Surprised, Eisen stepped over toward those items with his eyebrows raised in curiosity, before squatting down and taking a look at what Komer pointed toward. From an initial look, they seemed to be simple crystals or gems, although there did seem to be something interesting about them.
And when Eisen picked one of them up, he managed to figure out what it was that seemed so 'Interesting'. Just texture-wise, they didn't seem like naturally-formed crystals at all. Instead, they reminded Eisen more of Crystalized-Mana for some reason. So, obviously quite curious, Eisen activated his Truth-Seeing Eyes and inspected them.
[Blank Core]
[Quality – Perfect][Rank – 8]
[Description] The Blank Base for a Core created by the ??? Eisen as a prototype. It has been created by crystalizing numerous types of energies together at the same time, a process Requiring Immense control. It has been inscribed with basic information, but still hasn't been given a specific type yet.
"Huh..?" Eisen muttered to himself confused, and the others looked at him curiously. "What is it?" Brody asked instantly, and the old man turned around with a smirk. "Well, it's a Blank Core, which I apparently made myself." The old man explained, and the other originals, and Komer, looked at him confused.
"What do you mean you made it?" The merchant asked, and Eisen just shrugged. "Exactly what I mean when I say 'I apparently made it'. It says it's a 'Blank base for a core created by the ??? Eisen'. Those question marks are also there when I inspect the Puzzle Box, so it's most likely not someone else called 'Eisen'." He told the others, and then squatted down onto the ground, trying to take a look at the other items that were there, but they all seemed to be Blank Cores of different ranks, but all of them were at the 'Perfect' quality.
"Interesting…" The old man whispered, before placing the crystals to the side and activating his mana sight, although the others just looked at him confused.
"What are you doing now?" Jyuuk asked, and Eisen just moved his fingers through his beard as he looked around the room. "Well, if I was supposed to be the one that made these cores, I'm guessing I had a part in building this castle as well. And if that's the case, this room is definitely not just a regular room. And most importantly, there should be something else here…" The old man said, and once more, Jyuuk stepped closer toward Eisen with a frown.
"And what would that be?" He asked, and Eisen just shrugged. "Right now, I personally find the idea of creating the cores incredibly amazing and intriguing, and if I was the one to make these small cores, I surely played around with different types as well. And if I'm right, something as amazing as this room here should be one of the places that I..." The old man said with a smirk on his face as he ran his hand over the wall, trying to find any place that seemed off, before seeing what he was looking for.
"…equipped with a Guardian." The old man said with a smirk as a part of the wall crumbled similarly to before, revealing a short, dust- and rust-covered mechanical body.
"Ah… Nobody took care of you over the last few hundred years, huh..?" Eisen muttered to himself as he squatted down in front of the broken-down Core Guardian, trying to pick it up with a smile on his face, although, the others behind him seemed just confused at what actually was going on.
"Eisen, what are you talking about? You're speaking as if all of this was actually made by you…" Evalia said with a frown, but Eisen just smiled brightly and tilted his head to the side just so slightly while looking at the five people in front of him.
"Don't worry about it, all of this will seem completely normal to you in a bit." The old man told her, and for just a moment, all five of them seemed pretty concerned, although they then started smiling happily.
"Wait, another Core Guardian?!" Komer asked excitedly, and Eisen just kind of smiled, trying to hide how disappointed he was at actually being right with what he just said.
"Mhm, I think so. Or well, something like a Core Guardian, at least." The old man muttered as he created a table to lay the mechanical body down on, slowly starting to at least clean the dust and cobwebs off of it.
"Hmm… The basic structure seems to be pretty similar, but it's different to a Guardian's body." Eisen pointed out, and then quickly used his Truth-Seeing Eyes to inspect the figure, and then just slightly grinned.
"It's a Helper to the actual Core Guardian specifically for this treasury. I think the Guardian placed here was one supposed to protect at least the whole castle, and then there were some like this meant to help out here and there." Eisen explained, before slowly going over the mechanical body with his hand to find places that were still alright, and others that needed to be replaced under any circumstance.
"Ah, could any of you maybe try and figure out if everyone here in the castle is alright?" Eisen asked, and surprised, the others looked at the old man with the smiles caused by whoever was trying to make them forget about their past.
"Why that? Isn't it completely abandoned?" Jyuuk asked, but Eisen shook his head. "Probably not. This one's a Helper, so the actual Core Guardian has to be somewhere here. And I don't know if it's going to be in a good mood after this long." Eisen pointed out, so the others just slowly nodded their heads.
"Alright, we'll go take a look then! We'll let you know if we find something!" Evalia exclaimed as everyone happily made their way to the stairs again, although Eisen asked Komer to do something else.
