Ruins

Ellis ran his hand along the grooves in the large stone statue that was about the size of him. An unexplainable aura radiated from a blue cold gemstone that was situated in one of its eyes. As his hands brushed over the statue the blue eye seemed to stare at him.

How beautiful.

Ellis could not take his eyes away from the statue. Although half of the figure's head was destroyed it looked to be of a female goddess with long hair and one deep blue piercing eye. Only the bust of the statue remained but it looked like it was at one point a full-body statue.

How did this get here?

Ellis reached up and tried to pull the large blue gem from the statues eye.

Plunk!

To his surprise, it popped out of its place easily with a satisfying sound. Ellis used Identify on the gemstone in his hand.

[Eternal Gem]

"Eternal Gem? That sounds a little ominous. Hopefully, you don't mind me taking this."

Ellis spoke to the statue as he put the gem into his bag. He then turned around and he looked around the rest of the area. The more he looked around the more he realized this was some sort of ruins of a building or buildings. There were remnants of cut stone slabs broken pillars scattered around the area. He soon discovered a small broken monolith about half his height with strange markings carved into it. The markings were nothing like he had seen in the Tower so far. Each marking seemed to exude some sort of anima-like power. Ellis ran his fingertips down the face of the monolith and used Identify to try and get some more information on the stone.

[Broken monolith]

Wow. Thank you, Identify. Thank you for making that clear.

Ellis rolled his eyes at the text displayed after using his skill. Even after using Identify, he couldn't find out anything about the strange monolith.

If Identify doesn't work maybe I can use my language comprehension skill to decipher these markings.

Ellis looked at the markings and closely inspected them as he used language comprehension.

Ding!

A sound rang in Ellis's ear and a small box popped up in front of his face.

[Language Comprehension skill level too low]

Damn. Wishful thinking, I guess.

Ellis eyed the strange markings on the stone a little bit longer as he thought.

Where did all this stuff come from? People must have made all this. Did people used to live in the Tower?... or do they still?

Shivers rolled down Ellis's spine causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up. It was an extremely weird thought to think about people living here in this unforgiving place. The Tower was full of mysteries that he didn't know if he was going to solve anytime soon.

Ellis turned around and looked around the rest of the ruins. His eyes wandered the area before they stopped on a small patch of blackness underneath a stone chunk that caught his eye. He walked over to the black circle and discovered that it was actually a small hole in the ground. The hole was hidden by the large stone slab that sat atop it, almost completely covering it. It was a miracle he had even noticed it in the first place as it was only around the size of his fist. Ellis looked down into the hole to see if he could see anything.

This could potentially just be a hiding hole for monsters, or it could be some other part of these ruins. Or maybe both.

He could barely make out what looked like a large staircase leading down into the blackness.

This might be worth it to explore. I might find out more about whatever this place used to be. I just have to move this giant rock first.

Ellis stretched his arms and then he began to push the stone slab with all of his might. The slab grinded across the ground slowly as the hole widened. As soon the hole was big enough for Ellis to fit through, he relaxed his muscles and stopped pushing.

"Gah! That stone is a lot heavier than it looks."

A deep breath escaped Ellis's mouth as he rubbed his shoulder. He then squatted down and peered deep into the cavity. Since the hole was bigger, the rays of light from the crystals above could now make their way into and illuminate some of it. From what he could see there was a massive staircase that went down about twenty steps before it looked like it opened up into a room full of pillars.

Even though the stairway is bright enough for me to see there is no telling how far this goes. I should make a couple of torches before I head down there just to be safe.

Ellis dropped his backpack down by his feet and fished out a few thick pieces of wood he had collected along the way for firewood. He then pulled out a pouch full of congealed fat as well as some scraps of cloth.

This should be all I need to make a couple of torches. Luckily, I've been collecting the monster fat for cooking!

In order to make the torches, he first covered the cloth in globs of fat, making sure it was thoroughly coated, and then wrapped the fat-soaked clothes around ends of the thick pieces of wood.

I think three should be more than enough. Each torch should be able to burn for around 30 minutes, so I have an hour and a half's worth. Worst case scenario, I can just make a few more before the last one runs out.

Ellis nodded to himself triumphantly before he put the rest of the materials back into his pack. He tied two of the three torches to the side of his bag for easy access and so that they wouldn't make a mess inside of his bag. Using a few flashes of electricity emitted from his fingertips, Ellis lit the first torch and threw it down below so he could see easier. He then slowly lowered himself down to the large staircase below.

Ellis picked up the torch in his non-dominant hand and shined it around the area. The flame from his torch danced around moss-covered stone walls and columns. The stone steps below him were slick and covered in vegetation. He held the torch out in front of him as he made his way down the stairs. His other hand gripped his halberd tightly at the ready just in case anything decided to jump out at him. At the bottom of the staircase was a huge stone arch that opened up into a sizeable room. The room had four large crumbling columns and rubble littered the stone slab floor. At the back of the room was a giant round bronze metal door with decorative markings carved all over it. Ellis moved over to the bronze door to examine it and found three holes spaced evenly apart along the middle of the door. The holes were all different shapes. The one on the right looked to be a cube, the one in the middle just looked like a massive keyhole while the one on the left was round.

"Wait. This shape looks very similar to…"

Ellis stopped mid-sentence as he was talking to himself to retrieve the blue gem he had just gotten outside from the statue. He held the gem in front of the hole and sure enough, it was the same size and shape. Ellis gently pushed the gem into the socket and suddenly it emitted a faint glow that spread to the markings around the gem eventually lighting up half the door in a faint blue glow.

Ah. I think I see where this is going. I'm going to have to gather the other two things that go in these slots to open this door. At least I have a goal now even if I have no idea where the other items are.

Ellis looked around the door to make sure he hadn't missed anything else before continuing to search around the rest of the room. Behind one of the pillars in the corner of the room, he found a doorway leading into a small room.

The room was filled with dust and debris. It was clear the room was extremely old and untouched for a long time. Scattered around the floor were various old tattered books.

Ellis picked up a book and it began to fall apart in his hands. He carefully picked up a new book off the ground and opened the book up gently before looking through its contents. The pages were yellowed, and the writing was faded beyond recognition. Ellis used Identify to find out some more details but didn't expect much.

[Tattered book]

Thank you again, Identify. Extremely useful. Why can't I find out any useful information on this stuff?

Ellis set the book down and searched the books around him for one that was in better condition than the rest to Identify, but they were all in about the same condition.

I'll just throw the best looking one in my pack and I'll try to look through it thoroughly later.

Ellis picked up the least tattered book, which wasn't saying much, and wrapped it gently in cloth before putting it into his bag. He then looked around the room again just to make sure he hadn't missed anything. As he was looking around his foot suddenly broke threw the floor. Ellis pulled his foot out of the hole and knelt down to take a closer look.

"What do we have here?"

It looked like it used to be a thick wooden trap door, but it was so old that just Ellis stepping on it broke a hole straight through it.

"A secret tunnel?"