Chapter 21—The basement

As he reached the certain edge of the manor, Valor arrived at the dilapidated area of a particular hallway. Walls are bland wood and the floor is nothing but dirty cement, whitened with age. Added that it was never cleaned nor minded of.

A door faced him with the same color as the wall, the supposed majestic door that leads to their basement. Is not the door people would think to see. Wearied and horror. They call it the dark side of the manor, a place where everyone is afraid to go. Even him until he was ten years old, after he learned about the true purpose of it.

Valor reached the doorknob and opened the door, with a creak of the joints, and the wooden stairs to go down was shown. "The true face of the manor, the once dungeon of the kriptite."

He walked down the stair and the open space welcomed him while a gentle breeze, if flushed his mellow cheeks. Below their manor lies an enormous cave— as wide as their house, and nearly as deep as the stoic walls that protect their town. It is holed with tunnels, connected to other rooms which kriptite burrowed. Being here again, he cannot help but wonder, how powerful was the kriptie really was?

The cave's thirty meters deep and a hundred meters wide, cold, but bright. Inside this dome of dirt, crystal bulbs float in the air. Though some are on the walls, all fulfill their use, to illuminate the whole chamber. The stair of wood he is threading a bit creaky, instead of an elevator, his father chose a very long stair to go down.

The time his father choose to drop his privilege as the main family member and settled as a branch of the lustraves, the elders of the family never thought he will choose to be here. The remote village of Raffvet, near the siege fortresses of different kinds. They thought he was insane even until now, but his father just took over the heir of his grandfather.

The dungeon of great wealth, the information about this dungeon was never revealed to the outside world as the kriptite never had the chance to go out. Valor's great grandfather exterminated them here, he took out the dungeon master and conquered the land beyond the rift single-handedly. Leaving the wealth of the kriptite and their resources lying on the ground.

While walking down the stairs, Valor saw his main objective of coming here. The reactor settled on the ground, circular hole with a reactive solution in the middle, while glowing stones lied under— they're the energy stones. They dissolve in the solution and make electrons rush, it's them that powers this whole house. The circular pool of solution gilded with metal at its edge, is their generator that produces electricity and will soon be the bomb.

Valor can see Thick wires connects from the generator, extending on the walls to the ceiling and beyond. But he didn't went there first.

After walking for ten seconds, he arrived in front of a circular stage, built with slab stones, mossed and dusted. He stopped there and levitated his sight above it, there he saw a rift in space where he can see the scenery beyond it, lush of greens with dense mana that can be seen. It's the land where kriptite once inhabited.

With thoughts in his mind, he quickly went on the stage and walked in front of the rift—Modified to the size of a man, it emits power he can clearly feel. Making Him wondered what grade is this.

But he didn't have the time to ponder so he knelt on the ground, not to praise the rift but to find the rock his father told him about, the mechanism that will let him carry the rift mobile. He may explode the house, but he can't leave this rift open and exposed.

The reasons are: the parasites may use it to escape from the explosion, and he can't let anyone know that they have a private rift. His father is very careful about it, he said that greed brings out the worst of the people. So he must not let anyone know about this.

Also one of his other reasons is that the terrorist's objective is to get their hands on this. based on his memory the terrorists' would kidnap them and also make them confess where's the rift. They'll use it for he doesn't know what reason as it isn't included in his memory.

After one minute of searching and he found the tile he is looking for, so he stood up and knocked on that particular slab with his heels. It produced a hollow sound before the slab levitated on the stage, revealing a small space where the slab once resides. He bent again and reached down the hole before taking out a smooth ball of glass.

As big as his hand, smooth and transparent. But that's all it is, it doesn't have any noticeable feature to say it is unique, it doesn't do anything, glow nor vibrate— just a plane sphere of glass. But he knows it very well. Valor quickly pointed the ball at the rift before applying magic on it, spatial enclosement. The rift starter spinning and the scenery beyond distorted into a circular smudge, the glass then started sucking the swirling rift—it caused air to circle Valor while the orb glowed white, his hair waved while his armor was hit with dust.

The rift swirled with electricity first before it shrank and soon settled inside the sphere of glass, glowing with the scenery beyond it. This is a dimensional pocket, the vile that you will get after the land beyond the rift was conquered—The vile can only carry the rift of that land, For mobile convenience.

Valor quickly hid it under his armor, before running to the reactor. He looked at it first with three heavy breaths before he nodded with determination, Valor finally took out the assorted rifle and placed it to shotgun mode before looking at the generator once again and he can say it is larger than he thought.

"It is more like a pool," he muttered as he looks at it carefully, a circular one, four meters in diameter. About five meters deep below the ground, enclosed with a special alloy that doesn't melt nor wear by the solution. This is the reactor of their manor, they dump special gems found in the dungeons and the planets beyond the rift that would react violently to the solution.

