Exploration Day

As he hung the closed sign on the shop's front door, Henry sighed loudly. "Another day without a sale." Through the windows, Henry could see the busy road. - They could at the very least occasionally stop by my shop."

Henry shook his head and walked over to his desk. He sat down, his gaze fixed on the mountains of bills he needed to pay. The business has begun to dwindle since his parents' deaths, this was partly his fault for converting the botany shop into a relics and antique shop, and partly due to the large debts his parents left behind after their deaths.

-" I also need to pay Makayla's tuition, I owe two semesters of tuition and need to get some money before they suspend her." Henry was overcome with emotion as he stacked the bills on his desk. "Why is Magic School so expensive? Three years there and the only thing I got from it was a pile of debt."

Henry felt resentful of the Magic School students since his time there had not been that great. His first year there was very enjoyable, studying the principles of magic was a fantastic experience, and he also enjoyed most of the lectures, particularly the history of the Antique Era.

However, after some time there, he learned that he had mana deficiency, which prohibited him from progressing beyond the first two levels. As a result, Henry became a constant target of harassment in the academy.

Even the rest of the academy's rejects went for Henry, after all, they, too, had been harassed and unloaded their rage on him. Henry only stayed at the academy for the history classes, which he couldn't get elsewhere.

Henry's mood completely plummeted as he remembered his days in the Magic Academy. - "Makayla won't be home until the weekend, I'll be alone for two more days." Henry reached inside his drawer and grabbed a book. "Perhaps I should go explore a ruin today?"

Since discovering this book called Tales of the Zador Dynasty and the Golden Age of the Thule Empire, Henry has made a habit of visiting some of the locations mentioned in the book.

He thought that one day he would strike it rich and uncover some relic, but his sister Makayla often chastised him, saying that even if there was something valuable in such areas, it would already be in someone's hands because he always went to spots with no danger and easy access. Henry, on the other hand, continued going since he enjoyed visiting such historic sites.

-"The weather is beautiful today." Henry looked at the time on his desk. "4:00 p.m. If I leave now, I could return tonight." He walked out of the store carrying his book in a bag.

Henry chose to go to a nearby mountain that was previously the home of a great sect. Because it still contained structures from that era, this was one of his favorite places to visit.

Rain began to fall fiercely as Henry arrived at the foot of the mountain, making him feel very unhappy, he had only just arrived and terrible things were happening to him. He debated returning, after all, being on the mountain during a storm was dangerous for someone like him, who was barely a mage apprentice.

-"I'm already here, going back now would be a waste, plus there aren't any monsters in this mountain, right?" Because of the mountain's proximity to the capital city, Henry was well aware that the kingdom army was constantly on the lookout for monsters in this area.

Henry swallowed and continued up the mountain, the mood within the forest was gloomy, and the normally bright forest had become dark and damp.

As he moved upwards, Henry felt increasingly fearful, even the squirrels in the trees scared him. His nerves tingled with anxiousness, but he didn't want to go back.

Henry hadn't visited any ruins in a long time, and with his sister returning home this weekend, he wouldn't be able to do so for a few weeks until she returned to the academy.

Henry hurried to the mountain's summit and sighed gently as he gazed at the ancient and decaying structures he so desperately longed to see again. He ran towards them, hoping to get out of the rain.

After a few minutes of relaxation, he strolled out, stashing his bag in a hidden position, it was still raining heavily, but he needed to explore the area before it got too dark.

Henry visited every structure on the abandoned mountaintop, except the graveyard, which was rumored to be cursed. He rummaged through everything he could find while searching, hoping to discover some treasure, but he came up empty-handed as usual.

-"I've come here four times and haven't found anything, perhaps I should try another location." Henry took a few more minutes to rest inside a pagoda. "The only place I didn't go was the graveyard, which I'm sure has treasures."

Henry shook his head, refusing to go to the level of graverobbers. Henry stood up and exited the pagoda, sighing as he passed by the tombs.

The temptation to acquire anything was too much for him at this point, he was starting to accumulate debts again, and he would soon need to take out another loan, after all, Makayla would be expelled if he missed any more tuition payments.

While resisting the urge to dig the graves, Henry spotted an unusual structure just past the graveyard that he had never seen on previous visits.

- "Isn't that building outside the cemetery? So I can explore it because it isn't considered grave digging." Henry ran towards the building, his eyes blazing.

He attempted to open the door, but to his astonishment, it was locked, it was unusual for any of the buildings' doors to still be standing, let alone functional.

