepped out, Chrome moved to follow—only for the elevator doors to slam shut right in front of him.
"Huh?"
Startled, he pressed the open button, but the doors didn't budge. Instead, the elevator began descending with him still inside. The moment it reached the basement level, the doors snapped open like lightning, and something lunged out from the darkness, seizing him. Before he could even scream, Chrome was dragged into the shadows. The only thing left behind was his monocle, lying quietly on the floor and gleaming in the dim light.