[Job - Solo] Artifacts of the Neutral Grounds

Some time had passed since Eero had read on the Neutral Grounds. He continued to study his original topic of his research, but found that he just simply couldn't focus on it. It was clear that he needed a break from the origins of magic research and instead move onto something else. At least temporarily, so as to save his sanity. The boy was reminded of his time that he had spent in the library, studying the quirks of technology used within the Neutral Grounds. Perhaps that could prove as a great distraction for his tired mind.

With a sigh Eero stood up form his desk and stretched his back. It would take him a bit to actually get to Neutral Grounds, but the sooner he got there, the sooner he could begin his field study. He was unsure of what he was searching for at the time, but he knew that he would stumble upon something eventually, when he got there. He packed his trusty leather bag, taking his notebook, an extra change of clothes, some leftover jerky that he found laying about his room. He wanted to take the book he read with him, but it was downstairs in the library and he reckoned that he would find more books like that in actual Neutral Grounds, if he looked around. Eero put on black jeans and a plain t-shirt, grabbed his black lightweight jacket along with his artifact and travel bag and set out. However, before he left the Guild, he needed to check something. A certain bird, that he and Leona rescued not too long ago in the Pheonix Mountains. He swiftly made his way to the medical section of the Guild, where he left the bird in the care of medics located there. They contacted a vet through a lacrima to make sure that they wouldn't injure the bird while healing it. When he entered the place it was in, it seemed happy as it perked up a little. After he made sure that it was doing fine and gave it a light pet on its head, he left the Guild for sure.

The road to the Neutral Grounds was less than eventful. Eero regretted not picking up the book from the library before he set out on the journey. He felt like it dragged on for much longer that it actually was. The day was in full swing, slowly turning into the later part of it. He jumped off the caravan that he hitched a ride on to speed things up when he thought that he was close enough to the Neutral Grounds to close the distance by walking. As he hugged the side of the road, making sure that he wasn't in anybody's way, he suddenly felt his magic... peter out. Kind of. It just... felt flat. /"This has to be the anti-magic barrier that I've read about in the book.."/ It felt quite uncomfortable. Maybe people who were born without magic didn't feel this strange. Well, most definitely they felt different. Eero definitely needed time to get used to this feeling. A shiver went down his spine as he approached his destination.

He walked through the gates just fine. But where to now...? A library? Try to acquire accomodation so he has a place to return to, first? That sounded like the better idea. There was no map present at the gate area. The boy scratched his head and just walked on. He would find something, eventually. The feeling of his supressed magic didn't let up and it kept on feeling strange. He absentmindedly started thinking on how to bypass the barrier, when he reminded himself that that would be a gravely horrendous idea. /"Probably very illegal, aswell. Especially if I want to be pegged as a dark mage."/ Eero chuckled and shook his head at his own stupidity. The people were mingling about, streets were filled with chatter. He noticed a few signs for hotels, but upon closer inspection he discovered the price per night and quickly turned away, for the sake of his already quite empty wallet. Luckily for him, Eero found a rather cheap place to stay in and took that opportunity to secure a place for a few nights to come. He stepped inside the somewhat unassuming building, making his way to the reception counter. The room he stepped inside had surprisingly rustic feel to it. Eero hoped that this would persist in the rooms themselves, as it made him feel more at ease, with his suppresed magic and all that. Behind the counter was an elderly-looking lady, reading a book. The boy would nervously step up to the counter. "Good day, madam. I would like to request a single room for one? For three nights?" He would ask her, sheepishly. The lady looked up at Eero from her book and closed it. "Sure thing, sweetie. Let me write down the bill and find the keys." She replied and searched through the few keys that were left on the wall behind her. The lady then took a piece of paper and a pen. In fine letters and numbers she wrote down the price and what it entailed. She would then present it to Eero, to have it looked over. The price seemed to correspond with what was written outside, so Eero gave his approval and received his keys. He wanted to head out and see what information he could find, but he decided to check out the room instead. He walked upstairs to the second floor and turned right. His room was in the far back, probably because it was one of very few they had left. Eero unlocked the door and walked in. It was simple - a bed, little bathroom, a table with a chair. It still had the rustic feel to it, which made it feel cozy aswell. /"Hopefully it will help me fall asleep, as the feeling from my magic suppressed is still.. ugh."/ He thought to himself as he unpacked his extra clothing that he brought along. If all went well, he wouldn't spend all that much time in the room, anyway.