Henry tried to force the door open, but it didn't bulge, so he tried to enter through the side windows. He eventually found an open window and entered the building after many attempts.

The structure appeared little from the outside, but as Henry entered, he was greeted by a vast hall filled with shelves upon shelves of books.

When Henry saw this, his eyes shone brilliantly. He had finally struck gold and discovered something. He raced to the bookcases and began leafing through them, but every book he took up was too old to be worth anything, their contents had faded, and several of the pages had turned to dust as he touched them.

Henry had a dismal expression on his face, he thought he had finally discovered a treasure, but he came out empty-handed. He kept walking down the corridor because he didn't want to accept that everything here had already been destroyed.

When he reached the center of the corridor, he discovered an exit leading to a balcony. In the middle of the balcony, there was a strange shrine with a book on it.

Henry's intuition was buzzing, and he was positive that after all these years, he had found something significant.

Henry raced up to the balcony and grabbed the book. - "Thousand Treasures Sage? What type of book is this?" As Henry began to read the text, the mountain rocked violently. He trembled in terror when he felt the vibration.

- "What the hell is going on? Is this an earthquake?" Henry cursed loudly as he saw the building sway and collapse, grasping the book with all his strength and praying that he would survive this horror.

The last thing Henry saw was the balcony's ground crumbling in and the building's walls collapsing around him.

This incident caused quite a commotion in the surrounding area because the landslide could be seen from quite a distance, causing practically everyone in the area to be concerned. The mountain's left flank had completely crumbled, resulting in a catastrophic avalanche. Even the military of the monarchy was on high alert due to the situation.

The next day, speculation about the cause of the disaster began, with some claiming that it was caused by the erosion of the mountain cliffs caused by time and recent heavy rain, while others claimed it was the collapse of an old mine that had been abandoned for years and had come tumbling down, but many also assumed even more dreadful things, such as an ancient beast, had awakened and caused this devastation.

While the locals discussed the previous night's incident, a young girl stood in front of Henry's shop. - "Why is the store closed? Don't tell me Henry is still asleep." She frowned as she observed the closed sign on the front door.

Makayla ran upstairs, worried since they were in financial difficulties and her brother didn't even bother to open the shop in the morning.

She arrived at his room and hurriedly knocked on the door, when she received no response, she entered his room, only to find it completely empty. -"Did he go out to handle something?" Makayla went to look in his drawer, where he kept his favorite book.

Her face darkened as she opened the drawer and didn't see the book. - "Don't tell me Henry is back in the ruins. Is he insane? One thing is going on in his spare time, and another is closing the shop so he may do anything he wants." Makayla sighed deeply and clutched the letter in her hand.

She returned home after learning that she owed tuition for two semesters. She was aware of their financial situation and frequently told her brother that she would leave the Magic Academy to assist him in the shop, but, Henry refused and forced her to remain in the academy.

Makayla was furious as she stormed around the house and thought back to the news she had heard this morning. There was just one large mountain in the capital city, and it was one that her brother enjoyed exploring.

- "Don't tell me he's there. Perhaps he didn't return because he got caught in the landslide?" Makayla was immediately concerned about her brother. She dashed out of the shop and started running towards the mountain.

A man was sound asleep on top of the landslide wrecks, only waking up when a few droplets of water began to fall on him. He awoke groggily, yawning loudly. - "What a weird dream, I wasn't expecting such a nightmare today. What time is it? I hope I didn't sleep for too long." Henry opened his eyes and stretched his arms.

Henry was astonished to see a forest filled with rumbles instead of his normal bedroom. As it dawned on him, he began to sweat. - "Don't tell me everything was true? Oh my God! How did I get through that fall?" Henry touched his body and noticed that he was not in any way wounded.

- "Where is the book if everything is real? Don't tell me I lost it." As he looked around, Henry became anxious since the book was nowhere to be found. "Fuck did I lose the book?" Henry began digging into the rumble furiously, believing that the book was buried within it.

As he dug, he came across something buried and grabbed it. After removing the buried object, Henry let out a sharp shout, "Ughhhh, why is there a bone here?" The bone startled Henry and he swiftly threw it aside. -"Did the landslide also damage the cemetery?" He noted the size of the missing chunk as he gazed over the nearby mountain peak.

Henry paled as he realized how fortunate he was to have survived such a catastrophe. -"Fuck, this rumble has to be full of bones." Henry clenched his teeth and continued digging, he had finally discovered the treasure he had long sought, and he couldn't go without it.