The gems underneath would dissolve slowly but produce a surge of flow of electricity in exchange, this has been one of the most convenient inventions people had created. The use of energy stone, clean and efficient.

Valor looked down the glowing green solution and saw the gems below, dissolving into electricity. He smiled seeing them before standing up and walked two-step, He quickly arrived at the safe of energy stones. Also dug underground, is the metal box of 20 by 10 by 8 of cubic size. The top face as the door is the only side that can be seen on the ground, thick and is certainly heavy.

Valor went to the edge where the locks are found, keeping the door of the safe from being opened. They're designed complicated and are made with thick metals: three vertical metal pillars— with one-meter space from the others—bridging the sliding top face and the metal floor he is now standing on, it is to seal and prevent the metal safe from sliding open. At the ends of the pillars are the locks that are nailed on the metal face and floor and keeps them tightened and not moved, they are heavy and needs different keys to be opened, but these keys are held by his mother, father, and his biological uncle that is also in the forest.

But he won't use any keys today, he jerked the shotgun and the click was heard. Valor aimed it to the first metal pillar and pulled the trigger, it broke with a loud bang— leaving molten remnant that remained on the locks.

Valor seeing the result pondered out loud, "isn't this a bit easy?" He asked himself and was about to pull the forearm of the rifle again when his intuition came in. He ducked and a bullet passed by his head, smoldering some of his hair. "Holy shit, that could have been my head."

Valor who has the [knowledge] of the future, know what will happen in the next two weeks. But the time he did something different from what he was supposed to do, the future will bend, and so is the [knowledge] that he remembers. In the archives of books, there is an ability called the absolute instinct. An ability that can let someone see through the different future possibilities of the real world.

But what Valor has is far from absolute instinct, absolute instinct can see through the infinite possibilities of the future. But his power only changes when he encountered a changing point. And it is delayed, like now, when he decided to blow up the house instead of direct confrontation. That's the changing point but the memories only arrived now, giving him the intuition to dodge.

Nonetheless, this is good enough for him. This can let him adapt to the sudden changes of the future, and it grants him certainty about what he is doing. He knows he is still naive about how this world works so this is okay for him, to survive, to triumph, and be benefitted greatly— he is greedy in his own ways.

Valor then jumped to the air and avoided the bullets again, here he saw the true appearance of the bullets— they're Lights.

Coming from the floating crystal bulbs, they are firing projectiles made with light at him, serious to slay the deemed intruder. From his new memories, this is the defense mechanism that his father installed to prevent thieves. Even if his father doesn't care about wealth, his father knows how dangerous will the energy stone be if mistreated. Like what he is planning right now, they will explode if a simple mistake was done.

This defense mechanism will try to eliminate anyone that tries to open the safe by force. And it works very simple, As a pillar is destroyed, the floating lights will eliminate any living being that is seen. Then as more pillars are destroyed, the mechanism will be tighter, and so is the floating bullets would intensify.

But surprisingly, this made things easier for Valor, yes, easier. At exactly two seconds more, a tunnel will be opened and the mutated beings will flood in. Looking through the memory, a feast of blood will happen. This will not only lessen the numbers of the parasites but will also lessen the difficulty of the defense mechanism— the bullets that were supposed to go to him will be aimed at the thousands of mutated beings that will flood in.

Valor smirked and avoided another bullet aimed for his head, he cocked the rifle and Jumped in the air again. Avoiding three bullets that came to him on air, before he landed near the lock and blew up the second pillar.

At the exact time he destroyed the pillar, an explosion echoed from the far wall of soil. Screeches echoed while the beat and rhythm of the bullets changed, the mutated beings were welcomed with a barrage of puncturing light, while the bullets aimed to valor lessened to one.

Screeches echoed from the far wall, so he took the chance and jerked the riffle for the last time. He aimed it to the last pillar and destroyed the last metal that keeps the safe locked, the beat fastened when the lock loosened. The one bullet multiplied by three.

So Valor took a glance over the mutated monsters, and in three seconds before the bullets were fired at him arrive. Valor saw the situation of the monsters, still rushing crazy. Not minding the small amount of parasites that dropped dead.

In this scene he saw the horrendous power of the parasites, they won't die unless the main body is killed. They will keep on regenerating their vessel even if it is mortally injured.

Their speed didn't ceased and soon arrived at the stairs. They aren't even bothered a bit by the bullets as they all rush excited to meet their king, seeing this, he cannot help but click his tongue. "And what mad scientist will create such things without assurance that it will succeed. Shit, the world is really on the verge of collapsing."