VERSATILE: ALTERNATE WORLD

We have now walked around the ruin's first floor. So far, nothing has been worth noting except for some records in the language of the ancient demonic alphabet. Lucia was the only one who can read it properly so we just waited for Lucia to fully read it and decipher the language as well. And as expected, there's nothing much there since most of the written stuff is daily ramblings of the demon who once occupied the place.

"So most of the papers here are just ramblings and nothing groundbreaking like some research and stuff?" Queen Tanya asked.

"Yeah, most of it is just "What should I eat today?" or "How should I remove my boredom now?" or something similar to that. Nothing too noteworthy to tell to be honest so I don't think there is anything we can say here," Lucia shrugged as she put down the last papers she grabbed on the nearest table.

"Such a shame but since this place is big, perhaps we will find other things that might be something we can consider as something useful."

Exploring further into the first floor, we soon found a few machines that we don't know what their uses are. Most of them looked futuristic to me, but they lacked the practical usage of those items so I don't think they are used for everyday things. Unless I am mistaken and this is something used every day and it only applies in this world.

"What are these machines?" Queen Tanya knocked on one and a dull thud can be heard every time she knocks it with her hands.

"You know what it was, Lucia?" I asked.

"This is something completely new to me. I don't think I have any idea what it was. I apologize but this is one of the things that I think I can't give any kind of help with. Also, these machines does not exist back in my time so it's either something that existed after I fell asleep or this thing is just an item used by the owner of this place."

I approached one of the machines and examined it. Based on how it looks alone, it looks very much like an item that seems to look like a computer board. There are various buttons here and there but pressing one doesn't seem to do anything other than glow a few times before remaining still.

"Lucia, can you look for papers around that seem to relate to this machine? We can't just leave this thing alone in case it was a dangerous thing. We can't afford to be trapped by something like this because we just messed up with this thing."

Lucia complied and started checking on the papers. Queen Tanya also helped her even though she does not understand what it was while I continue to inspect the machine for a bit to see any new things I might have missed.

While searching for any kind of info on what this thing is, Lucia seems to have found something.

"Master. It states here that this thing is for cooking some preserved food and materializing that powdered food. For it to function properly, we needed to have those said powdered food and restore them inside this thing. If there's nothing detected, it will not be useful for anything."

"A food processor? That's kinda interesting seeing this doesn't even look like one to begin with but also kinda disappointing now that we know what it was being used for," Queen Tanya is indeed looking disappointed seeing how the machine was nothing but just something that regens the food that was powdered to easily create new food and consume it for later.

"From the looks of it, it's a machine for preserving food and all of that is just for the food and nothing else. But it's good to know what this is. We should just take note of it, perhaps we will find a good reason to use this thing and we might appreciate its presence later on."

"Hmmm, that should be the case here then. Alright, let's move to the next section then. The others have found the stairs to the second floor below."

We scoured the place one last time to see if there are hidden stashes present but since there was nothing else in there, we moved on and went down to the second floor.

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The second floor of the ruins.

Compared to the first floor, this time around, the second floor is littered with some rogue machine monsters. We have to whack and destroy them before they overwhelm us. This is where our time to shine begins. Lucia is quick on dealing with the machines, combusting them from their insides and busting out whatever is making them move. As for me, I just thrashed them using my Versatile Weapon in a hammer form and repeatedly bashed them to pieces.

They are all pretty weak which is not even something of a big problem for me and even for Lucia. Our continuous cleanup of the monsters ended up with our arrival at a room that is much like occupied by someone there. There, another diary is found once more and this continues the events of what happened in the previous one.

"Looks like instead of leaving the ruins, the owner who is writing this diary continues to live in these ruins, but instead of staying above, he continues to descend and live on."

"Did the owner of the ruins mention why he is descending?" Queen Tanya asked.

"It was said here that he is being "overwhelmed" and he has to descend to reduce it but whatever caused him to descend made him descend once more since he got overwhelmed here as well."

"Perhaps the one that is overwhelming this guy are those rogue robots?"

"Unfortunately, most of what he was talking about was torn off, and only a few parts can be salvaged and even then, it's hard to understand with many things missing from the torn pages."

"Ah, that's too bad. But I guess we can keep on going then. But first, we should clear up the second floor. Since these monsters will no longer spawn, we should kill them all and clear this place out in case we get overwhelmed on the next floor if what the person said was right, he might have continued to move below to avoid being overwhelmed. Alright, Bladeheart, it's your job to do that."

I pulled out my weapon and do the work. They are nothing and they don't drop anything so all they are were just heaps of metal junk. And that's it. While clearing a few of those rogue robots, I stumbled upon a hidden stash. It seems to be the stash of the one who is writing the diary. It is locked but that is not a problem for me Using the [Lockpicking] skill from the Assassin class, I easily opened the item without any problem.

Inside are a pile of metals and a little rusty key. There's nothing else there that seems to be worth looking into except for this key and so I carried it off for myself. I checked the chest deeper and at the bottom is some kind of blueprints and a manual in it. I can't read it because it was in a different language but let me see whether this is a language Lucia knows.

When I arrived at where everyone is, they are currently inspecting the tools sets in the nearby workbench while Lucia is busy reading some of the records present on the table.

"Learned anything new?" I asked.

"Not yet, no. Most of the notes here are just some daily reminders for the guy who used to live here. He is putting them there on how to use the machines, what they do and stuff like that, it was like some kind of instructions tips? But we're meant to be understood by those who can understand the demon language," Lucia explained.

"One thing is for sure for me that this ruin is some kind of little bunker that was made to shelter the person living here from any dangers outside. The machines here are also made for the sake of keeping the one who is using these machines alive and moving. But I am also doubting that the one who lives here is the one who is using it either. I can only say that whoever made these stuff seems to know their way to keeping themselves sufficient enough," Queen Tanya then tap the machine a few times.

The machines looked like they are meant for special experiments but to know that these stuff were just meant to be used to be self-sufficient while inside here is something else. However, we can also tell that whatever following the guy here is something that would literally force him to move downwards and abandon the floor above. Whatever it is, perhaps it has already reached him and claimed him already.

"There's nothing left for us to do, let's descend further."