Rise of the Nightmare Crestmaster

Aldrich took the key of the superior and walked down to the basement. He stood before the metallic gate and inserted the key into the center of the wheel.

With a clinking sound he turned the wheel and it finally moved. In the past no matter how much he pushed it wouldn't budge and yet today it only took a little nudge.

Indeed, force was not always the optimal method. His patience payed off. If he had insisted on doing things there and then, perhaps he would be in the same place as the Lost Ones of Voros, unable to leave.

Dust showered over Aldrich but he was untouched by it because he used [Aurora:Augment] to create a thin sheet of film to shield himself.

Aldrich acknowledged that it was childish but no one was here to see him so it was fine. He wasn't flexing, he was practicing. There was a difference, besides dust could be harmful to the lungs.

Behind the gate there was a small cubicle that had an iron base and a strange handle to the left of the weird thing. It could fit several men but he couldn't see and staircase or another door.

Aldrich scratched his head in wonder. He wasn't sure how to proceed. Was he wrong all this time?

No, he saw the memories of the armored husk he knew for a fact that the superior used to deliver experimental subjects and other things through this place.

Aldrich took a moment to think about his options and decided to do nothing for now. He didn't think it was the best idea to go in there unprepared.

He took the key and turned his attention to the western wall of the basement, it was filled with ceiling-high cupboards with glass doors. Previously he tried to break the thing without any results.

It was used to store many of the magical reagents and chemicals along with experimental tools used by the Unseen Hand.

Aldrich tried to open the first cupboard and unsurprisingly it offered no resistance. He could finally see without obstruction, huge flasks filled to the brim with, red, blue, and green liquids.

Using the Eyes of Insight he saw them for what they are.

Health, stamina and mana potions. Impure.

As he expected they were potions but they were impure. He did not know exactly what they meant but he could guess that they weren't ready for consumption, which was a shame.

Next he opened the rest of the cupboards and took out similar potions and small arm-sized chests with intricate designes. Unfortunately he was able to open only three of them with the superior's key.

The first one had a rusted and falling-apart long dagger.

[The Bane of Gumuge (+3) ]: a dagger created for the purpose of killing Gumuge, a monster that rampaged through the land and killed many innocent people and ended any heroes that dared face it.

It was created with the hands of a true Oread. A magical virus will build up in the body of the victim, eventually causing the blood to rupture. It consumes stamina for each use.

Wow, jackpot! Aldrich almost jumped up in joy, it was a magical item. And an extremely useful one at that.

The Caldron in the Fractured chapel was not a wish making device, it may have looked like it enhanced Aldrich's great sword very easily and simply.

That truth was the price of that enhancement was already paid for by the author of the journal and his friends before making their last stand in the overseer's mansion.

Not only does it require essence, to make a +3 item, which are items with special effects you need special items, like a certain organ from a certain monster or a specific metal.

Finding one right here was a stroke of luck. Next was the second box which had several precious jewels and gems some of them looked like rubies. This was not the first time he found such things, he had almost forgotten about those.

He decided to take one with him today since he was going to see Yasbel soon he might as well ask for her opinion on what best to do with them.

The last chest had a tied up ancient scroll, it was small but it gave off a mysterious feeling to him when he held it in his hand.

Spell scroll of ####: ????

The information he got out of it was minimal and he may or may not have heard of spell scrolls before.

This could be useful later on so he decided to return it to the chest and keep it. With this he finished inspecting everything in the basement, he could say that he got many things and yet what he couldn't get was more.

Unfortunately the superior had only one job, to deliver these things downstairs and he had no right to make use of them or even see most things.

This was disappointing but it was reality. In any case although he wanted more what could he do? It was better to be happy with what he already got.

Aldrich took the three chests and returned everything back to the cupboards. Next he returned to the ground floor and stashed everything in the study room.

He wasn't done with the nightmare realm yet. It had been a while, Aldrich licked his lips, today was going to be a day of slaughter.

He recalled Varth Elmer's story and how he destroyed an army of a thousand grey orcs. He wanted to see how he was going to fare against and army of Malformed husks.

How many could he kill before he himself was killed? He ought to know the real limit of his current abilities and powers, what way was better than wanton slaughter?

Besides he longed to get himself a nice Bag of Holding, it was seventeen green orbs, that was not such a great amount to him anymore. That settles it, he was going to go back home with two magic items tonight.