[NR] Chapter 260 - Gregor's Workshop (Patreon)

Gregor coughs, “So yeah, before I examine your finger we should move to my workshop. Not only is there more privacy, but I store my tools in the room. Mainly the observation tools, since while I have trained my eyesight, some things you need a bit of magical assistance.”

Jason nods, “That would be fine. Lead the way.”

Gregor gestures toward the hall with the bedrooms. “My workshop is at the end of the hall. This shouldn’t take all that long, as I’ve already taken out the tools I should need last night.”

Jason follows him down the hall and into the room all the way at the back. Gregor continues further into the room, but Jason stops just inside the entrance. Across the floor, ceiling, and every wall are uncountable numbers of runes carved in innumerable styles. From a flowing script that most would mistake for cursive and looks more like runes had been melted into the black rock. To a blocky yet powerful font that looks like someone took a straight chisel and pounded lines out with it.

On the wall to the left, tens of hooks have been incorporated into the runic design. Hung up are tools, most clearly for inscribing objects, though varied such that there is even a hammer and chisel on the farthest hook which gives credence to the guess about the one set of runes.

To the right are shelves placed upon rock spurs which have been pulled from the wall. And by the looks of it, this isn’t too far from the truth as the runes carved into the wall are stretched out and distorted along the spurs. Either magic was involved or Gregor had purposefully carved the runes to appear like that.

On the shelves are samples of everything under the sun. Rocks of every color, dried plants, plants magically suspended at peak maturity, fruits and tubers, fabrics, metals, and hundreds of niche things. Though at first there appears to be no order, Jason can feel that things have been placed to prevent negative interactions. This alone would have impressed him as every one of the pieces has a powerful aura and he can tell that a single out-of-place object could cause a chain reaction leading to massive destruction.

The last thing to draw Jason’s attention is the back wall and ceiling. While he had been taking them as separate things, it isn’t really clear. The back curves up and becomes the ceiling. Built into the back wall is what must be Gregor’s workstation. From the ceiling, several stone wires come down to support a slab of rock that looks like it was peeled off of the wall. Across the surface of this slab are several lenses. Some supported by mechanical arms, others floating through magical projects, and one which looks just like a magnifying glass, which is simply laid out on the surface.

Jason is about to come back to reality when he notices the pulse. At first he thought the runes across every available surface were simply there and not doing much. Now though, as he looks closer, Jason catches a glimpse of some underlying activity. Starting opposite of the door, right where the slab connects to the wall, a nearly invisible shimmer spreads outward. Like a wave it travels across the entire room, pausing at every hook and spur as it rotates around the structures. Finally the pulse reaches the doorway, Jason turning to keep it in view and he just manages to catch the glimmer wave stretch off of the opening to cover doorway for the briefest of moments.

Gregor chuckles, “Quite a set up, eh? I’ve moved my current projects out of here for the moment or it would be a good bit messier. Peter was getting on me to clean up the area, anyway. He might have found a good bit of this black stone stuff, but he can’t exactly go and get more of the stuff. I wish we knew the name of it so I could research the stone some more. Really cool stuff my wonderful husband literally stumbled into. Now I know you’ve noticed the glimmer but take a closer look at the stone because there is more to it. Get real close and examine whatever you’ve done.”

Jason shrugs and takes a closer look at the area right next to the doorframe. At first he doesn’t see it, and Gregor rolls his eyes before gesturing to come further into the room. Since nothing was going to go forward without this happening, Jason goes right up to the back wall and really gets in there.

Then he notices it. With his hands held up to try to block out some of the other stuff, the stone is dark enough to bring out the underlayer. As if there was a thin layer of clear material over top, a bottom layer of near perfect black. And across that black layer are small sparkles. Some people might wonder what was special about this. Others would assume this was a night sky, speckled with stars.

But Jason has had a lot of time staring at the void when he was hanging out with the gods. This wasn’t just a scene of dim sparkles, nor was it a pleasant night sky vista. Instead, it was the closest representation he had seen of the void between dimensions. A void which even the gods could not cross. Of course, for something like that, no visual display can ever hold it all. The void is beyond a simple visual display.

Now the real question is how it got into the game. Jason turns to Gregor with a surprised expression, “Where did Peter even get something like this? This shouldn’t exist here. This shouldn’t exist in any relation to my home either. I am beyond surprised, beyond shocked, just beyond everything.”

Gregor shrugs, “He would like to figure out the same thing. All I know is the stone came from somewhere between when he was getting gated somewhere and that it does an amazing job isolating my workspace.”