"Ah, if possible, could you go outside to the entrance of the castle and do something for me?" Eisen asked, and the young merchant nodded his head. "Of course! What do you want me to do?" He inquired, so the old man just smiled at him.
"Then, if you can, could you just open the door, and in a clear voice, with nobody around you at all that could hear it, say 'Who Whispers, Lies. Who Whistles, does not'? You can come back into the castle if you want, but please don't come back here just yet." The old man told Komer, who seemed rather confused, but quickly agreed and made his way up the stairs.
And then, once Komer was gone, Eisen began to slightly whistle while looking over the whole body of the Core Helper, slowly removing the parts that seemed to be impossible to save, or scraping off parts that seemed to be just shallow damage to the hull, before trying to figure out if any of the glass within the Helper's body broke as well.
And as he was doing so, a rather annoyed woman stepped down the stairs. "Could you choose a better code next time? This is a huge, empty place, so there's echos all over the place." Raziel complained, but Eisen just chuckled lightly in response.
"Sorry, I figured it was the most appropriate in this situation. Anyway, do you know anything about this town?" Eisen asked the Angel, who just crossed her arms and shook her head while walking through the treasure-filled room.
"Not much, sorry. All that I do know is stuff I found out while searching through town myself." She pointed out, so Eisen slightly raised his eyebrows and turned his eyes to look at Raziel, as if telling her that he was waiting, so the Angiel simply sighed in response. "Fine. Seems like you already found one of them, but there's a bunch of broken-down things like that all over town, most of them were dragged into houses by the monsters though. Some of them seemed in a comparatively good condition, others not so much, but there wasn't a single one that was still functional." She explained to Eisen, who now looked at her surprised.
"Oh? All over town? Huh, then the Guardian might have been a Town Core Guardian after all. It did seem like it was somewhat active…" Eisen muttered to himself, remembering how the Town Core was floating above the thrones before, and then nodded his head satisfied.
"Hmm, I hope we can find the Guardian so it can explain some stuff to us." The old man said with a smile, before looking at Raziel again. "Thanks for that info. But you're sure you don't know anything else about this town? I mean, do you know anything about this Island itself?" He asked, and now, the Angel swiftly nodded.
"Well, I do know something about this island, actually." She explained, and then crossed her arms as she leaned back against the wall. "But first, it's your turn. Tell me something about your side. What's it like there?" Raziel asked curiously, so Eisen chuckled and nodded his head as he made his way through the room to see if there were any materials he could use to replace the parts of the Core Helper that couldn't be used anymore.
"First of all, there's no real magic on 'my side'. Well, there might be. Some people believe in real magic and the supernatural and such, but the general consensus is that it doesn't exist. On the other hand, our civilization is far, far more advanced than yours, even if that isn't always a good thing." Eisen explained, but Raziel crossed her arms with a frown.
"Please, you're saying you're more advanced, but you don't have Magic? Take this seriously, please." Raziel told him rather angrily, but Eisen just laughed in response. "I'm not joking, really. Through scientific advancements, we managed to create amazing things that are similar to magic, though. For example, we can instantly communicate with people on the other side of the planet with Phones."
"Instantly?" She asked rather curiously, and Eisen nodded his head, "Mhm. I couldn't tell you how they produce or take them in, but this works with 'Waves'. Like soundwaves, which you should be familiar with, just that they take a different form to sound. One phone gives off a signal in the form of those waves, sends it to the nearest place that collects those signals in the shape of a metal tower, and then sends that signal is taken in by that tower, processed, and moved throughout the world via cables to the place closest to the phone you want to call, which will then give out that signal again." Eisen explained, scratching his cheek as he did so, "At least I think that's how it works." The old man laughed with a wry smile, and Raziel rubbed her chin curiously.
"I see… Metal towers, things that don't necessarily work through magic… So it's the work of Dwarves or Gnomes, then?" She asked, but Eisen quickly shook his head.
"No, no, there's no Dwarves or Gnomes there. Only Humans." Eisen told her, and immediately Raziel opened her eyes wide in surprise. "Wait, there's only humans? Seriously? How did you manage to advance that far then? I doubt Humans could deal with monsters on their own enough to be able to advance like that!" Raziel exclaimed, but Eisen just smiled and shook his head.
"I'll tell you how that can be true next time. For now, it's your turn again. Tell me what you know about this Island, please." Eisen asked the Angel, who just replied with an annoyed sigh and nodded her head.
"Fine, but you better remember to actually tell me, got it?" She asked, so Eisen just nodded. "Of course, but please keep going for now." The old man told her in return, so the Angel nodded her head.
"Right… Well, basically, this Island isn't one of the gods, but a completely regular island taken over by the first that peaked, you."