The boy didn't linger in the room for long. As soon as Eero unpacked, he went back downstairs. He was set on trying to find a library, or somewhere where he could obtain some further information about possible artifacts. Or he could ask the receptionist of the hotel, for starters. The entrance hall was blessedly empty and the boy headed for the receptionist's desk. "Greetings, again. Would you mind if I asked you something?" Eero would ask the lady politely. "Go ahead and ask, sweetie." The lady smiled and motioned for the boy to speak his mind. "Do you know if there is a library or a place where I could find information about any artifacts that could be located here?" He hoped that he didn't sound like a thief, looking for prey. The lady would chuckle. "A treasure hunter, are you?" Eero wanted to retort, but the receptionist continued. "Here, I'll draw you a quick map and write down some places that may interest you." She would grab an another piece of paper and get to work.

A few moments later Eero was thanking the receptionist lady and waving her goodbye for the day. He held the sheet of paper with information that would possibly lead him to more information. The lady wrote down several points of interest. The first stop for Eero would be a library, that had a study section open to public, not only members of the library. The map that the receptionist drew, had proven invaluable. There were plenty of side alleys and Eero was glad he didn't have to explore every single one of them. Maybe one day, but it would not be this day. When Eero reached his destination, he was met with a modern-looking building. There was a sign saying that it was indeed house to a library, so the boy stepped inside. The interior was as modern-looking as the outside and also very clean. There were two counters, only one was occupied by a librarian, though. The female librarian looked somewhat young. She seemed to be writing down something. Once more, Eero stepped up to a counter. "Hello. May I ask if you have any books on local artifacts or anything of the sort?" The librarian looked up at him, with an extremely bored expression. "Probably. Why?" The boy was slightly taken aback by her attitude. "Well, since you most likely have an access to the list of books held here I thought-" "Thought that I could help you? Yeah, yeah." He got cut off by an another bit of her attitude. It was already hard enough for Eero to start conversations, let alone trying to keep a conversation who was being like... that. She looked back down, wrote down something and then spoke up again. "I suggest looking in the history and technology sections." She said, without looking back up at him. "...Thanks." Eero would reply and head between the bookshelves. After a while of skimming through the backs of the books and occasionally a few pages, he settled on two books about lacrima crystals and their uses. He knew that he didn't have too much time on hands, as he wanted to visit one more place before every vendor called it the day. With scholar's finesse he skimmed through the pages of the books, quickly writing down most notable knowledge into his notebook. The most interesting bit that he read was about imbuing and woving lacrima crystals into clothing. But there was also written, that only a small number of such clothing was produced. There seemed to have been some difficulties with controlling such lacrima, so the idea was discontinued. That meant that it wouldn't be easy to get his hands on such a thing. Maybe it would be better if he tried looking for something else. But the idea of using lacrima like that was still valuable.

The boy then left the books he was studying on the appropriate table for books that people have used so that the librarians can return them to their rightful places. Eero didn't want to deal with the miss attitude librarian, so he just quietly sneaked outside. The sky was starting to acquire orange and purple hues, signifying the upcoming end of the day and the beginning of the night. Eero hoped that he had enough time to figure out where the place he was headed to next would still be open by the time he got there. He switched a casual walk for a brisk one, to make sure that he would be on time. Again, the map proved useful. The boy briefly wondered how the old receptionist lady knew abbout places such as the one he was almost at. /"Perhaps there is more to her than meets the eye."/ He thought amusedly. She must've had some previous experiences, for sure. Not long after he reached the second destination, in a more secluded district of the Neutral Grounds. Still plenty of technology and people around, but the atmosphere was a bit more solemn. He was looking for a shop that, according to the receptionist lady, specialised in lacrima, named 'Solutions'. /"Somehow I think that the name will suit it."/ Eero thought to himself, as he come upon a small, wooden building, squished in between much bigger and taller and buildings. The boy put away the paper he was holding on into his bag. The simple sign above the door said 'Solutions', just as he had expected.

