Hidden pieces.
Feyrith had first discovered their existence on the 39th floor of the tower, the first one ever found, the Horn of Asterius.
Hidden on every single floor and stage of the Tower of Pandora were multiple items or events extremely useful to the player.
These could range from stat increasing consumables, artefacts, equipment, or even skills.
There was a lot unexplored about the hidden pieces in the tower, but in his search, Feyrith had concluded something about them. Every Hidden Piece had a relation to or had to do with something that happened in the tower’s past, long behind the days of any players.
Due to this reason, and this reason alone, he had hunted down every single hidden piece he could get clues on. In the end, it became the reason for his immense strength, though that was never his attention.
By employing the abilities of him and the 700 million users of Tower of Pandora, the community were able to discover a plethora of hidden pieces.
Using this knowledge and the realisation that while he wasn't technically a player yet, he was still on the 76th floor of the tower, which meant that he had access to a few pretty good hidden pieces.
Right in front of him was one of those hidden pieces, or, to be more accurate, the location of one of those hidden pieces. Behind, or rather under, this shabby-looking hut was something much more impressive. The abode of a genius alchemist, whose greatness could not even be surpassed by the legendary player, Hawkquill.
Ancient Alchemist’s lab, a mini-dungeon found on the 76th floor of the tower, hidden amongst the cruddy slums.
Feyrith climbed the rickety steps up to the house, the battered door creaking open with his touch. Entering, a putrid smell entered his nostrils, even worse than the one from in the slums. An odor worse than that of a rotten carcass, not that he would know what that smelled like.
Pinching his nose together, Feyrith walked deeper into the dimly lit house, not a single thing in his sight. Should have brought a torch. Regrettably, he clicked his tongue and walked deeper inside. This was the fault of not having a plan, but he could adjust.
Inside of this house was a single hidden trap door. Impenetrable, impossible to open without its password. It goes without saying that, of course, Feyrith memorised it. Doing so was one of the sole joys in his life.
Reaching around by tapping his feet on the ground, he continued walking until he encountered a different textured ground.
Clang.
When he tapped his feet, he could hear the gonging of hard metal. The sound reminded him of steel. No–it’s closer to brass. Whatever it was, this was the thing he had been looking for.
Stepping back a little, Feyrith crouched down and faced the metal trap door. There wasn’t a handle or dial in sight, no way of entry. Without much thought, he held out his hand, his fist pointed down, and banged on the trapdoor twice.
Clang, clang.
It quietly gonged. After doing so, Feyrith opened his mouth, his hand hovering over the trapdoor.
“Wehosa, Ailswe, Eunowm.”
As Feyrith softly spoke, a small gust of wind flew from under his palm, enveloping his entire arm. A faint light began to illuminate the darkened house, its source, the trapdoor in front of Feyrith.
“Narcissistic bastard.” His pupils lit up as he watched the trapdoor slowly lull to a stop, its maw now stood upright.
Feyrith retrieved his hand, eyes locked on the entrance below the trap door. There was a single ladder hung on the side of the narrow entrance, leading all the way down to the lab. When Feyrith peered down, he couldn’t make out a single detail of the lab below, the light only going so far to help him see.
Gulp.
Feyrith took in a deep breath, turning around him to make sure no one was around. Then with a warried gait, he entered the chute, his hands hanging off the slippery ladder.
As he reached the bottom of the ladder, the lab coming further into his view, Feyrith quickly realized that something was wrong.
Someone has been here before me. Recently as well. His eyes scanned every corner of the visible entrance hall, various oddities that he could list off the top of his head. Several things were missing, the various jars of alchemy ingredients, eyeballs floating in a pool of acid, shrooms, claws, essences, and powders, gone.
Other things were out of place. Beakers, vials, and pipettes strewn across the various stone tables. A recently used mortar a pestle filled with a vivid green powder, a vial of water next to it. Mandrake root.
Whoever was in here knew what they were doing, the exact missing ingredients Feyrith determined to be ingredients for a brew known as Warrior’s Grace. Judging from the unfinished mortar full of mandrake root, it seems like whoever it was didn’t finish.
Then, a thought hit Feyrith. If someone else was here before him, and knew what they were doing. Was there a chance that they had gotten their hands on the Hidden Piece before him?
Not wanting to find out the answer of that question, Feyrith began running past the brewing area, going through a sharp corridor that led to the lab’s main attraction, the garden. He passed by the cold stone walls, devoid of colour. Several jars and containers of ingredients were still here, giving him a small sliver of hope, though his body felt otherwise.
Even while running, Feyrith couldn’t help but admire the laboratory. As a magician himself, and as the son of one of the tower’s most prolific ones, he appreciated the sheer care and love that went into the construction of the lab. Sure, it looked cold and bland, but behind that was a wicked streak of efficiency that he could get behind. The many extraordinary and almost unheard-of pieces of equipment, unique in design as they were in function. He suspected it was the nerd in him speaking but he could spend hours in this place uninterrupted, just admiring the scenery. Wait no, focus!
Realizing that his pace had slowed down due to admiring the lab, Feyrith slapped himself on the cheeks, trying to regain his focus. He turned one more time and was met with a brightly lit room, a glass door shielding it from the outside world.
Shit! Feyrith cursed in his mind. One of his worst fears was realized. The guardian was gone. Though he was unprepared to face it, the only plan surfacing in his mind to just grab the hidden piece and leave, the fact that it was gone meant that whoever was here was strong enough to destroy it. This is not good.
