Supreme Magus novel Chapter 2976

Chapter 2976 Hidden Lab (Part 2)

2976 Hidden Lab (Part 2)

By the time Lindell/Pharek's secret lab had been found, the damage to the hidden room had been repaired by the protective arrays of the palace. The complex and delicate instruments were intact, but too many things were out of place.

The Forge had disappeared, leaving only a depression in the carpet. The many books scattered throughout the room and the several empty shelves were the only remaining signs of struggle.

No mage would be foolish enough to set up an array to put books back in their place.

Otherwise they wouldn't be able to read without the array taking the tome off their hands like an annoying librarian. If a shelf had been broken, the books were right below it.

If a spell had blown it to bits, however, the explosion would propel the books away.

By studying the pattern of the books, it was easy to retrace the different phases of the fight and also understand when things had gotten dire. Self-repairing enchantments were no barriers and paper was frail by nature.

A tome with missing pages or the presence of scattered ashes meant that a spell strong enough to overpower the protections had been used.

"I'll tell you what we already know so you won't have to start from scratch." Azhom said. "Based on our timeline reconstruction, about five months ago someone entered Limbell's house. It must-"

"Five months ago?" Lith was flabbergasted. "You've sat on the scene for so long and expect us to find something?"

"No, we didn't 'sit on the scene', as you put it." Strider snarled. "We have used arrays to preserve everything as it was. From the dust on the furniture to the position of the books to the lingering energy signatures.

"Everything is still as we found it. Also, what did you expect? Awakened crimes aren't like human crimes. There are only so many possible suspects and no one steals something like this to keep it hidden.

"We were certain that by letting the culprit think that they had gotten away with it, they would have done something that would betray their involvement. Also, we've never stopped investigating. We believed that something would come out.

"The problem is that we were wrong. Please, continue, Azhom."

"It must have been a friend, because unless Limbell opened the door himself, the security system would have alerted him and he would have fought the intruder in the outer rooms, not in his hidden Forgemastering lab.

"Also, it must be someone Limbell trusted. A Forgemaster treasures his secrets more than his bedchambers." The Lich said and Bytra, Solus, and Lith nodded in agreement.

"We think that Limbell brought the killer here to show them something, maybe a piece that had been commissioned but still needed the input of the client before being completed.

"Then something was said or done that caused the violence. This is most likely a fist." He pointed at a pile of collapsed books in front of an empty shelf at the level of Limbell/Pharek's head.

"When that failed, spells started to fly." She pointed at the scattered and burned books on both sides of the room where the mages had probably crashed during the exchanges.

"Then Limbell died and you know the rest."

"Are there missing books?" Xenagrosh's Dragon Eyes had already counted the stray books and then calculated the empty volume on the shelves.