The Lower Floors

After centuries, the Spell Formation used to light the floors still worked. Unlike the rest of the island, the lower floors of the academy weren't destroyed. Though a different kind of danger ravaged it.

Even being below ground, the hallway was huge. Being several meters in width. With large floating sculptures leading the way.

Having spent a long time here, Crid found out that these were the sculptures of the academy's most renowned Magi. All them were being destroyed naturally, all except for one. It didn't had any cracks, but instead several claw marks. With it missing it's head.

"Hachoo." Crid sneezed. Having been abandoned, thick layers of dust blanketed the corners. While cobwebs were sewn on the ceiling, with the spiders being large enough to prey on small mammals crawling on them.

At the end of the hall way laid the rubbles of a door. The pile of stones were in different shapes, when pieced together, it would form a door.

Being an academy for magi. The main door can only be opened with certain Spells. But what caused this destruction was something different.

Crid almost had the urge to flee. Knowing it was the work of a monster trying to escape.

The door took him to the lobby. Light from the sun entered through the broken ceiling, though one needed to fly to escape through it. The whole floor was a giant rune centered around a plain white circle. The Academy's main Warp Circle, where it's connected to the other circles located in the academy.

Though like the door, it can only be used with magic. Luckily for Crid, the lobby branched out to several hallways leading to the various facilities of the Academy.

Every step he took echoed restlessly, while he sweated nervously. He stood infront of an entrance. Unlike the other ones, this was the only one to use torches fueled by magic. With several large crevices on the walls.

Crid was all too familiar with what lurked in those hallways. But unlike when he first went here, he longer had his Stealth Skill. Instead he'll have to pray on his luck that the Academy's 'masterpieces' weren't having a stroll.

His footsteps were suprisingly light. Solely focused on preventing being ambushed by those experiments, he had his dagger on guard. The only sound he heard were his pounding heart and echoing gulps.

The dagger he held was one Klaus gave him, while his hand poised to grab his other dagger hidden in his cloak. Being a top assassin player before came here, his reflexes still retained his skills.

He would occasionally pass by a classroom that he would try to find anything useful. With majority of them being classes about mutating life, the remains of the abominations they made gave Crid a sick look.

Knowing they were made by pixels, made players feel detach. They weren't really alive afterall. But even after now it became reality, Crid still didn't change the way he saw these remains.

Having seen a handful of these remains, he decided that he'll only loot one classroom. That and he became paranoid of the danger he might encounter inside them.

Before he made a turn, Crid peeked. Only continuing after he made sure that it was free of monsters.

Looking at the door, the sign of the Shadow Element was engraved on it. Crid immediately opened the door and locked it. Knowing he was finally free from danger, he collapsed. Finally he was safe.

Crid took one torch, lighting up a certain corner. Removing the thick layer of dust, he almost jumped in joy as he found one tattered cloak.

Name: Shadow Cloak

Effect 1: Decreases the chance of being spotted when staying still.

After getting rid off all the dust, Crid wore the Shadow Cloak. Leaving his old one behind.

Back then, he had the Skill Stealth. Decreasing the chance of detection even while in motion. So when he found the Shadow Cloak, he discarded it. Due to it only burdening him simply because he had better choices.

But now he lost all of those. He couldn't afford to be picky especially when he had no other choice.

"This should be enough." Crid said. Slowly regaining his confidence as a top assassin.

He was like a breeze, noiselessly getting out of the room. Even when he had a new item, he grew even more paranoid. He wasn't in an area where rookie players farmed for experience and gold. The Broken Isle is a place where mindless rookies died over and over gain.

Even he knew these lower floors like the back of his hand, mistakes and misfortunes were unpredictable. He only had one shot.

"I swear, after this hell of a mission and when I get out of this island, I'll grind at the rookie areas." He promised to himself.

But instead of continuing down the hallway, he went to a certain crevice. It was enough for him to barely fit inside. Crid walked like the crab inside the narrow hole.

It was a crevice that conviently lead to secret passage between the walls. Through it, he could easily take a shortcut while bypassing the monsters in the hallway.

The only reason the quest Klaus gave was such a headache was because he didn't know where to go. The lobby lead to several paths, with each littered with countless traps and monsters.

He died over and over again, just to find out that the path he chose lead to a dead end. He didn't know how many hours he spent walking through this damned walls, but that time caused him to completely memorize the floors.

Only when one of those monsters that rammed using their heads, accidently destroyed a wall. It was then that Crid found out about the hidden passages.

The journey through the walls was a quiet one. Easily reaching the ninth floor without encountering any danger.

Crid only needed to get down one more floor before he can reach the scroll Klaus requested. With the only catch being he the ninth floor is where the academy dumped their failed experiments.

It didn't even take long before Crid heard a familar senseless scream. Though this time he quickly retreated to a nearby hole on the wall.

"Arghhhhh! Arghhhhh! Gyaaaaaaaahh!" Then it paused, only to repeat it's cycle of screaming and stopping.

Crid held his dagger tightly. Peeking at the at it, he saw a humanoid creature that walked like spider with it's four slender limbs. With a human-like head that seems to only be used for screaming. It's skin was pale, either being from the lack of life or living below ground.