Michael walked ahead, slightly in awe. As he did, he noticed the other stands, on the left and the right of the golem. He recognized the items. Two rings, a stave, a circlet and a lesser amulet. The same objects he and the others retrieved from the minotaur room. This must be a display of newly discovered artifacts in Gnosis. He felt kind of bad for not getting credit for it, before remembering the Gnosis rumor mill.

When this room would open to the public, everyone would find out who were the mages to retrieve these artifacts before the first day would be over.

Each stand had a plaque fire it, detailing the artifact’s properties. They were the same as he remembered the shadowy being telling them. Ring of fireballs, amulet of perception, Spell absorbing stave. But the amulet was different. It didn’t have any description. Perhaps one would be added later, when its personal protector would be replaced with a normal stand, but Michael remembered what that shadow mage said. Its properties were mostly classified. It offered protection, but other than that, he refused to say.

“You recognize this amulet?” Melissa said, catching sight of his gaze.

“Yeah. It’s part of a set I and Alex’s team retrieved. My first mission here at Gnosis. Too bad we didn’t get to keep it.” he laughed.

He kept taking normally, but he didn’t miss the way Melissa’s eyes widened at hearing his words. Or how her look quickly flickered to the amulet in question.

Why… wait.

He remembered something else. When he first found out that the shadowy faction was after him. He had only been the third objective, hadn’t he? The were two more before him. One was about some high-level secret, percolating about a number of factions. And the other was about…

This amulet!

“You know this artifact too?”

“Oh. Uhm, yeah. My… I mean, some mages among my faction were talking about it. Sounded important. No wonder it has its own personal golem guard, right?” she joked.

Michael smiled in response, but inside he was thinking quickly.

One aspect the shadowy mage mentioned. Protection. Which was also mentioned at the shadowy faction meeting, by no other than Melissa herself. …probably. And what was the other thing? …there was a third aspect. Yet undiscovered. Which was also kind of what the shadowy mage said too, since he mentioned that some of its abilities were classified.

I wonder if this would count as a big enough secret?

“It’s funny.” Michael probed. “As… a reward, I guess, for finding these artifacts, some mage told me and the others about them. He told us that this amulet was heavily enchanted, but that he could only tell us about a third of its effects. It offered magical protection, but he wouldn’t go further than that.”

“Yeah, that’s what I heard as well.” Melissa confirmed.

“But I managed to find out a second third of its effects.” He added.

“Where’d you managed to find that out from?” Melissa asked, hungrily.

You’re curious about my source, not the amulet’s properties. Interesting.

“My faction.” Michael lied. “The Ascentionalists held half-ownership over it, so Regitris told a select few what he uncovered.”

“I see.” She said, in thought.

“Aren’t you curios what the second effect is?”

“What?” Oh, yes. Sorry, I was lost in thought.” She grinned. “What’s the second effect?”

“Healing. A regeneration type of effect, probably. He wouldn’t tell us more than this.”

She nodded, humming, but she couldn’t hide the fact that she wasn’t very surprised to learn this. Not at all actually. Since Michael had actually learned the information from her.

“Think its third aspect would be a big enough secret for your faction?” he asked on a whim.

“Wh- Yes. Of course! You know it?!” she stumbled on her own words.

“Nope. Sorry!” he said, raising his arms. “I just meant it as a hypothetical.”

“Oh.” She deflated.

Yes… that wasn’t exactly true either. Because while Michel had no idea what the third effect was, he had a pretty good idee how he could find out. Well, maybe not pretty good, but decent. Fine. Just an idea. But it was better than nothing.

Because, after that whole experience with Narh and the magical tome, Michael had come to learn something. He had come to learn that gorgon ancestors were pricks and adept negotiators, true, but he had also learned that objects that housed sentient beings had a certain feel to them. And this amulet screamed of that similar feeling to Michael’s mind.

It could be something else entirely. Yet… Michael was part of the team that retrieved this amulet, was there to hear its second aspect revealed, had experience with another object like it and was sent to clean the room it was displayed it for its very first time.

Coincidences? Gnosis breathes coincidences.

