Mihael left his office and walked through the main room filled with engineers, security officers, and Holodisplays. He almost made a straight line to a private room at the opposite side of the room. The staff moved out of his way when they saw him coming, not wanting to risk a forced training session with the madman.
Once Mihael reached the room he was going for he opened the door and walked in without a word. Another engineer was staring at the Holodisplay with clear anxiety on his face.
Mihael shoved him out of his chair without warning and took his spot. He then turned and kicked his feet up onto the table and leaned back in the chair to see what they were so worried about.
On the Holodisplay was Altair, in full color, staring through the door to the Augmented Training Room. From the angle displayed, the contents of the room weren't visible. It was obvious that the door was open, however, and that Altair was just staring at it.
Mihael was too lazy to change the display or bring up any information that the engineers probably looked at before coming to him. Instead, he opened his mouth and asked, "So, what's so worrying about this now?"
The engineer he kicked over stood to the side respectfully and said, "Well, she's looking into the ATR sir."
Mihael rolled his eyes as he looked at him, "I can see that dumbass. It's not like it's on, so what's the problem? The terminal should be locked so she can't turn it on."
The engineer shook his head and then clarified, "The ATR is on and set to the third Tier, sir."
"Hmm," Mihael looked back at the Holodisplay and added, "So it's set to Praefecti. That means there's someone in there so she can't just walk in then with an admin override." He looked back at the engineer who woke him up with a death glare, "I fail to see why this is a problem."
The engineer shriveled under his gaze and whispered, "S-Sir, the ATR is unoccupied. No one is in it right now so anyone can walk in."
Mihael's brows came together. He was starting to feel like a perfect storm was happening right now. But there's no way that people could be this negligent. The girl still had her two guards, so she would be perfectly fine and stopped before going in. Even then, every child knew of the dangers of an active ATR so no one would just walk in randomly like an idiot.
Still, Mihael wanted to know which idiot left the room active. So he turned back to the other engineer and asked, "So, which idiot left the ATR active when they left?"
The engineer coughed awkwardly before turning his head to the side and saying, "It was Noel, sir."
Mihael nodded his head in understanding. That maid was so dense it was a surprise she was still part of the family. "Well, it's not like the girl is stupid enough to just walk into an active ATR." He turned back to the Holodisplay and leaned even further back in the chair, causing it to complain under his weight. He then closed his eyes while saying, "Everyone knows the dangers of that, so there's no chance she'll just walk in randomly, is there?"
As if challenging his very words, Altair walked into the ATR after Mihael finished that sentence. The two engineer's jaws dropped open at the sight of it. They called Mihael here because they were afraid something like this would happen, even though they doubted it would. Still, the girl had exceeded their wildest expectations completely and really walked into a death trap by her own will.
The engineer that had called Mihael here spoke in a worried tone, "S-Sir, the screen. She walked in."
Mihael sighed heavily and slowly opened his eyes. "You really expect me to- You can't be serious." Mihael abruptly stood from his chair when he saw that Altair had vanished from the display. He quickly moved his hands over it to change the view and to see if she really walked in. Upon seeing her back in the screen and seeing her walk further in with the door closing behind her, Mihael nearly slammed the engineer next to him.
He stopped himself though, because he needed them to contact Dave and Ben for him. He turned to the engineer and quickly said, "Inform Dave and Ben that they need to rescue their charge before she gets herself killed!"
The engineer shook his head sadly before stating, "They went with Donel to the Master's room. Currently, they are in his Silence Field. We have no way of contacting them."
Mihael's expression darkened. That girl really was the center of a perfect storm of trouble!
His hand moved before he even realized he had the urge to and the engineer before him flew into the wall with a sickening crack. The engineer who pulled Mihael here squealed in terror for a brief moment before he covered his own mouth.
"You're all so fucking useless I swear." Mihael turned and started walking out of the room, "Can't believe I have to deal with this shit myself!" Soon as the door was opened he shouted out to everyone in the room, "I don't know why all of you useless scum are even here if you can't keep tabs on a single child!"