Coming to a realization, Feyrith slapped himself again.
Of course, they were able to defeat the guardian! I noticed the mandrake roots didn’t I, so why wasn’t that something I considered? Argh! Going through the 6 stages of grief in a few short moments, Feyrith regained his cool, taking in a deep breath. In his anxiousness his brain had short-circuited, leading him to making the dumb decision that led him to this moment.
“Ok Feyrith, calm down.” He said to himself, closing his eyes for a few short moments. Darkness enveloped him, the uneasiness fading from his body. When he opened his eyes once more, Feyrith’s visage was sharp.
He looked at the large glass room in front of him. The garden of the Ancient Alchemist’s laboratory was finally in front of his eyes. A greenhouse of sorts, which perfectly simulated sunlight and weather conditions. This was the place where the ancient alchemist grew his ingredients, changing the dome’s properties for every ingredient to makes sure they were at their peak.
It went without saying that every ingredient inside of the greenhouse was top tier, the rarest and most valuable ingredients found in droves.
Opening the glass door and stepping inside, Feyrith let out a sigh of relief. Every single plant inside of the dome was harvested, not even one left in the ground. This was disappointing, but that didn’t really matter to Feyrith, because the most important part of the dome was still here.
Stood on the far north end of the dome was a large tree. Bushy and bright green, without a single flowering fruit. It was a normal enough looking tree, but behind that ordinary appearance was possibly one of the most incredible hidden pieces in the tower.
The Tree of Ent. Unlike what the name suggested, the tree was not connected to the sentient tree monster of the same name. Instead, it was a tree that grew special leaves, which when brewed could create a potion that increases the drinker's innate mana capacity.
While the description might have not sounded special, it was because Feyrith didn’t mention one important detail about it. In Tower of Pandora, it was impossible to increase your mana capacity without artifacts, and all those did was store mana. No, what the Tree of Ent allowed was for the drinker to permanently increase their innate mana, the amount of mana inside of their bodies.
Walking up to the tree, Feyrith looked through the bushes of bright green leaves, trying to find one that was red instead. After a minute of searching, he came upon a single red leaf from the tree of Ent. Good, this is enough.
Now... while I’m here. Let’s brew something!
It's been quite a while already, I better head back to the carriage. Feyrith mused to himself as he walked out of the ruined home. The sky was darker than it was before, the bright blue sky turning a shade of Cobalt.
He made his way out of the city centre, looking for the carriage he had been in just earlier. He walked around for a bit, straining his eyes to search for his carriage.
Soon he met eyes with a conspicuous carriage adorned with the emblem of the royal family, as well as a familiar coachman who was currently in the middle of a having a mental breakdown.
Feyrith approached the carriage and called out to the coachman. As Feyrith called out to him, the coachman faced turned to shock, then relief, and Feyrith couldn’t sworn that he saw small tears running down the coachman’s eyes.
"Thank you again, coachman." Feyrith plainly thanked the coachman from out the window, but this time, only his voice was audible.
"Understood, young master." The coachman stiffly replied before returning his focus to the road.
"How long until we reach the palace?" Feyrith asked the coachman.
"About 2 hours young master." The coachman politely answered.
I'm quite tired, it might be best to get some rest before I arrive. Also, what’s with my manner of speech? Well, whatever.
Deciding to get some sleep, and escape reality, Feyrith closed his eyes, the slight rocking of the carriage lulling him to sleep.
Having woken up, after having a short rest in the carriage, Feyrith's gaze and attention turned to the view outside his window.
It seemed like the celebrations weren't only taking place in the city centre, but in the outskirts as well.
Banners were strewn across the air, displaying the emblem of the royal family. Street vendors were setting up shop, and passersby would line up in queues to buy food.
The faint waft of street food drifted into the carriage, filling it with a pleasant aroma. People were gathered around makeshift tables drinking and merrymaking, while a bard regaled countless stories and legends.
Leaning back in his seat, Feyrith tapped his right index finger on his lap, deep in thought.
Who was it that discovered the laboratory before me? In the game I was first to discover it, even the NPCs had no idea about it.
There are only 2 possibilities, a local was able to deduce the password, as well as locate the entrance for the lab in a very short amount of time, or-
"-There's someone else like me here."
Feyrith paused his thoughts for a moment before muttering the last possibility to himself.
It wasn't impossible; in fact, it was the complete opposite. If Feyrith was able to come to this world, it was very likely someone else was able to do so as well. The problem was the identity of this person, and whether they would be a danger to Feyrith or not. Fortunately, Feyrith already had a candidate for the identity of the mystery person, the only other person with him on the 99th floor.
Heartstealingthief.
To Feyrith it made complete sense. He came to this world after Heartstealingthief had gone up to the 100th floor. If it was in fact Heartstealingthief who was here, Feyrith was in luck. Putting their differences aside, in a situation like this, Feyrith wouldn't have hesitated to work with even his worst enemy, not to mention the greatest player in Pandora's Tower.
Hopefully, that bastard feels the same way I do.
Feyrith was hopeful, that when he found his rival, they could work together in figuring out why they were inside Pandora's Tower in the first place.
That's right, my priority is to figure out why I'm in this world, and why I'm in this body. Speaking of this world…
Before Feyrith could continue his train of thoughts, he was suddenly interrupted by the voice of the coachman.
"Young master, we have arrived."
Snapping out of his daze, Feyrith peered out of the window, an invisible grin on his face.
Thanks for the chapter.