The light was filtering through the milky glass, so there must've been someone inside. Eero hoped that they were still open for business. He walked up to the wooden door, gently pushing it open. A quiet chime announced the boy's arrival. He was met with an old, wooden interior. There were plenty of shelves on the walls, and the middle was taken by a counter in a square-esque shape with space for the salesman. The shopkeeper was a rather young-looking man, who was probably several years older than Eero himself. He was wearing a plain loose shirt with a giant scarf wrapped around his neck. The shelves of the store were lined with various crystals and instruments, that Eero had no idea what they could possibly do. "Greetings. How may I help you?" The salesman would ask him, with a sly undertone. That was a good question - Eero had no idea what exactly he wanted. "I was hoping that you could help me with something concerning lacrima crystals." The man smirked. "Go on." Slightly creepy. "Uhm. I'm trying to find a lacrima crystal or better - an item, that I could conduct a research on. I read about the lacrima crystals and they seemed interesting, especially their uses here, in the Neutral Grounds." The boy would share his intentions. He hoped that he didn't too much. The shopkeeper seemed to think about something, before he replied to Eero. "That is true. The crystals here are not a source of magical powers, but instead just raw energy. They can be found practically in almost anything, nowadays." He would say and lean forward. "But I'm sure you already read about that." Eero nodded. The man motioned for the boy to come closer. The boy decided to follow the instruction, for now. "What are you really after?" The man would ask with a hint of mischieviousness in his voice. Much like the receptionist lady, the man definitely knew more than he let on. "I read about weaving the crystal into clothing. Can it actually be done?" The question plagued him since he read about it in the library, not too long ago. The man chuckled. "It became forbidden to continue experiments with woven lacrima, because the results were always too volatile. Banned it got; at least on an official level." An another smirk. "Some people still try to do it. Some are more successful than others. I have had a word that somebody made a scarf that didn't explode upon touching it, which is unlike all the other results." It seemed that the lacrima would be too unstable, unless something was done. But Eero didn't know what. "Can I find something related to such experiments? Or maybe other, lacrima-infused items?" The shopkeeper understood long ago that the boy who entered didn't want to buy any of his wares. That he only needed his knowledge. And everything had a price. "I do know a place where a lot of such items gather. I will be willing to share.. For a price." Eero frowned. He should've known better. But he knew that he was on the right track. "How much?" He also knew that he would regret this later. "Only a couple of thousand Jewels. I like you, so just five thousand will do." It wasn't the greatest amount of money, but it still would burn a hole into his pockets, for sure. With a little sigh, the boy reached into his travel bag and handed over the requested Jewels. The shopkeeper seemed surprised at first, but then he snatched the Jewels. "Outside the city, northeast. There is a trash dump outside the boundary of the barrier. It's a special dump where a lot of damaged lacrima related tech is thrown out. There's a few guards at the front gate, nothing you can't sneak by. Then you're golden." The man would share the information Eero paid for. Even if it was information about a trash dump, perhaps he could find something salvageable. The boy would lightly bow. "Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me." Eero would thank the man, who only waved him a goodbye with a yet another smirk on his face. /"The shop certainly had some solutions, alright."/ The boy left the shop and returned back to his hotel room, to review the information he had collected that day.

After Eero returned to his hotel room, it was already quite late. He stopped for a drink at a pub, that he was sure to remember for the next time. The live band that performed there was absolutely marvelous. He wanted to review what he had learned that day, but after that little detour, Eero felt spent. As soon as he entered his room, he crashed on the bed and fell asleep. The following morning he grabbed some light breakfast and reviewed the information, which he meant to do the previous night, but alas. He needed to sneak into junkyard. Such an action would be best done under the moonlight, as per that shopkeeper's advice. Eero still was on the fence about the information on guards. Did an outside dump truly need guards protecting it? Were people trying to steal lacrima crystals from there? Or maybe something else? The boy shook his head. He didn't believe that he would come across the mentioned guards, but sneaking past some wouldn't be difficult for him. The only thing left was to wait until the sun went down.

Before he went to the junkyard, the boy decided to check out a few places. He wanted to make use of the time he had in the Neutral Grounds to its fullest. He spotted a few interesting places, such as a fancy teahouse or an iLac factory, that he made a mental note of visiting later on. /"For a place without magic, there's surprisingly a lot to do."/ Not that Eero meant it in a bad way, but he didn't know what to expect when he was coming to the Neutral Grounds. Now it seemed like a really great place to hang out, especially if one was into technology, naturally. Eventually, the sunlight was starting to fade. The sky was coloured in oranges and purples. Eero deemed this the right time to head out and search for the fabled junkyard.