Altair walked for a dozen meters before the sound of cloth tearing reached her ears. She turned her head toward the source of the sound and found that her skirt had been torn by the strange grass of the forest. She frowned at the sight of the hook piercing through her skirt. She wondered how much trouble she would get in once Donel saw the hole in her clothes.
She couldn't turn around because the hook had pierced the back side of her skirt. If she did, it would probably do more damage. So she reached around her back and fumbled around with her hands until she managed to pull it out of the cloth. She then carefully knelt down to examine the grass closer. She didn't expect it to be able to pierce through her clothes like that. At best, she thought it was just cause her problems when she walked around.
She grabbed the middle of the grass and tentatively poked the hook from all angles. It wasn't too shark along the edge but when she tapped the point she immediately drew her hand back as she felt it prick through her skin. She looked at the red blood oozing out of the small wound on her finger and frowned.
'This is going to be so troublesome to deal with if a hostile creature finds me.'
She looked around and the frown on her face deepened the more she saw that she was nearly surrounded by the dangerous plant. She considered using her Shadow Magic to create a weapon to cut her way through but, given her Mana capacity, it was a terrible idea and she dismissed it. That meant that the best option she had would be to climb the trees and move around from the treetops.
She looked up to look for vines and to judge the spacing of the trees around her. She would be able to tell if it was feasible if they were close enough and had enough vines of appropriate length.
The red vines she saw caused her eyes to widen slightly. They were the same color as blood and it caused her to subconsciously be wary of them. However, the thickness of the canopy seemed to be enough. She could see through to the sky, but for the most part it was concealed from view. That was a good sign.
She cautiously walked over to the nearest tree and reached out to start climbing it. However, she paused when she remembered how the grass alone had been able to injure her. If the tree had some kind of hidden trap like the grass then it would be better if she could it before it found her.
She reached out to poke the tree the same way she had done with the grass, only with a non-injured finger. Upon contact with the tree, her finger sunk into its soft exterior like it was a cake. She immediately pulled her hand back and the bark of the tree reformed back to normal. This caused her to look at the tree in shock.
'What the hell kind of tree is this? Is this how the Gods make their beds? What IS the purpose of this place?'
Altair was very curious about the tree. She didn't know if she could still climb it with how soft it was, but she also wondered what kind of insides it had to be that soft. So, Altair kneeled down and pulled a grass out of the ground. Or she tried to, anyway. It turned out that the grass had roots that were extremely stubborn and resisted her pull completely.
This caused Altair to frown again. Since she couldn't pull it out, then she would just try to break it in two. It seemed to be similar to branches anyway, so it should work.
She grabbed the grass in two different parts and started to bend it. Sure enough, after it reached a certain degree the grass cracked loudly and broke apart.
Altair then stood up and faced the tree with the hook grass and swung it into the tree. It made a dull thud noise as the point sank into the trunk. She then immediately pulled it out and saw that the bark reformed back to normal, as if she didn't just stab it. This caused Altair to tilt her head in confusion.
She looked at the hook grass and didn't see any damage to the point and wondered just what went wrong with her plan.
She then shook her head and dismissed the idea of continuing her experiments with the flora. It would be a waste of time that she could be using to find the ingredients for her antidote. Still, as she eyed the hook grass in her hand, she realized it would make a great improvised weapon. The problem was that she had nowhere to put it on herself. She would probably just get injured if she tried to take it with her. Besides, the ground was littered with them. If she ever needed one, she could break another off and use that.
So, Altair tossed the grass aside and jumped up onto the tree. She hugged it on impact and felt her arms sink into the bark. She didn't mind and started climbing instead, determined to find out if it was actually climbable.
When she reached the first branch that was halfway up the tree she reached up and grabbed it while tentatively putting her weight on it, expecting the thing to bend immediately. However, it withstood her weight just fine and her fingers didn't even sink into its bark.
'This tree is really too damn weird.'
Altair pulled herself up onto the branch and looked around from her higher vantage point. Although she couldn't see far into the forest due to the density and spacing of the trees, she could easily look around for any ingredients that she needed. However, the only plants on the ground she could see were the hook grass.
She frowned and started to move towards the next tree.
