The Ascendant Wizard

[Mapping...]

The map formed slowly in her mind, but the image was messy. Shelves overlapped with shelves, the path behind her kept changing, and the spot where the door had been could no longer be confirmed.

[Spatial feedback unstable.]

[Original entrance location uncertain.]

Morena stared at the shelf that had replaced the door and clicked her tongue softly.

"So that’s how it is."

It was troublesome, but not enough to make her panic. If the room wanted to trap her, then wasting time staring at the missing door would only make things worse.

"Keep mapping the exit in the background. Focus on finding the box."

[Understood.]

She moved deeper into the room, keeping her steps light and controlled. She didn’t know what this place had in store for her, and she wasn’t interested in accidentally triggering something, so she avoided touching anything at all.

Plus, most of it was covered in dust.

As she was moving around, the voice came again, but since the space had warped, so had the voice.

"In order to learn, you must experience. The more experience you have, the better you can understand."

Morena slowed for a moment as she heard the voice.

The voice sounded just like Verra, but there was no life behind it. It was more like a recording, or something pretending to be one.

’As if she would be here. At least try better than that.’

It was clear now that it was a trick; Morena didn’t even bother to entertain it and just kept looking.

As she passed one of the walls, chalk marks began appearing across the books and boards. They formed rough mana diagrams, similar to what Verra had shown in class, but several lines were off.

They weren’t correct, but perhaps she could use them for something down the line. After all, it was very likely that all the information here was some sort of corrupted version of the correct things.

"Record but blur any diagrams unless I request them."

[Acknowledged.]

Sending out another pulse of mana, she was running low on mana. But the room wasn’t that big; it couldn’t be that hard to find.

"Black wood box with silver bands."

[Possible matches detected: 4.]

The AI highlighted the four results that the scan had found, and she checked them over. The first one was too small and didn’t have the bands; the second had silver bands but was made from brown wood. The third was black, but didn’t have any faded marks mentioned.

The room shifted as she reached the next shelf. It was subtle; she wouldn’t have even noticed it if she weren’t being extremely careful, as the aisle ahead grew shorter and the shelf beside her moved back.

[Distance inconsistency detected.]

"Is it some sort of illusion?"

[Possible.]

Morena looked to the side and saw a narrow gap between two shelves. It was not a proper path, but she could fit through if she turned sideways.

She stepped through it.

For a second, the air felt cold, but then the pressure vanished, and she found herself in another aisle.

’It’s a different aisle.’

As she looked down the new aisle, she heard a bell ringing out, but it wasn’t the Tower’s bell. It sounded much smaller, like a class bell.

The shelves to her left shifted apart, revealing a small classroom. Two rows of desks, a teacher’s platform, and a blackboard filled with diagrams. Unlike the chalk marks from earlier, these diagrams looked complete.

Morena’s eyes narrowed as she looked at them. She wanted to study them, even if they were flawed, but she remembered Verra’s words.

Don’t mess with the classroom.

"Record it, but don’t go over it yet."

[Acknowledged.]

She shifted her attention away from the board as the AI finished, trying to avoid being drawn in by it again.

"Apprentice, return to your seat."

The voice came from inside the classroom, but Morena only turned away from it.

"No."

A chair scraped behind her, but she did not look back. The moment she moved past the opening, the shelves shifted again, and the classroom disappeared.

[Exact match possible.]

"Where?"

[Right shelf ahead.]

Morena followed the direction, moving faster now. The room was reacting more, which meant it was getting more active, and she didn’t want to stay around here longer than she needed to.

As she moved to the shelf, she heard something tapping behind her. It sounded like it was getting closer and closer, causing her to turn around quickly.

As she did, she saw a wooden teaching dummy standing between two shelves. It had no face, only a smooth oval head with old stains across it. One arm was missing, and its body was cracked along the chest; it wasn’t something she had seen when she first entered.

’Is it an illusion?’

[Scan suggests physical presence.]

’Shit.’

The dummy tilted its head but didn’t attack her, causing Morena to simply stare at it for a moment.

"I’m just going to grab my thing and leave."

She moved around the shelf and finally saw the box. It sat alone on the upper row, black wood with three silver bands wrapped around it. A faded mark stained the lid, though the color had darkened with age.

It matched Verra’s description perfectly, but still Morena wanted to be safe. With the little mana she had left, she cast Sensory Pulse.

The wave of mana spread through the aisle, touching the shelves, walls, and other boxes. When it reached the black box, however, nothing came back.

It was as if the spell had passed over empty space.

[Anomaly confirmed.]

Morena frowned slightly.

"That isn’t suspicious at all."

She looked at the silver bands. There were small marks on them, but they were too faint and old for her to understand.

"Let’s record them to be safe."

She could waste time trying to understand the box, or she could complete the task. The longer she stayed, the more active the room became, and the dummy was worrying.

Morena stepped closer and reached for the box, carefully gripping the wooden sides without touching the silver bands.

The wood was cold, and the moment she touched it, she felt as if the entire room went deadly silent.

All the lamps suddenly flickered and went out at once, causing darkness to cover everything.

Morena held the box against her chest and activated Sensory Pulse immediately, a slight headache washing over her as she was overusing it.

"Sensory Pulse."

The pulse spread outward, and the feedback returned in broken pieces, but it was enough.

The room hadn’t shifted again, but there were now several figures standing between the aisles.

[Multiple objects detected.]

[Shape comparison: wooden teaching dummies.]

The stern voice spoke beside her ear.

"Unauthorized removal of teaching materials is prohibited."

Morena turned her head, but nothing was there; then she heard the dummies begin to move.

Their steps were slow, wooden limbs clicking with each motion, but there were too many of them to ignore. If they surrounded her, she would have a problem.

"Shit, shit. Find the exit now, let’s go."

[Searching...]

The AI worked, but the map remained unreliable due to how much the room had shifted. Morena did not wait for it to find the exit either; she moved down the nearest open aisle, keeping the box tucked close under her arm.

A dummy stepped in front of her and raised its arm.

She ducked under it and slipped past before it could strike. The arm came down behind her, smashing into a shelf and sending several old tools crashing to the floor.

Morena’s eyes widened at how strong they were; much stronger than a normal person.

[Possible exit detected.]

"Highlight it."

She followed the path that formed in her vision, sending another pulse ahead to confirm it. There was a door shape at the end of the aisle, though it was not the same door she had entered through.

It would have to do.

The floor shifted beneath her, causing her foot to slip. The box nearly fell from her grip, but she tightened her arm around it and steadied herself against the shelf.

[Warning: Unstable Surface.]

"I noticed."

She reached the door and tried to push it open, yet nothing happened. It was locked, and she couldn’t seem to open it.

The wooden footsteps were getting closer.

"Why is it locked?"

Right, the token. She took out the token from her clothing and pressed it against the door in hopes that it would work. For a second, nothing happened, but then the plate beside the door lit faintly, and she could hear something click.

Morena pushed the door open and stepped through in a hurry, slamming the door shut behind her.

She stood in the corridor outside Storage Room S-13, the black box held tightly against her chest, panting. Morena remained still for a few seconds, letting the AI finish scanning her condition.

[Mana reserves: low.]

[No injuries detected.]

"That was unnecessarily troublesome."

She looked down at the box and sighed. She was curious about what was in the box to cause all this trouble, but she wasn’t going to open it.

Whatever was inside the box could be dangerous, let alone pissing off the Wizard that wanted it; that wasn’t something she could handle.

Morena turned and began making her way back through the corridor. Her mana was low, and because of that, she felt very tired. However, she didn’t want to rest down here.

’This place gives me the creeps.’