The boy followed the instructions he was given as best as he could. There was no obvious path to take, so Eero half-guessed the northeast direction. The area was two thirds plain and one third a strange forest. The lack of light made Eero stumble on stray tree roots a few times, but he made it. The junkyard had faint lights surrounding it, more for the purpose of warning about its location than providing actual light. It was surrounded by medium-tall walls with no gate in sight. /"I should survey the area anyway. I feel like I'm trespassing."/ The boy thought as he started to circle the junkyard. /"Under no circumstance can I get caught. I would get the whole Guild into trouble."/ That was the last thing he would want. To paint a target upon Silver Wolf with only him and him alone to blame. The stakes were high. But it was all in the name of science and research, right? Right? It was a tad too late to turn back, anyway. With a little sigh, Eero continued his scouting. All in all, there wasn't much to look at, really. Walls with pokey wire on top of it and a wired fence gates. No guards in sight. Perhaps they came out once an alarm rang? Eero could see no other way for the shopkeeper to have warned him about them. That being said, the junkyard itself was rather large. Since it was supposed to gather lacrima infused trash, there was probably a lot of it. Almost everything ran on lacrima crystals in the Neutral Grounds, which most definitely produced a heap of waste. /"Here goes nothing."/

The boy approached the wall of the junkyard, slowly and quietly. His feet felt light as he stepped forward, making no sound. He wasn't sure what exactly he was hunting for, but he would have to figure it out later on. The wired gate looked very much climbable and Eero's instincts prompted him to do that. With a little sigh he latched onto the gate and started his climb. There was no barbed wire on top of the wired gate, so it was easy to get through it. After he got to the top, he decided to just jump down, as his fingers started to hurt from gripping the wire. Eero landed on the solid ground beneath him, safely. He was faced with heapes of junk. They were kind of organized into huge piles, though. Some contained various appliances, others held just bare scraps of metals. Eero would have to get his hands dirty for this. Quietly, he ventured in between the heaps of junk. He didn't know if there was any system to them; if the more valuable junk was in corners and such. Eero didn't bother with the first one that he passed - his eyes didn't notice anything interesting. He couldn't see completely inside of it, of course, but the boy felt like he was sort of pressed for time. The less time it took him to get something worth researching, the sooner he could get out and not get caught in the process. He was passing a heap and suddenly to his right he heard some sounds. Eero's feet immediatelly came to a halt as he tried to listen. When he heard the sound again, he thought that it sounded as if somebody or something was scratching metal. Cautiously, Eero slowly approached the heap, trying to determine the source of that sound. Within a moment's notice a group of overgrown raccoons jumped in front him, making Eero backstep in surprise. The group eyed the intruder, carefully. Eero didn't dare to move a muscle and soon enough the raccoons dispersed. The boy was glad that none took offense to him, since they were indeed rather large for being just raccoons. He exhaled the breath that he didn't know he was holding and kept on exploring the junkyard and what else it had to offer. Soon enough, he found quite the interesting pile. It seemed to have rather unusual load inside it. Eero spied with his eyes something that may have resembled an automaton of some kind. The boy tiptoed closer. The suspected torso of the automaton was hanging low, the rest of its body stuck inside of other junk. Eero stood underneath it, attempting to study it further. It was obvious that he wouldn't be able to transport the whole thing with him, but maybe he could find something inside of it, that he could take with him back to the Guild for research purposes. Eero stood up on his tiptoes, reaching upwards to reach the automaton. His hand touched the rusting metal plate and suddenly he felt a tiny bit of magic being drained from him. "Huh..?" The boy immediatelly broke the contact and backed off.

The automaton seemed to have taken a bit of his magical power, using it to start itself back up again. Eero took a bit more steps back until his feet hit the pile of junk behind him. The automaton wailed as it straightened itself up, pale blue light coursing through its body like a nervous system. Scraps of metal were loud, as they fell down the pile, whne the automaton started to move itself out of it. It didn't have a proper head, per se, more like just a torso with limbs attached to it, from what Eero could observe. The mage was sincerely hoping that since it was his magic power that reactivated the machine, it would listen to his commands. But he somewhat doubted that it had any hearing or voice recognition. To make the things a little bit worse, two more, smaller automatons made their way from beneath the metal scraps. They looked the same as their bigger brethren and just as rusted. "Oh lord.." Eero lamented quietly as he eyed the automatons. He had a feeling that they were eyeing him too, with whatever optical senses they had. Then all three started making their way towards him, in a rather hostile manner. The two smaller ones were naturally quite faster than the large one, but their rusted plating seemed to have been limiting their movement capabilities. Eero ran a bit to his right side, testing if they were after him. And sure enough they were. As soon as he started running they turned to follow him. "Oh no.." Eero sighed and summoned Deathgarden, shooting an arrow of acid into one of the small automatons. The corrosive acid ate through the rusted metal, but it was not done yet. The large automaton was making a lot of noise, though. While it very much signaled that somebody was fooling about at the junkyard, it also kept his focus in check, for whatever reason, not letting his other self get a hold of him.