Mihael left his office and walked through the main room filled with engineers, security officers, and Holodisplays. He almost made a straight line to a private room at the opposite side of the room. The staff moved out of his way when they saw him coming, not wanting to risk a forced training session with the madman.
Once Mihael reached the room he was going for he opened the door and walked in without a word. Another engineer was staring at the Holodisplay with clear anxiety on his face.
Mihael shoved him out of his chair without warning and took his spot. He then turned and kicked his feet up onto the table and leaned back in the chair to see what they were so worried about.
On the Holodisplay was Altair, in full color, staring through the door to the Augmented Training Room. From the angle displayed, the contents of the room weren't visible. It was obvious that the door was open, however, and that Altair was just staring at it.
Mihael was too lazy to change the display or bring up any information that the engineers probably looked at before coming to him. Instead, he opened his mouth and asked, "So, what's so worrying about this now?"
The engineer he kicked over stood to the side respectfully and said, "Well, she's looking into the ATR sir."
Mihael rolled his eyes as he looked at him, "I can see that dumbass. It's not like it's on, so what's the problem? The terminal should be locked so she can't turn it on."
The engineer shook his head and then clarified, "The ATR is on and set to the third Tier, sir."
"Hmm," Mihael looked back at the Holodisplay and added, "So it's set to Praefecti. That means there's someone in there so she can't just walk in then with an admin override." He looked back at the engineer who woke him up with a death glare, "I fail to see why this is a problem."
The engineer shriveled under his gaze and whispered, "S-Sir, the ATR is unoccupied. No one is in it right now so anyone can walk in."
Mihael's brows came together. He was starting to feel like a perfect storm was happening right now. But there's no way that people could be this negligent. The girl still had her two guards, so she would be perfectly fine and stopped before going in. Even then, every child knew of the dangers of an active ATR so no one would just walk in randomly like an idiot.
Still, Mihael wanted to know which idiot left the room active. So he turned back to the other engineer and asked, "So, which idiot left the ATR active when they left?"
The engineer coughed awkwardly before turning his head to the side and saying, "It was Noel, sir."
Mihael nodded his head in understanding. That maid was so dense it was a surprise she was still part of the family. "Well, it's not like the girl is stupid enough to just walk into an active ATR." He turned back to the Holodisplay and leaned even further back in the chair, causing it to complain under his weight. He then closed his eyes while saying, "Everyone knows the dangers of that, so there's no chance she'll just walk in randomly, is there?"
As if challenging his very words, Altair walked into the ATR after Mihael finished that sentence. The two engineer's jaws dropped open at the sight of it. They called Mihael here because they were afraid something like this would happen, even though they doubted it would. Still, the girl had exceeded their wildest expectations completely and really walked into a death trap by her own will.
The engineer that had called Mihael here spoke in a worried tone, "S-Sir, the screen. She walked in."
Mihael sighed heavily and slowly opened his eyes. "You really expect me to- You can't be serious." Mihael abruptly stood from his chair when he saw that Altair had vanished from the display. He quickly moved his hands over it to change the view and to see if she really walked in. Upon seeing her back in the screen and seeing her walk further in with the door closing behind her, Mihael nearly slammed the engineer next to him.
He stopped himself though, because he needed them to contact Dave and Ben for him. He turned to the engineer and quickly said, "Inform Dave and Ben that they need to rescue their charge before she gets herself killed!"
The engineer shook his head sadly before stating, "They went with Donel to the Master's room. Currently, they are in his Silence Field. We have no way of contacting them."
Mihael's expression darkened. That girl really was the center of a perfect storm of trouble!
His hand moved before he even realized he had the urge to and the engineer before him flew into the wall with a sickening crack. The engineer who pulled Mihael here squealed in terror for a brief moment before he covered his own mouth.
"You're all so fucking useless I swear." Mihael turned and started walking out of the room, "Can't believe I have to deal with this shit myself!" Soon as the door was opened he shouted out to everyone in the room, "I don't know why all of you useless scum are even here if you can't keep tabs on a single child!"
