**#259. The Watchmen (1)**
—
[Recognizing user.]
[Recognition complete.]
[Welcome, User #1.]
‘User #1.’
He had heard a similar message when he first visited Ignis’s cube in Sector 37.
「Welcome to your second visit, User #1. Current location: Processing Room 23.」
He had naturally assumed it was an error.
Because if that message was accurate, it meant he was the very first person to open an account in Ignis.
Yet here it was again—User #1.
It seemed the error hadn’t been corrected.
*Vmmm!*
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue…
The seven-colored lines zipped across the card, shining without pause.
*Dding─ dding─ dding─*
Each time, the card emitted a clear tone, and the colored lines gradually slowed until they completely stopped, settling into fixed patterns like they were etched in place.
[All functions unlocked. Please specify a function to use.]
“I can use the card’s functions?”
[Please specify a function.]
“I’m not a Rainbow, though.”
[Please specify a function.]
“Originally, Ignis cards could only be used by registered owners.”
[If no function is specified within 30 seconds, the White Card will automatically deactivate.]
No matter how many times he asked, he received no direct answers.
Apparently, the range of possible responses was limited.
“What functions are available?”
[You may retrieve items stored in Acrassium or store external items within it.]
“I’ll withdraw one shilling.”
[Confirmed.]
A coin materialized from thin air and dropped into Ray’s palm.
“I’ll store it again.”
[Confirmed.]
The coin was enveloped in light and vanished without a trace.
Deposit and withdrawal.
Though the process was instant, Ray had managed to catch a glimpse of a narrow gap opening and closing on his palm.
‘Items must pass through that gap.’
With that thought, he continued asking questions.
“Can I see a list of items stored in Acrassium?”
[…Updating storage list. System is outdated due to dormancy and requires inspection. Update may take some time.]
“How long?”
[Estimated time required: two weeks.]
Far too long.
Less than ten days remained until the Day of the Sun, when the Dawn Society would reveal its malice to the world.
After several questions and tests, Ray learned that unless he knew the name or could recognize the appearance of an item, he couldn’t retrieve it.
As he deliberated, a sudden idea struck him.
“Can I store myself in Acrassium?”
[Possible.]
“Then, right now—”
Just then, the Pope and Solite approached.
After hearing the explanation about the card, the two showed differing reactions.
“A tool prepared for the Rainbow, huh… If it’s all right with you, how about handing it to him personally later? There’s no guarantee the Rainbow will find their way here properly. Of course, how you handle it is entirely up to you.”
Ray nodded and said,
“And I think I might be able to enter Rael’s vault through the card. I’ll need to check, but I suspect there’s a lot more stored in there than just money.”
“Sir Ray, using something meant for the Rainbow so freely is…”
“There could be equipment in there that would greatly help in fighting the Dawn Society.”
“Consider it payment for the card’s storage service. It’s only fair—the first finder usually gets a portion of lost items as a reward.”
When Ray stayed silent, Solite pressed him with a pointed look.
“Well? Aren’t you going in?”
“…….”
Ray, about to say something, instead turned toward the light and said,
“I’ll store myself in Acrassium.”
[Confirmed.]
*Vmmmm!*
In an instant, the expanding light engulfed Ray’s entire body.
Soon, he felt his consciousness drifting, as if his body were being transported somewhere.
‘Still as nauseating as ever.’
How much time had passed?
As the light faded, the sight before him made Ray’s heart pound wildly.
He was floating high above a cube-shaped space, similar to the interior of the Cube.
‘It’s huge. Probably as big as a small sector.’
Was the transfer not yet complete?
He couldn’t move.
As he slowly descended, he saw what he had initially thought was a forest made of densely packed silver trees.
…But it wasn’t a forest.
They were metal shelves, dozens of meters tall, lined up with perfect symmetry like a library’s stacks.
Hundreds?
No—thousands?
It was too vast to count at a glance.
‘As expected.’
The shelves he had glimpsed through the spatial gap had been only a tiny fraction of the whole.
The descent continued.
Soon, Ray saw himself seated on a high shelf tier.
On either side sat silver, jointed dolls in neat rows.
Just like the ones he’d seen when he entered the wilderness ruins.
That ruin—
‘It was probably a Dwarf city. Maybe they sent me here because I resemble those dolls? Just because a human looks similar?’
Considering he was stored as an item, it wasn’t an unreasonable assumption.
*Crack!*
Stretching his body, Ray leapt off the shelf without hesitation.
He used magic to generate wind and slow his fall, landing softly.
*Tap!*
A moment of silence.
“Where exactly am I?”
The light did not respond.
“I’m looking for items that could help in battle.”
Still no answer.
Apparently, he’d have to explore on his own to achieve his goal.
*Tap, tap, tap—*
He walked through the aisles between shelves, surveying his surroundings.
In the current section, only metal dolls were visible—easily numbering in the hundreds.
‘If I could use those in battle, that would be incredible.’
The metal dolls in the ruins had passed through barriers and were immune to elemental magic like fire or lightning.
As if they’d been built specifically to counter mages.
With this many, he could crush the Dawn Society in one blow.
“……?”
Just then, a tickling sensation rose in his chest.
Laqria emerged with a surge of mana and perched on his shoulder, moving as if dancing.
*Wiggle—wiggle—*
It was a behavior she sometimes displayed when sensing a different kind of mana to consume besides her usual gem energy.