The boy ran ahead a bit, to gain some distance between him and the two smaller automatons. His Deathgarden had recharged again, so he summoned it and fired an arrow at the automaton he hit beforehand, half destroying it and half melting it with corrosive acid. The second small automaton, however, was quickly gaining back some distance, making Eero move again. The large automaton was getting closer aswell and the boy knew that he wouldn't be able to completely outrun them forever, within the confines of the junkyard's walls. As he was trying to get to more favourable position, however, he barely caught a glimpse of the large automaton swinging its arm downward onto the ground in his general direction. The resulting shockwave of dirt and junk was quite tough to dodge, but Eero coated his right leg in acid and slid to the side, escaping with only minor cuts from metal scraps that were flying everywhere. If that didn't get the attention of possible guards, nothing would. He couldn't only rely on his Deathgarden, though. He had an idea, though. Eero let the automatons get closer, but not too close. He quickly sidestepped, so that he would be in prime position to fling the Blighted Wings, before the automatons could change their directions too much. The acid ate away at the rusted metal of the automatons and Eero quickly coated his right arm with Toxic Lash and ran at the small automaton, punching it. Even though the metal was rusted, the punch still hurt Eero's knuckles and he got hit by a sweep of its arm. He was shoved to the side, closer to the large automaton. Even if the hit hurt, it put him closer to the large automaton. He did the same; ran at it and punched its foot. This punch hurt much more and the boy jumped away in pain and let the corrosive poison take hold for a little bit, before he unleashed a Miasma, that tore through them, melting the smaller automaton. Eero, however, noticed a tiny problem. In the heap of junk, in which he found the automaton, he spotted a few more smaller ones, now that he could recognize them. He wasn't sure whether the big big automaton could bring them back online or the smaller ones, but he knew that he would have to keep them in mind and the automaton away from them.

The automaton was facing Eero again already and the boy spotted a potential weakness. There was a space in between the metal plates around where its shoulder connected to its arm. After a brief aim at the spot, he let loose of an another Deathgarden arrow. He could feel his magic getting sapped away, the more he used his spells, naturally, but it was worthy. The shot wasn't exactly precise, but the corrosiveness helped out and ate through the metal, disconnecting the automaton's limb. It made a really loud thud as it collided with the ground. He had to get rid of it and quick. The automaton looked severely damaged, but it kept on going. Eero didn't want to completely destroy it, though. He still needed something for research. He reckoned that the certain something could be inside of its torso. The automaton swung its arm again, but faster this time. Eero didn't have time to use the Toxic Slide, so he opted to dodge with Regenerative Molt. He still got cut by the collateral metal, but the healing his spell provided him healed some of the scratches from before. After dodging he gathered up more acid in his body and shaped Deathgarden out of it again, aiming for the other arm. This time his shot was better and it cleanly cut off the limb from the torso. Eero could see the pale blue light inside of it flicker, as it slowly sunk to the ground, the metal wailing as it fell to the side, after losing half of its limbs. The amount of magic that it drained and then shared with the smaller automatons was surely not enough to power it completely, so such a loss was devastating to it. With no hesitation, Eero ran towards its torso and coated his right hand with corrosive acid. He placed his hand upon the rusted metal and started to melt it, so he could get into its insides.

The rusted metal stood no chance against his acid and Eero quickly exposed the automaton's insides. There was a somewhat sizeable lacrima crystal on the inside, that had some sort of power cords attached to it. The mage guessed that the lines were what transported the power around its body and make it function. With a bit of guilt he melted the cords and with his not coated hand he took out the crystal, stuffing it into his bag. It barely fit in there, but was good enough. After he removed the crystal, the light from the automaton vanished, marking its ultimate demise. Before he could think about what he had just done, Eero had to get going. The raccoons were nowhere to be seen as he ran towards the gate, climbing over it to get back out. After that he ran back into the Neutral Grounds, hoping that nobody would investigate a missing lacrima crystal from a junkyard.