I emerged from the void portal into the open air, quite a bit above the floating island. My wings snapped out quickly, transforming my fall into a controlled glide. I used the opportunity to scout the island from above while checking for a good landing spot.

The island was quite a bit different than the last one. Instead of a small forest, a mountain, and a village with a research building, this one was almost completely flat. It resembled the grassy plains below, a small river snaking through the island, seemingly starting and ending out of nowhere. And in the center of the island, a solitary tower stood tall. Compared to the small tower on the first island, this one was huge.

It was divided into four segments, with the lowest one being the widest, progressively getting smaller the higher it went. Each section had a little balcony running around the circumference of the tower and a plethora of windows dotted its sides. Eventually, it all culminated at the top, which had obviously been blown up by… something. Where usually towers had fancy pointed toppers, or maybe flat ones, this one abruptly ended in a gaping hole.

I was quickly losing height, though, so I let my eyes wander over the rest of the island. The open design lets me see the entirety of the island without problems, but I couldn’t see a single monster up here. Shit. I’d planned to farm a bit more after exploring this island, but it was starting to look like I was out of luck. The only thing on this island was the tower.

I set down close to the tower's entrance, a pretty majestic-looking double door that was surprisingly mostly intact. The red paint was peeling off, sure, but there were tons of decorations that looked to be made from actual gold which stood the test of time pretty well. It was mostly the usual swirly decorations you’d expect from a fancy door, but there was what looked like an emblem in the center of the door, split in half by the two doors.

I tried figuring out what it was supposed to be, but couldn’t really tell. Maybe a character or a word from a language I was unfamiliar with.

Well, the first challenge would appear to be the door, which I’d need to open if I wanted to enter. Of course, the first thing I tried was pushing or pulling, but even with my considerable strength the door wouldn’t budge. Well, I tried the nice way, and it wasn’t like there was someone still living here, so now I’d just blow it up. I stepped away from the door a bit and sent out a poison bomb to test the waters.

The bomb exploded spectacularly, but the only effect it had was that the door was now coated in poison. I shrugged, readied a void javelin, and apologized to whoever used to live here for brutalizing their front door like this. Except, the door survived without a scratch… again.

What?

Just to make sure, I took some more potshots at the door, but they did not budge at all. Wow, okay. Not to be outdone by a door, I started trying to blow up the wall next to it instead. If the door is enchanted or something, I just needed to channel my inner kool-aid man and get things done that way. Except, the walls also wouldn’t bow to my will.

Alright, sure. So the lowest segment of the tower isn’t accessible. No problem. I’d just go to the segment balcony above and smash in a window or something. No need to get angry. I used leap to jump straight up, the secondary jump barely letting me grab onto the edge and pull myself up. Stupid tower with its stupid magic-proof doors and walls, bet you the windows will break easily.

I quickly found a window and sent out a poison spear. Just a pane of glass, a spear could take care of it easily. No problem at all. The spear impacted with a satisfying thump that reverberated through the floor, and in its wake was a perfectly intact window.

Alright, fuck this.

I started unloading everything I had on the window and the adjacent walls, exhausting my MP with spears, bombs, and javelins. I even tried a poison assassination to see if the window was reinforced from the inside as well. And the reward for my angry outburst was zilch. My MP had bottomed out, yet the window and the wall stood defiantly.

I took a few moments to center myself. Deep breaths, Gary, deep breaths. Okay, so magic didn’t work. Very cool. Good to know.

I definitely wasn’t strong enough to brute force my way in, so the only thing left was the hole I’d seen at the top. The roof had been blown clean off, so I should be able to get in through there.

If there was some kind of barrier up there that prevented me from going in, I would scream.

Unfortunately for me, the segments of the tower were getting longer, so a simple leap didn’t cut it to get to the third segment. After waiting for the cooldown of leap, I used both jumps to get up and then detonated a poison bomb below myself to get the extra height needed. Trusty old bomb jump. Never got old. Now that I was sitting on the second balcony, it occurred to me that I could just use void jump to get up there. Thankfully, nobody had seen my lapse of judgment.

One void jump later, I was gliding towards the big hole at the top and to my extreme pleasure, there was no bullshit barrier preventing me from going in. After landing in a very manly, and not at-all unsightly way, I took a look around myself. Whatever exploded up here did a real number on the place. The walls were barely standing, parts of the floor had collapsed, showing the floor below, and there was destroyed stuff littering what was left of the ground.

Metal scraps, torn paper, splintered wood, and rubble mixed together to paint a rather unfortunate picture. I would have hated to be here when the roof was blown sky-high. It was clear that I wouldn’t get any clues from the stuff up here, so I jumped down the hole into a lower floor.

This floor wasn’t much better, since the collapsed ceiling had crushed whatever was down here. I spotted a door hanging from its hinges that led into a stairwell and went over to check it out. Looking at the destruction made me question just what the hell happened here. If my full arsenal of quite explosive spells failed to put even a dent in the tower, the pure power of whatever ripped it apart must have been crazy.

The stairwell went along the outer wall of the tower, similar to the smaller tower on the last island, and I made sure to peek into each room along the way down. Each and every room painted the same picture. Beakers, odd gizmos, large machines, vats, and a few oddly shaped drawings that reminded me of how ritual sacrifices were depicted in some fantasy novels back on earth.

This was a place of science. Or well, magical science.

I actually managed to find several papers that had still legible writing on them. Unfortunately, the writing was in a script that I could not read. Not to be deterred, I soldiered on, coming across what looked like a communal hall, the furniture surprisingly intact, just like the rest of the tower seemed to be. A stark contrast to the other places I’d been to that had been eroded by time.

I found a room filled with beds, where the scientists must have slept. A room that was completely filled with crates. Storage, most likely. A room that looked a lot more luxurious than everything else, so most likely the room of the towers master. Until finally, I arrived at the ground floor.

The stairs lead me into a grand hall that looked like a reception area. A curved counter backed by long shelves ran along the walls. Several benches provided seating to waiting people, and some cubicles offered a spot to hold private meetings. Several banners were hung around the walls, the same red and gold design I’d seen at the door proudly displayed.

Speaking of which, the door was also there, taunting me with its closed… doors. I hopped over there and pulled down the handle, before giving the door a good yank. It opened almost infuriatingly easily. Magic was bullshit.

I turned around with an annoyed sigh when I finally spotted what I came here for. There, in between the banners was a large mural that I hadn’t seen in the low light before. Now that the door was open and the light was flooding in, it was easily visible.

The mural depicted this tower, loads of humans drawn around the base, researching feverishly. And there, above the tower, floated a solitary human, its limbs outstretched as if to demand worship from the people below. Light was radiating outwards from the human, washing over the land and the people.

I contemplated the mural for a while until the system finally prompted me with the message I was waiting for.

Congratulations!

You have discovered a trace of an ancient civilization! (2/3)

Would you like to play the memory?

Y/N