"System, summarize the diary.", he said, finally touching the diary.
[The diary is written by one Gordan Swiftfoot, a thief who steals on commission. Detailed in the diary are his robberies and the items he stole. Most of the money obtained was spent on the Dwarve"s Rum. What information would you like to know?]
"Why did they come to steal my house?", asked Daneel.
[Gordan and his partner were contracted by a society which handles the underworld. The name is not given, but much of the information that Gordan had which enabled him to steal came from this organization. The contract was to steal a specific map located in a certain book in a minister"s library. It was ordered that nothing else must be touched. On seeing that the map led to a location in the slums, namely, the Anivron house, the pair of thieves decided that it was probably a treasure map and proceeded to sneak into the host"s house to steal the treasure.]
A map? Daneel took out the silvery map that he had seen in the rucksack.
"Is this the map?", he asked, staring at the contents.
[Affirmative. The map leads precisely to the Anivron House. There is no other information, except for this sentence below the x-marked location:
"Follow the flow of Ether."]
Follow the flow of Ether? Seeing this made Daneel remember the white mists he had seen inside the Energized Training Chamber back in the training hall. Taking out a block of Ether, he said:
"System, how do I energize this Ether to make the white mist that was there in the chamber where I trained?"
[Pressure is required to make the Ether into a gaseous form which can then be absorbed. Host must squeeze the block]
Hearing this, Daneel squeezed the block between both of his hands. It turned out that the amount of pressure required was quite high, as he had to squeeze with all of his strength for quite some time for a small misty cloud of Ether to come out. The block of crystal that was the Ether seemed to have dimmed a bit after this small cloud came out.
The small cloud first stayed in the air before gradually floating into the living room. Then, it went down and disappeared in the ground, in the exact center of the room.
"Uh, is that normal?", he asked, not knowing what to think.
[Replying to host, Energized Ether stays in the air after it is produced unless a wind blows it away. It does not go into the ground by itself unless someone has absorbed it and used it to temper themselves thus changing it. Something has pulled the Ether down into the ground. It is suggested that the host dig at that spot.]
His parents were currently outside, so Daneel had to wait, pondering on what it could be.
Soon, his father came back.
"Dad, why did we build our house here?", he first asked.
Startled at the sudden question, Robert thought for a bit before answering, "Thats actually a funny story. There was a senile old trainer at the military academy whom I respected although he mostly spoke nonsense. On the day that I was thrown out, he accompanied me to this spot and told me to make my home here. He said that this place would bring a lot of luck and wealth to our family. He constantly lost focus, so although it seemed like he would say something else, he changed the topic and rambled on about rising taxes. He died soon after, so I chose this place as it was his last wish to me. Why do you ask, son?"
"I found a map on the thieves who tried to rob our house. It led to a location in the woods, where I found these blocks of Ether, this diary and this map that led to our house. The Ether that I energized went into the ground. Dad, there might be something under. Can we dig here to see what it is?", he lied.
Robert first looked at him with disapproving eyes before sighing. "Son, I will not ask you why you did not tell me before you went to the place. What if it had been dangerous? I am glad nothing happened, but just be careful. Always remember that we are here for you, in case you need our help."
Daneel felt a little pain in his heart but he had no choice but to lie. The truth was too dangerous.
"Yes, lets dig here. I"ll go get a shovel and something to carry the dirt. We also need a knife to cut the steel panel on the floor."
Hearing this, Daneel enlarged his knife and said, "Elanev lent it to me."
"Just the first two then.", said Robert, eyeing the knife with what looked like longingness and then walking out the door. A sadness was in his eyes, as if he missed the days when he could hold his sword and stand strong on the battlefield.
The desire to obtain justice only got stronger in Daneel. Soon, they started digging after cutting the steel panel.
His mother also said the same thing after she came home, that they were there for him. Daneel felt lucky to have such supporting parents.
The family dug through the night, up to a depth of 15 feet. The dirt was discreetly dumped in the sewer.
Finally, a "TONG" sound was heard as the shovel hit a steel object. Wiping away the dirt on it, Daneel noticed that it was a steel door at an angle of 45 degrees to the ground. There was no lock, and as Daneel pulled back the door, a burst of white mist hit him in the face.
It was Ether! Daneel hastily shouted, "There"s something here, I"m checking it out!" before ducking into the room and closing the door behind him.
A misty room 10 foot tall cavern greeted him. It was a round room made of rock, with numerous crystals inlayed in various patterns all around. All of the crystals were Ether!
[Host has entered a Natural Energized Training Chamber. These chambers are very rare, occurring in only 1 out of 1000 Ether deposits. A natural formation of Ether crystals allows an area to gather energized Ether from the surroundings and concentrate it, effectively making it into a Training Chamber just like the ones used in Training Halls. The difference is that in the training hall, one needs to constantly replenish the Ether that is being Energized.
A Natural Chamber works by gathering the Ether at a location. Hence, it only stays effective until most of the Ether in that area has been gathered. A certain level of Ether needs to be present in the surroundings of the chamber in order for the gathering to occur.
This chamber has been discovered and modified into a training chamber. A steel-like wall envelops the natural formation, allowing it to be transported. As Ether can pa.s.s through most materials, this is no hindrance.
Ether has been gathered in the present location. Only the Ether already present in the room can be absorbed. To gather more Ether, host must change the location of the chamber.
System congratulates host on finding a high-tier treasure!]