He raised a tentative hand towards it, still unsure of whether he should touch it, when the golem flinched, raising his own hand to stop Michael. And given that its opened palm was the same size as Michael’s chest, the golem succeeded in stopping him. Heck, it even stopped the blood in his veins.

“Don’t do that.” Melissa said, suddenly alert. “This golem is set on a protective mode. And I don’t think it’s instructed to be as gentle to the students like normal golems are.”

“Right. Got it.”

“What were you trying to do, anyway?”

“I… think I can find out what the amulet’s third aspect it.”

“What?”

“Yeah. But… I also think I have to touch it to find out.”

“B- Wait. Do you have a special recovery Spell? Or an analysis one?”

“Uhm…no. I just have a feeling.”

“A… feeling?” she asked, sounding rather skeptical.

“…yeah?”

“Well.” She shrugged. “Well, it beats our other choices. Of which we have none.”

They shared a laugh at that, before sobering up again.

“But there’s no way for me to do that with the golem here. And I don’t think pushing my luck is a good idea.”

“Most definitely not. Though… hmm. I normally wouldn’t dare trying to tamper with a golem like this… and even if we do manage, we’ll almost surely get caught. The only questions is, how much time do you need?”

“I don’t really know.” he said, thinking back to how moved differently back when he went inside the tome. “A few moments I guess.”

“I see.” She said, scrounging up her face. “I may be able to give you that. But this golem will attack us once it sobers up. No question about it. We need to run the second it moves.”

“Got it. But we also need a cover story, you know? Otherwise, people will ask questions. Or just jump to accusations.”

“Right. You might get away with it, given your reputation, but me…”

“I’ll vouch for you. And… we can say we tried to clean it, but it wouldn’t sit still. Though that’s a pretty weak cover.” He said.

“Well… yes, but will your whatever leave any trace of tampering?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

“Then they’ll have no proof. We’ll look like idiots if they believe us, but even if they don’t, they won’t be able to prove that we did anything wrong.”

“Right.” He said, suddenly in good spirits. “Alright then. How are you planning on doing this?”

Melissa grimaced, before steeling herself.

“It’s a little trick I picked up from the Bloodlinked.”

“The Bloodlined give tips?”

“Not knowingly.” She grinned. “Pass me your sword.”

Michael materialized it from his vambrace and handed it to her.

“You know how they use their blood affinity to empower their magic, right? Well, the secret here is rather simple. Blood Magic is not restricted to solely their faction. They have an easier time learning it for sure, but everyone can with enough effort.”

“Oh.” He said, eyeing the sword with renewed interest. “So you learned Blood Magic on your own?”

“No.” she laughed. “I tried, but I didn’t manage to. But, for what I’m about to do, free form magic will suffice. I don’t need a proper Spell. I hope.”

So saying, she used his sword to cut a short gash into her palm, before handing it back to him.

“If you pour your mana into an open wound, your blood will act as a natural mana conductor. Not nearly enough to be used in place of a wand, but blood mages are known to use their own wounds to some success. When used like this, it will allow me to better empower my Spells, by drawing on the inherent magic in my system. The… magic that one can only use by sacrifice.”

“Right. Uhm, what do you mean by sacrifice, exactly?”

“Nothing big.” She grinned. “Though I will probably feel a little faint for the following few days.”

“I see… Uhm, Melissa? Have you ever done this before?” he asked.

“Nope.” She smiled widely. “But there’s no time like the present. Get ready, I’ll only be able to assume control for a few seconds. If that.”

“Right.” He said, focused.

It was the type of plan that was doomed to fail. But too many coincidences lead to this. A much to well crafted series of events. It probably wasn’t an assured win, but Michael couldn’t help but feel that he had been handed a personalized story mission. And if the powers that be allowed him to play with cheats, who was he to argue?

“|Lesser Bond Creation|, |Assumed Control|.” She said, the drops of blood on her hand lightning up. “Here it goes. |Reinforced Command|. |Obey|!”

She screamed the last words and Michael smelled an acrid scent as her wound caught fire. But the girl didn’t flinch. Her hand was still pointed at the golem, who kept as still as before.

“Now!” she ground out.

