A Few Hours

Lake had read his way to what passed as a basic understanding of history in the last hour and found most of what this world put to books as important didn't have much to do with where he was at the moment. He wasn't surprised by this since the God of Metal was on the newer side when it came to the gods he had heard of.

That being said, if he was to sit down and read a book like this one in a few years he was sure what was happening right now would be in the book. It would probably be titled something like "The death of metal" or something like that. Being done with this book but with Wezz still sleeping Lake decided he could find something else to read to pass more time.

Going over to a new box of books he was happy to find there were other books and he just grabbed the one with the best cover. Sitting down and opening it, Lake found it was a book about items that had been used by important people in the same style as the book he had just read. He was about to go see what the other books were since he was good on history for the day when the Insider stopped him.

It seemed he was missing the fact this was a great opportunity to find something worth having and it was true if he learned about these items he might be able to go where they had been last seen to try and find them. After a few pages Lake realized whoever had written this book was coming after the topic from a blacksmith's angle and realized this book was probably to get kids from the Metal Domain interested in smithing.

Looking around at the room thinking two books for kids wasn't a coincidence Lake realized they were probably sitting in a school. He hadn't noticed till now because he hadn't seen any desks but he wasn't surprised they were using tables instead. There were always differences between here and where he had come from even if there were less than he would have expected.

Thinking back to the bedrooms he had seen he wondered if it was a place some of the students lived at as well as a school. He wouldn't be surprised if they had some kind of orphanage thing going on for kids that didn't have parents but it did make him wonder where the people that had lived here were.

He tried not to look too closely at the bodies he had dug through the past few days but there were probably a large number of younger people if he looked closely enough near the elevators who had been trying to evacuate. Turning his attention back to the book, Lake started to look through it to find something that was close to him.

He was in the Metal Domain so he could probably locate a target close to him if he went through the book. After a few pages lake stopped because he saw something he recognized. It was a shield he could distinctly remember stealing from someone in the past. Reading the information he saw it was something that belonged to one of the more influential families that called the Metal Domain its home.

Thinking back to the guy he had taken it from, he remembered a talk about a rich brother who had hired the Thieves Guild to take the shield from him. Thinking back to how hard it had been to fight against the shield, Lake understood why it had gained a page in the book he was reading and it made him wish he had never handed it over for the bounty.

He was about to move on to the next page when he remembered he had held the shield in his hand for a time which might make it eligible for Retrieval. He wasn't sure though because he had held it before he got the Retrieval skill. There was only one way to find out but looking around he wasn't sure this was the place.

He didn't think he needed to worry about any of the people here telling anyone what they saw but rumors about where the shield had gone would most likely reach those interested eventually. Plus most of the people here had the same book he had in their hands so their surprise seeing an item they had just read about appear all of a sudden would definitely cause them to talk about it.

Putting "Trying to use Retrieval on the shield" on his to-do list, Lake went on to the next page and saw something he would want if he had the chance to take it. His current swords were nothing to be proud of and he could probably have found something better in the streets if he hadn't been trying to finish gathering enough weapons for Wezz's people so that he could get back to work on the tunnel.

It would be something nice for him to do if Wezz got up soon since he would still have to wait for a while for the water to stop pouring into his tunnel increasing the chances of collapse. Looking back down to read about the sword he saw it had been forged by one of the God of Metals subordinates soon before they had ascended to Demigodhood.

He had given it to his best friend who had used it until they died in a battle while wielding it. It had gone missing after that, most likely in the hands of whoever had killed them. It was an interesting story but what he was actually interested in was the estimated level of the sword. People thought it was at least level 50 and there were some who thought it might be even higher.

Adding it to his list of things he wanted Lake moved on to see if he could identify any armor he would be interested in. Flipping through the pages that only had heavy plate armor, Lake finally found something he would consider wearing. He would say it was over 80% leather and he was excited to read where he might be able to find it but stopped when he saw the date of its destruction.

"Burned to a crisp. Too bad."

…

Tiff had been unable to stop herself from looking up at the sky for most of her trip back to the Holy Domain and was sure it would only get worse as they crossed through the gate. There was no need to go right away though and since they were here and it gave them an opportunity to see the two men that had helped them earlier again.

The Temple Head seemed to think it was a good idea to stop even if it was just for a few minutes and Tiff agreed. As they walked in she saw the two men at the same exact table just sitting quietly like they had been before they had met them the first time. It was almost like nothing at all had happened today that would cause them to be worried.

Sitting down, the Temple Head went ahead and said. "Thank you for your help." to the man who had carried her and Dawn all the way to the Temple. "No problem, good job holding him off for so long." This was indeed an impressive feat considering she didn't think the Temple Head was an actual Demigod.

She had most likely had an elixir but that only let you get your stats to 200 so whatever she had used to hold back Mezull was most likely the result of hard work and skill. The Talisman had also helped but Tiff wasn't sure how much or when it had been used during the battle so she would rather give the credit to the Temple Head like the man seemed to be.

With that said there didn't seem to be much else for them to talk about and after a few seconds of silence the man who usually spoke asked. "Do you need us to help again?" He wasn't the only one who seemed to think this was where this meeting would end up and Dawn said. "Yeah I was hoping you could carry me home since you're faster than me."

The Temple Head gave her a look before turning around and saying. "That's not the worst idea but I was hoping you could scout for us again. Then you can help us by carrying them again if you think it's necessary." If they were being carried the Temple Head wouldn't have to move so slowly through the most dangerous parts of the Holy Domain since they were what was slowing her down.

"No problem, we'll be back in a few hours." This was a longer estimate but it was a larger area they had to cover this time so she wasn't surprised by this. Watching the two men leave she only turned around when Dawn asked. "What else do they have to eat here?"