But Laqria—
“There shouldn’t be any mana here…”
Ray stopped mid-sentence, realizing the anomaly around him.
High-purity colored mana was overflowing everywhere.
Not comparable to the Spirit Island or the Last Forest, but still rich from a magical perspective.
‘This might even be higher quality than refined mana from the circles.’
How could such an artificial space, devoid of even a single tree, have this kind of environment?
Puzzled, he moved on.
*Tap, tap, tap—*
‘This is Shelf Unit 13. Classification: Minerals.’
It was mostly empty, likely depleted due to being used as Rael Row’s materials and never replenished.
‘Shelf Unit 23. Classification: Magic Books.’
Tightly packed with tomes titled in ancient script.
He had a strong urge to sit and read them on the spot, but he moved on, knowing there were more important things to find first.
‘Shelf Unit 33. Classification: Seeds.’
A variety of seeds not even found in the Last Forest were stored in transparent pouches.
Grine would be thrilled to see this.
‘Shelf Unit 43. Classification: Perishable Food – Meats.’
He paused.
*Tap, tap, tap—!*
As he briskly walked, he sensed a small presence of mana.
He changed direction.
‘Shelf Unit 38. Classification: Currency.’
This was the area where all the deposits of Ignis customers were stored.
Most major businesspeople and financial elites used the Cube.
If Rael had managed to install Cubes even beyond Sector 26—beyond the walls of the Crimson Citadel—it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say nearly all the world’s money was stored here.
But now—
*Tap, tap, tap—!*
Ray’s interest wasn’t on the money.
His gaze was fixed on a blue rabbit at the far end of the aisle.
The same kind of spirit he’d seen through the spatial rift, sorting the money.
Surely, they knew the structure of Acrassium.
The rabbit, spotting Ray hurtling toward it, dropped the bills it had been holding.
[H-Human…?]
Its back legs, built for fleeing, kicked the ground hard.
But within a second, Ray caught it by both ears and lifted it up.
“I have some questions.”
[H-Human…? How is a human even here…?]
The rabbit, flustered, made eye contact with the creature wrapped around Ray’s arm.
*Hiss— hiss—*
Laqria, visibly larger from mana consumption, was purring with satisfaction.
“I just want to ask—”
[Eek! I taste bad! Don’t eat me! Don’t eat me!]
“Do you perhaps know the layout—”
[I have no nutritional value! Eating me will just bloat your stomach!]
The rabbit thrashed, kicking the air.
Ray, seeing Laqria resist going back in, forcefully reverse-summoned her and switched to another method of communication.
[I have a question.]
The rabbit’s eyes widened.
[Wh-What? You can speak our language…?]
[I want to know the location of the weapons storage. And a way to get out of here, if possible.]
It was then he sensed other mana presences.
Looking up, he saw small animal spirits surrounding him from the tops of shelves.
[Human?]
[That’s a human?]
[How did he get in here?]
There were over a hundred.
Their appearances were small and cute, but the power they radiated was formidable.
Judging by the mana they contained, they were all mid-tier spirits or higher.
Each one comparable to a 3rd-circle mage.
[Intruder.]
With that one word—
[Intruder.]
[Intruder.]
[Intruder.]
One by one, the spirits’ eyes began to gleam with fierce light.
*Crackle! Crackle!*
Mana swirled violently around Ray like a vortex.
It carried a crushing force—touching it could tear one apart.
[You can’t escape.]
[Intruders must be eliminated.]
[This warehouse is for the Rainbow.]
Even the rabbit spirit transformed into mana form and escaped Ray’s grasp.
The rabbit spirit had landed on the shelf and was now looking down from above with the other spirits.
‘It let itself get caught on purpose. It was bait.’
While the spirits of the Sky Island harbored a fundamental curiosity toward humans, here—
‘There’s only hostility.’
Perhaps it was because they were tasked with guarding Acrassium.
Ray drew upon the mana of the yellow and green gems.
It didn’t seem like communication would be possible, and he had no intention of wasting time trying.
What he wanted here was not communion with spirits, but to find the items he was after.
The era that had passed was one where magic had advanced dozens of times beyond what it was now.
And the long wars of that time must have led to the development of powerful weapons and equipment.
If he could find them—
‘The battle against the Dawn Society…’
He could very well seize a clue to turn the tide of this unfavorable war.
The vortex rose in an instant, surging high enough to reach the ceiling of Acrassium.
*Crackle! Crackle!*
Mana fragments scattered like sparks.
A ferocious force that could annihilate everything.
At the center of it, the space where Ray stood was gradually shrinking.
A dire crisis that no mage, no matter how skilled, could break through.
But it didn’t matter.
The mana of the two gems began to spiral up around Ray’s body.
*Vwooooooooooom───!*
The spiral rapidly accelerated, forming a vortex of its own.
It grew faster, stronger—
And then began to emit a piercing light.
‘If I can’t break through it—’
Its rotation was in the exact opposite direction of the spirits’ vortex.
‘I’ll just destroy it.’
Ray let go of his control over the gem mana.
And at the very moment the two vortices collided—
*KWA-GWA-GWA-GWA-GWA───!*
Brilliant yellow and green light engulfed all of Acrassium.
Through that light, he saw the vortex—
Shattering apart into pieces.
