Nero looked at Gabriel, who was grinning from ear to ear at the sight of the cards. It only made sense. All the cards they could use had extremely basic functions. Only higher starred cards had more impressive and intricate functionality.
More importantly, compared to other items that could just net them some random merit, these cards could actually contribute to their survival down in the basement.
Gabriel picked up the stack, yes it was an entire stack, of unranked cards. As he went through them, what he saw surprised him even more than the actual stack of unranked cards!
All of these unranked cards were actually just copies of the same three cards.
_emp _y,r.
Name: Ful Defend
Image: A figure in a complete set of armour, holding out a large metal shield
Type: Defensive
Star rank: X
Ability: [Maketh an area of ful defend, so long as aether is fed]
Flavour text: "Their honour we will defend, so long as we drawen breth," - Gravis June
Name: Ful Hele
Image: A body being lifted as a white light fills its chest
Type: Hele
Star rank: X
Ability: [Allow de user to fully recover from all harms taken while it lasteth, when de spell is dispelled]
Flavour text: "This body we give, for all that they have given us" - Gravis June
Name: Fair Weather
Image: The sun is shining on a field of green
Type: Domain
Star rank: X
Ability: [Allow de user to void all artificial atmospheric effects within a certain range around]
Flavour text: "De world must be cleansed of pollution, so that they dwell in de world longer" - Gravis June
It was just three cards, but each of them had exactly thirty copies in the stack, for a total of ninety cards.
The fact that the cards were identical copies broke the rule that all unranked cards were random and couldn't be replicated at will. Basically, all that meant was that they, as a civilisation, still had much to learn about cards.
But considering that neither Nero nor Gabriel were too familiar with the depth of card manufacturing, they were not too bothered by it. Instead, the effects of the cards themselves drew great astonishment.
"This… probably causes a massive drain on aether," Nero said, holding up Ful Defend. If he was reading it correctly, and he was certain that he was, the card would allow him to maintain an unbreakable defence as long as he supplied the card with aether.
But even that was not nearly as insane as Ful Hele, if he understood it correctly. He dared not be completely confident until he tested it out.
From what he understood, once he activated the card, any damage he would accrue would revert or disappear once the card became inactive. He had never heard of or never came across such a card, and he dared not test its limits though his mind could not help but wonder. He visualised a scene where he used the card until he died, which would automatically deactivate the card, bringing him back to life.
It was not something he was willing to experiment with on himself, but that would be one hell of a surprise for his enemies if it worked.
Yet, just like with Ful Defend he guessed that it would probably consume a very large amount of aether.
Both of these cards were incredibly impressive, which is why the third one, initially, was a big disappointment. At a glance, there was no utility for Fair Weather at least in his present circumstances. He could see how it would be helpful against someone who spread poison or toxic gases in the air. But besides that, it seemed like it was useless.
Yet, almost immediately, something occurred to Nero. What if it could push back the fog? That was something Nero would never have even imagined had it not been for the Vaults ability to keep the fog out to begin with. The only catch was that the card stated it could only push back 'artificial' atmospheric effects, which is why he was uncertain if the fog counted or not.
Perhaps the fog outside might not count, but at least for the moment the fog in the basement wasn't connected to the source, so it should count as artificial right? Again, this was not something he could conclude without trying, but if it worked, then he might have just cleared his greatest obstacle in fighting the tentacle monster outside.
He shared his theory with Gabriel, who went from grinning like an idiot to being thoroughly stunned.
"Do you… do you realise what this means if it works?" Gabriel asked. "If it works then the army will no longer need Neophytes to explore the basements! This could literally change everything! If it could work on the regular fog as well then… then the other ruins might be within reach as well!"
Lumina might be the newest ruins within reach, but it was far from the only discovered ruins. For example, on the Mirage Isle within Lake Natura ruins of another Eldrim city could be seen from the coast of New Velariya. But no one could access Mirage Isle, not only because of the fog that covered the centre of the lake, but also because of its illusory nature.
If one focused on it too much, or tried to approach it, it would disappear.
Similarly, near the border of Kolar and Dolziya, in the foothills covered in fog in front of the Aether Mountain Range, another set of ruins could be seen when the fog thinned.
But both of these could only be viewed, and never reached. Yet if these cards could reliably push away the fog…
"We're getting ahead of ourselves. It still needs to be tested, and we need to get out of here first. Let's continue looking around, I feel like this room might hide more things."
Indeed, the very next drawer they opened contained a box full of Aether candies that Gabriel identified with having an aether restoring effect. There were also a number of documents which were too technical and beyond the realm of Nero's understanding, especially in old Valen.
The more they searched the room, the more treasures they found, yet what Nero discovered most of all was a sensation he had never felt before. It was a feeling of encountering valuable treasures that he was destined to part from.
There was an obsidian dagger that just touching filled Nero with raging strength, so much so that he suspected he had become as strong as an Arcanist! Moreover, it did not even require him to channel aether into it, yet not even the combined might of Nero and Gabriel, even strengthened by the dagger, could lift it from the display case where it sat.
There was a strange plant that wafted off aether, which was something Nero had never seen nor heard off. Even Gabriel had never heard of such a thing. Aether was sourceless, as far as they knew, and if they did have to name a source for aether then aether shards is what they would think of, not plants.
When the two of them tried to access the computer, they were unable to for it required identification verification which they both failed. They could probably go and fetch the corpse from the other room, but it would take too much time and there likely wasn't anything in the computer that could immediately help them, so they let it go.
The two of them continued to scour the room, and Nero made sure to check for secret or hidden switches or compartments similar to the one Remi discovered, although he genuinely did not expect to actually find one.
That was why, when his finger rubbed against a switch behind the border of the one painting in the room, he froze. Filled with a hint of disbelief Nero pressed the switch, and heard a distinct click, pushing the painting out of the wall from one side.
The two teenagers looked at each other before Nero swung the painting open, revealing a small hole in the wall.
"What is that?" Gabriel asked, focusing on it. The hole was too small for even the pinky finger, so he could not understand the purpose of it.
"It can't be," Nero murmured and opened up his backpack. Back in the cathedral, after completing his mission and handing over the artefacts, Nero had tried to give the major the other items he found, but the major was too distracted to accept them.
Nero pulled out a black key and studied the grooves on it. It would be too much of a coincidence if he had somehow stumbled on the key, and yet as he pushed the key in through the hole, it slid right in without resistance.
Nero turned the key once, and the mechanism behind the wall clicked, and pushed open a perfectly blended door in another wall.
The two teenagers glanced at each other, then moved towards the door with haste. It felt like they had discovered a secret treasure.