"What is this place?" Velra asked, her gaze drifting lazily across the vast room.
"It’s the library," I replied.
One of the many spaces prepared within the Imperial Palace to accommodate visiting nobles and foreign guests—a resting library, in name at least.
In reality, it was enormous.
Rows upon rows of antique bookshelves stretched into the distance, their dark wood polished by time rather than care. The faint scent of old paper and dried ink hung in the air, thick enough to tickle my nose with every breath.
Velra reached out, plucking a random book from the shelf. She flipped through it once, twice.
Her brow furrowed.
"...This is magic theory," she said flatly. "But the level is uniformly terrible."
I shrugged. "Naturally. The truly valuable grimoires are kept in the First Library—or sealed in the treasury."
"Hmph." She slid the book back with obvious disinterest. "Then this place is nothing more than decoration."
She turned away, already bored, while I stayed where I was—eyes scanning the shelves with far more focus than I let on.
’It should be around here...’
Memories from the game surfaced clearly in my mind.
From the entrance, straight ahead.
Sixth bookshelf down the corridor.
A green-bound volume, placed roughly three-quarters of the way up.
I walked forward, counting under my breath.
"...Four. Five. Six."
There.
My fingers brushed against a book that looked noticeably more neglected than the rest. A thin layer of dust coated its spine, thick enough to suggest it hadn’t been touched in years.
"Found it."
Velra glanced back at me, unimpressed.
I pulled the book free.
[Introduction to Solhaven Magic History]
She leaned closer, eyes flicking over the title.
"...That’s it?" she asked. "This is even worse than the others."
"In terms of content? Yes," I said calmly. "Completely unremarkable."
The importance of this book had never been its words.
I slid it aside and pressed my finger against the wooden backing behind it.
—Click.
A faint sound echoed through the library.
Velra froze.
"...What did you just do?"
Before I could answer, a soft, pale glow spread across the bookshelf. Runes etched deep into the wood surfaced one by one, lighting up like embers beneath ash.
The air itself changed.
Mana stirred—ancient, dense, and unmistakably sealed away for centuries.
Velra’s eyes widened slightly.
"This structure..." she murmured. "It’s not just a bookshelf."
The ground trembled.
With a low, resonant hum, the entire shelf slid aside, revealing a spiral staircase descending into darkness. Cold air rushed upward, carrying with it the scent of metal, alchemical reagents, and something far older.
A translucent glow suddenly bloomed before my eyes, sharp and unmistakable.
---
[Prerequisites satisfied.]
[Hidden Area Unsealed.]
[Destination Identified: The Immortal Research Lab]
---
I froze.
Velra noticed immediately.
She followed my line of sight, though she couldn’t see the message itself—only the faint distortion of mana in the air. Her crimson eyes narrowed, then widened slightly.
She stared at the space where the air had begun to twist, layers of runes slowly surfacing like veins beneath glass.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she let out a low, incredulous chuckle.
"...A teleportation magic circle," Velra murmured. "And not a crude one, either."
She stepped closer, crouching slightly to inspect the pattern. Even without touching it, the mana density was obvious—tight, precise, refined.
"This is ancient," she added. "And sophisticated. Whoever designed it understood both spatial compression and soul anchoring."
That alone was alarming.
Interest flared in her eyes, burning away the boredom she’d been wearing like a mask just moments earlier.
Velra straightened, her gaze flicking once more to the circle.
"...You’re certain you want to go in?"
I nodded, then extended my hand toward her.
The gesture came so naturally that I didn’t even realize I’d done it until she paused.
Velra looked down at my hand.
Then at my face.
For a heartbeat, her expression was unreadable.
"You’re asking me to lead you in," she said slowly.
"More like trusting you to keep me alive," I answered. "You’re better suited for unknown dangers than I am."
She let out a soft scoff.
"It’s reckless to enter a sealed space when we don’t know what’s waiting inside," Velra said. "It could be a trap. A prison. Or worse—something that shouldn’t wake up."
I shrugged, keeping my hand extended.
"Why worry? Lady Velra will solve everything, won’t she?" I said lightly. "Is there really a reason to hesitate?"
Her lips twitched.
Then she took my hand.
Her grip was firm—confident. Warm, despite her nature.
A fierce smile curved her lips, sharp and unmistakably hers.
"It’s only natural for a retainer to rely on their contractor," she said. "Trust me."
The magic circle flared brighter the moment our hands connected.
Light spilled outward from the bookshelf, runes rotating and locking into place as the space around us folded inward.
For a split second, my senses twisted—up became down, weight vanished, and the world seemed to stretch thin.
Then—
The light swallowed us whole.
---
When I opened my eyes again, the smell hit first.
Cold stone.
Old dust.
Metal—rusted, stale, heavy with age.
We stood at the mouth of a vast cavern, its ceiling swallowed by darkness. Jagged stone walls curved inward like the ribs of some colossal beast, veins of faintly glowing crystal embedded deep within them.
The air was thick with mana—ancient, stagnant, and unnatural.
"...A cave?" I muttered.
Velra released my hand and took a step forward, heels crunching softly against gravel.
Velra released my hand and took a step forward, her heels crunching softly against loose gravel.
"This isn’t a cave," she said after a brief pause. Her voice echoed faintly, swallowed by the vast darkness ahead. "At least, not one formed naturally."
She raised her hand, snapping her fingers once.
A sphere of crimson light bloomed into existence, hovering above her palm. The glow pushed back the shadows, revealing more of our surroundings.
Metal tracks were embedded into the stone floor, warped and half-buried by time.
Thick cables—long since petrified—ran along the walls like dead veins.
Broken glass cylinders lay scattered near the cavern walls, some large enough to hold a person.
My throat tightened.
"...So it really is a laboratory," I muttered.
"A research facility," Velra corrected calmly. "One that predates the current imperial calendar by several centuries, at the very least."
"...Immortal Research Lab," I repeated quietly. "They really weren’t subtle with the name."
....And it was at that moment, status window opened again before my eyes.