Altair walked for a dozen meters before the sound of cloth tearing reached her ears. She turned her head toward the source of the sound and found that her skirt had been torn by the strange grass of the forest. She frowned at the sight of the hook piercing through her skirt. She wondered how much trouble she would get in once Donel saw the hole in her clothes.
She couldn't turn around because the hook had pierced the back side of her skirt. If she did, it would probably do more damage. So she reached around her back and fumbled around with her hands until she managed to pull it out of the cloth. She then carefully knelt down to examine the grass closer. She didn't expect it to be able to pierce through her clothes like that. At best, she thought it was just cause her problems when she walked around.
She grabbed the middle of the grass and tentatively poked the hook from all angles. It wasn't too shark along the edge but when she tapped the point she immediately drew her hand back as she felt it prick through her skin. She looked at the red blood oozing out of the small wound on her finger and frowned.
'This is going to be so troublesome to deal with if a hostile creature finds me.'
She looked around and the frown on her face deepened the more she saw that she was nearly surrounded by the dangerous plant. She considered using her Shadow Magic to create a weapon to cut her way through but, given her Mana capacity, it was a terrible idea and she dismissed it. That meant that the best option she had would be to climb the trees and move around from the treetops.
She looked up to look for vines and to judge the spacing of the trees around her. She would be able to tell if it was feasible if they were close enough and had enough vines of appropriate length.
The red vines she saw caused her eyes to widen slightly. They were the same color as blood and it caused her to subconsciously be wary of them. However, the thickness of the canopy seemed to be enough. She could see through to the sky, but for the most part it was concealed from view. That was a good sign.
She cautiously walked over to the nearest tree and reached out to start climbing it. However, she paused when she remembered how the grass alone had been able to injure her. If the tree had some kind of hidden trap like the grass then it would be better if she could it before it found her.
She reached out to poke the tree the same way she had done with the grass, only with a non-injured finger. Upon contact with the tree, her finger sunk into its soft exterior like it was a cake. She immediately pulled her hand back and the bark of the tree reformed back to normal. This caused her to look at the tree in shock.
'What the hell kind of tree is this? Is this how the Gods make their beds? What IS the purpose of this place?'
Altair was very curious about the tree. She didn't know if she could still climb it with how soft it was, but she also wondered what kind of insides it had to be that soft. So, Altair kneeled down and pulled a grass out of the ground. Or she tried to, anyway. It turned out that the grass had roots that were extremely stubborn and resisted her pull completely.
This caused Altair to frown again. Since she couldn't pull it out, then she would just try to break it in two. It seemed to be similar to branches anyway, so it should work.
She grabbed the grass in two different parts and started to bend it. Sure enough, after it reached a certain degree the grass cracked loudly and broke apart.
Altair then stood up and faced the tree with the hook grass and swung it into the tree. It made a dull thud noise as the point sank into the trunk. She then immediately pulled it out and saw that the bark reformed back to normal, as if she didn't just stab it. This caused Altair to tilt her head in confusion.
She looked at the hook grass and didn't see any damage to the point and wondered just what went wrong with her plan.
She then shook her head and dismissed the idea of continuing her experiments with the flora. It would be a waste of time that she could be using to find the ingredients for her antidote. Still, as she eyed the hook grass in her hand, she realized it would make a great improvised weapon. The problem was that she had nowhere to put it on herself. She would probably just get injured if she tried to take it with her. Besides, the ground was littered with them. If she ever needed one, she could break another off and use that.
So, Altair tossed the grass aside and jumped up onto the tree. She hugged it on impact and felt her arms sink into the bark. She didn't mind and started climbing instead, determined to find out if it was actually climbable.
When she reached the first branch that was halfway up the tree she reached up and grabbed it while tentatively putting her weight on it, expecting the thing to bend immediately. However, it withstood her weight just fine and her fingers didn't even sink into its bark.
'This tree is really too damn weird.'
Altair pulled herself up onto the branch and looked around from her higher vantage point. Although she couldn't see far into the forest due to the density and spacing of the trees, she could easily look around for any ingredients that she needed. However, the only plants on the ground she could see were the hook grass.
She frowned and started to move towards the next tree.