Michael moved forward and touched the amulet, without the golem moving to intercept.

And then… that was it. Nothing happened for a few seconds.

From an outside perspective, it looked like Melissa was straining to keep her arm leveled in front of the golem, while Michael was hunched over, one hand touching the amulet. Should you have been able to perceive magical currents, you would have noticed that the girl was releasing a positively massive amount of mana towards the golem. You would also have noticed that the golem’s own infused mana was looking like a balloon about to burst against the girl’s own magic. And if you paid very close attention, you would have notion that Michael’s mana was suddenly very similar to the small spark of magic inside the artifact.

But you would have had to be quick, for the moment was over before long.

With a loud groan, Melissa fell to her knees, dropping her hand and Michael took his hand back, blinking rapidly. He turned to the girl, mouth open, when he saw her eyes roll up in the back of her head as she collapsed on her back.

‘A little faint’ my ass.

He didn’t have time to be upset, though, because a grinding sound from behind him made him turn. The golem, in all his glory, had now stood up, towering over the young man.

Here’s hoping it doesn’t kill me.

He had no hope of winning, he knew that. And he couldn’t run and leave Melissa behind. So he did the only think he could. He moved in front of her, shielding her with her body and desperately hurt that this wouldn’t hurt too much.

“|Clean|” he cast, the Spell making the golem’s ‘face’ a little shinier.

It didn’t seem to appreciate the makeover, as one of his hands released the amulet and contracted into a giant fist. It lifted it up and Michael started to have serious doubts about his ability to survive the blow, when a voice spoke.

“Cease!”

Michael turned and saw Marico striding into the room, just in time to act the savior.

In truth, Michael had planned for this. Maybe it wasn’t a smart plan, but he had started to get the feel of the way the story moved around him. If he was the protagonist and it very much looked like he was, then this had ben the perfect situation for a sudden helping hand arriving.

Not that I’m doing this again. Not until I learn for sure I won’t end up in the medical wing. Or worse.

The more person-like golem looked at his huge brethren, at his shiny ‘face’ and at the amulet. His gaze then turned to the fainted girl and finally to Michael.

“What did you do?”

“We… we tried to clean the golem, sir. It, uh, it didn’t like it.” he said, channeling his best actor persona.

“Clean it. I didn’t order you not to, because I thought it obvious. Clearly I overestimated you.”

“My apologies, sir.”

He nodded, before his eyes flashed to Melissa again.

“Her hand is bloody. And burnt. Why?”

“Uh, she tried to calm the golem down, sir.” Michael hurriedly said. “After it got mad. She’s an Artificer, you know-“

“I do.”

“Right. Well, I think she got an adverse reaction.”

“Not unbelievable, given the quality of this construct. Yet…”

He eyed the amulet once again and pointed his wand at it. A few seconds of silence later, he lowered his hand, frowning.

“No magical interference. Not that I can detect. But I wonder. What would you say if I were to ask you to tell me what happened here, Mage Michael? Under a truth bell, of course.”

“I’d say… that would be a breach of etiquette against me, as a member of the Ascentionalists.”

Yes, it was boring at the faction meetings Michael was cajoled into attending, but that didn’t mean he didn’t learn things. Yet that may have been the wrong to say, since Marico’s look grew even more steely.

“I thought as much. I will be having words with your faction head, Mage Michael. But know this. Even he will not be able to protect you, should I find you to be acting against this academy. He may be the top Ascentionalist, but I am Gnosis’s warden.”

“Yes, sir.” He gulped.

“Good.”

He threw Michael a potion.

“A few drops for her hand, pour the rest down her throat. Now leave.”

Michael hurried to do that. He healed Melissa’s hand and force fed her what he assumed to be a Healing Potion. It made her conscious enough to mumble, but he still had to carry her out of the room. She got better by the time they reached a dining hall, well enough to sit down and listen.

But to his consternation, he found out that he couldn’t tell her anything of what he had learned. Just think it.

“The secrecy contract.” She wheezed. “You can’t tell me what I don’t already know. But you found it out?”

Michael nodded. It was such a good story too.

Though it’s weird how many artifacts have these ‘hidden elder’ types hiding inside.